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By the time he returned to the longhall, Gilly had the fire going.
等回到長廳，吉莉已生好了火。
She sat close to it with her furs opened, the babe at her breast.
她緊靠在火堆旁，敞開獸皮，讓嬰兒在胸口吃奶。
He’s as hungry as we are, Sam thought.
他跟大人一樣餓，山姆心想。
The old women had smuggled out food for them from Craster’s, but they had eaten most of it by now.
老婦人們從卡斯特堡壘的地窖里捎出些食物，但現在基本吃光了，
Sam had been a hopeless hunter even at Horn Hill, where game was plentiful and he had hounds and huntsmen to help him;
而即使在角陵，即使在獵物眾多，手下又有奴仆、獵狗可供驅使的南方家園，山姆也是個沒用的獵手；
here in this endless empty forest, the chances of him catching anything were remote.
身處這片空曠無垠的森林，能逮住任何東西的機會自然微乎其微。
His efforts at fishing the lakes and half-frozen streams had been dismal failures as well.
他試圖在湖泊和半凍的小河里捕魚，結果不出意料地慘遭失敗。
“How much longer, Sam?”
“還要多久，山姆？”
Gilly asked.
吉莉問，
“Is it far, still?”
“還遠嗎？”
“Not so far.
“不太遠。
Not so far as it was.”
至少不像原來那么遠。”
Sam shrugged out of his pack, eased himself awkwardly to the floor, and tried to cross his legs.
山姆聳肩卸下包裹，笨拙地坐到地板上，試著盤起腿來。
His back ached so abominably from the walking that he would have liked to lean up against one of the carved wooden pillars that supported the roof,
走路使他的背疼到極點，他想倚住一根支撐屋頂的木雕支柱，
but the fire was in the center of the hall beneath the smoke hole and he craved warmth even more than comfort.
但火堆卻在長廳中央的排煙口下，衡量之后，還是覺得溫暖甚于舒適，
“Another few days should see us there.”
“再過幾天就能到了。”
Sam had his maps, but if this wasn’t Whitetree then they weren’t going to be much use.
山姆帶著地圖，但如果這里不是白樹村，它們根本沒用。
We went too far east to get around that lake, he fretted, or maybe too far west when I tried to double back.
我們為繞過這個湖，走得太靠東，他焦慮地想，或者折回來時太靠西了？
He was coming to hate lakes and rivers.
他開始討厭起湖泊與河流，
Up here there was never a ferry or bridge,
長城之外沒有渡船和橋梁，
which meant walking all the way around the lakes and searching for places to ford the rivers.
逼得你繞行一大圈，或是尋找涉水的淺灘。
It was easier to follow a game trail than to struggle through the brush, easier to circle a ridge instead of climbing it.
除此之外，跟隨獵人小徑比掙扎穿越灌木叢容易，繞過山脊比攀爬容易，而長城之外只能選擇后者。
If Bannen or Dywen were with us we’d be at Castle Black by now, warming our feet in the common room.
唉，假如巴棱或戴文跟我們在一起，現下應該已到了黑城堡，正在大廳里暖腳呢。
Bannen was dead, though, and Dywen gone with Grenn and Dolorous Edd and the others.
可惜巴棱死了，而戴文跟葛蘭、憂郁的艾迪等人一起離開。
The Wall is three hundred miles long and seven hundred feet high, Sam reminded himself.
長城有三百里長，七百尺高，山姆提醒自己。
If they kept going south, they had to find it, sooner or later.
如果一直往南，遲早會撞見它——
And he was certain that they had been going south.
而他們確實在往南，至少這點他非常確定。
By day he took directions from the sun, and on clear nights they could follow the Ice Dragon’s tail,
白天根據太陽辨別方向，晴朗的晚上，則可以追隨冰龍星座的尾巴，
though they hadn’t traveled much by night since the second horse had died.
雖然自另一匹馬死后，他們便很少在夜間行路。
Even when the moon was full it was too dark beneath the trees,
就算月圓時分，林子里也太過黑暗，
and it would have been so easy for Sam or the last garron to break a leg.
山姆或者最后一匹馬很容易摔斷腿。
We have to be well south by now, we have to be.
我們一定已到了很南的地方，一定是的。
What he wasn’t so certain of was how far east or west they might have strayed.
但他不確定的是，他們向西或向東偏離了多遠。
They would reach the Wall, yes …
最終會到達長城，沒錯……
in a day or a fortnight, it couldn’t be farther than that, surely, surely … but where?
也許一天，也許半月，不可能更久，肯定，肯定……但具體到哪兒呢？
It was the gate at Castle Black they needed to find;
需要找的是黑城堡的門，
the only way through the Wall for a hundred leagues.
一百里格沿線只有那里可以穿越。
“Is the Wall as big as Craster used to say?” Gilly asked.
“長城真的像卡斯特說的那么大嗎？”吉莉問。
“Bigger.”
“比他說的還大，”
Sam tried to sound cheerful.
山姆試圖讓語氣愉快一些，
“So big you can’t even see the castles hidden behind it.
“大得讓你看不見藏在后面的城堡，
But they’re there, you’ll see.
而城堡本身就已經夠大了，你會明白的。
The Wall is all ice, but the castles are stone and wood.
長城完全由冰筑成，城堡則是木石結構，
There are tall towers and deep vaults and a huge longhall with a great fire burning in the hearth, day and night.
高高的塔樓，深深的地窖，還有壁爐里日夜燃燒著熊熊烈火的碩大長廳。
It’s so hot in there, Gilly, you’ll hardly believe it.”
很熱，很暖和，吉莉，熱到你無法相信。”
“Could I stand by the fire?
“我可以站在火堆邊嗎？
Me and the boy?
就我和孩子？
Not for a long time, just till we’re good and warm?”
不用很久，暖暖身子就好。”
“You can stand by the fire as long as you like.
“你想站多久就站多久，
You’ll have food and drink, too.
還有食物和飲料。
Hot mulled wine and a bowl of venison stewed with onions, and Hobb’s bread right out of the oven,
溫熱的葡萄酒、一碗洋蔥燉鹿肉，外加哈布剛出爐的面包，
so hot it will burn your fingers.”
熱得燙手。”
Sam peeled a glove off to wriggle his own fingers near the flames, and soon regretted it.
山姆摘下手套，在火焰旁活動手指——他很快后悔起自己的舉動，
They had been numb with cold, but as feeling returned they hurt so much he almost cried.
它們本來凍得麻木，隨著知覺恢復，疼痛教他差點哭出來。
