席恩技巧地避开去，“谢谢你。”

Theon turned deftly aside. “You have my thanks.”

“求求您，”她说，“大人，我是真心爱着您啊。”

“Please,” she said, “I do love you well, milord.”

“我得走了。”叔父已沿码头走开老远，席恩连忙三步并作两步跟上。“叔叔，我没想到是您。经过这十年，我本以为父亲母亲会亲自来接我，或者派达格摩率荣誉护卫来。”

“I must go.” He hurried after his uncle, who was already well down the pier. Theon caught him with a dozen long strides. “I had not looked for you, Uncle. After ten years, I thought perhaps my lord father and lady mother might come themselves, or send Dagmer with an honor guard.”

“你没资格质疑派克岛掠夺者之首的命令。”僧侣的语气冷冷冰冰，完全不像席恩印象中那个人。伊伦·葛雷乔伊本是他最亲切的叔叔，个性玩世不恭，开朗爱笑，喜好音乐、美酒和女人。“至于达格摩，‘裂颚’奉你父亲之命前往老威克岛，召唤斯通浩斯和卓鼓两家。”

“It is not for you to question the commands of the Lord Reaper of Pyke.” The priest’s manner was chilly, most unlike the man Theon remembered. Aeron Greyjoy had been the most amiable of his uncles, feckless and quick to laugh, fond of songs, ale, and women. “As to Dagmer, the Cleftjaw is gone to Old Wyk at your father’s behest, to roust the Stonehouses and the Drumms.”

“这是为什么？长船为什么在此集结？”

“To what purpose? Why are the longships hosting?”

“长船集结还会为什么？”先前叔叔把两匹马栓在岸边的旅店前。他们一走到那里，他便转身面对席恩。“好侄儿，你跟我说实话，你是不是信了狼仔们的神？”

“Why have longships ever hosted?” His uncle had left the horses tied up in front of the waterside inn. When they reached them, he turned to Theon. “Tell me true, nephew. Do you pray to the wolf gods now?”

事实上席恩很少祈祷，但这种事可不能在僧侣面前谈，即使是亲叔叔。“奈德·史塔克信的是棵树。不，我才不屑史塔克的神。”

Theon seldom prayed at all, but that was not something you confessed to a priest, even your father’s own brother. “Ned Stark prayed to a tree. No, I care nothing for Stark’s gods.”

“很好。跪下。”

“Good. Kneel.”

地上满是石头和泥泞，“叔叔，我——”

The ground was all stones and mud. “Uncle, I—”

“我叫你跪下！怎么，你该不会成了个绿地少爷吧，太尊贵了？”

“Kneel. Or are you too proud now, a lordling of the green lands come among us?”

席恩跪下来。他此行有更重要的目标，说不定还需要伊伦助他一臂之力。为了王冠，裤子上多点泥巴和马粪也值得，他心想。

Theon knelt. He had a purpose here, and might need Aeron’s help to achieve it. A crown was worth a little mud and horseshit on his breeches, he supposed.

“低头。”叔叔举起水袋，打开塞子，将里面的海水朝席恩当头倒下。海水浸湿了他的头发，从额头流进眼睛，自双颊淋下，渗进他的披风和外衣，淌到背上，宛如一条冰冷小河直下背脊。海盐刺痛了他的眼睛，他只能拚命忍住不叫出声。唇上，他尝到海洋的味道。“让您的仆人席恩如您一般自海中重生！”伊伦·葛雷乔伊吟诵，“给予他海盐的祝福，给予他坚石的祝福，给予他钢铁的祝福。侄儿，你可还记得祷词？”

“Bow your head.” Lifting the skin, his uncle pulled the cork and directed a thin stream of seawater down upon Theon’s head. It drenched his hair and ran over his forehead into his eyes. Sheets washed down his cheeks, and a finger crept under his cloak and doublet and down his back, a cold rivulet along his spine. The salt made his eyes burn, until it was all he could do not to cry out. He could taste the ocean on his lips. “Let Theon your servant be born again from the sea, as you were,” Aeron Greyjoy intoned. “Bless him with salt, bless him with stone, bless him with steel. Nephew, do you still know the words?”

“逝者不死。”席恩想了起来。

“What is dead may never die,” Theon said, remembering.

“逝者不死，”叔叔应道，“必将再起，其势更烈。起来吧。”

“What is dead may never die,” his uncle echoed, “but rises again, harder and stronger. Stand.”

席恩站起身，眨眼忍住泪水。叔叔一言不发地塞上水袋，解开马缰，骑了上去。席恩也跟着做。两人离开旅店和码头，经过波特利头领的城堡，进入岩石丘陵。僧侣一句话也没再说过。

Theon stood, blinking back tears from the salt in his eyes. Wordless, his uncle corked the waterskin, untied his horse, and mounted. Theon did the same. They set off together, leaving the inn and the harbor behind them, up past the castle of Lord Botley into the stony hills. The priest ventured no further word.

“我半辈子远离家园，”最后席恩忍不住了，“岛上是不是变了很多？”

“I have been half my life away from home,” Theon ventured at last. “Will I find the islands changed?”

“男人从大海捕鱼在土地耕作然后死掉，女人躺在鲜血与苦痛的床铺上挤出短命的孩子。日升月落，风潮依旧，诸岛便是神所创造的模样。”

“Men fish the sea, dig in the earth, and die. Women birth children in blood and pain, and die. Night follows day. The winds and tides remain. The islands are as our god made them.”

我的老天，他真是变了一个人，席恩心想。“姐姐和母亲还住在派克？”

Gods, he has grown grim, Theon thought. “Will I find my sister and my lady mother at Pyke?”

“不。你母亲现在跟她妹妹住在哈尔洛岛，她为咳嗽所苦，而那里的气候不那么恶劣。你姐姐则奉你父亲之命，乘‘黑风号’到大威克岛传信去了。不过你放心，不用多久她就会回来。”

“You will not. Your mother dwells on Harlaw, with her own sister. It is less raw there, and her cough troubles her. Your sister has taken Black Wind to Great Wyk, with messages from your lord father. She will return e’er long, you may be sure.”

席恩一听便知黑风号是阿莎的长船，他已有十年不见姐姐，但对她至少还有这点了解。想来真有趣，她为自己的座舰取了这样的名字，而罗柏·史塔克则有只叫“灰风”的狼。“史塔克家是灰色，葛雷乔伊家是黑色，”他微笑着喃喃自语，“但两家似乎都喜欢风。”

Theon did not need to be told that Black Wind was Asha’s longship. He had not seen his sister in ten years, but that much he knew of her. Odd that she would call it that, when Robb Stark had a wolf named Grey Wind. “Stark is grey and Greyjoy’s black,” he murmured, smiling, “but it seems we’re both windy.”

对此僧侣没有表示意见。

The priest had nothing to say to that.

“叔叔，那您呢？”席恩问，“当年我离开派克城时，您还没出家。我常常想起您站在桌子上，手拿装麦酒的角杯，放声高唱古代掠夺战歌的样子。”

“And what of you, Uncle?” Theon asked. “You were no priest when I was taken from Pyke. I remember how you would sing the old reaving songs standing on the table with a horn of ale in hand.”

“那时我还年轻，爱慕虚荣。”伊伦·葛雷乔伊道，“大海洗去了我的愚昧和虚妄。侄儿，过去的我已经淹死了，他的肺里灌满海水，鱼儿吃掉了他眼睛上的鳞。当我再次站起，眼睛便看得清楚了。”

“Young I was, and vain,” Aeron Greyjoy said, “but the sea washed my follies and my vanities away. That man drowned, nephew. His lungs filled with seawater, and the fish ate the scales off his eyes. When I rose again, I saw clearly.”

他不只是性情乖张，简直是疯了！席恩比较喜欢记忆中那个伊伦·葛雷乔伊。“叔叔，父亲他为何集结军队和舰船？”

He is as mad as he is sour. Theon had liked what he remembered of the old Aeron Greyjoy. “Uncle, why has my father called his swords and sails?”

我们奉命绝不可说与外人“等你到了派克城，他自然会告诉你。”

“Doubtless he will tell you at Pyke.”

“我现在就想知道他的计划为何。”

“I would know his plans now.”

“从我这里，你不可能知道。我们奉命绝不可说与外人。”

“From me, you shall not. We are commanded not to speak of this to any man.”

“连我也不行？”席恩勃然大怒。他带过兵打过仗，曾与国王一同捕猎，在比武大会中赢得优胜，并和黑鱼布林登、安柏家的大琼恩并肩作战，参与呓语森林大捷，睡过的女人多到记不清，小叔竟然还把他当成十岁小孩！“如果父亲有意出兵，我一定要知道。我可不是‘外人’，我是派克和铁群岛的继承人！”

“Even to me?” Theon’s anger flared. He’d led men in war, hunted with a king, won honor in tourney melees, ridden with Brynden Blackfish and Greatjon Umber, fought in the Whispering Wood, bedded more girls than he could name, and yet this uncle was treating him as though he were still a child of ten. “If my father makes plans for war, I must know of them. I am not ‘any man,’ I am heir to Pyke and the Iron Islands.”

“这个嘛，”叔叔说，“还不一定。”

“As to that,” his uncle said, “we shall see.”

这句话像是一记火辣辣的巴掌。“还不一定？我的哥哥们全死了，父亲大人就剩我这一个儿子！”

The words were a slap in the face. “We shall see? My brothers are both dead. I am my lord father’s only living son.”

“还有你姐姐。”

“Your sister lives.”

阿莎！他有些不知所措，她比席恩大三岁，但是……“除非男性直系血亲断绝，否则女人没有继承权！”他大声强调，“我警告你，谁也别想抢走我的权利！”

Asha, he thought, confounded. She was three years older than Theon, yet still … “A woman may inherit only if there is no male heir in the direct line,” he insisted loudly. “I will not be cheated of my rights, I warn you.”

叔叔哼了一声，“小子，你胆敢‘警告’侍奉淹神的人？我看你忘本忘得可真彻底。如果你以为你父亲会把铁群岛拱手让给史塔克，那就大错特错。现在给我闭嘴，路还很长，没工夫听你像鸟鹊一样叽叽喳喳！”

His uncle grunted. “You warn a servant of the Drowned God, boy? You have forgotten more than you know. And you are a great fool if you believe your lord father will ever hand these holy islands over to a Stark. Now be silent. The ride is long enough without your magpie chatterings.”

席恩强自按捺怒火，闭起嘴巴。原来如此，他心想，他们以为我在临冬城住了十年，就变成史塔克家的人了吗？艾德公爵虽让他和自己的儿女一起成长，但席恩始终不是他们的一份子。全城上下，从史塔克夫人到最低贱的厨房小弟，都知道他是用来确保他父亲“表现良好”的人质，并都如此待他。就连那私生子琼恩·雪诺所受的待遇都比他好。

Theon held his tongue, though not without struggle. So that is the way of it, he thought. As if ten years in Winterfell could make a Stark. Lord Eddard had raised him among his own children, but Theon had never been one of them. The whole castle, from Lady Stark to the lowliest kitchen scullion, knew he was hostage to his father’s good behavior, and treated him accordingly. Even the bastard Jon Snow had been accorded more honor than he had.

艾德公爵每每试图扮演父亲的角色，然而席恩总提醒自己，对方正是为派克城带来血腥杀戮，并迫使他远离家园的人。小的时候，他一直活在史塔克的严峻面容和那把恐怖巨剑的阴影中，他的妻子则更是疏离而猜疑。

Lord Eddard had tried to play the father from time to time, but to Theon he had always remained the man who’d brought blood and fire to Pyke and taken him from his home. As a boy, he had lived in fear of Stark’s stern face and great dark sword. His wife was, if anything, even more distant and suspicious.

至于他们的儿女，年纪小的几与婴儿无异，只有罗柏和他的异母弟弟琼恩·雪诺稍长，能引起他注意。那私生子性情阴沉，对任何奚落均十分敏感，尤其嫉妒席恩的高贵出身和罗柏对他的重视。对罗柏本人，席恩倒有几分感情，一种对弟弟的感情……不过这话最好别说出口。看来在派克城里，战争的伤痛仍未止息。他不该感到意外，诸岛活在过去，因为现实太严苛也太痛苦，令人难以承受。更何况父亲和叔叔们都老了，年老贵族就是这副德行，至死牢记陈年旧帐，不忘记任何纠葛，更无原恕可能。

As for their children, the younger ones had been mewling babes for most of his years at Winterfell. Only Robb and his baseborn half brother Jon Snow had been old enough to be worth his notice. The bastard was a sullen boy, quick to sense a slight, jealous of Theon’s high birth and Robb’s regard for him. For Robb himself, Theon did have a certain affection, as for a younger brother … but it would be best not to mention that. In Pyke, it would seem, the old wars were still being fought. That ought not surprise him. The Iron Islands lived in the past; the present was too hard and bitter to be borne. Besides, his father and uncles were old, and the old lords were like that; they took their dusty feuds to the grave, forgetting nothing and forgiving less.

梅利斯特家正是如此。从奔流城到海疆城的路上，他与他们为伴。派崔克·梅利斯特是个还不错的伙伴，两人对女孩、美酒和放鹰狩猎有相同的兴趣，可老杰森伯爵眼见自己继承人和席恩越来越要好，便把派崔克拉到一边，提醒他不要忘本。他们的家堡海疆城正是为防守海岸，抵御铁民劫掠而建——尤其是提防派克岛的葛雷乔伊。城中的“洪钟塔”因塔上的巨大青铜钟而得名，古时每当长船出现在西方洋面，他们便会敲响警钟，呼告村镇居民和田里农人速速入城避难。

It had been the same with the Mallisters, his companions on the ride from Riverrun to Seagard. Patrek Mallister was not too ill a fellow; they shared a taste for wenches, wine, and hawking. But when old Lord Jason saw his heir growing overly fond of Theon’s company, he had taken Patrek aside to remind him that Seagard had been built to defend the coast against reavers from the Iron Islands, the Greyjoys of Pyke chief among them. Their Booming Tower was named for its immense bronze bell, rung of old to call the townsfolk and farmhands into the castle when longships were sighted on the western horizon.

“也不想想三百年来总共就敲过一次。”翌日，派崔克拿一罐青苹果酒来找席恩，一边喝一边把父亲的教诲告诉他。

“Never mind that the bell has been rung just once in three hundred years,” Patrek had told Theon the day after, as he shared his father’s cautions and a jug of green-apple wine.

“就我老哥突袭海疆城那次。”席恩说。此役杰森伯爵在城下斩杀了罗德利克·葛雷乔伊，并将铁岛掠夺者赶回海里，“如果你父亲认为我因此而对他怀有敌意，那他显然不认识罗德利克。”

“When my brother stormed Seagard,” Theon said. Lord Jason had slain Rodrik Greyjoy under the walls of the castle, and thrown the ironmen back into the bay. “If your father supposes I bear him some enmity for that, it’s only because he never knew Rodrik.”

说完两人哈哈大笑，然后快马加鞭去找一个和派崔克相好的磨坊少妇。现在和我同行的是派崔克就好了。管他是不是梅利斯特家的人，跟他作伴总比眼前这个曾是伊伦叔叔的怪老僧有趣得多。

They had a laugh over that as they raced ahead to an amorous young miller’s wife that Patrek knew. Would that Patrek were with me now. Mallister or no, he was a more amiable riding companion than this sour old priest that his uncle Aeron had turned into.

他们越行越高，进入荒脊的岩石丘陵。很快大海便消失在视线之外，但潮湿的空气中盐味依然强烈。他们以稳定的速度缓缓前进，经过一块牧羊人的地，以及一座废弃的矿坑。眼前这个伊伦·葛雷乔伊信仰虔诚，不爱说话，所以两人几乎一语不发。席恩实在按捺不住。“临冬城现在由罗柏·史塔克当家，”他开口。

The path they rode wound up and up, into bare and stony hills. Soon they were out of sight of the sea, though the smell of salt still hung sharp in the damp air. They kept a steady plodding pace, past a shepherd’s croft and the abandoned workings of a mine. This new, holy Aeron Greyjoy was not much for talk. They rode in a gloom of silence. Finally Theon could suffer it no longer. “Robb Stark is Lord of Winterfell now,” he said.

伊伦继续骑，“新狼换旧狼，有何差别？”

Aeron rode on. “One wolf is much like the other.”

“罗柏已与铁王座决裂，自封北境之王。岛外到处都在打仗。”

“Robb has broken fealty with the Iron Throne and crowned himself King in the North. There’s war.”

“学士的信鸦飞过咸水汪洋，迅如飞石。这是又冰又冷的旧闻。”

“The maester’s ravens fly over salt as soon as rock. This news is old and cold.”

“叔叔，这意味着新日子即将来临。”

“It means a new day, Uncle.”

“每天太阳升起，都是新日子的来临，和旧日子却也差不多。”

“Every morning brings a new day, much like the old.”

“我在奔流城听到的可不是这样，人人都说红彗星象征新纪元到来，它是诸神的信使。”

“In Riverrun, they would tell you different. They say the red comet is a herald of a new age. A messenger from the gods.”

“是预兆没错，”僧侣表示同意，“不过是来自我们的神，而非他们的诸神。那是一个燃烧中的火炬，与我族古时所持者无异。那是淹神自海中带来的火炬，预示着即将高涨的海潮。此刻我们自当集结船队，让刀剑和烈火降临人世，一如他过去所作所为。”

“A sign it is,” the priest agreed, “but from our god, not theirs. A burning brand it is, such as our people carried of old. It is the flame the Drowned God brought from the sea, and it proclaims a rising tide. It is time to hoist our sails and go forth into the world with fire and sword, as he did.”

席恩微微一笑，“完全同意。”

Theon smiled. “I could not agree more.”

“对神而言，你的意见就如暴风中的一滴雨。”

“A man agrees with god as a raindrop with the storm.”

老头子，这滴雨有朝一日会成为一方霸主。席恩已经受够了叔叔的阴郁，于是他脚踢马刺，快步前驱，脸上挂着微笑。

This raindrop will one day be a king, old man. Theon had suffered quite enough of his uncle’s gloom. He put his spurs into his horse and trotted on ahead, smiling.

接近日落时分，他们抵达派克城下，城墙如一道黑石新月连缀两边峭壁，中间是城门楼，两边各有三座方形高塔。席恩仍旧能辨认出当年劳勃·拜拉席恩的投石机所炸出的伤痕。被毁的南塔业已重建，用了淡灰石材，尚未被地衣覆盖。当年劳勃便从这里攻破城堡，挥舞着手中战锤，跨越乱石和尸体，杀将进来，奈德·史塔克跟在他身旁。那时席恩远远从海中塔望着这一切，至今仍时时梦见火炬熊熊，听到城楼崩塌的轰然巨响。

It was nigh on sunset when they reached the walls of Pyke, a crescent of dark stone that ran from cliff to cliff, with the gatehouse in the center and three square towers to either side. Theon could still make out the scars left by the stones of Robert Baratheon’s catapults. A new south tower had risen from the ruins of the old, its stone a paler shade of grey, and as yet unmarred by patches of lichen. That was where Robert had made his breach, swarming in over the rubble and corpses with his warhammer in hand and Ned Stark at his side. Theon had watched from the safety of the Sea Tower, and sometimes he still saw the torches in his dreams, and heard the dull thunder of the collapse.

大人，他五年前就死了城门大开，生锈的铁闸早已升起，城墙上的卫兵用陌生的眼光打量着回家的席恩·葛雷乔伊。

The gates stood open to him, the rusted iron portcullis drawn up. The guards atop the battlements watched with strangers’ eyes as Theon Greyjoy came home at last.

过了外围石墙，便是广达五十亩的陆岬，连亘海天。马厩和狗舍都位于此，还有一些外屋。成群猪羊各自挤在圈里，城里的狗则四处奔跑。南边是悬崖，以及通往主堡的宽阔石桥。席恩翻身下马，听见熟悉的浪涛拍岸声。一名马厩小厮过来牵走他的坐骑。两个骨瘦如柴的小孩和几名农奴呆呆地望着他，但完全不见父亲踪影，也没有任何他儿时记忆里的人物。回家竟是碰上这样的场面，真是既黯然又辛酸啊，他心想。

Beyond the curtain wall were half a hundred acres of headland hard against the sky and the sea. The stables were here, and the kennels, and a scatter of other outbuildings. Sheep and swine huddled in their pens while the castle dogs ran free. To the south were the cliffs, and the wide stone bridge to the Great Keep. Theon could hear the crashing of waves as he swung down from his saddle. A stableman came to take his horse. A pair of gaunt children and some thralls stared at him with dull eyes, but there was no sign of his lord father, nor anyone else he recalled from boyhood. A bleak and bitter homecoming, he thought.

僧侣没有下马，“叔叔，您不留下来过夜，和我们共进晚餐吗？”

The priest had not dismounted. “Will you not stay the night and share our meat and mead, Uncle?”

“我的任务是把你带来，现在你来了，我便要回去为淹神服务。”伊伦·葛雷乔伊调转马头，缓缓从铁闸门满是泥泞的尖刺之下穿过，骑了出去。

“Bring you, I was told. You are brought. Now I return to our god’s business.” Aeron Greyjoy turned his horse and rode slowly out beneath the muddy spikes of the portcullis.

一名身穿平凡灰布裙服的驼背老妪小心翼翼朝他走来，“大人，我奉命带您到房间休息。”

A bentback old crone in a shapeless grey dress approached him warily. “M’lord, I am sent to show you to chambers.”

“谁的命令？”

“By whose bidding?”

“是您父亲大人的命令，大人。”

“Your lord father, m’lord.”

席恩脱下手套，“所以你还真认得我。为什么我父亲没有来迎接我？”

Theon pulled off his gloves. “So you do know who I am. Why is my father not here to greet me?”

“大人，他在海中塔里等您。请您先稍事休息。”

“He awaits you in the Sea Tower, m’lord. When you are rested from your trip.”

我还嫌奈德·史塔克冷漠呢。“你又是谁？”

And I thought Ned Stark cold. “And who are you?”

“海莉亚，我为您父亲大人管理城堡。”

“Helya, who keeps this castle for your lord father.”

“总管是西拉斯才对吧？大家叫他‘臭嘴’。”即便现在，席恩都还记得老头口中的酒臭。

“Sylas was steward here. They called him Sourmouth.” Even now, Theon could recall the winey stench of the old man’s breath.

“大人，他五年前就死了。”

“Dead these five years, m’lord.”

“魁伦学士呢？他人在哪儿？”

“And what of Maester Qalen, where is he?”

“长眠于海底。现在照顾信鸦的是温达米尔。”

“He sleeps in the sea. Wendamyr keeps the ravens now.”

我好像成了这里的陌生人啊，席恩心想，明明什么都没变，却又好像什么都不一样了。“那就带我去房间吧，女人。”他命令。她僵硬地鞠个躬，领着他穿过陆岬，走到桥边。这里总算和记忆中相符：老旧的石桥因浪花而滑溜，爬满地衣，脚下的怒涛有如凶猛巨兽，带着盐味的海风贴紧衣服。

It is as if I were a stranger here, Theon thought. Nothing has changed, and yet everything has changed. “Show me to my chambers, woman,” he commanded. Bowing stiffly, she led him across the headland to the bridge. That at least was as he remembered; the ancient stones slick with spray and spotted by lichen, the sea foaming under their feet like some great wild beast, the salt wind clutching at their clothes.

过去他想像自己回家的情景，脑中浮现的总是海中塔里他以前那间舒适卧房，没想到老妇却带他进了“血堡”。这里的厅堂较为宽敞，装潢也较佳，但还是一样湿冷。分给席恩的套房屋顶极高，竟因阴暗的关系看不到天花板，里面寒气袭人。倘若他不知“血堡”正因这组套房而得名，对此的印象可能会好些。千年以前，某个河流王所有的儿子全部在此惨遭屠杀，他们熟睡时被活活砍成碎片，再送回大陆给他们父亲。

Whenever he’d imagined his homecoming, he had always pictured himself returning to the snug bedchamber in the Sea Tower, where he’d slept as a child. Instead the old woman led him to the Bloody Keep. The halls here were larger and better furnished, if no less cold nor damp. Theon was given a suite of chilly rooms with ceilings so high that they were lost in gloom. He might have been more impressed if he had not known that these were the very chambers that had given the Bloody Keep its name. A thousand years before, the sons of the River King had been slaughtered here, hacked to bits in their beds so that pieces of their bodies might be sent back to their father on the mainland.

至于葛雷乔伊家的人，虽从未在自家城中遭他人谋害，但兄弟阋墙是常有的事，好在他的哥哥们全都死了。他嫌恶地环顾四周，并非因为怕鬼，只因墙上的壁毡长满青霉，床垫凹陷、闻起来有霉味，灯心草席则老旧而开裂。这些房间已有多年不曾使用，透着彻骨的湿意。“给我弄缸热水，赶紧给炉子生火。”他吩咐老妪，“记得把其他房间的火盆也点燃，多少能驱走寒意。还有，看在诸神的份上，赶快找个人把这些破草席都清掉。”

But Greyjoys were not murdered in Pyke except once in a great while by their brothers, and his brothers were both dead. It was not fear of ghosts that made him glance about with distaste. The wall hangings were green with mildew, the mattress musty-smelling and sagging, the rushes old and brittle. Years had come and gone since these chambers had last been opened. The damp went bone deep. “I’ll have a basin of hot water and a fire in this hearth,” he told the crone. “See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill. And gods be good, get someone in here at once to change these rushes.”

“是，大人，就照您的意思。”她连忙逃走。

“Yes, m’lord. As you command.” She fled.

过了一会，他们果真照他的要求弄来热水。虽然水温不高，很快就变凉了，而且还是海水，但洗去旅途风尘已然足够。他一边看着两名奴工燃起火盆，一边脱去沾满尘土的衣裳，准备换装去见父亲。他挑了柔韧的黑皮靴，银灰色的羊毛软裤，胸前绣有葛雷乔伊家金色海怪的黑天鹅绒外衣，又在脖子上戴了一串细金链，腰间系上一条漂白的皮带，再配上一把短刀和黑金剑鞘的长剑。他抽出短刀，用拇指测试刀锋，又从腰袋里拿出磨刀石擦了几下。他对自己保养武器的习惯颇感自豪。“在我回来以前，把房间弄暖和，铺好新席。”他取出一双有金线涡形装饰的黑丝手套戴上，同时警告奴工。

After some time, they brought the hot water he had asked for. It was only tepid, and soon cold, and seawater in the bargain, but it served to wash the dust of the long ride from his face and hair and hands. While two thralls lit his braziers, Theon stripped off his travel-stained clothing and dressed to meet his father. He chose boots of supple black leather, soft lambswool breeches of silvery-grey, a black velvet doublet with the golden kraken of the Greyjoys embroidered on the breast. Around his throat he fastened a slender gold chain, around his waist a belt of bleached white leather. He hung a dirk at one hip and a longsword at the other, in scabbards striped black-and-gold. Drawing the dirk, he tested its edge with his thumb, pulled a whetstone from his belt pouch, and gave it a few licks. He prided himself on keeping his weapons sharp. “When I return, I shall expect a warm room and clean rushes,” he warned the thralls as he drew on a pair of black gloves, the silk decorated with a delicate scrollwork tracery in golden thread.

席恩经由一条封顶石砌走廊回到主堡，脚步回音应着下方不休的怒涛。海中塔位于一座歪曲的海柱上，欲达该处，需经三座桥梁，且一桥比一桥窄。最后一座桥仅以木材与绳索做成，在海风吹拂下摇晃不止，彷若活物。席恩才走到一半，心便似跳了出来。遥远的下方恶浪袭岸，激起层层水花。小时候他可以快步跑过此桥，即使夜半时分也行。小孩子天不怕地不怕，他的怀疑悄声说，成年人则不然。

Theon returned to the Great Keep through a covered stone walkway, the echoes of his footsteps mingling with the ceaseless rumble of the sea below. To get to the Sea Tower on its crooked pillar, he had to cross three further bridges, each narrower than the one before. The last was made of rope and wood, and the wet salt wind made it sway underfoot like a living thing. Theon’s heart was in his mouth by the time he was halfway across. A long way below, the waves threw up tall plumes of spray as they crashed against the rock. As a boy, he used to run across this bridge, even in the black of night. Boys believe nothing can hurt them, his doubt whispered. Grown men know better.

门是灰色的木料，上面镶了铁钉。席恩发觉它从内拴上，便握拳敲门，谁知木屑竟刺穿手套，扎得他忍不住咒骂。木头潮湿长霉，铁钉早已锈蚀。

The door was grey wood studded with iron, and Theon found it barred from the inside. He hammered on it with a fist, and cursed when a splinter snagged the fabric of his glove. The wood was damp and moldy, the iron studs rusted.

过了半晌，有个身穿黑铁胸甲和圆形头盔的卫兵开了门，“你就是那个儿子？”

After a moment the door was opened from within by a guard in a black iron breastplate and pothelm. “You are the son?”

“滚开，否则要你好看！”那人往旁边站开。席恩爬上蜿蜒的楼梯来到塔顶，发现父亲正坐在火盆边，身穿发霉的海豹皮连身长袍，从下巴到脚都包在里面。铁岛之王听见石阶上的脚步声，便抬头看他唯一在世的儿子。他比席恩印象中要渺小得多，瘦削不堪。巴隆·葛雷乔伊一向很瘦，如今更彷佛被神灵放进大锅，煮干了全身每一寸肌肉，仅余肤发。他体瘦如柴，一副硬骨架，而那张脸简直就像用燧石凿出，惟独一双黑眼十分锐利。父亲的头发历经岁月和海风摧残，成了冬日大海的灰色，其间缀了几朵白浪，未经扎理，垂下过肩。

“Out of my way, or you’ll learn who I am.” The man stood aside. Theon climbed the twisting steps to the solar. He found his father seated beside a brazier, beneath a robe of musty sealskins that covered him foot to chin. At the sound of boots on stone, the Lord of the Iron Islands lifted his eyes to behold his last living son. He was smaller than Theon remembered him. And so gaunt. Balon Greyjoy had always been thin, but now he looked as though the gods had put him in a cauldron and boiled every spare ounce of flesh from his bones, until nothing remained but hair and skin. Bone thin and bone hard he was, with a face that might have been chipped from flint. His eyes were flinty too, black and sharp, but the years and the salt winds had turned his hair the grey of a winter sea, flecked with whitecaps. Unbound, it hung past the small of the back.

“九年了？”最后巴隆大王开口。

“Nine years, is it?” Lord Balon said at last.

“十年。”席恩回答，脱下被刺破的手套。

“Ten,” Theon answered, pulling off his torn gloves.

“你被他们带走时是个孩子，”父亲说，“现在呢？”

“A boy they took,” his father said. “What are you now?”

“我已长大成人，”席恩答道，“我是您的亲生骨肉，也是您的继承人。”

“A man,” Theon answered. “Your blood and your heir.”

那是好久以前的事了巴隆大王哼了一声，“这我可不敢确定。”

Lord Balon grunted. “We shall see.”

“我会让您确定。”席恩向他保证。

“You shall,” Theon promised.

“你说十年？史塔克那家伙养你的时间和我一样长，你现在更成了他的使节。”

“Ten years, you say. Stark had you as long as I. And now you come as his envoy.”

“不。”席恩道，“艾德大人已死，他被兰尼斯特家的太后斩首示众。”

“Not his,” Theon said. “Lord Eddard is dead, beheaded by the Lannister queen.”

“史塔克和那个砸破我城墙的劳勃，他们两个都死了。我发过誓一定要亲眼见他们进坟墓，现在果真如愿以偿。”他皱起眉头，“可遇上湿冷天气，我的关节还是会痛，和他们在世时没两样。所以到头来这有什么意义呢？”

“They are both dead, Stark and that Robert who broke my walls with his stones. I vowed I’d live to see them both in their graves, and I have.” He grimaced. “Yet the cold and the damp still make my joints ache, as when they were alive. So what does it serve?”

“当然有意义，”席恩走上前，“我带来一封信——”

“It serves.” Theon moved closer. “I bring a letter—”

“是奈德·史塔克教你穿成这样？”父亲眯起眼睛，打断他的话，“他喜欢你穿天鹅绒和丝衣服，当他的乖女儿？”

“Did Ned Stark dress you like that?” his father interrupted, squinting up from beneath his robe. “Was it his pleasure to garb you in velvets and silks and make you his own sweet daughter?”

席恩只觉血气上涌，“我才不是他女儿！您不喜欢我的衣服，我换就是。”

Theon felt the blood rising to his face. “I am no man’s daughter. If you mislike my garb, I will change it.”

“非换不可。”巴隆大王甩开皮袍，站起身来。他没有席恩印象中那么高。“你脖子上戴的东西——用金子还是用铁换来？”

“You will.” Throwing off the furs, Lord Balon pushed himself to his feet. He was not so tall as Theon remembered. “That bauble around your neck—was it bought with gold or iron?”

席恩摸摸金链，他竟然忘了。那是好久以前的事了啊……依照古道，女人可以花钱买装饰品打扮自己，然而战士所穿戴的饰品，必得从自己杀死的敌人身上夺来，所谓“付铁钱”是也。

Theon touched the gold chain. He had forgotten. It has been so long … In the Old Way, women might decorate themselves with ornaments bought with coin, but a warrior wore only the jewelry he took off the corpses of enemies slain by his own hand. Paying the iron price, it was called.

“席恩，你脸红得跟闺女一样。我再问你一遍：你付的是金子，还是铁钱？”

“You blush red as a maid, Theon. A question was asked. Is it the gold price you paid, or the iron?”

“是金子。”席恩坦承。

“The gold,” Theon admitted.

父亲伸手抓住项链猛力一扯，差点没把席恩的脖子扭断，幸好链子先掉。“我女儿的爱人是把斧头，”巴隆大王说，“我绝不准我儿子打扮得跟个婊子似的！”他把项链丢进火盆，断链滑入燃烧的炭火。“果不出我所料，青绿之地上你养尊处优，史塔克家把你变成跟他们一个样！”

His father slid his fingers under the necklace and gave it a yank so hard it was like to take Theon’s head off, had the chain not snapped first. “My daughter has taken an axe for a lover,” Lord Balon said. “I will not have my son bedeck himself like a whore.” He dropped the broken chain onto the brazier, where it slid down among the coals. “It is as I feared. The green lands have made you soft, and the Starks have made you theirs.”

“你错了，奈德·史塔克是囚禁我的狱卒，而我体内仍然流着海盐与钢铁的血脉。”

“You’re wrong. Ned Stark was my gaoler, but my blood is still salt and iron.”

巴隆转过身，伸手到火盆上取暖。“话虽如此，史塔克家那小鬼可把你当成训练有素的信鸦，乖乖带着他的小纸条来见我。”

Lord Balon turned away to warm his bony hands over the brazier. “Yet the Stark pup sends you to me like a well-trained raven, clutching his little message.”

“这绝非什么纸条，”席恩道，“他开的条件是我提议的！”

“There is nothing small about the letter I bear,” Theon said, “and the offer he makes is one I suggested to him.”

“这么说来，小狼很听你话，是不是？”巴隆大王似乎颇觉有趣。

“This wolf king heeds your counsel, does he?” The notion seemed to amuse Lord Balon.

“没错，他听我的。我和他一起打猎，一起练剑，一起吃饭，一起打仗，我已经赢得了他的信赖，他把我当作哥哥一样，他——”

“He heeds me, yes. I’ve hunted with him, trained with him, shared meat and mead with him, warred at his side. I have earned his trust. He looks on me as an older brother, he—”

“住口！”父亲指着他的脸，“不准你在这里，在派克城中，在我的面前说你是他‘哥哥’，你真正的哥哥就是被这个人的父亲杀的，难道你忘了你的亲哥哥罗德利克和马伦？”

“No.” His father jabbed a finger at his face. “Not here, not in Pyke, not in my hearing, you will not name him brother, this son of the man who put your true brothers to the sword. Or have you forgotten Rodrik and Maron, who were your own blood?”

“我什么也没忘。”老实讲，哥哥根本不是奈德·史塔克所杀。罗德利克在海疆城死在杰森·梅利斯特伯爵手里，马伦则葬身于崩塌的南塔之中……不过倘若命运使他们碰上史塔克，想必他也会毫不迟疑地杀了他们吧。“哥哥们的样子我记得很清楚。”席恩坚持，他当然记得罗德利克酒后赏他的耳光，以及马伦恶毒的嘲弄和无休无止的谎言。“我同时还记得，我的父亲原本是个国王。”他拿出罗柏的信，向前一推。“信在这里……陛下，请您过目。”

“I forget nothing.” Ned Stark had killed neither of his brothers, in truth. Rodrik had been slain by Lord Jason Mallister at Seagard, Maron crushed in the collapse of the old south tower … but Stark would have done for them just as quick had the tide of battle chanced to sweep them together. “I remember my brothers very well,” Theon insisted. Chiefly he remembered Rodrik’s drunken cuffs and Maron’s cruel japes and endless lies. “I remember when my father was a king too.” He took out Robb’s letter and thrust it forward. “Here. Read it … Your Grace.”

巴隆大王揭去封蜡，展开羊皮纸，那双黑眼来回扫视。“所以这小鬼想要再给我一顶王冠，”他说，“只要我帮他除掉敌人。”他的薄唇露出一抹微笑。

Lord Balon broke the seal and unfolded the parchment. His black eyes flicked back and forth. “So the boy would give me a crown again,” he said, “and all I need do is destroy his enemies.” His thin lips twisted in a smile.

“罗柏现下正准备攻打金牙城，”席恩道，“攻陷之后，他只需一天时间便可穿越丘陵。泰温大人的军队目前驻于赫伦堡，完全与西部隔绝，弑君者则被关在奔流城。西境只剩史戴佛·兰尼斯特爵士和他那群刚募集的新兵与罗柏作对。史戴佛爵士会将兵力部署在罗柏和兰尼斯港之间，也就是说，我们若从海上进犯，兰尼斯港将无力反抗。倘若神灵眷顾，我们很可能在兰尼斯特军尚未发觉前便拿下凯岩城。”

“By now Robb is at the Golden Tooth,” Theon said. “Once it falls, he’ll be through the hills in a day. Lord Tywin’s host is at Harrenhal, cut off from the west. The Kingslayer is a captive at Riverrun. Only Ser Stafford Lannister and the raw green levies he’s been gathering remain to oppose Robb in the west. Ser Stafford will put himself between Robb’s army and Lannisport, which means the city will be undefended when we descend on it by sea. If the gods are with us, even Casterly Rock itself may fall before the Lannisters so much as realize that we are upon them.”

巴隆大王哼了一声，“从没人能攻陷凯岩城。”

Lord Balon grunted. “Casterly Rock has never fallen.”

“除了我们。”席恩微笑道。多么美妙！

“Until now.” Theon smiled. And how sweet that will be.

可惜父亲没笑，“罗柏·史塔克让你回来就为了这个？要你说服我同意他的计划？”

His father did not return the smile. “So this is why Robb Stark sends you back to me, after so long? So you might win my consent to this plan of his?”

“这是我的计划，不是罗柏的。”席恩骄傲地说。没错，接下来的胜利也会是我的，还有最后的王冠。“如果您同意，我将亲自领军。待我军自兰尼斯特手中拿下凯岩城，请您将之赐给我作为奖赏，我将在那里建立根据地。”有了凯岩城，他便能吞并兰尼斯港和西部富庶的黄金领地，那将是葛雷乔伊家族从未有过的财富与荣耀。

“It is my plan, not Robb’s,” Theon said proudly. Mine, as the victory will be mine, and in time the crown. “I will lead the attack myself, if it please you. As my reward I would ask that you grant me Casterly Rock for my own seat, once we have taken it from the Lannisters.” With the Rock, he could hold Lannisport and the golden lands of the west. It would mean wealth and power such as House Greyjoy had never known.

“就凭这几个字，你的胃口倒不小。”父亲又把信读过一遍，“这狼崽子可没提奖赏的事，他只说你代表他，要我乖乖听话，派出舰队和大军为他作战，然后给我一顶王冠。”他抬起燧石般的眼睛，直视儿子。“他会‘给’我一顶王冠。”他复诵一遍，语气尖锐了许多。

“You reward yourself handsomely for a notion and a few lines of scribbling.” His father read the letter again. “The pup says nothing about a reward. Only that you speak for him, and I am to listen, and give him my sails and swords, and in return he will give me a crown.” His flinty eyes lifted to meet his son’s. “He will give me a crown,” he repeated, his voice growing sharp.

“那只是措辞不佳，实际上——”

“A poor choice of words, what is meant is—”

“实际上就是这个意思。那小鬼要‘给’我一顶王冠，既然是给的，就可以再收回去。”巴隆公爵手一挥，把信丢进火盆，正好落在项链上。羊皮纸四角卷起，发黑，起火燃烧。

“What is meant is what is said. The boy will give me a crown. And what is given can be taken away.” Lord Balon tossed the letter onto the brazier, atop the necklace. The parchment curled, blackened, and took flame.

席恩简直不敢相信，“你疯了吗？”

Theon was aghast. “Have you gone mad?”

父亲反手便是一记耳光，“注意你的言辞。这里可不是临冬城，我也不是罗柏那小毛头，你没资格对我这样说话。我是派克岛掠夺者之首，海盐王与磐岩王，海风之子，我不需任何人施舍王冠，我付出铁钱，亲自夺取，就和五千年前的‘血手’乌伦一样。”

His father laid a stinging backhand across his cheek. “Mind your tongue. You are not in Winterfell now, and I am not Robb the Boy, that you should speak to me so. I am the Greyjoy, Lord Reaper of Pyke, King of Salt and Rock, Son of the Sea Wind, and no man gives me a crown. I pay the iron price. I will take my crown, as Urron Redhand did five thousand years ago.”

席恩后退几步，远离父亲突如其来的暴怒口吻。“那你就去拿吧！”他吼道，脸颊隐隐作痛。“你就自封铁岛之王吧，没人会理睬你……等战争结束，胜利者只会看到一个头戴铁冠的蠢老头，傻笑着站在海边！”

Theon edged backward, away from the sudden fury in his father’s tone. “Take it, then,” he spat, his cheek still tingling. “Call yourself King of the Iron Islands, no one will care … until the wars are over, and the victor looks about and spies the old fool perched off his shore with an iron crown on his head.”

他们也只有这条路可走巴隆大王哈哈大笑：“不错，起码你不是懦夫，同样地我也不蠢。你以为我召集舰队是为了好看？我打算用刀剑与烈焰打出一片江山……但不是从西部，更不能照着小鬼国王罗柏的意思。凯岩城太坚固，何况泰温大人精明无比。对，我们是可能攻下兰尼斯港，但绝对守不住。我属意的是另一颗果实……或许没那么甜，可是一样成熟番透，高挂枝头，无人摘采。”

Lord Balon laughed. “Well, at the least you are no craven. No more than I’m a fool. Do you think I gather my ships to watch them rock at anchor? I mean to carve out a kingdom with fire and sword … but not from the west, and not at the bidding of King Robb the Boy. Casterly Rock is too strong, and Lord Tywin too cunning by half. Aye, we might take Lannisport, but we should never keep it. No. I hunger for a different plum … not so juicy sweet, to be sure, yet it hangs there ripe and undefended.”

是哪里呢？席恩刚想开口，却蓦然得到了答案。

Where? Theon might have asked, but by then he knew.