“有人想出100银币吗?”拍卖者带着哭腔。
“Who will give me one hundred?” cried the auctioneer.
竞拍最后还是开始了,尽管起价只有50银币。出价者是一个穿着皮围裙的瘦子。
That drew a bid at last, though it was only fifty silvers. The bidder was a thin man in a leather apron.
“再加一块,”穿紫色托卡的老太婆说。
“And one,” said the crone in the violet tokar.
一个士兵举起佩妮放到骡车的后面。“那老女人是谁?”侏儒问他。
One of the soldiers lifted Penny onto the back of the mule cart. “Who is the old woman?” the dwarf asked him.
“扎丽娜,”男人说,“她手下那些廉价角斗士是竞技场英雄们的开胃菜。你的朋友很快就要死了。”
“Zahrina,” the man said. “Cheap fighters, hers. Meat for heroes. Your friend dead soon.”
他不是我的朋友。但提利昂·兰尼斯特发现自己转向保姆说,“你不能让她买下他。”
He was no friend to me. Yet Tyrion Lannister found himself turning to Nurse and saying, “You cannot let her have him.”
保姆眯起眼睛看着他。“你在聒噪些啥?”
Nurse squinted at him. “What is this noise you make?”
提利昂指出。“那是我们表演的一部分。狗熊和美少女。乔拉是狗熊,佩妮是少女,我是去拯救她的勇敢骑士。我跳舞然后打他的老二(我是故意这么翻的,嗯嗯),多么滑稽。”
Tyrion pointed. “That one is part of our show. The bear and the maiden fair. Jorah is the bear, Penny is the maiden, I am the brave knight who rescues her. I dance about and hit him in the balls. Very funny.”
督察眯着眼睛看着拍卖区。“他?”为乔拉·莫尔蒙的出价已经上涨到了200银币。
The overseer squinted at the auction block. “Him?” The bidding for Jorah Mormont had reached two hundred silvers.
“再加一块,”穿紫色托卡的老太婆说。
“And one,” said the crone in the violet tokar.
“你的熊,我知道了。”保姆从人群中疾速挤过,欠身对轿子上的渊凯大黄胖子耳语了几句。他的主人点了点头,下巴的赘肉随之颤动,然后扬起了扇子。“300,”他气喘吁吁的说道。
“Your bear. I see.” Nurse went scuttling off through the crowd, bent over the huge yellow Yunkishman in his litter, whispered in his ear. His master nodded, chins wobbling, then raised his fan. “Three hundred,” he called out in a wheezy voice.
老太婆扇了扇鼻孔转身走开。
The crone sniffed and turned away.
“你干嘛那么做?”佩妮用通用语问。
“Why did you do that?” Penny asked, in the Common Tongue.
问到点子上了,提利昂想。我干嘛那么做呢?“你的表演越来越无聊了。每个戏子都需要只会跳舞的熊。
A fair question, thought Tyrion. Why did I? “Your show was growing dull. Every mummer needs a dancing bear.”
她责备地看了他一眼,接着她退回到货车后部坐下,环抱着咬咬狗,好像那条狗是她在这个世界上最后的真心朋友。或许是的。
She gave him a reproachful look, then retreated to the back of the cart and sat with her arms around Crunch, as if the dog was her last true friend in the world. Perhaps he is.
保姆带着乔拉·莫尔蒙回来了,他们主人的两个奴隶士兵把他丢进了螺车上侏儒之间的地方。骑士没有挣扎。当他听说他的女王已经结婚了便丧失了战意,提利昂知道。一句轻语便完成了铁拳和硬棍和皮鞭不能做到的事;它打垮了他。我真该让那个老太婆买走他的。他就和胸甲上的乳头一样有用。
Nurse returned with Jorah Mormont. Two of their master’s slave soldiers flung him into the back of the mule cart between the dwarfs. The knight did not struggle. All the fight went out of him when he heard that his queen had wed, Tyrion realized. One whispered word had done what fists and whips and clubs could not; it had broken him. I should have let the crone have him. He’s going to be as useful as nipples on a breastplate.
保姆爬到骡车前部抓起缰绳,接着他们就离开穿过营帐的重重包围来到他们新主人——高贵的耶赞·祖·喀高兹——的营地。四个奴隶士兵伴着他们前进,一边两个。
Nurse climbed onto the front of the mule cart and took up the reins, and they set off through the siege camp to the compound of their new master, the noble Yezzan zo Qaggaz. Four slave soldiers marched beside them, two on either side of the cart.
佩妮没哭,但是她的眼又红又悲伤,从没从咬咬狗身上移开。难道她以为只要不看一切就会慢慢消失么?乔拉·莫尔蒙则对一切人和事都熟视无睹。他缩成一团在锁链的囚禁中想着些什么。
Penny did not weep, but her eyes were red and miserable, and she never lifted them from Crunch. Does she think all this might fade away if she does not look at it? Ser Jorah Mormont looked at no one and nothing. He sat huddled, brooding in his chains.
提利昂看着一切人和事。
Tyrion looked at everything and everyone.
渊凯人的营地不仅仅是一个帐篷,而是上百个呈新月形环绕着弥林城墙的帐篷群。弥林,一个丝绸与帆布之城,它有着它的大街小巷、旅馆妓院、豪华的街区和贫民窟。在围攻的前线和海湾之间,散布者想蘑菇一样的帐篷,有的小而寒酸,说是块避雨遮阳的褪色帆布还差不多,但旁边也有的大到足以容纳百个人的大兵营帐,顶杆闪耀着鹰身女妖的宫殿大小的柔光华亮的行宫。有些营地看起来井然有序,以篝火为圆心,营帐则排列成同心圆环绕着它,武器和铠甲堆在里面的圈里,马匹栓在外围。但除此之外,大部分营地看起来混乱一片。
The Yunkish encampment was not one camp but a hundred camps raised up cheek by jowl in a crescent around the walls of Meereen, a city of silk and canvas with its own avenues and alleys, taverns and trollops, good districts and bad. Between the siege lines and the bay, tents had sprouted up like yellow mushrooms. Some were small and mean, no more than a flap of old stained canvas to keep off the rain and sun, but beside them stood barracks tents large enough to sleep a hundred men and silken pavilions as big as palaces with harpies gleaming atop their roof poles. Some camps were orderly, with the tents arrayed around a fire pit in concentric circles, weapons and armor stacked around the inner ring, horse lines outside. Elsewhere, pure chaos seemed to reign.
环绕着弥林的干燥的火光冲天的平原一马平川的荒芜,几里格内都没有一棵树,但是渊凯船只从南方带了很多原木和兽皮,足够做六个巨大的投石机。他们排列在城市的三个方向,另一面靠河的方向则堆满了待投掷的石块、成桶的沥青和松脂。一个跟着骡车走的士兵看到提利昂在看,自豪地对他说每个投石机都起了名字:碎龙者、老泼妇、鹰身女妖之女、狡猾老姐、阿斯塔波之鬼、玛兹达罕之拳。它们比帐篷还高40尺,成了围城营地的主地标。“只消看上一眼,那龙后就该下跪了,”他吹嘘道。“那儿才是她的归宿,舔希兹达哈的老二,除此之外,我们还会将她的城墙砸成碎片。
The dry, scorched plains around Meereen were flat and bare and treeless for long leagues, but the Yunkish ships had brought lumber and hides up from the south, enough to raise six huge trebuchets. They were arrayed on three sides of the city, all but the river side, surrounded by piles of broken stone and casks of pitch and resin just waiting for a torch. One of the soldiers walking along beside the cart saw where Tyrion was looking and proudly told him that each of the trebuchets had been given a name: Dragonbreaker, Harridan, Harpy’s Daughter, Wicked Sister, Ghost of Astapor, Mazdhan’s Fist. Towering above the tents to a height of forty feet, the trebuchets were the siege camp’s chief landmarks. “Just the sight of them drove the dragon queen to her knees,” he boasted. “And there she will stay, sucking Hizdahr’s noble cock, else we smash her walls to rubble.”
提利昂亲眼看见一个奴隶受鞭笞的样子,一下接着一下,知道他的后背只剩下血和猩红的肉。一列带着镣铐人的列队经过,每一步都伴着金铁交鸣的咣当声;他们提着长矛挂着短剑,但是手腕脚踝上都连着锁链。空气中弥漫着烤肉的味道,而他看见个人正为他的炖锅准备剥皮狗。
Tyrion saw a slave being whipped, blow after blow, until his back was nothing but blood and raw meat. A file of men marched past in irons, clanking with every step; they carried spears and wore short swords, but chains linked them wrist to wrist and ankle to ankle. The air smelled of roasting meat, and he saw one man skinning a dog for his stewpot.
他也看见了已死的,听到了将死的。在飘散在四周的烟雾中,有马的气味,而掺杂在海湾的咸味里最浓烈的是血和粪的恶臭。
He saw the dead as well, and heard the dying. Under the drifting smoke, the smell of horses, and the sharp salt tang of the bay was a stink of blood and shit. Some flux, he realized, as he watched two sellswords carry the corpse of a third from one of the tents. That made his fingers twitch. Disease could wipe out an army quicker than any battle, he had heard his father say once.
为逃跑添了更多理由,而且得快。
All the more reason to escape, and soon.
四分之一里外,他又找到了个好理由。一群人围着三个试图一同逃跑的奴隶。“我就知道我的小宝贝既可爱又顺从,”保姆说。“看看试图逃跑的人的下场。”
A quarter mile on, he found good reason to reconsider. A crowd had formed around three slaves taken whilst trying to escape. “I know my little treasures will be sweet and obedient,” Nurse said. “See what befalls ones who try to run.”
被俘的奴隶被拷在横梁上,一对投石者正对着他们磨练手艺。“托罗西,”其中一个守卫告诉他们。“世界上最好的投石者之一,他们用软铅球替代了石头。”
The captives had been tied to a row of crossbeams, and a pair of slingers were using them to test their skills. “Tolosi,” one of the guards told them. “The best slingers in the world. They throw soft lead balls in place of stones.”
提利昂看不出投石有什么优点,弓箭的射程比它远多了……但是他的确从没看过托罗西干活。他们的铅球比其他投石者用的石块造成更大的伤害,更别提弓箭了。其中一块砸中了其中一个俘虏的膝盖,使其碎成一团血骨的杂合体而男子的小腿则仅剩下暗红的筋腱相连。好吧,他是再跑不了了,当那个人开始尖叫时提利昂认定。在早晨的空气里他的尖叫混合在营妓的笑声和赌投石者会打偏的那些人的诅咒声里。佩妮移开了眼,但是保姆紧掰她的下巴迫使她扭回头去。“看好了,”他命令。“你也是,大熊。”
Tyrion had never seen the point of slings, when bows had so much better range … but he had never seen Tolosi at work before. Their lead balls did vastly more damage than the smooth stones other slingers used, and more than any bow as well. One struck the knee of one of the captives, and it burst apart in a gout of blood and bone that left the man’s lower leg dangling by a rope of dark red tendon. Well, he won’t run again, Tyrion allowed, as the man began to scream. His shrieks mingled in the morning air with the laughter of camp followers and the curses of those who’d wagered good coin that the slinger would miss. Penny looked away, but Nurse grasped her under the chin and twisted her head back around. “Watch,” he commanded. “You too, bear.”
乔拉·莫尔蒙抬起头冷盯着保姆。提利昂看到他手臂青筋暴露。他准备拧断保姆的脖子,这样我们三个就全完了。但是骑士只是苦了一下脸便转过去看那场血腥秀。
Jorah Mormont raised his head and stared at Nurse. Tyrion could see the tightness in his arms. He’s going to throttle him, and that will be the end for all of us. But the knight only grimaced, then turned to watch the bloody show.
东边,弥林巨型砖墙在晨温中闪着光芒。这是这些可悲的白痴们希望逃去的避难所。但它作为避难所的日子还能持续多久呢?
To the east the massive brick walls of Meereen shimmered through the morning heat. That was the refuge these poor fools had hoped to reach. How long will it remain a refuge, though?
在保姆重新架起缰绳前,三个试图逃跑的奴隶就已经死了。接着骡车吱呀呀的开动了。
All three of the would-be escapees were dead before Nurse gathered up the reins again. The mule cart rumbled on.
他们主人的营地在“老泼妇”的东南方,几乎遮蔽在它的阴影中,绵延数亩。传说中耶赞·祖·喀高兹的陋帐其实是个柠檬黄丝绸搭造的宫殿。鎏金的鹰身女妖屹立在它中央顶杆的九个尖顶上,在阳光照耀下闪闪发光。其他的次要帐篷则众星捧月般环绕着主帐。“那些是我们高贵的主人的厨师,小妾、战士和一点不受宠的亲戚的住所,”保姆告诉他们,“但你们这些小宝贝有幸睡在耶赞自己的行宫里。他很喜欢留自己的小珍宝在身畔。”他对着莫尔蒙皱了皱眉。“不是你,大熊。你又大又丑,得拿链子栓在外头。”其实没什么回应。“但首要任务是给你们每人配个项圈。”
Their master’s camp was south and east of the Harridan, almost in its shadow, and spread over several acres. The humble tent of Yezzan zo Qaggaz proved to be a palace of lemon-colored silk. Gilded harpies stood atop the center poles of each of its nine peaked roofs, shining in the sun. Lesser tents ringed it on all sides. “Those are the dwellings of our noble master’s cooks, concubines, and warriors, and a few less-favored kinsmen,” Nurse told them, “but you little darlings shall have the rare privilege of sleeping within Yezzan’s own pavilion. It pleases him to keep his treasures close.” He frowned at Mormont. “Not you, bear. You are big and ugly, you will be chained outside.” The knight did not respond. “First, all of you must be fitted for collars.”
项圈是铁制,外面镀了薄薄一层金这样在阳光下就闪闪发光,上面着用瓦雷利亚语写耶赞的名字,在耳朵下面的位置还追追着一对小铃铛,这样佩戴者每走一步都伴随着一阵悦耳的铃声。乔拉·莫尔蒙阴郁默认了他的项圈,但是佩妮在武器匠将她的项圈扣上时叫了起来。“太重了,”她抱怨。
The collars were made of iron, lightly gilded to make them glitter in the light. Yezzan’s name was incised into the metal in Valyrian glyphs, and a pair of tiny bells were affixed below the ears, so the wearer’s every step produced a merry little tinkling sound. Jorah Mormont accepted his collar in a sullen silence, but Penny began to cry as the armorer was fastening her own into place. “It’s so heavy,” she complained.
提利昂抓了抓她的手。“它是纯金的,”他撒谎。“在维斯特洛伊,高贵的小姐们做梦都想拥有这样的项链。”项圈总比烙印好,项圈能取下。他想起了雪伊,在她的脖子被那条金链一点一点勒入时,它就像这样金光闪闪。
Tyrion squeezed her hand. “It’s solid gold,” he lied. “In Westeros, highborn ladies dream of such a necklace.” Better a collar than a brand. A collar can be removed. He remembered Shae, and the way the golden chain had glimmered as he twisted it tighter and tighter about her throat.
之后,保姆将乔拉爵士的链子拴在厨火旁的一根柱子上,将两个侏儒带进了主人的行宫,给他们展示了睡觉的地方,那是一个与主帐用黄丝绸隔开的铺了地毯的隔间,他们和耶赞的其他珍宝们同住:长着扭曲多毛的“山羊腿”的男孩,来自(还是穿着)Mantarys的双头女孩,长胡子的女人(瑟曦?),一个穿着密尔纱丝戴着月石首饰的苗条的叫糖果的人。“你大概试图猜测我是男是女了,”当她被带到注入面前时说。接着她掀起了裙子给他们展示了下面的景观。“我两种都是,而主人最爱我了。”
Afterward, Nurse had Ser Jorah’s chains fastened to a stake near the cookfire whilst he escorted the two dwarfs inside the master’s pavilion and showed them where they would sleep, in a carpeted alcove separated from the main tent by walls of yellow silk. They would share this space with Yezzan’s other treasures: a boy with twisted, hairy “goat legs,” a two-headed girl out of Mantarys, a bearded woman, and a willowy creature called Sweets who dressed in moonstones and Myrish lace. “You are trying to decide if I’m a man or woman,” Sweets said, when she was brought before the dwarfs. Then she lifted her skirts and showed them what was underneath. “I’m both, and master loves me best.”
一个双性人,提利昂明白了。神灵不知道躲在哪儿笑呢。“真可爱,”他对糖果说,他有着紫发和紫罗兰色的眼睛,“我们都曾一直希望自己能变成那些漂亮的人。”
A grotesquerie, Tyrion realized. Somewhere some god is laughing. “Lovely,” he said to Sweets, who had purple hair and violet eyes, “but we were hoping to be the pretty ones for once.”
糖果咯咯笑出声,但是保姆没被逗乐。“把你那点笑话留到晚上吧,到时候你得为我们高贵的主人演出。若你逗他高兴,便重重有赏。但若不的话……”他横掴了提利昂一掌。
Sweets sniggered, but Nurse was not amused. “Save your japes for this evening, when you perform for our noble master. If you please him, you will be well rewarded. If not …” He slapped Tyrion across the face.
“对待保姆你可得小心点,”督察走后糖果说。“他才是这里真正的魔鬼。”胡子女用一种难以分辨的吉斯卡里混合语说,而山羊男孩用的是水手说的叫贸易语的混杂语。而双头女孩则是个低能儿;其中的一个头还没橙子大根本不会说话,另一个头长着锉刀一样的利齿,对每个靠近她笼子的人都含糊咆哮。但糖果对包括高等瓦雷利亚语的四种语言都应用自如。
“You will want to be careful with Nurse,” said Sweets when the overseer had departed. “He is the only true monster here.” The bearded woman spoke an incomprehensible variety of Ghiscari, the goat boy some guttural sailor’s pidgin called the trade talk. The two-headed girl was feebleminded; one head was no bigger than an orange and did not speak at all, the other had filed teeth and was like to growl at anyone who came too close to her cage. But Sweets was fluent in four tongues, one of them High Valyrian.
“那个主人是什么样的人?”佩妮担心的问,
“What is the master like?” Penny asked, anxiously.
“他有着黄眼睛,臭味遍身。”十年前,他去了索瑟罗斯,自那开始他便从内到外的开始腐烂了。只要让他忘记他快死了,就算只是一小会儿,他也能变的非常慷慨。对他,别拒绝任何事。
“His eyes are yellow, and he stinks,” said Sweets. “Ten years ago he went to Sothoryos, and he has been rotting from the inside out ever since. Make him forget that he is dying, even for a little while, and he can be most generous. Deny him nothing.”
“他们只剩一个下午来认识奴隶们的分类。耶赞的贴身奴隶挤满了一个盛着热水的浴盆,侏儒被允许沐浴——佩妮先来,接着是提利昂。容纳后另一个奴隶给他的后背的伤口上了药防止坏疽滋生,但是弄的他后背被弄的刺痛不已,接着伤口上覆盖了一层凉膏。佩妮的头发被剪掉了,提利昂也剃掉了胡子。他们得到了柔软的拖鞋和新衣服,虽然普通但是整洁。
They had only the afternoon to learn the ways of chattel. Yezzan’s body slaves filled a tub with hot water, and the dwarfs were allowed to bathe—Penny first, then Tyrion. Afterward another slave spread a stinging ointment across the cuts on his back to keep them from mortifying, then covered them with a cool poultice. Penny’s hair was cut, and Tyrion’s beard got a trim. They were given soft slippers and fresh clothing, plain but clean.
接着夜幕降临,保姆回来告诉他们他们骑士秀的时间到了。耶赞要招待渊凯军的最高将领,高贵的雅克哈兹·佐·扬扎克,他们的节目很受期待。“我们要不要把你的熊解锁?”
As evening fell, Nurse returned to tell them that it was time to don their mummer’s plate. Yezzan would be hosting the Yunkish supreme commander, the noble Yurkhaz zo Yunzak, and they would be expected to perform. “Shall we unchain your bear?”
“今晚不行,”提利昂说。“这次就让我们为主任表演骑士秀,熊留着下次吧。”
“Not this night,” Tyrion said. “Let us joust for our master first and save the bear for some other time.”
“就这样吧。你们的小丑秀结束后,还有端茶倒水的工作。到时候小心点别洒到客人身上,否则有你好受。”
“Just so. After your capers are concluded, you will help serve and pour. See that you do not spill on the guests, or it will go ill for you.”
一个杂耍者开启了晚间的余兴节目。接下来是三个精力充沛的筋斗演员,他们之后是山羊腿男孩伴着一个雅克哈兹奴隶骨笛跳的不协调的荒诞舞步。提利昂的脑中闪过是不是要问奴隶他是不是知道“卡斯特梅的雨季”的念头。在他们等待自己节目上演期间,他自己观察了耶赞和他的宾客们。坐在荣誉座的人型西梅干是渊凯军的最高将领,正像坨稀屎一样表情可怕的环顾四周。(提利昂的比喻还是那么犀利==虽然那个词有糖稀的意思,但是以提利昂的神吐槽,那也太给面子了)几个其他的渊凯大人陪着他。两个雇佣骑士长官也列席在场,每个都带来不少他们军团的人。其中一个是个优雅的灰发潘托斯人,周身裹着丝绸,但是依旧披着件由多条血污浸染的碎步拼接成的斗篷。另一个长官则是早上试图买下他们的那位,留着黑白掺杂胡须的褐肤竞拍者。“褐色的本·普棱,”糖果说出了他的名字。“次子团的长官。”
A juggler began the evening’s frolics. Then came a trio of energetic tumblers. After them the goat-legged boy came out and did a grotesque jig whilst one of Yurkhaz’s slaves played on a bone flute. Tyrion had half a mind to ask him if he knew “The Rains of Castamere.” As they waited their own turn to perform, he watched Yezzan and his guests. The human prune in the place of honor was evidently the Yunkish supreme commander, who looked about as formidable as a loose stool. A dozen other Yunkish lords attended him. Two sellsword captains were on hand as well, each accompanied by a dozen men of his company. One was an elegant Pentoshi, grey-haired and clad in silk but for his cloak, a ragged thing sewn from dozens of strips of torn, bloodstained cloth. The other captain was the man who’d tried to buy them that morning, the brown-skinned bidder with the salt-and-pepper beard. “Brown Ben Plumm,” Sweets named him. “Captain of the Second Sons.”
一个维斯特洛人,还是个普棱家的。好之又好。
A Westerosi, and a Plumm. Better and better.
“你们下面就上,”保姆告知他们。“秀的有趣点,小宝贝,要么你们到时候等着祈祷,悔不当初吧。”
“You are next,” Nurse informed them. “Be amusing, my little darlings, or you will wish you had.”
提利昂连格罗特那些老把戏的一半还没掌握,但是至少他能骑上母猪了,在该掉下的时候掉下,打个滚,再弹站起来。事实证明这一切都得到了良好的回应。一看到小矮子喝醉酒一样兜着圈,用木制武器与对方搏斗,就像在君临乔佛里的婚宴上时一样,奴隶湾围城帐的这番表演依旧滑稽欢闹。轻蔑,提利昂想,这是通用语。
Tyrion had not mastered half of Groat’s old tricks, but he could ride the sow, fall off when he was meant to, roll, and pop back onto his feet. All of that proved well received. The sight of little people running about drunkenly and whacking at one another with wooden weapons appeared to be just as hilarious in a siege camp by Slaver’s Bay as at Joffrey’s wedding feast in King’s Landing. Contempt, thought Tyrion, the universal tongue.
他们的主人耶赞每当他的侏儒摔到或者鞠躬时都是笑的最响最长的那个,他整个宽广的身躯都像个地震中的板油似的晃动;他的宾客则等着看雅克哈兹·佐·扬扎克的反应后才决定举止如何。最高将领看起来脆弱的要命,提利昂担心笑一下他就可能归西。当佩妮的头盔被打掉飞进一脸酸苦穿着金绿条纹的渊凯人膝上时,雅克哈兹像个孩子似的咯咯笑起来。他将手伸进头盔拽出一个滴着汁液的巨型紫甜瓜,直喘到他的脸变成和水果同一个颜色。他转向东道主低语了些什么,于是主人便哈哈大笑舔了舔嘴唇……但提利昂看来,那对细长的黄眼睛里似乎蕴含着些许怒意。
Their master Yezzan laughed loudest and longest whenever one of his dwarfs suffered a fall or took a blow, his whole vast body shaking like suet in an earthquake; his guests waited to see how Yurkhaz no Yunzak responded before joining in. The supreme commander appeared so frail that Tyrion was afraid laughing might kill him. When Penny’s helm was struck off and flew into the lap of a sour-faced Yunkishman in a striped green-and-gold tokar, Yurkhaz cackled like a chicken. When said lord reached inside the helm and drew out a large purple melon dribbling pulp, he wheezed until his face turned the same color as the fruit. He turned to his host and whispered something that made their master chortle and lick his lips … though there was a hint of anger in those slitted yellow eyes, it seemed to Tyrion.
之后,侏儒们脱下了他们的木质铠甲和里面汗津津的衣服,换上了干净的用作仆人服的黄色宽上衣。派给提利昂的是一大壶葡萄酒,而佩妮的则是水。他们在帐中转前走后的斟满杯盏,穿着拖鞋的脚步在厚厚的地毯上也只轻轻作响。这个工作看起来容易做起来难。很快他的双腿就开始严重抽搐,而背后的一道伤痕也开始流血,红色直渗透他上衣的黄色亚麻布料。提利昂咬紧舌头,继续侍酒。
Afterward the dwarfs stripped off their wooden armor and the sweat-soaked clothing beneath and changed into the fresh yellow tunics that had been provided them for serving. Tyrion was given a flagon of purple wine, Penny a flagon of water. They moved about the tent filling cups, their slippered feet whispering over thick carpets. It was harder work than it appeared. Before long his legs were cramping badly, and one of the cuts on his back had begun to bleed again, the red seeping through the yellow linen of his tunic. Tyrion bit his tongue and kept on pouring.
大多数宾客对他们和其他奴隶一样没多看一眼……但是一个显然醉的不轻的渊凯人则称耶赞应该让两个侏儒操起来,另一个则想知道提利昂丢失鼻子的故事。我用它戳进你老婆的阴道,然后她一口咬掉了,他几乎就这么回答了……但是当初那场风暴已经让他明白自己还不想这么早死,所以他改口说,“割掉它是惩戒我的傲慢无礼,大人。”
Most of the guests paid them no more mind than they did the other slaves … but one Yunkishman declared drunkenly that Yezzan should make the two dwarfs fuck, and another demanded to know how Tyrion had lost his nose. I shoved it up your wife’s cunt and she bit it off, he almost replied … but the storm had persuaded him that he did not want to die as yet, so instead he said, “It was cut off to punish me for insolence, lord.”
接着一个穿着蓝色托卡虎眼镶边的大人想起来在拍卖台上提利昂曾吹嘘过他锡瓦斯棋的高超技艺。“让我们试他一下,”他说。一个棋桌和一副棋子很快便呈了上来。才一会儿功夫,那位大人便又恼又羞的满脸通红狂怒的推翻了棋桌,在渊凯人的笑声中将棋子崩的到处都是。
Then a lord in a blue tokar fringed with tiger’s eyes recalled that Tyrion had boasted of his skill at cyvasse on the auction block. “Let us put him to the test,” he said. A table and set of pieces was duly produced. A scant few moments later, the red-faced lord shoved the table over in fury, scattering the pieces across the carpets to the sound of Yunkish laughter.
“你该让他赢的,”佩妮小声说。
“You should have let him win,” Penny whispered.
褐色的本·普棱笑呵呵地扶起游戏桌。“下次换我吧,侏儒。我年轻时候,次子团曾和瓦兰提斯有契约,我就是在那儿学会的这游戏。”
Brown Ben Plumm lifted the fallen table, smiling. “Try me next, dwarf. When I was younger, the Second Sons took contract with Volantis. I learned the game there.”
“我只是区区一个奴隶。我高贵的主人才决定何时何人由我来奉陪。”提利昂转向耶赞。“主人?”
“I am only a slave. My noble master decides when and who I play.” Tyrion turned to Yezzan. “Master?”
黄色的大人看起来对这个提议颇感兴趣。“你建议用钱作赌呢,长官?”
The yellow lord seemed amused by the notion. “What stakes do you propose, Captain?”
“若我赢了,这个奴隶便归我,”普棱说。
“If I win, give this slave to me,” said Plumm.
“不行,”耶赞·祖·喀高兹回答。“但是若你打败了我的侏儒,你就能得到我买他花的那么多金子。”
“No,” Yezzan zo Qaggaz said. “But if you can defeat my dwarf, you may have the price I paid for him, in gold.”
“成交,”雇佣骑士说。散落的棋子从地毯上收集回来后,他们便坐下来对弈。
“Done,” the sellsword said. The scattered pieces were picked up off the carpet, and they sat down to play.
提利昂赢了第一局。普棱则在第二局赢回来,为了之前下的双倍奖金。当他们开始第三轮博弈时,侏儒研究起他的对手来。他的皮肤棕褐,双颊和下颚则覆满了剃短的灰白掺杂的粗立胡须,他的脸沟壑交错满是皱纹,还有几块旧疤。普棱在他看来长着一副和蔼面相,笑起来便更显慈祥。忠实的仆人,提利昂清楚。每个人最爱的叔叔,总讲些笑话、旧时轶事、有些民间智慧。(好吧,谁解释下roughspun是个什么东西,认为这句是提利昂在怀念他叔叔笑狮子吉利安,所以开始翻译的那种智慧是满嘴跑火车的……詹姆和他都学习了这点……色太后好像也是==不过色太后从来木有回忆过这个叔叔)这一切都是假象。笑容从来没触及普棱的眼,在小心谨慎的后面掩藏着贪婪。饥渴,但谨慎,这就是这个家伙。
Tyrion won the first game. Plumm took the second, for double the stakes. As they set up for their third contest, the dwarf studied his opponent. Brown-skinned, his cheeks and jaw covered by a close-cropped bristly beard of grey and white, his face creased by a thousand wrinkles and a few old scars, Plumm had an amiable look to him, especially when he smiled. The faithful retainer, Tyrion decided. Every man’s favorite nuncle, full of chuckles and old sayings and roughspun wisdom. It was all sham. Those smiles never touched Plumm’s eyes, where greed hid behind a veil of caution. Hungry, but wary, this one.
雇佣骑士差不多和渊凯的大人一个水平,但是他走的每一步都感情内敛坚韧不动,而非鲁莽。他开局布兵每次都不一样,但有一点不变——保守、防御、消极。他不是为赢而玩。提利昂发现。他只求不败。这让他在第二局得胜,这次小个子因为一次不完善的猛攻而铩羽而归。但是在第三局、第四局、第五局这套战术便失效了,而第五局便成了他们的终局。
The sellsword was nearly as bad a player as the Yunkish lord had been, but his play was stolid and tenacious rather than bold. His opening arrays were different every time, yet all the same—conservative, defensive, passive. He does not play to win, Tyrion realized. He plays so as not to lose. It worked in their second game, when the little man overreached himself with an unsound assault. It did not work in the third game, nor the fourth, nor the fifth, which proved to be their last.
在最终局即将结束时,他的堡垒已尽数摧毁,龙业已被屠,大象在前,重骑兵则围着马尾绕圈,普棱抬头笑起来说,“尤罗又将了我一军,我已经死了四次。”
Near the end of that final contest, with his fortress in ruins, his dragon dead, elephants before him and heavy horse circling round his rear, Plumm looked up smiling and said, “Yollo wins again. Death in four.”
“三次。”提利昂拍了拍他的龙。“我很幸运。也许你需要在下次比赛前揉揉我的脑袋,长官。我的些许好运气也许就搓到你手上了呢。”你还是会输,但是你也许能让我玩的尽兴点。笑了笑,他从棋桌下退出,重新拾起酒壶,又为耶赞·祖·喀高兹斟满,而为褐色的本·普棱就显然少倒了不少。他那巨型的主人在第三局便已醉到人事不省,他手上的高脚杯滑落,里面的酒全洒在地毯上,但当他醒过来大概会挺高兴。
“Three.” Tyrion tapped his dragon. “I was lucky. Perhaps you should give my head a good rub before our next game, Captain. Some of that luck might rub off on your fingers.” You will still lose, but you might give me a better game. Grinning, he pushed back from the cyvasse table, picked up his wine flagon, and returned to pouring with Yezzan zo Qaggaz considerably richer and Brown Ben Plumm considerably impoverished. His gargantuan master had fallen off into drunken sleep during the third game, his goblet slipping from his yellowed fingers to spill its contents on the carpet, but perhaps he would be pleased when he awakened.
当最高将领雅克哈兹·佐·扬扎克在一对健壮的奴隶护送下离席后,其他宾客也普遍似乎收到了离席的信号。在帐子空了以后,保姆告诉仆人们他们可以用剩下的食物饱餐一顿。“快点吃。这些在你们睡觉前得清理干净。”
When the supreme commander Yurkhaz zo Yunzak departed, supported by a pair of burly slaves, that seemed to be a general signal for the other guests to take their leaves as well. After the tent had emptied out, Nurse reappeared to tell the servers that they might make their own feast from the leavings. “Eat quickly. All this must be clean again before you sleep.”
提利昂跪在地上,腿疼得要命而那该死后背的疼痛又开始叫嚣了,依旧试图擦掉高贵的耶赞洒在高贵的耶赞的地毯上的那块酒污,这时督察用他拿鞭子的末端拍了拍他的脸颊。“尤罗,你干的不错。你和你老婆。”
Tyrion was on his knees, his legs aching and his bloody back screaming with pain, trying to scrub out the stain that the noble Yezzan’s spilled wine had left upon the noble Yezzan’s carpet, when the overseer tapped his cheek gently with the end of his whip. “Yollo. You have done well. You and your wife.”
“她不是我老婆。”
“She is not my wife.”
“那么就是你婊子,你们两个,都站起来。”
“Your whore, then. On your feet, both of you.”
提利昂摇晃着站起来,一条腿在身下颤抖。他的大腿又打结了,痉挛的厉害导致得靠佩妮搭手他才站起来。“我们做了什么?”
Tyrion rose unsteadily, one leg trembling beneath him. His thighs were knots, so cramped that Penny had to lend him a hand to pull him to his feet. “What have we done?”
“不少,而且还会更多,”督察说。“保姆说过你们若是逗乐了父亲便能被奖励不是?虽然高贵的耶赞不愿意失去他的小珍宝,你也看到了,但是雅克哈兹·佐·扬扎克还是劝他说自己留着这样的滑稽秀太自私了。欢呼吧!庆贺和平条约的签订,你们有幸能在达兹纳克的大斗兽场表演骑士秀。上千人都会看到你们!一万人哪!还有,哦,到时候我们得笑成什么样子!”
“Much and more,” said the overseer. “Nurse said you would be rewarded if you pleased your father, did he not? Though the noble Yezzan is loath to lose his little treasures, as you have seen, Yurkhaz zo Yunzak persuaded him that it would be selfish to keep such droll antics to himself. Rejoice! To celebrate the signing of the peace, you shall have the honor of jousting in the Great Pit of Daznak. Thousands will come see you! Tens of thousands! And, oh, how we shall laugh!”