Ⅱ 列王的纷争 Chapter19 艾莉亚

ARYA

艾莉亚费尽力气，爬上最高的枝干，看见林间突出的烟囱，些许茅草屋聚集在湖岸，一条小溪注入湖中。岸边有座木造码头伸入水里，旁边是一间低矮的石顶长屋。

When she climbed all the way up to the highest branch, Arya could see chimneys poking through the trees. Thatched roofs clustered along the shore of the lake and the small stream that emptied into it, and a wooden pier jutted out into the water beside a low long building with a slate roof.

她继续向外攀爬，直到后来树枝有些承受不住她的重量。码头边没有船，但她可以看到从烟囱里升起的缕缕轻烟，以及马厩后半掩的马车。

She shinnied farther out, until the branch began to sag under her weight. No boats were tied to the pier, but she could see thin tendrils of smoke rising from some of the chimneys, and part of a wagon jutting out behind a stable.

有人。艾莉亚咬紧下唇，到目前为止，他们经过的所有地方都空荡无人、废墟一片，不管农田、村镇、城堡、圣堂、谷仓都是同样下场。兰尼斯特军能烧则烧，能杀就杀，甚至到处放火焚毁树林。好在树叶仍青，而且最近下过雨，因此火势没有扩散。“若是湖水可以烧火，想必他们也不会放过吧。”詹德利这么说，艾莉亚知道他说得没错。他们逃出来的那天晚上，镇上的熊熊烈火璀璨地映在水面，彷佛湖真的烧起来了。

Someone’s there. Arya chewed her lip. All the other places they’d come upon had been empty and desolate. Farms, villages, castles, septs, barns, it made no matter. If it could burn, the Lannisters had burned it; if it could die, they’d killed it. They had even set the woods ablaze where they could, though the leaves were still green and wet from recent rains, and the fires had not spread. “They would have burned the lake if they could have,” Gendry had said, and Arya knew he was right. On the night of their escape, the flames of the burning town had shimmered so brightly on the water that it had seemed that the lake was afire.

出事后第二天夜里，他们才好不容易鼓起勇气，偷偷溜回庄园的废墟。现场只剩焦黑的断垣残壁和遍地死尸，有些灰烬还在冒着苍白的烟缕。热派曾死命哀求他们不要回去，罗米则称他们为笨蛋，并发誓亚摩利爵士定会把他们抓起来杀掉。但当他们回去时，洛奇和他的人马早已离开。他们发现庄园大门砍倒，墙壁半塌，内里遍地死尸。詹德利只看一眼就受不了。“他们死了，全死了。”他说，“还被狗啃过，你看。”

When they finally summoned the nerve to steal back into the ruins the next night, nothing remained but blackened stones, the hollow shells of houses, and corpses. In some places wisps of pale smoke still rose from the ashes. Hot Pie had pleaded with them not to go back, and Lommy called them fools and swore that Ser Amory would catch them and kill them too, but Lorch and his men had long gone by the time they reached the holdfast. They found the gates broken down, the walls partly demolished, and the inside strewn with the unburied dead. One look was enough for Gendry. “They’re killed, every one,” he said. “And dogs have been at them too, look.”

究竟死了多少人“也可能是狼。”

“Or wolves.”

“是狗是狼，还不都一样？反正这里是完了。”

“Dogs, wolves, it makes no matter. It’s done here.”

但在找到尤伦之前，艾莉亚却不愿离开。他们杀不了他吧？她不断对自己说，他那么厉害、那么强硬，又是守夜人的弟兄。他们一面搜索尸堆，她一面对詹德利说。

But Arya would not leave until they found Yoren. They couldn’t have killed him, she told herself, he was too hard and tough, and a brother of the Night’s Watch besides. She said as much to Gendry as they searched among the corpses.

那记致命的利斧把他头颅整个劈成了两半，但那把纠缠不清的大胡子，以及身上那件满是补丁、从不清洗、早已褪成灰色的黑衣又是那么地醒目。亚摩利·洛奇爵士既没有埋葬对手，也没有埋葬自己人。四名兰尼斯特士兵倒在尤伦身边，艾莉亚想知道究竟死了多少人才把他击倒。

The axe blow that had killed him had split his skull apart, but the great tangled beard could be no one else’s, or the garb, patched and unwashed and so faded it was more grey than black. Ser Amory Lorch had given no more thought to burying his own dead than to those he had murdered, and the corpses of four Lannister men-at-arms were heaped near Yoren’s. Arya wondered how many it had taken to bring him down.

他本来要带我回家呢，他们一边为老人挖墓，她心里一边想。庄里死人太多，无法全部埋葬，但艾莉亚坚持无论如何都该为尤伦挖个坟。他本来向我保证，要把我安全带回临冬城呢。她很想哭，却又很想用力踢他。

He was going to take me home, she thought as they dug the old man’s hole. There were too many dead to bury them all, but Yoren at least must have a grave, Arya had insisted. He was going to bring me safe to Winterfell, he promised. Part of her wanted to cry. The other part wanted to kick him.

随后詹德利想到了之前被尤伦派去塔楼的那三个人，他们虽然也遭到攻击，但那圆形的塔楼仅有一个入口，尚且位于二楼，必须搭梯子上去，一旦楼梯被收进塔里，亚摩利爵士的手下就奈何不了他们。兰尼斯特家的人马虽然在塔底堆上干柴放火，但石头烧不起来，而洛奇又没耐心把里面的人逼出来。此刻詹德利一叫唤，凯杰克就开门出来。艾莉亚一听库兹建议他们继续北上，不能回头，心中便重复燃起返回临冬城的希望。

It was Gendry who thought of the lord’s towerhouse and the three that Yoren had sent to hold it. They had come under attack as well, but the round tower had only one entry, a second-story door reached by a ladder. Once that had been pulled inside, Ser Amory’s men could not get at them. The Lannisters had piled brush around the tower’s base and set it afire, but the stone would not burn, and Lorch did not have the patience to starve them out. Cutjack opened the door at Gendry’s shout, and when Kurz said they’d be better pressing on north than going back, Arya had clung to the hope that she still might reach Winterfell.

啊，眼前的村落虽然不是临冬城，但那些茅草屋顶代表着温暖和保护，说不定还有吃的。当然，这一切的先决条件是他们胆子够大，愿意冒险靠近。只要里面不是洛奇就好，可他骑马呀，早该走得远远地了。

Well, this village was no Winterfell, but those thatched roofs promised warmth and shelter and maybe even food, if they were bold enough to risk them. Unless it’s Lorch there. He had horses; he would have traveled faster than us.

她站在树上观望良久，盼望能看到些什么：一个人、一匹马、一面旗，任何能提供讯息的东西都好。有几次，她隐约见到一点动静，然而房屋的距离实在太远，无法确定。但有一回，非常清晰地，她听见了马的嘶叫。

She watched from the tree for a long time, hoping she might see something; a man, a horse, a banner, anything that would help her know. A few times she glimpsed motion, but the buildings were so far off it was hard to be certain. Once, very clearly, she heard the whinny of a horse.

天上满是飞鸟，大半为乌鸦。它们在茅草屋上空振翅盘旋，远处观之，大小和苍蝇无异。东边的神眼湖活像一片被太阳敲出的蓝，占据了半个世界。近来几天，他们沿着泥泞的湖岸缓缓前进（詹德利死也不肯接近任何道路，就连热派和罗米也觉得有理），艾莉亚时时觉得湖水似乎在呼唤她。她好想一头跃进平静的蓝湖，把自己洗个干净，游个泳、泼泼水，然后躺在艳阳下晒干。可她不敢在其他人面前脱衣服，连洗衣服都不敢。所以每天日落，她只能常坐在湖边岩石上，两脚垂在沁凉的湖水中。后来她把那双破烂不堪的鞋子丢了。赤脚走路起初很痛苦，但水泡会破，割伤会愈合，最后她的脚底硬得跟皮革一样。脚趾间满是湿泥的感觉很舒服，她喜欢肌肤与大地相连的悸动。

The air was full of birds, crows mostly. From afar, they were no larger than flies as they wheeled and flapped above the thatched roofs. To the east, Gods Eye was a sheet of sun-hammered blue that filled half the world. Some days, as they made their slow way up the muddy shore (Gendry wanted no part of any roads, and even Hot Pie and Lommy saw the sense in that), Arya felt as though the lake were calling her. She wanted to leap into those placid blue waters, to feel clean again, to swim and splash and bask in the sun. But she dare not take off her clothes where the others could see, not even to wash them. At the end of the day she would often sit on a rock and dangle her feet in the cool water. She had finally thrown away her cracked and rotted shoes. Walking barefoot was hard at first, but the blisters had finally broken, the cuts had healed, and her soles had turned to leather. The mud was nice between her toes, and she liked to feel the earth underfoot when she walked.

从这里看去，她可以见到东北方一座林木茂密的小岛。离岸三十码处，三只黑天鹅游弋水面，好一幅安详景致……没人告诉它们战争已经来临，焚毁的城镇和惨死的人们也与它们无关。她羡慕地望着它们，心里的一部分想变成天鹅，另一部分却又想杀一只来吃。她的早餐是橡子糊和一把甲虫。其实只要习惯，甲虫并不难咽，蠕虫就困难多了。但再怎么难吃，总比天天饿肚子好。甲虫很容易找，随便踢翻石头就有。艾莉亚小时候，曾有一次为了看珊莎尖叫，故意吃下一只甲虫，所以如今再吃没什么障碍。“黄鼠狼”也平静接受，可热派刚试着要吞，便把虫呕了出来。至于罗米和詹德利，则连试都不敢试。昨天詹德利抓到一只青蛙，和罗米分着吃了。几天前热派还找着一堆黑莓，他们立刻把整丛摘了个一干二净。但多数时候，他们得靠清水和橡子为生。库兹教他们如何用石头磨一种橡子糊，那味道糟透了。

From up here, she could see a small wooded island off to the northeast. Thirty yards from shore, three black swans were gliding over the water, so serene … no one had told them that war had come, and they cared nothing for burning towns and butchered men. She stared at them with yearning. Part of her wanted to be a swan. The other part wanted to eat one. She had broken her fast on some acorn paste and a handful of bugs. Bugs weren’t so bad when you got used to them. Worms were worse, but still not as bad as the pain in your belly after days without food. Finding bugs was easy, all you had to do was kick over a rock. Arya had eaten a bug once when she was little, just to make Sansa screech, so she hadn’t been afraid to eat another. Weasel wasn’t either, but Hot Pie retched up the beetle he tried to swallow, and Lommy and Gendry wouldn’t even try. Yesterday Gendry had caught a frog and shared it with Lommy, and, a few days before, Hot Pie had found blackberries and stripped the bush bare, but mostly they had been living on water and acorns. Kurz had told them how to use rocks and make a kind of acorn paste. It tasted awful.

她真希望盗猎者库兹没死，关于森林的知识，他比其他人加起来懂的还多，可那晚他在守卫塔收梯子时被人一箭射穿了肩膀。塔柏用湖边的泥巴和青苔为他敷伤，前两天库兹直说这伤不碍事，虽然他喉咙的血肉逐渐转黑，恐怖的红肿条痕从下巴一路长到胸前。后来有天早上，他没力气起身，第二天就死了。

She wished the poacher hadn’t died. He’d known more about the woods than all the rest of them together, but he’d taken an arrow through the shoulder pulling in the ladder at the towerhouse. Tarber had packed it with mud and moss from the lake, and for a day or two Kurz swore the wound was nothing, even though the flesh of his throat was turning dark while angry red welts crept up his jaw and down his chest. Then one morning he couldn’t find the strength to get up, and by the next he was dead.

他们堆石头做成他的坟墓，凯杰克拿了他的剑和猎号，塔柏则取走弓箭、靴子和短刀。两人离开时，把这些都带走了。起初他们以为这两人只是去打猎，不多久便会带着猎物回来喂饱他们。可他们等啊等，直到最后詹德利驱使他们上路。或许塔柏和凯杰克认为抛下这群孤儿不管，自己存活的机会比较大。说不定事实果真如此，但这并未减少她对他们的恨意。

They buried him under a mound of stones, and Cutjack had claimed his sword and hunting horn, while Tarber helped himself to bow and boots and knife. They’d taken it all when they left. At first they thought the two had just gone hunting, that they’d soon return with game and feed them all. But they waited and waited, until finally Gendry made them move on. Maybe Tarber and Cutjack figured they would stand a better chance without a gaggle of orphan boys to herd along. They probably would too, but that didn’t stop her hating them for leaving.

树下，热派学着狗叫。从前，库兹教他们用动物的声音彼此联络，他说这是盗猎者的招牌技巧，可他还没教会便死了。热派学鸟叫实在苯透了，学狗叫稍好些，可也好不了多少。

Beneath her tree, Hot Pie barked like a dog. Kurz had told them to use animal sounds to signal to each other. An old poacher’s trick, he’d said, but he’d died before he could teach them how to make the sounds right. Hot Pie’s bird calls were awful. His dog was better, but not much.

艾莉亚跳向下面的树枝，同时伸出双手保持平衡。水舞者绝不会摔落。她着地很轻，脚趾弯曲，紧扣树枝。随后她走了几步，再往下跳到一根较大的枝干，接着双手悬吊在树枝上，一手接一手地向里爬，穿越密集的树叶，直到手脚触到主干。树皮摸起来很粗糙，她很快下了树，最后六尺一跃而下，着地滚翻。

Arya hopped from the high branch to one beneath it, her hands out for balance. A water dancer never falls. Lightfoot, her toes curled tight around the branch, she walked a few feet, hopped down to a larger limb, then swung hand over hand through the tangle of leaves until she reached the trunk. The bark was rough beneath her fingers, against her toes. She descended quickly, jumping down the final six feet, rolling when she landed.

詹德利伸手拉她起来，“你上去了好久。看到什么了吗？”

Gendry gave her a hand to pull her up. “You were up there a long time. What could you see?”

“一个渔村，不大，就在北边的湖岸。一共二十六间茅屋和一间石板屋，我数过了。我还看到半露的马车。那地方有人。”

“A fishing village, just a little place, north along the shore. Twenty-six thatch roofs and one slate, I counted. I saw part of a wagon. Someone’s there.”

听见她的声音，黄鼠狼便从灌木丛里爬了出来。这绰号是罗米取的，他说她长得很像黄鼠狼，其实根本没那回事，但他们总不能老叫她“爱哭鬼”吧，因为她后来总算是不哭了。她的嘴巴脏兮兮的，艾莉亚希望她别又去吃了泥巴才好。

At the sound of her voice, Weasel came creeping out from the bushes. Lommy had named her that. He said she looked like a weasel, which wasn’t true, but they couldn’t keep on calling her the crying girl after she finally stopped crying. Her mouth was filthy. Arya hoped she hadn’t been eating mud again.

只要乖乖投降就行“看到人了？”詹德利问。

“Did you see people?” asked Gendry.

“只看得到屋顶，”艾莉亚说，“不过有些烟囱在冒烟，我还听见了马叫。”黄鼠狼伸出双手，紧紧搂住她的腿，最近她经常这样。

“Mostly just roofs,” Arya admitted, “but some chimneys were smoking, and I heard a horse.” The Weasel put her arms around her leg, clutching tight. Sometimes she did that now.

“有人就有吃的！”热派道。他太吵了，詹德利一天到晚叫他放低音量，却不起作用。“说不定会分咱们一点！”

“If there’s people, there’s food,” Hot Pie said, too loudly. Gendry was always telling him to be more quiet, but it never did any good. “Might be they’d give us some.”

“说不定把咱们都宰了。”詹德利说。

“Might be they’d kill us too,” Gendry said.

“只要乖乖投降就行。”热派满怀希望地说。

“Not if we yielded,” Hot Pie said hopefully.

“你这口气还真像罗米。”

“Now you sound like Lommy.”

绿手罗米坐在一棵橡树下，背靠两块粗厚的树根。庄里激战时，他的左小腿被一根长矛刺穿，到得第二天晚上，他只能扶着詹德利，单脚走路。如今他连走都半办法了，他们只好砍树枝做担架。抬着他赶路不但辛苦，速度也慢，一有颠簸他就呻吟个没完。

Lommy Greenhands sat propped up between two thick roots at the foot of an oak. A spear had taken him through his left calf during the fight at the holdfast. By the end of the next day, he had to limp along one-legged with an arm around Gendry, and now he couldn’t even do that. They’d hacked branches off trees to make a litter for him, but it was slow, hard work carrying him along, and he whimpered every time they jounced him.

“咱们非投降不可，”他说，“尤伦就该这么做，他应该听话开门。”

“We have to yield,” he said. “That’s what Yoren should have done. He should have opened the gates like they said.”

艾莉亚真是受够了罗米这番“尤伦应该投降”的评论。大家抬他走，可他整天说着这些，不然便是抱怨脚痛和喊饿。

Arya was sick of Lommy going on about how Yoren should have yielded. It was all he talked about when they carried him, that and his leg and his empty belly.

热派附和：“他们命令尤伦开门，还是以国王之名说的。只要以国王之名说的事，你就一定得照办。都是那臭老头的错，如果他乖乖投降，咱们就不会有事。”

Hot Pie agreed. “They told Yoren to open the gates, they told him in the king’s name. You have to do what they tell you in the king’s name. It was that stinky old man’s fault. If he’d of yielded, they would have left us be.”

詹德利眉头一皱，“只有骑士和贵族会互相俘虏，讨取赎金，他们才不管你这种人投不投降呢。”他转向艾莉亚，“你还看到什么？”

Gendry frowned. “Knights and lordlings, they take each other captive and pay ransoms, but they don’t care if the likes of you yield or not.” He turned to Arya. “What else did you see?”

“如果是渔村，我敢打赌，他们一定会卖鱼。”热派说。湖里有的是鲜鱼，可惜他们没工具抓。艾莉亚试过用手，学习之前寇斯的把式，只是鱼的动作比鸽子快，水光反射又老害她看不清。

“If it’s a fishing village, they’d sell us fish, I bet,” said Hot Pie. The lake teemed with fresh fish, but they had nothing to catch them with. Arya had tried to use her hands, the way she’d seen Koss do, but fish were quicker than pigeons and the water played tricks on her eyes.

“有没鱼卖我不清楚。”艾莉亚拉拉黄鼠狼纠结一团的头发，心想还是割掉比较好。“湖边有乌鸦，那里肯定有东西死了。”

“I don’t know about fish.” Arya tugged at the Weasel’s matted hair, thinking it might be best to hack it off. “There’s crows down by the water. Something’s dead there.”

“一定是死鱼，给冲上了岸。”热派说，“乌鸦能吃，我敢打赌咱们也行！”

“Fish, washed up on shore,” Hot Pie said. “If the crows eat it, I bet we could.”

“咱们应该抓几只乌鸦，吃乌鸦才对！”罗米说，“咱们可以生个火，像烤鸡一样把它们烤来吃。”

“We should catch some crows, we could eat them,” said Lommy. “We could make a fire and roast them like chickens.”

詹德利皱眉的时候看起来很凶，他的胡子愈长愈浓密，黑如石南。“我说了，不许生火。”

Gendry looked fierce when he scowled. His beard had grown in thick and black as briar. “I said, no fires.”

“罗米肚子饿，”热派开始哀嚎，“我也饿。”

“Lommy’s hungry,” Hot Pie whined, “and I am too.”

“谁肚子不饿啊？”艾莉亚道。

“We’re all hungry,” said Arya.

“你啊！”罗米啐了一口，“你这吃虫鬼。”

“You’re not,” Lommy spat from the ground. “Worm breath.”

艾莉亚真想扬腿踢他的伤口，“我不是说过吗？你如果要吃我也可以给你挖。”

Arya could have kicked him in his wound. “I said I’d dig worms for you too, if you wanted.”

罗米露出作呕的表情，“我若不是脚成这样，早打几只野猪来吃了。”

Lommy made a disgusted face. “If it wasn’t for my leg, I’d hunt us some boars.”

“打野猪。”她嘲笑道，“你知道不？你得先有一根猎猪用的长矛，要有马儿和猎犬，还要有人帮你把野猪从窝里赶出来。”父亲以前就跟罗柏和琼恩一起在狼林里猎野猪，有一次他还带布兰去过，但从不准艾莉亚跟去，即使她年纪比布兰大。茉丹修女说打猎之事不适合淑女，母亲则答应她长大以后可以养只自己的猎鹰。如今她已经长大了，但要是有只猎鹰，铁定先把它吃掉。

“Some boars,” she mocked. “You need a boarspear to hunt boars, and horses and dogs, and men to flush the boar from its lair.” Her father had hunted boar in the wolfswood with Robb and Jon. Once he even took Bran, but never Arya, even though she was older. Septa Mordane said boar hunting was not for ladies, and Mother only promised that when she was older she might have her own hawk. She was older now, but if she had a hawk she’d eat it.

“你懂什么打野猪？”热派说。

“What do you know about hunting boars?” said Hot Pie.

“起码懂得比你多。”

“More than you.”

詹德利没心情听他们吵架，“你两个都给我安静！让我想想该怎么做。”他一思考便会露出痛苦不堪的神情，彷佛难受得紧。

Gendry was in no mood to hear it. “Quiet, both of you, I need to think what to do.” He always looked pained when he tried to think, like it hurt him something fierce.

“只有投降。”罗米说。

“Yield,” Lommy said.

“我叫你别再说投降了！我们根本不知道那里的人是谁。弄不好可以偷点吃的。”

“I told you to shut up about the yielding. We don’t even know who’s in there. Maybe we can steal some food.”

“若不是罗米脚受伤，可以叫他去偷。”热派说，“他以前在城里就是小偷。”

“Lommy could steal, if it wasn’t for his leg,” said Hot Pie. “He was a thief in the city.”

“而且很差劲，”艾莉亚道，“不然就不会被抓了。”

“A bad thief,” Arya said, “or he wouldn’t have got caught.”

詹德利抬头看看太阳，“要溜进去最好趁傍晚，等天一黑我就去瞧瞧。”

Gendry squinted up at the sun. “Evenfall will be the best time to sneak in. I’ll go scout come dark.”

“不，我去，”艾莉亚说，“你太吵了。”

“No, I’ll go,” Arya said. “You’re too noisy.”

詹德利又开始皱眉，“那我们一起去。”

Gendry got that look on his face. “We’ll both go.”

“应该叫阿利去，”罗米说，“他动作比你轻。”

“Arry should go,” said Lommy. “He’s sneakier than you are.”

“我说了，我跟他一起去。”

“We’ll both go, I said.”

“那你们回不来怎么办？热派一个人又抬不动我，你也知道他抬不动……”

“But what if you don’t come back? Hot Pie can’t carry me by himself, you know he can’t …”

“还有狼咧，”热派说，“昨晚我守夜时听见的，好象就在附近。”

“And there’s wolves,” Hot Pie said. “I heard them last night, when I had the watch. They sounded close.”

艾莉亚也听见了。昨晚她睡在一棵榆树的枝头，结果被狼嚎惊醒。后来她坐着听了整整一个钟头，只觉背脊发凉。

Arya had heard them too. She’d been asleep in the branches of an elm, but the howling had woken her. She’d sat awake for a good hour, listening to them, prickles creeping up her spine.

“你还不准我们生火吓它们，”热派说，“把我们扔下来给狼吃，这样不对！”

“And you won’t even let us have a fire to keep them off,” Hot Pie said. “It’s not right, leaving us for the wolves.”

“谁把你扔下来？”詹德利嫌恶地说，“就算狼真的来了，罗米有长矛，你也在旁边。我们只是去看看，如此而已，我们会回来的。”

“No one is leaving you,” Gendry said in disgust. “Lommy has his spear if the wolves come, and you’ll be with him. We’re just going to go see, that’s all; we’re coming back.”

“不管碰到谁，总之投降就好。”罗米呻吟着说，“脚好痛，我想抹药水。”

“Whoever it is, you should yield to them,” Lommy whined. “I need some potion for my leg, it hurts bad.”

“如果找到抹脚的药水，我们会带回来给你。”詹德利道，“阿利，我们走。我想在日落之前接近一点。热派，黄鼠狼就交给你了，别让她跟着我们。”

“If we see any leg potion, we’ll bring it,” Gendry said. “Arry, let’s go, I want to get near before the sun is down. Hot Pie, you keep Weasel here, I don’t want her following.”

“她上回踢我！”

“Last time she kicked me.”

“你不把她看好，小心我踢你！”不等对方回答，詹德利便戴上钢盔出发了。

“I’ll kick you if you don’t keep her here.” Without waiting for an answer, Gendry donned his steel helm and walked off.

艾莉亚得小跑才能跟上，詹德利大她五岁，足足比她高上一尺，又生了双长腿。有好一阵子，他什么也没说，只满脸怒容地在树林里费力穿梭，发出很大的噪音。最后他终于停下脚步：“我觉得罗米快死了。”

Arya had to scamper to keep up. Gendry was five years older and a foot taller than she was, and long of leg as well. For a while he said nothing, just plowed on through the trees with an angry look on his face, making too much noise. But finally he stopped and said, “I think Lommy’s going to die.”

她并不惊讶，库兹也是这么死的，而他比罗米强壮许多呢。每当轮到艾莉亚抬他，她都能感觉他皮肤的温热，闻到他腿伤的臭味。“或许，我们可以找个学士……”

She was not surprised. Kurz had died of his wound, and he’d been a lot stronger than Lommy. Whenever it was Arya’s turn to help carry him, she could feel how warm his skin was, and smell the stink off his leg. “Maybe we could find a maester …”

“学士只有城堡里才有，况且就算我们找到，人家也不会为罗米这种人脏了手。”詹德利低头避过一根低垂的树枝。

“You only find maesters in castles, and even if we found one, he wouldn’t dirty his hands on the likes of Lommy.” Gendry ducked under a low-hanging limb.

“不是这样的。”她很确定，不管谁找上鲁温师傅，他都会帮忙。

“That’s not true.” Maester Luwin would have helped anyone who came to him, she was certain.

“他迟早会死，死得越快对其他人越好。我们应该丢下他，就像他刚才说的那样。如果今天受伤的是我或是你，你知道他一定早丢下我们不管了。”他们爬下一条陡峭的山沟，然后抓住树根爬上另一边。“我受够了抬他，受够了他满嘴投降的话。若他还能好好地站起来，我一定打得他满地找牙。罗米对我们一点用都没有，那爱哭的小妹也一样。”

“He’s going to die, and the sooner he does it, the better for the rest of us. We should just leave him, like he says. If it was you or me hurt, you know he’d leave us.” They scrambled down a steep cut and up the other side, using roots for handholds. “I’m sick of carrying him, and I’m sick of all his talk about yielding too. If he could stand up, I’d knock his teeth in. Lommy’s no use to anyone. That crying girl’s no use either.”

就是被杀的那个叛徒“你别打黄鼠狼的主意！她只是肚子饿又害怕而已。”艾莉亚回头看了一眼，幸亏小女孩这次没跟来。热派一定照詹德利吩咐，乖乖把她捉住了。

“You leave Weasel alone, she’s just scared and hungry is all.” Arya glanced back, but the girl was not following for once. Hot Pie must have grabbed her, like Gendry had told him.

“没用就是没用。”詹德利倔强地重复，“她和热派和罗米，都只会拖慢我们的速度，最后害我们送命。这帮人里面，你是唯一有用的，虽然你是女生。”

“She’s no use,” Gendry repeated stubbornly. “Her and Hot Pie and Lommy, they’re slowing us down, and they’re going to get us killed. You’re the only one of the bunch who’s good for anything. Even if you are a girl.”

艾莉亚整个人僵在原地。“我不是女生！”

Arya froze in her steps. “I’m not a girl!”

“你本来就是，你以为我跟他们一样笨吗？”

“Yes you are. Do you think I’m as stupid as they are?”

“不，你比他们更苯。守夜人不收女生，这事谁都知道。”

“No, you’re stupider. The Night’s Watch doesn’t take girls, everyone knows that.”

“你说的不错。我不知道尤伦为什么收你，可他一定有他的理由。总而言之，你是女生。”

“That’s true. I don’t know why Yoren brought you, but he must have had some reason. You’re still a girl.”

“我才不是！”

“I am not!”

“那你把鸡鸡掏出来撒尿啊，快点！”

“Then pull out your cock and take a piss. Go on.”

“我又不用撒尿，我想尿才尿。”

“I don’t need to take a piss. If I wanted to I could.”

“你骗人，掏不出鸡鸡，因为你根本就没有。以前人多时我没注意，到现在才发现你每次都到林子里撒尿。热派可没这样吧？我也不会，如果你不是女生，那你一定是太监。”

“Liar. You can’t take out your cock because you don’t have one. I never noticed before when there were thirty of us, but you always go off in the woods to make your water. You don’t see Hot Pie doing that, nor me neither. If you’re not a girl, you must be some eunuch.”

“你才是太监！”

“You’re the eunuch.”

“你明知我不是。”詹德利微笑，“要我把鸡鸡掏出来证明吗？我可没什么好隐瞒的。”

“You know I’m not.” Gendry smiled. “You want me to take out my cock and prove it? I don’t have anything to hide.”

“才怪！”艾莉亚急着避开这个鸡鸡的话题，脱口便说，“当初我们在旅馆，那些金袍子来抓你，你却没说为什么！”

“Yes you do,” Arya blurted, desperate to escape the subject of the cock she didn’t have. “Those gold cloaks were after you at the inn, and you won’t tell us why.”

“我要是知道就好了。我觉得尤伦知道，但他不告诉我。你呢？你为什么认为他们抓的是你？”

“I wish I knew. I think Yoren knew, but he never told me. Why did you think they were after you, though?”

艾莉亚咬紧嘴唇，想起尤伦割掉她头发那天所说的话：这群人有一半连想都不想就会把你交给太后，以换来特赦和几个铜板。另外一半也会这么做，可他们会先操你几次再说。只有詹德利不一样，因为太后也在抓他。“如果你肯告诉我，我也就跟你说。”她小心翼翼地开口。

Arya bit her lip. She remembered what Yoren had said, the day he had hacked off her hair. This lot, half o’ them would turn you over to the queen quick as spit for a pardon and maybe a few silvers. The other half’d do the same, only they’d rape you first. Only Gendry was different, the queen wanted him too. “I’ll tell you if you’ll tell me,” she said warily.

“我若是知道为什么，一定跟你说！阿利……你真的叫阿利吗？你有女生的名字吗？”

“I would if I knew, Arry … is that really what you’re called, or do you have some girl’s name?”

艾莉亚瞪着脚边蜷曲的树根，知道自己无法再隐瞒。詹德利猜出了真相，而她裤裆里也的确没东西。她要么当场拔出缝衣针杀了他，要么信任他。就算真的动手，她还不确定是否杀得了她，因为他不但有剑，更比她强壮许多。所以唯一的选择是说出实情。“不许告诉罗米和热派，”她道。

Arya glared at the gnarled root by her feet. She realized that the pretense was done. Gendry knew, and she had nothing in her pants to convince him otherwise. She could draw Needle and kill him where he stood, or else trust him. She wasn’t certain she’d be able to kill him, even if she tried; he had his own sword, and he was a lot stronger. All that was left was the truth. “Lommy and Hot Pie can’t know,” she said.

“不会，”他发誓，“他们不会从我这里知道。”

“They won’t,” he swore. “Not from me.”

“艾莉亚，”她抬头看着他的眼睛，“我是史塔克家族的艾莉亚。”

“Arya.” She raised her eyes to his. “My name is Arya. Of House Stark.”

“史……”他顿了一会儿，“国王的首相就姓史塔克，就是被杀的那个叛徒。”

“Of House …” It took him a moment before he said, “The King’s Hand was named Stark. The one they killed for a traitor.”

“他才不是叛徒。他是我父亲。”

“He was never a traitor. He was my father.”

詹德利眼睛睁得老大，“所以你以为……”

Gendry’s eyes widened. “So that’s why you thought …”

她点点头，“尤伦本来要带我回临冬城。”

She nodded. “Yoren was taking me home to Winterfell.”

“我……那你就是好人家的……淑女了……”

“I … you’re highborn then, a … you’ll be a lady …”

艾莉亚低头看看自己，一身破烂衣裳，光溜溜的脚丫，破皮满茧。她看到趾甲缝里的泥巴，看到手肘上的伤疤。这副模样，我敢说茉丹修女一定认不出来。珊莎说不定行，但她会假装不认识。“我母亲是淑女，我姐姐也是，但我从来都不是。”

Arya looked down at her ragged clothes and bare feet, all cracked and callused. She saw the dirt under her nails, the scabs on her elbows, the scratches on her hands. Septa Mordane wouldn’t even know me, I bet. Sansa might, but she’d pretend not to. “My mother’s a lady, and my sister, but I never was.”

“怎么不是？你是大贵族的女儿，住在城堡里，对不对？而且你……老天，我不……”詹德利突然犹豫起来，似乎有些害怕。“刚才说那些鸡鸡什么的，不是我的本意。我还在你面前撒尿和……我……请您原谅我，小姐。”

“Yes you were. You were a lord’s daughter and you lived in a castle, didn’t you? And you … gods be good, I never …” All of a sudden Gendry seemed uncertain, almost afraid. “All that about cocks, I never should have said that. And I been pissing in front of you and everything, I … I beg your pardon, m’lady.”

“够了！”艾莉亚生气地大喊。他这是寻她开心？

“Stop that!” Arya hissed. Was he mocking her?

“小姐，我也是懂礼仪的人。”詹德利道，倔强一如往常，“每次好人家的女孩跟着父亲上我们店来，师父就吩咐我单膝跪下，直等她们跟我说话才能开口，并且一定要称呼她们为‘我的小姐’。”

“I know my courtesies, m’lady,” Gendry said, stubborn as ever. “Whenever highborn girls came into the shop with their fathers, my master told me I was to bend the knee, and speak only when they spoke to me, and call them m’lady.”

“你若是改口叫我小姐，连热派都能发现！还有，你最好还是跟以前一样撒尿。”

“If you start calling me m’lady, even Hot Pie is going to notice. And you better keep on pissing the same way too.”

“就照小姐吩咐。”

“As m’lady commands.”

艾莉亚两手锤打他的胸膛，他被一颗石头绊了一跤，噗通一声坐倒在地。“你这算哪门子的老爷千金啊？”他笑着说。

Arya slammed his chest with both hands. He tripped over a stone and sat down with a thump. “What kind of lord’s daughter are you?” he said, laughing.

“就是这种！”她踢他侧身，他却笑得更厉害。“你爱笑就笑个够，我去看看村里有什么人。”太阳已经没入树丛，黄昏很快便会降临。这回轮到詹德利快步跟上了。“你闻到了吗？”她问。

“This kind.” She kicked him in the side, but it only made him laugh harder. “You laugh all you like. I’m going to see who’s in the village.” The sun had already fallen below the trees; dusk would be on them in no time at all. For once it was Gendry who had to hurry after. “You smell that?” she asked.

他嗅了嗅，“死鱼？”

He sniffed the air. “Rotten fish?”

“你明知不是。”

“You know it’s not.”

“我们最好小心点。我从西边绕过去，找找有没有路。既然你看到马车，一定有路可走。你从岸边走，如果需要帮忙，就学狗叫。”

“We better be careful. I’ll go around west, see if there’s some road. There must be if you saw a wagon. You take the shore. If you need help, bark like a dog.”

“那太苯啦，如果需要帮忙，我会喊的。”她箭步跑开，赤脚在草地上寂静无声。当她回头张望，发觉他正盯着自己，脸上是那个思考时标志性的痛苦表情。他心里大概认为不该让淑女出去偷东西吃吧。艾莉亚直觉地认定他会开始做蠢事了。

“That’s stupid. If I need help, I’ll shout help.” She darted away, bare feet silent in the grass. When she glanced back over her shoulder, he was watching her with that pained look on his face that meant he was thinking. He’s probably thinking that he shouldn’t be letting m’lady go stealing food. Arya just knew he was going to be stupid now.

离村庄愈近，味道便愈浓烈。她觉得闻起来不像死鱼，与之相较更为恶臭难闻，她忍不住皱起鼻子。

The smell grew stronger as she got closer to the village. It did not smell like rotten fish to her. This stench was ranker, fouler. She wrinkled her nose.

林木开始稀疏，她改钻灌木丛，在矮丛间滑动，静如影。每走几码，她便停下来侧耳倾听。到第三次时，她听见了马的嘶叫，还有人的话音，味道也更加难耐。这是死人的臭气，一定是。先前看到尤伦和其他死者时，她已经闻过了。

Where the trees began to thin, she used the undergrowth, slipping from bush to bush quiet as a shadow. Every few yards she stopped to listen. The third time, she heard horses, and a man’s voice as well. And the smell got worse. Dead man’s stink, that’s what it is. She had smelled it before, with Yoren and the others.

村子南边生了一丛浓密的荆藤，她抵达那儿时，夕阳的长影已经逐渐消失，萤火虫纷纷出来了。越过篱笆，她看到茅草屋顶。她爬啊爬，找到一个开口，蠕动着、小心翼翼地钻了过去，没有让任何人发现。这时，她看到了恶臭的来源。

A dense thicket of brambles grew south of the village. By the time she reached it, the long shadows of sunset had begun to fade, and the lantern bugs were coming out. She could see thatched roofs just beyond the hedge. She crept along until she found a gap and squirmed through on her belly, keeping well hidden until she saw what made the smell.

神眼湖的水轻柔地拍打浅滩，岸边立起了一长排刑架，都是用新伐的树木搭成的。早已不成人形的尸体倒挂在刑架上，双脚被铁链扣住，任由群鸦恣意啄食。乌鸦从这具尸体飞到那具尸体，每一只都伴随着成百的苍蝇。湖面若有微风吹来，离她最近的尸体便会轻轻摇动，彷佛要挣脱铁链。他的脸已被乌鸦和某种体型更大的不明动物咬去大半，喉咙和胸膛被活活撕裂，绿色发亮的内脏和扯烂的皮肉条在腹部的开口悬晃。一只手臂自肩膀被生生撕下，艾莉亚看见骨头散落在几尺开外，破裂断开，满是咬痕，上面的肉早被啃了干净。

Beside the gently lapping waters of Gods Eye, a long gibbet of raw green wood had been thrown up, and things that had once been men dangled there, their feet in chains, while crows pecked at their flesh and flapped from corpse to corpse. For every crow there were a hundred flies. When the wind blew off the lake, the nearest corpse twisted on its chain, ever so slightly. The crows had eaten most of its face, and something else had been at it as well, something much larger. Throat and chest had been torn apart, and glistening green entrails and ribbons of ragged flesh dangled from where the belly had been opened. One arm had been ripped right off the shoulder; Arya saw the bones a few feet away, gnawed and cracked, picked clean of meat.

这时，传来一声大喊她强迫自己看了一具尸体，又看一具，再一具，同时不断告诉自己要刚硬如石。这些尸体全都惨遭蹂躏，腐烂已久，她看了好一会儿才发现他们早在吊死前衣服便被扒光了。可他们看起来却不像没穿衣服的人，他们看起来根本不像人。乌鸦吃掉了他们的眼睛，许多脸庞也不能幸免。这排长长刑架的第六个，铁链上更是只剩了一只脚，随着微风轻轻晃动。

She made herself look at the next man and the one beyond him and the one beyond him, telling herself she was hard as a stone. Corpses all, so savaged and decayed that it took her a moment to realize they had been stripped before they were hanged. They did not look like naked people; they hardly looked like people at all. The crows had eaten their eyes, and sometimes their faces. Of the sixth in the long row, nothing remained but a single leg, still tangled in its chains, swaying with each breeze.

恐惧比利剑更伤人。死人伤不了她，但杀死他们的人却可以。绞刑架后方远处，两个身穿盔甲的人拄着长枪，站在水边的低矮长屋前，那间屋有石板屋顶。门前的泥地上插了两根长竿，上面挂着旗帜，一面红，一面颜色比较淡，可能是白或者黄，但两者都低垂着，加上天光渐暗，所以她不能确定那是不是兰尼斯特家的深红。我用不着见到狮子图案，这些死人就说明了一切，除了兰尼斯特，还会有谁？

Fear cuts deeper than swords. Dead men could not hurt her, but whoever had killed them could. Well beyond the gibbet, two men in mail hauberks stood leaning on their spears in front of the long low building by the water, the one with the slate roof. A pair of tall poles had been driven into the muddy ground in front of it, banners drooping from each staff. One looked red and one paler, white or yellow maybe, but both were limp and with the dusk settling, she could not even be certain that red one was Lannister crimson. I don’t need to see the lion, I can see all the dead people, who else would it be but Lannisters?

这时，传来一声大喊。

Then there was a shout.

两名长枪兵立刻转头，只见第三人推着一名俘虏出现在视线里。天色很暗，看不清长相，可犯人戴着一顶闪亮的钢盔，艾莉亚一见头盔上的双角，便知是詹德利无疑。你笨蛋笨蛋笨蛋笨蛋！她心想。如果他还在身边，她一定再踢他一通。

The two spearmen turned at the cry, and a third man came into view, shoving a captive before him. It was growing too dark to make out faces, but the prisoner was wearing a shiny steel helm, and when Arya saw the horns she knew it was Gendry. You stupid stupid stupid STUPID! she thought. If he’d been here she would have kicked him again.

三个守卫高声交谈，但她距离实在太远，听不出讲些什么，附近又有大批乌鸦怪叫着拍翅干扰。一名枪兵抢下詹德利的头盔，问了一个问题，并显然对答案不满意，便照着他的脸一挥枪柄，把他打倒在地。抓到他的人随后踢了他一脚，另一个枪兵则在一旁试戴牛角盔。最后，他们拉他起来，押着他朝那间长屋走去。当他们打开厚重的木门，立时有一个小男孩窜出，却被守卫一把攫住手臂，扔回屋里。艾莉亚听见里面传出啜泣，接着是一声凄厉痛苦的惨叫，她不由得咬紧嘴唇。

The guards were talking loudly, but she was too far away to make out the words, especially with the crows gabbling and flapping closer to hand. One of the spearmen snatched the helm off Gendry’s head and asked him a question, but he must not have liked the answer, because he smashed him across the face with the butt of his spear and knocked him down. The one who’d captured him gave him a kick, while the second spearman was trying on the bull’s-head helm. Finally they pulled him to his feet and marched him off toward the storehouse. When they opened the heavy wooden doors, a small boy darted out, but one of the guards grabbed his arm and flung him back inside. Arya heard sobbing from inside the building, and then a shriek so loud and full of pain that it made her bite her lip.

守卫把詹德利也推了进去，然后拴上门。就在这时，一阵清风从湖面吹来，两面旗帜抖了一下，飘了起来。正如她所担心的，高的那根竿子的旗上绣着金狮子。另一面则是奶油黄，绣有三个油亮的黑色形体。是狗，她想。艾莉亚以前见过这些狗，但是在哪儿呢？

The guards shoved Gendry inside with the boy and barred the doors behind them. Just then, a breath of wind came sighing off the lake, and the banners stirred and lifted. The one on the tall staff bore the golden lion, as she’d feared. On the other, three sleek black shapes ran across a field as yellow as butter. Dogs, she thought. Arya had seen those dogs before, but where?

这不重要。重要的是詹德利被他们抓走了。不管他有多苯多倔强，她总得想办法救他出来。她不知这些人知不知道太后要抓他。

It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that they had Gendry. Even if he was stubborn and stupid, she had to get him out. She wondered if they knew that the queen wanted him.

一名守卫摘下自己的头盔，改戴詹德利那顶，她见了火冒三丈，但她知道自己阻止不了他。她隐约听见各种尖叫从那栋无窗的仓库中传出，隔着石墙，显得很模糊，她不敢确定。

One of the guards took off his helm and donned Gendry’s instead. It made her angry to see him wearing it, but she knew there was nothing she could do to stop him. She thought she heard more screams from inside the windowless storehouse, muffled by the masonry, but it was hard to be certain.

她又待了一阵子，看到守卫换班，人来人往，他们牵着马儿去溪边喝水，还有一队打猎的人从森林里回来，用木棍抬着一头鹿。她看着他们把死鹿清理干净、掏出内脏，在小溪对岸生起了火。肉香和尸臭奇妙地混杂在一起，她只觉空虚的肚子不住翻腾，泫然欲呕。一见有吃的，其他人纷纷从各间房子里出来，大多穿着锁子甲或硬皮衣。鹿肉烤好之后，最美味的部位被人送进某一间屋。

She stayed long enough to see the guard changed, and much more besides. Men came and went. They led their horses down to the stream to drink. A hunting party returned from the wood, carrying a deer’s carcass slung from a pole. She watched them clean and gut it and build a cookfire on the far side of the stream, and the smell of cooking meat mingled queerly with the stench of corruption. Her empty belly roiled and she thought she might retch. The prospect of food brought other men out of the houses, near all of them wearing bits of mail or boiled leather. When the deer was cooked, the choicest portions were carried to one of the houses.

她原以为可以趁夜色摸进去救詹德利，没想到守卫点起了火把。有个侍从把面包和烤肉带给两名仓库守卫，之后又有两个人带酒过来，大家轮流传着酒袋喝。喝完以后，来人离开，可守卫仍旧拄着长枪留在原地。

She thought that the dark might let her crawl close and free Gendry, but the guards kindled torches off the cookfire. A squire brought meat and bread to the two guarding the storehouse, and later two more men joined them and they all passed a skin of wine from hand to hand. When it was empty the others left, but the two guards remained, leaning on their spears.

眼看无机可趁，艾莉亚终于从荆棘堆里钻出，回到黑暗的树林，这时她的四肢全僵硬了。天已全黑，一弯银月在流云间忽隐忽现。静如影，她一边在林间行走，一边提醒自己。黑暗中她不敢奔跑，生怕被树根绊倒或迷路。神眼湖在左边，湖水缓缓拍打浅滩；右边徐风过林，树叶扑簌扑簌。远方传来狼的嚎叫。

Arya’s arms and legs were stiff when she finally wriggled out from under the briar into the dark of the wood. It was a black night, with a thin sliver of moon appearing and disappearing as the clouds blew past. Silent as a shadow, she told herself as she moved through the trees. In this darkness she dared not run, for fear of tripping on some unseen root or losing her way. On her left Gods Eye lapped calmly against its shores. On her right a wind sighed through the branches, and leaves rustled and stirred. Far off, she heard the howling of wolves.

当她从罗米和热派身后的树林走出来时，他俩吓得差点没尿裤子。“嘘！”她对他们说，同时伸手抱住跑过来的小女孩黄鼠狼。

Lommy and Hot Pie almost shit themselves when she stepped out of the trees behind them. “Quiet,” she told them, putting an arm around Weasel when the little girl came running up.

热派睁大双眼瞪着她，“我们以为你们抛下我们不管了。”他手握短剑，正是尤伦从金袍卫士的军官手中取得的那把。“我们还以为狼来了。”

Hot Pie stared at her with big eyes. “We thought you left us.” He had his shortsword in hand, the one Yoren had taken off the gold cloak. “I was scared you was a wolf.”

“大牛呢？”罗米问。

“Where’s the Bull?” asked Lommy.

“被他们抓了。”艾莉亚小声说，“我们得救他出来。热派，你得帮我，我们摸过去杀掉守卫，然后我去开门。”

“They caught him,” Arya whispered. “We have to get him out. Hot Pie, you got to help. We’ll sneak up and kill the guards, and then I’ll open the door.”

热派和罗米交换个眼神，“有多少人？”

Hot Pie and Lommy exchanged a look. “How many?”

“我看不清，”艾莉亚承认，“至少二十个，可门边只有两人。”

“I couldn’t count,” Arya admitted. “Twenty at least, but only two on the door.”

热派似乎要哭了，“我们打不过二十个啦。”

Hot Pie looked as if he were going to cry. “We can’t fight twenty.”

“你只对付一个就好，另一个交给我，我们把詹德利放出来就跑。”

“You only need to fight one. I’ll do the other and we’ll get Gendry out and run.”

“我们应该投降，”罗米说，“过去投降就没事。”

“We should yield,” Lommy said. “Just go in and yield.”

艾莉亚倔强地摇头。

Arya shook her head stubbornly.

“阿利，那就别管他。”罗米哀求，“他们不知道还有我们，我们只要躲起来，他们就会走的，你知道他们一定会走。詹德利被抓又不是我们的错。”

“Then just leave him, Arry,” Lommy pleaded. “They don’t know about the rest of us. If we hide, they’ll go away, you know they will. It’s not our fault Gendry’s captured.”

“罗米，你真苯，”艾莉亚怒道，“要是我们不救詹德利出来，你会死的。想想看，谁来抬你啊？”

“You’re stupid, Lommy,” Arya said angrily. “You’ll die if we don’t get Gendry out. Who’s going to carry you?”

“你和热派啊。”

“You and Hot Pie.”

“一直我们俩，没人帮忙？绝对行不通。我们这群人里最强壮的就是詹德利。算了，不管你怎么说，反正我要回去救他。”她看着热派，“你去不去？”

“All the time, with no one else to help? We’ll never do it. Gendry was the strong one. Anyhow, I don’t care what you say, I’m going back for him.” She looked at Hot Pie. “Are you coming?”

热派瞄了罗米一眼，再看着艾莉亚，又看向罗米。“好吧，”他不情愿地说。

Hot Pie glanced at Lommy, at Arya, at Lommy again. “I’ll come,” he said reluctantly.

“罗米，你看好黄鼠狼。”

“Lommy, you keep Weasel here.”

他伸手抓住小女孩，拉到身边。“如果狼来了怎么办？”

He grabbed the little girl by the hand and pulled her close. “What if the wolves come?”

“投降啊，”艾莉亚建议。

“Yield,” Arya suggested.

找路回村花了很长时间，热派在黑暗中一直跌跌撞撞，又不时迷路，艾莉亚只好不断停步等他，然后再重新前进。最后她干脆拉起他的手，牵着他穿过树林，“安静地跟我走就好。”等他们首度看见夜幕中从村里传来的模糊灯火，她说：“记住，篱笆另一边有堆吊死的人，不过他们没什么好怕，你要知道：恐惧比利剑更伤人。我们要很安静、很小心地行动。”热派点点头。

Finding their way back to the village seemed to take hours. Hot Pie kept stumbling in the dark and losing his way, and Arya had to wait for him and double back. Finally she took him by the hand and led him along through the trees. “Just be quiet and follow.” When they could make out the first faint glow of the village fires against the sky, she said, “There’s dead men hanging on the other side of the hedge, but they’re nothing to be scared of, just remember fear cuts deeper than swords. We have to go real quiet and slow.” Hot Pie nodded.

她当先钻进荆棘丛，压低身子走到另一边等他。热派爬出来时脸色苍白，气喘吁吁，双手和脸颊都被割得皮破流血。他刚要开口，艾莉亚连忙伸出手指挡他嘴巴。接着两人匍匐前进，穿过整排刑架，在摇晃的尸体下方运动。热派从头到尾不敢抬眼，也不敢发出任何声音。

She wriggled under the briar first and waited for him on the far side, crouched low. Hot Pie emerged pale and panting, face and arms bloody with long scratches. He started to say something, but Arya put a finger to his lips. On hands and knees, they crawled along the gibbet, beneath the swaying dead. Hot Pie never once looked up, nor made a sound.

冷不防，一只乌鸦停上他的背，他禁不住倒吸一口气，“谁？”黑暗中突然传出一个声音。

Until the crow landed on his back, and he gave a muffled gasp. “Who’s there?” a voice boomed suddenly from the dark.

热派一跃而起，“我投降！”他把剑丢开老远，惊起几十只乌鸦，纷纷厉声抱怨，振翅在尸体旁飞舞。艾莉亚抓住他的腿，想拖他躺下，但他使劲挣脱，挥舞双手，反而向前跑去，“我投降！我投降！”

Hot Pie leapt to his feet. “I yield!” He threw away his sword as dozens of crows rose shrieking and complaining to flap about the corpses. Arya grabbed his leg and tried to drag him back down, but he wrenched loose and ran forward, waving his arms. “I yield, I yield.”

她跳起来，拔出缝衣针，然而这时她已被团团包围。艾莉亚朝最近的人挥剑砍去，却被钢护手挡住，接着有人扑上来，把她拉倒在地，另一个人则把剑从她手中夺走。她张口便咬，咬到的却是又冷又脏的锁甲。“呵呵，凶狠的小家伙噢！”那人笑道，接着便是迎面一拳，他戴了铁套，差点没把她的头打飞。

She bounced up and drew Needle, but by then men were all around her. Arya slashed at the nearest, but he blocked her with a steel-clad arm, and someone else slammed into her and dragged her to the ground, and a third man wrenched the sword from her grasp. When she tried to bite, her teeth snapped shut on cold dirty chainmail. “Oho, a fierce one,” the man said, laughing. The blow from his iron-clad fist near knocked her head off.

她浑身疼痛地躺在地上，他们就在旁边交谈，但艾莉亚耳鸣不已，无法分辨话语内容。她试着爬开，却觉得大地在脚下摇晃。他们抢走了缝衣针，这耻辱比皮肉之伤更令她痛苦，而皮肉之伤已经痛得要命。那把剑是琼恩送她的，教她使用的则是西利欧。

They talked over her as she lay hurting, but Arya could not seem to understand the words. Her ears rang. When she tried to crawl off, the earth moved beneath her. They took Needle. The shame of that hurt worse than the pain, and the pain hurt a lot. Jon had given her that sword. Syrio had taught her to use it.

最后有人一把抓住她背心前襟，逼她跪下，热派也跪着。在他们面前是艾莉亚这辈子所见最为高大的人，简直就像从老奶妈故事里跑出来的怪物。她不知这巨人打哪儿冒出来的，只见他褪色的黄外衣上有三只奔跑的黑狗，他的脸则活如用坚石雕刻而成。刹那间，艾莉亚想起自己在何地见过这三犬标志了，那是君临比武大会当晚，所有参赛骑士都把盾牌挂在自己的营帐外。“那是猎狗的哥哥。”经过黄底黑狗的标志时，珊莎偷偷告诉她。“他比阿多还高大喔，到时候你一看就知道。大家都叫他‘会走路的魔山’。”

Finally someone grabbed the front of her jerkin, yanked her to her knees. Hot Pie was kneeling too, before the tallest man Arya had ever seen, a monster from one of Old Nan’s stories. She never saw where the giant had come from. Three black dogs raced across his faded yellow surcoat, and his face looked as hard as if it had been cut from stone. Suddenly Arya knew where she had seen those dogs before. The night of the tourney at King’s Landing, all the knights had hung their shields outside their pavilions. “That one belongs to the Hound’s brother,” Sansa had confided when they passed the black dogs on the yellow field. “He’s even bigger than Hodor, you’ll see. They call him the Mountain That Rides.”

艾莉亚低下头，对周遭事情朦朦胧胧，只听热派还在嚷着投降。魔山道：“带我们去找其他人，”便转身离开。之后，她脚步踉跄地经过刑架上的死人，热派则对他们不断保证，只要不伤害他，他就烤热腾腾的派和水果饼给他们吃。有四个人跟着他们，一人持火把，一人拿长剑，另外两个拄着长枪。

Arya let her head droop, only half aware of what was going on around her. Hot Pie was yielding some more. The Mountain said, “You’ll lead us to these others,” and walked off. Next she was stumbling past the dead men on their gibbet, while Hot Pie told their captors he’d bake them pies and tarts if they didn’t hurt him. Four men went with them. One carried a torch, one a longsword; two had spears.

罗米还在那棵橡树下，“我投降！”他一见他们便丢开长矛，高举双手，大声呼叫。他手上都是做学徒时染上的绿斑。“我投降！饶命啊！”

They found Lommy where they’d left him, under the oak. “I yield,” he called out at once when he saw them. He’d flung away his own spear and raised his hands, splotchy green with old dye. “I yield. Please.”

拿火炬的人在树下巡了一圈，“只有你一个？面包小弟说还有个小女孩。”

The man with the torch searched around under the trees. “Are you the last? Baker boy said there was a girl.”

“她听到你们过来就跑了，”罗米道，“你们走路声音很大。”艾莉亚听了便想：跑啊，黄鼠狼，跑得越远越好，跑去藏好，永远不要回来。

“She ran off when she heard you coming,” Lommy said. “You made a lot of noise.” And Arya thought, Run, Weasel, run as far as you can, run and hide and never come back.

“说！狗娘养的唐德利恩在哪里？我们招待你一顿热菜热饭。”

“Tell us where we can find that whoreson Dondarrion, and there’ll be a hot meal in it for you.”

“谁？”罗米一脸茫然。

“Who?” said Lommy blankly.

“我告诉你了么，这些他妈的小子跟村里的婊子一样啥都不清楚。妈的，浪费时间！”

“I told you, this lot don’t know no more than those cunts in the village. Waste o’ bloody time.”

一个枪兵走到罗米身边，“小鬼，你脚怎样啦？”

One of the spearmen drifted over to Lommy. “Something wrong with your leg, boy?”

“伤了。”

“It got hurt.”

“能走路吗？”他的声音有几分关切。

“Can you walk?” He sounded concerned.

“不能，”罗米说，“你得背我。”

“No,” said Lommy. “You got to carry me.”

“背你？”那人随手操起长矛，刺穿男孩柔软的咽喉。罗米连再说投降的机会都没有，他抖了一下，便不再动静。那人拔出枪尖，鲜血有如暗红的喷泉般涌出。“他叫我背他咧！”他咯咯笑道。

“Think so?” The man lifted his spear casually and drove the point through the boy’s soft throat. Lommy never even had time to yield again. He jerked once, and that was all. When the man pulled his spear loose, blood sprayed out in a dark fountain. “Carry him, he says,” he muttered, chuckling.