冰与火之歌·卷五·魔龙的狂舞（上）

角落有故事

The knight had not adapted well to bondage. When called upon to play the bear and carry off the maiden fair, he had been sullen and uncooperative, shuffling lifelessly through his paces when he deigned to take part in their mummery at all. Though he had not attempted escape, nor offered violence to his captors, he would ignore their commands oft as not or reply with muttered curses. None of this had amused Nurse, who made his displeasure clear by confining Mormont in an iron cage and having him beaten every evening as the sun sank into Slaver’s Bay. The knight absorbed the beatings silently; the only sounds were the muttered curses of the slaves who beat him and the dull thuds of their clubs pounding against Ser Jorah’s bruised and battered flesh.


骑士一直以来对奴役适应不良。当要他扮作熊去强抢良家淑女的时候，他总是一副闷闷不乐不合作的姿态，缓缓挪着死一般的步子，根本就是屈尊才加入他们的表演的德行。虽然他没有试图逃跑的迹象，也没有对他的捕获者暴力相向，但是他从事忽略他们的命令或者回之以低声咒骂。如此这般的言行一点也不会取悦保姆，于是他将这种不愉快以将莫尔蒙囚禁在铁笼里并在每天太阳落入奴隶湾之后让他吃棍子发泄。骑士默不作声的接受痛殴；唯一的声音只有打他的奴隶发出的低声咒骂还有棍子重击乔拉爵士布满淤青与伤痕的身体发出的闷响。


The man is a shell, Tyrion thought, the first time he saw the big knight beaten. I should have held my tongue and let Zahrina have him. It might have been a kinder fate than this.


这个男人只剩下一个空壳了，在第一次看到大个子的骑士遭到痛殴时提利昂想，我早该管住舌头让扎哈李娜带走他。那也许对他来说还是个好点的命运。


Mormont emerged from the cramped confines of the cage bent and squinting, with both eyes blackened and his back crusty with dried blood. His face was so bruised and swollen that he hardly looked human. He was naked except for a breechclout, a filthy bit of yellow rag. “You’re to help them carry water,” Morgo told him.


莫尔蒙从哪个狭小的笼子里出来时弯腰驼背只能眯着眼睛看东西，他两眼都有淤青，而后背上结满了干裂的血痂。他的脸上也满是淤青肿胀不堪，看起来几乎没个人样。除了一小块肮脏的破黄布遮羞，他几乎一丝不挂。“你去帮他们提水，”莫格告诉他。

角落有故事

Ser Jorah’s only reply was a sullen stare. Some men would sooner die free than live a slave, I suppose. Tyrion was not stricken with that affliction himself, thankfully, but if Mormont murdered Morgo, the other slaves might not draw that distinction. “Come,” he said, before the knight did something brave and stupid. He waddled off and hoped Mormont would follow.


乔拉爵士只是阴郁的看了一眼作为回答。我想，有些人宁愿死得自由也不愿活作奴隶。提利昂不会受那种苦恼的折磨，真是谢天谢地，但是若是莫尔蒙杀了莫格，其他奴隶可不会受此感召。“来吧，”他说，趁骑士还没做出什么勇敢的蠢事。他一瘸一拐的走开，希望莫尔蒙会跟上。


The gods were good for once. Mormont followed.


神灵总算仁慈了一把。莫尔蒙跟来了。


Two pails for Penny, two for Tyrion, and four for Ser Jorah, two in either hand. The nearest well was south and west of the Harridan, so they set off in that direction, the bells on their collars ringing merrily with every step. No one paid them any mind. They were just slaves fetching water for their master. Wearing a collar conferred certain advantages, particularly a gilded collar inscribed with the name of Yezzan zo Qaggaz. The chime of those little bells proclaimed their value to anyone with ears. A slave was only as important as his master; Yezzan was the richest man in the Yellow City and had brought six hundred slave soldiers to the war, even if he did look like a monstrous yellow slug and smell of piss. Their collars gave them leave to go anywhere they might wish within the camp.


佩妮两个桶，提利昂两个桶，乔拉爵士四格桶，一边两个。最近的水井再老泼妇（那个投石机）的西南方向，于是他们便直接向那个防线走去，而每走一步都伴着项圈铃的欢快响声。没人注意他们，他们只是为主任提水的奴隶。套着项圈还是有些好处的，尤其是刻着耶赞·祖·喀高兹的金项圈。那些小铃铛的叮当作响向每个长耳朵的人宣称着其价值。一个奴隶就和他的主人一样重要；耶赞是黄城里最富有的人，为这场战争带来了600名奴隶士兵，虽然他的确看戏来像是一坨巨型黄色鼻涕虫闻起来又是一股尿骚。他们的项圈给了他们在营地范围内任何地方穿行的权利。

角落有故事

Until Yezzan dies.


直到耶赞死亡。


The Clanker Lords had their slave soldiers drilling in the nearest field. The clatter of the chains that bound them made a harsh metallic music as they marched across the sand in lockstep and formed up with their long spears. Elsewhere teams of slaves were raising ramps of stone and sand beneath their mangonels and scorpions, angling them upward at the sky, the better to defend the camp should the black dragon return. It made the dwarf smile to see them sweating and cursing as they wrestled the heavy machines onto the inclines. Crossbows were much in evidence as well. Every other man seemed to be clutching one, with a quiverfull of bolts hanging from his hip.


克兰克的大人们让他们的奴隶士兵在最近的校场操练。他们操着长矛在沙子上齐步行进与整队时捆绑他们的锁链发出了刺耳的金属交鸣声。其他地方一组组奴隶在投石机和蝎子之下用沙石搭造斜坡，以使它们垂直指向天空，要是黑龙回来的话能好好的保护营地。看着他们费力的将巨大的机械搬上斜坡时挥汗如雨不停咒骂让侏儒笑出来。十字弓也很显眼。除了自己每个人看起来都抓了一个，跨上挂着一捆颤动的箭。


If anyone had thought to ask him, Tyrion could have told them not to bother. Unless one of those long iron scorpion bolts chanced to find an eye, the queen’s pet monster was not like to be brought down by such toys. Dragons are not so easy to kill as that. Tickle him with these and you’ll only make him angry.


若有人真会想起来问他的话，提利昂会告诉它们别担心。若非那些长铁蝎子箭碰巧扎中了眼，女王的宠物怪物可是不会那么轻易被这种玩具射下来的。龙不是那么轻易会被杀死的。用这种东西给它瘙痒只会引来龙之怒。


The eyes were where a dragon was most vulnerable. The eyes, and the brain behind them. Not the underbelly, as certain old tales would have it. The scales there were just as tough as those along a dragon’s back and flanks. And not down the gullet either. That was madness. These would-be dragonslayers might as well try to quench a fire with a spear thrust. “Death comes out of the dragon’s mouth,” Septon Barth had written in his Unnatural History, “but death does not go in that way.”

角落有故事

眼睛才是龙最脆弱的部分。眼睛，还有隐藏在后面的大脑。不是某些古老传说里说的下腹。那块地方就像龙的背脊和侧肋一样坚不可摧，当然还有下咽。那些说法完全愚不可及。这些自诩为屠龙者的家伙们大概到时候得用矛尖灭火了。“死亡出自龙口，”巴斯修士在他的《非自然历史》里写道，“死亡却不会侵入那里。”


Farther on, two legions from New Ghis were facing off shield wall to shield wall whilst serjeants in iron halfhelms with horsehair crests screamed commands in their own incomprehensible dialect. To the naked eye the Ghiscari looked more formidable than the Yunkish slave soldiers, but Tyrion nursed doubts. The legionaries might be armed and organized in the same manner as Unsullied … but the eunuchs knew no other life, whereas the Ghiscari were free citizens who served for three-year terms.


继续走，在带着用马毛羽冠装饰的半盔的士官们大声用无法理解的方言喊出指令的同时，两个新吉斯的兵团正提盾对峙。用肉眼便能看出吉斯人比渊凯奴隶士兵更可怕，但提利昂还是慢慢生出点疑惑。军团士兵的确全副武装纪律严明如无垢者……但是太监们除此种生活别无所望，而吉斯人则是服役三年的自由公民。


The line at the well stretched back a quarter mile.


排队打水的人延伸了四分之一里。


There were only a handful of wells within a day’s march of Meereen, so the wait was always long. Most of the Yunkish host drew their drinking water from the Skahazadhan, which Tyrion had known was a very bad idea even before the healer’s warning. The clever ones took care to stay upstream of the latrines, but they were still downstream of the city.


在弥林周边一天行程里只有很少的井，因此汲水的人总是得排很长时间。大多数渊凯军队从Skahazadhan河取饮用水，但是即使没有治疗师的警告，提利昂也知道这个注意糟糕至极。聪明点的人去公厕上游的地方取水，即便如此他们依旧取的是来自城邦下游的水。


The fact that there were any good wells at all within a day’s march of the city only went to prove that Daenerys Targaryen was still an innocent where siegecraft was concerned. She should have poisoned every well. Then all the Yunkishmen would be drinking from the river. See how long their siege lasts then. That was what his lord father would have done, Tyrion did not doubt.

角落有故事

但事实上在城市周围一天里程的范围内依然能找到干净的井，这只是证明丹尼莉丝·坦格里安在对待这个围城战略时依旧是个天真的小女孩。她本应该向每口井投毒的。接着所有的渊凯人都得从河里取水，看看那样他们的围攻还能支持多久。这才是他那父亲大人会做的事，提利昂毫不怀疑。


Every time they shuffled forward another place, the bells on their collars tinkled brightly. Such a happy sound, it makes me want to scoop out someone’s eyeballs with a spoon. By now Griff and Duck and Haldon Half-maester should be in Westeros with their young prince. I should be with them … but no, I had to have a whore. Kinslaying was not enough, I needed cunt and wine to seal my ruin, and here I am on the wrong side of the world, wearing a slave collar with little golden bells to announce my coming. If I dance just right, maybe I can ring “The Rains of Castamere.”


每当他们换到另一个位置，他们项圈上的铃铛就大肆叮当作响。真是欢快的声音，搞得我想拿把勺子挖出什么人的眼球。现在格里夫、鸭子还有半学士哈尔顿该同他们的小王子到维斯特洛伊的。我本该和他们一起……但是不行，我得去找个妓女。弑亲者远远不够，我得找条阴道还有葡萄酒来缝合我的创伤，而在这儿，我身处世界错误的一端，戴着无时无刻不宣告我的到来的缀着小金铃的奴隶项圈。若是跳的恰好，大概我能让他们响起“卡斯特梅的雨季”呢。


There was no better place to hear the latest news and rumors than around the well. “I know what I saw,” an old slave in a rusted iron collar was saying, as Tyrion and Penny shuffled along in the queue, “and I saw that dragon ripping off arms and legs, tearing men in half, burning them down to ash and bones. People started running, trying to get out of that pit, but I come to see a show, and by all the gods of Ghis, I saw one. I was up in the purple, so I didn’t think the dragon was like to trouble me.”


没什么地方比井边能更好的听到新鲜资讯和流言蜚语。“我知道我看见了什么，”随着提利昂和佩妮正在队伍里缓缓移动时，一个戴着腐朽铁项圈的老奴正言，“我看着那条龙撕掉手臂大腿，将人一撕为二，再把它们烤得只剩骨灰和焦骨。人们开始逃难，试图逃出斗兽场，我是来看表演的，哦，看在吉斯所有神灵的份上，我是看见了。我穿着紫衣站在上面，所以我不认为龙会找我麻烦。”

角落有故事

“The queen climbed onto the dragon’s back and flew away,” insisted a tall brown woman.


“女王爬上龙脊背飞走了，”一个褐色皮肤的高个女人坚称。


“She tried,” said the old man, “but she couldn’t hold on. The cross-bows wounded the dragon, and the queen was struck right between her sweet pink teats, I hear. That was when she fell. She died in the gutter, crushed beneath a wagon’s wheels. I know a girl who knows a man who saw her die.”


“她试图爬上去，”一个老人说，“但她抓不住，十字弓箭伤到了龙，而它正中女王那可爱的粉红乳头的中央，我是这么听说的。她死在阴沟里，被一辆马车给碾碎了。我认识个女孩，她认识个男人见证了女王的死亡。”


In this company, silence was the better part of wisdom, but Tyrion could not help himself. “No corpse was found,” he said.


在这伙人中间，理智告诉他沉默才是聪明的选择，但是提利昂依旧不自禁问出来。“尸体还没被发现，”他说。


The old man frowned. “What would you know about it?”


老人皱了皱眉。“你又知道些什么？”


“They were there,” said the brown woman. “It’s them, the jousting dwarfs, the ones who tilted for the queen.”


“他们在那儿，”褐皮肤的女人说。“是他们，那对骑士秀的侏儒，为女王表演长枪比武。”


The old man squinted down as if seeing him and Penny for the first time. “You’re the ones who rode the pigs.”


老人低头乜了一眼他们，似乎才开到他们。“你们是那对骑猪的侏儒。”


Our notoriety precedes us. Tyrion sketched a courtly bow, and refrained from pointing out that one of the pigs was really a dog. “The sow I ride is actually my sister. We have the same nose, could you tell? A wizard cast a spell on her, but if you give her a big wet kiss, she will turn into a beautiful woman. The pity is, once you get to know her, you’ll want to kiss her again to turn her back.”


我们臭名远扬了。提利昂大致的鞠了个宫廷式的躬，克制住指出其中有只猪其实是条狗的冲动。“我骑的那头母猪事实上是我老姐。我们有一样的鼻子，你看，不是么？一个巫师对她施了一个咒，但是若你给她一个大大的湿吻，她会变回个大美女。但遗憾的是，一旦你认识了她，就想再吻她一次，结果又将她变回一头猪。”

角落有故事

Laughter erupted all around them. Even the old man joined in. “You saw her, then,” said the redheaded boy behind them. “You saw the queen. Is she as beautiful as they say?”


他们四周爆发出狂笑。就算老人也不例外。“那么，你看到她咯？”他们身后的红发男孩问。“你看到了女王了。她是不是像别人说的那么美？”


I saw a slender girl with silvery hair wrapped in a tokar, he might have told them. Her face was veiled, and I never got close enough for a good look. I was riding on a pig. Daenerys Targaryen had been seated in the owner’s box beside her Ghiscari king, but Tyrion’s eyes had been drawn to the knight in the white-and-gold armor behind her. Though his features were concealed, the dwarf would have known Barristan Selmy anywhere. Illyrio was right about that much, at least, he remembered thinking. Will Selmy know me, though? And what will he do if he does?


我只看到个裹着托卡的苗条银发女孩，他差点这样这么说。她戴了面纱，而我也没近距离的好好看看。我当时可是正骑在猪身上。丹尼莉丝·坦格里安当时正和他的吉斯卡里的国王坐在主人包厢，但是提利昂的目光则是被她身后的穿白金相间的铠甲的骑士所吸引。尽管他的容貌被遮掩，但侏儒在哪儿都能一眼认出巴利斯坦·赛尔弥。伊利里欧至少在这点上对的很，他回忆着。但赛尔弥认出我了吗？若是他认出了会怎么做？


He had almost revealed himself then and there, but something stopped him—caution, cowardice, instinct, call it what you will. He could not imagine Barristan the Bold greeting him with anything but hostility. Selmy had never approved of Jaime’s presence in his precious Kingsguard. Before the rebellion, the old knight thought him too young and untried; afterward, he had been known to say that the Kingslayer should exchange that white cloak for a black one. And his own crimes were worse. Jaime had killed a madman. Tyrion had put a quarrel through the groin of his own sire, a man Ser Barristan had known and served for years. He might have chanced it all the same, but then Penny had landed a blow on his shield and the moment was gone, never to return.

角落有故事

他几乎在那时候马上就要揭露自己的身份了，但是他被什么阻了一下——小心、懦弱、直觉，你爱叫什么叫什么。他无法预见无畏的巴利斯坦除了敌意还会用什么方式欢迎他。赛尔弥从来就没认同过詹姆加入他那珍贵的御前铁卫队伍。在反叛前，老骑士认为他太年轻缺乏经验；之后，他称弑君者该换下白衣披上黑衣。而他自己的罪则更严重。詹姆是杀了个疯子，而提利昂则将一只长箭贯穿了他自己主公的腹股沟，而这个人巴利斯坦爵已认识并效忠多年。尽管如此，他还是准备赌一把，但是紧接着佩妮就对着他的盾牌猛击一下，机会转瞬即逝，再不复返。


“The queen watched us tilt,” Penny was telling the other slaves in line, “but that was the only time we saw her.”


“女王看了我们的骑士秀，”佩妮告诉其他排队的奴隶，“但是也只在那时，我们能看到她。”


“You must have seen the dragon,” said the old man.


“你们一定看到了龙，”老人说。


Would that we had. The gods had not even vouchsafed him that much. As Daenerys Targaryen was taking wing, Nurse had been clapping irons round their ankles to make certain they would not attempt escape on their way back to their master. If the overseer had only taken his leave after delivering them to the abbatoir, or fled with the rest of the slavers when the dragon descended from the sky, the two dwarfs might have strolled away free. Or run away, more like, our little bells a-jingle.


真希望我们看到了。上天不总眷顾他。当丹尼莉丝飞走时，保姆正把他们的脚镣啪啪扣上，确保他们不会在回到主人那里途中趁乱逃跑。若督察只是把他们送到角斗场就走，或者在龙从天而降时与其他的奴隶们一起跑掉的话，两个侏儒大概就能悠闲自由地离开了。或更确切说是逃跑，伴着我们的小铃铛叮当唱响。


“Was there a dragon?” Tyrion said with a shrug. “All I know is that no dead queens were found.”


“那儿真来了一条龙吗？”提利昂耸耸肩说。“我知道的是，没发现什么死掉的女王。”


The old man was not convinced. “Ah, they found corpses by the hundred. They dragged them inside the pit and burned them, though half was crisp already. Might be they didn’t know her, burned and bloody and crushed. Might be they did but decided to say elsewise, to keep you slaves quiet.”

角落有故事

这并没有说服老人。“啊，他们找到了数以百计的尸体，把它们拖进兽坑点燃，虽然有的早就成了焦炭了。也许他们根本没认出她，烧得焦黑，鲜血淋漓，破破烂烂。又或者他们根本不打算公开，这样才能让你们这些奴隶们闭嘴。”


“Us slaves?” said the brown woman. “You wear a collar too.”


“我们这些奴隶？”褐肤的女人说。“你不也戴着项圈。”


“Ghazdor’s collar,” the old man boasted. “Known him since we was born. I’m almost like a brother to him. Slaves like you, sweepings out of Astapor and Yunkai, you whine about being free, but I wouldn’t give the dragon queen my collar if she offered to suck my cock for it. Man has the right master, that’s better.”


“哈兹多尔的项圈，”老人洋洋得意。“自从我们出生就认识他了。我对他来说几乎像个兄弟。像你们这样的奴隶，从阿斯塔波和渊凯被随便搜罗过来，天天哀号着要得到自由，但是除非龙女愿意舔我老二，我才不会让她拿走我的项圈呢。能有个好主人，那才好呢。”


Tyrion did not dispute him. The most insidious thing about bondage was how easy it was to grow accustomed to it. The life of most slaves was not all that different from the life of a serving man at Casterly Rock, it seemed to him. True, some slaveowners and their overseers were brutal and cruel, but the same was true of some Westerosi lords and their stewards and bailiffs. Most of the Yunkai’i treated their chattels decently enough, so long as they did their jobs and caused no trouble … and this old man in his rusted collar, with his fierce loyalty to Lord Wobblecheeks, his owner, was not at all atypical.


提利昂并不怀疑他所说的。奴役最阴险之处便在于它是如何容易的使人习惯它。对他来说，大多数奴隶的生活其实和凯岩城的仆人没什么两样。没错，有些奴隶主和他们的督察们的确残酷无情，但是同样无误的是一些维斯特洛伊的领主大人和他们的管家和法监也不例外。大多数渊凯大人对待他们的奴隶相当不错，只要他们完成任务不找麻烦……而这个戴着锈迹斑斑的项圈的老人，怀着他对他主人晃颊大人有着强烈的忠诚心，其实并不能说少见。


“Ghazdor the Great-hearted?” Tyrion said, sweetly. “Our master Yezzan has often spoken of his wits.” What Yezzan had actually said was on the order of, I have more wits in the left cheek of my arse than Ghazdor and his brothers have between them. He thought it prudent to omit the actual words.

角落有故事

“豪爽的哈兹多尔？”提利昂兴高采烈的说。“我们主人耶赞经常提起他的足智多谋。”而事实上耶赞说的大致是，我左半瓣屁股有的智慧比哈兹多尔及其兄弟们两瓣间的还多。他觉得有必要省略真实评价。


Midday had come and gone before he and Penny reached the well, where a scrawny one-legged slave was drawing water. He squinted at them suspiciously. “Nurse always comes for Yezzan’s water, with four men and a mule cart.” He dropped the bucket down the well once more. There was a soft splash. The one-legged man let the bucket fill, then began to draw it upward. His arms were sunburnt and peeling, scrawny to look at but all muscle.


正午来了又去，而他和佩妮还没到水井，那儿正有个瘦骨嶙峋的独腿奴隶在汲水。他怀疑地乜着他们。“一直是保姆带着4个男人和一架骡车来为耶赞拿水。”他又一次将桶放下井。井里轻轻传来“哗啦”的一声。独腿人让木桶溢满水，接着就提它上来。他的胳膊晒到脱皮，看上去形销骨立但其实满是精瘦的肌肉。


“The mule died,” said Tyrion. “So did Nurse, poor man. And now Yezzan himself has mounted the pale mare, and six of his soldiers have the shits. May I have two pails full?”


“骡子死了，”提利昂说。“保姆也是，可怜的人。而耶赞本人也骑上了苍白母马，他自己的六个士兵也得了那玩意儿。我可以把两个桶都装满么？”


“As you like.” That was the end of idle talk. Is that hoofbeats you hear? The lie about the soldiers got old one-leg moving much more quickly.


“随便你。”这便结束了闲聊。是因为你听到了马蹄声吗？关于士兵的谎言提高了老独腿人的效率。


They started back, each of the dwarfs carrying two brim-full pails of sweet water and Ser Jorah with two pails in each hand. The day was growing hotter, the air as thick and wet as damp wool, and the pails seemed to grow heavier with every step. A long walk on short legs. Water sloshed from his pails with every stride, splashing round his legs, whilst his bells played a marching song. Had I known it would come to this, Father, I might have let you live. Half a mile east, a dark plume of smoke was rising where a tent had been set afire. Burning last night’s dead. “This way,” Tyrion said, jerking his head to the right.