PROLOGUE序章
The night was
rank with the smell of man.
夜風(fēng)中飄蕩著人的氣味。
The warg stopped
beneath a tree and sniffed, his grey-brown fur dappled by shadow. A sigh of
piney wind brought the man-scent to him, over fainter smells that spoke of fox
and hare, seal and stag, even wolf. Those were man-smells too, the warg knew;
the stink of old skins, dead and sour, near drowned beneath the stronger scents
of smoke and blood and rot. Only man stripped the skins from other beasts and
wore their hides and hair.Wargs have no fear of man, as wolves do. Hate and
hunger coiled in his belly, and he gave a low growl, calling to his one-eyed
brother, to his small sly sister. As he raced through the trees, his packmates
followed hard on his heels. They had caught the scent as well. As he ran, he
saw through their eyes too and glimpsed himself ahead. The breath of the pack
puffed warm and white from long grey jaws. Ice had frozen between their paws,
hard as stone, but the hunt was on now, the prey ahead. Flesh, the warg thought,
meat.
狼靈停在一棵樹(shù)下抽抽鼻子，灰棕色的皮毛上灑滿斑駁的陰影。一縷微風(fēng)為它帶來(lái)了人的味道，淡淡味道中混合中狐貍，野兔，海豹和雄鹿的氣味，甚至還有狼的。狼靈知道，那就是人的味道。舊皮的味道，死亡和酸臭的氣味，潛藏在更濃厚的煙，血和腐爛的氣息中，只有人才會(huì)剝下其它野獸的毛皮，把它們穿戴在身上。如同狼一樣，狼靈并不怕人。它肚子里填滿了仇恨和饑餓，它發(fā)出一聲低吼，呼叫它那獨(dú)眼的兄弟和狡猾的妹妹。它穿過(guò)樹(shù)林，它的伙伴緊跟在后面，它們也都聞到了氣味。在奔跑時(shí)，透過(guò)它們的眼睛瞥到自己奔跑在前。尖嘴中呼出白色而溫暖薄霧，爪子中結(jié)著冰，像石頭般堅(jiān)硬，狩獵開(kāi)始了，獵物就在前面。血肉，狼靈想到，肉。
A man alone was
a feeble thing. Big and strong, with good sharp eyes, but dull of ear and deaf
to smells. Deer and elk and even hares were faster, bears and boars fiercer in
a fight. But men in packs were dangerous. As the wolves closed on the prey, the
warg heard the wailing of a pup, the crust of last night’s snow breaking under clumsy man-paws, the
rattle of hardskins and the long grey claws men carried.落單的人是脆弱的。盡管高大而健壯，有著銳利的雙眼，但雙耳卻很遲鈍，鼻子也不靈。麋鹿和野兔逃的太快，熊和野豬要一番惡斗。成群結(jié)隊(duì)的人更加危險(xiǎn)。在狼群接近獵物，狼靈聽(tīng)到了一只幼崽的尖叫，昨晚下的積雪在笨重的男人爪子下碎裂的聲音，吱嘎作響，那個(gè)人背著一只灰色的長(zhǎng)爪。
Swords, a voice
inside him whispered, spears.劍，體內(nèi)響起一聲耳語(yǔ)，刺穿。
The trees had
grown icy teeth, snarling down from the bare brown branches. One Eye ripped
through the undergrowth, spraying snow. His packmates followed. Up a hill and
down the slope beyond, until the wood opened before them and the men were
there. One was female. The fur-wrapped bundle she clutched was her pup. Leave
her for last, the voice whispered, the males are the danger. They were roaring
at each other as men did, but the warg could smell their terror. One had a
wooden tooth as tall as he was. He flung it, but his hand was shaking and the
tooth sailed high.樹(shù)木長(zhǎng)出了冰牙，和棕色的裸枝糾纏在一起?！蔼?dú)眼”闖過(guò)矮樹(shù)叢，雪花紛飛。它的伙伴緊跟著。爬上山峰，沖下斜坡，直到樹(shù)林在他們前面散開(kāi)，人就在那里。一個(gè)是母的，她的幼崽用繩索綁在身后。留她在最后，耳邊輕響著低語(yǔ)，男人更危險(xiǎn)。男人和狼互相沖對(duì)方咆哮著，但狼靈能嗅出他們的恐懼。一個(gè)人有著和他個(gè)子一樣高的木牙，他擲出來(lái)，但他的手抖了，木牙飛到了一邊。
Then the pack
was on them.然后伙伴撲向了他們。
His one-eyed
brother knocked the tooth-thrower back into a snowdrift and tore his throat out
as he struggled. His sister slipped behind the other male and took him from the
rear. That left the female and her pup for him.它獨(dú)眼的兄弟把那個(gè)投擲者撞倒在雪地，撕開(kāi)正掙扎著他的喉嚨。它的妹妹溜到另一男人的背后，從后面解決了他。留給它的是那個(gè)女人和她的幼崽。
She had a tooth
too, a little one made of bone, but she dropped it when the warg’s jaws closed
around her leg. As she fell, she wrapped both arms around her noisy pup.
Underneath her furs the female was just skin and bones, but her dugs were full
of milk. The sweetest meat was on the pup. The wolf saved the choicest parts
for his brother. All around the carcasses, the frozen snow turned pink and red
as the pack filled its bellies.她也有支牙，一支短短的，骨制的牙，但當(dāng)狼靈的爪子趴在她大腿上時(shí)，她扔掉了它。在她倒下時(shí)，她用雙臂抱緊了那個(gè)吵鬧的幼崽。在她的皮毛下面只有皮膚和骨頭，但她的乳房充滿乳汁。幼崽是最甜美的血肉。狼把最好的部分留給了它的兄弟。尸骸狼藉，凍雪變成了粉紅色，它的伙伴正在填飽它們的肚子。
Leagues away, in
a one-room hut of mud and straw with a thatched roof and a smoke hole and a
floor of hard-packed earth, Varamyr shivered and coughed and licked his lips.
His eyes were red, his lips cracked, his throat dry and parched, but the taste
of blood and fat filled his mouth, even as his swollen belly cried for
nourishment. A child’s flesh, he thought, remembering Bump. Human meat. Had he
sunk so low as to hunger after human meat? He could almost hear Haggon growling
at him. “Men may eat the flesh of beasts and beasts the flesh of men, but the
man who eats the flesh of man is an abomination.”幾里格以外，在一間茅草屋頂，有著一個(gè)出煙孔和夯實(shí)地面的粘土壘成的簡(jiǎn)陋窩棚里，瓦拉米爾一邊抽搐地咳嗽著，一邊舔著嘴唇。他的雙眼血紅，嘴唇干裂，喉嚨饑渴，盡管饑腸轆轆，嘴里卻充滿了鮮血和脂肪的味道。一個(gè)嬰兒的血肉，他想到，回憶起班普。人肉，他已經(jīng)墮落到渴望人肉？他幾乎能聽(tīng)到哈根在沖他怒吼：“人可以吃野獸，野獸也可以吃人，但人吃人就是禁忌?！?/p>
Abomination.
That had always been Haggon’s favorite word. Abomination, abomination,
abomination. To eat of human meat was abomination, to mate as wolf with wolf
was abomination, and to seize the body of another man was the worst abomination
of all. Haggon was weak, afraid of his own power. He died weeping and alone
when I ripped his second life from him. Varamyr had devoured his heart himself.
He taught me much and more, and the last thing I learned from him was the taste
of human flesh.禁忌，幾乎是哈根的口頭語(yǔ)。禁忌，禁忌，禁忌。吃人肉是禁忌，附身狼身同狼交配是禁忌，附在人身上是最大的禁忌。哈根太軟弱了，害怕自己所擁有的力量。當(dāng)我撕碎他的第二條命時(shí)，他孤單地哭泣著死去。瓦拉米爾吞食了他的心臟。他教會(huì)了我許多許多，我從他身上學(xué)到的最后一樣就是人肉的味道。
That was as a
wolf, though. He had never eaten the meat of men with human teeth. He would not
grudge his pack their feast, however. The wolves were as famished as he was,
gaunt and cold and hungry, and the prey … two men and a woman, a babe in arms,
fleeing from defeat to death. They would have perished soon in any case, from
exposure or starvation. This way was better, quicker. A mercy.但那是作為一只狼干的。他的牙齒從未觸及過(guò)人肉。他不應(yīng)嫉妒正在大嚼的伙伴。那些狼同他一樣肚子癟癟，憔悴，冰冷而饑餓，那些獵物…兩個(gè)男人，一個(gè)女人，和一個(gè)懷抱里的嬰兒，沒(méi)能逃脫死亡。無(wú)論如何他們都要死，嚴(yán)寒或者饑餓。這樣的死法或許更好，干凈利落。慈悲。
“A mercy,” he said aloud. His throat was raw, but it felt good to
hear a human voice, even his own. The air smelled of mold and damp, the ground
was cold and hard, and his fire was giving off more smoke than heat. He moved
as close to the flames as he dared, coughing and shivering by turns, his side
throbbing where his wound had opened. Blood had soaked his breeches to the knee
and dried into a hard brown crust.“慈悲”他大聲說(shuō)，他的嗓子干澀，但能聽(tīng)到人的聲音讓他感到高興，就算是自己的?？諝獬睗穸野l(fā)霉，地面又冷又硬，他的火堆帶給他的更多的是煙而不是熱。他盡可能的靠緊火焰，不停的抽搐和咳嗽著。裂開(kāi)的傷口抽動(dòng)著，鮮血淌到了褲子里，一直流到了膝蓋，干涸的血跡凝成了棕色的硬斑。
Thistle had
warned him that might happen. “I sewed it up the best I could,” she’d said, “but you need to rest and let it mend, or the
flesh will tear open again.”希斯?fàn)柧孢^(guò)他，“我已經(jīng)盡可能包扎好啦，”她說(shuō)，“但你需要休息等它愈合，否則傷口又會(huì)開(kāi)裂?！?/p>
Thistle had been
the last of his companions, a spearwife tough as an old root, warty, windburnt,
and wrinkled. The others had deserted them along the way. One by one they fell
behind or forged ahead, making for their old villages, or the Milkwater, or
Hardhome, or a lonely death in the woods. Varamyr did not know, and could not
care. I should have taken one of them when I had the chance. One of the twins,
or the big man with the scarred face, or the youth with the red hair. He had
been afraid, though. One of the others might have realized what was happening.
Then they would have turned on him and killed him. And Haggon’s words had haunted him, and so the chance had
passed.希斯?fàn)柺撬詈蟮耐榱耍幻瑡D，像顆老樹(shù)根，滿身的褶子和疙瘩。其他人一個(gè)個(gè)離開(kāi)了他們，落在身后或者消失在前方，返回到他們老家，或者乳河，或者哈德鎮(zhèn)，也可能孤獨(dú)的死在樹(shù)林里。瓦拉米爾不知道，也不關(guān)心這些。我本來(lái)應(yīng)該抓住機(jī)會(huì)附身在他們中間一個(gè)。那雙胞胎中的一個(gè)，或者臉上有著刀疤的那個(gè)壯漢，或者有著一頭紅發(fā)的那個(gè)年輕人。但他害怕，他們可能會(huì)醒悟過(guò)來(lái)發(fā)生了什么，然后可能會(huì)擺脫掉并殺了他。哈根的話也影響了他，因此那些機(jī)會(huì)都放過(guò)了。
After the battle
there had been thousands of them struggling through the forest, hungry,
frightened, fleeing the carnage that had descended on them at the Wall. Some
had talked of returning to the homes that they’d abandoned, others of mounting
a second assault upon the gate, but most were lost, with no notion of where to
go or what to do. They had escaped the black-cloaked crows and the knights in
their grey steel, but more relentless enemies stalked them now. Every day left
more corpses by the trails. Some died of hunger, some of cold, some of sickness.
Others were slain by those who had been their brothers-in-arms when they
marched south with Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall.那次戰(zhàn)役之后，有成千的人努力要穿越森林，要逃離在長(zhǎng)城那里降臨在他們頭上的那場(chǎng)屠殺，又餓又怕。一些人商量著要返回他們遺棄掉的老家，還有人策劃再偷襲一次城門，但大多數(shù)人茫然若失，不知道該去哪或該做些什么。他們逃避那些黑衣烏鴉和灰色盔甲中的騎士，但仍被緊追不舍。一路上每天都留下越來(lái)越多的尸體，有的死于饑餓，有的因?yàn)閲?yán)寒，或者疾病。在追隨“塞外之王”曼斯·雷德南下時(shí)曾親如手足的人們，現(xiàn)在也開(kāi)始自相殘殺。
Mance is fallen,
the survivors told each other in despairing voices, Mance is taken, Mance is
dead. “Harma’s dead and Mance is captured, the rest run off and left us,” Thistle
had claimed, as she was sewing up his wound. “Tormund, the Weeper, Sixskins,
all them brave raiders. Where are they now?”曼斯垮了，幸存者用絕望的聲音互相嘮叨，曼斯被俘，曼斯死了?！肮锼懒?，曼斯被捉去了，剩下的都跑光了，只留下我們，”希斯?fàn)栐诎麄跁r(shí)聲稱?！巴忻傻拢奁?，六形人，所有勇敢的掠襲者，現(xiàn)在他們?cè)谀陌?？?/p>
She does not
know me, Varamyr realized then, and why should she? Without his beasts he did
not look like a great man. I was Varamyr Six-skins, who broke bread with Mance
Rayder. He had named himself Varamyr when he was ten. A name fit for a lord, a
name for songs, a mighty name, and fearsome. Yet he had run from the crows like
a frightened rabbit. The terrible Lord Varamyr had gone craven, but he could
not bear that she should know that, so he told the spearwife that his name was
Haggon. Afterward he wondered why that name had come to his lips, of all those
he might have chosen. I ate his heart and drank his blood, and still he haunts
me.她不認(rèn)識(shí)我，瓦拉米爾想到，為什么她認(rèn)不出我？沒(méi)有野獸的陪伴他看起來(lái)不再像個(gè)大人物了。我是瓦拉米爾，“六形人”，同曼斯·雷德一起分享過(guò)面包。在他十歲的時(shí)候，他自稱瓦拉米爾。一個(gè)與首領(lǐng)相稱的名字，一首歌謠的名字，一個(gè)強(qiáng)大而可怖的名字。但他逃離那些烏鴉時(shí)像只受驚的野兔?？植赖氖最I(lǐng)瓦拉米爾已經(jīng)變成了懦夫，但他不能讓她知道這些，因此告訴這個(gè)矛婦他的名字是哈根。后來(lái)一直疑惑為什么當(dāng)時(shí)偏偏那個(gè)名字出現(xiàn)在嘴邊，我吃了他的心，喝了他的血，可他仍一直糾纏著我。
One day, as they
fled, a rider came galloping through the woods on a gaunt white horse, shouting
that they all should make for the Milkwater, that the Weeper was gathering
warriors to cross the Bridge of Skulls and take the Shadow Tower. Many followed
him; more did not. Later, a dour warrior in fur and amber went from cookfire to
cookfire, urging all the survivors to head north and take refuge in the valley
of the Thenns. Why he thought they would be safe there when the Thenns
themselves had fled the place Varamyr never learned, but hundreds followed him.
Hundreds more went off with the woods witch who’d had a vision of a fleet of ships coming to carry the free folk
south. “We must seek the
sea,” cried Mother
Mole, and her followers turned east.有天，在他們逃跑的路上，一個(gè)騎著憔悴的白馬的騎手，飛馳著穿過(guò)叢林，大喊著他們應(yīng)該前往乳河，在那里，哭泣者正在召集戰(zhàn)士，準(zhǔn)備跨過(guò)骷髏橋攻打影子塔。不少人隨他而去，但更多的人沒(méi)有，之后一個(gè)穿戴著皮毛和琥珀，嚴(yán)肅的武士，在篝火間往返呼吁，所有的幸存者應(yīng)該向北，在瑟恩的山谷那里有一個(gè)避難所。為什么他會(huì)認(rèn)為在那里會(huì)安全，連瑟恩人都逃離那個(gè)瓦拉米爾從未聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)的地方，但幾百人聽(tīng)從了他。更多的人追隨一位森林女巫，她預(yù)言會(huì)有一支船隊(duì)來(lái)接走自由民?！拔覀儽仨氄业胶?，”鼴鼠之母呼喊到，和她的追隨者轉(zhuǎn)向東方。
Varamyr might
have been amongst them if only he’d been stronger. The sea was grey and cold
and far away, though, and he knew that he would never live to see it. He was
nine times dead and dying, and this would be his true death. A squirrel-skin
cloak, he remembered, he knifed me for a squirrel-skin cloak.如果更健壯一些的話，瓦拉米爾可能也成為他們中間一員。海是灰暗，冰冷而且遙遠(yuǎn)的。他知道自己不能活著看到它。他死過(guò)了九次，這次將是真正的死掉。一件鼠皮披風(fēng)，他回憶起來(lái)，他捅了我，就為了一件鼠皮披風(fēng)。
Its owner had
been dead, the back of her head smashed into red pulp flecked with bits of
bone, but her cloak looked warm and thick. It was snowing, and Varamyr had lost
his own cloaks at the Wall. His sleeping pelts and woolen smallclothes, his
sheepskin boots and fur-lined gloves, his store of mead and hoarded food, the
hanks of hair he took from the women he bedded, even the golden arm rings Mance
had given him, all lost and left behind. I burned and I died and then I ran,
half-mad with pain and terror. The memory still shamed him, but he had not been
alone. Others had run as well, hundreds of them, thousands. The battle was
lost. The knights had come, invincible in their steel, killing everyone who
stayed to fight. It was run or die.它原來(lái)的主人已經(jīng)死了，她的后腦變成了摻著骨頭渣子的粉紅果醬，但她的披風(fēng)看起來(lái)又厚又暖。那時(shí)正下著雪，而瓦拉米爾又在長(zhǎng)城丟了自己的披風(fēng)。他的睡袋，羊毛襯衣，羊皮靴和皮手套，他貯藏的蜂蜜酒和食物，從他睡過(guò)的女人得到的幾把頭發(fā)，甚至曼斯贈(zèng)與的金臂環(huán)，統(tǒng)統(tǒng)丟下了。我被燒焦，死掉，然后又逃跑，因?yàn)閭春涂謶謳缀醑偟簟＿@些回憶仍令他感到羞恥，但逃跑的不止是他，成百上千的人同樣落荒而逃。戰(zhàn)役輸?shù)袅?，騎士們來(lái)了，穿戴著盔甲，無(wú)法匹敵，殺掉所有敢抵抗的人。不逃就是死。
Death was not so
easily outrun, however. So when Varamyr came upon the dead woman in the wood,
he knelt to strip the cloak from her, and never saw the boy until he burst from
hiding to drive the long bone knife into his side and rip the cloak out of his
clutching fingers. “His mother,” Thistle told him later, after the boy had run off. “It were his mother’s cloak, and when he saw you robbing her …”但是，沒(méi)那么容易逃脫掉死亡。在森林里，當(dāng)瓦拉米爾撂倒那個(gè)女人之后，跪下要從她身上剝下披風(fēng)時(shí)，根本沒(méi)瞧見(jiàn)那小子，他突然從藏身之處跳出來(lái)，把一邊長(zhǎng)骨匕首捅進(jìn)自己身體并把披風(fēng)從他正要攥緊的手中奪走?！八麐專毕Ｋ?fàn)柹院蟾嬖V他，在那小子逃掉之后?！澳鞘撬麐尩呐L(fēng)，當(dāng)時(shí)他看到你正搶劫她…”
“She was dead,” Varamyr said, wincing as her bone needle pierced his flesh. “Someone smashed her head. Some crow.”“她已經(jīng)死了，”瓦拉米爾說(shuō)，因?yàn)樗墓轻槾┻^(guò)皮肉而戰(zhàn)栗?！坝腥饲闷屏怂哪X袋。某只烏鴉干的?！?/p>
“No crow. Hornfoot men. I saw it.” Her needle pulled the gash in his
side closed. “Savages, and who’s left to tame them?” No one. If Mance is dead,
the free folk are doomed. The Thenns, giants, and the Hornfoot men, the
cave-dwellers with their filed teeth, and the men of the western shore with
their chariots of bone … all of them were doomed as well. Even the crows. They might not
know it yet, but those black-cloaked bastards would perish with the rest. The
enemy was coming.“不是烏鴉，是硬足民，我瞧見(jiàn)了?！彼尼槍⑺膫诳p合?！耙叭?，誰(shuí)能馴服他們?。俊睕](méi)人。如果曼斯死了，自由民也就完了。瑟恩人，巨人，硬足民，有著銼刀般牙齒的穴居人，駕著海象骨戰(zhàn)車的冰封海岸原住民…全都完了。連烏鴉也會(huì)，他們可能還不知道這點(diǎn)，那些黑衣混蛋接下來(lái)就要完蛋。敵人來(lái)了。
Haggon’s rough voice echoed in his head. “You will die a dozen deaths, boy, and every
one will hurt … but when your
true death comes, you will live again. The second life is simpler and sweeter,
they say.”哈根粗野的嗓音回蕩在他腦海里?！澳銓⑺纻€(gè)十來(lái)回，小子，每回都?jí)蚴堋?dāng)你真的死掉，你將會(huì)重生。第二條命將更單純和甜美，他們是這么說(shuō)的?！?/p>
Varamyr Sixskins
would know the truth of that soon enough. He could taste his true death in the
smoke that hung acrid in the air, feel it in the heat beneath his fingers when
he slipped a hand under his clothes to touch his wound. The chill was in him
too, though, deep down in his bones. This time it would be cold that killed
him.“六形人”瓦拉米爾馬上就會(huì)知道這個(gè)真相了。他能從混濁的空氣中飄蕩著的煙里嗅出死亡的味道，能用滑進(jìn)衣服里觸摸傷口的指尖上感覺(jué)得到，他體內(nèi)已經(jīng)冰涼，凍徹骨髓，這刺骨的嚴(yán)寒將把他帶走。
His last death
had been by fire. I burned. At first, in his confusion, he thought some archer
on the Wall had pierced him with a flaming arrow … but the fire had been inside him, consuming him. And the pain …他最近一次的死亡是因?yàn)榛?。我被點(diǎn)著了。起初，在惶惑中他以為是長(zhǎng)城上的某個(gè)弓箭手用火箭射中了他…但火是從體內(nèi)冒出來(lái)的，吞噬著他。那種痛苦…
Varamyr had died
nine times before. He had died once from a spear thrust, once with a bear’s
teeth in his throat, and once in a wash of blood as he brought forth a
stillborn cub. He died his first death when he was only six, as his father’s
axe crashed through his skull. Even that had not been so agonizing as the fire
in his guts, crackling along his wings, devouring him. When he tried to fly
from it, his terror fanned the flames and made them burn hotter. One moment he
had been soaring above the Wall, his eagle’s eyes marking the movements of the men below. Then the flames had
turned his heart into a blackened cinder and sent his spirit screaming back
into his own skin, and for a little while he’d gone mad. Even the memory was enough to make him shudder.瓦拉米爾之前死過(guò)九次。他曾被長(zhǎng)矛刺穿過(guò)，曾被一只熊撕破喉嚨，還有一次死于生出一只幼獸而難產(chǎn)時(shí)的大出血。他第一次的死亡發(fā)生在他六歲時(shí)，父親的斧子敲碎了他的腦殼。但那也沒(méi)有五內(nèi)俱焚的火焰更令人痛苦難忍，那火焰順著雙翼，吞噬著他。當(dāng)他試圖逃離這痛苦時(shí)，扇動(dòng)的翅膀令火焰變得更加灼熱。在飛過(guò)長(zhǎng)城的那一刻，他的鷹眼曾注意到下面那些人的動(dòng)作，緊接著那火焰就把他的心臟化為飛灰，他的靈魂尖叫著縮回本體，有那么一瞬間他差點(diǎn)瘋掉。那回憶到現(xiàn)在還令他發(fā)抖。
That was when he
noticed that his fire had gone out.這時(shí)他才注意到火堆已經(jīng)燃盡。
Only a
grey-and-black tangle of charred wood remained, with a few embers glowing in
the ashes. There’s still smoke, it just needs wood. Gritting his teeth against
the pain, Varamyr crept to the pile of broken branches Thistle had gathered
before she went off hunting, and tossed a few sticks onto the ashes. “Catch,” he croaked. “Burn.” He blew upon the
embers and said a wordless prayer to the nameless gods of wood and hill and
field.只剩下一堆燒得灰黑的木炭，當(dāng)中有幾塊余燼。它仍冒著煙，需要填加木柴。咬緊牙關(guān)忍著疼痛，瓦拉米爾爬向希斯?fàn)栐诔鋈ゴ颢C前收集到那堆斷枝，把幾個(gè)細(xì)枝投入灰燼中?！爸。彼笾??！盁饋?lái)啊?！彼麤_著余燼吹氣，向那些統(tǒng)治森林，山川，原野的不知名的神靈默默祈禱。
The gods gave no
answer. After a while, the smoke ceased to rise as well. Already the little hut
was growing colder. Varamyr had no flint, no tinder, no dry kindling. He would
never get the fire burning again, not by himself. “Thistle,” he called out, his
voice hoarse and edged with pain. “Thistle!”神靈們沒(méi)有回應(yīng)。過(guò)來(lái)一會(huì)兒，連煙都沒(méi)有了，窩棚變得更冷了。瓦拉米爾沒(méi)有燧石，沒(méi)有火絨，沒(méi)有火種。他沒(méi)辦法重新生火，憑他自己做不到。“希斯?fàn)?，”他嚎叫著，嗓音因?yàn)樘弁此粏《饫?。“希斯?fàn)?！?/p>
Her chin was pointed
and her nose flat, and she had a mole on one cheek with four dark hairs growing
from it. An ugly face, and hard, yet he would have given much to glimpse it in
the door of the hut. I should have taken her before she left. How long had she
been gone? Two days? Three? Varamyr was uncertain. It was dark inside the hut,
and he had been drifting in and out of sleep, never quite sure if it was day or
night outside. “Wait,” she’d said. “I will be back with food.” So like a fool
he’d waited, dreaming of Haggon and Bump and all the wrongs he had done in his
long life, but days and nights had passed and Thistle had not returned. She
won’t be coming back. Varamyr wondered if he had given himself away. Could she
tell what he was thinking just from looking at him, or had he muttered in his
fever dream?她的尖下巴，她的扁鼻子，還有面頰上一顆帶著四根毛的痔。一張丑惡，令人厭惡的臉，不過(guò)他現(xiàn)在非?？释茉陂T口出現(xiàn)。在她離開(kāi)前我應(yīng)該附身過(guò)去。她離開(kāi)多久了？?jī)商?？三天？瓦拉米爾不太確定。屋子里太黑了，他又半睡半醒，不能確定外面是白天還是黑夜?！暗戎?，”她說(shuō)。“我會(huì)帶著食物回來(lái)的?！彼拖駛€(gè)傻瓜似的待著，回想著哈根和班普，他一生當(dāng)中的種種過(guò)錯(cuò)，但一天一夜已經(jīng)過(guò)去了，而希斯?fàn)栠€沒(méi)回來(lái)。瓦拉米爾猜測(cè)自己是不是被拋棄了。當(dāng)我盯著她看時(shí)，她猜到我要干什么了？或者在高燒時(shí)的夢(mèng)話暴露了自己？
Abomination, he
heard Haggon saying. It was almost as if he were here, in this very room. “She
is just some ugly spearwife,” Varamyr told him. “I am a great man. I am
Varamyr, the warg, the skinchanger, it is not right that she should live and I
should die.” No one answered.
There was no one there. Thistle was gone. She had abandoned him, the same as
all the rest.禁忌，他聽(tīng)到哈根在說(shuō)話，似乎他就站在這，這個(gè)屋子里。“她不過(guò)是個(gè)丑陋的矛婦，”瓦拉米爾向他辯解?！拔沂莻€(gè)大人物。我是瓦拉米爾，狼靈，易形者。不該是她活著而我死掉?！睕](méi)人回答。這一個(gè)人也沒(méi)有。希斯?fàn)栕吡恕Ｋ龗仐壛怂?，和其他人一樣?/p>
His own mother
had abandoned him as well. She cried for Bump, but she never cried for me. The
morning his father pulled him out of bed to deliver him to Haggon, she would
not even look at him. He had shrieked and kicked as he was dragged into the
woods, until his father slapped him and told him to be quiet. “You belong with your own kind,” was all he said when he flung him down at
Haggon’s feet.他的媽媽也拋棄了他，她只顧摟著班普，根本不理他。在那個(gè)早晨，他父親把他從床上揪起來(lái)，要交給哈根時(shí)，她甚至都沒(méi)看我一眼。在被拖到森林的路上，他一直尖叫和掙扎，直到他老爸給了他一頓耳光并告訴他保持安靜。“你要服從你的命運(yùn)，”這就是他被推倒在哈根腳下時(shí)，老爸所說(shuō)的。
