Ⅱ 列王的纷争 Chapter49 提利昂

TYRION

“你若是愚蠢地送命，我就拿你的尸体喂山羊，”石鸦部正从码头出发，提利昂边看边威胁。

If you die stupidly, I’m going to feed your body to the goats,” Tyrion threatened as the first load of Stone Crows pushed off from the quay.

夏嘎大笑。“半人没山羊。”

Shagga laughed. “The Halfman has no goats.”

“为了你，我会特地弄几只。”

“I’ll get some just for you.”

天色已然破晓，河面上淡淡的亮光随着波浪闪烁，在撑槁下碎裂，待小船驶过后又重新聚拢。两天前提魅便带着灼人部进了御林。昨天黑耳部和月人部也去了。今天轮到石鸦部。

Dawn was breaking, and pale ripples of light shimmered on the surface of the river, shattering under the poles and re-forming when the ferry had passed. Timett had taken his Burned Men into the kingswood two days before. Yesterday the Black Ears and Moon Brothers followed, today the Stone Crows.

“你怎么做都行，就是不能正面开仗，”提利昂说。“骚扰他们的营地和车队，伏击斥候，迂回消灭落伍的士兵，把尸体吊在他们行军道路的树上。此外，我要你时时发动夜袭，要频繁，要突然，教他们不得安寝——”

“Whatever you do, don’t try and fight a battle,” Tyrion said. “Strike at their camps and baggage train. Ambush their scouts and hang the bodies from trees ahead of their line of march, loop around and cut down stragglers. I want night attacks, so many and so sudden that they’ll be afraid to sleep—”

夏嘎将手搭上提利昂的头，“这些我长胡子以前就从霍格之子多夫那儿学到啦！在明月山脉，仗就是这样打的。”

Shagga laid a hand atop Tyrion’s head. “All this I learned from Dolf son of Holger before my beard had grown. This is the way of war in the Mountains of the Moon.”

“御林不是明月山脉，你也不是跟奶蛇部或画犬部作战。你必须听从我指派的向导，他们像你们了解山区一样了解这片森林。接受他们的建议，方能行动自如。”

“The kingswood is not the Mountains of the Moon, and you won’t be fighting Milk Snakes and Painted Dogs. And listen to the guides I’m sending, they know this wood as well as you know your mountains. Heed their counsel and they’ll serve you well.”

“夏嘎会听从半人的宠物，”原住民庄严承诺，然后牵着矮种马登上小船。提利昂注视他们离岸，撑稿朝黑水河心而去。望着夏嘎渐渐消失在晨雾中，他的胃奇特地痉挛。少了原住民，他好像没穿衣服似的。

“Shagga will listen to the Halfman’s pets,” the clansman promised solemnly. And then it was time for him to lead his garron onto the ferry. Tyrion watched them push off and pole out toward the center of the Blackwater. He felt a queer twinge in the pit of his stomach as Shagga faded in the morning mist. He was going to feel naked without his clansmen.

他身边还有波隆雇的人，至今已近八百，但佣兵素来反复无常，不可信赖。提利昂已用尽一切办法收买他们的忠诚，他向波隆及其手下十几个能手许下承诺，战斗获胜后，给予他们土地与骑士称号。他们喝着他的酒，欣赏他的玩笑，彼此以“爵士”相称，直到醉得东倒西歪……波隆本人除外，所有人醉倒后，他带着一贯傲慢暧昧的笑容对他说：“他们会为骑士头衔杀人，但不会为此而死。”

He still had Bronn’s hirelings, near eight hundred of them now, but sellswords were notoriously fickle. Tyrion had done what he could to buy their continued loyalty, promising Bronn and a dozen of his best men lands and knighthoods when the battle was won. They’d drunk his wine, laughed at his jests, and called each other ser until they were all staggering … all but Bronn himself, who’d only smiled that insolent dark smile of his and afterward said, “They’ll kill for that knighthood, but don’t ever think they’ll die for it.”

提利昂没有这种错觉。

Tyrion had no such delusion.

金袍军也同样靠不住。拜瑟曦之赐，都城守备队增加到六千人，但其中可依靠的不超过四分之一。“少数人是不折不扣的叛徒，还有些捣乱分子连你的蜘蛛也查不出来，”拜瓦特警告过他，“剩下的人中有不少比春天的青草还嫩，他们加入全为了面包、麦酒和有人保护。没人愿成为同伴眼中的懦夫，因此战事一开，当号角震天、旗帜飘扬时，他们会勇于作战。但只要势头不妙，他们将即刻崩溃，逃之夭夭。一个人扔下长矛，一千个人就会学样。”

The gold cloaks were almost as uncertain a weapon. Six thousand men in the City Watch, thanks to Cersei, but only a quarter of them could be relied upon. “There’s few out-and-out traitors, though there’s some, even your spider hasn’t found them all,” Bywater had warned him. “But there’s hundreds greener than spring grass, men who joined for bread and ale and safety. No man likes to look craven in the sight of his fellows, so they’ll fight brave enough at the start, when it’s all warhorns and blowing banners. But if the battle looks to be going sour they’ll break, and they’ll break bad. The first man to throw down his spear and run will have a thousand more trodding on his heels.”

当然，都城守备队里也有经验丰富的骨干，两千名成员的金袍从劳勃那里得来，而非得自于瑟曦。可是……守卫不算兵，这是泰温·兰尼斯特公爵经常的教诲。除此之外，提利昂手中的骑士、侍从和普通士兵加起来不过三百。他希望父亲另一句格言得到验证：高踞坚城，以一抵十。

To be sure, there were seasoned men in the City Watch, the core of two thousand who’d gotten their gold cloaks from Robert, not Cersei. Yet even those … a watchman was not truly a soldier, Lord Tywin Lannister had been fond of saying. Of knights and squires and men-at-arms, Tyrion had no more than three hundred. Soon enough, he must test the truth of another of his father’s sayings: One man on a wall was worth ten beneath it.

波隆率卫队等在码头下，旁边是成群的乞丐、游荡的妓女和叫卖渔获的渔妇。渔妇的生意比其余所有人加起来还好。人们拥挤在桶子或货摊周围，为田螺、蛤蛎和梭子鱼讨价还价。由于没有其他食物进城，所以鱼价成了战前的十倍，并还在持续上升。手里还有钱的人每天早晚都来河边，希望带条鳗鱼或一罐红蟹回家；没钱的人，要么在摊位之间游走，盘算着偷窃，要么就凄惨无望地站在城墙下观看。

Bronn and the escort were waiting at the foot of the quay, amidst swarming beggars, strolling whores, and fishwives crying the catch. The fishwives did more business than all the rest combined. Buyers flocked around the barrels and stalls to haggle over winkles, clams, and river pike. With no other food coming into the city, the price of fish was ten times what it had been before the war, and still rising. Those who had coin came to the riverfront each morning and each evening, in hopes of bringing home an eel or a pot of red crabs; those who did not slipped between the stalls hoping to steal, or stood gaunt and forlorn beneath the walls.

金袍卫士用矛杆推开群众，在人潮里清出一条路。提利昂尽力不去在意那些嘀咕和咒骂。一条腐烂而滑腻的鱼从人群中飞出，落在他脚边，裂成碎片。他小心翼翼地跨过它，爬上马背。身后，肚腹鼓胀的孩子们已为臭鱼的碎片厮打起来。

The gold cloaks cleared a path through the press, shoving people aside with the shafts of their spears. Tyrion ignored the muttered curses as best he could. A fish came sailing out of the crowd, slimy and rotten. It landed at his feet and flew to pieces. He stepped over it gingerly and climbed into his saddle. Children with swollen bellies were already fighting over pieces of the stinking fish.

他骑马望向河岸。清晨的空气中锤声激荡，大批木匠群聚烂泥门，为城垛加添木板。进展不错。但另一方面，码头后方滋生的那堆摇摇欲坠的建筑，又令他相当不快。它们紧贴城墙，活像附在船身上的贝壳，其中有鱼饵仓、食堂、仓库、商铺、酒馆，以及便宜娼妓的勾栏。必须清空，半点不留。有了这些，史坦尼斯连搭云梯的工夫都省了。

Mounted, he gazed along the riverfront. Hammers rang in the morning air as carpenters swarmed over the Mud Gate, extending wooden hoardings from the battlements. Those were coming well. He was a deal less pleased by the clutter of ramshackle structures that had been allowed to grow up behind the quays, attaching themselves to the city walls like barnacles on the hull of a ship; bait shacks and pot-shops, warehouses, merchants’ stalls, alehouses, the cribs where the cheaper sort of whores spread their legs. It has to go, every bit of it. As it was, Stannis would hardly need scaling ladders to storm the walls.

他把波隆叫到身边。“组织一百人，烧掉从河边到城墙之间所有的东西。”他挥挥粗短的手指，将肮脏贫穷的码头区整个圈进去。“一干二净，视野内不准任何东西矗立，明白吗？”

He called Bronn to his side. “Assemble a hundred men and burn everything you see here between the water’s edge and the city walls.” He waved his stubby fingers, taking in all the waterfront squalor. “I want nothing left standing, do you understand?”

黑发佣兵转头，评估了一下差事。“只怕业主们不太高兴。”

The black-haired sellsword turned his head, considering the task. “Them as own all this won’t like that much.”

“他们怎样也不会高兴，随它，正好给他们新的理由来诅咒畸形小魔猴。”

“I never imagined they would. So be it; they’ll have something else to curse the evil monkey demon for.”

“有人会反抗。”

“Some may fight.”

“确保他们失败。”

“See that they lose.”

“这里的居民怎么办？”

“What do we do with those that live here?”

“给他们足够时间转移财产，然后全部清走。尽量别见血，他们不是敌人。还有，诸神保佑，不许再强暴妇女！把你的人管好，真该死。”

“Let them have a reasonable time to remove their property, and then move them out. Try not to kill any of them, they’re not the enemy. And no more rapes! Keep your men in line, damn it.”

“他们是佣兵，不是修士。”波隆说，“下次你就要我让他们禁酒了。”

“They’re sellswords, not septons,” said Bronn. “Next you’ll be telling me you want them sober.”

“好主意。”

“It couldn’t hurt.”

提利昂恨不得将城墙增高两倍，加厚三层。但那有什么用呢？高塔厚墙救不了风息堡，救不了赫伦堡，甚至连临冬城也救不了。

Tyrion only wished he could as easily make city walls twice as tall and three times as thick. Though perhaps it did not matter. Massive walls and tall towers had not saved Storm’s End, nor Harrenhal, nor even Winterfell.

他记得上次见到临冬城的情景。它不若赫伦堡那么荒诞地庞大，也不如风息堡那么坚不可摧，但石墙里自有一股蕴涵的力量，让置身其中的人觉得安全。此城陷落的消息让他深感震撼。“诸神一手付出，一手收取，”瓦里斯告诉他时，他喃喃低语。他们把赫伦堡交给史塔克家，同时取走临冬城。一次拙劣的交换。

He remembered Winterfell as he had last seen it. Not as grotesquely huge as Harrenhal, nor as solid and impregnable to look at as Storm’s End, yet there had been a great strength in those stones, a sense that within those walls a man might feel safe. The news of the castle’s fall had come as a wrenching shock. “The gods give with one hand and take with the other,” he muttered under his breath when Varys told him. They had given the Starks Harrenhal and taken Winterfell, a dismal exchange.

当然，他应该高兴。从今往后，罗柏·史塔克不得不用兵北方——如果连自己的堡垒和家园都守不住，他算哪门子国王？看来兰尼斯特家西境根据地的形势暂缓，然而……

No doubt he should be rejoicing. Robb Stark would have to turn north now. If he could not defend his own home and hearth, he was no sort of king at all. It meant reprieve for the west, for House Lannister, and yet …

对席恩·葛雷乔伊，在作客北境的短短时间，提利昂只有极模糊的记忆。他是个乳臭未干的小子，很爱笑，擅用弓；很难想像他竟成了临冬城主。临冬城主一直都是史塔克啊。

Tyrion had only the vaguest memory of Theon Greyjoy from his time with the Starks. A callow youth, always smiling, skilled with a bow; it was hard to imagine him as Lord of Winterfell. The Lord of Winterfell would always be a Stark.

他想起他们的神木林：高大的哨兵树以灰绿的松针作铠甲，还有大橡树、山楂树、铁树、岑树及士卒松。心树挺立于核心，好似冻结在时光之中的白巨人。他仿佛还能闻到那里沉静的乡土气息，那种酝酿千年的味道，那片树林纵然白天亦是阴暗。那片树林就是临冬城。那片树林就是北境。当我在林间行走，从未有过的格格不入感油然而生，仿佛自己就是一个不受欢迎的闯入者。不知葛雷乔伊家的人会不会有同感。城堡也许由他们掌控，但那片神木林绝不会。一年不会，十年不会，再过五十年仍不可能。

He remembered their godswood; the tall sentinels armored in their grey-green needles, the great oaks, the hawthorn and ash and soldier pines, and at the center the heart tree standing like some pale giant frozen in time. He could almost smell the place, earthy and brooding, the smell of centuries, and he remembered how dark the wood had been even by day. That wood was Winterfell. It was the north. I never felt so out of place as I did when I walked there, so much an unwelcome intruder. He wondered if the Greyjoys would feel it too. The castle might well be theirs, but never that godswood. Not in a year, or ten, or fifty.

提利昂·兰尼斯特策马缓缓朝烂泥门骑去。临冬城与你无关，他提醒自己，它的陷落是你的幸运，该留心的是自己的城防。城门大开，三座巨大的投石机并排矗立于市集广场，如三头站着的巨鸟，向城垛外张望。投掷臂由老橡树的树干制成，铁箍以防断裂。金袍卫士戏称它们为“君临三妓”，它们即将给予史坦尼斯公爵热情的欢迎。至少我如此期望。

Tyrion Lannister walked his horse slowly toward the Mud Gate. Winterfell is nothing to you, he reminded himself. Be glad the place has fallen, and look to your own walls. The gate was open. Inside, three great trebuchets stood side by side in the market square, peering over the battlements like three huge birds. Their throwing arms were made from the trunks of old oaks, and banded with iron to keep them from splitting. The gold cloaks had named them the Three Whores, because they’d be giving Lord Stannis such a lusty welcome. Or so we hope.

提利昂脚后跟一踢马，快步穿过城门，迎上人潮。走过“君临三妓”后，人群变得稀疏，街道开阔起来。

Tyrion put his heels into his horse and trotted through the Mud Gate, breasting the human tide. Once beyond the Whores, the press grew thinner and the street opened up around him.

回红堡的路上风平浪静，但在首相塔的会客室，十来个愤怒的商船船长正等着他，抗议他征用船只。他诚恳致歉，并许诺一旦战争结束就给予赔偿，但话语安抚不了他们。“您输了怎么办，大人？”一个布拉佛斯人问。

The ride back to the Red Keep was uneventful, but at the Tower of the Hand he found a dozen angry trader captains waiting in his audience chamber to protest the seizure of their ships. He gave them a sincere apology and promised compensation once the war was done. That did little to appease them. “What if you should lose, my lord?” one Braavosi asked.

“赔偿之事转交史坦尼斯国王呗。”

“Then apply to King Stannis for your compensation.”

好容易摆脱他们，钟声却又响起，他就快错过授职典礼了！于是提利昂一路小跑，摇摇摆摆地穿过庭院，挤进圣堂后的人群。乔佛里正给御林铁卫两名新成员的肩头系上白丝袍。典礼进行中众人起立，因此提利昂只看得到一排尊贵的屁股。话说回来，当新任总主教带领两名骑士完成庄严的宣誓，并以七神之名为他们涂抹圣油后，他所在的位置倒利于抢先溜走。

By the time he rid himself of them, bells were ringing and Tyrion knew he would be late for the installation. He waddled across the yard almost at a run and crowded into the back of the castle sept as Joffrey fastened white silk cloaks about the shoulders of the two newest members of his Kingsguard. The rite seemed to require that everyone stand, so Tyrion saw nothing but a wall of courtly arses. On the other hand, once the new High Septon was finished leading the two knights through their solemn vows and anointing them in the names of the Seven, he would be well positioned to be first out the doors.

他相当满意姐姐选择巴隆·史文爵士代替被杀的普列斯顿·格林菲尔爵士。史文家族是边疆地的大领主，高傲而谨慎。古利安·史文伯爵称病留在家堡，不加入任何一边，他的长子原本追随蓝礼，眼下投效史坦尼斯，幼子巴隆则在君临效力。如果他有第三个儿子，八成会送去罗柏·史塔克那边。方法虽不荣誉，却很合理：不管将来谁取得铁王座，史文家族都能存续：年轻的巴隆爵士出生高贵，英勇温文，武艺娴熟；他精于长枪，擅长流星锤，射箭更是一等一的好手。对王室而言，他会是勇敢而忠贞的战士。

He approved of his sister’s choice of Ser Balon Swann to take the place of the slain Preston Greenfield. The Swanns were Marcher lords, proud, powerful, and cautious. Pleading illness, Lord Gulian Swann had remained in his castle, taking no part in the war, but his eldest son had ridden with Renly and now Stannis, while Balon, the younger, served at King’s Landing. If he’d had a third son, Tyrion suspected he’d be off with Robb Stark. It was not perhaps the most honorable course, but it showed good sense; whoever won the Iron Throne, the Swanns intended to survive. In addition to being well born, young Ser Balon was valiant, courtly, and skilled at arms; good with a lance, better with a morningstar, superb with the bow. He would serve with honor and courage.

可惜提利昂无法赞同瑟曦的另一选择。奥斯蒙·凯特布莱克爵士的模样看起来令人敬畏。他高六尺六寸，一身强横肌肉，鹰钩鼻，浓眉毛，铲子似的棕色大胡须，不笑时，就是一副凶悍外表。凯特布莱克原本出身低微，不过是个雇佣骑士，前途和晋升全赖瑟曦，她因此选择他。“奥斯蒙爵士既勇且忠，”提名时，她告诉乔佛里。后半句被她不幸言中。这位可靠的奥斯蒙爵士一直对波隆的钱忠心耿耿，从受雇于她的第一天起，就把她所有的秘密和盘出卖。这点提利昂当然不会告诉她。

Alas, Tyrion could not say the same for Cersei’s second choice. Ser Osmund Kettleblack looked formidable enough. He stood six feet and six inches, most of it sinew and muscle, and his hook nose, bushy eyebrows, and spade-shaped brown beard gave his face a fierce aspect, so long as he did not smile. Lowborn, no more than a hedge knight, Kettleblack was utterly dependent on Cersei for his advancement, which was doubtless why she’d picked him. “Ser Osmund is as loyal as he is brave,” she’d told Joffrey when she put forward his name. It was true, unfortunately. The good Ser Osmund had been selling her secrets to Bronn since the day she’d hired him, but Tyrion could scarcely tell her that.

想来他不该抱怨。这一任命等于为他在国王身边安插了另一耳目，却不为瑟曦所知。纵然奥斯蒙爵士真是个懦夫，也不会比如今待在罗斯比地牢的柏洛斯·布劳恩糟糕。当初柏洛斯爵士护送托曼和盖尔斯伯爵，途中被杰斯林·拜瓦特爵士率金袍卫士伏击，倘若老巴利斯坦·赛尔弥爵士看到他竟如此爽快地交出王室成员，定然大为震怒，正如怒火万分的瑟曦。“御林铁卫的骑士应为捍卫国王和王室成员而死！”姐姐坚持要乔佛里以反叛和怯懦的罪名剥夺布劳恩的白袍。如今她换上又一个名不副实的家伙。

He supposed he ought not complain. The appointment gave him another ear close to the king, unbeknownst to his sister. And even if Ser Osmund proved an utter craven, he would be no worse than Ser Boros Blount, currently residing in a dungeon at Rosby. Ser Boros had been escorting Tommen and Lord Gyles when Ser Jacelyn Bywater and his gold cloaks had surprised them, and had yielded up his charge with an alacrity that would have enraged old Ser Barristan Selmy as much as it did Cersei; a knight of the Kingsguard was supposed to die in defense of the king and royal family. His sister had insisted that Joffrey strip Blount of his white cloak on the grounds of treason and cowardice. And now she replaces him with another man just as hollow.

祈祷宣誓和涂抹圣油几乎耗了一上午，提利昂的腿开始酸疼，只好不断将重心从一只脚换到另一只。他看到坦妲伯爵夫人站在前面几排，但她女儿没跟她一起。他真希望见到雪伊，瓦里斯说她情况很好，但他想亲眼看看。

The praying, vowing, and anointing seemed to take most of the morning. Tyrion’s legs soon began to ache. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, restless. Lady Tanda stood several rows up, he saw, but her daughter was not with her. He had been half hoping to catch a glimpse of Shae. Varys said she was doing well, but he would prefer to see for himself.

“嗯，作小姐的女仆总比厨房小妹强。”当提利昂把太监的计划告诉雪伊时，她说，“我可不可以带上我的银花腰带和金项圈，就你说上面的黑钻石像我眼睛的那条？你不许，我就不戴。”

“Better a lady’s maid than a pot girl,” Shae had said when Tyrion told her the eunuch’s scheme. “Can I take my belt of silver flowers and my gold collar with the black diamonds you said looked like my eyes? I won’t wear them if you say I shouldn’t.”

提利昂虽极不愿令她失望，但不得不指出，即使坦妲伯爵夫人算不上聪明女子，可若女儿的使女拥有的首饰比她女儿本人还多，一定会起疑心。“只能挑两三件衣服，不能再多，”他命令她。“可以选上好的毛料，但不能要丝绸、织锦和毛皮。这些我会收在自己屋里，你来的时候穿。”这不是雪伊想要的答案，却能保她安全。

Loath as he was to disappoint her, Tyrion had to point out that while Lady Tanda was by no means a clever woman, even she might wonder if her daughter’s bedmaid seemed to own more jewelry than her daughter. “Choose two or three dresses, no more,” he commanded her. “Good wool, no silk, no samite, and no fur. The rest I’ll keep in my own chambers for when you visit me.” It was not the answer Shae had wanted, but at least she was safe.

当授职典礼终于结束，乔佛里在新披白袍的巴隆爵士和奥斯蒙爵士的护送下走出去，而提利昂留下来跟新任总主教（此人是他选的，够聪明，知道在他面包上涂蜂蜜的人是谁）聊了几句。“我要诸神站在我们这边，”提利昂直截了当地说，“告诉大家，史坦尼斯立誓焚毁贝勒大圣堂。”

When the investiture was finally done Joffrey marched out between Ser Balon and Ser Osmund in their new white cloaks, while Tyrion lingered for a word with the new High Septon (who was his choice, and wise enough to know who put the honey on his bread). “I want the gods on our side,” Tyrion told him bluntly. “Tell them that Stannis has vowed to burn the Great Sept of Baelor.”

“真的，大人？”总主教问，他是个精明的小个子，消瘦的脸上长着稀疏的白胡须。

“Is it true, my lord?” asked the High Septon, a small, shrewd man with a wispy white beard and wizened face.

提利昂耸肩。“谁知道？史坦尼斯烧毁了风息堡的神木林，作为向‘光之王’的献礼。他既已冒犯旧神，为何放过新神？就这么向他们布道，告诉他们：协助篡夺者不仅是背叛合法的国王，同时也是背弃正道诸神。”

Tyrion shrugged. “It may be. Stannis burned the godswood at Storm’s End as an offering to the Lord of Light. If he’d offend the old gods, why should he spare the new? Tell them that. Tell them that any man who thinks to give aid to the usurper betrays the gods as well as his rightful king.”

“遵命，大人。我还会要求大家为国王和首相的健康祈祷。”

“I shall, my lord. And I shall command them to pray for the health of the king and his Hand as well.”

提利昂回到书房时，火术士哈林正要见他，法兰肯学士也送来信件。他决定首先阅读渡鸦传来的信件，让炼金术士再多等会儿。有封过时信件出自于道朗·马泰尔之手，警告他风息堡已然陷落，另一封有趣的信由巴隆·葛雷乔伊手书，他在信上自封为铁群岛与北境之王，并邀请乔佛里国王派遣使节前往铁群岛，以划定两国边界，商讨可能的同盟。

Hallyne the Pyromancer was waiting on him when Tyrion returned to his solar, and Maester Frenken had brought messages. He let the alchemist wait a little longer while he read what the ravens had brought him. There was an old letter from Doran Martell, warning him that Storm’s End had fallen, and a much more intriguing one from Balon Greyjoy on Pyke, who styled himself King of the Isles and the North. He invited King Joffrey to send an envoy to the Iron Islands to fix the borders between their realms and discuss a possible alliance.

提利昂把信读了三遍，然后搁置一边。巴隆大王的长船足以对付风息堡方面的舰队，但它们远在千里之外，维斯特洛大陆的另一侧，退一万步讲，割让半壁江山也不是轻易能作决定的小事。也许我该把这封信的内容透露给瑟曦，或把它带去御前会议。

Tyrion read the letter three times and set it aside. Lord Balon’s longships would have been a great help against the fleet sailing up from Storm’s End, but they were thousands of leagues away on the wrong side of Westeros, and Tyrion was far from certain that he wanted to give away half the realm. Perhaps I should spill this one in Cersei’s lap, or take it to the council.

此时他才容许哈林报上炼金术士们最新的账目。“这不可能，”提利昂边翻账簿边说。“将近一万三千罐？你把我当傻瓜？我警告你，我不可能用国王的钱去购买空罐子或腊封的污水坛！”

Only then did he admit Hallyne with the latest tallies from the alchemists. “This cannot be true,” said Tyrion as he pored over the ledgers. “Almost thirteen thousand jars? Do you take me for a fool? I’m not about to pay the king’s gold for empty jars and pots of sewage sealed with wax, I warn you.”

“不，不，”哈林夸张地尖叫，“数目完全准确，完全准确，我发誓！我们，嘿嘿嘿，很幸运，首相大人。我们找到罗萨特大人当年隐藏的又一批存货，一共三百多罐，就在龙穴底下！一些妓女利用废墟接客，其中一个恩客踩到一块腐烂的地板，落进地窖。当他摸到罐子，还以为是酒，他当时醉得很厉害，便打开封条喝了一点。”

“No, no,” Hallyne squeaked, “the sums are accurate, I swear. We have been, hmmm, most fortunate, my lord Hand. Another cache of Lord Rossart’s was found, more than three hundred jars. Under the Dragonpit! Some whores have been using the ruins to entertain their patrons, and one of them fell through a patch of rotted floor into a cellar. When he felt the jars, he mistook them for wine. He was so drunk he broke the seal and drank some.”

“从前有个王子也这么做，”提利昂冷淡地说，“城里没有飞龙，看来这次也无效。”雷妮丝丘陵顶的龙穴已荒废一个半世纪，想来要存放野火，那里比较合适，但他还是希望已故的罗萨特大人将这个消息早点公布。“你说三百罐？三百罐也无法解释这个总数，这比上次见面时你告诉我的最高估计还多出几千罐。”

“There was a prince who tried that once,” said Tyrion dryly. “I haven’t seen any dragons rising over the city, so it would seem it didn’t work this time either.” The Dragonpit atop the hill of Rhaenys had been abandoned for a century and a half. He supposed it was as good a place as any to store wildfire, and better than most, but it would have been nice if the late Lord Rossart had told someone. “Three hundred jars, you say? That still does not account for these totals. You are several thousand jars ahead of the best estimate you gave me when last we met.”

“是的，是的，是这样没错。”哈林用黑红条纹长袍的袖子擦擦苍白的额头，“但我们工作得非常努力，首相大人，嘿嘿嘿。”

“Yes, yes, that’s so.” Hallyne mopped at his pale brow with the sleeve of his black-and-scarlet robe. “We have been working very hard, my lord Hand, hmmm.”

“难怪‘这种物质’最近产量大增。”提利昂微笑着用大小不一的眼睛牢牢盯住火术士。“但我不免产生一个疑问：为何你们到现在才开始努力工作？”

“That would doubtless explain why you are making so much more of the substance than before.” Smiling, Tyrion fixed the pyromancer with his mismatched stare. “Though it does raise the question of why you did not begin working hard until now.”

哈林的脸色本就苍白得像蘑菇，所以很难描述是否变得更白。他强作镇定道：“我们一直很努力，首相大人，我向您保证，我和我们的智者、助手从一开始便日夜劳作，所以，嘿嘿嘿，这种物质制造得多了，我们似乎变得，嘿嘿嘿，更加熟练，而且，”——火术士不安地挪了一下——“有些法术，嘿嘿嘿，是我们公会古老的秘密，非常微妙，非常繁琐，但为了制造这种物质，却是必不可少，嘿嘿嘿，它们本来……”

Hallyne had the complexion of a mushroom, so it was hard to see how he could turn any paler, yet somehow he managed. “We were, my lord Hand, my brothers and I have been laboring day and night from the first, I assure you. It is only, hmmm, we have made so much of the substance that we have become, hmmm, more practiced as it were, and also”—the alchemist shifted uncomfortably—“certain spells, hmmm, ancient secrets of our order, very delicate, very troublesome, but necessary if the substance is to be, hmmm, all it should be …”

提利昂不耐烦起来。杰斯林·拜瓦特爵士多半已经到了，铁手不喜等待。“是是，你们有些秘密法术，它们很了不起，那又怎样？”

Tyrion was growing impatient. Ser Jacelyn Bywater was likely here by now, and Ironhand misliked waiting. “Yes, you have secret spells; how splendid. What of them?”

“它们，嘿嘿嘿，它们似乎比以前有效了。”哈林虚弱地微笑，“照您看，龙应该不存在了吧？”

“They, hmmm, seem to be working better than they were.” Hallyne smiled weakly. “You don’t suppose there are any dragons about, do you?”

“当然，莫非你在龙穴下顺便还找到一头？为何这么问？”

“Not unless you found one under the Dragonpit. Why?”

“哦，抱歉，我只是偶然想起老智者波立特告诉我的一些故事。当时我还是个助手，我问他为什么我们许多法术，呃，不如卷轴上记载的有效？他说，这是因为龙的死去，魔法也随之离开这个世界。”

“Oh, pardon, I was just remembering something old Wisdom Pollitor told me once, when I was an acolyte. I’d asked him why so many of our spells seemed, well, not as effectual as the scrolls would have us believe, and he said it was because magic had begun to go out of the world the day the last dragon died.”

“很遗憾，我没见过活龙，只知道王法必须遵守。若是你卖给我的这些水果里面有一颗装的不是野火，你就等着接受制裁吧。”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve seen no dragons. I have noticed the King’s Justice lurking about, however. Should any of these fruits you’re selling me turn out to be filled with anything but wildfire, you’ll be seeing him as well.”

哈林落荒而逃，差点撞上杰斯林爵士——不，是杰斯林伯爵，这点必须记住。谢天谢地，铁手如往常一般直率。他刚从罗斯比返回，带来一批从盖尔斯伯爵领地内新召的枪兵，并重新执掌都城守备队。讨论完城防之后，提利昂问：“我外甥可好？”

Hallyne fled so quickly that he almost bowled over Ser Jacelyn—no, Lord Jacelyn, he must remember that. Ironhand was mercifully direct, as ever. He’d returned from Rosby to deliver a fresh levy of spearmen recruited from Lord Gyles’s estates and resume his command of the City Watch. “How does my nephew fare?” Tyrion asked when they were done discussing the city’s defenses.

“托曼王子健康又快乐，大人，他还养了一头小鹿，是我的手下打猎时带回来的。他说他以前养过一头，但乔佛里剥了它的皮做背心。他有时会问起母亲，还常动笔给弥赛菈公主写信，只是从来没有写完过，对哥哥倒是一点也不挂念。”

“Prince Tommen is hale and happy, my lord. He has adopted a fawn some of my men brought home from a hunt. He had one once before, he says, but Joffrey skinned her for a jerkin. He asks about his mother sometimes, and often begins letters to the Princess Myrcella, though he never seems to finish any. His brother, however, he does not seem to miss at all.”

“假如我们失败，一切都安排好了吗？”

“You have made suitable arrangements for him, should the battle be lost?”

“我对心腹部下作了交代。”

“My men have their instructions.”

“交代什么？”

“Which are?”

“您命令我不能告诉任何人，大人。”

“You commanded me to tell no one, my lord.”

听罢此言，他露出微笑，“我很高兴你还记得。”倘若君临陷落，他很可能被活捉。上哪儿去找乔佛里的继承人，他还是不知道的好。

That made him smile. “I’m pleased you remember.” Should King’s Landing fall, he might well be taken alive. Better if he did not know where Joffrey’s heir might be found.

杰斯林伯爵离开后不久，瓦里斯出现。“人类真是没有诚信的生物，”他以此作为问候。

Varys appeared not long after Lord Jacelyn had left. “Men are such faithless creatures,” he said by way of greeting.

提利昂叹口气，“这次的叛徒又是谁？”

Tyrion sighed. “Who’s the traitor today?”

太监递出一张羊皮纸。“真卑鄙啊，称得上时代的挽歌。难道荣誉已随我们的父辈而逝了吗？”

The eunuch handed him a scroll. “So much villainy, it sings a sad song for our age. Did honor die with our fathers?”

“我父亲还没死。”提利昂扫视名单。“我认得几个名字，这都是些有钱人。做买卖的、匠人、店家一类。他们为何造反？”

“My father is not dead yet.” Tyrion scanned the list. “I know some of these names. These are rich men. Traders, merchants, craftsmen. Why should they conspire against us?”

“墙头草呗，他们相信史坦尼斯会赢，希望分享他的胜利。对了，他们自称‘鹿角民’，立志追随宝冠雄鹿。”

“It seems they believe that Lord Stannis must win, and wish to share his victory. They call themselves the Antler Men, after the crowned stag.”

“该有人去通知，史坦尼斯换了徽章，他们应易名‘热心人’。”说笑归说笑，事情本身必须严肃对待；看来这些‘鹿角民’武装了数百人，一旦战斗爆发，就准备占领旧城门，放敌人进城。名单中，盔甲大师沙罗利恩赫然在列。“这下我不会收到那顶可怕的恶魔头盔了，”提利昂倾诉，一边潦草地签下逮捕令。

“Someone should tell them that Stannis changed his sigil. Then they can be the Hot Hearts.” It was no matter for jests, though; it appeared that these Antler Men had armed several hundred followers, to seize the Old Gate once battle was joined, and admit the enemy to the city. Among the names on the list was the master armorer Salloreon. “I suppose this means I won’t be getting that terrifying helm with the demon horns,” Tyrion complained as he scrawled the order for the man’s arrest.