Ⅳ 群鸦的盛宴 Chapter30 詹姆
JAIME
戴瑞城外的土地已有人耕作，烧毁的作物被当成肥料，亚当爵士的斥候说女人们负责切割荒草，一队公牛在树林边犁地，而十几个留胡子的男人拿着斧头在旁边警卫。
The fields outside the walls of Darry were being tilled once more. The burned crops had been plowed under, and Ser Addam’s scouts reported seeing women in the furrows pulling weeds, whilst a team of oxen broke new ground on the edge of a nearby wood. A dozen bearded men with axes stood guard over them as they worked.
但当詹姆的队伍来到城堡前时，人畜都逃回了城中。戴瑞城大门紧闭，和之前的赫伦堡无异。我自家的血亲就是这样欢迎我的。
By the time Jaime and his column reached the castle, all of them had fled within the walls. He found Darry closed to him, just as Harrenhal had been. A chilly welcome from mine own blood.
“吹响号角。”他下令，于是凯切镇的肯洛斯爵士再度吹响赫洛克之号。詹姆望向表弟城头飞舞的棕色与绯红旗帜。蓝赛尔用兰尼斯特的狮子和戴瑞的农人组合成四分纹章——这旗帜，连同挑选新娘，都是叔叔的主意。自安答尔人征服先民以来，戴瑞家一直统治着这片土地，毫无疑问，凯冯爵士认为只有与古老的血统联系起来，儿子的江山才坐得稳，想长期待下去，靠的是血缘而非一纸诏书。凯冯应该当首相辅佐托曼才对，哈瑞斯·史威佛是个白痴，而我老姐也差不到哪里去。
“Sound the horn,” he commanded. Ser Kennos of Kayce unslung the Horn of Herrock and let it wind. As he waited for a response from the castle, Jaime eyed the banner floating brown and crimson above his cousin’s barbican. Lancel had taken to quartering the lion of Lannister with the Darry plowman, it would seem. He saw his uncle’s hand in that, as in Lancel’s choice of bride. House Darry had ruled these lands since the Andals cast down the First Men. No doubt Ser Kevan realized that his son would have an easier time of it if the peasants saw him as a continuation of the old line, holding these lands by right of marriage rather than royal decree. Kevan should be Tommen’s Hand. Harys Swyft is a toad, and my sister is a fool if she thinks elsewise.
城堡大门缓缓开启。“老表的地儿没法招待一千人，”詹姆吩咐壮猪，“在西墙下安营扎寨，挖好壕沟，安置尖桩，不可懈怠。附近仍有土匪出没。”
The castle gates swung open slowly. “My coz will not have room to accommodate a thousand men,” Jaime told Strongboar. “We’ll make camp beneath the western wall. I want the perimeters ditched and staked. There are still bands of outlaws in these parts.”
“除非吃了豹子胆，否则没有人敢来惹这么一支庞大的正规军。”
“They’d need to be mad to attack a force as strong as ours.”
“饥饿能让人铤而走险，”在明确土匪的实力与活动范围之前，詹姆不打算冒一丝一毫的风险。“挖好壕沟，安置尖桩。”他强调之后，催促荣誉向城门跑去。
“Mad or starving.” Until he had a better notion of these outlaws and their strength, Jaime was not inclined to take any risks with his defenses. “Ditched and staked,” he said again, before spurring Honor toward the gate. Ser Dermot rode beside him with the royal stag and lion, and Ser Hugo Vance with the white standard of the Kingsguard. Jaime had charged Red Ronnet with the task of delivering Wylis Manderly to Maidenpool, so he would not need to look on him henceforth.
德莫特爵士高举王家的雄鹿狮子旗，跑在他旁边，雨果·凡斯爵士则打着御林铁卫的纯白旗帜，詹姆不想再见到红罗兰，便发配他押送威里斯·曼德勒去女泉城。
Pia rode with Jaime’s squires, on the gelding Peck had found for her. “It’s like some toy castle,” Jaime heard her say. She’s known no home but Harrenhal, he reflected. Every castle in the realm will seem small to her, except the Rock.
皮雅和侍从们走在一起，骑着小派为她找来的母马。“真像座玩具城堡。”詹姆听见她说。她一辈子都住在赫伦堡，他心想，如此一来，全国上下其他城堡对她而言都显得渺小，当然，除了凯岩城。
Josmyn Peckleton was saying the same thing. “You must not judge by Harrenhal. Black Harren built too big.” Pia listened as solemnly as a girl of five being lessoned by her septa. That’s all she is, a little girl in a woman’s body, scarred and scared. Peck was taken with her, though. Jaime suspected that the boy had never known a woman, and Pia was still pretty enough, so long as she kept her mouth closed. There’s no harm in him bedding her, I suppose, so long as she’s willing.
乔斯敏·派克顿也如此向她解释：“你不能以赫伦堡的标准来衡量，当年黑心赫伦的野心实在太大了。”皮雅严肃地受教，好像五岁的女孩听修女讲课似的。她不正是一个小女孩么？女人的外表，女孩的心，满怀恐惧，伤痕累累。小派对她很好，詹姆怀疑年轻的侍从从未接近过女生，而皮雅只要把嘴巴闭紧，还是很漂亮的。只要她愿意，他们俩睡睡没什么不好。
One of the Mountain’s men had tried to rape the girl at Harrenhal, and had seemed honestly perplexed when Jaime commanded Ilyn Payne to take his head off. “I had her before, a hunnerd times,” he kept saying as they forced him to his knees. “A hunnerd times, m’lord. We all had her.” When Ser Ilyn presented Pia with his head, she had smiled through her ruined teeth.
在赫伦堡，有一名魔山的手下又来强暴她，当詹姆命令伊林·派恩将其斩首示众时，此人表现得相当困惑。“我操过她，操过一百次，”士兵们将他按倒在地，他不住地抗议，“一百次啊，大人。我们都操过她。”后来伊林爵士把他的脑袋拿给皮雅看，女孩透过破烂的牙齿开心地微笑。
Darry had changed hands several times during the fighting, and its castle had been burned once and sacked at least twice, but Lancel had seemingly wasted little time setting things to rights. The castle gates were newly hung, raw oaken planks reinforced with iron studs. A new stable was going up where an older one had been put to the torch. The steps to the keep had been replaced, and the shutters on many of the windows. Blackened stones showed where the flames had licked, but time and rain would fade those.
五王之战中，戴瑞城屡次易主，它被烧毁过一次，被洗劫过至少两次，但蓝赛尔已经迅速地着手修复。城门是新铸的，刚砍伐的橡木板用钢钉加固，烧焦的马厩原址盖起了一座新马厩，堡垒的木阶和若干窗户也都重新换过。虽然黑黝黝的石头在无言地诉说着往日的大火，但时间和雨水终究会洗去伤痛。
Within the walls, crossbowmen walked the ramparts, some in crimson cloaks and lion-crested helms, others in the blue and grey of House Frey. As Jaime trotted across the yard, chickens ran out from under Honor’s hooves, sheep bleated, and peasants stared at him with sullen eyes. Armed peasants, he did not fail to note. Some had scythes, some staves, some hoes sharpened to cruel points. There were axes in evidence as well, and he spied several bearded men with red, seven-pointed stars sewn onto ragged, filthy tunics. More bloody sparrows. Where do they all come from?
城墙之内，十字弓手们在城垛上巡逻，有的戴狮盔披绯红披风，有的穿佛雷家族的蓝灰服饰。詹姆在庭院中策马小跑，小鸡在荣誉的蹄边四散逃命，绵羊咩咩叫，农民们闷闷不乐地打量他。他们都有武器，农民装备着镰刀、棍棒、削尖的锄头等等，甚至有斧头，有些不修边幅的男人在他们褴褛肮脏的外套上缝着红色七芒星。又是该死的麻雀，他们怎么会聚集在这里？
Of his uncle Kevan he saw no sign. Nor of Lancel. Only a maester emerged to greet him, with a grey robe flapping about his skinny legs. “Lord Commander, Darry is honored by this … unexpected visit. You must forgive our lack of preparations. We had been given to understand that you were bound for Riverrun.”
凯冯没出现，蓝赛尔亦然，前来迎接的是一名学士，灰袍裹在他骨瘦如柴的大腿上。“队长大人，戴瑞城对您……对您出乎意料的造访深感荣幸。请原谅我们准备不周，因为得到消息说您是打奔流城去的。”
“Darry was on my way,” lied Jaime. Riverrun will keep. And if perchance the siege had ended before he reached the castle, he would be spared the need to take up arms against House Tully.
“我顺道过来瞧瞧而已。”詹姆撒谎道。我不想去奔流城。如果城堡在他抵达之前就告沦陷，他便不必背上背誓反对徒利家的黑锅。他翻身下马，把坐骑交给马房小弟。“我叔叔何在？”无须指名道姓，凯冯爵士是他仅存的叔叔，也是泰陀斯·兰尼斯特唯一剩下的儿子。
Dismounting, he handed Honor to a stableboy. “Will I find my uncle here?” He did not supply a name. Ser Kevan was the only uncle he had left, the last surviving son of Tytos Lannister.
“他不在这里，大人，婚礼之后凯冯爵士便离开了。”学士扯扯颈链，好像它箍得太紧。“蓝赛尔大人很高兴会见您……和您麾下诸位英勇骑士，但有件事实在羞于启齿：戴瑞城供养不了这么多士兵。”
“No, my lord. Ser Kevan took his leave of us after the wedding.” The maester pulled at the chain collar, as if it had grown too tight for him. “I know Lord Lancel will be pleased to see you and … and all your gallant knights. Though it pains me to confess that Darry cannot feed so many.”
“我们自带口粮。你怎么称呼？”
“We have our own provisions. You are?”
“奥托莫学士，听候您差遣，大人。阿蕊丽夫人本想亲自出来迎接，只是忙着为您张罗接风宴，脱不开身。她希望您和您麾下的骑士队长们今晚都能赏光赴宴。”
“Maester Ottomore, if it please my lord. Lady Amerei wished to welcome you herself, but she is seeing to the preparation of a feast in your honor. It is her hope that you and your chief knights and captains will join us at table this evening.”
“吃顿热餐就好——外面实在又潮又冷一不用太麻烦了。”詹姆扫视庭院，看着麻雀们胡子拉碴的脸庞。他们人数太多了，佛雷家的兵也太多了。…顽石，呢？”
“A hot meal would be most welcome. The days have been cold and wet.” Jaime glanced about the yard, at the bearded faces of the sparrows. Too many. And too many Freys as well. “Where will I find Hardstone?”
“我们接到报告说三叉戟河对岸有土匪出没，哈尔温爵士便带五名骑士和二十名弓箭手前去清剿。”
“We had a report of outlaws beyond the Trident. Ser Harwyn took five knights and twenty archers and went to deal with them.”
“蓝赛尔大人呢？”
“And Lord Lancel?”
“大人在祈祷，他祈祷时不许打搅。”
“He is at his prayers. His lordship has commanded us never to disturb him when he is praying.”
他和博尼佛爵士真是一对活宝。“很好，”待会儿有的是时间盘问表弟，“带我去房间，我要洗个澡。”
He and Ser Bonifer should get on well. “Very well.” There would be time enough to talk with his cousin later. “Show me to my chambers and have a bath brought up.”
“若大人不嫌弃，就在农人堡居住吧。我来引路。”
“If it please my lord, we have put you in the Plowman’s Keep. I will show you there.”
“我识得路。”詹姆对这座城堡并不陌生，他和瑟曦两度在此留宿，起初是和劳勃一起去临冬城访问，回程时又在这里发生了大事件。这座城很小，但好歹比旅馆舒适，而且河边是打猎的好场所一劳勃·拜拉席恩最流连的就是这点。
“I know the way.” Jaime was no stranger to this castle. He and Cersei had been guests here twice before, once on their way to Winterfell with Robert, and again on the way back to King’s Landing. Though small as castles went, it was larger than an inn, with good hunting along the river. Robert Baratheon had never been loath to impose upon the hospitality of his subjects.
农人堡内一点没变。“墙壁还是这么空空如也啊。”学士带他穿过走廊时，他评价。
The keep was much as he recalled it. “The walls are still bare,” Jaime observed as the maester led him down a gallery.
“蓝赛尔大人说以后会挂上宗教画，”奥伦莫道，“以助于修养和虔诚。”
“Lord Lancel hopes one day to cover them with hangings,” said Ottomore. “Scenes of piety and devotion.”
修养和虔诚。他好不容易才忍住笑。从前造访时墙上也是一片空白，但提利昂指出黑色方石上有织锦悬挂的痕迹。雷蒙爵士移走了装饰，却抹不去蛛丝马迹，小恶魔甚至花一把银鹿买通仆人，拿到了收藏织锦的地窖的钥匙。烛光下，他咧嘴笑着指给詹姆看，原来那是坦格利安历代君王的群像，从征服者伊耿直到疯王伊里斯。“如果我向劳勃告密，说不定他会封我为戴瑞城伯爵呢。”侏儒嘻嘻笑道。
Piety and devotion. It was all he could do not to laugh. The walls had been bare on his first visit too. Tyrion had pointed out the squares of darker stone where tapestries had once hung. Ser Raymun could remove the hangings, but not the marks they’d left. Later, the Imp had slipped a handful of stags to one of Darry’s serving men for the key to the cellar where the missing tapestries were hidden. He showed them to Jaime by the light of a candle, grinning; woven portraits of all the Targaryen kings, from the first Aegon to the second Aenys. “If I tell Robert, mayhaps he’ll make me Lord of Darry,” the dwarf said, chortling.
奥托莫学士带詹姆来到顶楼。“愿您过得愉快，大人。屋内有厕所，窗户面朝神木林，卧室隔壁就是夫人的房间，中间隔着仆人的小屋。”
Maester Ottomore led Jaime to the top of the keep. “I trust you will be comfortable here, my lord. There is a privy, when nature calls. Your window looks out upon the godswood. The bedchamber adjoins her ladyship’s, with a servant’s cell between.”
“这是戴瑞城伯爵的居所。”
“These were Lord Darry’s own apartments.”
“是的，大人。”
“Yes, my lord.”
“我表弟实在太好心了，但我不能喧宾夺主。”
“My cousin is too kind. I did not intend to put Lancel out of his own bedchamber.”
“蓝赛尔大人一向在圣堂里面睡。”
“Lord Lancel has been sleeping in the sept.”
老婆就住在隔壁，却要去挨着圣母和少女睡？詹姆不知该哭还是该笑。或许他在祈祷自己那活儿坚强起来？君临城内传说，蓝赛尔的伤势让他失去了男人的能力。就算是这样，他也该试着去“重振雄风”呀。须知，表弟的新封号是不巩固的，除非他和自己那有戴瑞血统的老婆产下子嗣。詹姆有些懊悔来此地的冲动了。他对奥托莫表示感谢，并要他准备好洗澡水，再让小派去帮忙。
Sleeping with the Mother and the Maiden, when he has a warm wife just through that door? Jaime did not know whether to laugh or weep. Maybe he is praying for his cock to harden. In King’s Landing it had been rumored that Lancel’s wounds had left him incapable. Still, he ought to have sense enough to try. His cousin’s hold on his new lands would not be secure until he fathered a son on his half-Darry wife. Jaime had begun to rue the impulse that had brought him here. He gave thanks to Ottomore, reminded him about the bath, and had Peck see him out.
领主的卧室倒有了很大改观——越改越差了。精致的密尔地毯被收走，换成陈旧腐烂的草席，家具也都改为简陋的制品。雷蒙·戴瑞爵士的床足以睡下六人，有褐色天鹅绒帷幕和雕成藤蔓叶子形状的橡木床柱；蓝赛尔的床是稻草床，而且放置的角度刚好确保第一缕天光便能将人唤醒。就算原来的床被烧了、砸了或是偷了吧，这样也太……
The lord’s bedchamber had changed since his last visit, and not for the better. Old stale rushes covered the floor in place of the fine Myrish carpet that had been there previously, and all the furnishings were new and crudely made. Ser Raymun Darry’s bed had been large enough to sleep six, with brown velvet draperies and oakwood posts carved with vines and leaves; Lancel’s was a lumpy straw pallet, placed beneath the window where the first light of day would be sure to wake him. The other bed had no doubt been burned or smashed or stolen, but even so …
澡盆端来后，小个子卢替詹姆脱了靴子，解开金手，小派和加列特负责提水，而皮雅为他拿来点心。替他脱外套时，女孩羞涩地笑了，詹姆则不自在地透过她的粗布褐裙服，打量起乳房和臀部的曲线。他想起了赫伦堡那一夜，科本派她来服侍他时说的话。后来我和许多男人睡过，皮雅轻声软语，每次我都闭上眼睛，假装那是你。
When the tub arrived, Little Lew pulled off Jaime’s boots and helped remove his golden hand. Peck and Garrett hauled water, and Pia found him something clean to sup in. The girl glanced at him shyly as she shook his doublet out. Jaime was uncomfortably aware of the curve of hip and breast beneath her roughspun brown dress. He found himself remembering the things that Pia had whispered to him at Harrenhal, the night that Qyburn sent her to his bed. Sometimes when I’m with some man, she’d said, I close my eyes and pretend it’s you on top of me.
幸亏澡盆够深，洗澡水隐藏了勃起。他将头埋进热气，想起了另一次洗浴，和布蕾妮那次。当时，他因失血而虚弱，还发着高烧，在迷乱中说出了从没说过的心里话。今天不能再犯同样的错误。牢记你的誓言。皮雅更适合提利昂而不是你。“去给我拿肥皂和刷子，”他吩咐小派，“皮雅，你先下去休息吧。”
He was grateful when the bath was deep enough to conceal his arousal. As he lowered himself into the steaming water, he recalled another bath, the one he’d shared with Brienne. He had been feverish and weak from loss of blood, and the heat had made him so dizzy he found himself saying things better left unsaid. This time he had no such excuse. Remember your vows. Pia is more fit for Tyrion’s bed than yours. “Fetch me soap and a stiff brush,” he told Peck. “Pia, you may leave us.”
“是，大人。谢谢您，大人。”她说话时以手掩嘴，以防露出被打断的牙齿。
“Aye, m’lord. Thank you, m’lord.” She covered her mouth when she spoke, to hide her broken teeth.
“你想上她？”皮雅走后，詹姆问小派。
“Do you want her?” Jaime asked Peck, when she was gone.
侍从的脸红得像甜菜根。
The squire turned beet red.
“若她采取主动，你可以接受，毕竟，她能教你很多东西，将来你新婚之夜用得上。而且这应该不会留下私生子女。”皮雅曾为他父亲军中无数士兵张开大腿，并未怀孕，看来已经不孕了。“但请记得，要对她温柔。”
“If she’ll have you, take her. She’ll teach you a few things you’ll find useful on your wedding night, I don’t doubt, and you’re not like to get a bastard by her.” Pia had spread her legs for half his father’s army and never quickened; most like the girl was barren. “If you bed her, though, be kind to her.”
“温柔，大人？怎么……我该怎么……？”
“Kind, my lord? How … how would I …?”
“说些甜蜜的话，手脚轻点。你不会娶她，但睡她的时候，当她是你的新娘。”
“Sweet words. Gentle touches. You don’t want to wed her, but so long as you’re abed treat her as you would your bride.”
少年点点头。“大人，我……我该在哪里去跟她好？没地方……没地方……”
The lad nodded. “My lord, I … where should I take her? There’s never a place to … to …”
“……独处？”詹姆咧嘴一笑，“晚餐会很漫长。稻草床有点扎人，将就将就吧。”
“… to be alone?” Jaime grinned. “We’ll be at supper several hours. The straw looks lumpy, but it should serve.”
小派的眼睛瞪得跟鸡蛋一样，“在大人您的床上……”
Peck’s eyes grew wide. “His lordship’s bed?”
“皮雅是个懂事的孩子，待会儿你会感觉到自己成为‘大人’的。”这张可怜的稻草床也该好好利用利用了。
“You’ll feel a lord yourself when you’re done, if Pia knows her business.” And someone ought to make some use of that miserable straw mattress.
晚宴准备妥当后，詹姆·兰尼斯特换上一件镶金线的红天鹅绒外套，搭配黑钻石金项链，再绑好打磨光亮的金手。他不想穿上纯白衣裳，因为目的地是奔流城，黑暗的未来在等待他。
When he descended for the feast that night, Jaime Lannister wore a doublet of red velvet slashed with cloth-of-gold, and a golden chain studded with black diamonds. He had strapped on his golden hand as well, polished to a fine bright sheen. This was no fit place to wear his whites. His duty awaited him at Riverrun; a darker need had brought him here.
戴瑞的会客厅实在朴素，搁板桌堆在墙边，房梁都被熏黑。詹姆坐到高台上蓝赛尔座位的右手边，蓝赛尔却没有到。“我表弟不来用膳吗？”他落座时询问。
Darry’s great hall was great only by courtesy. Trestle tables crowded it from wall to wall, and the ceiling rafters were black with smoke. Jaime had been seated on the dais, to the right of Lancel’s empty chair. “Will my cousin not be joining us for supper?” he asked as he sat down.
“我的夫君正在绝食，”蓝赛尔的夫人阿蕊丽答道，“他很为可怜的前总主教大人难过。”这女人腿长，乳房鼓胀，就十八岁的年龄来说，相当健壮，不过那张皱紧了、没下巴的脸让詹姆想起无人惋惜的表弟克里奥爵士，随时随地看着都像黄鼠狼。
“My lord prefers to fast,” said Lancel’s wife, the Lady Amerei. “He’s sick with grief for the poor High Septon.” She was a long-legged, full-breasted, strapping girl of some eight-and-ten years; a healthy wench to look at her, though her pinched, chinless face reminded Jaime of his late and unlamented cousin Cleos, who had always looked somewhat like a weasel.
绝食？他比我料想的更痴呆。心智正常的话，蓝赛尔应该忙着跟寡妇产下小黄鼠狼，而不是饿死自己才对。不知凯冯爵士如何看待儿子新近的狂热，莫非这正是他匆匆离去的原因？
Fasting? He is an even bigger fool than I suspected. His cousin should be busy fathering a little weasel-faced heir on his widow instead of starving himself to death. He wondered what Ser Kevan might have had to say about his son’s new fervor. Could that be the reason for his uncle’s abrupt departure?
先上的是豌豆培根汤，阿蕊丽夫人告诉詹姆，她的前夫被格雷果·克里冈杀害了，当时佛雷家族还在为罗柏·史塔克打仗。“我恳求他别上战场，但我的佩特实在非常非常非常英勇，他发誓自己一定会是那个除暴安良的人。他渴望赢取名声。”
Over bowls of bean-and-bacon soup Lady Amerei told Jaime how her first husband had been slain by Ser Gregor Clegane when the Freys were still fighting for Robb Stark. “I begged him not to go, but my Pate was oh so very brave, and swore he was the man to slay that monster. He wanted to make a great name for himself.”
我们不都一样？ “我做侍从时，常对自己说我一定会是那个除掉微笑骑士的人。”
We all do. “When I was a squire I told myself I’d be the man to slay the Smiling Knight.”
“微笑骑士？”她不明白，“他是谁？”
“The Smiling Knight?” She sounded lost. “Who was that?”
他是我生命中的魔山，有格雷果一半的身材和两倍的疯狂。
The Mountain of my boyhood. Half as big but twice as mad.
“死了很久的土匪。夫人不用挂心。”
“An outlaw, long dead. No one who need concern your ladyship.”
听罢此言，阿蕊丽嘴唇发抖，褐色的眼睛里滚下泪珠。
Amerei’s lip trembled. Tears rolled from her brown eyes.
“请原谅我女儿的失态，”一位老妇人接口。阿蕊丽结婚时随身带来了十几个佛雷家人，包括一位姐妹、一位直系叔叔、一位旁系叔叔、许多表亲……还有自己的母亲，土生土长的戴瑞家人。“她还在悼念父亲。”
“You must forgive my daughter,” said an older woman. Lady Amerei had brought a score of Freys to Darry with her; a sister, an uncle, a half uncle, various cousins … and her mother, who had been born a Darry. “She still grieves for her father.”
“土匪们谋杀了他！”阿蕊丽夫人啜泣，“爸爸只是去赎疙瘩脸培提尔的，他带去了他们要的金子，却被他们挂了起来。”
“Outlaws killed him,” sobbed Lady Amerei. “Father had only gone out to ransom Petyr Pimple. He brought them the gold they asked for, but they hung him anyway.”
“是吊死了，阿丽，你父亲可不是一面织锦。”玛丽亚夫人转向詹姆，“您认识他，对吗，爵士？”
“Hanged, Ami. Your father was not a tapestry.” Lady Mariya turned back to Jaime. “I believe you knew him, ser.”
“我们俩一同在秧鸡厅当侍从，”他不愿夸口彼此是朋友，实际上，詹姆到那儿的时候，梅里·佛雷堪称城堡里的小恶霸，所有小孩子都被他欺负过。然后他胆敢欺负我……“他……他很强壮。”这是唯一能给的夸奖。梅里虽然迟钝笨拙又愚蠢，但他确实很强壮。
“We were squires together once, at Crakehall.” He would not go so far as to claim they had been friends. When Jaime had arrived, Merrett Frey had been the castle bully, lording it over all the younger boys. Then he tried to bully me. “He was … very strong.” It was the only praise that came to mind. Merrett had been slow and clumsy and stupid, but he was strong.
“你们并肩扫荡御林兄弟会，”阿蕊丽夫人抽着鼻子，“爸爸喜欢给我讲当时的故事。”
“You fought against the Kingswood Brotherhood together,” sniffed Lady Amerei. “Father used to tell me stories.”
爸爸是个吹牛大王。“是的。”佛雷主要的贡献是被营妓传染了疹子，随后又教“白鹿”俘虏。土匪女王把自己的标志烙在他屁股上，随后才让萨姆纳·克雷赫赎回他。整整半个月，梅里都无法坐下，不过红铁烙印没有同辈侍从们逼他吃的屎那么伤人。少年郎，睚眦必报的怪物。于是他用金手握住酒杯，高高举起。”为了梅里。”詹姆说，喝酒总是比议论他人短长来得容易。
Father used to boast and lie, you mean. “We did.” Frey’s chief contributions to the fight had consisted of contracting the pox from a camp follower and getting himself captured by the White Fawn. The outlaw queen burned her sigil into his arse before ransoming him back to Sumner Crakehall. Merrett had not been able to sit down for a fortnight, though Jaime doubted that the red-hot iron was half so nasty as the kettles of shit his fellow squires made him eat once he was returned. Boys are the cruelest creatures on the earth. He slipped his golden hand around his wine cup and raised it up. “To Merrett’s memory,” he said. It was easier to drink to the man than to talk of him.
祝酒之后，阿蕊丽夫人停止了哭泣，席间谈话转到四条腿的狼上面。丹威尔．佛雷爵士说连他祖父一辈子也没见过这么多的狼。“它们毫不怕人，自孪河城南下的路上，野狼成群结队地攻击辎重车队，直到弓箭手射杀了十几只方才撤退。”亚当·马尔布兰爵士承认自己的斥候自君临北上途中也遭遇了同样的麻烦。
After the toast Lady Amerei stopped weeping and the table talk turned to wolves, of the four-footed kind. Ser Danwell Frey claimed there were more of them about than even his grandfather could remember. “They’ve lost all fear of men. Packs of them attacked our baggage train on our way down from the Twins. Our archers had to feather a dozen before the others fled.” Ser Addam Marbrand confessed that their own column had faced similar troubles on their way up from King’s Landing.
詹姆兴趣索然，将关注焦点早早放在面前的食物上。他用左手撕开一块块面包，用右手去够酒杯。他看着亚当·马尔布兰和身边的女孩调情；看着史提夫伦·史威佛爵士用面包、坚果和萝卜重演君临之战；看着肯洛斯爵士将一名女仆拉到膝盖上，让她吹他的号角；看着德莫特爵士向侍从们吹嘘自己在雨林行侠仗义；桌子彼端，雨果·凡斯闭上了眼睛。他是在发呆，詹姆心想，还是在打盹呢？他转向玛丽亚夫人。“害你夫君的……是贝里大人的匪帮？”
Jaime concentrated on the fare before him, tearing off chunks of bread with his left hand and fumbling at his wine cup with his right. He watched Addam Marbrand charm the girl beside him, watched Steffon Swyft refight the battle for King’s Landing with bread and nuts and carrots. Ser Kennos pulled a serving girl into his lap, urging her to stroke his horn, whilst Ser Dermot regaled some squires with tales of knight errantry in the rainwood. Farther down the table Hugo Vance had closed his eyes. Brooding on the mysteries of life, thought Jaime. That, or napping between courses. He turned back to Lady Mariya. “The outlaws who killed your husband … was it Lord Beric’s band?”
“我起初也这么想，”玛丽亚夫人已生华发，但仍然很美，“杀人犯们在荒石城作案后就四散逃亡。瓦尔平伯爵追踪其中一群人去到美人市集，但在那里失去了踪迹；黑瓦德带领猎狗和猎人深入女巫沼泽，农民们起初否认见过土匪，严加审问后有所收获。他们声称看到了一位独眼男人、一位黄袍大个子……还有一个戴兜帽的女人。”
“So we thought, at first.” Though Lady Mariya’s hair was streaked with grey, she was still a handsome woman. “The killers scattered when they left Oldstones. Lord Vypren tracked one band to Fairmarket, but lost them there. Black Walder led hounds and hunters into Hag’s Mire after the others. The peasants denied seeing them, but when questioned sharply they sang a different song. They spoke of a one-eyed man and another who wore a yellow cloak … and a woman, cloaked and hooded.”
