Ⅱ 列王的纷争 Chapter22 凯特琳
CATELYN
躺在一望无垠、绵延起伏的大草原上，凯特琳梦见布兰在她面前活蹦乱跳，艾莉亚和珊莎握着她的手，婴儿瑞肯咬着她的乳房。她的罗柏，没有了王冠，拿起了木剑。而当一切都归于沉寂，奈德躺在她的床上，暗夜之中轻浅地微笑。
As she slept amidst the rolling grasslands, Catelyn dreamt that Bran was whole again, that Arya and Sansa held hands, that Rickon was still a babe at her breast. Robb, crownless, played with a wooden sword, and when all were safe asleep, she found Ned in her bed, smiling.
多么甜蜜，甜蜜的事总是不会久长。黎明无情地到来，阳光如同匕首穿刺而下。她浑身酸痛地醒来，孤独而疲惫：因骑马而疲惫，因心伤而疲惫，因责任而疲惫。只想痛哭一场，她不自禁地想，只想有人给我安慰，我真的厌倦了竭力坚强。如果能再一次，再一次变回那个天真又胆怯的小女孩，就一次，真的……一天……一个小时……
Sweet it was, sweet and gone too soon. Dawn came cruel, a dagger of light. She woke aching and alone and weary; weary of riding, weary of hurting, weary of duty. I want to weep, she thought. I want to be comforted. I’m so tired of being strong. I want to be foolish and frightened for once. Just for a small while, that’s all … a day … an hour …
帐外，人来人往。她听见马的嘶鸣，夏德在抱怨睡硬了背，文德尔爵士则索要弓箭。凯特琳惟愿他们统统走开。他们都是好人，忠心耿耿，可她实在厌倦了所有人，她只想要她的孩子。总有一天，在梦中她曾向自己保证，总有一天她会放任自己不再坚强。
Outside her tent, men were stirring. She heard the whicker of horses, Shadd complaining of stiffness in his back, Ser Wendel calling for his bow. Catelyn wished they would all go away. They were good men, loyal, yet she was tired of them all. It was her children she yearned after. One day, she promised herself as she lay abed, one day she would allow herself to be less than strong.
但不是今天。今天真的不行。
But not today. It could not be today.
她摸索起衣服，发现手指比平日更加笨拙僵硬。还能使用这双手她本当感到庆幸。割她的匕首乃是瓦雷利亚钢所制，瓦雷利亚兵器锋利嗜血，只需瞟一眼伤口便能明了。
Her fingers seemed more clumsy than usual as she fumbled on her clothes. She supposed she ought to be grateful that she had any use of her hands at all. The dagger had been Valyrian steel, and Valyrian steel bites deep and sharp. She had only to look at the scars to remember.
出了门，只见夏德正用壶煮燕麦粥，文德尔·曼德勒爵士则在调试弓箭。“夫人，”凯特琳出来时他道，“原野上空有鸟儿呢。要不我给您的早餐加点烤肉？”
Outside, Shadd was stirring oats into a kettle, while Ser Wendel Manderly sat stringing his bow. “My lady,” he said when Catelyn emerged. “There are birds in this grass. Would you fancy a roast quail to break your fast this morning?”
“谢谢，我想燕麦和面包应该足够……应付我们所有人。今天还要赶很长的路，曼德勒爵士。”
“Oats and bread are sufficient … for all of us, I think. We have many leagues yet to ride, Ser Wendel.”
“如您所愿，夫人。”圆脸骑士有些丧气，海象般的大把胡须失望地颤动。“燕麦和面包，还有什么比这更好？”他是凯特琳所识最为肥胖的人之一，他不仅爱食物，对荣誉的渴求更是甚而过之。
“As you will, my lady.” The knight’s moon face looked crestfallen, the tips of his great walrus mustache twitching with disappointment. “Oats and bread, and what could be better?” He was one of the fattest men Catelyn had ever known, but howevermuch he loved his food, he loved his honor more.
“我找到点荨麻，沏了壶茶，”夏德宣布。“夫人您来一杯？”
“Found some nettles and brewed a tea,” Shadd announced. “Will m’lady take a cup?”
“好的，非常感谢。”
“Yes, with thanks.”
她用自己残破的手掌抱住茶杯，呵着气，等茶冷却。夏德是临冬城的兵士之一。为了让她平安地前去拜会蓝礼，罗柏不仅派出手下二十名最可靠的卫士，还让五位贵族与她同行，期望他们的名号和血统能为她的使命增添敬意与分量。他们一路南下，远离市镇和城堡，不时邂逅成群的武装人员，瞥见东方地平线上滚滚浓烟。无人前来骚扰。作为威胁他们人太少，当成猎物他们人太多。就这样，他们终于安然渡过黑水河，将混乱的江山抛在马后。自此四天以来，没有一丝一毫战争的迹象。
She cradled the tea in her scarred hands and blew on it to cool it. Shadd was one of the Winterfell men. Robb had sent twenty of his best to see her safely to Renly. He had sent five lordlings as well, whose names and high birth would add weight and honor to her mission. As they made their way south, staying well clear of towns and holdfasts, they had seen bands of mailed men more than once, and glimpsed smoke on the eastern horizon, but none had dared molest them. They were too weak to be a threat, too many to be easy prey. Once across the Blackwater, the worst was behind. For the past four days, they had seen no signs of war.
此行并非凯特琳的意思。在奔流城，她和罗柏争辩了许多。“我上次见到蓝礼时，他还没你弟弟布兰大。我根本就不了解他。派别人去。我有责任留在这里陪伴父亲，直到他的时辰最后到来。”
Catelyn had never wanted this. She had told Robb as much, back in Riverrun. “When last I saw Renly, he was a boy no older than Bran. I do not know him. Send someone else. My place is here with my father, for whatever time he has left.”
儿子不悦地望着她。“没别人可派。我不可能亲自去。你父亲病得太厉害。黑鱼则是我的耳目，我不能缺了他。至于你弟弟，我需要他坐镇奔流城，当我们进军——”
Her son had looked at her unhappily. “There is no one else. I cannot go myself. Your father’s too ill. The Blackfish is my eyes and ears, I dare not lose him. Your brother I need to hold Riverrun when we march—”
“进军？”没人跟她提过进军。
“March?” No one had said a word to her of marching.
“我不能枯坐奔流城，等待和平，这会授人以柄，教世人说我害怕再上战场。父亲教导过我，无仗可打时，士兵就会思念壁炉和丰收……近来，我的北军也开始焦躁不宁。”
“I cannot sit at Riverrun waiting for peace. It makes me look as if I were afraid to take the field again. When there are no battles to fight, men start to think of hearth and harvest, Father told me that. Even my northmen grow restless.”
我的北军，她品味着，他连说话的方式都开始变得像个国王。“焦躁不宁不会导致伤亡，轻率卤莽却大不一样。我们播下了种子，应该耐心等待它们成长。”
My northmen, she thought. He is even starting to talk like a king. “No one has ever died of restlessness, but rashness is another matter. We’ve planted seeds, let them grow.”
罗柏倔强地摇摇头，“事实是，我们把种子抛进了狂风。若你妹妹莱莎肯派援军前来，早该有口信啦。想想我们给鹰巢城派了多少鸟，起码四只？我也希望和平，可如果我只傻坐在原地，听任我的军队像盛夏的雪花一般极速融化，兰尼斯特什么也不会给我。”
Robb shook his head stubbornly. “We’ve tossed some seeds in the wind, that’s all. If your sister Lysa was coming to aid us, we would have heard by now. How many birds have we sent to the Eyrie, four? I want peace too, but why should the Lannisters give me anything if all I do is sit here while my army melts away around me swift as summer snow?”
他甚至根本不认得她“所以为了那自负的勇气，你就非得让泰温大人牵着鼻子走？”她吼回去。“进军赫伦堡正中其下怀，听听你布林登叔叔的意见吧，如果——”
“So rather than look craven, you will dance to Lord Tywin’s pipes?” she threw back. “He wants you to march on Harrenhal, ask your uncle Brynden if—”
“谁说我要去赫伦堡？”罗柏道，“眼下唯一的问题是，你是为了我出使蓝礼呢，还是逼我派大琼恩去？”
“I said nothing of Harrenhal,” Robb said. “Now, will you go to Renly for me, or must I send the Greatjon?”
忆起往事，她的脸颊泛起苍白的微笑。多直白的要挟，说真的，一个十五岁的男孩能做到这点，倒应该感到骄傲。罗柏深知与蓝礼·拜拉席恩这样的人打交道没有比大琼恩·安柏更不合适的人选了，他更明白她也知道。他让她无法拒绝，只能祈祷在返回之前父亲别有什么不测。她想：倘若霍斯特公爵身体安康，一定会自告奋勇担任使节。纵使百般宽慰，离别依旧让人伤感。当她到床前辞行时，他甚至根本不认得她。“米妮莎，”他唤她，“孩子们在哪儿？我的小凯特，我可爱的莱莎……”凯特琳吻了他的额头，告诉他他的宝贝们一切都好。“等我回来，大人，”当他阖上倦眼，她轻声说。“我等过你，噢，等了好多好多次。这次轮到了你，一定要等我回来。”
The memory brought a wan smile to her face. Such an obvious ploy, that, yet deft for a boy of fifteen. Robb knew how ill-suited a man like Greatjon Umber would be to treat with a man like Renly Baratheon, and he knew that she knew it as well. What could she do but accede, praying that her father would live until her return? Had Lord Hoster been well, he would have gone himself, she knew. Still, that leavetaking was hard, hard. He did not even know her when she came to say farewell. “Minisa,” he called her, “where are the children? My little Cat, my sweet Lysa …” Catelyn had kissed him on the brow and told him his babes were well. “Wait for me, my lord,” she said as his eyes closed. “I waited for you, oh, so many times. Now you must wait for me.”
命运一次又一次把我拖向南方，凯特琳就着苦涩的茶水边吮边想，此时此刻，我本当返回北国，重整家园。在奔流城的最后一夜，她就着烛光给布兰和瑞肯写信。我没有抛下你们，我的小甜心，你们一定要相信。只是你们的哥哥更需要我。
Fate drives me south and south again, Catelyn thought as she sipped the astringent tea, when it is north I should be going, north to home. She had written to Bran and Rickon, that last night at Riverrun. I do not forget you, my sweet ones, you must believe that. It is only that your brother needs me more.
“预计今天就能抵达曼德河上游，夫人。”夏普搅拌麦片粥时，文德尔爵士宣布。“如果道上打听的消息属实，蓝礼大人就在附近。”
“We ought to reach the upper Mander today, my lady,” Ser Wendel announced while Shadd spooned out the porridge. “Lord Renly will not be far, if the talk be true.”
见了他我又能说什么？告诉他我儿子不承认他是真正的国王？她对这场会晤不抱希望。我们需要的是朋友，不是更多敌手，而罗柏坚决不同意向一个他觉得毫无权利登上王位的人屈膝臣服。
And what do I tell him when I find him? That my son holds him no true king? She did not relish this meeting. They needed friends, not more enemies, yet Robb would never bend the knee in homage to a man he felt had no claim to the throne.
她食不知味，勉强咽下麦片粥，把碗放到一旁。“我们该出发了。”越早见到蓝礼，她就能越早打道回府。她头一个翻上马背，带领纵队快速前进。哈里斯·莫兰骑行身旁，高举史塔克家族的旗帜。雪白布底上的冰原狼迎风招展。
Her bowl was empty, though she could scarce remember tasting the porridge. She laid it aside. “It is time we were away.” The sooner she spoke to Renly, the sooner she could turn for home. She was the first one mounted, and she set the pace for the column. Hal Mollen rode beside her, bearing the banner of House Stark, the grey direwolf on an ice-white field.
他们被发现时，离蓝礼大营尚有半日之遥。罗宾·菲林特是他们的斥候，他飞驰回报远方的风车上有人监视。但等凯特琳的队伍赶到磨坊，陌生人已然离去。他们继续前进，不出一里却被蓝礼的马队团团围住。一位花白胡子的老骑士领着二十个全副武装的骑兵，老人的外套上有蓝鸟徽记。
They were still a half day’s ride from Renly’s camp when they were taken. Robin Flint had ranged ahead to scout, and he came galloping back with word of a far-eyes watching from the roof of a distant windmill. By the time Catelyn’s party reached the mill, the man was long gone. They pressed on, covering not quite a mile before Renly’s outriders came swooping down on them, twenty men mailed and mounted, led by a grizzled greybeard of a knight with bluejays on his surcoat.
当他看见她的旗号，便独自策马上前。“夫人，”他喊，“在下是格林普家族的科棱爵士，愿意为您效劳。您此刻正身临险境。”
When he saw her banners, he trotted up to her alone. “My lady,” he called, “I am Ser Colen of Greenpools, as it please you. These are dangerous lands you cross.”
“我们的任务非常紧急。”她答道。“我以我儿罗柏·史塔克——北境之王的信使的身份，前来会晤南境之王，蓝礼·拜拉席恩。”
“Our business is urgent,” she answered him. “I come as envoy from my son, Robb Stark, the King in the North, to treat with Renly Baratheon, the King in the South.”
“蓝礼国王是经正式加冕涂抹圣油的七国之君，夫人。”科棱爵士应道，礼貌依然。“陛下此刻和他的军队一道驻扎于苦桥，那是玫瑰大道横跨曼德河的要害，护送您前往是我莫大的荣幸。”骑士举起一只铁拳，手下士兵闪向两边，站在凯特琳和她的护卫侧旁。这是护送还是捉拿？她心想。如今也只好信任科棱爵士的荣誉，当然，还得信任蓝礼大人。
“King Renly is the crowned and anointed lord of all the Seven Kingdoms, my lady,” Ser Colen answered, though courteously enough. “His Grace is encamped with his host near Bitterbridge, where the roseroad crosses the Mander. It shall be my great honor to escort you to him.” The knight raised a mailed hand, and his men formed a double column flanking Catelyn and her guard. Escort or captor? she wondered. There was nothing to be done but trust in Ser Colen’s honor, and Lord Renly’s.
离大河尚有一小时骑程，他们便看见营火的烟柱。接着，各种声音飘过农场、田地和原野汹涌而来，朦朦胧胧，有如远海的呼唤。渐行渐近，涛声便愈加强烈。待他们终于瞧见阳光下闪耀的浑浊的曼德河水，声音也变得清晰，分辨出人语，金铁交击和马嘶。对他们而言，尽管有先前的烟柱和声响预作提醒，仍旧不由自主地为眼前的大军张口结舌。
They saw the smoke of the camp’s fires when they were still an hour from the river. Then the sound came drifting across farm and field and rolling plain, indistinct as the murmur of some distant sea, but swelling as they rode closer. By the time they caught sight of the Mander’s muddy waters glinting in the sun, they could make out the voices of men, the clatter of steel, the whinny of horses. Yet neither sound nor smoke prepared them for the host itself.
成千的营火使空中弥漫着苍白的薄雾。排列整齐的马匹绵延数个里格。为制造承载旌旗的长杆，一整座树林砍伐而光。巨大的攻城器排列在玫瑰大道两旁的葱绿草坪上，有投石机、弩炮和攻城锤，那冲锤光车轮就比一个骑兵还高。艳阳下，无数的矛尖闪着红光，仿佛正在泣血。诸侯和骑士们的营帐好似丝质蘑菇，遍布四野。她看见拿矛的兵、持剑的兵、戴盔穿甲的兵，看见招摇过市的营妓，看见搭装羽毛的弓箭手，看见驱赶货车的杂役，看见喂养牲畜的猪倌，看见传送信息的听差，看见磨砺长剑的侍从，看见驱策战马的骑士，看见呵斥劣驹的马夫。“不可思议……有这么多军队，”文德尔·曼德勒爵士评论。他们越过一道古老的石拱桥——此桥正名为“苦桥”。
Thousands of cookfires filled the air with a pale smoky haze. The horse lines alone stretched out over leagues. A forest had surely been felled to make the tall staffs that held the banners. Great siege engines lined the grassy verge of the roseroad, mangonels and trebuchets and rolling rams mounted on wheels taller than a man on horseback. The steel points of pikes flamed red with sunlight, as if already blooded, while the pavilions of the knights and high lords sprouted from the grass like silken mushrooms. She saw men with spears and men with swords, men in steel caps and mail shirts, camp followers strutting their charms, archers fletching arrows, teamsters driving wagons, swineherds driving pigs, pages running messages, squires honing swords, knights riding palfreys, grooms leading ill-tempered destriers. “This is a fearsome lot of men,” Ser Wendel Manderly observed as they crossed the ancient stone span from which Bitterbridge took its name.
“没错，”凯特琳赞同。
“That it is,” Catelyn agreed.
看来，几乎所有的南境贵族都响应了蓝礼的号召。四处可见高庭的金玫瑰：绣在兵士和仆人们的右胸前，招展在装饰长枪和木矛的绿丝幡上，刻画在提利尔家族五花八门的旁支——儿子、兄弟、表亲、叔舅——帐门的盾牌上。凯特琳还看见佛罗伦家族的狐狸鲜花旗，两支佛索威家族的青苹果旗和红苹果旗，塔利伯爵的健步猎人旗，奥克赫特家族的橡树叶旗，克连恩家族的鹅旗，以及穆伦道尔家族那描绘成群黑橙蝴蝶的旗帜。
Near all the chivalry of the south had come to Renly’s call, it seemed. The golden rose of Highgarden was seen everywhere: sewn on the right breast of armsmen and servants, flapping and fluttering from the green silk banners that adorned lance and pike, painted upon the shields hung outside the pavilions of the sons and brothers and cousins and uncles of House Tyrell. As well Catelyn spied the fox-and-flowers of House Florent, Fossoway apples red and green, Lord Tarly’s striding huntsman, oak leaves for Oakheart, cranes for Crane, a cloud of black-and-orange butterflies for the Mullendores.
曼德河对岸，风暴之地的领主们也升起了自己的旗帜——他们是蓝礼直属的附庸，宣誓效忠于拜拉席恩家族和风息堡。凯特琳认出布莱斯·卡伦的夜莺旗，庞洛斯的鹅毛旗，以及伊斯蒙伯爵的海龟旗——绿色的汪洋上漂浮的绿海龟。但除开她认识的盾牌徽记，另有十几个异常陌生，想来他们该是效忠于地方诸侯的下级领主，或是雇佣骑士和自由骑手，这些人麇集到蓝礼·拜拉席恩周围，为的是要在这场权力的游戏中站在胜利者的一边。
Across the Mander, the storm lords had raised their standards—Renly’s own bannermen, sworn to House Baratheon and Storm’s End. Catelyn recognized Bryce Caron’s nightingales, the Penrose quills, and Lord Estermont’s sea turtle, green on green. Yet for every shield she knew, there were a dozen strange to her, borne by the small lords sworn to the bannermen, and by hedge knights and freeriders who had come swarming to make Renly Baratheon a king in fact as well as name.
真正的敌人近在咫尺蓝礼自己的旗帜高高飘扬于众旗之上。在他最高大的攻城塔上，在那生牛皮覆盖的巨大橡木轮车顶，飘动着凯特琳毕生所见最为壮观的——那块布料能做城堡大厅的地毯——一面旗帜，金黄面底，绣着拜拉席恩家族黑色的宝冠雄鹿，高大、腾越而骄傲。
Renly’s own standard flew high over all. From the top of his tallest siege tower, a wheeled oaken immensity covered with rawhides, streamed the largest war banner that Catelyn had ever seen—a cloth big enough to carpet many a hall, shimmering gold, with the crowned stag of Baratheon black upon it, prancing proud and tall.
“夫人，您听见那边的喧哗了吗？”哈里斯·莫兰骑行靠拢，轻声问，“那是什么？”
“My lady, do you hear that noise?” asked Hallis Mollen, trotting close. “What is that?”
她仔细分辨，吼声，马儿的尖叫，兵器铿锵，还有……“喝彩声，”她道。他们骑上一道缓坡，朝着远方一列颜色鲜亮的大帐篷行去。当他们穿过这列帐篷，人愈来愈多，声音也愈加鼎沸。然后，她找到了答案。
She listened. Shouts, and horses screaming, and the clash of steel, and … “Cheering,” she said. They had been riding up a gentle slope toward a line of brightly colored pavilions on the height. As they passed between them, the press of men grew thicker, the sounds louder. And then she saw.
下面，在一座小城堡的木石城垛下，一场团队比武正在进行。
Below, beneath the stone-and-timber battlements of a small castle, a melee was in progress.
人们清出场地，立好栅栏，修筑跑道，搭起看台。数百的人前来观看，噢，也许成千。从场地的情况看来，杂乱、泥泞、到处都是残甲断矛，他们至少打了一整天。而今，比武到了最后关头，仍在马背的骑士不满二十，在观众和落马战士的喝彩声中，相互砍劈和冲锋。她看见两匹全副重甲的战马撞在一起，钢铁和血肉难分难解，纠结在地。“比武大会！”哈里斯·莫兰宣布。他总爱布告人尽皆知的事。
A field had been cleared off, fences and galleries and tilting barriers thrown up. Hundreds were gathered to watch, perhaps thousands. From the looks of the grounds, torn and muddy and littered with bits of dinted armor and broken lances, they had been at it for a day or more, but now the end was near. Fewer than a score of knights remained ahorse, charging and slashing at each other as watchers and fallen combatants cheered them on. She saw two destriers collide in full armor, going down in a tangle of steel and horseflesh. “A tourney,” Hal Mollen declared. He had a penchant for loudly announcing the obvious.
“噢，漂亮！”眼见一位彩虹条纹披风的骑士给了穷追他的敌手反戈一击，长柄战斧击碎对手的盾牌，打得对手晕头转向，文德尔·曼德勒爵士不禁叫好。
“Oh, splendid,” Ser Wendel Manderly said as a knight in a rainbow-striped cloak wheeled to deliver a backhand blow with a long-handled axe that shattered the shield of the man pursuing him and sent him reeling in his stirrups.
人潮汹涌，难以接近。“史塔克夫人，”科棱爵士道，“若您的部下愿意留在这里，我这就带您面见王上。”
The press in front of them made further progress difficult. “Lady Stark,” Ser Colen said, “if your men would be so good as to wait here, I’ll present you to the king.”
“好吧，”她下了命令，由于比武的喧嚣，她不得不提高声调。科棱爵士缓缓地穿越人群，凯特琳紧随其后。人群中忽然一阵叫嚷，一位没戴头盔、盾牌有狮鹫纹章的红须男子被一个蓝色铠甲的高大骑士打落下马。这骑士的铁甲深邃幽蓝，他异常镇静地挥舞着手中的钝化流星锤，坐骑的铠甲上，有塔斯家族分成四份的日月纹章。
“As you say.” She gave the command, though she had to raise her voice to be heard above the tourney din. Ser Colen walked his horse slowly through the throngs, with Catelyn riding in his wake. A roar went up from the crowd as a helmetless red-bearded man with a griffin on his shield went down before a big knight in blue armor. His steel was a deep cobalt, even the blunt morningstar he wielded with such deadly effect, his mount barded in the quartered sun-and-moon heraldry of House Tarth.
“红罗兰败了，诸神该死！”一位男子咒道。
“Red Ronnet’s down, gods be damned,” a man cursed.
“洛拉斯会教训这蓝——”同伴的回答被另一阵突来的惊叫所淹没。
“Loras’ll do for that blue—” a companion answered before a roar drowned out the rest of his words.
又一个战士落马。伤残的马儿压住了骑士，人马都在痛苦地嚎叫，侍从们急忙上前帮忙。
Another man was fallen, trapped beneath his injured horse, both of them screaming in pain. Squires rushed out to aid them.
这真是疯了，凯特琳想。真正的敌人近在咫尺，半壁国土烽火连天，蓝礼居然还呆在这儿玩他的打仗游戏，活象个初次拿到木剑的男孩！
This is madness, Catelyn thought. Real enemies on every side and half the realm in flames, and Renly sits here playing at war like a boy with his first wooden sword.
领主和贵妇们坐在看台上观看比武，和下面的观众一样津津有味。从中，凯特琳发现了一些熟悉的面孔。父亲常和南境的领主打交道，很多人都曾来奔流城做客。她认出马图斯·罗宛伯爵，此人较前更加结实健壮，白色上衣上延展着金树家徽。在他身下坐了奥克赫特伯爵夫人，纤细娇小。而在她左边则是角陵的领主蓝道·塔利，他的巨剑“碎心”依靠在椅背。其他人她只能辨认出家徽，甚至很多纹章她也说不上来。
The lords and ladies in the gallery were as engrossed in the melee as the men on the ground. Catelyn marked them well. Her father had oft treated with the southron lords, and not a few had been guests at Riverrun. She recognized Lord Mathis Rowan, stouter and more florid than ever, the golden tree of his House spread across his white doublet. Below him sat Lady Oakheart, tiny and delicate, and to her left Lord Randyll Tarly of Horn Hill, his greatsword Heartsbane propped up against the back of his seat. Others she knew only by their sigils, and some not at all.
在他们之中，在一位年轻的王后身边，一个头戴金冠的幽灵正有说有笑。
In their midst, watching and laughing with his young queen by his side, sat a ghost in a golden crown.
难怪领主大人们对他趋之若骛，她想，他简直就是劳勃重生。蓝礼和劳勃年轻时一样俊美：四肢纤细，肩膀宽阔，柔顺平直的炭黑头发，湛蓝的眼珠，甚至那浅笑也一模一样。他额上那条纤细的冠冕与他十分般配，乃是软金制成，一轮玫瑰精巧地镶嵌其上，正面有个暗色翡翠做的鹿头，装饰着金眼金角。
Small wonder the lords gather around him with such fervor, she thought, he is Robert come again. Renly was handsome as Robert had been handsome; long of limb and broad of shoulder, with the same coal-black hair, fine and straight, the same deep blue eyes, the same easy smile. The slender circlet around his brows seemed to suit him well. It was soft gold, a ring of roses exquisitely wrought; at the front lifted a stag’s head of dark green jade, adorned with golden eyes and golden antlers.
国王在雄鹿宝冠下穿了一身绿色的天鹅绒外套，胸前用金黄的丝线——高庭的色彩——绘着拜拉席恩的纹章。与他同坐高位的女孩也穿着高庭的服饰，那定然是他年轻的王后玛格丽，梅斯·提利尔公爵的女儿。凯特琳明白，正是由于他们的联姻，全南境的贵族才联合在一起。蓝礼现年二十一岁，那女孩则比罗柏还小，非常漂亮，麋鹿般温柔的眼睛，长长的棕色卷发慵懒地披散在肩膀。她的笑容既羞涩又甜蜜。
The crowned stag decorated the king’s green velvet tunic as well, worked in gold thread upon his chest; the Baratheon sigil in the colors of Highgarden. The girl who shared the high seat with him was also of Highgarden: his young queen, Margaery, daughter to Lord Mace Tyrell. Their marriage was the mortar that held the great southron alliance together, Catelyn knew. Renly was one-and-twenty, the girl no older than Robb, very pretty, with a doe’s soft eyes and a mane of curling brown hair that fell about her shoulders in lazy ringlets. Her smile was shy and sweet.
武场上，又一人被彩虹披风的骑士击落下马，国王也和大家一起赞叹。“洛拉斯！”她听见他喊道，“洛拉斯！为高庭而战！”王后则兴奋得不住拍手。
Out in the field, another man lost his seat to the knight in the rainbow-striped cloak, and the king shouted approval with the rest. “Loras!” she heard him call. “Loras! Highgarden!” The queen clapped her hands together in excitement.
凯特琳回身过去，打量比武会的残局。如今，场地中央只剩下四个人，而毫无疑问谁受国王和观众的宠爱。她从没见过洛拉斯·提利尔爵士，但即便在遥远的北国，仍旧流传着少年百花骑士的故事。洛拉斯爵士骑在一匹银甲的高大白马上，手握一把长柄战斧，头盔中央有金玫瑰冠饰。
Catelyn turned to see the end of it. Only four men were left in the fight now, and there was small doubt whom king and commons favored. She had never met Ser Loras Tyrell, but even in the distant north one heard tales of the prowess of the young Knight of Flowers. Ser Loras rode a tall white stallion in silver mail, and fought with a long-handled axe. A crest of golden roses ran down the center of his helm.
幸存者中有两人很快达成共识。他们脚踢马刺，一起朝深蓝铠甲的骑士扑去。待他们一左一右接近靠拢，蓝骑士猛地一拉缰绳，用破碎的盾牌狠狠地砸中一位袭击者的面孔，同时他黑色的战马则抬起刚硬的蹄铁扫中另一位对手。一瞬之间，一位骑手已然倒地，另一位也蹒跚退下。蓝骑士把破盾扔下场地，空出左手，静静地面对百花骑士。洛拉斯爵士奔上前来，钢铁的重量丝毫不减其优雅和敏捷，彩虹的披风在身后迎风飞舞。
Two of the other survivors had made common cause. They spurred their mounts toward the knight in the cobalt armor. As they closed to either side, the blue knight reined hard, smashing one man full in the face with his splintered shield while his black destrier lashed out with a steel-shod hoof at the other. In a blink, one combatant was unhorsed, the other reeling. The blue knight let his broken shield drop to the ground to free his left arm, and then the Knight of Flowers was on him. The weight of his steel seemed to hardly diminish the grace and quickness with which Ser Loras moved, his rainbow cloak swirling about him.
白马和黑马搅作一团，有如丰收舞会上的恋人，只是骑手挥舞兵器而非倾身亲吻。长斧掠过、链锤旋动，两者皆已预先钝化，却仍旧产生可怕的声响。由于少了盾牌，蓝骑士似乎逐渐处于下风。洛拉斯爵士一次又一次照着他的头颅和肩膀挥击，应和着满场“高庭万岁！”的狂热呼喝。蓝骑士则用流星锤竭力还击，可每当锤球击出，都被洛拉斯爵士那面打扁了的、装饰着三朵金玫瑰的绿盾格挡开来。当长柄斧最终击中蓝骑士的手背，把流星锤打飞出去时，群众的情绪达到了高潮，如发情的野兽一样尖声呐喊。一片喧闹中，百花骑士举起长斧，准备最后一击。
The white horse and the black one wheeled like lovers at a harvest dance, the riders throwing steel in place of kisses. Longaxe flashed and morningstar whirled. Both weapons were blunted, yet still they raised an awful clangor. Shieldless, the blue knight was getting much the worse of it. Ser Loras rained down blows on his head and shoulders, to shouts of “Highgarden!” from the throng. The other gave answer with his morningstar, but whenever the ball came crashing in, Ser Loras interposed his battered green shield, emblazoned with three golden roses. When the longaxe caught the blue knight’s hand on the backswing and sent the morningstar flying from his grasp, the crowd screamed like a rutting beast. The Knight of Flowers raised his axe for the final blow.
保护您免遭一切危难蓝骑士冲锋了。两匹战马猛然相撞，钝过的斧刃向伤痕累累的深蓝胸甲砸去……但那蓝骑士却不知从哪儿生出一股劲道，用套着钢甲的手指在空中生生夹住了斧柄。他把斧头从洛拉斯爵士手中扳下，两人扭作一团，突然便双双坠马。两匹战马互相蹬踏，两名战士轰然撞地。洛拉斯·提利尔被压在下面，承受了大部分撞击的力道。蓝骑士顺势拔出一把长匕首，挑开提利尔的面甲。人群的吼声变得如此之大，凯特琳无从听出洛拉斯爵士到底说了什么，不过从那破裂、染血的唇边，她分辨出两个字：投降。
The blue knight charged into it. The stallions slammed together, the blunted axehead smashed against the scarred blue breastplate … but somehow the blue knight had the haft locked between steel-gauntleted fingers. He wrenched it from Ser Loras’s hand, and suddenly the two were grappling mount-to-mount, and an instant later they were falling. As their horses pulled apart, they crashed to the ground with bone-jarring force. Loras Tyrell, on the bottom, took the brunt of the impact. The blue knight pulled a long dirk free and flicked open Tyrell’s visor. The roar of the crowd was too loud for Catelyn to hear what Ser Loras said, but she saw the word form on his split, bloody lips. Yield.
蓝骑士摇摇晃晃地站起身子，高举匕首，指向蓝礼·拜拉席恩。这是冠军在向国王致敬。侍从们匆忙奔进场，照料战败的骑士。当他们卸下他的头盔，凯特琳惊讶于他的年轻，只怕比罗柏大不了两岁。这男孩和他妹妹一般秀美，虽然破碎的嘴唇，散乱的目光以及纠结的头发上不住流下的鲜血使他大为失色。
The blue knight climbed unsteady to his feet, and raised his dirk in the direction of Renly Baratheon, the salute of a champion to his king. Squires dashed onto the field to help the vanquished knight to his feet. When they got his helm off, Catelyn was startled to see how young he was. He could not have had more than two years on Robb. The boy might have been as comely as his sister, but the broken lip, unfocused eyes, and blood trickling through his matted hair made it hard to be certain.
“请上前，”蓝礼国王召唤他的冠军。
“Approach,” King Renly called to the champion.
他跛着脚，朝看台移去。由近观之，那身灿烂的蓝甲并不耀眼，在它上面布满创伤，有战锤和钉头打下的凹痕，长剑刻出的凿槽，胸甲和头盔上的瓷釉片片脱落，披风被撕成碎条。从移动的姿势来看，此人本身亦受了不轻的伤。稀稀拉拉有几个人呼喊着：“塔斯万岁！”，或是奇怪地喊着：“美人！美人！”但多数人保持沉默。蓝骑士走到国王面前跪下。“陛下，”他说，隔着砸扁的头盔听来翁声翁气，
He limped toward the gallery. At close hand, the brilliant blue armor looked rather less splendid; everywhere it showed scars, the dents of mace and warhammer, the long gouges left by swords, chips in the enameled breastplate and helm. His cloak hung in rags. From the way he moved, the man within was no less battered. A few voices hailed him with cries of “Tarth!” and, oddly, “A Beauty! A Beauty!” but most were silent. The blue knight knelt before the king. “Grace,” he said, his voice muffled by his dented greathelm.
