她站在碼頭邊崔列，在霧氣中顫抖，臉色蒼白旺遮，渾身起了雞皮疙瘩赵讯。手中的縫衣針仿佛在跟她講悄悄話。第一課耿眉，用尖的那端去刺敵人边翼，劍說，還有跷敬，無論如何……絕對(duì)……不要……告訴……珊莎讯私！劍身有密肯的記號(hào)热押。只不過是把劍。假如她需要?jiǎng)锟埽駨R底下有上百把桶癣。縫衣針太小了娘锁，算不上真正的劍牙寞，比玩具強(qiáng)不了多少。瓊恩讓鐵匠鑄這把劍時(shí)莫秆，她還是個(gè)笨得無可救藥的小女孩间雀。“只不過是把劍镊屎∪切”她大聲說出來……

She stood on the end of the dock, pale and goosefleshed and shivering in the fog. In her hand, Needle seemed to whisper to her. Stick them with the pointy end, it said, and, don’t tell Sansa! Mikken’s mark was on the blade. It’s just a sword. If she needed a sword, there were a hundred under the temple. Needle was too small to be a proper sword, it was hardly more than a toy. She’d been a stupid little girl when Jon had it made for her. “It’s just a sword,” she said, aloud this time …

……然而事實(shí)并非如此。

… but it wasn’t.

縫衣針是羅柏缝驳、布蘭與瑞肯连锯，是母親和父親，甚至是珊莎用狱≡瞬溃縫衣針是臨冬城灰色的墻壘，是城中眾人的歡樂夏伊。它是夏天的雪花摇展，是老奶媽的故事，是心樹的紅葉和嚇人的臉龐溺忧，是玻璃花園中溫暖的泥土氣息咏连，是將她房間的窗戶吹得嗒嗒作響的北風(fēng)≡夷縫衣針是瓊恩的微笑捻勉。他總愛弄亂我的頭發(fā)，叫我“我的小妹”刀森，她眼中忽然有了淚水踱启。

Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell’s grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan’s stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow’s smile. He used to mess my hair and call me “l(fā)ittle sister,” she remembered, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes.

魔山的手下抓住她時(shí)，波利佛奪走了那柄劍研底，但當(dāng)她和獵狗走進(jìn)十字路口的客棧埠偿，它又物歸原主。這是諸神給我的東西榜晦。不是七神冠蒋，也不是千面之神，而是她父親的神祗乾胶，北境古老的舊七神抖剿。千面之神可以拿走我所有的東西朽寞，她心想，但他拿不走這柄劍斩郎。

Polliver had stolen the sword from her when the Mountain’s men took her captive, but when she and the Hound walked into the inn at the crossroads, there it was. The gods wanted me to have it. Not the Seven, nor Him of Many Faces, but her father’s gods, the old gods of the north. The Many-Faced God can have the rest, she thought, but he can’t have this.

她像命名日一樣裸著身子走上臺(tái)階脑融，手中緊握縫衣針。走到一半時(shí)缩宜，腳下有塊石頭松了一下肘迎，艾莉亞跪下來，用手指去摳它的邊緣锻煌。一開始紋絲不動(dòng)妓布，但她堅(jiān)持不懈，指甲刮下碎泥灰宋梧，終于有了成果匣沼。她悶哼幾聲，雙手用力乃秀，挖出一塊石頭肛著。

She padded up the steps as naked as her name day, clutching Needle. Halfway up, one of the stones rocked beneath her feet. Arya knelt and dug around its edges with her fingers. It would not move at first, but she persisted, picking at the crumbling mortar with her nails. Finally, the stone shifted. She grunted and got both hands in and pulled. A crack opened before her.

“你在這兒會(huì)很安全，”她告訴縫衣針跺讯，“除了我，沒人知道殉农〉对啵”她將短劍連鞘推進(jìn)臺(tái)階后面，再把石頭塞回去超凳，使它看起來跟其他階梯一樣愈污。她邊走回神廟邊數(shù)臺(tái)階，牢牢記住劍的所在轮傍≡荼ⅲ總有一天她會(huì)需要它〈匆梗“總有一天杭跪。”她輕聲對(duì)自己承諾驰吓。

“You’ll be safe here,” she told Needle. “No one will know where you are but me.” She pushed the sword and sheath behind the step, then shoved the stone back into place, so it looked like all the other stones. As she climbed back to the temple, she counted steps, so she would know where to find the sword again. One day she might have need of it. “One day,” she whispered to herself.

她沒告訴慈祥的人自己做了什么涧尿，但他就是知道。第二天晚飯后檬贰，他來到她房里姑廉。“孩子翁涤，”他說桥言，“坐到我身邊萌踱。我給你講個(gè)故事『虐ⅲ”

She never told the kindly man what she had done, yet he knew. The next night he came to her cell after supper. “Child,” he said, “come sit with me. I have a tale to tell you.”

“什么故事虫蝶？”她警惕地問。

“What kind of tale?” she asked, wary.

“關(guān)于我們起源的故事倦西。既然你想成為我們的一員能真，就得了解我們是誰，我們從何而來扰柠。世上的人們會(huì)悄悄談?wù)摬祭鹚沟臒o面者粉铐，他們不清楚的是，我們比秘之城本身更古老卤档。我們出現(xiàn)在泰坦巨人興起之前蝙泼，在烏瑟羅揭開面具之前，在建城之前劝枣，我們跟著北方人在布拉佛斯興旺繁盛汤踏，但我們的根在瓦雷利亞，誕生于悲慘的奴隸群中舔腾，我們的祖先在十四火峰地底深處的礦井里辛苦勞作溪胶，正是這些火峰照亮了古自由堡壘的夜晚。普通礦井是黑暗陰冷的場所稳诚，自冰冷死寂的石頭中開鑿出來哗脖，但十四火峰乃熔巖火山，終日熊熊燃燒著扳还，因此古瓦雷利亞的礦井很熱才避，隨著井道越鉆越深，溫度也越升越高氨距。奴隸們猶如在烤箱中勞作桑逝，周圍的巖石燙得沒法碰，空氣彌漫著硫黃的味道俏让，吸進(jìn)肺里灼痛難耐楞遏，而即使穿上最厚的鞋子，腳底也會(huì)被燙出水泡舆驶。有時(shí)橱健，他們?yōu)閷ふ医鹱悠崎_洞壁，結(jié)果卻遭遇蒸氣沙廉、沸水或熔巖拘荡。有些井道鑿得十分低矮，奴隸們無法站立撬陵，只能爬行或彎腰行走珊皿。那泛紅的黑暗之中還有蠕蟲网缝。”

“The tale of our beginnings. If you would be one of us, you had best know who we are and how we came to be. Men may whisper of the Faceless Men of Braavos, but we are older than the Secret City. Before the Titan rose, before the Unmasking of Uthero, before the Founding, we were. We have flowered in Braavos amongst these northern fogs, but we first took root in Valyria, amongst the wretched slaves who toiled in the deep mines beneath the Fourteen Flames that lit the Freehold’s nights of old. Most mines are dank and chilly places, cut from cold dead stone, but the Fourteen Flames were living mountains with veins of molten rock and hearts of fire. So the mines of old Valyria were always hot, and they grew hotter as the shafts were driven deeper, ever deeper. The slaves toiled in an oven. The rocks around them were too hot to touch. The air stank of brimstone and would sear their lungs as they breathed it. The soles of their feet would burn and blister, even through the thickest sandals. Sometimes, when they broke through a wall in search of gold, they would find steam instead, or boiling water, or molten rock. Certain shafts were cut so low that the slaves could not stand upright, but had to crawl or bend. And there were wyrms in that red darkness too.”

“蚯蚓蟋定？”她皺眉問粉臊。

“Earthworms?” she asked, frowning.

“火蚯蚓。有人說它們是龍的遠(yuǎn)族驶兜，因?yàn)橐矔?huì)噴火扼仲。它們無法在天空中翱翔，只能在巖石土壤中鉆洞抄淑。假如古老的傳說可信的話屠凶，早在巨龍來到之前，十四火峰中就有火蚯蚓肆资。幼蟲跟你細(xì)瘦的胳膊差不多大矗愧，但它們可以長到巨大無比，而且極端不喜歡人類郑原“拢”

“Firewyrms. Some say they are akin to dragons, for wyrms breathe fire too. Instead of soaring through the sky, they bore through stone and soil. If the old tales can be believed, there were wyrms amongst the Fourteen Flames even before the dragons came. The young ones are no larger than that skinny arm of yours, but they can grow to monstrous size and have no love for men.”

“它們會(huì)殺奴隸嗎？”

“Did they kill the slaves?”

“那些被鉆開的井道中通常會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)燒得焦黑的尸體犯犁。然而礦還是越挖越深属愤，奴隸大量死亡，奴隸主卻不在乎栖秕。他們認(rèn)為紅金春塌、黃金和銀子比奴隸的生命更珍貴，奴隸在古自由堡壘中本不值錢簇捍。每逢戰(zhàn)爭，瓦雷利亞人都會(huì)俘虜成千上萬的奴隸俏拱，和平時(shí)期暑塑，他們讓奴隸繁衍，其中最差的則被送入地底泛紅的黑暗中等死锅必∈赂瘢”

“Burnt and blackened corpses were oft found in shafts where the rocks were cracked or full of holes. Yet still the mines drove deeper. Slaves perished by the score, but their masters did not care. Red gold and yellow gold and silver were reckoned to be more precious than the lives of slaves, for slaves were cheap in the old Freehold. During war, the Valyrians took them by the thousands. In times of peace they bred them, though only the worst were sent down to die in the red darkness.”

“奴隸們不起來反抗嗎？”

“Didn’t the slaves rise up and fight?”

“有些人反抗過搞隐，”他說驹愚，“礦井里起義很常見，但收獲甚微劣纲。古自由堡壘的龍王們擁有強(qiáng)大的巫術(shù)逢捺，弱者挑戰(zhàn)他們是很危險(xiǎn)的。第一個(gè)無面者就是反抗者之一癞季〗偻”

“Some did,” he said. “Revolts were common in the mines, but few accomplished much. The dragonlords of the old Freehold were strong in sorcery, and lesser men defied them at their peril. The first Faceless Man was one who did.”

“他是誰倘潜？”艾莉亞不及細(xì)想便脫口而出。

“Who was he?” Arya blurted, before she stopped to think.

“無名之輩志于，”他回答涮因。“有人認(rèn)為他本身就是個(gè)奴隸伺绽，有人堅(jiān)持說他是自由堡壘的公民养泡，出身于貴族世家，有人甚至?xí)嬖V你奈应，他是個(gè)同情手下奴隸的監(jiān)工澜掩。事實(shí)上，沒人真正清楚他的來歷钥组，大家只知道输硝，他在奴隸中活動(dòng)，聆聽他們的祈禱程梦。上百個(gè)國家的子民被抓來在礦井中勞作点把，每個(gè)人都用自己的語言向自己的神禱告，然而祈求的都是同一件事——解脫屿附，終結(jié)痛苦郎逃，一件極為普通極其簡單的小事，卻得不到神的回應(yīng)挺份。煎熬無止境地繼續(xù)著褒翰。難道世上的神們?nèi)@了嗎？他疑惑地想……直到有天晚上匀泊，在泛紅的黑暗中优训，他明白了「髌福”

“No one,” he answered. “Some say he was a slave himself. Others insist he was a freeholder’s son, born of noble stock. Some will even tell you he was an overseer who took pity on his charges. The truth is, no one knows. Whoever he was, he moved amongst the slaves and would hear them at their prayers. Men of a hundred different nations labored in the mines, and each prayed to his own god in his own tongue, yet all were praying for the same thing. It was release they asked for, an end to pain. A small thing, and simple. Yet their gods made no answer, and their suffering went on. Are their gods all deaf? he wondered … until a realization came upon him, one night in the red darkness.

“所有神祗都有自己的工具揣非，為其效力的善男信女在世間執(zhí)行他們的意志。表面上躲因，奴隸是在向上百個(gè)不同的神靈哭喊早敬，其實(shí)那是同一個(gè)神，有著上百張不同的臉孔而已……而他即是這個(gè)神的工具大脉。就在當(dāng)晚搞监，他選擇了一個(gè)景況最悲慘、祈求解脫最迫切的奴隸镰矿，將他從痛苦中解放了出來琐驴。這就是首次恩賜的由來。”

“All gods have their instruments, men and women who serve them and help to work their will on earth. The slaves were not crying out to a hundred different gods, as it seemed, but to one god with a hundred different faces … and he was that god’s instrument. That very night he chose the most wretched of the slaves, the one who had prayed most earnestly for release, and freed him from his bondage. The first gift had been given.”

艾莉亞向后退開棍矛“擦疲“他殺了那奴隸？”這不對(duì)够委，“他應(yīng)該殺奴隸主才對(duì)荐类！”

Arya drew back from him. “He killed the slave?” That did not sound right. “He should have killed the masters!”

“他也將恩賜帶給了他們……這個(gè)故事改天再講，它只屬于不為人知的無名之輩茁帽∮窆蓿”他昂起頭，“你是誰潘拨，孩子吊输？”

“He would bring the gift to them as well … but that is a tale for another day, one best shared with no one.” He cocked his head. “And who are you, child?”

“無名之輩√罚”

“No one.”

“你撒謊季蚂。”

“A lie.”

“你怎么這么肯定琅束？是魔法嗎扭屁？”

“How do you know? Is it magic?”

“用你的眼睛去看，無須魔法就能分辨真?zhèn)紊鳌Ｄ阋獙W(xué)習(xí)如何解讀表情料滥，如何看眼睛，看嘴巴艾船，看下巴的動(dòng)作葵腹，還有肩頸連接處的肌肉∮炱瘢”他用兩根手指輕輕碰了碰她践宴】柘希“有些人說謊時(shí)會(huì)眨眼睛论悴，有些人會(huì)張大眼睛庇茫，有些人會(huì)將視線轉(zhuǎn)向別處踩窖，有些人會(huì)舔嘴唇，還有許多人撒謊前會(huì)捂住嘴枕面，仿佛要掩蓋自己的欺騙行為。其他征兆或許更隱蔽，但總是存在徒坡。虛假的微笑和真實(shí)的微笑在此刻的你眼中也許差不多，實(shí)際上它們的區(qū)別猶如黃昏與清晨瘤缩。你能分辨黃昏與清晨嗎喇完？”

“A man does not need to be a wizard to know truth from falsehood, not if he has eyes. You need only learn to read a face. Look at the eyes. The mouth. The muscles here, at the corners of the jaw, and here, where the neck joins the shoulders.” He touched her lightly with two fingers. “Some liars blink. Some stare. Some look away. Some lick their lips. Many cover their mouths just before they tell a lie, as if to hide their deceit. Other signs may be more subtle, but they are always there. A false smile and a true one may look alike, but they are as different as dusk from dawn. Can you tell dusk from dawn?”

艾莉亞點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭，盡管她不太確定剥啤。

Arya nodded, though she was not certain that she could.

“那么你就可以學(xué)習(xí)分辨謊言……學(xué)成之后锦溪，沒有任何秘密能瞞過你不脯。”

“Then you can learn to see a lie … and once you do, no secret will be safe from you.”

“教我刻诊》揽”她愿意當(dāng)無名之輩，愿意承受這個(gè)代價(jià)则涯。無名之輩心中沒有空洞复局。

“Teach me.” She would be no one if that was what it took. No one had no holes inside her.

“她會(huì)教你∷谂校”流浪兒出現(xiàn)在門外亿昏，“從布拉佛斯語開始。若是你既不會(huì)說又聽不懂档礁，那還從何做起呢角钩？你也要把你的語言教給她。你們倆互相學(xué)習(xí)呻澜。你愿不愿意递礼？”

“She will teach you,” said the kindly man as the waif appeared outside her door. “Starting with the tongue of Braavos. What use are you if you cannot speak or understand? And you shall teach her your own tongue. The two of you shall learn together, each from the other. Will you do this?”

“愿意∫准＃”她回答宰衙。于是從此刻起，她成了黑白之院的學(xué)徒睹欲。她的仆人衣服被取走供炼，得到一件黑白相間的長袍，如同黃油般柔軟窘疮，令她想起臨冬城的舊紅毯子袋哼。長袍下面，她穿著精紡白亞麻布內(nèi)衣和懸垂過膝的黑襯袍闸衫。

“Yes,” she said, and from that moment she was a novice in the House of Black and White. Her servant’s garb was taken away, and she was given a robe to wear, a robe of black and white as buttery soft as the old red blanket she’d once had at Winterfell. Beneath it she wore smallclothes of fine white linen, and a black undertunic that hung down past her knees.

從此以后涛贯，她成天和流浪兒在一起，摸摸這個(gè)東西蔚出，指指那個(gè)東西弟翘，互相教授語言。起初是簡單詞匯骄酗，例如杯子稀余、蠟燭、鞋子趋翻，然后逐漸變難睛琳，最后是句子。西里歐·佛瑞爾曾讓艾莉亞單腿站立，直到站不住為止师骗，后來又讓她去抓貓历等。她也曾手握木劍在樹枝上舞蹈。那些都很難辟癌，但現(xiàn)在更難寒屯。

Thereafter she and the waif spent their time together touching things and pointing, as each tried to teach the other a few words of her own tongue. Simple words at first, cup and candle and shoe; then harder words; then sentences. Once Syrio Forel used to make Arya stand on one leg until she was trembling. Later he sent her chasing after cats. She had danced the water dance on the limbs of trees, a stick sword in her hand. Those things had all been hard, but this was harder.

連針線活都比學(xué)語言有趣，她心想愿待，因?yàn)榍疤焱砩虾坡荩艘话胱砸詾橐呀?jīng)掌握的詞語，剩下的一半發(fā)音也糟糕得很仍侥，結(jié)果被流浪兒嘲笑要出。我學(xué)句子就像從前縫針腳一樣亂七八糟。假如那女孩不是餓得如此瘦小农渊，艾莉亞或許會(huì)揍她那張笨臉蛋患蹂，現(xiàn)下只能咬緊嘴唇。我笨得什么都學(xué)不會(huì)砸紊，我笨得不知道放棄传于。

Even sewing was more fun than tongues, she told herself, after a night when she had forgotten half the words she thought she knew, and pronounced the other half so badly that the waif had laughed at her. My sentences are as crooked as my stitches used to be. If the girl had not been so small and starved, Arya would have smashed her stupid face. Instead she gnawed her lip. Too stupid to learn and too stupid to give up.

流浪兒學(xué)通用語卻比較快。某天晚餐時(shí)醉顽，她忽然扭頭問艾莉亞沼溜，“你是誰？”

The Common Tongue came to the waif more quickly. One day at supper she turned to Arya, and asked, “Who are you?”

“無名之輩游添∠挡荩”艾莉亞用布拉佛斯語回答。

“No one,” Arya answered, in Braavosi.

“你撒謊唆涝，”流浪兒道找都，“你必須撒得更好±群ǎ”

“You lie,” said the waif. “You must lie gooder.”

艾莉亞笑出來能耻，“撒得更好？你的意思是亡驰，說謊說得更好吧晓猛，真笨》踩瑁”

Arya laughed. “Gooder? You mean better, stupid.”

“說謊說得更好吧真笨鞍帝。我來教你撒謊∩访＃”

“Better stupid. I will show you.”

第二天，她們便開始了撒謊游戲，彼此輪流問問題续徽。有時(shí)候如實(shí)回答蚓曼，有時(shí)候則撒謊，提問者必須嘗試分辨真?zhèn)吻张ぁ０騺喼荒芸坎氯野妗４蠖鄶?shù)時(shí)候她都猜錯(cuò)。

The next day they began the lying game, asking questions of one another, taking turns. Sometimes they would answer truly, sometimes they would lie. The questioner had to try and tell what was true and what was false. The waif always seemed to know. Arya had to guess. Most of the time she guessed wrong.

“你幾歲了客情？”有一次流浪兒用通用語問她其弊。“十歲膀斋∷蠓ィ”艾莉亞邊說邊伸出十根手指。她認(rèn)為自己仍然是十歲仰担，但很難確定糊识。布拉佛斯計(jì)算日子的方法跟維斯特洛不同。不過她知道自己的命名日已經(jīng)過了摔蓝。

“How many years have you?” the waif asked her once, in the Common Tongue. “Ten,” said Arya, and raised ten fingers. She thought she was still ten, though it was hard to know for certain. The Braavosi counted days differently than they did in Westeros. For all she knew her name day had come and gone.

流浪兒點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭赂苗。艾莉亞也點(diǎn)頭回應(yīng)，并用自己最流利的布拉佛斯語問贮尉，“你幾歲了拌滋？”

The waif nodded. Arya nodded back, and in her best Braavosi said, “How many years have you?”

流浪兒伸出十根手指。然后伸了第二遍猜谚，第三遍败砂。接著是六根手指。她的臉仍然靜如止水龄毡。她不可能有三十六歲吠卷，艾莉亞心想，她是個(gè)小女孩沦零〖栏簦“你撒謊÷凡伲”她說疾渴。流浪兒搖搖頭，又給她演示了一次：十屯仗，十搞坝，十，六魁袜。她告訴艾莉亞“三十六”怎么說桩撮，并讓艾莉亞重復(fù)敦第。

The waif showed ten fingers. Then ten again, and yet again. Then six. Her face remained as smooth as still water. She can’t be six-and-thirty, Arya thought. She’s a little girl. “You’re lying,” she said. The waif shook her head and showed her once again: ten and ten and ten and six. She said the words for six-and-thirty, and made Arya say them too.

第二天，她把事情告訴慈祥的人店量∥吖“她沒撒謊，”牧師呵呵笑道融师，“被你稱做‘流浪兒’的人是個(gè)成年女子右钾，終生侍奉千面之神。她將自己的一切都交給了神旱爆，一切可能的未來舀射，一切體內(nèi)的活力』陈祝”

The next day she told the kindly man what the waif had claimed. “She did not lie,” the priest said, chuckling. “The one you call waif is a woman grown who has spent her life serving Him of Many Faces. She gave Him all she was, all she ever might have been, all the lives that were within her.”

艾莉亞咬緊嘴唇脆烟，“我會(huì)跟她一樣嗎？”

Arya bit her lip. “Will I be like her?”

“不會(huì)空镜，”他說浩淘，“除非你希望如此。是毒藥讓她變成現(xiàn)在這個(gè)樣子吴攒≌懦”

“No,” he said, “not unless you wish it. It is the poisons that have made her as you see her.”

毒藥。她明白了洼怔。每晚祈禱之后署惯，流浪兒都要將一個(gè)石壺倒空至黑水池中。

Poisons. She understood then. Every evening after prayer the waif emptied a stone flagon into the waters of the black pool.

流浪兒與慈祥的人并非千面之神僅有的仆人镣隶。時(shí)不時(shí)會(huì)有其他牧師造訪黑白之院极谊。胖子有一雙兇狠的黑眼睛和一只鷹鉤鼻，寬大的嘴里滿是黃板牙安岂；古板臉從來不笑轻猖，他的眼睛是白色，嘴唇又厚又黑域那；美男子每次來都會(huì)變化胡子的顏色咙边，鼻子也不相同，但始終不失英俊次员。這三個(gè)來得最頻繁败许，偶而也有別的人：斜眼，領(lǐng)主和餓鬼淑蔚。有回胖子跟斜眼一起來市殷，烏瑪派艾莉亞給他們倒酒∩采溃“沒倒酒時(shí)醋寝，你必須站得跟石像一樣搞挣，”慈祥的人告訴她，“能做到嗎甥桂？”

The waif and kindly man were not the only servants of the Many-Faced God. From time to time others would visit the House of Black and White. The fat fellow had fierce black eyes, a hook nose, and a wide mouth full of yellow teeth. The stern face never smiled; his eyes were pale, his lips full and dark. The handsome man had a beard of a different color every time she saw him, and a different nose, but he was never less than comely. Those three came most often, but there were others: the squinter, the lordling, the starved man. One time the fat fellow and the squinter came together. Umma sent Arya to pour for them. “When you are not pouring, you must stand as still as if you had been carved of stone,” the kindly man told her. “Can you do that?”

“能柿究。”習(xí)動(dòng)先習(xí)靜黄选，西里歐·佛瑞爾很久以前在君臨城教導(dǎo)她，這也成為了她的信條之一婶肩。她曾在赫倫堡當(dāng)過盧斯·波頓的侍酒办陷，要是把他的酒灑了，他會(huì)剝你的皮律歼。

“Yes.” Before you can learn to move you must learn to be still, Syrio Forel had taught her long ago at King’s Landing, and she had. She had served as Roose Bolton’s cupbearer at Harrenhal, and he would flay you if you spilled his wine.

“好民镜，”慈祥的人說，“你還是瞎子和聾子险毁。你也許會(huì)聽到一些事制圈，但必須一只耳朵進(jìn)一只耳朵出。不能聽進(jìn)去畔况【校”

“Good,” the kindly man said. “It would be best if you were blind and deaf as well. You may hear things, but you must let them pass in one ear and out the other. Do not listen.”

艾莉亞那天晚上聽到許多對(duì)話，大多是布拉佛斯語跷跪，她能理解的連十分之一都不到馋嗜。不動(dòng)如石，她告訴自己吵瞻，于是最難的部分成了竭力遏制打哈欠葛菇。晚餐還沒結(jié)束，她便開始精神恍惚橡羞。她手捧酒壺眯停，夢到自己是一頭狼，在月光下的森林里自由奔馳卿泽，身后跟著的龐大狼群發(fā)出陣陣嗥叫莺债。

Arya heard much and more that night, but almost all of it was in the tongue of Braavos, and she hardly understood one word in ten. Still as stone, she told herself. The hardest part was struggling not to yawn. Before the night was done, her wits were wandering. Standing there with the flagon in her hands, she dreamed she was a wolf, running free through a moonlit forest with a great pack howling at her heels.

“其他人也是牧師嗎？”第二天早晨她問慈祥的人又厉，“他們都以真面目示人嗎九府？”

“Are the other men all priests?” she asked the kindly man the next morning. “Were those their real faces?”

“你怎么想，孩子覆致？”

“What do you think, child?”

她認(rèn)為不是侄旬。“賈昆·赫加爾是牧師嗎煌妈？賈昆會(huì)不會(huì)回布拉佛斯儡羔？”

She thought no. “Is Jaqen H’ghar a priest too? Do you know if Jaqen will be coming back to Braavos?”

“誰宣羊？”他完全一無所知。

“Who?” he said, all innocence.

“賈昆·赫加爾汰蜘。他給了我那枚鐵幣仇冯。”

“Jaqen H’ghar. He gave me the iron coin.”

“我不認(rèn)識(shí)叫這個(gè)名字的人族操，孩子苛坚。”

“I know no one by this name, child.”

“我問他怎么變臉色难，他說跟換名字一樣簡單泼舱，只要你了解方法〖侠颍”

“I asked him how he changed his face, and he said it was no harder than taking a new name, if you knew the way.”

“是嗎娇昙？”

“Did he?”

“你能不能教我變臉？”

“Will you show me how to change my face?”

“沒問題笤妙∶罢疲”他說著托起她的下巴，將她的頭轉(zhuǎn)過來蹲盘」珊粒“鼓起腮幫子，伸出舌頭辜限』始穑”

“If you wish.” He cupped her chin in his hand and turned her head. “Puff up your cheeks and stick out your tongue.”

艾莉亞鼓起腮幫子，伸出舌頭薄嫡。

Arya puffed up her cheeks and stuck out her tongue.

“好氧急。你變臉了『辽睿”

“There. Your face is changed.”

“我不是這個(gè)意思吩坝。賈昆用了魔法⊙颇瑁”

“That’s not how I meant. Jaqen used magic.”

“巫術(shù)都是有代價(jià)的钉寝，孩子。獲取真正的魔力需要多年的祈禱闸迷、奉獻(xiàn)和學(xué)習(xí)嵌纲。”

“All sorcery comes at a cost, child. Years of prayer and sacrifice and study are required to work a proper glamor.”

“多年腥沽？”她沮喪地說逮走。

“Years?” she said, dismayed.

“若是容易的話，任何人都能做到今阳。對(duì)你而言师溅，奔跑之前先學(xué)走路茅信，在戲子的把戲就能達(dá)到目的的場合，何必求助魔法墓臭？”

“If it were easy all men would do it. You must walk before you run. Why use a spell, where mummer’s tricks will serve?”

“我連戲子的把戲都不會(huì)蘸鲸。”

“I don’t know any mummer’s tricks either.”

“從扮鬼臉開始練習(xí)窿锉。皮膚下面是肌肉酌摇。學(xué)著運(yùn)用它們。你的臉長在你身上嗡载。臉頰妙痹，嘴唇，耳朵鼻疮。微笑和憤怒不該像風(fēng)暴一樣忽去忽來。笑容應(yīng)是仆人琳轿，當(dāng)你召喚時(shí)才出現(xiàn)判沟。學(xué)習(xí)控制你的臉。

“Then practice making faces. Beneath your skin are muscles. Learn to use them. It is your face. Your cheeks, your lips, your ears. Smiles and scowls should not come upon you like sudden squalls. A smile should be a servant, and come only when you call it. Learn to rule your face.”

“教我怎樣做崭篡∨埠澹”

“Show me how.”

“鼓起臉頰×鹕粒”她鼓起臉頰迹炼。“抬起眉毛颠毙。不斯入，再高點(diǎn)≈郏”她又抬起眉毛刻两。“好滴某“跄。看你能保持多久。現(xiàn)在還長不了霎奢。明天早上再試户誓。地窖里有塊密爾鏡子。每天在它面前練習(xí)一小時(shí)幕侠。眼睛帝美，鼻孔，臉頰橙依，耳朵证舟，嘴唇硕旗，學(xué)習(xí)控制所有這一切∨穑”他托起她下巴漆枚。“你是誰抵知？”

“Puff up your cheeks.” She did. “Lift your eyebrows. No, higher.” She did that too. “Good. See how long you can hold that. It will not be long. Try it again on the morrow. You will find a Myrish mirror in the vaults. Train before it for an hour every day. Eyes, nostrils, cheeks, ears, lips, learn to rule them all.” He cupped her chin. “Who are you?”

“無名之輩墙基。”

“No one.”

“謊言刷喜〔兄疲可悲的謊言，孩子掖疮〕醪瑁”

“A lie. A sad little lie, child.”

第二天她找到那塊密爾鏡子，然后每天早晚都坐在它面前扮鬼臉浊闪，兩邊各點(diǎn)上一支蠟燭照明恼布。控制你的臉搁宾，她告訴自己折汞，你就能撒謊。

She found the Myrish mirror the next day, and every morn and every night she sat before it with a candle on each side of her, making faces. Rule your face, she told herself, and you can lie.

此后不久盖腿，慈祥的人命她去幫侍僧處理尸體爽待。其實(shí)這比替威斯擦樓梯輕松多了：有的尸體肥胖高大，她鉚足勁才搬得動(dòng)翩腐，然而大多數(shù)死者都是皮包骨頭鸟款，干干瘦瘦的老人。艾莉亞一邊清洗栗菜，一邊觀察欠雌，琢磨著他們?yōu)楹螘?huì)來到黑水池邊。她還記得老奶媽講的一個(gè)故事疙筹，故事里說富俄，在某個(gè)漫長的冬季，一群活得太久的人宣布自己要去打獵而咆。他們的女兒嗚咽哭泣霍比，他們的兒子將臉轉(zhuǎn)向火堆，她仿佛仍能聽到老奶媽的聲音暴备，但沒人阻攔悠瞬，也沒人詢問他們打算在這深深的積雪和呼號(hào)的寒風(fēng)中捕什么獵。她不知這些布拉佛斯老人在前往黑白之院前是如何跟子女們說的。

Soon thereafter the kindly man commanded her to help the other acolytes prepare the corpses. The work was not near as hard as scrubbing steps for Weese. Sometimes if the corpse was big or fat she would struggle with the weight, but most of the dead were old dry bones in wrinkled skins. Arya would look at them as she washed them, wondering what brought them to the black pool. She remembered a tale she had heard from Old Nan, about how sometimes during a long winter men who’d lived beyond their years would announce that they were going hunting. And their daughters would weep and their sons would turn their faces to the fire, she could hear Old Nan saying, but no one would stop them, or ask what game they meant to hunt, with the snows so deep and the cold wind howling. She wondered what the old Braavosi told their sons and daughters, before they set off for the House of Black and White.

月亮一輪又一輪地變換形狀浅妆，但艾莉亞完全看不到望迎。她在黑白之院中侍奉，清洗死者凌外，學(xué)習(xí)布拉佛斯語辩尊，就著鏡子扮鬼臉，試圖記住自己是無名之輩康辑。

The moon turned and turned again, though Arya never saw it. She served, washed the dead, made faces at the mirrors, learned the Braavosi tongue, and tried to remember that she was no one.

有一天摄欲，慈祥的人傳喚她〈保“你的口音太糟糕胸墙，”他說，“但積累的詞匯已勉強(qiáng)能讓別人明白意思按咒。該是讓你暫時(shí)離開我們的時(shí)候了迟隅。要想真正掌握我們的語言，只有每天從早到晚地講励七，不停地講玻淑。你走吧⊙交铮”

One day the kindly man sent for her. “Your accent is a horror,” he said, “but you have enough words to make your wants understood after a fashion. It is time that you left us for a while. The only way you will ever truly master our tongue is if you speak it every day from dawn to dusk. You must go.”

“什么時(shí)候？”她問他添坊，“去哪兒剿另？”

“When?” she asked him. “Where?”

“現(xiàn)在，”他回答贬蛙，“去神廟之外雨女。布拉佛斯是海中的上百島嶼，你已經(jīng)學(xué)會(huì)怎么說蚌殼阳准、扇貝氛堕、蛤蜊，對(duì)不對(duì)野蝇？”

“Now,” he answered. “Beyond these walls you will find the hundred isles of Braavos in the sea. You have been taught the words for mussels, cockles, and clams, have you not?”

“對(duì)讼稚。”她用自己最好的布拉佛斯語重復(fù)了一遍這些名詞绕沈。

“Yes.” She repeated them, in her best Braavosi.

她最好的布拉佛斯語讓他露出笑容锐想。“行了乍狐。去水淹鎮(zhèn)下面的碼頭赠摇，找一個(gè)叫布魯斯科的魚販，他是個(gè)好人，可惜背不大好使藕帜，他需要一個(gè)女孩烫罩，推著他的小車售賣蚌殼、扇貝和蛤蜊給船上下來的水手洽故。你就是那個(gè)女孩贝攒。明白嗎？”

Her best Braavosi made him smile. “It will serve. Along the wharves below the Drowned Town you will find a fishmonger named Brusco, a good man with a bad back. He has need of a girl to push his barrow and sell his cockles, clams, and mussels to the sailors off the ships. You shall be that girl. Do you understand?”

“明白收津《稣猓”

“Yes.”

“假如布魯斯科問起你，你是誰撞秋？”

“And when Brusco asks, who are you?”

“無名之輩长捧。”

“No one.”

“不吻贿。那不行串结，在黑白之院外不行【肆校”

“No. That will not serve, outside this House.”

她猶豫片刻肌割。“我是阿鹽帐要，來自鹽場鎮(zhèn)把敞。”

She hesitated. “I could be Salty, from Saltpans.”

“特尼西奧·特里斯和泰坦之女號(hào)上的人們認(rèn)識(shí)阿鹽榨惠。你的口音很特別奋早，因此肯定來自維斯特洛……但我想應(yīng)該是另一個(gè)女孩≡龋”

“Salty is known to Ternesio Terys and the men of the Titan’s Daughter. You are marked by the way you speak, so you must be some girl of Westeros … but a different girl, I think.”

她咬緊嘴唇耽装，“可以叫我凱特嗎？也就是‘貓兒’期揪？”

She bit her lip. “Could I be Cat?”

“凱特掉奄。貓兒》镅Γ”他考慮了一會(huì)兒姓建。“好缤苫。布拉佛斯到處是貓引瀑。多一只也不會(huì)引人注目。你就是貓兒榨馁，一個(gè)孤兒憨栽，來自……”

“Cat.” He considered. “Yes. Braavos is full of cats. One more will not be noticed. You are Cat, an orphan of …”

“君臨。”她曾隨父親兩次造訪白港屑柔，但更熟悉君臨屡萤。

“King’s Landing.” She had visited White Harbor with her father twice, but she knew King’s Landing better.

“就是這樣。你父親是一艘劃槳船上的槳手長掸宛。你母親死后死陆，他帶你一起出海，接著他也死了唧瘾，船長覺得你沒用措译，就在布拉佛斯把你趕下了船。那艘船叫什么名字饰序？”

“Just so. Your father was oarmaster on a galley. When your mother died, he took you off to sea with him. Then he died as well, and his captain had no use for you, so he put you off the ship in Braavos. And what was the name of the ship?”

“娜梅莉亞领虹。”她立刻接道求豫。

“Nymeria,” she said at once.

當(dāng)晚塌衰，她便離開了黑白之院，右腰插著一把長長的鐵匕首蝠嘉，隱藏在斗篷下面最疆，那是一件打過補(bǔ)丁，又褪了色的斗篷蚤告，適合孤兒穿努酸。她的鞋子夾腳，漏風(fēng)的上衣破舊不堪杜恰，但想到展現(xiàn)在眼前的布拉佛斯蚊逢，一切都無所謂了。夜晚的空氣中有煙塵箫章、鹽和魚的味道，運(yùn)河曲折蜿蜒镜会，街巷更加離奇檬寂，人們好奇地看著她經(jīng)過，乞兒們朝她叫喊戳表。她聽不懂桶至，完全迷了路。

That night she left the House of Black and White. A long iron knife rode on her right hip, hidden by her cloak, a patched and faded thing of the sort an orphan might wear. Her shoes pinched her toes and her tunic was so threadbare that the wind cut right through it. But Braavos lay before her. The night air smelled of smoke and salt and fish. The canals were crooked, the alleys crookeder. Men gave her curious looks as she went past, and beggar children called out words she could not understand. Before long she was completely lost.

“格雷果爵士匾旭，”她一邊念誦镣屹，一邊踏上四拱石橋。在橋中央价涝，她看到舊衣販碼頭的船桅女蜈。“鄧森，‘甜嘴’拉夫伪窖，伊林爵士逸寓，馬林爵士，瑟曦太后覆山≈裆欤”雨水嘩啦啦地下，艾莉亞仰頭望天簇宽，讓雨點(diǎn)落在臉頰上勋篓，猶如愉快的舞蹈∥焊睿“Valar morghulis.”她說譬嚣，“Valar morghulis，Valar morghulis.”

“Ser Gregor,” she chanted, as she crossed a stone bridge supported by four arches. From the center of its span she could see the masts of ships in the Ragman’s Harbor. “Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, Queen Cersei.” Rain began to fall. Arya turned her face up to let the raindrops wash her cheeks, so happy she could dance. “Valar morghulis,” she said, “valar morghulis, valar morghulis.”