PROLOGUE¹ 序曲

We should start back, Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. The wildlings are dead. 既然野人已经死了，眼看周围的树林逐渐黯淡，盖瑞不禁催促，咱们回头吧。

Do the dead frighten you? Ser Waymar Royce asked with just the hint² of a smile. 死人吓着你了吗？威玛·罗伊斯爵士带着轻浅的笑意问。

Gared did not rise to the bait. He was an old man, past fifty, and he had seen the lordlings come and go. 盖瑞并未中激将之计，年过五十的他也算得上是个老人，这辈子看过太多贵族子弟来来去去。

Dead is dead, he said. We have no business with the dead. 死了就是死了，他说，咱们何必追寻死人。

Are they dead? Royce asked softly. What proof have we? 你能确定他们真死了？罗伊斯轻声问，证据何在？

Will saw them, Gared said. If he says they are dead, that's proof enough for me. 威尔看到了，盖瑞道，我相信他说的话。

Will had known they would drag him into the quarrel sooner or later. He wished it had been later rather than sooner. 威尔料到他们早晚会把自己卷入这场争执，只是没想到这么快。

My mother told me that dead men sing no songs, he put in. 我娘说过，死人没戏可唱。他插嘴道。

My wet nurse said the same thing, Will, Royce replied. 威尔，我奶妈也说过这话，

Never believe anything you hear at a woman's tit. There are things to be learned even from the dead. 罗伊斯回答：千万别相信你在女人怀里听到的东西。就算人是死了，也能让我们了解很多东西。

His voice echoed, too loud in the twilit forest. 他的余音在暮色昏暝的森林里回荡，似乎吵闹了点。

We have a long ride before us, Gared pointed³ out. Eight days, maybe nine. And night is falling. 回去的路还长着呢，盖瑞指出，少不了走个八九天，况且天色渐渐暗下来了。

Ser Waymar Royce glanced at the sky with disinterest. 威玛·罗伊斯爵士意兴阑珊地扫视天际。

It does that every day about this time. Are you unmanned by the dark, Gared? 每天这时候不都如此？盖瑞，你该不会怕黑吧？