A half-seen finger of rock came rushing up out of the gloom, snarling foam, and Davos barely kept them off it with an oar.

一块礁石如忽隐忽现的手指，在阴沉的暗流中浮现，白沫纠结，然而戴佛斯用桨灵巧一拨，避开了危机。

Then they were past, engulfed in darkness, and the waters smoothed.

然后他们便进了洞，被黑暗所吞没，连流水也沉静。

The little boat slowed and swirled.

小船慢下来，缓缓打转。

The sound of their breathing echoed until it seemed to surround them.

他们的呼吸声在洞中回荡，直到将他们完全包围。

Davos had not expected the blackness.

戴佛斯没想到这么黑。

The last time, torches had burned all along the tunnel,

上次来时，整个隧道插满燃烧的火把，

and the eyes of starving men had peered down through the murder holes in the ceiling.

饥饿的人们从顶上的杀人洞目不转睛地瞅着下面。

The portcullis was somewhere ahead, he knew.

他记得，闸门就在前方某处，

Davos used the oars to slow them, and they drifted against it almost gently.

于是用桨放慢船速，桨边的水流出奇地温柔。

"This is as far as we go, unless you have a man inside to lift the gate for us."

“除非您有内应开门，否则我们只能到这儿了。”

His whispers scurried across the lapping water like a line of mice on soft pink feet.

他的低语声在水面掠过，划开一波纹路，犹如一只幼鼠伸出粉红色的小脚，在水中疾步奔跑。

"Have we passed within the walls?"

“我们已在墙内了吗？”

"Yes. Beneath. But we can go no farther.

“是的。我们在城堡下方，但无法继续前进。

The portcullis goes all the way to the bottom.

前方的闸门从天顶一直插到水底，

And the bars are too closely spaced for even a child to squeeze through."

门上的铁条十分紧密，就连小孩子也挤不过。”

There was no answer but a soft rustling.

没有回答，只有一阵轻柔的瑟瑟声。

And then a light bloomed amidst the darkness.

突然之间，黑暗中出现了一道光芒。

Davos raised a hand to shield his eyes, and his breath caught in his throat.

戴佛斯伸手遮眼，喘不过气。

Melisandre had thrown back her cowl and shrugged out of the smothering robe.

梅丽珊卓掀开兜帽，抖掉一身紧密的斗篷。

Beneath, she was naked, and huge with child.

原来她什么也没有穿，由于怀了孩子，肚腹鼓胀。

Swollen breasts hung heavy against her chest, and her belly bulged as if near to bursting.

肿胀的乳房沉甸甸地悬在胸前，肚子大得像要爆裂。

"Gods preserve us,"

“诸神保佑，”

he whispered, and heard her answering laugh, deep and throaty.

他呢喃道，随即听到她浅笑着回应，声音低沉而沙哑。

Her eyes were hot coals, and the sweat that dappled her skin seemed to glow with a light of its own.

她的眼睛如火红的煤炭，皮肤上斑斑点点的汗珠好似能自我发光。

Melisandre shone.

哦，整个梅丽珊卓通体放光。

Panting, she squatted and spread her legs.

她喘着粗气，蹲下来，分开双腿。

Blood ran down her thighs, black as ink.

血液不住从她股间涌出，却黑如墨汁。

Her cry might have been agony or ecstasy or both.

她哭喊，说不出是痛苦还是狂热，又或兼而有之。

And Davos saw the crown of the child's head push its way out of her.

不一会儿，戴佛斯看见戴王冠的小孩头颅自她体内挣扎挤出，

Two arms wriggled free, grasping, black fingers coiling around Melisandre's straining thighs, pushing,

接着是两只手，它们扭动、抓握，黑色的手指紧紧攫住梅丽珊卓血流不止的大腿，推，推，

until the whole of the shadow slid out into the world and rose taller than Davos, tall as the tunnel, towering above the boat.

直到整个影子都进入到这个世界。他站起来，比戴佛斯还高，几乎触到隧道的顶部，好似小船上的一座巨塔。

He had only an instant to look at it before it was gone,

在他离开之前，戴佛斯只来得及看上一眼——

twisting between the bars of the portcullis and racing across the surface of the water, but that instant was long enough.

阴影从闸门的铁条间穿出，朝前方的水面飞奔而去——然而这一眼，对他来说，已经绰绰有余。

He knew that shadow.

他认得这影子，

As he knew the man who'd cast it.

认得映出影子的那个人。