The young knight turned back to his grizzled man-at-arms. Frost-fallen leaves whispered past them, and Royce’s destrier moved restlessly . “What do you think might have killed these men, Gared?” SerWaymar asked casually. He adjusted the drape of his long sable cloak.
“It was the cold,” Gared said with iron certainty. “I saw men freeze last winter, and the one before, when I was half a boy. Everyone talks about snows forty foot deep, and how the ice wind comes howling out of the north, but the real enemy is the cold. It steals up on you quieter than Will, and at first you shiver and your teeth chatter and you stamp your feet and dream of mulled wine and nice hot fires. It burns, it does. Nothing burns like the cold. But only for a while. Then it gets inside you and starts to fill you up, and after a while you don’t have the strength to fight it. It’s easier just to sit down or go to sleep. They say you don’t feel any pain toward the end. First you go weak and drowsy, and everything starts to fade, and then it’s like sinking into a sea of warm milk. Peaceful, like.”
“Such eloquence, Gared,” Ser Waymar observed. “I never suspected you had it in you.”
“I’ve had the cold in me too, lordling.” Gared pulled back his hood, giving Ser Waymar a good long look at the stumps where his ears had been. “Two ears, three toes, and the little finger off my left hand. I got off light. We found my brother frozen at his watch, with a smile on his face.”
Ser Waymar shrugged. “You ought dress more warmly, Gared.”
Gared glared at the lordling, the scars around his ear holes flushed red with anger where Maester Aemon had cut the ears away. “We’ll see how warm you can dress when the winter comes.” He pulled up his hood and hunched over his garron, silent and sullen.
Grizzled 頭髮斑白的
Restlessly 不安地
Drape 褶襉
Mulled 加糖的
Drowsy 昏昏欲睡的
Eloquence 口才
Stump 殘餘部分
Sullen 慍怒的
年輕騎士轉頭面對灰髮老兵。結霜的落葉在他們耳邊低語飄零，羅伊斯的戰馬侷促不安。"蓋瑞，你覺得是誰殺了這些人？"威瑪爵士隨口問，順手整了整貂皮長袍的褶襉。
"是這該死的天氣，"蓋瑞斬釘截鐵地說，"上個嚴冬，我親眼見人活活凍死，再之前那次也看過，當時我還是個孩子。人人都說當時積雪深達四十尺，北風冷得跟玄冰似的，但真正要命的卻是低溫。它會無聲無息地逮住你，比威爾還安靜，起初你會發抖、牙齒打顫、兩腿一伸，夢見滾燙的酒，溫暖的營火。很燙人，是的，再也沒什麼像寒冷一樣燙人了。但只消一會兒，它便會鑽進你體內，填滿你的身體，過不了多久你就沒力氣抵抗，渴望坐下休息或小睡片刻，據說到最後完全不覺痛苦。你只是渾身無力，昏昏欲睡，然後一切漸漸消逝，最後，就像淹沒在熱牛奶裡一樣，安詳而恬靜。"
"我看你蠻有詩意嘛，"威瑪爵士下了評論，"沒想到你還有這方面的天分。"
"大人，我親身體驗過嚴寒的威力，"蓋瑞往後拉開他的兜帽，好讓威瑪爵士看清楚他耳朵凍掉之後剩下的肉團。"兩隻耳朵，三根腳指，還有左手的小指，我這算是輕傷了。我大哥當年就是站崗的時候活活凍死的，等我們找到他，他臉上卻還掛著笑意。"
威瑪爵士聳肩道："我說蓋瑞，你該多穿兩件衣服。"
蓋瑞怒視著他的年輕長官，氣得耳根發紅。當年伊蒙學士把他壞死的耳朵割去，如今耳洞旁還留著傷疤。"等冬天真正來臨時，看你能穿得多暖。"他拉起兜帽，縮著身子騎上馬，陰沉地不再吭聲。
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