CHAPTER 36

Arya unsheathed Needle. “This is good steel, so it’s realer than yours.”  The Bull shook his head. “Promise not to cry if I cut you?”  “I’ll promise if you will.” She turned sideways, into her water dancer’s stance, but the Bull did not move. He was looking at something behind her. “What’s wrong?”  “Gold cloaks.” His face closed up tight.  It couldn’t be, Arya thought, but when she glanced back, they were riding up the kingsroad, six in the black ringmail and golden cloaks of the City Watch. One was an officer; he wore a black enamel² breastplate ornamented³ with four golden disks. They drew up in front of the inn.  Look with your eyes, Syrio’s voice seemed to whisper. Her eyes saw white lather⁴ under their saddles; the horses had been ridden long and hard. Calm as still water, she took the Bull by the arm and drew him back behind a tall flowering hedge.  “What is it?” he asked. “What are you doing? Let go.”  “Quiet as a shadow,” she whispered, pulling him down.  Some of Yoren’s other charges were sitting in front of the bathhouse, waiting their turn at a tub. “You men,” one of the gold cloaks shouted. “You the ones left to take the black?”  “We might be,” came the cautious answer.  “We’d rather join you boys,” old Reysen said. “We hear it’s cold on that Wall.”  The gold cloak officer dismounted. “I have a warrant for a certain boy-”  Yoren stepped out of the inn, fingering his tangled⁵ black beard. “Who is it wants this boy?”  The other gold cloaks were dismounting to stand beside their horses. “Why are we hiding?” the Bull whispered.  “It’s me they want,” Arya whispered back. His ear smelled of soap. “You be quiet.”  “The queen wants him, old man, not that it’s your concern,” the officer said, drawing a ribbon from his belt. “Here, Her Grace’s seal and warrant.”  Behind the hedge, the Bull shook his head doubtfully. “Why would the queen want you, Arry?”  She punched his shoulder. “Be quiet!”   Yoren fingered the warrant ribbon with its blob of golden wax. “Pretty.” He spit. “Thing is, the boy’s in the Night’s Watch now. What he done back in the city don’t mean piss-all.”  “The queen’s not interested in your views, old man, and neither am I,” the officer said. “I’ll have the boy.”  Arya thought about running, but she knew she wouldn’t get far on her donkey when the gold cloaks had horses. And she was so tired of running. She’d run when Ser Meryn came for her, and again when they killed her father. If she was a real water dancer, she would go out there with Needle and kill all of them, and never run from anyone ever again.  “You’ll have no one,” Yoren said stubbornly. “There’s laws on such things.”  The gold cloak drew a shortsword. “Here’s your law.”  Yoren looked at the blade. “That’s no law, just a sword. Happens I got one too.”  The officer smiled. “Old fool. I have five men with me.”  Yoren spat⁶. “Happens I got thirty.”  The gold cloak laughed. “This lot?” said a big lout⁷ with a broken nose. “Who’s first?” he shouted, showing his steel.  Tarber plucked a pitchfork out of a bale of hay. “I am.”  “No, I am,” called Cutjack, the plump stonemason, pulling his hammer off the leather apron⁸ he always wore.  “Me.” Kurz came up off the ground with his skinning knife in hand.  “Me and him.” Koss strung his longbow.  “All of us,” said Reysen, snatching up the tall hardwood walking staff he carried.  Dobber stepped naked out of the bathhouse with his clothes in a bundle, saw what was happening, and dropped everything but his dagger⁹. “Is it a fight?” he asked.  “I guess,” said Hot Pie, scrambling¹⁰ on all fours for a big rock to throw. Arya could not believe what she was seeing. She hated Hot Pie! Why would he risk himself for her?  The one with the broken nose still thought it was funny. “You girls put away them rocks and sticks before you get spanked¹¹. None of you knows what end of a sword to hold.”  “I do!” Arya wouldn’t let them die for her like Syrio. She wouldn’t! Shoving through the hedge with Needle in hand, she slid into a water dancer’s stance.  Broken Nose guffawed¹². The officer looked her up and down. “Put the blade away, little girl, no one wants to hurt you.”  “I’m not a girl!” she yelled, furious. What was wrong with them? They rode all this way for her and here she was and they were just smiling at her. “I’m the one you want.”  “He’s the one we want.” The officer jabbed his shortsword toward the Bull, who’d come forward to stand beside her, Praed’s cheap steel in his hand.  But it was a mistake to take his eyes off Yoren, even for an instant. Quick as that, the black brother’s sword was pressed to the apple of the officer’s throat. “Neither’s the one you get, less you want me to see if your apple’s ripe yet. I got me ten, fifteen more brothers in that inn, if you still need convincing. I was you, I’d let loose of that gutcutter, spread my cheeks over that fat  little horse, and gallop¹³ on back to the city.” He spat, and poked¹⁴ harder with the point of his sword. “Now.”  The officer’s fingers uncurled. His sword fell in the dust.  “We’ll just keep that,” Yoren said. “Good steel’s always needed on the Wall.”  “As you say. For now. Men.” The gold cloaks sheathed¹ and mounted up. “You’d best scamper¹⁵ up to that Wall of yours in a hurry, old man.  The next time I catch you, I believe I’ll have your head to go with the bastard¹⁶ boy’s.”  “Better men than you have tried.” Yoren slapped the rump of the officer’s horse with the flat of his sword and sent him reeling off down the kingsroad. His men followed.  When they were out of sight, Hot Pie began to whoop¹⁷, but Yoren looked angrier than ever. “Fool! You think he’s done with us? Next time he won’t prance¹⁸ up and hand me no damn ribbon. Get the rest out o’ them baths, we need to be moving. Ride all night, maybe we can stay ahead o’ them for a bit.” He scooped¹⁹ up the shortsword the officer had dropped. “Who wants this?”  “Me!” Hot Pie yelled.

1 sheathed   

adj.雕塑像下半身包在鞘中的；覆盖的；铠装的；装鞘了的v.将（刀、剑等）插入鞘( sheathe的过去式和过去分词 )；包，覆盖

参考例句：

• Bulletproof cars sheathed in armour. 防弹车护有装甲。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The effect of his mediation was so great that both parties sheathed the sword at once. 他的调停非常有效，双方立刻停战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 enamel   

n.珐琅，搪瓷，瓷釉；(牙齿的)珐琅质

参考例句：

• I chipped the enamel on my front tooth when I fell over.我跌倒时门牙的珐琅质碰碎了。
• He collected coloured enamel bowls from Yugoslavia.他藏有来自南斯拉夫的彩色搪瓷碗。

3 ornamented   

adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The desk was ornamented with many carvings. 这桌子装饰有很多雕刻物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She ornamented her dress with lace. 她用花边装饰衣服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 lather   

n.(肥皂水的)泡沫，激动

参考例句：

• Soap will not lather in sea-water.肥皂在海水里不起泡沫。
• He always gets in a lather when he has an argument with his wife.当他与妻子发生争论时他总是很激动。

5 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

6 spat   

n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声

参考例句：

• Her parents always have spats.她的父母经常有些小的口角。
• There is only a spat between the brother and sister.那只是兄妹间的小吵小闹。

7 lout   

n.粗鄙的人；举止粗鲁的人

参考例句：

• He's just an ill-bred lout.他是个缺乏教养的乡巴佬。
• He had no training, no skills and he was just a big, bungling,useless lout!什么也不行，什么也不会，自己只是个傻大黑粗的废物！

8 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。

9 dagger   

n.匕首，短剑，剑号

参考例句：

• The bad news is a dagger to his heart.这条坏消息刺痛了他的心。
• The murderer thrust a dagger into her heart.凶手将匕首刺进她的心脏。

10 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 spanked   

v.用手掌打( spank的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• We spanked along in his new car. 我们坐在他的新车里兜风。 来自辞典例句
• The nurse spanked the naughty child. 保育员打了一下那个淘气的孩子的屁股。 来自辞典例句

12 guffawed   

v.大笑，狂笑( guffaw的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They all guffawed at his jokes. 他们听了他的笑话都一阵狂笑。
• Hung-chien guffawed and said, "I deserve a scolding for that! 鸿渐哈哈大笑道：“我是该骂！ 来自汉英文学 - 围城

13 gallop   

v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展

参考例句：

• They are coming at a gallop towards us.他们正朝着我们飞跑过来。
• The horse slowed to a walk after its long gallop.那匹马跑了一大阵后慢下来缓步而行。

14 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 scamper   

v.奔跑，快跑

参考例句：

• She loves to scamper through the woods of the forest.她喜欢在森林里的树林中穿梭嬉戏。
• The flash sent the foxes scampering away.闪光惊得狐狸四处逃窜。

16 bastard   

n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子

参考例句：

• He was never concerned about being born a bastard.他从不介意自己是私生子。
• There was supposed to be no way to get at the bastard.据说没有办法买通那个混蛋。

17 whoop   

n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息

参考例句：

• He gave a whoop of joy when he saw his new bicycle.他看到自己的新自行车时，高兴得叫了起来。
• Everybody is planning to whoop it up this weekend.大家都打算在这个周末好好欢闹一番。

18 prance   

v.（马）腾跃，(人)神气活现地走

参考例句：

• Their horses pranced and whinnied.他们的马奔腾着、嘶鸣着。
• He was horrified at the thought of his son prancing about on a stage in tights.一想到儿子身穿紧身衣在舞台上神气活现地走来走去，他就感到震惊。

19 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》