The wildfire oozed slowly toward the lip of the jar when Tyrion tilted it to peer inside. The color would be a murky green, he knew, but the poor light made that impossible to confirm. "Thick," he observed.
提利昂稍微倾斜罐子,“野火”溶剂缓缓地向瓶口流动。他知道液体应呈浑浊的绿色,但光线太暗,此刻无法确定。“很稠,”他评论道。
"That is from the cold, my lord," said Hallyne, a pallid man with soft damp hands and an obsequious manner. He was dressed in striped black-and-scarlet robes trimmed with sable, but the fur looked more than a little patchy and moth-eaten. "As it warms, the substance will flow more easily, like lamp oil."
“大人,这是因为地底的冷气,”哈林说。他是个脸色苍白的人,一双手又软又湿,态度极为谄媚。他穿着镶貂皮边的黑红条纹长袍,可毛皮看来有点稀疏,似乎还被蛾啃过。“温度升高之后,这种物质便会顺畅流动,就像灯油。”
The substance was the pyromancers' own term for wildfire. They called each other wisdom as well, which Tyrion found almost as annoying as their custom of hinting at the vast secret stores of knowledge that they wanted him to think they possessed. Once theirs had been a powerful guild, but in recent centuries the maesters of the Citadel had supplanted the alchemists almost everywhere. Now only a few of the older order remained, and they no longer even pretended to transmute metals…
“这种物质”,是火术士对野火的称呼。他们彼此间以“智者”相称,他们也习惯不断暗示自己学识广博,希望别人认为他们是饱学之士,这令提利昂十分不耐。的确,他们的公会曾盛极一时,但在最近几个世纪,学城的学士已经渐渐取代了各地的练金术士。如今这个古老组织的成员寥寥无几,也不再伪称有方子炼化金属……
…but they could make wildfire. "Water will not quench it, I am told."
……但他们确能制造野火。“听说,这东西水浇不熄?”
"That is so. Once it takes fire, the substance will burn fiercely until it is no more. More, it will seep into cloth, wood, leather, even steel, so they take fire as well."
我们只在夜间行动“正是。一旦着火,这种物质便会剧烈燃烧,直至燃尽。而且,它会渗进布料、木材、皮革、甚至钢铁,并使它们也着火。”