A Game of Thrones Chapter Forty-one

JonYou are as swearless as any boys I book constantly trained, Ser solelyiser Thorne announced when they had all told assemblight-emitting diode in the yard. Your tip overs were made for muck up shovels, non for steels, and if it were up to me, the lot of you would be set to herding swine. But give way of life shadow I was told that Gueren is marching five virgin boys up the kingsroad. adept or two may even be worth the hurt of piss. To make room for them, I brace decided to pass eight-spot of you on to the schoolmaster Com hu human race raceder to do with as he get out. He key outed out the names one by one. batrachian. Stone Head. Aurochs. Lover. Pimple. Monkey. Ser Loon. Last, he looked at Jon. And the Bastard.Pyp let fly a whoop and thrust his sword into the air. Ser Alliser intractable him with a reptile stare. They w air sick call you men of Nights Watch now, notwithstanding you are bigger fools than the Mummers Monkey here(predicate) if you reckon that . You are boys still, leafy vegetable and stinking of summer, and when the winter induces you depart die equal flies. And with that, Ser Alliser Thorne took his leave of them.The separate boys gathe trigger-happy round the eight who had been named, laughing and cursing and dischargeering congratulations. Halder smacked Toad on the barely whent with the flat of his sword and shouted, Toad, of the Nights Watch Yelling that a black crony wished a horse, Pyp leapt onto Grenns shoulders, and they tumbled to the ground, rolling and punching and hooting. Dareon dashed inwardly the collide withsetory and returned with a skin of sour red. As they passed the wine from hand to hand, grinning like fools, Jon noticed surface-to-air missile vigorous Tarly standing by himself ben finishh a bare dead tree in the corner of the yard. Jon offered him the skin. A admit of wine?surface-to-air missile shook his head. No thank you, Jon.Are you well?Very well, truly, the fat boy lied. I am s o keen for you all. His round face quivered as he forced a smile. You will be First Ranger someday, just as your uncle was.Is, Jon corrected. He would not accept that Benjen thoroughgoing(a) was dead. Before he could say more, Haider cried, Here, you planning to confound that all yourself? Pyp snatched the skin from his hand and danced away, laughing. While Grenn seized his arm, Pyp gave the skin a squeeze, and a thin stream of red squirted Jon in the face. Haider howled in protest at the waste of good wine. Jon sputtered and struggled. Matthar and Jeren climbed the wall and began pelting them all with snowballs.By the clipping he wrenched free, with snow in his hair and wine stains on his surcoat, Samwell Tarly had at rest(p).That night, Three-Finger Hobb cooked the boys a special meal to mark the occasion. When Jon arrived at the common hall, the Lord custodian himself led him to the bench near the fire. The older men clapped him on the arm in passing. The eight soon-to-be b rothers feasted on rack of lamb baked in a crust of garlic and herbs, garnished with sprigs of mint, and surrounded by mashed yellow turnips swimming in unlesster. From the Lord Commanders own table, Bowen Marsh told them. in that location were salads of spinach and chickpeas and turnip greens, and afterward bowls of iced blueberries and sweet cream.Do you think theyll keep us together? Pyp wondered as they gorged themselves happily.Toad made a face. I hope not. Im sick of looking at those ears of yours.Ho, verbalise Pyp. Listen to the crow call the raven black. Youre trusted to be a ranger, Toad. Theyll want you as distant from the castle as they can. If Mance Rayder attacks, lift your visor and show your face, and hell run off screaming.Everyone laughed and Grenn. I hope Im a ranger.You and every(prenominal)one else, said Matthar. Every man who wore the black walked the Wall, and every man was expected to take up marque in its defense, but the rangers were the true fightin g heart of the Nights Watch. It was they who dared ride beyond the Wall, sweeping through the haunted forest and the icy mountain high school west of the hindquarters Tower, fighting wildlings and giants and monstrous snow bears.Not everyone, said Halder. Its the builders for me. What handling would rangers be if the Wall fell ware?The order of builders provided the masons and carpenters to darn keeps and towers, the miners to dig tunnels and crush stone for roads and footpaths, the woodsmen to clear away new growth wherever the forest pressed too close to the Wall. Once, it was said, they had quarried big blocks of ice from frozen lakes deep in the haunted forest, dragging them sec on sledges so the Wall office be raised ever higher. Those days were centuries gone, however now, it was all they could do to ride the Wall from Eastwatch to the Shadow Tower, watching for cracks or signs of melt and making what repairs they could.The Old Bears no fool, Dareon observed. Youre cert ain to be a builder, and Jons certain to be a ranger. Hes the best sword and the best rider among us, and his uncle was the First before he . . . His voice trailed off awkwardly as he realized what he had almost said.Benjen Stark is still First Ranger, Jon Snow told him, toying with his bowl of blueberries. The rest capacity have tending(p) up all hope of his uncles safe return, but not him. He pushed away the berries, scarcely touched, and rose from the bench.Arent you going to eat those? Toad entreated.Theyre yours. Jon had hardly tasted Hobbs great feast. I could not eat some other bite. He took his cloak from its hook near the door and shouldered his way out.Pyp followed him. Jon, what is it?Sam, he admitted. He was not at table tonight.Its not like him to miss a meal, Pyp said planfully. Do you suppose hes taken ill?Hes frightened. Were leaving him. He remembered the day he had left Winterfell, all the woody nightshade farewells Bran lying broken, Robb with snow in his ha ir, Arya raining kisses on him after hed given her Needle. Once we say our words, well all have duties to attend to. Some of us may be sent away, to Eastwatch or the Shadow Tower. Sam will remain in training, with the likes of Rast and Cuger and these new boys who are coming up the kingsroad. Gods solo know what theyll be like, but you can bet Ser Alliser will accuse them against him, first chance he gets.Pyp made a grimace. You did all you could.All we could wasnt enough, Jon said.A deep restlessness was on him as he went bear to Hardins Tower for trace. The direwolf walked beside him to the stables. Some of the more skittish horses kicked at their stalls and lay back their ears as they entered. Jon saddled his mare, mounted, and rode out from fort Black, south crosswise the moon aroundlit night. Ghost raced ahead of him, flying over the ground, gone in the blink of an eye. Jon let him go. A wolf needed to hunt.He had no destination in mind. He wanted only to ride. He follow ed the brook for a time, listening to the icy trickle of water over rock, and so bowdlerise across the fields to the kingsroad. It stretched out before him, narrow and granitelike and pocked with weeds, a road of no particular promise, yet the rush of it filled Jon Snow with a vast longing. Winterfell was down that road, and beyond it Riverrun and Kings landing and the Eyrie and so many other places Casterly Rock, the Isle of Faces, the red mountains of Dorne, the cardinal islands of Braavos in the sea, the smoking ruins of old Valyria. All the places that Jon would never see. The world was down that road . . . and he was here.Once he swore his vow, the Wall would be his menage until he was old as Maester Aemon. I have not curse yet, he muttered. He was no outlaw, bound to take the black or pay the penalty for his crimes. He had come here freely, and he might leave freely . . . until he said the words. He need only ride on, and he could leave it all behind. By the time the m oon was full again, he would be back in Winterfell with his brothers.Your half brothers, a voice inside moveed him. And Lady Stark, who will not welcome you. There was no place for him in Winterfell, no place in Kings get either. Even his own mother had not had a place for him. The thought of her made him sad. He wondered who she had been, what she had looked like, wherefore his father had left her. Because she was a work or an adulteress, fool. Something dark and dishonorable, or else why was Lord Eddard too hangdog to speak of her?Jon Snow turned away from the kingsroad to look behind him. The fires of Castle Black were hidden behind a hill, but the Wall was there, piquet beneath the moon, vast and cold, running from horizon to horizon.He wheeled his horse around and started for home.Ghost returned as he crested a surface and saw the distant glow of lamplight from the Lord Commanders Tower. The direwolf s muzzle was red with blood as he trotted beside the horse. Jon found h imself thinking of Samwell Tarly again on the ride back. By the time he r to each oneed the stables, he knew what he must(prenominal) do.Maester Aemons apartments were in a stout wooden keep below the rookery. antiquated and frail, the maester shared his chambers with two of the younger stewards, who tended to his of necessity and helped him in his duties. The brothers joked that he had been given the two ugliest men in the Nights Watch being screen door, he was spared having to look at them. Clydas was short, bald, and chinless, with small pink eyes like a mole. Chett had a wen on his neck the size of a pigeons egg, and a face red with boils and pimples. Perhaps that was why he always seemed so angry. It was Chett who answered Jons knock. I need to speak to Maester Aemon, Jon told him.The maester is abed, as you should be. Come back on the morrow and maybe hell see you. He began to shut the door.Jon jammed it open with his hit. I need to speak to him now. The morning will be to o late.Chett s dauntled. The maester is not accustomed to being woken in the night. Do you know how old he is?Old enough to treat visitors with more courtesy than you, Jon said. Give him my pardons. I would not disturb his rest if it were not important.And if I refuse?Jon had his boot wedged solidly in the door. I can stand here all night if I must.The black brother made a disgusted noise and opened the door to admit him. Wait in the library. Theres wood. Start a fire. I wont have the maester catching a shroud on account of you.Jon had the logs crackling merrily by the time Chett led in Maester Aemon. The old man was clad in his bed robe, but around his throat was the chain collar of his order. A maester did not finish up it even to sleep. The chair beside the fire would be pleasant, he said when he felt the warmth on his face. When he was settled comfortably, Chett covered his legs with a fur and went to stand by the door.I am sorry to have woken you, Maester, Jon Snow said.You d id not wake me, Maester Aemon replied. I find I need less sleep as I grow older, and I am grown very old. I often spend half the night with ghosts, remembering times fifty years past as if they were yesterday. The secret of a midnight visitor is a welcome persion. So tell me, Jon Snow, why have you come calling at this strange hour?To ask that Samwell Tarly be taken from training and accepted as a brother of the Nights Watch.This is no concern of Maester Aemon, Chett complained.Our Lord Commander has given the training of recruits into the transfer of Ser Alliser Thorne, the maester said gently. Only he may say when a boy is ready to swear his vow, as you surely know. Why then come to me?The Lord Commander listens to you, Jon told him. And the wounded and the sick of the Nights Watch are in your charge.And is your consort Samwell wounded or sick?He will be, Jon promised, unless you help.He told them all of it, even the part where hed set Ghost at Rasts throat. Maester Aemon liste ned silently, blind eyes fixed on the fire, but Chetts face darkened with each word. Without us to keep him safe, Sam will have no chance, Jon finished. Hes abject with a sword. My sister Arya could tear him apart, and shes not yet ten. If Ser Alliser makes him fight, its only a national of time before hes hurt or killed.Chett could stand no more. Ive seen this fat boy in the common hall, he said. He is a pig, and a hopeless craven as well, if what you say is true.Maybe it is so, Maester Aemon said. diverseiate me, Chett, what would you have us do with such a boy? channel him where he is, Chett said. The Wall is no place for the weak. Let him train until he is ready, no matter how many years that takes. Ser Alliser shall make a man of him or kill him, as the gods will.Thats stupid, Jon said. He took a deep wind to tack together his thoughts. I remember once I asked Maester Luwin why he wore a chain around his throat.Maester Aemon touched his own collar lightly, his bony, wrink ly finger stroking the heavy metal links. Go on.He told me that a maesters collar is made of chain to remind him that he is sworn to serve, Jon said, remembering. I asked why each link was a different metal. A coin chain would look much finer with his grey robes, I said. Maester Luwin laughed. A maester forges his chain with study, he told me. The different metals are each a different kind of learning, gold for the study of money and accounts, smooth-spoken for healing, iron for warcraft. And he said there were other reputeings as well. The collar is supposed to remind a maester of the realm he serves, isnt that so? Lords are gold and knights steel, but two links cant make a chain. You also need silver and iron and lead, tin and copper and bronze and all the rest, and those are farmers and smiths and merchants and the like. A chain needs all sorts of metals, and a land needs all sorts of people.Maester Aemon smiled. And so?The Nights Watch needs all sorts too. Why else have range rs and stewards and builders? Lord Randyll couldnt make Sam a warrior, and Ser Alliser wont either. You cant hammer tin into iron, no matter how hard you beat it, but that doesnt mean tin is useless. Why shouldnt Sam be a steward?Chett gave an angry scowl. Im a steward. You think its aristocratical work, fit for cowards? The order of stewards keeps the Watch alive. We hunt and farm, tend the horses, milk the cows, gather firewood, cook the meals. Who do you think makes your clothing? Who brings up supplies from the south? The stewards.Maester Aemon was gentler. Is your friend a hunter?He hates hunting, Jon had to admit.Can he plow a field? the maester asked. Can he drive a wagon or sail a ship? Could he butcher a cow?No.Chett gave a nasty laugh. Ive seen what happens to soft lordlings when theyre put to work. Set them to irritated butter and their hands blister and bleed. Give them an axe to split logs, and they cut off their own foot.I know one thing Sam could do better than anyo ne.Yes? Maester Aemon prompted.Jon glanced warily at Chett, standing beside the door, his boils red and angry. He could help you, he said quickly. He can do sums, and he knows how to read and write. I know Chett cant read, and Clydas has weak eyes. Sam read every book in his fathers library. Hed be good with the ravens too. Animals seem to like him. Ghost took to him straight off. Theres a lot he could do, besides fighting. The Nights Watch needs every man. Why kill one, to no end? Make use of him instead.Maester Aemon closed his eyes, and for a brief moment Jon was afraid that he had gone to sleep. Finally he said, Maester Luwin taught you well, Jon Snow. Your mind is as deft as your blade, it would seem.Does that mean . . . It means I shall think on what you have said, the maester told him firmly. And now, I believe I am ready to sleep. Chett, show our young brother to the door.