A Game of Thrones Chapter Forty-eight

JonJon was breaking his fast on applecakes and blood sausage when surface-to-air missilewell Tarly plopped himself maste fierce on the bench. Ive been summ onenessd to the sept, Sam say in an excited whisper. Theyre passing me dis polish of training. Im to be do a br separate with the rest of you. Can you believe it?No, truly?Truly. Im to assist Maester Aemon with the library and the birds. He needs someone who can read and write letters.Youll do well at that, Jon said, smiling.Sam glanced about anxiously. Is it time to go? I shouldnt be late, they might change their minds. He was fairly enlivened as they crossed the weed-strewn courtyard. The day was warm and lieny. Rivulets of water trickled down the sides of the W all, so the ice verifymed to sparkle and shine.inside the sept, the great crystal caught the morning sluttish as it streamed by means of the south-facing window and spread it in a rainbow on the altar. Pyps mouth dropped receptive when he caught sight of Sam, and Toad poked Grenn in the ribs, but no one d atomic number 18d ordain a word. Septon Celladar was swinging a censer, filling the air with fragrant incense that reminded Jon of Lady Starks smallish sept in Winterfell. For once the septon seemed sober.The high officers arrived in a body Maester Aemon leaning on Clydas, Ser Alliser dispassionate and grim, Lord Commander Mormont resplendent in a black wool doublet with silvered bearclaw fastenings. Behind them came the senior members of the ternion orders red-faced Bowen fen the Lord Steward, First Builder Othell Yarwyck, and Ser Jaremy Rykker, who commanded the fire wardens in the absence of Benjen Stark.Mormont stood before the altar, the rainbow shining on his broad bald head. You came to us outlaws, he began, poachers, rapers, debtors, killers, and thieves. You came to us children. You came to us alone, in chains, with neither friends nor maintain. You came to us rich, and you came to us poor. Some of you bear the names of p roud houses. Others have just now bastards names, or no names at all. It makes no matter. All that is other(prenominal) now. On the Wall, we are all one house.At evenfall, as the sun sets and we face the gathering night, you shall invade your vows. From that moment, you will be a Sworn Brother of the Nights Watch. Your crimes will be washed off, your debts forgiven. So too you must wash away your former loyalties, put aside your grudges, leave old maltreats and old loves alike. Here you begin anew.A man of the Nights Watch lives his life for the realm. Not for a king, nor a lord, nor the honor of this house or that house, neither for gold nor glory nor a womans love, but for the realm, and all the people in it. A man of the Nights Watch takes no wife and fathers no sons. Our wife is duty. Our fancy woman is honor. And you are the only sons we shall ever know.You have learned the words of the vow. Think carefully before you understand them, for once you have taken the black, there is no turning back. The penalty for desertion is death. The Old hurt paused for a moment before he said, Are there both among you who wish to leave our corporation? If so, go now, and no one shall editk the less of you.No one moved.Well and good, said Mormont. You whitethorn take your vows here at evenfall, before Septon Celladar and the first of your order. Do any of you keep to the old gods?Jon stood. I do, my lord.I expect you will want to say your words before a heart tree, as your uncle did, Mormont said.Yes, my lord, Jon said. The gods of the sept had nothing to do with him the blood of the First Men flowed in the veins of the Starks.He comprehend Grenn aphonia behind him. Theres no godswood here. Is there? I neer saw a godswood.You wouldnt see a push of aurochs until they trampled you into the snow, Pyp whispered back.I would so, Grenn insisted. Id see them a long way off.Mormont himself confirmed Grenns doubts. Castle gruesome has no need of a godswood. Beyond the Wall the haunted forest stands as it stood in the fall into place Age, long before the Andals brought the Seven across the take sea. You will find a woodlet of weirwoods half(prenominal) a league from this spot, and whitethornhap your gods as well.My lord. The voice make Jon glance back in surprise. Samwell Tarly was on his feet. The fat son wiped his sweaty palms against his tunic. Might I . . . might I go as well? To say my words at this heart tree?Does House Tarly keep the old gods too? Mormont asked.No, my lord, Sam replied in a thin, nervous voice. The high officers frightened him, Jon knew, the Old Bear most of all. I was named in the light of the Seven at the sept on Horn Hill, as my father was, and his father, and all the Tarlys for a atomic number 19 years.Why would you forsake the gods of your father and your House? wondered Ser Jaremy Rykker.The Nights Watch is my House now, Sam said. The Seven have never answered my prayers. Perhaps the old gods will.As you wish , boy, Mormont said. Sam took his seat again, as did Jon. We have placed each of you in an order, as befits our need and your own strengths and skills. Bowen Marsh stepped forward and handed him a paper. The Lord Commander unrolled it and began to read. Haider, to the builders, he began. Haider gave a stiff nod of approval. Grenn, to the rangers. Albett, to the builders. Pypar, to the rangers. Pyp looked over at Jon and wiggled his ears. Samwell, to the stewards. Sam sagged with relief, mopping at his brow with,a scum of silk. Matthar, to the rangers. Dareon, to the stewards. Todder, to the rangers. Jon, to the stewards.The stewards? For a moment Jon could not believe what he had heard. Mormont must have read it wrong. He started to rise, to open his mouth, to tell them there had been a mistake . . . and then he saw Ser Alliser studying him, hearts calendered as devil flakes of obsidian, and he knew.The Old Bear rolled up the paper. Your firsts will instruct you in your duties. M ay all the gods preserve you, brothers. The Lord Commander favored them with a half bow, and took his leave. Ser Alliser went with him, a thin smile on his face. Jon had never seen the master-at-arms took preferably so happy.Rangers with me, Ser Jaremy Rykker called when they were gone. Pyp was staring at Jon as he got slow to his feet. His ears were red. Grenn, grinning broadly, did not seem to realize that anything was amiss. Matt and Toad fell in beside them, and they followed Ser Jaremy from the sept.Builders, announced prognathous Othell Yarwyck. Haider and Albett trailed out after him.Jon looked around him in sick disbelief. Maester Aemons blind eyes were raised toward the light he could not see. The septon was arranging crystals on the altar. Only Sam and Darcon remained on the benches a fat boy, a utterer . . . and him.Lord Steward Bowen Marsh rubbed his plump hands together. Samwell, you will assist Maester Aemon in the rookery and library. Chett is going to the kennels , to jockstrap with the hounds. You shall have his cell, so as to be close to the maester night and day. I trust you will take good care of him. He is very old and very precious to us.Dareon, I am told that you interpret at many a high lords table and shared their meat and mead. We are sending you to Eastwatch. It may be your palate will be some help to Cotter Pyke when merchant galleys come trading. We are paying too dear for salt beef and pickled fish, and the quality of the olive oil were getting has been frightful, Present yourself to Borcas when you arrive, he will keep you busy between ships.Marsh turned his smile on Jon. Lord Commander Mormont has requested you for his personal steward, Jon. Youll sleep in a cell at a lower place his chambers, in the Lord Commanders tower.And what will my duties be? Jon asked sharply. Will I serve the Lord Commanders meals, help him fasten his clothes, make for hot water for his bath?Certainly. Marsh frowned at Jons tone. And you will ru n his messages, keep a gouge burning in his chambers, change his sheets and blankets daily, and do all else that the Lord Commander might require of you. Do you take me for a servant?No, Maester Aemon said, from the back of the sept. Clydas helped him stand. We took you for a man of the Nights Watch . . . but perhaps we were wrong in that.It was all Jon could do to stop himself from walking out. Was he supposed to churn butter and hoist doublets like a girlfriend for the rest of his days? May I go? he asked stiffly.As you wish, Bowen Marsh responded.Dareon and Sam left with him. They descended to the yard in silence. Outside, Jon looked up at the Wall shining in the sun, the melting ice creeping down its side in a hundred thin feels. Jons impatience was such that he would have smashed it all in an instant, and the world be damned.Jon, Samwell Tarly said excitedly. Wait. Dont you see what theyre doing?Jon turned on him in a fury. I see Ser Allisers bloody hand, thats all I see. He wanted to shame me, and he has.Dareon gave him a look. The stewards are fine for the likes of you and me, Sam, but not for Lord Snow.Im a better swordsman and a better rider than any of you, Jon blazed back. Its not fairFair? Dareon sneered. The girl was waiting for me, naked as the day she was born. She pulled me through the window, and you talk to me of fair? He walked off.There is no shame in being a steward, Sam said.Do you think I want to fall out the rest of my life washing an old mans smallclothes?The old man is Lord Commander of the Nights Watch, Sam reminded him. Youll be with him day and night. Yes, youll pour his wine and see that his bed linen is fresh, but youll also take his letters, ensure him at meetings, squire for him in battle. Youll be as close to him as his shadow. Youll know everything, be a part of everything . . . and the Lord Steward said Mormont asked for you himselfWhen I was little, my father used to insist that I suffice him in the au fall outnce c hamber whenever he held court. When he rode to Highgarden to bend his knee to Lord Tyrell, he made me come. Later, though, he started to take Dickon and leave me at home, and he no longer cared whether I sat through his audiences, so long as Dickon was there. He wanted his heir at his side, dont you see? To watch and perceive and learn from all he did. Ill wager thats why Lord Mormont requested you, Jon. What else could it be? He wants to clean up you for commandJon was taken aback. It was true, Lord Eddard had often made Robb part of his councils back at Winterfell. Could Sam be right? Even a bastard could rise high in the Nights Watch, they said. I never asked for this, he said stubbornly.None of us are here for asking, Sam reminded him.And suddenly Jon Snow was ashamed.Craven or not, Samwell Tarly had found the courage to accept his fate like a man. On the Wall, a man gets only what he earns, Benjen Stark had said the last night Jon had seen him alive. Youre no ranger, Jon, onl y a green boy with the smell of summer still on you. Hed heard it said that bastards grow up faster than other children on the Wall, you grew up or you died.Jon let out a deep sigh. You have the right of it. I was acting the boy.Then youll stay and say your words with me?The old gods will be expecting us. He made himself smile.They set out late that afternoon. The Wall had no gates as such, neither here at Castle Black nor anywhere along its three hundred miles. They led their horses down a narrow tunnel cut through the ice, cold dark walls pressing in around them as the theodolite twisted and turned. Three times their way was blocked by iron bars, and they had to stop while Bowen Marsh drew out his keys and unlocked the massive chains that secured them. Jon could sense the vast weight pressing down on him as he waited behind the Lord Steward. The air was colder than a tomb, and more still. He mat a strange relief when they reemerged into the afternoon light on the north side of t he Wall.Sam blinked at the sudden glare and looked around apprehensively. The wildlings . . . they wouldnt . . . theyd never dare come this close to the Wall. Would they?They never have. Jon climbed into his saddle. When Bowen Marsh and their ranger escort had mounted, Jon put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Ghost came loping out of the tunnel.The Lord Stewards garron whickered and backed away from the direwolf. Do you mean to take that beast?Yes, my lord, Jon said. Ghosts head lifted. He seemed to taste the air. In the blink of an eye he was off, racing across the broad, weed-choked field to vanish in the trees.Once they had entered the forest, they were in a contrary world. Jon had often hunted with his father and Jory and his brother Robb. He knew the wolfswood around Winterfell as well as any man. The haunted forest was much the same, and yet the feel of it was very different.Perhaps it was all in the knowing. They had ridden past the end of the world somehow that change d everything. Every shadow seemed darker, every sound more ominous. The trees pressed close and shut out the light of the setting sun. A thin crust of snow cracked beneath the hooves of their horses, with a sound like breaking bones. When the wind set the leaves to rustling, it was like a chilly finger tracing a path up Jons spine. The Wall was at their backs, and only the gods knew what lay ahead.The sun was drop down below the trees when they reached their destination, a small clearing in the deep of the wood where nine weirwoods grew in a rough circle. Jon drew in a breath, and he saw Sam Tarly staring. Even in the wolfswood, you never found more than two or three of the white trees growing together a grove of nine was unheard of. The forest floor was carpeted with fallen leaves, bloodred on top, black rot beneath. The full(a) smooth trunks were bone pale, and nine faces stared inward. The dried sap that crusted in the eyes was red and hard as ruby. Bowen Marsh commanded them t o leave their horses outside the circle. This is a sacred place, we will not damage it.When they entered the grove, Samwell Tarly turned slowly looking at each face in turn. No two were quite alike. Theyre watching us, he whispered. The old gods.Yes. Jon knelt, and Sam knelt beside him.They said the words together, as the last light colored in the west and grey day became black night.Hear my words, and bear witness to my vow, they recited, their voices filling the twilit grove. Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Nights Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.The woods fell silent. You knelt as boys, Bowen Marsh intoned solemnly. Rise now as men of the Nights Watch.Jon held out a hand to pull Sam back to his feet. The rangers gathered round to entreat smiles and congratulations, all but the gnarled old forester Dywen. Best we be starting back, mlord, he said to Bowen Marsh. Darks falling, and theres something in the smell o the night that I mislike.And suddenly Ghost was back, stalking softly between two weirwoods. White fur and red eyes, Jon realized, disquieted. Like the trees . . .The wolf had something in his jaws. Something black. Whats he got there? asked Bowen Marsh, frowning.To me, Ghost. Jon knelt. Bring it here.The direwolf trotted to him. Jon heard Samwell Tarlys sharp intake of breath.Gods be good, Dywen muttered. Thats a hand.