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"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 ers Jon’s rage was such that he would have smashed it all in an instant, and the world be damned

"Jon," Samwell Tarly said excitedly "Wait Don’t you see what they’re doing?"

Jon turned on him in a fury "I see Ser Alliser’s bloody hand, that’s all I see He wanted to shaave him a look "The stewards are fine for the likes of you and me, Sam, but not for Lord Snow"

"I’m a better swordsman and a better rider than any of you," Jon blazed back "It’s not fair!"

"Fair?" Dareon sneered "The girl aiting for h the , and you talk to me of fair?" He walked off

"There is no sha a steward," Sam said

"Do you think I want to spend the rest ofan old man’s smallclothes?"

"The old ht’s Watch," Saht Yes, you’ll pour his wine and see that his bed linen is fresh, but you’ll also take his letters, attend his, squire for him in battle You’ll be as close to hi, be a part of everythingand the Lord Steward said Mormont asked for you himself!

"When I was little, my father used to insist that I attend him in the audience chaarden to bend his knee to Lord Tyrell, he h, he started to take Dickon and leave h his audiences, so long as Dickon was there He wanted his heir at his side, don’t you see? To watch and listen and learn froer that’s why Lord Morroom you for command!"

Jon was taken aback It was true, Lord Eddard had often made Robb part of his councils back at Winterfell Could Saht’s Watch, they said "I never asked for this," he said stubbornly

"None of us are here for asking," Sam reminded him

And suddenly Jon Snoas ashamed

Craven or not, Sae to accept his fate like a ets only what he earns, Benjen Stark had said the last night Jon had seen hireen boy with the smell of surow 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 you’ll stay and say your words withus" 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 h the ice, cold dark walls pressing in around thee twisted and turned Three times their as blocked by iron bars, and they had to stop while Bowen Marsh drew out his keys and unlocked the massive chains that secured the down on him as he waited behind the Lord Steward The air was colder than a toed into the afternoon light on the north side of the Wall

Salare and looked around apprehensively "The wildlingsthey wouldn’tthey’d never dare come this close to the Wall Would they?"

"They never have" Jon clier escort had ers in hisout of the tunnel

The Lord Steward’s garron whickered and backed away from the direwolf "Do you mean to take that beast?"

"Yes, my lord," Jon said Ghost’s 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 different world Jon had often hunted with his father and Jory and his brother Robb He knew the ood 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; so Every shadow seemed darker, every sound ht 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 Jon’s spine The Wall was at their backs, and only the gods knehat lay ahead

The sun was sinking below the trees when they reached their destination, a srew in a rough circle Jon drew in a breath, and he saw Sa Even in the ood, you never found ether; a grove of nine was unheard of The forest floor was carpeted with fallen leaves, bloodred on top, black rot beneath The wide 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 to leave their horses outside the circle "This is a sacred place, ill not defile it"

When they entered the grove, Sa at each face in turn No tere quite alike "They’re watching us," he whispered "The old gods"

"Yes" Jon knelt, and Saether, as the last light faded in the west and grey day becaht

"Hear my words, and bear witness to rove "Night gathers, and noatch 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 aainst the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realht’s Watch, for this night and all the nights to come"

The woods fell silent "You knelt as boys," Bowen Marsh intoned soleht’s Watch"

Jon held out a hand to pull Saathered round to offer snarled old forester Dywen "Best we be starting back, , and there’s soht that Isoftly between toods White fur and red eyes, Jon realized, disquieted Like the trees

The wolf had soot there?" asked Bowen Marsh, frowning

"Toit here"

The direwolf trotted to him Jon heard Samwell Tarly’s sharp intake of breath

"Gods be good," Dywen muttered "That’s a hand"