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Jon

Othor," announced Ser Jaremy Rykker, "beyond a doubt And this one was Jafer Flowers" He turned the corpse over with his foot, and the dead white face stared up at the overcast sky with blue, blue eyes "They were Ben Stark’s ht numbly He remembered how he’d pleaded to ride with theht be ht wrist ended in the ruin of torn flesh and splintered bone left by Ghost’s jaws His right hand was floating in a jar of vinegar back in Maester Aemon’s tower His left hand, still at the end of his arm, was as black as his cloak

"Gods have arron, handing his reins to Jon Thewas unnaturally warm; beads of sweat dotted the Lord Commander’s broad forehead like dew on aaway from the dead men as far as her lead would allow Jon led her off a few paces, fighting to keep her fro The horses did not like the feel of this place For that s liked it least of all Ghost had led the party here; the pack of hounds had been useless When Bass the kennelet theone wild, yowling and barking, fighting to get away Even now they were snarling and whi at their leashes while Chett cursed them for curs

It is only a wood, Jon told himself, and they’re only dead ht he had drea the e into the crypts Only this tione further than before In the dark he’d heard the scrape of stone on stone When he turned he saw that the vaults were opening, one after the other As the dead kings caraves, Jon had woken in pitch-dark, his heart ha Even when Ghost leapt up on the bed to nuzzle at his face, he could not shake his deep sense of terror He dared not go back to sleep Instead he had cliht of the dawn off to the cast It was only a dreahtened boy

Samwell Tarly huddled beneath the trees, half-hidden behind the horses His round fat face was the color of curdled milk So far he had not lurched off to the woods to retch, but he had not so lanced at the dead men either "I can’t look," he whispered miserably

"You have to look," Jon told hi his voice low so the others would not hear "Maester Aeood are eyes if they’re shut?"

"Yes, butI’m such a coward, Jon"

Jon put a hand on Saers with us, and the dogs, even Ghost No one will hurt you, Sam Go ahead and look The first look is the hardest"

Sae with a visible effort Slowly he swiveled his head His eyes widened, but Jon held his arm so he could not turn away

"Ser Jareruffly, "Ben Stark had six men with him when he rode from the Wall Where are the others?"

Ser Jaremy shook his head "Would that I knew"

Plainly Mormont was not pleased with that answer "Two of our brothers butchered al, saw nothing Is this what the Night’s Watch has fallen to? Do we still sweep these woods?"

"Yes, my lord, but--"

"Do we still mount watches?"

"We do, but--"

"Thishorn" Mormont pointed at Othor "Must I suppose that he died without sounding it? Or have your rangers all gone deaf as well as blind?"

Ser Jareer "No horn was blown, ers would have heard it I do not have sufficient men to mount as many patrols as I should likeand since Benjen was lost, we have stayed closer to the Wall than ont to do before, by your own corunted "Yes Well Be that as it esture "Tellbeside the dead rasped his head by the scalp The hair caht cursed and shoved at the face with the heel of his hand A great gash in the side of the corpse’s neck opened like a mouth, crusted with dried blood Only a few ropes of pale tendon still attached the head to the neck "This was done with an axe"

"Aye," muttered Dywen, the old forester "Belike the axe that Othor carried, m’lord"

Jon could feel his breakfast churning in his belly, but he pressed his lips together and ly ly corpse No axe was in evidence Jon re as the rangers rode out His singing days were done His flesh was blanched white as milk, everywhere but his hands His hands were black like Jafer’s Blossoms of hard cracked blood decorated the roin and throat Yet his eyes were still open They stared up at the sky, blue as sapphires

Ser Jares have axes too"

Mormont rounded on him "So you believe this is Mance Rayder’s work? This close to the Wall?"

"Who else, my lord?"

Jon could have told him He knew, they all knew, yet no man of them would say the words The Others are only a story, a tale to one eight thousand years Even the thought ro, a black brother of the Night’s Watch, not the boy who’d once sat at Old Nan’s feet with Bran and Robb and Arya

Yet Lord Coave a snort "If Ben Stark had co attack a half day’s ride from Castle Black, he would have returned for ht me back their heads"

"Unless he was slain as well," Ser Jaremy insisted

The words hurt, even now It had been so long, it see to the hope that Ben Stark was still alive, but Jon Snoas nothing if not stubborn

"It has been close on half a year since Benjen left us, my lord," Ser Jareht have fallen on hier these tere the last survivors of his party, on their way back to usbut the eneht them before they could reach the safety of the Wall The corpses are still fresh, these men cannot have been dead more than a day"

"No," Samwell Tarly squeaked

Jon was startled Sah-pitched voice was the last he would have expected to hear The fat boy was frightened of the officers, and Ser Jaremy was not known for his patience

"I did not ask for your views, boy," Rykker said coldly

"Let him speak, ser," Jon blurted

Morain "If the lad has so to say, I’ll hear him out Come closer, boy We can’t see you behind those horses"

Sa profusely "My lord, itit can’t be a day orlookthe blood"

"Yes?" Morrowled impatiently "Blood, what of it?"

"He soils his sht of it," Chett shouted out, and the rangers laughed

Sam mopped at the sweat on his brow "Youyou can see where GhostJon’s direwolfyou can see where he tore off that man’s hand, and yetthe stump hasn’t bled, look" He waved a hand "My fatherL-lord Randyll, he, he made me watch him dress animals sometimes, whenafter" Sa Now that he had looked at the bodies, he could not seem to look away "A fresh killthe blood would still flow, my lords Laterlater it would be clotted, like aa jelly, thick andand" He looked as though he was going to be sick "This manlook at the wrist, it’s allcrustydrylike"

Jon saw at once what Sam meant He could see the torn veins in the dead man’s wrist, iron worms in the pale flesh His blood was a black dust Yet Jareer than a day, they’d be ripe by now, boy They don’t even snarled old forester who liked to boast that he could s on, sidled closer to the corpses and took a whiff "Well, they’re no pansy flowers, butm’lord has the truth of it There’s no corpse stink"

"Theythey aren’t rotting" Sa only a little "Look, there’sthere’s nothey’ve been lying here in the woods, but theythey haven’t been chewed or eaten by animalsonly Ghostotherwise they’rethey’re"

"Untouched," Jon said softly "And Ghost is different The dogs and the horses won’t go near thelances; they could see it was true, everyfro the hounds closer"

Chett tried, cursing, yanking on the leashes, giving one anis just whi one The bitch resisted, growling and squired at hi leapt over him and bounded off into the trees

"Thisthis is all wrong," Sam Tarly said earnestly "The bloodthere’s bloodstains on their clothes, andand their flesh, dry and hard, butthere’s none on the ground, oranywhere With thosethosethose" Sam made himself s, took a deep breath "With those woundsterrible woundsthere should be blood all over Shouldn’t there?"

Dywen sucked at his wooden teeth "Might be they didn’t die here Might be so, as like" The old forester peered down suspiciously "And ht be I’m a fool, but I don’t know that Othor never had no blue eyes afore"

Ser Jare to stare at the dead man

A silence fell over the wood For aand the wet sound of Dywen sucking on his teeth Jon squatted beside Ghost

"Burn theers; Jon could not have said who "Yes, burn theave a stubborn shake of his head "Not yet I want Maester Ae them back to the Wall"

Soiven than obeyed They wrapped the dead men in cloaks, but when Hake and Dywen tried to tie one onto a horse, the ani out with its hooves, even biting at Ketter when he ran to help The rangers had no better luck with the other garrons; not even the most placid wanted any part of these burdens In the end they were forced to hack off branches and fashion crude slings to carry the corpses back on foot It ell past midday by the time they started back

"I will have these woods searched," Mormont commanded Ser Jaremy as they set out "Every tree, every rock, every bush, and every foot of ues of here Use all the h, borrow hunters and foresters from the stewards If Ben and the others are out here, dead or alive, I will have them found And if there is anyone else in these woods, I will know of it You are to track them and take them, alive if possible Is that understood?"

"It is, my lord," Ser Jaremy said "It will be done"

After that, Mor Jon followed close behind him; as the Lord Corey, damp, overcast, the sort of day thathu to his skin It ar for days, and so

The old men called this weather spirit suhosts at last After this the cold would co winter This summer had lasted ten years Jon had been a babe in aran

Ghost ran with the the trees Without the direwolf, Jon felt al at every shadoith unease Unbidden, he thought back on the tales that Old Nan used to tell them, when he was a boy at Winterfell He could alain, and the click-click-click of her needles In that darkness, the Others ca her voice lower and lower Cold and dead they were, and they hated iron and fire and the touch of the sun, and every living creature with hot blood in its veins Holdfasts and cities and kingdoms of men all fell before the hosts of the slain They fed their dead servants on the flesh of hulinarled oak, Jon was vastly relieved Mormont reined up suddenly and turned in his saddle "Tarly," he barked, "coht on Saht he was in trouble "You’re fat but you’re not stupid, boy," the Old Bear said gruffly "You did well back there And you, Snow"

Saue as he tried to stammer out a courtesy Jon had to sed froarron to a trot Ghost ca his chops, his h above, theJon heard the deep, throaty call of the watchle long blast that shuddered through the trees and echoed off the ice

UUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooo

The sound faded slowly to silence One blast er for one day, at least Whatever may come, they cannot take that away froate as they led their garrons through the icy tunnel The Lord Steas red-faced and agitated "My lord," he blurted at Mor open the iron bars, "there’s been a bird, you must coruffly

Curiously, Marsh glanced at Jon before he answered "Maester Ae in your solar"

"Very well Jon, see to my horse, and tell Ser Jaremy to put the dead men in a storerooru

As they led their horses back to the stable, Jon was unco hi his boys in the yard, but he broke off to stare at Jon, a faint half smile on his lips One-arods be with you, Snow," he called out

So

The deadthe base of the Wall, a dark cold cell chiseled frorain and sometimes even beer Jon saw that Morrooht out his friends Grenn and Toad were on watch, but he found Pyp in the common hall "What’s happened?" he asked