Chapter 25 Chapter 24 Bran

Walk along a winding valley with no roads.The calm blue lake lies between the gray pinnacles, narrow and deep, surrounded by endless dark green coniferous forests.After they left the Wolfwood they climbed among the old stony hills, where the autumn leaves of tawny and gold were rarer, and when the hills became mountains they disappeared altogether.Now the great gray and green sentinel tree towered overhead, and the spruce, the cold shirt, and the soldier pine, in endless numbers.The understory vegetation is sparse, and the ground is covered with a layer of dark green needles. Once or twice, when they got lost, they just had to wait for a clear night and look up for the Ice Dragon.As Osha said, follow the blue star in the Rider's Eye, and that's North.Thinking of Osha made Bran wonder where she was now.He pictured her safe in White Harbor with Rickon and Shaggydog, sharing eel and fresh fish and hot crab pie with Lord Manderly; Warm up by the fireplace.Bran's own life had become endless cold years on Hodor's back, sitting in a basket, up and down the mountains.

"Up and down," Meera sighed as she walked, "down and up and up. Up and down, down and up and up. I hate these boring hills of yours, Prince Bran." "But yesterday you said you liked it." "Oh, I did. Before, I had only seen the mountains in the stories of my lord father, but now I see them with my own eyes, and I like them beyond description." Bran made a face at her. "But you said you hated them." "Why not have both?" Mei stretched her hand and pinched his nose. "Because they are different," he insisted, "like night and day, ice and fire."

"But black ice can burn," said Jojen in his customary serious tone, "love and hate can combine. Mountains and swamps, the earth is a whole." "A whole," his sister agreed. "Oh, it's really rough here." Deep valleys seldom run north-south, which is convenient for travelers, who often travel many miles in the wrong direction and have to turn back in the end. "If you take the King's Road, you've probably reached the Wall," Bran reminded the Reeds.I'm going to meet the crow, I'm going to fly.He would say it dozens of times until Meera laughed and said it with him.

"If you take the King's Road, you won't starve," he began to say now.In the hills they have no shortage of food.Meera was a good hunter, even better at catching fish with a three-pronged frog spear.Bran liked to see her move, secretly envious of her quickness.I saw the spear strike like lightning, and when it was drawn back, a silvery salmon writhed and writhed on the point.They also let Summer hunt for them.The direwolf disappears every evening and returns before dawn, mostly with something in its mouth, a squirrel or a hare. But in the mountains, the streams are not only smaller, but also often covered with ice, and the prey is less.Meera still hunted and fished as best she could, but to no avail, and some nights, even in summer, she could not catch her prey.They had to go to sleep hungry.

Jojen remained stubbornly away from the road. "Wherever there is a road, there are people," he said in his usual tone. "Where there are people, there are eyes, and there are mouths, and they will tell stories. They will tell the story of a crippled boy, a giant, and a direwolf." Jojen was the most stubborn man in the world, so they continued to trudge across the wilderness, climbing higher each day, and moving a little northerly too. Some days it rained, other days it blew, and once there was even such a violent hailstorm that even Hodor growled in panic.And if the weather is fine, they seem to be the only living creatures in the world. "Aren't there any inhabitants here?" Meera Reed asked as they walked around a granite outcrop the size of Winterfell.

"Of course there is," Bran told her. "Although the Amber family is basically active on the east of the King's Road, they also go to the high grasslands to herd sheep in summer. To the west of the mountains, they live along the Ice Bay. The Harkley family lives in the hills behind us, and Up here on the high ground, there's the Notts, the Riddles, the Norries, and even some of the Flints." His grandmother's mother was the Flints of the Hills.Old Nan had said that Bran had her blood to climb around like a fool.But she had died many, many years before he was born, before even his father had been born.

"Worr?" Meera said. "Jojen, was there a Volr with his father in the war?" "Yes, Theo Wahl." Jojen panted as he crawled. "Nicknamed 'Barrel.'" "Hey, that's actually their family's coat of arms," ​​Bran said. "Three brown barrels on a blue ground, bordered with gray and white checks. I saw Lord Wall's coat of arms when he came to Winterfell once, to pay homage to his father and have a long talk. He's not really a lord... well, maybe he is, but his people call him 'Wol', as do the Notts, the Norries, and the Riddles. We call them Earls at Winterfell , but their own people don't call it that."

Jojen Reed paused to catch his breath. "Do you think these mountain people know where we are?" "Know." Bran has seen them, not through his own vision, but through Xia Tian's sharper eyes, eyes that never miss anything. "But they won't bother, as long as we don't steal their goats and horses." They didn't go stealing, but then they ran into the mountain people unexpectedly.A sudden freezing rain forced people to seek shelter.Summer found one for everyone, and he sniffed out a shallow cave behind the gray-green branches of a tall sentinel tree, but when Hodor stooped under a stone beam, Bran saw an orange fire in the cave and realized There are people inside. "Come in and warm up," a man called, "there's plenty of stone here to keep us all out."

He shared oatcakes and blood sausage with them, and poured a little ale from the wine-sack that he carried, but he never named them or asked them.Bran thought he was a Riddle.For the buckles on his squirrel-skin cloak were gold and bronze in the shape of pinecones, and the Riddles' coat of arms was half green and half white, with many pinecones on the white half. "Is it far from the Wall?" Bran asked him while sheltering from the rain. "Not too far for a flying crow," said the Riddle man—if he really did, "it's hard to go without wings." Bran comments, "I bet if..."

"...Take the king's road, we've arrived," Meera finished for him with a smile. The Riddles took out their daggers and sharpened a club. "When the Starks were at Winterfell, the girls of the Northland could travel down the Kingsroad without being disturbed in their name-day dresses, manor and inn, and fires and bread and salt everywhere were open to passers-by. Now It is different, the nights are getting colder, and the doors are closed. The Wolfwood is occupied by squid, and the Flayers are questioning strangers for news along the Kingsroad." Brother Li De exchanged a look. "Flayer?" Jojen asked.

"The illegitimate son's subordinate. Yes, he was dead, but he is not dead now. I heard that he offered a large amount of silver in exchange for two wolf skins, and he would pay gold coins for news of a certain living dead." He said while looking at the cloth. Lan, and Xia Tian stretching beside her. "As for the Great Wall," the man continued, "I won't go that way. Elder Xiong led the night watchman army deep into the Haunted Forest, but only crows came back, and they were crows that didn't carry any letters. Black Wings, bring black news, my mother used to say, and now they bring no news, and it seems darker to me." He poked the fire with his stick. "It wasn't like that when the Starks were at Winterfell. But the old wolf died, and the young wolf went south to join the Game of Thrones, and all we're left with are ghosts." "The wolf will be back," Jojen said gravely. "How do you know, child?" "I dreamed about it." "Some nights, I dreamed about my mother who I buried with my own hands nine years ago," the man said, "but when I woke up, she didn't come back." "There is a difference between dreams and dreams, my lord." "Hodor," said Hodor. They spent the night together, because the rain did not stop for a moment until late at night.Only Summer wanted to leave the cave, and Bran let him go when the fire burned down to embers.The direwolf was not afraid of the wet like a man, and the night called to him.The moonlight sprinkled the wet trees with different shades of silver, and dyed the gray mountain peaks into pure white.Owls howled in the night and flew silently among the pines, while pale goats walked along the hillside.Bran closed his eyes, letting himself fall into a wolf dream, into the breath and sound of midnight. When he awoke the next morning, the fire was out and the Riddles were gone, but he left behind a sausage and a dozen oatcakes, neatly wrapped in a green and white cloth.Some scones are infused with pine nuts, others with blackberries.Bran ate one of each, but couldn't decide which he liked.Someday Stark would return to Winterfell, he told himself, and he would repay the Riddles a hundredfold. They were on a relatively flat path that day, and by noon, when the sun came out of the clouds, Bran sat in the basket on Hodor's back, so contented that he almost fell asleep.The basket swayed to the footsteps of the big stable boy, and he hummed as he walked, making Bran drowsy.Then Meera touched his arm lightly, waking him up. "Look," she pointed her frogspear at the sky, "an eagle." Bran looked up and saw the hawk gliding motionless on the wind on its gray wings.He stared at it hovering and rising, wondering what it was like to soar.Would it be better than climbing?He tried to get into the eagle, to leave this stupid crippled body, to rise into the air and join with it, like he did with Summer.Greenseers can do it.I can do it too.He tried and tried until the hawk disappeared into the golden afternoon mist. "It's gone," he said disappointedly. "We'll see other eagles," Meera reassured him. "This is their place." "I think so." "Hodor," said Hodor. "Hodor," Bran agreed. Jojen kicked away a pinecone. "I think Hodor likes you calling him by his first name." "Hodor wasn't his real name," Bran explained, "it was the only word he could say. Old Nan told me—she seemed to be his grandmother's grandmother—his real name was Walder." It hurt him to mention Old Nan. . "Do you think the Ironborn killed her?" They hadn't seen her body at Winterfell, and in retrospect he couldn't remember seeing any woman's body. "She didn't hurt anyone and was good to Theon. She just told stories. Theon wouldn't hurt her, would he?" "Some people hurt others just to show off their power," Jojen said. "Theon was not responsible for the massacre at Winterfell," Meera said, "for many of the dead were his ironmen." She shifted the Frogspear to her other hand. "Remember Old Nan's stories, Bran. Remember the way she told them. Remember her voice. A part of her will be with you as long as you can remember." "I will," he promises.Then they climbed on, along the winding hunting trail across the high saddle between two pinnacles, without speaking for a long time.Thin soldiers cling to the surrounding hillsides, and in the distance ahead, a river covered with thin ice flows down the mountainside.All Bran heard was Jojen's breathing and the crunching of pine needles under Hodor's feet. "Do you know any stories?" He suddenly asked Li De and his brother. Meera laughed, "Ha, I know something." "Knows something," her brother confirmed. "Hodor," Hodor hummed. "Tell a story," said Bran. "Tell it as you go. Hodor likes to hear stories about knights. So do I." "The Neck has no knights," Jojen said. "There are no floating knights," her sister corrected, "only dead men in the swamp." "That's right," Jojen said. "Andals, ironborn, Freys, and other fools, all the lunatics who tried to conquer Graywater Watch, none found it. They rode into the Neck and never came out. Sooner or later they crashed into the swamp, Dragged down by the weight of steel, drowned in armor." Bran shuddered at the thought of the drowned knight underwater.But he is not afraid, he likes the feeling of cold war. "There was a knight," said Meera, "whose story happened in the 'wrong spring.' They called him the 'Knight of the Laughing Tree,' and he may have been a marshman." "Maybe not." Jojen's face was dotted with mottled green shadows. "Prince Bran must have heard the story a hundred times." "No," Bran said. "I've never heard of it. It doesn't matter if I have. Sometimes Old Nan will repeat a story she's told before, and if it's a good story, we don't mind. She used to say that an old story is like an old friend who has to visit now and then. .” "That's right." Meera walked with her shield on her back, occasionally poking aside branches blocking her way with her frog spear.Just when Bran thought she couldn't tell stories after all, she said, "Once upon a time there was a curious boy who lived in the Neck, and he was as small as all the marshmen, and brave and wise and strong. He himself Xiao hunts, fishes, climbs trees, and learns all the magic of the tribe. Bran was almost sure he hadn't heard the story. "Does he dream of green dreams like Jojen's?" "No," Meera said. "But he can breathe under mud, run on leaves, and, with a whisper, turn earth into water, and water into earth. He can talk to trees, he can send messages through air, and he can make castles appear Or disappear." "Hopefully I will," Bran said gloomily. "When did he meet the Tree Rider?" Meera made a face at him. "If a certain prince is willing to be quiet, he will meet you soon." "I'm just asking." "The boy has learned all the magic of the marsh," she went on, "but he wants to learn more. We are a people who seldom leave our homes, you know, and because of our size, some people think we are weird and don't treat us well." Great and friendly. But the boy was bolder than most, and one day, when he was a man, he decided to leave the swamp and visit the Isle of Faces." "Nobody ever goes to the Isle of Faces," Bran retorted. "It's guarded by green men." "He was looking for the Green Man. So he, like me, put on a shirt sewed with bronze, took a leather shield, and a three-pronged frog spear, and rowed down the Green Fork in a small kayak." Bran closed his eyes and tried to imagine how the man was going in the small kayak.In his mind's eye, the marshman looked just like Jojen, only older and stronger and wearing Meera's clothes. "He crossed the Twins by night, to avoid the Freys, and when he reached the Trident, he climbed ashore, put the skiff on his head, and began on foot. He walked for many days, and at last he reached the Eye of God. At this time, put the boat into the lake again and sail towards Qianmian Islet." "Has he met the green man?" "Yes," said Meera, "but that's another story, and it's not for me to tell it. It's the knights the Prince wants to hear." "The green man is not bad, either." "Yes," she admitted, but said nothing more about them. "The Marshman stayed on the island all winter, but when spring came, he heard the call of the wide world and knew it was time to leave. The kayak was still where it was, so he said goodbye to the islanders and set out on the road .He paddled and paddled until he saw towers rising from the shore of the lake in the distance. The closer he paddled, the towers grew taller, until he realized that this must be the largest castle in the whole world." "Harrenhal!" Bran immediately realized, "That's Harrenhal!" Meera smiled slightly, "Really? Under its walls, he saw colorful tents, bright banners fluttering in the wind, and knights in full armor riding on armored horses. He smelled the smell of roast meat and heard There was laughter and the loud trumpet of the herald. A tournament was about to begin, and warriors from all over the country came to participate. The king came in person with his son, the Dragon Prince. The swordsmen in white robes also came to welcome their newcomers Brother, the Lord of the Storm and the Lord of the Roses were there, and the Lion who ruled the Rock had a quarrel with the King and did not go, but many of his subjects came anyway. The Marshman had never seen such a spectacle, and he knew he might There will never be another chance. All he wanted at the time was to be part of the bigger picture." Bran knew that feeling well.He dreamed of being a knight since he was a child, until he fell from a building and lost his legs. "When the tourney began, the daughter of the lord of the great castle was queen of love and beauty. Five warriors swore to guard her crown, among them were her four brothers, and her famous uncle, a white-cloaked swordsman .” "Is she a beautiful girl?" "Yes," Meera said, leaping onto a rock, "but there was someone more beautiful than her. One of them was the wife of the Dragon Prince, accompanied by a dozen ladies. The knights begged them to grant The token is tied to the spear." "It's not a love story, is it?" Bran asked skeptically. "Hodor doesn't really like that kind of story." "Hodor," Hodor agreed. "He likes stories about knights fighting monsters." "Sometimes knights are monsters, Bran. The little marshman was walking through the grounds, enjoying the warm spring, harming no one, when three squires came, none more than fifteen years old, but older than he was." Tall. The three of them thought it was their world and he had no right to be here, so they took his spear and threw him down, cursing him for eating frogs." "Are they Walder?" Sounded like something Walder Frey Jr. would do. "They didn't report their names, but he remembered their faces firmly so that he could take revenge later. Every time he wanted to stand up, they pushed him down, curled up on the ground, and they came to kick him. At this moment, suddenly Let's roar, 'You dare to kick my father!?' shouted a she-wolf." "A wolf with four legs or two legs?" "Two-legged," Meera said. "The she-wolf struck the attendants with a blunt jousting sword, and drove them away. The marshman was bruised and bloodied, so she took him back to her lair, washed the wound, and bound it with sackcloth. There he met her Brothers in the pack: the wild alpha, the silent second, and the youngest pup." "There was a feast that night in the Great Castle to open the tourney. The she-wolf insisted on the boy's attendance, saying he was of noble birth, and entitled to a place on the bench like the rest. It was not the right thing for the she-wolf to refuse It was not easy, so he put on the clothes the pup had found, and went into the great castle." "Under the roof of Harrenhal, he dined with the wolves, and many of his wolves sworn allegiance, including moose, black bear, and merman, and some from the barren land. The Dragon Prince sang a sad song , made the mother wolf sob, her cub brother laughed at her for crying, and she poured wine on her head with her backhand. A man in black stood up and spoke, asking the knights to join the army of the night. The storm lord fought the skull and kissed Knight. The people of the Marsh saw a girl with smiling, violet eyes dancing with the white swordsman, the red viper, the lord griffin, and finally the silent wolf... But after the wild wolf invited him for him, his brother was too shy to leave his seat." "In the midst of this joy, the little marshman spotted the three squires who attacked him. One served the knight of the pitchfork, one served the knight of the porcupine, and one served the knight of the two towers, and all the marshmen knew best emblem." "Frey," said Bran, "the villain of House Frey at the Ferry." "They were and are bad," she agrees. "The she-wolf saw it, too, and pointed it out to her brothers. 'I can get you a horse, and proper armor,' offered the pup. The little marshman thanked him, but refused. His Hearts are broken. Marsh men are shorter than the others, but they have backbone. The boy is not a knight, none of his people are knights, they ride boats instead of horses, they row oars instead of guns. Though he wants revenge , but he knew that doing so would only embarrass himself and embarrass his clansmen. That night, Silent Wolf invited him to live with him. Before falling asleep, he knelt on the shore of the lake, facing the lake, looking in the direction of Thousand Faces Islet, Pray to the old gods of the North and the Marsh..." "You never heard that story from your father?" Jojen asked. "Old Nan is telling the story. Go on, Meera, you can't stop like this." Hodor must have felt the same way. "Hodor," he kept saying, "Hodor, Hodor, Hodor, Hodor." "Okay," Meera said, "if you want to hear the rest..." "Of course I want to. Tell me." "Immediately, the jousting is planned to last for five days," she said, "At the same time, there will also be a grand seven-party team jousting, as well as bow and arrow competitions, ax throwing competitions, horse racing and singer competitions..." "Never mind that." Bran wriggled anxiously in the basket on Hodor's back. "Just jousting." "Her Royal Highness orders. As mentioned earlier, the daughter of the master of the big castle is the queen of love and beauty, guarded by four brothers and one uncle, but in the first round, her brothers were all defeated. But the winner They only occupied their positions briefly, and soon they all fell. At the end of the first day, it happened that the Porcupine Knight won the challenger position, and the next morning, the Pitchfork Knight and the Two Towers Knight also won. Right here At dusk that afternoon, when the sun was setting to the west, a mysterious knight appeared on the field." Bran the Prophet nodded.Mysterious knights often appear in the arena, with helmets covering their faces, and shields that are either blank or bear arms that no one recognizes.They are often impersonated by famous warriors.Aemon the Dragonknight won the tourney as the Knight of Tears, naming his sister Queen of Love and Beauty instead of the King's mistress.And Barristan the Fearless had donned the armor of the Mystic Knight twice, the first time when he was ten years old. "That's the little marshman, I bet." "No one knows," Meera said, "but the mysterious knight was short in stature and in patchwork armor that didn't fit at all. A heart tree of the old gods was drawn on his shield, and it was a A white weirwood with a red smiley face on it." "Maybe he's from the Isle of Faces," Bran guessed. "Is he green?" In Old Nan's stories, these guardians all have dark green skin, leaves instead of hair, and even horns. , but Bran didn't know how the mystery knight was wearing a helmet if he had horns. "I bet he was sent by the old gods." "Perhaps so. The mysterious knight saluted the king and rode to the end of the tournament field, where the tents of the five challengers are. You know which three he will call out to." "The Porcupine Knight, the Pitchfork Knight, and the Knight of the Two Towers." Bran had heard many similar plots and knew how the story would develop. "He's the little marshman, I told you." "Whoever he is, the old gods gave him power. The porcupine rider fell first, then the pitchfork knight, and finally the knight of the two towers. They were all unpopular, so when a new challenger was born, the crowd laughed at him The Knight of the Faced Tree cheered loudly. His vanquished men tried to redeem their horses and armor, and the Knight of the Laughing Tree shouted loudly through his helmet: 'Teach your squires honor, and take this as a ransom.' Failed The knights punished their squires severely, and the horses and armor were returned. In this way, the prayer of the little marshman was answered... Maybe it was the Green Man, or the Old Gods, or the Children of the Forest, whoever Are you sure?" It was a good story, Bran decided after thinking about it for a while. "What happened later? Did the Knight of the Laughing Tree win the tournament and marry a princess?" "No," Meera said, "that night in the Great Castle, the Storm Lord and the Knight of Skull and Kiss swore to lift his visor, and the King himself encouraged people to challenge him, declaring that the face hidden behind the helmet was not would be his friend. But next morning, when the herald blew the horn and the king was seated, only two challengers appeared. The Knight of the Laughing Tree disappeared. The king was very angry and sent his son, the Dragon Prince, to pursue him. , and found only a painted shield hanging from a tree. The jousting continued, and the final winner was the Dragon Prince." "Oh." Bran thought for a moment. "That's a good story. But it should be the three bad knights who hurt him, not their squires, so the little marshmen can kill them all. About The ransom part is boring. The mystery knight should win the tourney, defeat every challenger, and finally name the she-wolf Queen of Love and Beauty." "She did become the queen of love and beauty," Meera said. "That's a much sadder story." "Surely you haven't heard this story before, Bran?" Jojen asked. "Didn't your lord father tell you?" Bran shook his head.It was late now, and long shadows crept down the hillside, like black fingers through the pines.Since the little Zedi people can visit the Isle of Thousand Faces, maybe I can too.It seems that all the stories have one thing in common, that is, the green men do have magical powers. They may make me walk again, or even become a knight.They turned the little marshmen into knights, if only for a day, he thought, for me, one day is enough.