Chapter 56 Chapter Fifty-Five: Jon

They awoke to the smoke of Mole's Village burning. Atop the King's Tower, Jon Snow leaned on Maester Aemon's padded staff and watched the plumes of gray smoke rise.Due to Jon's escape, Stey lost hope of attacking Castle Black, even so, there is no need for such a big fanfare.You might kill us all, he thought, but no one dies in bed in their sleep.At least that's what I did. It still hurts like a fire when I put my weight on my injured leg.He needed Clydas' help that morning to change into his freshly laundered black suit and lace up his boots, and by the time he was done he was longing for the comfort of the milk of the poppy.Resisting the temptation, he drank half a glass of sleeping wine, chewed a few mouthfuls of willow bark, and walked out on crutches.The beacon tower at Fengyungang has been lit, and the Night's Watch needs everyone.

"I can fight." He insisted when they tried to stop him. "Leg is good, isn't it?" Noy snorted, "Mind if I give it a little kick, huh?" "No. It's a little stiff, but it's holding up when you walk slowly. I can fight, and you need me." "I want every man who knows which end of the spear to use on the wildling." "The pointy end." I remember saying something similar to my younger sister. Noye stroked the stubble on his chin. "Maybe. Well, we'll put you up on some tower and shoot the enemy with a longbow, but if you fucking fall off it, don't come to me and cry."

The King's Road stretches south, through stony brown fields and wind-beaten hills.Before sundown the Magnar would come down this road with his Thenns, axes and spears and shields of bronze and leather.Greg the goat, Kurt, Big Boil, and others will also be there.And Ygritte.The wilds had never been his friends, he would not allow them to be, but she... The thigh muscle throbbed where her arrow had pierced it.He remembered the old man's eyes, the black blood gushing from his throat as the lightning crashed overhead, but he remembered most clearly the cave, her naked body in the torchlight, and her mouth in his own. taste.Ygritte, don't come here, go south and raid, or hide in one of the round towers you love so much.Here, there is only death.

Across the courtyard, on top of the old flint barracks, there was also an archer, and now he was unbuttoning his trousers and urinating outside the battlements.Mully, he recognized by his greasy orange hair.Men in black can also be seen on other rooftops and towers, but nine out of ten of them are made of straw.Donal Noye called them "straw sentinels."Ironically, we are crows, Jon thought, and most of us are terrified. Regardless of the name, the Straw Soldiers were Maester Aemon's idea.Since there are so many trousers, coats and waistcoats lying idle in the storeroom, why not stuff them with straw, drape your cloak over your shoulders, and let them stand there for sentinel? They are placed in every tower and half of the windows by Noye Some even held spears, or carried crossbows under their arms.I hope the Thenns will see it from a distance, and then conclude that Castle Black is well-defended, and give up the idea of ​​attacking.

There are six scarecrows with Jon on top of the king's tower, and two real brothers.Deaf Dick Follard sat on the battlements, methodically cleaning and oiling the parts of the crossbow to make sure the reels ran smoothly, while the young man from Oldtown hovered restlessly near the parapet, fiddling with the scarecrow's clothes.Maybe he thought he could deter enemies if he had them positioned just right; or maybe he was, like me, nervous about waiting. The boy claimed to be eighteen, older than Jon, but younger than summer grass.They called him Satin—though he had changed into Night's Watch wool and mail and boiled leather—after the name he'd been given as a boy born and raised in a brothel.He has dark eyes, delicate skin, curly black hair, and is as pretty as a girl, but after half a year of training at Castle Black, his hands have become rough, and Noye said he can handle a crossbow.But will he have the courage to face what is coming, well...

Jon walks around the top of the tower on crutches.The King's Tower wasn't the highest point—that honor belonged to the slender, crumbling Spear Tower, which Chief Artisan Othel Yawick thought might collapse at any moment; Difficult to deal with.But it's tall enough, strong enough, and occupies a vantage point on the back of the Wall, overlooking the gates and the bottom of the wooden steps. When Jon saw Castle Black for the first time, it was strange that someone would be stupid enough to build a castle without walls, how would it be defended? "Undefensible," his uncle told him, "that's the point. The Night's Watch swore to be impartial and not to intervene in any disputes in the territory. However, for thousands of years, some commander-in-chiefs who were more proud than wise have broken their vows, and their ambitions have made Almost brought us total destruction. Lord Commander Rensay Hightower trying to make room for Bastard 'Roderick', Flint trying to make himself King Beyond the Wall, Tristan Mulder, 'Madman' Marco Blue Kenfield, Robin Hills... Did you know that six hundred years ago the commanders of the Stormgate and the Nightfort declared war on each other? The Lord Commander tried to stop them, but instead they banded together to murder him. Stark of Winterfell The House had to intervene... and decapitate them both. The operation was easy to succeed, as the keep was undefended to the south. There had been nine hundred and ninety-six Masters of the Night's Watch before Jeor Mormont Commander, most of them are brave and upright... but there are also a few cowards and fools, despotic dictators, and even madmen. We can survive because the lords and kings of the Seven Kingdoms understand that no matter who leads us, we are no threat to them .The only enemy is in the north, and to the north we have the Great Wall."

But now that the enemy has crossed the Wall and is coming from the south, Jon thought, the lords and kings of the Seven Kingdoms have forgotten us.Man is the knife and I am the fish.Castle Black could not stand without walls, and Donal Noye knew that as well as anyone. "The castle is of no use to them," the master of arms told his little garrison, "the kitchen, the hall, the stables, even the tower... let them take it all. Let us empty the armory as best we can, and take it to the top of the Great Wall , and then stood near the city gate." Thus at last Castle Black had a so-called wall, a crescent-shaped barricade ten feet high, made up of various stores: barrels of nails and pickled mutton, crates, bundles of black wool, heaped Logs, sawn firewood, hardened pickets, and sacks of grain.A crude rampart encloses the two most worthy of defense—the gate to the north and the great zig-zag wooden staircase that climbs up the wall, climbing like a zigzag bolt of lightning, with wooden beams the size of tree trunks. Thick, sunken deep in the ice.

Jon saw the last of the mole villagers still on the long climb, being urged on by the brothers.Grenn held a small boy in his arms, and Pyp supported an old man at the bottom of the two flights of stairs, while the oldest villagers were still waiting for the cage to be lowered again.A mother dragged two children, one by the hand, while another older boy ran over her to the top.Two hundred feet above them, Celeste Sue and Miss Melianna (she was not a Miss, all her friends agreed) stood on the landing of the stairs, looking south.No doubt they saw the smoke better than he did.Jon thought of the villagers who hadn't chosen to flee. There were always some who were too stubborn, too stupid, or too brave to flee, and would rather stay and fight, hide, or even kneel and surrender.Perhaps the Thenns would spare them in their haste.

Should have struck first, he thought, with fifty rangers on good horses, they could have scattered the enemy halfway.However, not to mention fifty rangers, even the horses could not make up half of them.The guards hadn't returned, so there was no way of knowing where they were, or even if the riders Noye had sent had found them. We are the only guards on the Wall now, Jon told himself. Look at us.As Donal Noye warned, the brethren left behind by Bowen Marsh are old, sick, and boys still in training.He saw some of them struggling to push the barrel up the stairs, while others stood guard at the barricade: the chunky "Old Barrel", moving slowly as always; Go on; "Half-Crazy Izzy" thinks he's Fool Florian Reborn; and Derry the Dornishman, Red Alyn of Rosewood, Little Henry (in his fifties), Old Henry (in his seventies) Years old), Hal the "Hairy Man" and Mazi Pate from Maiquan Town, etc.A few of them waved to Jon when they saw him looking down from the King's Tower, but most turned their heads away.They still think I'm a chameleon.It was a bitter drink, but Jon couldn't blame them.After all, he was an illegitimate child, and everyone believed that the blood of illegitimate children was born of desire and deceit, inherently capricious and treacherous, and he made as many enemies as he made friends at Castle Black... Lester was one of them.Jon had not forgotten that Ghost would slit Samwell Tarly's throat unless he spared him.Now he was raking dry leaves under the stairs in great piles, but every now and then he stopped for a moment to give Jon a nasty look.

"No," Donal Noye called to the three mole villagers from the bottom of the stairs, "asphalt goes to the crane, oil goes to the upper stairs, crossbow bolts go to the fourth, fifth and sixth platforms, spears go to the First, second floor. Lard piled under the stairs, yes, there, behind the boards. Meat barrels to the barricade. Come on, you pockmarked peasants, 'Quick, quick!', He has the voice of a lord, Jon thought.Father used to say that a commander's lungs were as important as his sword-wielding hand. "It's no use doing your best if you give orders when they can't be heard," Lord Eddard had taught his sons, so he and Robb used to climb to the towers of Winterfell and call to each other across the courtyard.But their combined voices were far inferior to Donal Noye's.The mole villagers are afraid of him, and no wonder, because the weapon master always threatens to screw their heads off.

Three quarters of the villagers believed Jon's warning and took refuge in Castle Black.Noy declared that whoever had the strength to pick up a spear or swing an ax was to help defend the barricade, or go home the hell and deal with the Thenns themselves.To the best of his stock he placed into their hands the best weapons: great double-bladed axe, sharp daggers, longswords, maces, spiked meteor maces, studded furs and mail, greaves to protect the legs, throats Hold your head up, and when equipped, some of them even look like warriors.Suppose you take a quick glance in dim light. Noe also put women and children to work.Those too young to fight carried water and tended the fires, the midwives from Mole's Village assisted Clydas and Maester Aemon with the wounded, and Three-finger Hobb had so many to help tend the fires, The helpers who stirred the pots and chopped the onions didn't know what to do with them.A couple of whores even offered to go to war, and they turned out to be really good with the crossbow, so they were placed forty feet up the stairs. "It's so cold." Satin's cheeks were flushed, and his hands were hidden in the cloak under his armpits. Jon made himself smile, "Frostfang is colder, it's late autumn after all." "I hope I never see Frostfang. You know what? I know an old town girl who likes ice in red wine. I think that's the best place for ice. In red wine." Satin frowned To the south, "Do you think the Straw Sentinels have scared them away, my lord?" "I hope so." It was possible, Jon guessed . . . but more likely that the wildlings had simply lingered in Mole's Village a little longer, burning and raping.Perhaps Sty was waiting for nightfall to march under the cover of darkness. After noon, there was still no sign of the Thenns on the Kingsroad.Jon heard footsteps coming from the tower, and Owen, the idiot, suddenly came out from under the floor door and climbed the stairs with a red face.He carried a basket of buns under one arm, a basket of cheese under the other, and dangled a bag of onions. "Hab said you've been delayed for a long time, and you need to eat." Maybe this is the last meal. "Thank him for us, Owen." Dick Follard was deaf as a rock but had a good nose.The buns were still warm from the oven, and he reached into the basket, took one out, found a jar of butter, and spread some with his dagger. "Raisins in the bag," he announced cheerfully, "and nuts." He mumbled his speech, but it was easy to understand when he got used to it. "Eat my portion too," Satin said, "I'm not hungry." "Eat it," Jon told him, "the next meal will be at some point." He took two rolls for himself.The nuts are pine nuts, with raisins and a little dried apple. "Will the Wildling come today, Lord Snow?" Owen asked. "If they come, you'll know," Jon said. "Listen for the horn." "Twice. Twice means the wildlings are approaching." Owen was tall, fair-haired, and gentle. He was a tireless worker. He was surprisingly dexterous in carpentry. He is in charge of maintenance.But he will gladly tell you that his mother accidentally dropped his head when he was a baby, so that half his intelligence escaped through the holes in his ears. "Do you remember where to go?" Jon asked him. "Remember, I'm going to the stairs, Donal Noye said. To the third landing, and if the wildlings get past the barricades, shoot them down with a crossbow. Third floor, one, two, three." His Head bobbing up and down. "The king will come to our aid if the wildlings attack, won't he? Robert, he is a great warrior. The king will come, Maester Aemon sent the birds to find him." It was no use telling him Robert Baratheon was dead, he'd forget it anyway, as he had done the last few times. "Maester Aemon sent a bird to him," Jon agreed.This seemed to please Owen. In fact, Maester Aemon sent many ravens... not to one king, but to four.The savages approached the city, and the letter wrote that the border of the country was in danger.Please do your best to help the Night's Watch defend Castle Black.He also sent letters as far away as Old Town and Xuecheng, and sent letters to more than fifty princes across the country.They had hoped most for the Lord of the North, and so each sent two birds.Black bird, to Umber's and Bolton's with entreaty, to Seven, Torrhen's Square, Cahoe, Deepwood, Bear Isle, Old City, Widow's Watch, White Harbor, Barrowton and the streams, and even went to the Riddles, Burleys, Noreys, Harleys, and Walls in the remote mountains for help.The wildlings are approaching the city, and the northern border is in danger.Please bring all your troops to the starry night for reinforcements. Yet ravens have wings, lords and kings do not.Even if anyone is willing to provide assistance, it will not arrive today. The time went from morning to noon, and from noon to afternoon, the smoke from Mole Village was blown away by the wind, and the southern sky returned to cleanliness.No clouds, Jon thought, which is good.Rain and snow can interfere with vision. Clydas and Maester Aemon rode up to safety at the top of the Wall in an iron cage, along with most of the women of Mole's Village.Men in black paced restlessly atop the tower, calling to each other across the courtyard.Septon Celeda led the men guarding the barricade in a prayer, begging the warriors for strength.Deaf Dick Follard curled up and slept under his cloak.Satin walked round and round the battlements, perhaps a hundred miles.The ice walls shed tears, and the sun climbed down the cold blue sky.Towards evening, Owen the Fool returned with another loaf of black bread, a cask of Hob's best mutton, and a stew of ale and onions.Dick woke up suddenly.They ate everything and wiped the bottom of the barrel with bread.At this time, the sun was already low in the west, and there were dark shadows everywhere in the city. "Light the fire," Jon told Satin, "and fill the pot with oil." He went down the stairs by himself to insert the latch, and tried to move his stiff leg.It was a mistake, Jon knew quickly, but he held on to his crutch.The door to the King's Tower was oak studded with iron nails. It might hold the Thenns back, but they couldn't stop them if they really tried to break in.Jon slipped the latch into the slot and went to the toilet - probably his last chance - before limping back to the roof, his face contorted in pain. The western sky turned a blood-colored bruise, but overhead remained cobalt blue, deepened, turned purple, and the stars came out.Jon sat between the two battlements, accompanied by only a scarecrow, and the Steed was galloping up among the stars, or should it be called the Horned Throne? Jon wondered, wondering where Bai Ling was, and where Ygritte was Where... oh, that's crazy. Of course they choose night time.Like a thief, Jon thought, like a killer. The horn blew and Satin wet his trousers, but Jon pretended not to notice. "Go and shake Dick," he told the Oldtown boys, "or he'll sleep through the war." "I'm afraid." Satin's face was as pale as death. "They're afraid, too." Jon leaned his staff against the battlements, took his longbow, bent the heavy, smooth Dornish yew, and hung a bowstring in the groove. "Don't waste your arrows unless you have a clear target," Jon said after Satin woke Dick up and came back. "We have enough supplies here, but plenty doesn't mean endless. Remember, hide behind the battlements when replenishing ammunition." Don't hide behind scarecrows, they're made of grass and arrows will go through them." He didn't bother to warn Dick Follard of anything.As long as there's enough light, Dick can read lips and know exactly what you mean.He already understood what he said just now. So the three of them stood on the three sides of the circular tower. Jon drew an arrow from the quiver hanging from his belt.Black shafts, gray feathers.As he put the arrow on the string, he remembered what Theon Greyjoy had said after a certain hunt. "Although the boar has tusks and the black bear has claws," he declared with his usual grin, "it is not half as deadly as the feathers of the gray goose." Jon's hunting skills were never half that of Theon's, but he was no stranger to the longbow.Some dark shadows walked around the armory, and they couldn't see clearly because they were close to the stone wall, so it wasn't time to shoot.He heard shouts in the distance, and archers from the guard towers were firing arrows at the ground.That place was too far out of Jon's defense zone.But then three shadows sprang fifty yards from the old stable, and he went to the battlements, raised his longbow, and drew the string.The enemy is running, so he aims ahead, waits, waits... The feather arrow "hissed" and flew out of the string.A moment later, there was a muffled groan, and there were only two black figures running in the courtyard.They ran faster, and Jon drew a second arrow from his quiver.This time the shot was too hasty and missed.When he nocked his arrow again, the savages had disappeared.He searched for another target and found four enemies running around the charred conning tower.The moonlight reflected on the spears and axes, and reflected the hideous designs on the round leather shields: skulls and bones, poisonous snakes, bear claws, and twisted faces of demons.It was the free folk, he knew, and the Thenns carried shields of black boiled leather, trimmed and raised in bronze, but plain and undecorated.These are the lighter willow shields of the Raiders. Jon drew the goosefeather to his ear, took aim, shot, then nocked the arrow again, drew the bow, and let it go.The first arrow went into the bearclaw shield, the second into the throat, and the wildling fell screaming.He heard the muffled pluck of the crossbow of Deaf Dick on his left, and a moment later Satin's crossbow. "I shot one!" the boy screamed harshly. "I shot a man in the chest." "Shoot another one," Jon responded. Now instead of searching for targets, just pick victims.He brought down a wildling archer who was nocking his arrow, and then shot at an axeman who was smashing down the gate of Harding's Tower.This time the shot missed, but the quivering of the arrow in the oak made the wildling hesitate.It was only when the other party turned around and ran away that he realized it was a big boil.In a blink of an eye, old Mully released an arrow from the top of the Flint Barracks, which hit his thigh, and he crawled away dripping with blood.It's time for him to stop complaining about boils, Jon thought. When the quiver was empty, he fetched another and moved to the other crenel to fight alongside Deaf Dick Follard.Deaf Dick only fires one crossbow for every three arrows Jon shoots, which is the advantage of the longbow.Generally speaking, crossbows have better penetration, but are slow to fire and difficult to reload.He heard the wildlings calling to each other, and somewhere in the west a warhorn sounded.The whole world is full of moonlight and shadows, and time passes endlessly, repeatedly nodding, drawing and releasing the arrow.A Wildling arrow shot through the throat of the Straw Sentinel beside him, but Jon Snow barely noticed.Let me kill the Magnar of Thenn with a clean shot, and he prays to his father's god.At least the Magnar was an enemy he could hate.Let me shoot Stey. His fingers became stiff and his thumb began to bleed, but he still nocked, drew, and released.A blaze caught his attention, and when he turned his head, he saw that the entrance of the hall was on fire.After a while, the entire huge wooden hall was on fire.He knew that Three-Finger Hobb was safe on the Wall with the Mole's Village helpers, but he still felt a punch in the stomach. "Jon," said Deaf Dick in that muffled voice, "the armory." The enemies were on the roof, one of them carrying a torch.Dick jumped onto the battlements to get a better shot.He raised the crossbow to his shoulders, and shot at the wildling with the torch with a bang.Missed. The archers below him did not. Follard fell headfirst over the parapet without saying a word.It is a hundred feet high to the courtyard below.Jon heard a dull thump, and ducked beside a straw sentinel, trying to see where the arrow had come from.Not ten feet from Deaf Dick's body, he glimpsed a leather shield, a tattered cloak, and a bush of red hair.Born by the kiss of fire, he thought, a sign of luck.He aimed his bow but refused to let go of his fingers, and then she disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared.Cursing, he turned and shot an arrow at the enemy atop the armory, but missed. Meanwhile the stables to the east were on fire, and black smoke and hay ash poured from the stables.As the roof collapsed, a flame roared so loud it drowned out the warhorns of the Thenns.Fifty of them marched down the Kingsroad in close formation, shields held high above their heads.Others swarmed through the vegetable gardens, across the flagstones of the courtyard, and around the old dry well.Three of them hacked open the door of the wooden keep at the base of Crow's Nest, where Maester Aemon dwelt, and at the top of the Tower of Silence there was a desperate struggle, sword against bronze battleaxe.None of this is critical.Better yet, he thought. Jon limped up to Satin and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Follow me!" he yelled.So they moved together to the north parapet, from which the King's Tower overlooked the gates and Donal Noye's makeshift walls of logs and barrels and sacks of grain.The Thenns had arrived before them. They wore half-helmets and long leather shirts sewn with bronze flakes, and many wielded bronze axes, some of stone, and others with short spears, their leafy tips gleaming red by the firelight of the stables.Shrieking in the old tongue, they assaulted the barricades, stabbed with spears, slashed with bronze axes, and the grain and blood ran wildly, and the archers Donal Noye set up on the stairs rained crossbow bolts on them with arrows. "What are we doing?" cried Satin. "Kill!" Jon roared back, picking up another black arrow. There is no easier target for an archer.The Thenns attacked the crescent-shaped barricade, with their backs to the King's Tower, they clambered up bags and barrels and charged at the men in black.This time Jon and Satin happened to pick the same target. As soon as the man reached the top of the barricade, an arrow shot out from his neck, another crossbow was nailed between his shoulder blades, and in an instant, another long sword Stabbing him in the stomach, he fell onto his companion behind him.Jon reached for his quiver and found it was empty again.Satin was reloading, and he left the boy to replenish the ammunition. He had just taken a few steps when the floor door three feet away suddenly opened in front of him.Damn it! I didn't even hear the banging on the door. No time to think, plan or call for help.Jon dropped the longbow, and stretched his hand over his shoulders and behind his back, his long claws unsheathed, and quickly buried them in the first head that came out.Bronze was defeated by Valyrian steel. The blow split the Thenn's helmet and embedded it deep in the bone, causing him to roll back the same way.Jon knew from the shouts that there were more behind.He stepped back and called Satin.The next person who climbed out was hit by a flying arrow in the cheek and disappeared immediately. "Oil," Jon said, and Satin nodded.They lifted the thick cotton cushions from the fire, and together they lifted the heavy pot—full of boiling oil—and poured it through the opening onto the Thenns below.It was the most terrifying scream he had ever heard in his life, and Satin looked like he was going to throw up.Jon kicked the floor door shut, pressed it down with a heavy iron pan, and shook the pretty-faced boy vigorously. "Put it later," Jon called. "Come and see." They had only been away from the battlements for a moment when everything below changed.A dozen black brethren and some mole villagers still stood on top of the barrels and logs, but wildlings swarmed all around them, driving them back.Jon saw a spear go through Rast's belly with such force that it lifted him into the air.Little Henry was dead, and old Henry was surrounded by enemies, and his life was not long.He saw Izzy whirling and hacking, laughing like a madman, jumping from barrel to barrel, his cloak flying, and the laughter turned to a shriek as a bronze ax hit him just below the knee. "They're going to collapse," said Satin. "No," said Jon; "they're broken." Everything happened very fast.One "mole" fled, then another, and then all the villagers suddenly dropped their weapons and abandoned the barricade.The number of men in black is too small to support alone.Jon saw his brethren try to line up and retreat in an orderly fashion, but the Thenns swooped in with spears and axes, and they too fled.The Dornishman Dilly slipped and fell, the wildling's spear piercing his shoulder blade. "Barrel" moved slowly and panted. When he almost reached the bottom stairs, a Thenn grabbed his cloak and pulled it back...but he was shot down by a crossbow before he could get down the axe. "I shot him." Satin cheered, "Barrel" staggered and ran to the stairs, climbing up with hands and feet. The city gate fell.Donal Noye had closed it and chained it securely, just in case.At this moment, the iron railings reflected red firelight, and behind them was a cold and dark passage.No one was left to guard, and the only place of safety was seven hundred feet above the top of the Wall, above the winding wooden stairs. "What god do you believe in?" Jon asked Satin. "Seven," said the boy from Oldtown. "Then pray," Jon told him, "you pray to the new gods, and I pray to the old gods." The turning point is coming. Jon had forgotten to replenish his quiver due to the confusion around the floor door just now.Now, he limped across the roof to get his arrow, and picked up his longbow at the same time.The pot is still on the door, untouched, and it seems to be quite safe here for the time being.The show is yet to come, and I'll be watching from the box, he thought, shambling back.Satin was firing at the wildlings on the stairs, then crouched behind the battlements to reload.He is beautiful and quick. The real battle unfolds on the stairs.Noy had posted spearmen on the bottom two platforms, but the villagers, frightened by their desperate flight, joined them and retreated towards the third platform, while the Thenns killed all stragglers.Archers and crossbowmen on higher platforms struggled to keep their arrows flying over the heads of their companions.Jon nocked his arrow, drew his bow, and shot.He was delighted when a wild man rolled down the stairs at the sound.The heat of the fire caused water to flow on the surface of the ice wall, and the flames reflected, jumping and flickering.The stairs trembled frantically under the stampede of the fleeing crowd. Jon nocked, drew, and let go again, but now he and Satin were the only ones shooting, and there were sixty or seventy Thenns walking up the stairs, running and killing all the way, intoxicated by victory.On the fourth platform, three black-clothed brothers stood side by side holding long swords. The battle started again, but it only lasted for a short while because there were only three of them.The tide of wildlings was quickly overwhelmed, and the blood of the brethren trickled down the stairs. "Fleeers are actually the most vulnerable to attack," Duke Eddard once taught Jon, "like a wounded animal, which arouses the desire to kill." The archers on the fifth platform fled before the battle extended there. .A rout, a total rout. "Bring the torch," Jon told Satin.Four torches stood beside the fire, with oiled rags wrapped around their heads, and a dozen rockets.The Oldtown boy stuck a torch into the fire until it burned brightly, and held the rest unlit under his arm.He showed a terrified expression again, which was normal, and so did Jon. At this time, he saw Si Di.The Magnar climbed the barricades, past torn sacks and smashed barrels, trampling the corpses of friends and foes, bronze scales gleaming somberly in the firelight.Sty took off his helmet and inspected the victorious scene.The earless bald bastard was smiling, saw the city gate, pointed at the weirwood spear with the ornate bronze tip, and yelled at the five or six Thenns around him in the ancient language.Too late, Jon thought, you should have gotten your men over the barricade, maybe saved some. Above the head, the battle horn sounded suddenly, long and low.It wasn't coming from the Wall, but from the ninth platform, more than two hundred feet up, where Donal Noye was commanding. Calmly Jon slung a rocket to his bowstring, let Satin torch it, and walked to the battlements, drew the bow, took aim, and fired.The arrow dragged a bunch of fire tails and flew down, nailed into the target, making a crackling sound. The target is not Stu, but the stairs.To be exact, the casks and sacks that Donal Noye had piled up at the bottom of the stairs almost to the level of the first landing, full of lard and lamp oil in the casks, leaves and oiled cloths in the pockets, and And split logs, bark, and sawdust. "Go on," Jon urged, "go on," "go on."The other longbowmen also fired one after another. From the top of every tower within range, arrows shot high, drew arcs, and fell in front of the Great Wall.When Jon was done with the rocket, he told Satin to light the torch and throw it straight from the crenel. Another flame flared up above the stairs.The old planks had absorbed oil like a sponge, and Donal Noye had completely soaked the space between the ninth and seventh platforms.Jon only hoped that by the time Noye threw the torch, his men had staggered to safety.At least the brothers in black knew about the plan, but none of the villagers knew. Wind and Fire will do the rest, Jon just needs to watch.With flames above and below, the wildlings had nowhere to go.Those who continued to go up died, and those who ran down also died, and those who stayed in place were still doomed.Many people jumped from the stairs before being burned, falling to pieces.The last two dozen Thenns huddled together among the flames, and at that moment the ice wall collapsed from the heat, and the lower third of the stairs fell off, along with several tons of ice, like an avalanche.This was the last time Jon Snow saw Styr, Magnar of Thenn.The Great Wall will protect itself, he thought. Jon asked Satin to help him down, into the yard.The injured leg hurt so badly that even with crutches it was almost impossible to walk. "Take the torch," he told the Oldtown boys, "I'm looking for someone." Most of the dead on the stairs were Thenns, and some free folk must have escaped.Mance's people, not Magna's subordinates, she is also one of them.They passed the enemies who tried to rush through the floor door, now all dead.Jon wandered in the dark with his cane under one arm and the shoulder of a boy who had been a male whore in Oldtown. Now the stables and hall were reduced to smoking ashes, and the flames still burned along the Wall, step by step, platform by platform.Every now and then they would hear a creak, followed by a crash, as another chunk of ice fell off the wall.The air is filled with ash and ice crystals. He found Kurt dead, Stone Thumb dying, and some Thenns he never really knew were dead or dying.He found the "big boil" and was very weak from massive blood loss, but still alive. He found Ygritte lying on her back in a patch of fresh snow at the base of the conning tower, with an arrow shot between her breasts.Ice crystals sprinkled on her face, and under the moonlight, she seemed to be wearing a gleaming silver mask. 箭是黑色，琼恩发现，但带着白色的鸭毛。不是我的，他告诉自己，不是我的箭。但一切都没有分别了。 他跪倒在她身旁的雪地里，她的眼睛缓缓睁开。“琼恩·雪诺，”她气若游丝地说，似乎肺部受了伤。“这儿是不是真正的城堡?不仅仅是一座塔楼?” “是的。”琼恩握紧她的手。 “很好，”她低声说，“我一直想见识真正的城堡，在我……在我……” “你将参观一百座大城堡，”他向她保证，“战斗结束了，伊蒙师傅会照料你。”他抚摸她的头发。“你是火吻而生，记得吗?是幸运的象征。单单一支箭杀不死你。伊蒙会把它拔出来，然后给你疗伤，我们喂你喝罂粟花奶，以减轻痛苦。” 对此，她只微笑了一下。“还记得那个山洞吗?不要离开那山洞，我告诉过你的。” “我们回那山洞去，”他说，“我不会让你死，耶哥蕊特，不会让你死……” “噢，”耶哥蕊特捧起他的脸颊，“你什么都不懂，琼恩·雪诺。”她幽幽地叹口气，死了。