Chapter 36 Chapter 36 Bran

He was helping Mikken pull the bellows when Winebelly found him at the forge. "The maester is waiting for you in the tower, my lord. A bird has just come from the king's side." "From Robb?" Bran became excited. He couldn't wait for Hodor, so he let his wine belly carry him upstairs.Wine Belly is a strong man, but he is not as big as Ado, and his strength is also much weaker.After finally reaching the bachelor's residence, he was already flushed and out of breath.Rickon was here, and so were the two Walder Freys. Maester Luwin dismissed his wine belly and closed the door. "My lords," he said sternly, "we have just received news, both good and bad, from your Grace. He has won a great victory in the West, broke the Lannisters at a place called Oxford, and then captured the Many castles. He wrote this letter in Brand, which was once the stronghold of House Marbrand."

Rickon tugged at the master's robes. "Can Robb go home?" "Not yet, I'm afraid. He still has battles to fight." "Didn't he say he defeated Lord Tywin?" Bran asked. "Not so," said the maester. "This time the enemy was led by Ser Stavor Lannister, who also died in the battle." Bran had never heard of this Ser Stafford Lannister, so when Big Walder spoke, he found himself agreeing with the other's words, "That's no use, Lord Tywin is the key." "Tell Robb I want him to come home," said Rickon, "and bring the pup back, and Mom and Dad." Although Rickon knew Lord Eddard was dead, he often forgot... probably On purpose, Bran suspected.His little brother had all the stubbornness of a four-year-old.

Bran was happy for Robb's victory, but also slightly uneasy.He remembered what Osha had told him the day his brother had left Winterfell with his army.He was going in the wrong direction, the wild woman was so insistent. "Unfortunately, victory always comes with sacrifice." Maester Luwin turned to the Walders. "My lords, among the dead at Oxford was your uncle Sir Stevron Frey. Robb wrote that he had been wounded a little in the battle, which at first was not thought to be serious, but three days later he was fast asleep. died in his tent." Big Walder shrugged. "He's too old. Sixty-five, I think. The old man can't fight. He always says he's tired."

Little Walder yelled, "We're tired of waiting for our grandfather to die, aren't we? Ser Ammon's heir, then?" "Don't be a fool," said my cousin. "The son of the eldest son takes precedence over the second son. Ser Ryman is next in line, then Edwin, Black Walder, Pimple-faced Petyr, and then Aegon." "Lyman is getting old too," Little Walder said. "I bet he's over forty and has a bad stomach. Do you think he can inherit the territory in the future?" "I will inherit the territory! Who cares about him." Maester Luwin interrupted them harshly, "You should be ashamed of your words! My lords, the deceased was your own uncle. Where is your due mourning?"

"Yes," said Little Ward, "we are very sad." No, they didn't have any.Bran just felt queasy. They were more satisfied with their food than you were.So he asked Maester Luwin to let him go. "Okay," the maester rang the bell for help.Hodor was probably busy in the stable, so Osha came.Stronger than a wine belly, she picked Bran up easily and carried him downstairs. "Osha," Bran asked as they crossed the courtyard, "do you know the way to the north? To the Wall and . . . beyond?" "It's not difficult to find the way. You just need to follow the Ice Dragon, and follow the blue star in the Eye of the Rider." She pushed the door open with her back and walked up the spiral staircase.

"Are there giants there? And... other... White Walkers? Children of the Forest?" "I've seen giants with my own eyes, and I've heard about the children of the forest. Speaking of white ghosts...why do you ask?" "Have you ever seen a crow with three eyes?" "No." She laughed, "I don't want to see either." Osha kicked open the bedroom door and put him on the window seat, where he could overlook the courtyard below. Not long after she left, the door opened again, and Jojen Reed entered uninvited, with her sister Meera at her side. "Did you hear about the bird carrying the letter?" Bran asked.The boy opposite nodded. "But that wasn't the dinner you were talking about, it was just a letter from Robb, which we didn't eat, and—"

"Green dreams reflect reality in strange ways," Jojen admitted, "and their truth is not easy to understand." "Tell me about your dreams," Bran said. "Tell me about what will happen to Winterfell." "Will your highness believe me? Are you willing to believe what I say, no matter how strange it sounds?" Bran nodded. "The sea is coming." "The sea?" "I dreamed that an ocean surrounded Winterfell. I saw black waves smashing the gates and towers, and salt water pouring into the walls, flooding the castle. The yards were full of drowned men. Watching in the gray water, when I When I first had this dream, I didn't recognize those faces, but now I know that there is a wine belly, the guard who called us at the harvest feast. Your monk is among them. And the master blacksmith. "

"Mikon?" Bran was not only panicked, but also a little confused, "But there are thousands of mountains and rivers between the sea and Winterfell, even if the tide is high, how can it pass with such a high wall?" "Brine flooded the walls in the dark of night," Jojen said. "I saw dead bodies, bloated and drowned people." "We have to tell them," Bran said. "Tell the winebelly, Mikken and Septon Chayle. Tell them not to drown." "It's useless," said the boy in green. Meera came to the window and put her hand on his shoulder. "They won't believe it, Bran. Not even you."

Jojen sat on Bran's bed. "Tell me about your dream." Even though the dream had passed for a long time, he was still afraid, but he swore to believe them, and the Starks of Winterfell must keep their word. "It's different from your dreams," he said slowly, "some are wolf dreams, and wolf dreams are not scary. I run and hunt in my dreams, killing squirrels. In some dreams, crows appear and tell me to fly. Some dreams The big tree in my dream called my name, which frightened me. The most frightening thing was that I often dreamed that I fell.” He looked into the courtyard, feeling helpless. "I've never missed a hand before. I like to climb, I've been everywhere, on rooftops, on city walls, and feeding crows on ruined towers. My mother was always worried that I would fall, but I knew I wouldn't. In the end, I did fall. , and now I keep falling and falling even in my dreams."

Meera squeezed his shoulder. "that's it?" "more or less." "Wolf," said Jojen Reed. Bran stared at him with wide eyes. "What?" "Wolf. Skinchanger. Beast. That's what you'll be called if your wolf dreams are known." The names frightened him again. "Who would call me that?" "I'm afraid it will be your own people. Once many people know your true face, they will hate you and even come to kill you." Old Nan often told scary stories about beasts and skinchangers.They are all bad guys in the story. "I'm not like them," Bran said. "I'm not them. That's just a dream."

"Wolf dreams aren't real dreams. When you're awake your eyes are shut tight, and when you're asleep your soul can't help but search for its other half. Bran, there's a lot of energy in you." "I don't want energy. I want to be a knight." "The knight is what you want to be, the wolf is what you are. You can't change the fact, Bran, you can neither deny it nor drive it away. You are a wolf with wings, but you can't fly." Jojen got up. Stroll to the window. "Unless you open your eyes." He pressed his fingers together and poked Bran's forehead hard. Bran touched his forehead, but there was only smooth, unremarkable skin.There are no eyes, there can be no closed eyes at all. "I can't even feel its existence, so how can I open it?" "Bran, you can't find it with your fingers, you have to seek it with your heart." Jojen's strange green eyes scanned Bran's face. "Are you afraid?" "Maester Luwin says there's nothing in dreams to frighten a man." "Yes," Jojen said. "have what?" "There's a past. There's a future. There's truth." After they left, Bran was even more upset.While alone, he tried to open his third eye, but didn't know how to do it.No matter how much I wrinkled my forehead and poked hard, it didn't work.In the next few days, he used what Jojen mentioned to warn others, but the result was quite different from what he had imagined.Miken thought it was ridiculous. "The sea, did you? Seriously, I've longed to see the sea, but never got the chance. So it's coming to me, isn't it? Praise the gods, grant a little wish for the poor blacksmith." "The gods will take me when my time comes," said Septon Chayle quietly, "but I don't think I'll be drowned. You know, Bran, I grew up on the White Knife, swimming It's my forte." Boozy was the only one who took the warning seriously.He ran to see Jojen, and stopped bathing and refused to go near the well.Eventually he got so foul that six of his colleagues had to force him into a tub of hot water, and while they scrubbed him, he screamed for help, saying they were going to drown him like Frog Boy said. die.After the bathing incident, Wine Belly frowned and muttered under his breath when he saw Bran or Jojen. A few days after this, Ser Rodrik returned to Winterfell with his prisoner, a fat young man with plump and moist lips and long hair.He smelled of a latrine, worse than the booze belly he had a while back. "People call him 'Reek,'" Bran asked his name, and the Strawhead replied, "I never heard his real name, only that he worked for Bolton's bastard son and helped him murder the Countess of Hornwood." The bastard himself is dead, Bran learns at the dinner party.Ser Rodrik's men had caught him on Hornwood's estate while he was doing something terrible (Bran couldn't figure out what, only that it seemed to wait until one died).He tried to escape and was shot.However, it was too late to save the poor Countess of Hornwood.After getting married, the illegitimate son locked her in the tower without giving her food.Bran had heard that when Ser Rodrik broke in the door, he found her mouth bloody and her fingers bitten off. "The monster has tied us a thorny knot," the old knight said to Maester Luwin. "The Lady Hornwood is legally his wife whether she likes it or not. He made her marry the heart tree in the sept." She swore a marriage vow, and slept with her that night in full view of everyone. She even signed a will, declaring the damned bastard as her heir, with her family's wax seal on it." "An oath taken under the threat of the sword has no force," argued the maester. "Roose Bolton doesn't think so. After all, this is related to the ownership of a large territory." Sir Rodrik was a little sullen. "So I had to keep the dog slave for a while, and he was supposed to die as much as his master. I had to keep him until Robb came back to the North from the war, because he was the only witness to that bastard's crime. But May Lord Bolton voluntarily give up his territorial claim after hearing his testimony. Right now, the Manderly knights and Bolton's troops are already fighting in Hornwood Forest, but I can't stop it. The old knight turned and looked at Bran sternly. "What have you done since I've gone, Your Highness? Tell my guards not to take a shower? You're going to make them all smell like that Reek, aren't you?" "The sea is coming in here," Bran said. "That's what Jojen saw in the Green Dream. He said drunken stomachs would drown." Maester Luwin tugged on the choker. "The Reed boys believed they could see the future in their dreams, Ser Rodrik. I told Bran that such prophecies were unreliable, but to tell you the truth, there was trouble on the Stony Coast. Raiders coming, looting fishing villages, raping, burning, and doing all sorts of bad things. Rambad Tallha has sent his nephew Benford to deal with it, but I guess they will board the ship as soon as they see our troops, and flee without a trace." "Yeah, and then went to other places to rob houses. The White Ghosts take these cowards away! If our army hadn't traveled thousands of miles to the south, the illegitimate son of the Bolton family, and these guys, how dare they act recklessly!" Rodrik Ser looked at Bran. "What else did the kid say?" "He said the waters would overwhelm the walls. Not only did he see winebellies drown, but Mikken and Septon Chayle too." Ser Rodrik frowned. "Look, if I have to go out and deal with these robbers myself, I'll let my drunken belly stay. He didn't see me drown, did he? No? Very well." This made Bran very excited.Maybe they won't be drowned, he thought, just keep them out of the sea. Meera thought so too that night, when she and Jojen came to Bran's room to play three-way tile with him.But her younger brother couldn't help shaking his head: "The facts I saw in the green dream cannot be changed." My sister was annoyed by his words. "If we can neither heed nor change what is about to happen, why do the gods send warnings?" "I don't know," Jojen said sadly. "If you were drunk, you would probably jump into the well to fulfill the prophecy! But they will fight to the end, and so will Bran." "Me?" Bran suddenly panicked. "Who shall I fight? Will I drown too?" Meera looked at him guiltily. "I shouldn't have said..." He knew what else she was hiding. "Did you see me in the green dream?" he asked Jojen nervously. "Did I drown too?" "It's not drowning." Jojen said, every word and every word was extremely painful. "I dreamed of the man who came into town today, the one they called Reek. You and your brother died at his feet, and he skinned your faces with a long, blood-red sword." Merah stood up abruptly. "I'll go to the dungeon now and stab him with a spear! See how he murders Bran when he's dead!" "The jailers will stop you," Jojen said. "There are guards nearby. They won't believe you if you tell them why you killed him." "But I also have guards around me," Bran reminded them. "I have a drunk belly, a pockmarked Tim, a straw head, a lot of people..." Jojen's moss-colored eyes were full of sympathy. "None of them could stop him, Bran. I don't know why, but I saw the end. I saw you and Rickon lying in your crypts, and there was nothing but the dead king and the stone direwolf in the endless darkness. You are companions." No, Bran thought, no. "If I run away now...to Graywater Watch, to the Ravens, somewhere they can't find..." "It's no use, Bran. Dreams are green, and green dreams must come true."