Chapter 52 Chapter 52: Jon

The bonfire in the night shines on the other side of the hillside like a falling star.In fact, it is brighter than the stars, but it never flickers, but sometimes it swells and stretches, and sometimes it is dark and gloomy, like a distant firework, faint and dim. It was just a mile ahead and two thousand feet high, Jon reckoned, from a commanding height, with a clear view of the mouth of the gorge. "Watcher of Windspeak Gap," said the oldest of them.This man was a servant of the king when he was young, so the brothers in black still call him "Servant" Dai Liji. "So blatantly, what is Mance Rayder afraid of?"

"I reckon he'd have to skin those bastards if he knew they were making fire," said Iban, who was stocky and bald, but muscular like a heap of rocks. "On the mountains, fire is the source of life," said Qhorin Halfhand, "and the means of death." By his instruction, the party had stopped making open flames since they had gone deep into the mountains.They ate cold corned beef, hard bread, and harder cheese, and slept huddled together under cloaks and furs to keep each other warm.The experience reminded Jon of cold nights long ago at Winterfell, when he slept with his brothers.Now these were his brothers too, only the shared bed had been replaced by rock and earth.

"They must have horns." Stone Snake said. Halfhand said, "A trumpet they'll never blow." "What a tall mountain, and it's a long and deadly climb at night," said Iban, watching the distant flames through cracks in the rock that sheltered them all.The sky was cloudless, and the jagged peaks climbed black and high to the summit, and the extreme ice and snow around the summit glowed pale in the moonlight. "If you are not careful, it will be a long fall." Colin Halfhand said, "In my opinion, two people will do. There should also be two guards over there, taking turns to be on duty."

"I'll do it." The ranger nicknamed Stone Snake signed up first. After getting along with him for a while, Jon knew that he was the best climber in the team, so he was naturally the one to go on this mission. "Me too," Jon said. Qhorin Halfhand looked at him.The wind howls through the mouth of the gorge high overhead - hence the name Fengsheng Gorge.Someone's mount neighed and kicked the thin, rocky mud in the cave where they were hiding. "The wolf stays," Colin said, "the white fur stands out too much in the moonlight." He turned to the stone snake. "When it's done, throw down the torches. We'll follow right away."

"Go ahead," said Stone Snake. Each of them carried a large coil of rope.Stonesnake also carried a bag of iron nails, and a small hammer with a thick felt tip.They left the horse, the helmet, the armor, and Ghost.Before setting off, Jon knelt before the direwolf and let the wolf nuzzle him. "Stay," he ordered, "I will come back to you." Stone Snake takes the lead.He was a short, thin man in his late fifties, with a gray beard, but he was much stronger than he looked, and he had the best night vision of any man Jon had ever known--which would come in handy tonight.During the day, the mountains are blue-gray, covered with ice and snow, and when the sun disappears over the jagged peaks, everything is black again.Now, the bright moon hangs high, dyeing them silvery white.

The black-clad brothers walked in the dark shadows among the black rocks, heading for the cliffs, leaving curving trails, breathing frost in the black air.Without his armor, Jon felt naked, but luckily it was easier to move.The journey is hard and slow, because if you rush, you risk breaking your knees or worse.The stone snake seemed to know how to get down instinctively, but on this broken and uneven ground, Jon could only take every step and be extra careful. Fengsheng Gorge is a long series of canyons worthy of the name. It is long and tortuous. Sometimes it surrounds rolling snow-capped mountains, and sometimes it becomes a hidden canyon that cannot see the sun.Jon had seen no living soul save his own companions since he left the forest and went up the hill.The Fang of Frost is the most cruel and ruthless place created by the gods, full of hostility to humans.Here the wind is like a razor, screaming in the cold night, as if a mother is mourning her child; Icicles, viewed from a distance, look like snow-white fangs.

Even so, Jon does not regret this journey, because this is also a place of miracles.They walked along the edge of the steep rock, and saw the beauty of the sun shining on the ice-covered waterfall; Someone stood up, russet and golden piper grass; deep, dark caves, which he thought led directly to hell; and he rode across natural wind-eroded stone bridges, with nothing on either side but endless sky.Eagles build their nests on the cliffs, hunt in the ravines, spread their vigorous blue-gray wings tirelessly, and fly around, almost merging with the sky.Once he even saw the shadow lynx hunt a ram, it waited and killed like a slow stream of smoke in the belly of a mountain.

Now it's our turn to cull.He wished he could be as firm and silent as the shadow lynx, killing enemies cleanly.Longclaw was on his back, but he was worried about the space, so he also prepared a knife and dagger.The opponent will have weapons, and I don't wear armor.He couldn't help but wonder who was the Shadow Bobcats and who was playing the Rams again tonight. They walked along the path for a long time, snaking, meandering, and turning on the side of the mountain, constantly going up and up.Sometimes, the mountains cover each other, and there is no way to see the distant bonfire, but as long as you walk down, it will appear again in front of you.The road chosen by the stone snake is not suitable for horses, and in some places even Jon has to stick his back to the cold stone, dragging his feet inch by inch like a crab.Widening paths is often not a good thing: there will be deep holes big enough to swallow a person's feet, countless tripping debris, and puddles that flow during the day and condense at night.Take one step at a time, Jon told himself.One step at a time, I will never fall.

He hadn't shaved since leaving the Fist of the First Men, and the beard around his lip was frozen into a single patch.After two hours of climbing, the cold wind became so fierce that he could only use all his strength to move desperately, clinging to the cliff, praying silently in his heart that he would not be blown off.One step at a time, when the gust of wind subsided temporarily, he emphasized to himself again.One step at a time, I will never fall. It was not long before they reached a height that did not permit looking down.Underneath is endless darkness, above head is the bright moon and stars, and there is nothing else between the sky and the earth. "The mountain is your mother," Stone Snake had told him a few days earlier, when they had climbed the less steep mountains. "Hold tightly, press your face to her breasts, she will never abandon you." Jon joked at that time, saying that he had been looking for his biological mother, but he did not expect to reunite with her in Frostfang.It's not so funny these days.One step at a time, I will never fall, he thought, gripping tighter.

The narrow path came to an abrupt end at a jutting block of thick black granite.In the bright moonlight, the shadows cast by the rocks were as black as caves. "Straight up," said the ranger quietly, "and get on top of them." He took off his gloves, tucked them into his belt, and tied the rope around his waist and Jon's. "Follow when the rope is tight." The ranger set off without waiting for an answer, using hands and feet faster than Jon could have imagined.The long rope is released slowly.Jon came closer to observe, carefully studying the other person's moving posture, and noting the position of each foothold.When the last coil of hemp rope was released, he hurriedly took off his gloves and followed, but his speed was much slower.

Stonesnake wound the rope around the smooth outcropping of the rock, and the man waited beside it, letting go again as soon as Jon approached, and went on.This time, when the rope was stretched, there was no suitable rock, so he took out a felt-wrapped hammer and tapped lightly to drive the iron nail into the rock.The sound was soft, but every blow echoed from rock to wall, making Jon wince, thinking the wildlings must hear.When the nails were fastened and the Stonesnake fastened the rope, Jon followed.Suck on Dashan's tits, he reminded himself.don't bow your head.Put your weight on your feet.don't bow your head.Stare at the stone in front of you.The nails are strong, yes.don't bow your head.You can catch your breath by reaching that cliff, so go!Never bow your head. At one point, he stepped on the ground, and the heart in his chest stopped beating, but the gods blessed him, and he didn't fall.The cold in the rock seeped into his fingertips, but he dared not put on the gloves—no matter how tight they looked yesterday, the fur and cloth rubbing between the skin and the stone would slip and kill him.The burned palm gradually becomes stiff and painful.I don't know when, the thumb nail also fell off, and there were smears of blood wherever the hand touched.He just hoped his fingers were still intact when he reached the finish line. Up they climbed, up, up, like two dark shadows wriggling on a moonlit rock wall.Anyone standing in the valley could easily spot them, but the high mountains hid the wildlings' campfires.They should be very close, Jon could feel it.But his thoughts were not of the defenseless enemy that awaited him, but of his brothers at Winterfell.Bran climbs so much, I wish I had a tenth of his courage. The rock wall is interrupted at two-thirds of its height by an ice-rock fissure.Stone Snake reached out to help him climb over.Seeing that he had put his gloves back on, Jon did the same.Once on top, the Ranger turned to the left, and the two of them crawled nearly three hundred feet across the platform until they could see a dim orange glow over the edge of the cliff. The savages built their campfires in a shallow depression above the narrowest point of the valley mouth, with a vertical rock pillar below it and a mountain wall behind it to shield it from the strong wind.The two brothers in black just took advantage of the windbreak wall to crawl slowly, crawling forward until they looked down at their opponent. One was asleep, curled up and buried under the hill of fur, and Jon could see only his bright red hair under the campfire.The second sat close to the fire, adding branches to it, and whining about the cold wind.The last one was watching the gorge, although there was nothing to see now, only the endless darkness surrounding the snow-covered peaks, but he did not relax.The horn is upon him. three people.Jon couldn't help feeling a little uneasy.I thought there were two of them, but luckily one of them was falling asleep.But whether there are two, three or twenty below, he must fulfill his duty.Stonesnake touched his arm and pointed to the wildling with the horn, and Jon nodded to the men by the fire.It was a strange feeling to choose a victim.But he has spent half his life dancing swords and shields, isn't it just for this moment?Did Robb feel the same way on his first battle?He couldn't help being curious, but he had no time to think about it right now.Stone Snake moved as fast as his name suggests, and he jumped into the wildling camp with a rain of pebbles.Jon unsheathed his long claws and followed closely. Everything happened in an instant, and afterwards Jon admired the courage of the wildling who would rather blow the horn than take a weapon.He had brought it to his lips, but the Stone Serpent hurled his dagger and knocked it flying.Jon's foe jumped to his feet, grabbed the burning log and stabbed him in the face.He quickly dodged, only to feel the hot air blowing towards his face, and at the same time, he saw the sleeping man also started to move out of the corner of his eye, and he knew that the battle must be resolved quickly.The fire stick came again, and he jumped forward, holding the long-handled sword tightly with both hands and stabbing forward.The Valyrian steel pierced through leather and fur and wool and flesh, but the wildling fought hard, twisting Jon's sword, before he fell.The sleeper over there has sat up under the fur.Jon drew his short knife, grabbed the man's hair, and brought the blade to his chin, to his—no, hers— His hand stopped suddenly. "female." "Watcher," Stone Snake said, "Savage. Get rid of her." He saw the fire and fear in her eyes.The short knife cut her white neck, and blood flowed down the blade drop by drop.Cut her down, he told himself.They were so close that he could smell the onions on her breath.She was younger than he was, and though she was not at all like Arya in looks, she had something about her that reminded him of his little sister. "Will you surrender?" he asked, turning the knife away.What if she doesn't surrender? "I surrender." Her words were fogged in the air-conditioning. "Then... you are our prisoner." He pulled the dagger away from the soft skin of her throat. "Colin didn't order captives," said Stone Snake. "He didn't stop either." Jon let go of the girl's hair, and she backed away sharply, away from them. "She's a spearwife," Stone Snake pointed to the longaxe lying beside the fur bed she had just slept on. "Just now she was about to grab a weapon. If you were too late, she would have knocked you over." "I won't be slow." Jon kicked the ax out of the girl's reach. "Do you have a name?" "Ygritte." She rubbed her throat with her hands, her hands were bloodshot.She stared at the blood in surprise.Jon sheathed his knife and drew Longclaw from the man he had slain. "You are my prisoner, Ygritte." "I told you the name." "I'm Jon Snow." She couldn't help but flinch. "Evil last name." "Bastard's name," he said, "my father is Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell." The girl watched him warily, and the Stone Snake chuckled sarcastically, "That's right? It's the captive who should confess." The ranger thrust a long stick into the fire. "But she won't say anything. Most of the wildlings would rather kill themselves than answer questions." The end of the branch was burning with joy, and he took two steps forward and threw it down the canyon.The fire branch whirled and fell into the night sky, disappearing without a trace. "Cremate the dead," Ygritte said suddenly. "This ignition is not enough, and adding firewood will expose the target." Stone Snake turned his head and looked into the dark distance, searching for traces of light. "There are wildlings around, aren't there?" "Burn them," the girl repeated stubbornly, "unless you want to kill them again." Jon suddenly thought of dead Orther and his cold black hand. "Perhaps we should consider her suggestion." "There are many ways." The stone snake knelt beside his victim, took off his cloak, boots, belt, and vest, lifted the body on his thin shoulders, carried it to the edge of the cliff, and hurled it down muttering.After a while, there was a muffled and heavy muffled sound from a distance below.At this moment the Rangers stripped the second dead man naked and dragged him to the edge.Jon came and lifted the wildling's foot, and together they threw it into the endless darkness. During this period, Ygritte has been watching coldly, silent.On closer inspection, Jon saw that she wasn't that young, perhaps twenty, but rather short for her age, with bowed knees, a round face, small hands, a snub nose, and wild red hair facing toward the Extending in all directions.She looked bloated there squatting, but it was an illusion created by layers of fur and wool and leather, and in fact, under the wool, she might be as skinny as Arya. "You were sent to spy on us?" Jon asked her. "Spying on you, and other things." Stone Snake warms his hands over a campfire. "What's over there in the canyon?" "Free folk." "how many?" "Hundreds and thousands, it's an eye-opener for you, crow." She smiled, her teeth were irregular but extremely white. She doesn't know how to count at all. "Why are you gathering there?" Ygritte was silent. "What is your king doing in Frostfang? You cannot stay long, there is no food there." She turned away from him. "Are you planning to enter the Great Wall? When?" She looked at the flames, as if she hadn't heard him. "Have you heard of my uncle, Benjen Stark?" Ygritte was indifferent, and Stone Snake laughed loudly: "If she bites her tongue and commits suicide later, don't blame me for not warning you." A rumbling growl echoed among the rocks.Shadowcat, Jon understood immediately.As he got up, he heard the roar of another one, which was close at hand, so he turned around and drew his sword, listening. "They don't come," said Ygritte. "They come for the dead body. These cats can smell blood six miles away. Tonight, they'll hang around the dead body and eat it clean. , not even the bone marrow." Jon could clearly hear the echoes of their feeding, which made him uncomfortable.The warmth of the campfire made him aware of his exhaustion, but he dared not sleep.Once he has captured the captive, it is his duty to protect her. "Are they your relatives?" he asked her softly. "Just the two we killed?" "Not closer than you." "Me?" He frowned, "What do you mean?" "You said you were the illegitimate child of Winterfell." "yes." "Then who is your mother?" "I don't know...it's a woman anyway." Someone said that to him, but he couldn't remember who. She smiled a second time, flashing her white teeth. "Didn't she sing you 'Winter Snow Rose'?" "I haven't met my mother, and I haven't heard the song." "The song was written by Bale the Bard," said Ygritte. "He was the King Beyond the Wall long, long ago. The Free Folk sing his songs, though you may not hear them in the South. That's all." "Winterfell is not the South," Jon retorted. "No, for us, south of the Great Wall is south." He never thought about it that way. "It appears that the narrative depends on the location." "Yes," Ygritte agreed, "always." "You tell the allusion," Jon urged her.It was hours before Colin went up the mountain, and listening to the legend might keep him awake. "I want to hear it." "I'm afraid you won't like the story." "It doesn't matter." "What a brave black crow," she mocked. "Well, then I'll tell you. Once upon a time, Bell was a great raider before he was king of the free folk." Stone Snake snorted, "In other words, killers, bandits, and rapists." "It depends on where you are," Ygritte said. "At that time, Lord Stark of Winterfell offered a reward for Bell's head, but he couldn't catch it. The taste of failure made him extremely distressed. One day, he Angrily accused Bell of being a coward who only bullies the weak. When the news came, Bell vowed to teach the lord an unforgettable lesson. So he crossed the Great Wall, walked on the King's Road, and arrived at Winterfell on a cold winter night. He holds a harp, and claims to be from Sgargos of Skagos, the great island of the Bay of Seals, which, because of its remoteness, belongs to the Starks only in name. And 'Skagos' ' means 'liar' in the old language, the language of the First Men, which the Giants still speak." "Singers are always popular everywhere, so Bell was invited to Lord Stark's banquet, and played music for the high-ranking lord until late at night. He played old songs and sang new songs he composed , and performed so movingly that when it was over, the lord proposed that he should choose something for his reward. 'I want only one flower,' answered Bell, 'the one that blooms brightest in the gardens of Winterfell.'" "At that time, it coincided with the moment when the winter snow rose was in full bloom. No flower was more precious and rare than it. So Lord Stark immediately ordered people to go to his glass garden to pick the most beautiful winter snow rose as a reward for the singer. People thought it was over, but when the dawn came, the singer mysteriously disappeared...and Lord Brandon's daughter disappeared at the same time. Her bed was empty, and there was only Bell on the pillow where she slept. Roses below, blue as frost." Jon had never heard the story. "Which Brandon? Brandon the Builder lived in the Age of Heroes, probably thousands of years before Bell. And Brandon the Burner and his father Brandon the Builder, but—" "This is Brandon the Lost Lady," said Ygritte sharply. "Do you want to hear a story, huh?" He sullenly said, "Tell me." "Lord Brandon only had this one child, so he was so anxious that he sent hundreds of black crows to the north to search. But they found neither Bell nor his daughter. After searching in vain for more than half a year, Lord Lord He was so sad that he couldn't get sick, and the blood of the Stark family seemed to be cut off here. But one night, when Lord Brandon was lying quietly waiting to die, he heard a baby crying. He jumped up and followed He went away without a sound, and actually found his daughter in her bedroom, she was sleeping soundly, with a baby in her arms." "Bell brought her back?" "No. They've been at Winterfell all this time, hiding in the cellars of the dead beneath the castle. The ballad says the maiden loved Belle so much that she would bear him... But to be honest, Bell's song Every girl in the world loved him. Anyway, Bell kept the child in return for the rose he picked without warning, and the child would grow up to be the next Lord Stark. So - you Has Bale's blood in him, like me." "The story is not true," Jon said. She shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But anyway, it's a beautiful song. My mother used to sing it to me. She's a woman, Jon Snow, just like your mother." neck. "The ballad ended when people found the baby, but the whole story had a tragic ending. Thirty years later, Bell became king beyond the wall and led the free folk to the south. The young Lord Stark led the army at the Frost Ferry Meet him...and kill him, for Bael cannot lay hands on his son in a duel." "So the son killed the father," Jon said. "Yes," she said, "but the gods cursed the kinslayer, even if he had done so unintentionally. When Lord Stark returned from battle, and his mother saw Bael's head on the point of her son's spear from afar, she In grief, he threw himself from the tower. The son did not live long, and was later skinned by one of his lords, and used the skin as a cloak." "This Bear you're talking about is lying." Jon told her, how could it be? "No," said Ygritte, "I can only say that the truth promised by the poet is not the same as the truth that you and I have in mind. Anyway, you asked me to tell the story, and I told you." She turned away. Look at him, close your eyes, seems to be going to sleep.At dawn, Colin Halfhand finally arrived.The eastern sky turned indigo, and the pitch-black rocks turned from black to blue.Stonesnake was the first to spot the wading rangers, and Jon woke his captive, took her by the arm, and went down to join him.Thankfully, there are other routes to the north and west of the mountains, and they are easier than the ones we came climbing.After advancing for a while, they waited in a narrow pass until the brothers appeared with their horses.Bai Ling smelled the scent and ran first.Jon squatted down quickly, and let the direwolf bite his wrist with his mouth and drag it around vigorously. This was a game they often played between them.But when he looked up, he saw Ygritte looking at him, eyes as big and white as eggs. Qhorin Halfhand made no comment on the new captive. "There are three of them," Stonesnake told him.Nothing else needs to be said. "We just met the first two on the road," Iban said, "at least we saw the remains of the cat." He looked at the girl oddly, suspicion clearly written on his face. "She surrendered," Jon found himself having to explain. Colin looked indifferent, "Know who I am?" "Colin Halfhand." The girl was like a half-grown child in front of him, but she boldly looked back. "To be honest, if I fall into your hands and surrender, what can I get?" "Die faster." The tall ranger turned to Jon. "We don't have any extra food, and it's even more impossible to allocate manpower to guard it." "It's a tough road ahead, boy," said the squire, Dai Liji. "Cry out when you need to be quiet, and we're all over." Iban drew his dagger. "The kiss of steel shut her up forever." Jon felt his throat dry.He looked at the others helplessly. "She surrendered to me." "Then you must do what you have to do," said Qhorin Halfhand. "Remember, you are of the blood of Winterfell, a man of the Night's Watch." He looked at the others. "Come on, boys. Let him do it himself. He'll be better off without us." With that, he led the men up the steep, twisting trail, toward the mountain pass, against the pink sun.Before long, only Jon, Ghost, and the wildling girl were left in place. He thought Ygritte would run away, but she just stood there, motionless, staring at him. "You didn't kill a woman, did you?" He shook his head, and she went on, "We die just like men. You don't have to kill me, though. Listen, Mance will take you, I know he will. Here There are secret passages. Those crows will never catch us." "They and I are crows," Jon said. She nodded, making a gesture of resignation. "After that, burn me?" "I can't. The smoke will be found." "That's right." She shrugged. "Well, burying a shadow in the belly of a bobcat isn't the worst way to die." He pulled his longclaw out of his shoulder. "Are you afraid?" "Last night was scary," she admits. "But now the sun has risen." She brushed her hair back, exposing her neck, and knelt in front of him. "Severely, aim at the cut, crow, or I will come to you as a ghost." Longclaws were not as long and heavy as my father's ice, but they were still Valyrian steel.He touched the blade for a long time, estimating where to strike, when Ygritte began to tremble. "It's cold," she said, "quick, let's do it." He raised Longpaw above his head, clasping his hands.All you need is a sharp knife and all your strength.At least, I can let her die happily and cleanly.I am my father's son.isn't it?isn't it? "Do it," she urged again after a while. "Bastard, do it quickly. I can't go on bravely forever." When the blow never fell, she finally turned to look at him. Jon lowered his longsword. "Go," he muttered. Ygritte stared at him. "Quick," he said, "before my sanity comes back, go." she ran away.