Chapter 54 Chapter 54: Jon

There was darkness in Fengsheng Gorge.For most of the day, the huge boulders and mountains on both sides block the sun, people and horses walk in the shadows, and their breath is frosted in the air-conditioning.Ice-coated water trickled from the snowdrifts overhead and fell to the ground, forming frozen pools that were crushed under the trample of horses' hoofs.A few weeds broke free from the cracks in the rocks, and here and there a few pale lichens, but there was no grass here, and they were advancing over the forest. The path is steep and narrow, spiraling upwards, and when it reaches the mountain, it is so narrow that it can only advance in single file.The attendant Dai Liji walked in the front, with a longbow in his hand, watching from a distance for reconnaissance.It is said that his eyesight is unmatched by all the members of the Night's Watch.

Bai Ling ran restlessly beside Jon, stopping to turn his head from time to time, pricking up his ears, as if he heard something trailing him.Jon knew that a shadowcat would not attack a living person—unless it was starving, but he drew out his long claws and stood on guard. The apex of the canyon is a wind-eroded gray arch stone.From here, the road widens and gradually descends until it reaches the Milky River valley.Colin announces that the team will rest here until the shadow grows. "Shadows are friends of the man in black," he said. Jon was convinced of this.Riding in the sun — letting the mountain sun splatter your cape and drive away the bone-chilling chill — is as intoxicating as it is fraught with danger.There are three watchmen at the gorge, and the deeper you go, there will be more, and you may encounter them at any time.

The stone snake curled up in its tattered fur cloak and fell asleep almost immediately.Jon and Ghost share the corned beef, while Ebben and Darigi the squire feed the horses.Qhorin Halfhand sat down with his back against the rock, sharpening his sword slowly and endlessly.Jon stared at the tall ranger for a while before finding the courage to step forward. "My lord," said he, "you have not asked me what happened to me about the girl." "I'm not an adult, Jon Snow." Colin held the stone sharpener steadily with the palm of his two-fingered hand. "She asked me to go with him. She said Mance would take me."

"She was right." "She even claimed that I was related to her. She told me a story about..." "...Bell the Bard and the Rose of Winterfell. The Stone Serpent has told me. As it happens, I have heard the song. Mance used to sing it when he returned from his patrol. He liked the music of the wildlings, Oh, and their women." "You know him?" "We all know him." He said sadly. They had fought side by side, as brothers, Jon understood, but now they were sworn enemies. "Why did he break his oath and leave?" "Some say he's a whore, some say he's a crown." Colin tried the blade with his thumb. "Mance loved women very much, and he belonged to the kind of person who didn't like to kneel to others, all of which were true, but the reasons for his departure were deeper. He loved the wilderness more than the Great Wall. It was in his blood, His nature. He was a bastard born, a child we left from the arms of raiders we had killed - the kind the Night's Watch surnamed 'Red', and leaving the Shadow Tower was just a matter of time for him. It's home."

"Was he a good Ranger back then?" "He's the best of us," said Halfhand, "but in a way, he's also the worst. Only a fool like Thoron Smallwood despises it, Jon." Wildlings, they are as brave as we are, as strong, as swift, as wise, but without discipline. They call themselves free folk, and every man thinks he is as great as a king and as wise as a maester. Mance is so, he Never learned the meaning of obedience." "Same as me," Jon said quietly. Colin's shrewd gray eyes seemed to see right through him. "You let her go." There was no trace of surprise in his tone.

"You know?" "I just found out. Tell me, why did you let her go?" It's hard to explain. "My father never used an executioner. He used to say that if you're going to take someone's life, you should at least look into her eyes and listen to her last words. When I look into Ygritte's eyes, I..." Jon bowed his head , looking helplessly at his hands. "I know she is the enemy, but there is no evil in her eyes." "Neither did those two before." "But they had a life-or-death relationship with us," Jon said. "If they found out, if they sounded the horn..."

"The savages will hunt us down and kill them all. Is this the end?" "But then Stonesnake got the horn, and we took Ygritte's knife and axe. She followed us, on foot, unarmed..." "Shouldn't be a threat," Colin agreed. "I really want her dead and leave Iban to do it, or do it myself." "Then why did you order me to go?" "I didn't order you. I just let you do what you should do, and you can think about everything yourself." Colin stood up and retracted the long sword into its sheath. "To climb a mountain, I'll call the Stone Serpent; to shoot a man through the eye in a blustery field, I'll send my squire Daleigh; and Ebben can tell anyone a secret. A man is a good man, Jon Snow , I know you better now than I did this morning."

"What if I kill her?" Jon asked. "She died, and I understand that your goal has also been achieved. Well, without further ado, you should sleep for a while. There are still many leagues of road ahead, and it is dangerous. You need to conserve your energy." Jon knew he couldn't sleep, but knew Halfhand meant well.He found shelter under an overhanging rock, and lay down clothed, his cloak serving as a blanket. "Ghost," he called, "come here, come to me." Usually, as long as the big white wolf is snuggled next to him, he will sleep soundly. the warmth.But this time, Bai Ling only took a few glances at him, then turned his head and trotted around the horse, and then fled away quickly.He wants to hunt, Jon thought. There might be goats in the hills, and the Shadowcat must make a living. "Don't force yourself, it's not good to catch cats," he murmured.Shadow lynxes are a threat even to direwolves.He drew the cloak over himself and spread himself out under the shelter of the rock.

Closing his eyes, he dreamed of the direwolf. The six wolves are one, and the five wolves remain, dividing the world and not communicating with each other.All he felt was a deep emptiness and tearing pain.The forest is vast and cold, they are so small, so lost.He knew that his brothers and sisters were somewhere, but he couldn't smell it.So he sat curled up, raised his head to the dark sky and howled, and his cry echoed in the forest, becoming a long and lonely lament.As the lingering sound faded, he pricked up his ears, waiting for an answer.The only response was Fubuki's sigh. Jon?

A call came from behind, although it was as soft as a whisper, it was still firm.Is it possible to be silent even to cry?He hurriedly turned his head, looking for his brother, hoping to catch a glimpse of the thin gray figure in the forest, but there was nothing on the other side, except... A weirwood. It sprouted from the solid rock, its pale roots spiraling up through countless fissures and crevices.At first, this weirwood was slender than its kind, and it was almost just a sapling, but it grew suddenly before its eyes, its branches became thicker, and it went straight to the sky.Alert, he walked cautiously around the smooth thick white trunk just in time to bump into the tree's face.There were red eyes staring at him, fierce but joyful.It turned out that the face of this weirwood was exactly like that of his younger brother.Has the younger brother always had three eyes?

Not all the time, the silent cry came again, after the crow arrived. He sniffed the bark, smelled the wolf, the tree, the boy, and beyond that, deeper smells: the rich brown smell of warm earth, the hard gray smell of cold stone, and others. , more terrible smell... death, he understood.What he smelled was death.He jerked back, his hair bristling and his sharp teeth bared. Don't be afraid, I like being in the dark.Others can't see you, but you can see others.But first you have to open your eyes.Understand?like this.The tree bent down and touched him. Suddenly, he was back in the mountains again, and saw himself standing on the edge of a huge cliff, his claws deep in the snowdrift.Ahead, the Fengsheng Gorge has come to an end, unfolding into a boundless emptiness.A long V-shaped river valley is placed under the body, filled with all the colors of the autumn afternoon. At the end of the valley, there is a huge blue and white wall, which clings to the mountain, as if trying to squeeze the two mountains apart.For a moment, he thought he was dreaming of Castle Black, but then he realized it was just a glacier thousands of feet high.Under the glinting ice wall, there is a majestic lake, the blue diamond-like deep water reflects the brilliance of the surrounding snow peaks.There are people in the canyon, he can see clearly: there are many people, thousands of people, crowded.Some dug large pits in the half-frozen ground, others practiced fighting.He saw a large group of cavalry charging a shield wall, the horses under their legs were as small as ants.The sound of the exercise was like the rustling of iron leaves, slightly suspended in the wind.Their camp was unplanned and disorganized: there were no ditches, no pickets, and not even horses in line.Earthen huts can be seen everywhere, and animal skin tents sprout like pox on the face of the earth.He looked at the messy haystacks, smelled the rich smell of goats, sheep, horses, pigs, and dogs, black smoke rising like tendrils from a thousand campfires. This is not an army, it is clearly a busy city.People from all directions gathered. Across Long Lake, a mound is moving.He stared intently at it as it approached, only to realize that it was not dirt but a living thing, a slow-moving furry monster with a snake-like nose, and its tusks were bigger than the most magnificent boar tusks he had ever seen. huge.The thing riding it is also huge, but its shape is a bit strange, with extremely thick legs and hips, it doesn't look like a human. A sudden gust of cold wind made his hair stand on end, and the shriek of his wings made the sky tremble.He raised his eyes to the snow-capped peak, and saw a shadow descending vertically from mid-air.The terrifying cry tore through the sky, and the gray-blue giant wings stretched out, covering the sky and covering the sun... "Ghost!" Jon yelled, sitting up.He could still feel the claw, the pain. "Bai Ling, come back!" It was Ebben who came, grabbing Jon and shaking him. "Quiet! Are you trying to lure all the wildlings down? What's wrong with you, boy?" "Dream," Jon said feebly, "I was Ghost in the dream, standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking a frozen river. Then something hit me. It was a bird... an eagle, I think..." The attendant Dai Liji smiled, "We often dream about beautiful girls, so we should have more dreams." Colin walked over to him. "You mean, a frozen river?" "The milk river originates in a deep lake at the bottom of a glacier," interjected Stonesnake. "There was a tree with my brother's face in it. There were wildlings... thousands of wildlings, I never knew there were so many of them, and giants riding mammoths." Through the changing light of the sky, Jon He judged that he had slept for four or five hours.He had a splitting headache, and the back of his neck was burning from the attacks of his minions.But that was a dream. "Tell me everything you remember, from beginning to end, in every detail." Colin Halfhand said. Jon was confused. "Isn't that a dream?" "That was a wolf dream," Halfhand said. "Caster told the Lord Commander that the wildlings are gathering at the head of the Milk River. Maybe that's why you dreamed this dream; maybe you really saw what awaited us, far in advance. In our footsteps. Anyway, tell me the truth." Telling Colin and the other Rangers this stuff made him feel like an idiot, but he had to obey orders.The strange thing is that after listening, none of the brothers in black laughed at him, even Dai Liji, the attendant, stopped smiling. "Skinchangers?" Iban said sternly, looking at Halfhand.Did he mean the eagle?Jon pondered, or me?Skinchangers and wolf spirits only appeared in Old Nan's stories, not of the world he had been born into.But here, in this strange and cold waste of rock and snow, nothing was hard to believe. "The cold wind is blowing, and Mormont feels it, and Benjen Stark feels it. Dead men walk, and the eyes of trees reappear. What's so unbelievable about wargs and skinchangers?" "Could it be that our dreams can also come true?" the attendant Dai Liji said, "Master Xue Nuo just keep his mammoth, I want my women." "I grew up serving the Night's Watch and patrolling more than anyone else," said Iban. "I've seen giant bones and heard many strange legends, but never seen the real thing. Seeing is believing, and now I Take a good look." "Be careful, don't let them see you, Iban," said the Stone Snake. Until people moved forward again, Bai Ling did not show up.By this time the shadow had completely covered the bottom of the channel, and the sun was setting fast against the twin sharp peaks that the rangers called the Forks.If the dream is real... the thought is scary to think about.Could it be that Bai Ling was really hurt by the eagle's claws?Have you been pushed off a cliff?And that weirwood with my brother's face on it, how could it smell of death and darkness? The last ray of sunlight disappeared behind the "fork tip", and the haze of dusk shrouded Fengsheng Gorge, and the temperature seemed to drop a lot in an instant.They no longer climbed, and in fact the road descended slowly, rough but not steep.The road is full of cracks, broken rocks and large falling rocks.It will be dark soon, and Ghost is still missing. This feeling is tearing Jon apart, but he can't call the direwolf as usual, because the place is full of dangers. "Colin," the attendant Dai Liji whispered, "there. Look." An eagle perches overhead on a ledge against a darkening sky.We see eagles a lot, Jon thought, and this can't be the one I dreamed about. Even so, Iban bowed his bow, but his attendants stopped him. "The bird was way out of range." "I don't like it staring at us." The attendant shrugged, "Me too, but you can't control it, you will only waste a good feather arrow." Colin sat in the saddle and watched the eagle for a long time. "Let's go on," he said at last.So the Rangers continued downhill. Ghost, Jon just wants to shout, where the hell are you? He was just about to keep up with Colin and the others when he saw a flash of white light between two big rocks.It's the accumulated residual snow, he was thinking so, when he saw the pile of "snow" trembling.This time he immediately got off his horse and fell to his knees among the rocks. Ghost looked up, his neck gleaming with wet reflections, and when Jon took off his gloves and stroked him, he didn't make a sound.The eagle's claws were torn apart, bloody and bloody, but luckily it didn't break his neck, killing him. Qhorin Halfhand stood beside Jon. "How serious is it?" Bai Ling seemed to want to answer, struggling to get up. "A strong wolf," said the ranger. "Ibben, water. Stonesnake, your wineskin. Jon, hold him tight." Everyone worked together and finally cleaned the blood clots from the direwolf's fur.When Colin poured the wine into the blood-red indistinct wound left by the eagle's claw, Bai Ling tried his best to break free, grinning his teeth, but Jon hugged him tightly and murmured comforting words, finally calming the wolf down.Finally, they tore strips of cloth from Jon's cloak and bound the wolf's wounds.The whole field is completely dark, and a smear of starlight separates the dark sky from the dark rocks. "Shall we continue?" Stone Snake wondered. Colin walked to his mount. "Do not look back." "Turn back?" Jon was taken aback in surprise. "Hawkeye's eyes are sharper than human eyes. We have been spotted and we have to run away." Duanzhang tied a long black scarf around his head and got on his horse. The other Rangers looked at each other, and no one argued.Then they mounted their horses one by one and turned around in the direction of home. "Ghost, come here," he called, and the direwolf followed, like a white shadow moving through the night. They rode all night, on winding and ascending channels, across broken land.The wind crescendoed.It was suddenly dark between heaven and earth, and he could only dismount and walk while leading his mount.Iban once suggested lighting the fire, but Colin flatly refused: "There must be no fire."After reaching the summit stone beam, they continued to descend.In the darkness, a shadow lynx roared angrily, and the roar echoed in the valley, like dozens of cats echoing each other at a distance.Once Jon saw a pair of fiery eyes as big as the full moon on the peak above his head. In the dark hours before dawn they stopped at last to drink the horses, feeding each a handful of oats and pinches of hay. "It's not far from the place where we kill wildlings," Colin said. "One can stop a hundred there, as long as the person is chosen correctly." He looked at his attendant Dai Liji. The servant bowed his head. "Brothers, leave me all the extra arrows." He tapped the longbow. "Remember to feed my horse an apple when you get home. Poor guy, that's his well-deserved reward." He was going to stay and die, Jon knew. Colin gripped the squire's forearm with his gloved hand. "If an eagle flies down from the sky..." "...it has to change its feathers." The last thing Jon saw of his attendant Darigi was his back, walking straight up the mountain on hands and feet. After daybreak, Jon looked up at the cloudless sky, where a speck moved across the blue screen.Iban noticed it too, and couldn't help cursing. Colin told him to be quiet, "Listen." Jon held his breath and listened.Behind them, far away, came the call of a hunting horn, wandering among the mountains. "Here they come," Colin said. ※※※※※※※ ①In English, "Rayder" Reid is a variant of "Raider" raiders.