“No, truly?”
“Truly. I’m to assist Maester Aemon with the library and the birds. He needs someone who canread and write letters.”
“You’ll do well at that,” Jon said, smiling.
Sam glanced about anxiously. “Is it time to go? I shouldn’t be late, they might change their minds.”
He was fairly bouncing as they crossed the weed-strewn courtyard. The day was warm and sunny.
Rivulets1 of water trickled2 down the sides of the Wall, so the ice seemed to sparkle and shine.
Inside the sept, the great crystal caught the morning light as it streamed through the south-facingwindow and spread it in a rainbow on the altar. Pyp’s mouth dropped open when he caught sight ofSam, and Toad3 poked4 Grenn in the ribs5, but no one dared say a word. Septon Celladar was swinging acenser, filling the air with fragrant6 incense7 that reminded Jon of Lady Stark8’s little sept in Winterfell.
For once the septon seemed sober.
The high officers arrived in a body; Maester Aemon leaning on Clydas, Ser Alliser cold-eyed andgrim, Lord Commander Mormont resplendent in a black wool doublet with silvered bearclawfastenings. Behind them came the senior members of the three orders: red-faced Bowen Marsh9 theLord Steward10, First Builder Othell Yarwyck, and Ser Jaremy Rykker, who commanded the rangers12 inthe absence of Benjen Stark.
Mormont stood before the altar, the rainbow shining on his broad bald head. “You came to usoutlaws,” he began, “poachers, rapers, debtors13, killers14, and thieves. You came to us children. Youcame to us alone, in chains, with neither friends nor honor. You came to us rich, and you came to uspoor. Some of you bear the names of proud houses. Others have only bastards’ names, or no names atall. It makes no matter. All that is past now. On the Wall, we are all one house.
“At evenfall, as the sun sets and we face the gathering16 night, you shall take your vows17. From thatmoment, you will be a Sworn Brother of the Night’s Watch. Your crimes will be washed away, yourdebts forgiven. So too you must wash away your former loyalties19, put aside your grudges20, forget oldwrongs and old loves alike. Here you begin anew.
“A man of the Night’s Watch lives his life for the realm. Not for a king, nor a lord, nor the honorof this house or that house, neither for gold nor glory nor a woman’s love, but for the realm, and allthe people in it. A man of the Night’s Watch takes no wife and fathers no sons. Our wife is duty. Ourmistress is honor. And you are the only sons we shall ever know.
“You have learned the words of the vow18. Think carefully before you say them, for once you havetaken the black, there is no turning back. The penalty for desertion is death.” The Old Bear paused fora moment before he said, “Are there any among you who wish to leave our company? If so, go now,and no one shall think the less of you.”
No one moved.
“Well and good,” said Mormont. “You may take your vows here at evenfall, before SeptonCelladar and the first of your order. Do any of you keep to the old gods?”
Jon stood. “I do, my lord.”
“I expect you will want to say your words before a heart tree, as your uncle did,” Mormont said.
“Yes, my lord,” Jon said. The gods of the sept had nothing to do with him; the blood of the FirstMen flowed in the veins21 of the Starks.
He heard Grenn whispering behind him. “There’s no godswood here. Is there? I never saw agodswood.”
“You wouldn’t see a herd22 of aurochs until they trampled23 you into the snow,” Pyp whispered back.
“I would so,” Grenn insisted. “I’d see them a long way off.”
Mormont himself confirmed Grenn’s doubts. “Castle Black has no need of a godswood. Beyondthe Wall the haunted forest stands as it stood in the Dawn Age, long before the Andals brought theSeven across the narrow sea. You will find a grove24 of weirwoods half a league from this spot, andmayhap your gods as well.”
“My lord.” The voice made Jon glance back in surprise. Samwell Tarly was on his feet. The fatboy wiped his sweaty palms against his tunic25. “Might I … might I go as well? To say my words atthis heart tree?”
“Does House Tarly keep the old gods too?” Mormont asked.
“No, my lord,” Sam replied in a thin, nervous voice. The high officers frightened him, Jon knew,the Old Bear most of all. “I was named in the light of the Seven at the sept on Horn Hill, as my fatherwas, and his father, and all the Tarlys for a thousand years.”
“Why would you forsake26 the gods of your father and your House?” wondered Ser Jaremy Rykker.
“The Night’s Watch is my House now,” Sam said. “The Seven have never answered my prayers.
Perhaps the old gods will.”
“As you wish, boy,” Mormont said. Sam took his seat again, as did Jon. “We have placed each ofyou in an order, as befits our need and your own strengths and skills.” Bowen Marsh stepped forwardand handed him a paper. The Lord Commander unrolled it and began to read. “Halder, to thebuilders,” he began. Halder gave a stiff nod of approval. “Grenn, to the rangers. Albett, to thebuilders. Pypar, to the rangers,” Pyp looked over at Jon and wiggled his ears. “Samwell, to thestewards,” Sam sagged28 with relief, mopping at his brow with a scrap29 of silk. “Matthar, to the rangers.
Dareon, to the stewards27. Todder, to the rangers. Jon, to the stewards.”
The stewards! For a moment Jon could not believe what he had heard. Mormont must have read itwrong. He started to rise, to open his mouth, to tell them there had been a mistake … and then he sawSer Alliser studying him, eyes shiny as two flakes30 of obsidian31, and he knew.
The Old Bear rolled up the paper. “Your firsts will instruct you in your duties. May all the godspreserve you, brothers.” The Lord Commander favored them with a half bow, and took his leave. SerAlliser went with him, a thin smile on his face. Jon had never seen the master-at-arms look quite sohappy.
“Rangers with me,” Ser Jaremy Rykker called when they were gone. Pyp was staring at Jon as hegot slowly to his feet. His ears were red. Grenn, grinning broadly, did not seem to realize thatanything was amiss. Matt and Toad fell in beside them, and they followed Ser Jaremy from the sept.
“Builders,” announced lantern-jawed Othell Yarwyck. Halder and Albett trailed out after him.
Jon looked around him in sick disbelief. Maester Aemon’s blind eyes were raised toward the lighthe could not see. The septon was arranging crystals on the altar. Only Sam and Dareon remained onthe benches; a fat boy, a singer … and him.
Lord Steward Bowen Marsh rubbed his plump hands together. “Samwell, you will assist MaesterAemon in the rookery and library. Chett is going to the kennels32, to help with the hounds. You shallhave his cell, so as to be close to the maester night and day. I trust you will take good care of him. Heis very old and very precious to us.
“Dareon, I am told that you sang at many a high lord’s table and shared their meat and mead33. Weare sending you to Eastwatch. It may be your palate will be some help to Cotter Pyke when merchantgalleys come trading. We are paying too dear for salt beef and pickled fish, and the quality of theolive oil we’re getting has been frightful34. Present yourself to Borcas when you arrive, he will keepyou busy between ships.”
Marsh turned his smile on Jon. “Lord Commander Mormont has requested you for his personalsteward, Jon. You’ll sleep in a cell beneath his chambers36, in the Lord Commander’s tower.”
“And what will my duties be?” Jon asked sharply. “Will I serve the Lord Commander’s meals, help him fasten his clothes, fetch hot water for his bath?”
“Certainly.” Marsh frowned at Jon’s tone. “And you will run his messages, keep a fire burning inhis chambers, change his sheets and blankets daily, and do all else that the Lord Commander mightrequire of you.”
“Do you take me for a servant?”
“No,” Maester Aemon said, from the back of the sept. Clydas helped him stand. “We took you fora man of Night’s Watch … but perhaps we were wrong in that.”
It was all Jon could do to stop himself from walking out. Was he supposed to churn butter and sewdoublets like a girl for the rest of his days? “May I go?” he asked stiffly.
“As you wish,” Bowen Marsh responded.
Dareon and Sam left with him. They descended37 to the yard in silence. Outside, Jon looked up at theWall shining in the sun, the melting ice creeping down its side in a hundred thin fingers. Jon’s ragewas such that he would have smashed it all in an instant, and the world be damned.
“Jon,” Samwell Tarly said excitedly. “Wait. Don’t you see what they’re doing?”
Jon turned on him in a fury. “I see Ser Alliser’s bloody38 hand, that’s all I see. He wanted to shameme, and he has.”
Dareon gave him a look. “The stewards are fine for the likes of you and me, Sam, but not for LordSnow.”
“I’m a better swordsman and a better rider than any of you,” Jon blazed back. “It’s not fair.”
“Fair?” Dareon sneered39. “The girl was waiting for me, naked as the day she was born. She pulledme through the window, and you talk to me of fair?” He walked off.
“There is no shame in being a steward,” Sam said.
“Do you think I want to spend the rest of my life washing an old man’s smallclothes?”
“The old man is Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch,” Sam reminded him. “You’ll be withhim day and night. Yes, you’ll pour his wine and see that his bed linen40 is fresh, but you’ll also takehis letters, attend him at meetings, squire41 for him in battle. You’ll be as close to him as his shadow.
You’ll know everything, be a part of everything … and the Lord Steward said Mormont asked for youhimself!
“When I was little, my father used to insist that I attend him in the audience chamber35 whenever heheld court. When he rode to Highgarden to bend his knee to Lord Tyrell, he made me come. Later,though, he started to take Dickon and leave me at home, and he no longer cared whether I sat throughhis audiences, so long as Dickon was there. He wanted his heir at his side, don’t you see? To watchand listen and learn from all he did. I’ll wager42 that’s why Lord Mormont requested you, Jon. Whatelse could it be? He wants to groom43 you for command!”
Jon was taken aback. It was true, Lord Eddard had often made Robb part of his councils back atWinterfell. Could Sam be right? Even a bastard15 could rise high in the Night’s Watch, they said. “Inever asked for this,” he said stubbornly.
“None of us are here for asking,” Sam reminded him.
And suddenly Jon Snow was ashamed.
Craven or not, Samwell Tarly had found the courage to accept his fate like a man. On the Wall, aman gets only what he earns, Benjen Stark had said the last night Jon had seen him alive. You’re noranger, Jon, only a green boy with the smell of summer still on you. He’d heard it said that bastardsgrow up faster than other children; on the Wall, you grew up or you died.
Jon let out a deep sigh. “You have the right of it. I was acting44 the boy.”
“Then you’ll stay and say your words with me?”
“The old gods will be expecting us.” He made himself smile.
They set out late that afternoon. The Wall had no gates as such, neither here at Castle Black noranywhere along its three hundred miles. They led their horses down a narrow tunnel cut through theice, cold dark walls pressing in around them as the passage twisted and turned. Three times their waywas blocked by iron bars, and they had to stop while Bowen Marsh drew out his keys and unlockedthe massive chains that secured them. Jon could sense the vast weight pressing down on him as hewaited behind the Lord Steward. The air was colder than a tomb, and more still. He felt a strangerelief when they reemerged into the afternoon light on the north side of the Wall.
Sam blinked at the sudden glare and looked around apprehensively45. “The Wildlings … they wouldn’t … they’d never dare come this close to the Wall. Would they?”
“They never have.” Jon climbed into his saddle. When Bowen Marsh and their ranger11 escort hadmounted, Jon put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Ghost came loping out of the tunnel.
The Lord Steward’s garron whickered and backed away from the direwolf. “Do you mean to takethat beast?”
“Yes, my lord,” Jon said. Ghost’s head lifted. He seemed to taste the air. In the blink of an eye hewas off, racing46 across the broad, weed-choked field to vanish in the trees.
Once they had entered the forest, they were in a different world. Jon had often hunted with hisfather and Jory and his brother Robb. He knew the wolfswood around Winterfell as well as any man.
The haunted forest was much the same, and yet the feel of it was very different.
Perhaps it was all in the knowing. They had ridden past the end of the world; somehow thatchanged everything. Every shadow seemed darker, every sound more ominous47. The trees pressedclose and shut out the light of the setting sun. A thin crust of snow cracked beneath the hooves of theirhorses, with a sound like breaking bones. When the wind set the leaves to rustling48, it was like a chillyfinger tracing a path up Jon’s spine49. The Wall was at their backs, and only the gods knew what layahead.
The sun was sinking below the trees when they reached their destination, a small clearing in thedeep of the wood where nine weirwoods grew in a rough circle. Jon drew in a breath, and he saw SamTarly staring. Even in the wolfswood, you never found more than two or three of the white treesgrowing together; a grove of nine was unheard of. The forest floor was carpeted with fallen leaves,bloodred on top, black rot beneath. The wide smooth trunks were bone pale, and nine faces staredinward. The dried sap that crusted in the eyes was red and hard as ruby50. Bowen Marsh commandedthem to leave their horses outside the circle. “This is a sacred place, we will not defile51 it.”
When they entered the grove, Samwell Tarly turned slowly looking at each face in turn. No twowere quite alike. “They’re watching us,” he whispered. “The old gods.”
“Yes.” Jon knelt, and Sam knelt beside him.
They said the words together, as the last light faded in the west and grey day became black night.
“Hear my words, and bear witness to my vow,” they recited, their voices filling the twilit grove.
“Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, holdno lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. Iam the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold,the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers52, the shield that guards the realms ofmen. I pledge my life and honor to the Night’s Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.”
The woods fell silent. “You knelt as boys,” Bowen Marsh intoned solemnly. “Rise now as men ofthe Night’s Watch.”
Jon held out a hand to pull Sam back to his feet. The rangers gathered round to offer smiles andcongratulations, all but the gnarled old forester Dywen. “Best we be starting back, m’lord,” he said toBowen Marsh. “Dark’s falling, and there’s something in the smell o’ the night that I mislike.”
And suddenly Ghost was back, stalking softly between two weirwoods. White fur and red eyes, Jonrealized, disquieted53. Like the trees …The wolf had something in his jaws54. Something black. “What’s he got there?” asked Bowen Marsh,frowning.
“To me, Ghost.” Jon knelt. “Bring it here.”
The direwolf trotted55 to him. Jon heard Samwell Tarly’s sharp intake56 of breath.
“Gods be good,” Dywen muttered. “That’s a hand.”
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收听单词发音
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1
rivulets
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| n.小河，小溪( rivulet的名词复数 ) | |
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trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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toad
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆 | |
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poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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ranger
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| n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员 | |
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rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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debtors
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| n.债务人，借方( debtor的名词复数 ) | |
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killers
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| 凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事 | |
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bastard
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| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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vows
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| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
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vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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loyalties
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| n.忠诚( loyalty的名词复数 )；忠心；忠于…感情；要忠于…的强烈感情 | |
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grudges
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| 不满，怨恨，妒忌( grudge的名词复数 ) | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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stewards
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| （轮船、飞机等的）乘务员( steward的名词复数 )； （俱乐部、旅馆、工会等的）管理员； （大型活动的）组织者； （私人家中的）管家 | |
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sagged
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| 下垂的 | |
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scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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obsidian
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| n.黑曜石 | |
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kennels
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| n.主人外出时的小动物寄养处，养狗场；狗窝( kennel的名词复数 )；养狗场 | |
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mead
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| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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38
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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41
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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43
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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44
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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45
apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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46
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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47
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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48
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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49
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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50
ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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51
defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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52
sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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53
disquieted
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| v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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55
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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56
intake
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| n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口 | |
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