Under black wool, boiled leather, and mail, sweat trickled1 icily down Jon’s chest as he pressed theattack. Grenn stumbled backward, defending himself clumsily. When he raised his sword, Jon wentunderneath it with a sweeping3 blow that crunched4 against the back of the other boy’s leg and sent himstaggering. Grenn’s downcut was answered by an overhand that dented5 his helm. When he tried asideswing, Jon swept aside his blade and slammed a mailed forearm into his chest. Grenn lost hisfooting and sat down hard in the snow. Jon knocked his sword from his fingers with a slash6 to hiswrist that brought a cry of pain.
“Enough!” Ser Alliser Thorne had a voice with an edge like Valyrian steel.
Grenn cradled his hand. “The bastard8 broke my wrist.”
“The bastard hamstrung you, opened your empty skull9, and cut off your hand. Or would have, ifthese blades had an edge. It’s fortunate for you that the Watch needs stableboys as well as rangers11.”
Ser Alliser gestured at Jeren and Toad12. “Get the Aurochs on his feet, he has funeral arrangements tomake.”
Jon took off his helm as the other boys were pulling Grenn to his feet. The frosty morning air feltgood on his face. He leaned on his sword, drew a deep breath, and allowed himself a moment to savorthe victory.
“That is a longsword, not an old man’s cane,” Ser Alliser said sharply. “Are your legs hurting,Lord Snow?”
Jon hated that name, a mockery that Ser Alliser had hung on him the first day he came to practice.
The boys had picked it up, and now he heard it everywhere. He slid the longsword back into itsscabbard. “No,” he replied.
Thorne strode toward him, crisp black leathers whispering faintly as he moved. He was a compactman of fifty years, spare and hard, with grey in his black hair and eyes like chips of onyx. “The truthnow,” he commanded.
“I’m tired,” Jon admitted. His arm burned from the weight of the longsword, and he was startingto feel his bruises14 now that the fight was done.
“What you are is weak.”
“I won.”
“No. The Aurochs lost.”
One of the other boys sniggered. Jon knew better than to reply. He had beaten everyone that SerAlliser had sent against him, yet it gained him nothing. The master-at-arms served up only derision.
Thorne hated him, Jon had decided15; of course, he hated the other boys even worse.
“That will be all,” Thorne told them. “I can only stomach so much ineptitude16 in any one day. Ifthe Others ever come for us, I pray they have archers17, because you lot are fit for nothing more thanarrow fodder18.”
Jon followed the rest back to the armory19, walking alone. He often walked alone here. There werealmost twenty in the group he trained with, yet not one he could call a friend. Most were two or threeyears his senior, yet not one was half the fighter Robb had been at fourteen. Dareon was quick butafraid of being hit. Pyp used his sword like a dagger20, Jeren was weak as a girl, Grenn slow andclumsy. Halder’s blows were brutally21 hard but he ran right into your attacks. The more time he spent with them, the more Jon despised them.
Inside, Jon hung sword and scabbard from a hook in the stone wall, ignoring the others around him.
Methodically, he began to strip off his mail, leather, and sweat-soaked woolens22. Chunks24 of coalburned in iron braziers at either end of the long room, but Jon found himself shivering. The chill wasalways with him here. In a few years he would forget what it felt like to be warm.
The weariness came on him suddenly, as he donned the roughspun blacks that were their everydaywear. He sat on a bench, his fingers fumbling26 with the fastenings on his cloak. So cold, he thought,remembering the warm halls of Winterfell, where the hot waters ran through the walls like bloodthrough a man’s body. There was scant27 warmth to be found in Castle Black; the walls were cold here,and the people colder.
No one had told him the Night’s Watch would be like this; no one except Tyrion Lannister. Thedwarf had given him the truth on the road north, but by then it had been too late. Jon wondered if hisfather had known what the Wall would be like. He must have, he thought; that only made it hurt theworse.
Even his uncle had abandoned him in this cold place at the end of the world. Up here, the genialBenjen Stark29 he had known became a different person. He was First Ranger10, and he spent his daysand nights with Lord Commander Mormont and Maester Aemon and the other high officers, whileJon was given over to the less than tender charge of Ser Alliser Thorne.
Three days after their arrival, Jon had heard that Benjen Stark was to lead a half-dozen men on aranging into the haunted forest. That night he sought out his uncle in the great timbered common halland pleaded to go with him. Benjen refused him curtly30. “This is not Winterfell,” he told him as he cuthis meat with fork and dagger. “On the Wall, a man gets only what he earns. You’re no ranger, Jon,only a green boy with the smell of summer still on you.”
Stupidly, Jon argued. “I’ll be fifteen on my name day,” he said. “Almost a man grown.”
Benjen Stark frowned. “A boy you are, and a boy you’ll remain until Ser Alliser says you are fit tobe a man of the Night’s Watch. If you thought your Stark blood would win you easy favors, you werewrong. We put aside our old families when we swear our vows31. Your father will always have a placein my heart, but these are my brothers now.” He gestured with his dagger at the men around them, allthe hard cold men in black.
Jon rose at dawn the next day to watch his uncle leave. One of his rangers, a big ugly man, sang abawdy song as he saddled his garron, his breath steaming in the cold morning air. Ben Stark smiled atthat, but he had no smile for his nephew. “How often must I tell you no, Jon? We’ll speak when Ireturn.”
As he watched his uncle lead his horse into the tunnel, Jon had remembered the things that TyrionLannister told him on the kingsroad, and in his mind’s eye he saw Ben Stark lying dead, his blood redon the snow. The thought made him sick. What was he becoming? Afterward32 he sought out Ghost inthe loneliness of his cell, and buried his face in his thick white fur.
If he must be alone, he would make solitude33 his armor. Castle Black had no godswood, only asmall sept and a drunken septon, but Jon could not find it in him to pray to any gods, old or new. Ifthey were real, he thought, they were as cruel and implacable as winter.
He missed his true brothers: little Rickon, bright eyes shining as he begged for a sweet; Robb, hisrival and best friend and constant companion; Bran, stubborn and curious, always wanting to followand join in whatever Jon and Robb were doing. He missed the girls too, even Sansa, who never calledhim anything but “my half brother” since she was old enough to understand what bastard meant. AndArya … he missed her even more than Robb, skinny little thing that she was, all scraped knees andtangled hair and torn clothes, so fierce and willful. Arya never seemed to fit, no more than hehad … yet she could always make Jon smile. He would give anything to be with her now, to muss upher hair once more and watch her make a face, to hear her finish a sentence with him.
“You broke my wrist, bastard boy.”
Jon lifted his eyes at the sullen35 voice. Grenn loomed36 over him, thick of neck and red of face, withthree of his friends behind him. He knew Todder, a short ugly boy with an unpleasant voice. Therecruits all called him Toad. The other two were the ones Yoren had brought north with them, Jonremembered, rapers taken down in the Fingers. He’d forgotten their names. He hardly ever spoke37 tothem, if he could help it. They were brutes38 and bullies39, without a thimble of honor between them.
Jon stood up. “I’ll break the other one for you if you ask nicely.” Grenn was sixteen and a head taller than Jon. All four of them were bigger than he was, but they did not scare him. He’d beatenevery one of them in the yard.
“Maybe we’ll break you,” one of the rapers said.
“Try.” Jon reached back for his sword, but one of them grabbed his arm and twisted it behind hisback.
“You make us look bad,” complained Toad.
“You looked bad before I ever met you,” Jon told him. The boy who had his arm jerked upwardon him, hard. Pain lanced through him, but Jon would not cry out.
Toad stepped close. “The little lordling has a mouth on him,” he said. He had pig eyes, small andshiny. “Is that your mommy’s mouth, bastard? What was she, some whore? Tell us her name. MaybeI had her a time or two.” He laughed.
Jon twisted like an eel7 and slammed a heel down across the instep of the boy holding him. Therewas a sudden cry of pain, and he was free. He flew at Toad, knocked him backward over a bench, andlanded on his chest with both hands on his throat, slamming his head against the packed earth.
The two from the Fingers pulled him off, throwing him roughly to the ground. Grenn began to kickat him. Jon was rolling away from the blows when a booming voice cut through the gloom of thearmory. “STOP THIS! NOW!”
Jon pulled himself to his feet. Donal Noye stood glowering40 at them. “The yard is for fighting,” thearmorer said. “Keep your quarrels out of my armory, or I’ll make them my quarrels. You won’t likethat.”
Toad sat on the floor, gingerly feeling the back of his head. His fingers came away bloody41. “Hetried to kill me.”
“’S true. I saw it,” one of the rapers put in.
“He broke my wrist,” Grenn said again, holding it out to Noye for inspection42.
The armorer gave the offered wrist the briefest of glances. “A bruise13. Perhaps a sprain43. MaestorAemon will give you a salve. Go with him, Todder, that head wants looking after. The rest of you,return to your cells. Not you, Snow. You stay.”
Jon sat heavily on the long wooden bench as the others left, oblivious44 to the looks they gave him,the silent promises of future retribution. His arm was throbbing45.
“The Watch has need of every man it can get,” Donal Noye said when they were alone. “Evenmen like Toad. You won’t win any honors killing46 him.”
Jon’s anger flared47. “He said my mother was—”
“—a whore. I heard him. What of it?”
“Lord Eddard Stark was not a man to sleep with whores,” Jon said icily. “His honor—”
“—did not prevent him from fathering a bastard. Did it?”
Jon was cold with rage. “Can I go?”
“You go when I tell you to go.”
Jon stared sullenly48 at the smoke rising from the brazier, until Noye took him under the chin, thickfingers twisting his head around. “Look at me when I’m talking to you, boy.”
Jon looked. The armorer had a chest like a keg of ale and a gut49 to match. His nose was flat andbroad, and he always seemed in need of a shave. The left sleeve of his black wool tunic50 was fastenedat the shoulder with a silver pin in the shape of a longsword. “Words won’t make your mother awhore. She was what she was, and nothing Toad says can change that. You know, we have men onthe Wall whose mothers were whores.”
Not my mother, Jon thought stubbornly. He knew nothing of his mother; Eddard Stark would nottalk of her. Yet he dreamed of her at times, so often that he could almost see her face. In his dreams,she was beautiful, and highborn, and her eyes were kind.
“You think you had it hard, being a high lord’s bastard?” the armorer went on. “That boy Jeren isa septon’s get, and Cotter Pyke is the baseborn son of a tavern51 wench. Now he commands Eastwatchby the Sea.”
“I don’t care,” Jon said. “I don’t care about them and I don’t care about you or Thorne or BenjenStark or any of it. I hate it here. It’s too … it’s cold.”
“Yes. Cold and hard and mean, that’s the Wall, and the men who walk it. Not like the stories yourwet nurse told you. Well, piss on the stories and piss on your wet nurse. This is the way it is, and you’re here for life, same as the rest of us.”
“Life,” Jon repeated bitterly. The armorer could talk about life. He’d had one. He’d only taken theblack after he’d lost an arm at the siege of Storm’s End. Before that he’d smithed for StannisBaratheon, the king’s brother. He’d seen the Seven Kingdoms from one end to the other; he’d feastedand wenched and fought in a hundred battles. They said it was Donal Noye who’d forged KingRobert’s warhammer, the one that crushed the life from Rhaegar Targaryen on the Trident. He’d doneall the things that Jon would never do, and then when he was old, well past thirty, he’d taken aglancing blow from an axe52 and the wound had festered until the whole arm had to come off. Onlythen, crippled, had Donal Noye come to the Wall, when his life was all but over.
“Yes, life,” Noye said. “A long life or a short one, it’s up to you, Snow. The road you’re walking,one of your brothers will slit53 your throat for you one night.”
“They’re not my brothers,” Jon snapped. “They hate me because I’m better than they are.”
“No. They hate you because you act like you’re better than they are. They look at you and see acastle-bred bastard who thinks he’s a lordling.” The armorer leaned close. “You’re no lordling.
Remember that. You’re a Snow, not a Stark. You’re a bastard and a bully54.”
“A bully?” Jon almost choked on the word. The accusation55 was so unjust it took his breath away.
“They were the ones who came after me. Four of them.”
“Four that you’ve humiliated56 in the yard. Four who are probably afraid of you. I’ve watched youfight. It’s not training with you. Put a good edge on your sword, and they’d be dead meat; you knowit, I know it, they know it. You leave them nothing. You shame them. Does that make you proud?”
Jon hesitated. He did feel proud when he won. Why shouldn’t he? But the armorer was taking thataway too, making it sound as if he were doing something wrong. “They’re all older than me,” he saiddefensively.
“Older and bigger and stronger, that’s the truth. I’ll wager57 your master-at-arms taught you how tofight bigger men at Winterfell, though. Who was he, some old knight58?”
“Ser Rodrik Cassel,” Jon said warily59. There was a trap here. He felt it closing around him.
Donal Noye leaned forward, into Jon’s face. “Now think on this, boy. None of these others haveever had a master-at-arms until Ser Alliser. Their fathers were farmers and wagonmen and poachers,smiths and miners and oars60 on a trading galley61. What they know of fighting they learned betweendecks, in the alleys62 of Oldtown and Lannisport, in wayside brothels and taverns63 on the kingsroad.
They may have clacked a few sticks together before they came here, but I promise you, not one intwenty was ever rich enough to own a real sword.” His look was grim. “So how do you like the tasteof your victories now, Lord Snow?”
“Don’t call me that!” Jon said sharply, but the force had gone out of his anger. Suddenly he feltashamed and guilty. “I never … I didn’t think …”
“Best you start thinking,” Noye warned him. “That, or sleep with a dagger by your bed. Now go.”
By the time Jon left the armory, it was almost midday. The sun had broken through the clouds. Heturned his back on it and lifted his eyes to the Wall, blazing blue and crystalline in the sunlight. Evenafter all these weeks, the sight of it still gave him the shivers. Centuries of windblown dirt had pockedand scoured65 it, covering it like a film, and it often seemed a pale grey, the color of an overcastsky … but when the sun caught it fair on a bright day, it shone, alive with light, a colossal66 blue-whitecliff that filled up half the sky.
The largest structure ever built by the hands of man, Benjen Stark had told Jon on the kingsroadwhen they had first caught sight of the Wall in the distance. “And beyond a doubt the most useless,”
Tyrion Lannister had added with a grin, but even the Imp34 grew silent as they rode closer. You couldsee it from miles off, a pale blue line across the northern horizon, stretching away to the east and westand vanishing in the far distance, immense and unbroken. This is the end of the world, it seemed tosay.
When they finally spied Castle Black, its timbered keeps and stone towers looked like nothingmore than a handful of toy blocks scattered67 on the snow, beneath the vast wall of ice. The ancientstronghold of the black brothers was no Winterfell, no true castle at all. Lacking walls, it could not bedefended, not from the south, or east, or west; but it was only the north that concerned the Night’sWatch, and to the north loomed the Wall. Almost seven hundred feet high it stood, three times theheight of the tallest tower in the stronghold it sheltered. His uncle said the top was wide enough for adozen armored knights68 to ride abreast69. The gaunt outlines of huge catapults and monstrous70 wooden cranes stood sentry71 up there, like the skeletons of great birds, and among them walked men in blackas small as ants.
kas small as ants.
As he stood outside the armory looking up, Jon felt almost as overwhelmed as he had that day onthe kingsroad, when he’d seen it for the first time. The Wall was like that. Sometimes he could almostforget that it was there, the way you forgot about the sky or the earth underfoot, but there were othertimes when it seemed as if there was nothing else in the world. It was older than the Seven Kingdoms,and when he stood beneath it and looked up, it made Jon dizzy. He could feel the great weight of allthat ice pressing down on him, as if it were about to topple, and somehow Jon knew that if it fell, theworld fell with it.
“Makes you wonder what lies beyond,” a familiar voice said.
Jon looked around. “Lannister. I didn’t see—I mean, I thought I was alone.”
Tyrion Lannister was bundled in furs so thickly he looked like a very small bear. “There’s much tobe said for taking people unawares. You never know what you might learn.”
“You won’t learn anything from me,” Jon told him. He had seen little of the dwarf28 since theirjourney ended. As the queen’s own brother, Tyrion Lannister had been an honored guest of theNight’s Watch. The Lord Commander had given him rooms in the King’s Tower—so-called, thoughno king had visited it for a hundred years—and Lannister dined at Mormont’s own table and spent hisdays riding the Wall and his nights dicing72 and drinking with Ser Alliser and Bowen Marsh73 and theother high officers.
“Oh, I learn things everywhere I go.” The little man gestured up at the Wall with a gnarled blackwalking stick. “As I was saying … why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next manimmediately needs to know what’s on the other side?” He cocked his head and looked at Jon with hiscurious mismatched eyes. “You do want to know what’s on the other side, don’t you?”
“It’s nothing special,” Jon said. He wanted to ride with Benjen Stark on his rangings, deep intothe mysteries of the haunted forest, wanted to fight Mance Rayder’s wildlings and ward2 the realmagainst the Others, but it was better not to speak of the things you wanted. “The rangers say it’s justwoods and mountains and frozen lakes, with lots of snow and ice.”
“And the grumkins and the snarks,” Tyrion said. “Let us not forget them, Lord Snow, or elsewhat’s that big thing for?”
“Don’t call me Lord Snow.”
The dwarf lifted an eyebrow74. “Would you rather be called the Imp? Let them see that their wordscan cut you, and you’ll never be free of the mockery. If they want to give you a name, take it, make ityour own. Then they can’t hurt you with it anymore.” He gestured with his stick. “Come, walk withme. They’ll be serving some vile75 stew76 in the common hall by now, and I could do with a bowl ofsomething hot.”
Jon was hungry too, so he fell in beside Lannister and slowed his pace to match the dwarf’sawkward, waddling77 steps. The wind was rising, and they could hear the old wooden buildingscreaking around them, and in the distance a heavy shutter78 banging, over and over, forgotten. Oncethere was a muffled79 thump80 as a blanket of snow slid from a roof and landed near them.
“I don’t see your wolf,” Lannister said as they walked.
“I chain him up in the old stables when we’re training. They board all the horses in the eaststables now, so no one bothers him. The rest of the time he stays with me. My sleeping cell is inHardin’s Tower.”
“That’s the one with the broken battlement, no? Shattered stone in the yard below, and a lean to itlike our noble king Robert after a long night’s drinking? I thought all those buildings had beenabandoned.”
Jon shrugged81. “No one cares where you sleep. Most of the old keeps are empty, you can pick anycell you want.” Once Castle Black had housed five thousand fighting men with all their horses andservants and weapons. Now it was home to a tenth that number, and parts of it were falling into ruin.
Tyrion Lannister’s laughter steamed in the cold air. “I’ll be sure to tell your father to arrest morestonemasons, before your tower collapses82.”
Jon could taste the mockery there, but there was no denying the truth. The Watch had built nineteengreat strongholds along the Wall, but only three were still occupied: Eastwatch on its grey windsweptshore, the Shadow Tower hard by the mountains where the Wall ended, and Castle Black betweenthem, at the end of the kingsroad. The other keeps, long deserted83, were lonely, haunted places, where cold winds whistled through black windows and the spirits of the dead manned the parapets.
“It’s better that I’m by myself,” Jon said stubbornly. “The rest of them are scared of Ghost.”
“Wise boys,” Lannister said. Then he changed the subject. “The talk is, your uncle is too longaway.”
Jon remembered the wish he’d wished in his anger, the vision of Benjen Stark dead in the snow,and he looked away quickly. The dwarf had a way of sensing things, and Jon did not want him to seethe84 guilt64 in his eyes. “He said he’d be back by my name day,” he admitted. His name day had comeand gone, unremarked, a fortnight past. “They were looking for Ser Waymar Royce, his father isbannerman to Lord Arryn. Uncle Benjen said they might search as far as the Shadow Tower. That’sall the way up in the mountains.”
“I hear that a good many rangers have vanished of late,” Lannister said as they mounted the stepsto the common hall. He grinned and pulled open the door. “Perhaps the grumkins are hungry thisyear.”
Inside, the hall was immense and drafty, even with a fire roaring in its great hearth85. Crows nested inthe timbers of its lofty ceiling. Jon heard their cries overhead as he accepted a bowl of stew and a heelof black bread from the day’s cooks. Grenn and Toad and some of the others were seated at the benchnearest the warmth, laughing and cursing each other in rough voices. Jon eyed them thoughtfully for amoment. Then he chose a spot at the far end of the hall, well away from the other diners.
Tyrion Lannister sat across from him, sniffing86 at the stew suspiciously. “Barley, onion, carrot,” hemuttered. “Someone should tell the cooks that turnip87 isn’t a meat.”
“It’s mutton stew.” Jon pulled off his gloves and warmed his hands in the steam rising from thebowl. The smell made his mouth water.
“Snow.”
Jon knew Alliser Thorne’s voice, but there was a curious note in it that he had not heard before. Heturned.
“The Lord Commander wants to see you. Now.”
For a moment Jon was too frightened to move. Why would the Lord Commander want to see him?
They had heard something about Benjen, he thought wildly, he was dead, the vision had come true.
“Is it my uncle?” he blurted89. “Is he returned safe?”
“The Lord Commander is not accustomed to waiting,” was Ser Alliser’s reply. “And I am notaccustomed to having my commands questioned by bastards90.”
Tyrion Lannister swung off the bench and rose. “Stop it, Thorne. You’re frightening the boy.”
“Keep out of matters that don’t concern you, Lannister. You have no place here.”
“I have a place at court, though,” the dwarf said, smiling. “A word in the right ear, and you’ll diea sour old man before you get another boy to train. Now tell Snow why the Old Bear needs to seehim. Is there news of his uncle?”
“No,” Ser Alliser said. “This is another matter entirely91. A bird arrived this morning fromWinterfell, with a message that concerns his brother.” He corrected himself. “His half brother.”
“Bran,” Jon breathed, scrambling92 to his feet. “Something’s happened to Bran.”
Tyrion Lannister laid a hand on his arm. “Jon,” he said. “I am truly sorry.”
Jon scarcely heard him. He brushed off Tyrion’s hand and strode across the hall. He was runningby the time he hit the doors. He raced to the Commander’s Keep, dashing through drifts of old snow.
When the guards passed him, he took the tower steps two at a time. By the time he burst into thepresence of the Lord Commander, his boots were soaked and Jon was wild-eyed and panting. “Bran,”
he said. “What does it say about Bran?”
Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, was a gruff old man with an immense baldhead and a shaggy grey beard. He had a raven93 on his arm, and he was feeding it kernels94 of corn. “I amtold you can read.” He shook the raven off, and it flapped its wings and flew to the window, where itsat watching as Mormont drew a roll of paper from his belt and handed it to Jon. “Corn,” it mutteredin a raucous95 voice. “Corn, corn.”
Jon’s finger traced the outline of the direwolf in the white wax of the broken seal. He recognizedRobb’s hand, but the letters seemed to blur88 and run as he tried to read them. He realized he wascrying. And then, through the tears, he found the sense in the words, and raised his head. “He wokeup,” he said. “The gods gave him back.”
“Crippled,” Mormont said. “I’m sorry, boy. Read the rest of the letter.”
He looked at the words, but they didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Bran was going to live. “Mybrother is going to live,” he told Mormont. The Lord Commander shook his head, gathered up afistful of corn, and whistled. The raven flew to his shoulder, crying, “Live! Live!”
Jon ran down the stairs, a smile on his face and Robb’s letter in his hand. “My brother is going tolive,” he told the guards. They exchanged a look. He ran back to the common hall, where he foundTyrion Lannister just finishing his meal. He grabbed the little man under the arms, hoisted96 him up inthe air, and spun25 him around in a circle. “Bran is going to live!” he whooped97. Lannister lookedstartled. Jon put him down and thrust the paper into his hands. “Here, read it,” he said.
Others were gathering98 around and looking at him curiously99. Jon noticed Grenn a few feet away. Athick woolen23 bandage was wrapped around one hand. He looked anxious and uncomfortable, notmenacing at all. Jon went to him. Grenn edged backward and put up his hands. “Stay away from menow, you bastard.”
Jon smiled at him. “I’m sorry about your wrist. Robb used the same move on me once, only with awooden blade. It hurt like seven hells, but yours must be worse. Look, if you want, I can show youhow to defend that.”
Alliser Thorne overheard him. “Lord Snow wants to take my place now.” He sneered100. “I’d have aneasier time teaching a wolf to juggle101 than you will training this aurochs.”
“I’ll take that wager, Ser Alliser,” Jon said. “I’d love to see Ghost juggle.”
Jon heard Grenn suck in his breath, shocked. Silence fell.
Then Tyrion Lannister guffawed102. Three of the black brothers joined in from a nearby table. Thelaughter spread up and down the benches, until even the cooks joined in. The birds stirred in therafters, and finally even Grenn began to chuckle103.
Ser Alliser never took his eyes from Jon. As the laughter rolled around him, his face darkened, andhis sword hand curled into a fist. “That was a grievous error, Lord Snow,” he said at last in the acidtones of an enemy.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
trickled
|
|
| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
ward
|
|
| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
sweeping
|
|
| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
crunched
|
|
| v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
dented
|
|
| v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
slash
|
|
| vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
eel
|
|
| n.鳗鲡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
bastard
|
|
| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
skull
|
|
| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
ranger
|
|
| n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
rangers
|
|
| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
toad
|
|
| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
bruise
|
|
| n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
bruises
|
|
| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
ineptitude
|
|
| n.不适当；愚笨，愚昧的言行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
archers
|
|
| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
fodder
|
|
| n.草料；炮灰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
armory
|
|
| n.纹章，兵工厂，军械库 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
dagger
|
|
| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
brutally
|
|
| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
woolens
|
|
| 毛织品，毛料织物； 毛织品，羊毛织物，毛料衣服( woolen的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
woolen
|
|
| adj.羊毛(制)的；毛纺的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
chunks
|
|
| 厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
spun
|
|
| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
fumbling
|
|
| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
scant
|
|
| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
dwarf
|
|
| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
stark
|
|
| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
curtly
|
|
| adv.简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
vows
|
|
| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
solitude
|
|
| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
imp
|
|
| n.顽童 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
sullen
|
|
| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
loomed
|
|
| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
brutes
|
|
| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
bullies
|
|
| n.欺凌弱小者, 开球 vt.恐吓, 威胁, 欺负 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
glowering
|
|
| v.怒视( glower的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
bloody
|
|
| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
inspection
|
|
| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
sprain
|
|
| n.扭伤,扭筋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
oblivious
|
|
| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
throbbing
|
|
| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
Flared
|
|
| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
sullenly
|
|
| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
gut
|
|
| n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
tunic
|
|
| n.束腰外衣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
tavern
|
|
| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
axe
|
|
| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
slit
|
|
| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
bully
|
|
| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
accusation
|
|
| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
humiliated
|
|
| 感到羞愧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
wager
|
|
| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
knight
|
|
| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
warily
|
|
| adv.留心地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
oars
|
|
| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
galley
|
|
| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
alleys
|
|
| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
taverns
|
|
| n.小旅馆，客栈，酒馆( tavern的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
guilt
|
|
| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
scoured
|
|
| 走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
colossal
|
|
| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
knights
|
|
| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
abreast
|
|
| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
monstrous
|
|
| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
sentry
|
|
| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
dicing
|
|
| n.掷骰子，（皮革上的）菱形装饰v.将…切成小方块，切成丁（ dice的现在分词 ） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
marsh
|
|
| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
eyebrow
|
|
| n.眉毛，眉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
vile
|
|
| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
stew
|
|
| n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
waddling
|
|
| v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
shutter
|
|
| n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
muffled
|
|
| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
thump
|
|
| v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
collapses
|
|
| 折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
seethe
|
|
| vi.拥挤，云集；发怒，激动，骚动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
hearth
|
|
| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
sniffing
|
|
| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
turnip
|
|
| n.萝卜，芜菁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
blur
|
|
| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
blurted
|
|
| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
bastards
|
|
| 私生子( bastard的名词复数 )； 坏蛋； 讨厌的事物； 麻烦事 （认为别人走运或不幸时说）家伙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
scrambling
|
|
| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
raven
|
|
| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
kernels
|
|
| 谷粒( kernel的名词复数 )； 仁； 核； 要点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
raucous
|
|
| adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
hoisted
|
|
| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
whooped
|
|
| 叫喊( whoop的过去式和过去分词 )； 高声说； 唤起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
sneered
|
|
| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
juggle
|
|
| v.变戏法，纂改，欺骗，同时做；n.玩杂耍，纂改，花招 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
guffawed
|
|
| v.大笑，狂笑( guffaw的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
chuckle
|
|
| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |