A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

Wall.”
    The raven seemed to like the notion.
“Wall,”
it screamed, spreading
black wings like a high collar behind Mormont’s head.
    Their host gave a nasty smile, showing a mouthful of broken brown teeth. “And
what would we do there, serve you at

supper? We’re free folk here. Craster serves no man.”
    â€œThese are bad times to dwell alone in the wild. The cold winds are
rising.”
    â€œLet them rise. My roots are sunk deep.” Craster grabbed a passing woman by
the wrist. “Tell him, wife. Tell the Lord Crow how well content we
are.”
    The woman licked at thin lips. “This is our place. Craster keeps us safe.
Better to die free than live a slave.”
    â€œSlave,”
muttered the raven.
    Mormont leaned forward. “Every village we have passed has been abandoned.
Yours are the first living faces we’ve seen since we left the Wall. The people
are gone . . . whether dead, fled, or taken, I could not say.
The animals as well. Nothing is left. And earlier, we found the bodies of two
of Ben Stark’s rangers only a few leagues from the Wall. They were pale and
cold, with black hands and black feet and wounds that did not bleed. Yet when
we took them back to Castle Black they rose in the night and killed. One slew
Ser Jaremy Rykker and the other came for me, which tells me that they remember
some of what they knew when they lived, but there was no human mercy left in
them.”
    The woman’s mouth hung open, a wet pink cave, but Craster only gave a snort.
“We’ve had no such troubles here . . . and I’ll thank you not
to tell such evil tales under my roof. I’m a godly man, and the gods keep me
safe. If wights come walking, I’ll know how to send them back to their graves.
Though I could use me a sharp new axe.” He sent his wife scurrying with a slap
on her leg

and a shout of “More beer, and be quick about it.”
    â€œNo trouble from the dead,” Jarmen Buckwell said, “but what of the living,
my lord? What of your king?”
    â€œKing!”
cried Mormont’s raven.
“King, king,
king.”
    â€œThat Mance Rayder?” Craster spit into the fire. “King-beyond-the-Wall. What
do free folk want with kings?” He turned his squint on Mormont. “There’s much
I could tell you o’ Rayder and his doings, if I had a mind. This o’ the empty
villages, that’s his work. You would have found this hall abandoned as well, if
I were a man to scrape to such. He sends a rider, tells me I must leave my own
keep to come grovel at his feet. I sent the man back, but kept his tongue. It’s
nailed to that wall there.” He pointed. “Might be that I could tell you where
to seek Mance Rayder. If I had a mind.” The brown smile again. “But we’ll
have time enough for that. You’ll be wanting to sleep beneath my roof, belike,
and eat me out of pigs.”
    â€œA roof would be most welcome, my lord,” Mormont said. “We’ve had hard
riding, and too much wet.”
    â€œThen you’ll guest here for a night. No longer, I’m not that fond o’ crows.
The loft’s for me and mine, but you’ll have all the floor you like. I’ve meat
and beer for twenty, no more. The rest o’ your black crows can peck after their
own corn.”
    â€œWe’ve packed in our own supplies, my lord,” said the Old Bear. “We should
be pleased to share our food and wine.”
    Craster wiped his drooping mouth with the back of a hairy hand. “I’ll taste
your wine, Lord Crow, that I will. One more

thing. Any man lays a hand on my wives, he loses the hand.”
    â€œYour roof, your rule,” said Thoren Smallwood, and Lord Mormont nodded
stiffly, though he looked none too pleased.
    â€œThat’s settled, then.” Craster grudged them a grunt. “D’ya have a man can
draw a map?”
    â€œSam Tarly can.” Jon pushed forward. “Sam loves maps.”
    Mormont beckoned him closer. “Send him here after he’s eaten. Have him bring
quill and parchment. And find Tollett as well. Tell him to bring my axe. A
guest gift for our host.”
    â€œWho’s this one now?” Craster said before Jon could go. “He has the look of
a Stark.”
    â€œMy steward and squire, Jon Snow.”
    â€œA bastard, is it?” Craster looked Jon up