A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

being caged.”
    â€œYou would too, if you could fly.”
    â€œIf I could fly, I’d be back at Castle Black eating a pork pie,” said
Sam.
    Jon clapped him on the shoulder with his burned hand. They walked back through
the camp together. Cookfires were being lit all around them. Overhead, the
stars were coming out. The long red tail of Mormont’s Torch burned as bright as
the moon. Jon heard the ravens before he saw them. Some were calling his name.
The birds were not shy when it came to making noise.
    They feel it too.
“I’d best see to the Old Bear,” he
said. “He
gets noisy when he isn’t fed as well.”
    He found Mormont talking with Thoren Smallwood and half a dozen other officers.
“There you are,” the old man said gruffly.

“Bring us some hot wine, if you would. The night is chilly.”
    â€œYes, my lord.” Jon built a cookfire, claimed a small cask of Mormont’s
favorite robust red from stores, and poured it into a kettle. He hung the
kettle above the flames while he gathered the rest of his ingredients. The Old
Bear was particular about his hot spiced wine. So much cinnamon and so much
nutmeg and so much honey, not a drop more. Raisins and nuts and dried berries,
but no lemon, that was the rankest sort of southron heresy—which was
queer, since he always took lemon in his morning beer. The drink must be hot to
warm a man properly, the Lord Commander insisted, but the wine must never be
allowed to come to a boil. Jon kept a careful eye on the kettle.
    As he worked, he could hear the voices from inside the tent. Jarman Buckwell
said, “The easiest road up into the Frostfangs is to follow the Milkwater back
to its source. Yet if we go that path, Rayder will know of our approach,
certain as sunrise.”
    â€œThe Giant’s Stair might serve,” said Ser Mallador Locke, “or the Skirling
Pass, if it’s clear.”
    The wine was steaming. Jon lifted the kettle off the fire, filled eight cups,
and carried them into the tent. The Old Bear was peering at the crude map Sam
had drawn him that night back in Craster’s Keep. He took a cup from Jon’s tray,
tried a swallow of wine, and gave a brusque nod of approval. His raven hopped
down his arm.
“Corn,”
it said.
“Corn. Corn.”
    Ser Ottyn Wythers waved the wine away. “I would not go into the mountains at
all,” he said in a thin, tired voice. “The

Frostfangs have a cruel bite even in summer, and now . . . if
we should be caught by a storm . . .”
    â€œI do not mean to risk the Frostfangs unless I must,” said Mormont.
“Wildlings can no more live on snow and stone than we can. They will emerge
from the heights soon, and for a host of any size, the only route is along the
Milkwater. If so, we are strongly placed here. They cannot hope to slip by
us.”
    â€œThey may not wish to. They are thousands, and we will be three hundred when
the Halfhand reaches us.” Ser Mallador accepted a cup from Jon.
    â€œIf it comes to battle, we could not hope for better ground than here,”
declared Mormont. “We’ll strengthen the defenses. Pits and spikes, caltrops
scattered on the slopes, every breach mended. Jarman, I’ll want your sharpest
eyes as watchers. A ring of them, all around us and along the river, to warn of
any approach. Hide them up in trees. And we had best start bringing up water
too, more than we need. We’ll dig cisterns. It will keep the men occupied, and
may prove needful later.”
    â€œMy rangers—” started Thoren Smallwood.
    â€œYour rangers will limit their ranging to this side of the river until the
Halfhand reaches us. After that, we’ll see. I will not lose more of my
men.”
    â€œMance Rayder might be massing his host a day’s ride from here, and we’d never
know,” Smallwood complained.
    â€œWe know where the wildlings are massing,” Mormont came back. “We had it
from Craster. I mislike the man, but I do not

think he lied to us in this.”
    â€œAs you say.” Smallwood took a sullen leave. The others finished their wine
and followed, more courteously.
    â€œShall I bring you supper, my lord?” Jon asked.
    â€œCorn,”
the raven cried. Mormont did not answer at once. When he
did he said only, “Did your wolf find game today?”
    â€œHe’s not