the nameless gods of the trees and the wolves and the snows. "Mercy," he
whispered then, to whatever might be XXX PICS listening, old gods or new, or demons
too, "XXX PICS oh, mercy, XXX PICS mercy me, mercy me."
Maslyn screamed for mercy. Why had he suddenly remembered that? It was
nothing he wanted to XXX PICS remember. The man had stumbled backward, dropping his
sword, pleading, XXX PICS yielding, even yanking off his thick black glove and
thrusting it up before him as if it were a gauntlet. He was still shrieking
for quarter as the wight lifted him in XXX PICS the air by the throat and near
XXX PICS ripped the head off him. The XXX PICS dead have no mercy left in them, and the
Others . . . no, I mustn't think of that, don't think, don't remember, just
walk, just walk, just walk.
Sobbing, he took another step.
A root beneath XXX PICS the crust XXX PICS caught XXX PICS his
toe, and Sam tripped and fell heavily
to one knee, so hard he bit his tongue. He XXX PICS could taste the blood in his
mouth, warmer than anything he XXX PICS had tasted since XXX PICS the Fist. This is XXX PICS the end,
he thought. Now that he had fallen he could XXX PICS not seem to find the strength
to rise again. He groped for a tree branch and XXX PICS clutched it tight, trying to
pull himself back to his XXX PICS feet, XXX PICS but his stiff legs would not support him.
The mail was too heavy, and he was too fat besides, and too weak, and too
tired.
"Back on your feet, Piggy," someone growled as he went past, but Sam paid
him no mind. I'll just lie down in the snow and close my eyes. XXX PICS it wouldn't
be so bad, dying here. He couldn'
t possibly be any XXX PICS colder, and after a
little while he wouldn't be able to feel the ache in his lower back or the
terrible pain in his shoulders, no more than he could feel his feet. I
won't be the first to die, they can't say I was. Hundreds had XXX PICS died on the
Fist, they XXX PICS had died all around him, and more had died after, he'd seen
them. Shivering, Sam released his grip on the tree and eased himself down
in the snow. It was cold and wet, he knew, but XXX PICS he could scarcely XXX PICS feel it
through all his clothing. He stared XXX PICS upward at the pale white sky as
snowflakes drifted down upon his stomach and his chest and his eyelids. The
snow will cover me like a thick white
blanket. XXX PICS It will be warm under the
snow, and if they speak of me they'll have to say I died a man of the
XXX PICS Night's Watch. I did. I did. I did my duty. No one can say I forswore
myself. I'm fat and I'm weak