Chapter 486: Winter Is Coming
Heavy snow fell on Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. The Night's Watch soldiers had prepared gravel and sea salt atop the Wall to keep the paths from becoming too slippery.
The top of the Wall was quite spacious, far better than the passage through it.
Eastwatch-by-the-Sea was the easternmost castle on the Wall, standing on a windswept beach beside Seal Bay.
Snow fell from the sky, turning the world white. The white happened to set off the black cloaks of the men in black.
Greatcoats, jackets, mail-every one of the Black Brothers had bundled himself into a bulky figure.
Gendry walked atop the Wall beside Qhorin Pyke, the commander of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, gazing out over the magnificent Northlands.
The sea was like a cold mirror, its surface shimmering beneath the bright moonlight.
The trees of the Haunted Forest loomed indistinctly, like towers reaching into the sky.
Trees in the north had always grown tall.
Beyond that, the world was a stretch of wind-scoured hills, jagged rocks, and wilderness covered in thick snow, like a barren wasteland.
Gendry wore a yellow cloak over Dragonkeeper, his Valyrian steel armor, standing out among the ranks of men in black.
Tall, athletic, strong, and fearless, Gendry had black hair and blue eyes, and the smile on his handsome face was as sharp as a razor, making Qhorin look like a black mole trailing beside him.
Qhorin Pyke wore studded leather armor and roughspun breeches beneath the heavy black cloak common to the Night's Watch.
Qhorin's body was lean, solid, and tough, but he was not remotely handsome. He was a renowned fighter in the Night's Watch.
"Why couldn't my parents have given me a decent face? Maybe I wouldn't have had to come to the Wall."
Qhorin mocked himself. His small eyes sat too