The hunt left at dawn. The king wanted wild boar at the feast tonight. Prince Joffrey rode with his father, so Robb had been allowed to join the hunters as well. Uncle Benjen, Jory, Theon Greyjoy, Ser Rodrik, and even the queen’s funny little brother had all ridden out with them. It was the last hunt, after all. On the morrow they left for the south.
Bran had been left behind with Jon and the girls and Rickon. But Rickon was only a baby and the girls were only girls and Jon and his wolf were nowhere to be found. Bran did not look for him very hard. He thought Jon was angry at him. Jon seemed to be angry at everyone these days. Bran did not know why. He was going with Uncle Ben to the Wall, to join the Night’s Watch. That was almost as good as going south with the king. Robb was the one they were leaving behind, not Jon.
For days, Bran could scarcely wait to be off. He was going to ride the kingsroad on a horse of his own, not a pony but a real horse. His father would be the Hand of the King, and they were going to live in the red castle at King’s Landing, the castle the Dragonlords had built. Old Nan said there were ghosts there, and dungeons where terrible things had been done, and dragon heads on the walls. It gave Bran a shiver just to think of it, but he was not afraid. How could he be afraid? His father would be with him, and the king with all his knights and sworn swords.
《权力的游戏》是一部中世纪史诗奇幻题材的电视连续剧。该剧以美国作家乔治·R·R·马丁的奇幻巨作《冰与火之歌》七部曲为基础改编创作,由大卫·贝尼奥夫和丹尼尔·威斯编剧、HBO电视网推出。乔治·雷蒙德·理查德·马丁是欧美奇幻小说大师。马丁的作品主要以人物为关注点,描写细腻丰富,突破了幻想文学界固有的创作模式,多次引领阅读潮流。由于马丁的辉煌成就,他被誉为美国的托尔金和新世纪的海明威。从1989年开始,马丁淡出文学界,转而投身演艺界发展,1996年他才重返文坛而开始奇幻文学的创作,处女作便是《权力的游戏》,即为《冰与火之歌》的首部曲。《权力的游戏》甫出便拿下了British Fantasy Society、 世界奇幻奖和星云奖年度最佳幻想作品提名,在非官方的不记名奇幻作品投票中,《冰与火之歌》俨然已经可以和《魔戒》平起平坐,作者网站的访问量也是和斯蒂芬·金、J.K.罗琳等不相上下,其受欢迎的程度可见一斑。乔治马丁被时代杂志评选为2011年影响世界的一百人之一。