His father tossed the antler to the side and cleansed his hands in the snow. “I’m surprised she lived long enough to whelp ,” he said. His voice broke the spell.
“Maybe she didn’t,” Jory said. “I’ve heard tales … maybe the bitch was already dead when thepups came.”
“Born with the dead,” another man put in. “Worse luck.”
“No matter,” said Hullen. “They be dead soon enough too.”
Bran gave a wordless cry of dismay.
“The sooner the better,” Theon Greyjoy agreed. He drew his sword. “Give the beast here, Bran.”
The little thing squirmed against him, as if it heard and understood. “No!” Bran cried out fiercely.
“It’s mine.”
“Put away your sword, Greyjoy,” Robb said. For a moment he sounded as commanding as their father, like the lord he would someday be. “We will keep these pups.”
“You cannot do that, boy,” said Harwin, who was Hullen’s son.
“It be a mercy to kill them,” Hullen said.
Bran looked to his lord father for rescue, but got only a frown, a furrowed brow. “Hullen speaks truly, son. Better a swift death than a hard one from cold and starvation.”
“No!” He could feel tears welling in his eyes, and he looked away. He did not want to cry in front of his father.
Toss 扔
Whelp 下崽
Squirm 扭動
父親扔開鹿角，在雪地裡把手清乾淨。"沒想到她還有力氣把孩子生下來。"他的聲音打破了先前的沉默。
"也許她沒撐那麼久，"喬裡說："我聽過這樣的傳說……也許小狼降生時母狼就已經死了。"
"隨死降生，"另一個人接口道，"這是更壞的兆頭。"
"都沒差，"胡倫說，"反正這些小傢伙也活不長。"
布蘭發出無聲的失望嘆息。
"我看他們死得越快越好，"席恩·葛雷喬伊同意，他抽出配劍。"布蘭，把那東西丟過來。"
布蘭懷中的小東西彷彿能聽懂人話，偎著他蠕了一下。"不要！"他堅決地叫道，"它是我的。"
"葛雷喬伊，把劍拿開。"羅柏說，那一剎那，他聽起來像父親一樣威嚴有力，正如他有朝一日將會成為的一方領主。"我們要養這些小狼。"
"小子，這是行不通的。"胡倫的兒子哈爾溫道。
"殺了它們才是慈悲啊。"胡倫接口。
布蘭朝父親望去，期盼能找到救兵，卻只見到深鎖的雙眉。"好兒子，胡倫說得沒錯。與其讓它們挨餓受凍，不如趁早了結乾脆。"
"不要！"他已經感覺到淚水在眼眶裡打轉，於是轉開目光，他可不想在父親面前落淚。
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