Chapter 1: The title seeker
This is Toro the summer child's first winter. It had always been cold in Mammoth Tusk village, it snowed from time to time too, but the snow had never fallen for so long and had never gotten this deep before. Every morning when Toro wakes, he is greeted by a foot of snow outside his door. It was Toro's responsibility to shovel away the snow from his front door as well as the snow that piles up onto the roof of his house and barn.
There had been a great rat hunt in late autumn in preparation for winter. It had been 2 months since they culled the vermin but there were so many rats caught that Toro's family was still eating rats killed that week. His dad assured him that there were always rats that got away though, and eventually they will make their way into the pantry by the end of winter.
In the pantry hung two salted yak carcasses, ham and 5 whole salted pigs. Below the grisly sight were 4 wheels of cheese. On one end was a shelf full of bread and on the other was a shelf full of vodka. It might be enough to feed the family for three years, but Toro has been told that winters normally lasts up to six years.
Toro had dutifully helped his family for the past 3 weeks but now that winter has arrived and the preparations are done, Toro intended on setting off on his own towards the south. Toro said his farewells. No one stopped him as he put on his mail armor over his arming jacket and draped his heavy woolen cloak over the mail. He strapped to his waist his favorite weapon. It had a short blade, only 3 foot long. The heavy knife was bought by his father from a Bravosi merchant 15 years ago during Robert's rebellion. The blade was thick and curved downward away from his hand and Toro had fallen in love with the blade the first time he cut wood with it. His father had told him the blade was called a kukri.
His father was one of the few that managed to escape the red wedding. He came back to the north through the swamps west of Moat Cailin. Carl the craven they called him when he came home but once they heard the tale of his journey they started calling him Carl the survivor and now that the Boltons are here with their lies the people of mammoth tusk call him Carl the truestory. Hopefully when he dies his name will be written down in history and remembered in song.
The smallfolk don't normally get remembered for long, and Toro intended on being the exception. He would rather be forgotten than be remembered with a title like Crowfood though. The Umbers had funny titles, there was Whoresbane Umber who is fighting for the bloody Boltons and there as Crowfood Umber who took many of Toros's friends with him to go fight for Stannis. Then there is little Ned Umber sitting in the last hearth castle surrounded by Bolton men.
Toro had tried to leave with Crowfood but his father stopped him and told him that winter is here and we aren't ready yet. Yaks had to be slaughtered and salted snowfall had to be cleared.
"Are you going to leave your family to freeze in order to avenge a Lord that did not even know your name?" Carl stared into his eyes as he asked the question. Toro had never lived through a winter and did not know how bad it could be but the look on Carl's face made him realize that his father was afraid. Afraid and hopeful but the hope would only remain if Toro stayed. Toro had 2 siblings Jors and Lyanna but Lyanna was only 12 and 8 year old Jors wasn't even allowed to leave the house alone during winter. They simply could not help their mother the same way Toro could.
After making Toro stay Carl had taken a mule and a barrel from every house that had a mule and went east toward the bay of seals with 5 old men from mammoth tusk village. He left Toro behind to guard the garden and livestock from wildlings and thieves. The village feared that wildlings would attack with an army any moment now that the bastard Lord commander of the Night's Watch had let them through the wall but to Toro's surprise the more pressing concern were the thieves. Their neighbour Janna had lost the carrots in her yard while she was feeding her babes. Once this happened the young mother left her babes and livestock at Toro's house while she salted the pork in her larder. His mother's name was also Janna and she would have been plagued by the same thieves if Toro had left for war.
Janna couldn't see her children while she guarded her larder so his sister Lyanna would take Mikken there when he wanted to see his mother.
Toro wasn't worried that his father won't return, Carl didn't like being called Carl the craven and would do everything he can to return with the saltwater. Toro wasn't worried that Carl would fall victim to a wildling attack either. It is rumored that the Umbers were half giants and the people of Mamoth Tusk had Umber blood in their veins. If a wildling saw Carl they would definitely think his mother was a giant. The man was 7 foot tall, almost as tall as Toro, muscular and good with a spear. Even if his size didn't scare them, their primitive spears and stolen swords will be of little use against Carl's brigandine. Clubs would pose a problem but they would have a hard time hitting his head with sufficient force to knock him out when he is standing.
A week after Carl left for the bay of seals he had returned with six of the eight mules thirteen of the sixteen barrels and none of the old men he took with him. Carl the survivor became Carl the preserver. Two days after he returned the Boltons arrived escorted by a umber host of greybeards. Carl the preserver became true story Carl, to remind everyone that the stories from the mouths of the Bolten men were lies.
After Lothrik the axe lover killed a Bolten man they never left the castle without an Umber greybeard as a guard. Toro wanted a title like Boltenkiller, the widows and daughters of the murdered men would like that title, and that is why he was going to go south. He needed to make a name for himself.
Toro went to the stable by the merchants square in order to buy a merchant's square was empty with the exception of a stall selling grass roots freshly dug up from the ground. The stable in the merchant's square was packed with horses.
Toro had twenty silver stags and sixty pennies. He wasn't sure it was enough for a garon but he was sure that Barns the horse dealer wants to get rid of his horses and would be willing to lower his prices.
The fur of the garons and the coursers deep in the stable had grown noticeably longer. The horse dealer stood inside the stable hugging the horses for warmth. Toro went up to him and pulled down the scarf that covered his mouth.
" How much for a garon?" The horse dealer looked up at him and squinted. Toro knew the man's name to be Barns.
"Do you have gold on you?" The horse dealer asked.
"Com'on Barns it's winter now you can't possibly hope to feed all the horses. I know you want to get rid of them. Drop the price a little and I would take the horse off your hands."
Barns looked visibly annoyed at his attempt at bargaining.
"Don't tell me what I should and should not be wanting to do boy. There are no horses that do better in the snow than garons. Soon enough the umber boy going to come down here and buy all of them to get supplies from nearby towns and they are going to pay me in gold. They have done so every winter and they will buy them this winter as well. You can buy the coursers if you want."
"How much are those?" Toro asked him, certain they would be too expensive.
"15 silver stags"
Toro chuckled. He had thought the cost would a couple of gold dragons at least. Toro had never imagined he would be able to buy a war horse in his entire life.
"I must be a better bargainer than I thought for you to drop the price so low."
"The price has nothing to do with your glib tongue; it's simply the price of the meat on the beast's bones. Only a fool would ride a courser in winter. Do you want one?"
"No." Toro replied.
If the horse dealer was willing to part with his courser for 15 stags, they must be useless and Toro wasn't going to buy a horse that was going freeze before they reached the King's road.
"I guess that means you want a horse to travel in. As a man who has lived through many winters I can tell you this is not the time to go traveling." The Horse dealer's advice made him want to defend himself so he replied.
"I don't mean to wander aimlessly through the snow. I'm going to go south and fight for Stannis and I'm going to go there with or without your horse." Barns smiled with a glimmer of pride when he heard Toro speak.
"If you be wanting coin for the horse you should go take up service with little Ned Umber, they are gathering men to repel the wildling incursion."
"Little Ned Umber is surrounded by Bolten men." If he takes up service with Ned Umber he might have to clean a Bolten shield some day and the thought of that sickened him.
"Little Ned Umber is held hostage by the Bolton men." Barns replied
"He is only held hostage because the greybeards let the Bolton men get to him. There were only 15 men from the Dreadfort, the greybeards could have killed them."
Barns shook his head in exasperation and began to justify the greybeard's actions.
"The greybeards only tolerate the dreadfort men because the Great Jon is held hostage by the Freys. Even if the Great Jon was not a hostage anymore, think about what would happen if the Bolton men in the last hearth died and Roose stopped getting letters in their handwriting?" Barns waited for Toro to answer his question and when didn't get one he continued talking.
"Roose will come North with all 3000 of his men when he is done with Stannis and reduce this town to rubble. Little Ned Umber will sit happily inside his castle for a year or 2 but your house and my stable will be burnt to the ground. They will sing songs about ruthless Roose after that like they sing rains of castamere now but we will be forgotten so you better pray to the Gods that the dreadfort men are happy and don't go sending mean messages to Roose Bolten."
"What are we just supposed to do then? Let them walk freely? The man who killed Janna's husband could be sitting in the castle right now while Janna guards her larder a too afraid to leave the house and get firewood. Hanna, Holly, gingerjon, Tor, Bor, Odin and Lothrik all lost fathers in the red wedding. Where is the justice if we let them go free?" There was anger in his voice but sadness in his heart. Toro knew Barns was right, the Umbers did not have enough men to fight the Boltons
"I don't want them to go free. We can only hope that the Gods are good and Stannis wins but I doubt the gods love Stannis. As for Janna if you care so much for her you should go guard her house and maybe if she warms up to you she will let you into her bed. Fucking her would be just as helpful to Stannis as a greenboy who arrives late to battle almost frozen to death.
If Stannis is going to win the war he is going to win the war whether you join him or not. However if you go guard Janna you would make winter pleasant for at least one mother and her babe instead of dying pointlessly on the snow."
Toro's face reddened as he walked away from the horse dealer. He did not know which was worse Barns's suggestion that Toro should woo Janna or Barns predicting Toro's death if he went South.
Toro wondered what people will call him if he went to help Janna. Toro the widow fucker, Toro the widow lover? It would be worse if Janna didn't sleep with him, then he would be Toro the cuck. None of those titles pleased Toro. If he can't get a horse to ride south and fight for Stannis at Winterfel then he would go fight the wildlings and make a name for himself in the new gift.