The Life and Opinions of Ser Justin Massey, Knight
Chapter I
The name is Massey, Ser Justin Massey. The first you may have heard of me in this great tale of the War of the Five Kings was during the battle of Blackwater Bay, where I saved King Stannis from certain death, forcing him off the battlefield once all hope for victory was lost. I have long suspected, however, that the King hold a grudge against Horpe and myself for this act, though he never said as much until some time later. Knowing his iron will and ferocity, doubtless he would have preferred to stay and die fighting. But there, gentle reader, I am getting ahead of myself. This is a long, involved, and complicated tale, and it would not do to skip ahead and jump around. In all things, we must be methodical.
You may have also heard tales of my unbridled ambition from various sources. Now dear reader, you would do well to consider who those sources are, their own situation in life, and what might be gained by telling such tales about myself. I leave it in your hands to judge the "truthfulness" of those tales.
From the boy commander of the Night's Watch, you may have also heard tales of my ambition to become Lord of Winterfell. I confess, dear reader, that I did bring up the subject with His Grace, one freezing afternoon on the Wall after our great victory against the wildlings. But it was only because Richard Horpe had made the same request earlier in the day. The history of my contentious relationship with that particular gentleman is too long and complicated in nature to recount in this short introduction, but rest assured, I will describe each and every harm he has ever done me, in full, in subsequent chapters. You will understand why I did what I did then.
There, I seem to have gotten ahead of myself again. Why were we at the Wall in the first place, I hear you ask? We were there because the Black Brothers called for us. More accurately, called for King Stannis to help protect the Wall from an attack by the wildling force, led by the man calling himself "The King Beyond the Wall". Or even more accurately – because I am determined to be the one bringing you the truest tale in these complicated times – they called for assistance from all the Five Kings involved in the war.
Now I have heard some say that if the King in the North were still alive, he would have answered the call, and more promptly than King Stannis did. To those doubters I would tell them this – it is easy enough to glorify the dead, to imagine acts of valor and bravery they would have committed if only they had lived. Yet the undeniable truth is this; the dead can neither save the living nor protect a kingdom, only the living can. King Stannis, with his force depleted after our inglorious defeat at Blackwater Bay, was the only one to answer the call.
Sadly, dear reader, I am not in a position to clarify how the decision to come to the aid of the Black Brothers was made. Some say it was the influence of the red priestess. Others claim it was Lord Davos who persuaded the King. And there are others still who whisper dark tales about the late King Robert's bastard, the boy brought over from Storm's End. How that boy was involved in this matter is a mystery to you and I both. That is one part of the tale, my faithful reader, that you would have to hear from the quills of others.