In 275 AC, Ser Rodrik Staunton, fourthborn son of the Lord of Rook's Rest rode north with the intention of joining the Night's Watch. When he saw how far the Night's Watch had fallen, when he gazed upon the thieves, the rapers, the murderers there, he left in disgust. He returned to the Wall a year later, with a hundred men at his back and three large chests of gold. He did not go to Castle Black, but to Greyguard. There he founded his own order, the Brotherhood of the Wall, sworn to defend the realms of men. Where the Night's Watch wore black, they wore grey. Where the Night's Watch accepted criminals, they accepted only those who came of their own accord. The Brotherhood swelled rapidly in size as knights and common men alike travelled north in droves. Within three years they numbered three thousand men and occupied two of the fortresses along the Wall that the Night's Watch had abandoned. Within six years, they numbered near seven thousand men and occupied five. Now, nine years later, they number nine thousand and occupy the fortresses of Sentinel Stand, Greyguard, Stonedoor, Hoarfrost Hill, Icemark and most recently, the Nightfort. The seizure of the Nightfort was but the last in a series of what the Night's Watch considered to be insults and provocations. Now, war is brewing on the Wall. War between two orders sworn to defend the realms of men.
Greyguard, the Wall, the North, 284 AC
The Black Brothers of the Night's Watch approached Greyguard on the Black Road. There were six of them, with the First Ranger at their head.
The men of the Brotherhood of the Wall watched them come from their places atop the towers of the fortress. They knew why the Night's Watch had come.
The master-at-arms of Greyguard, Ser Damon Crane, sheathed the sword with which he had been drilling his newest batch of recruits. The Lord Steward, Steffon Whitehill wiped his Myrish lens nervously on his grey cloak. Ser Franklyn Costayne's hand closed around the hilt of his sword. He was one of the most recent additions to the Brotherhood, having 'taken the grey' only a moon's turn ago.
No sooner had the Black Brothers entered the yard than they were beset on all sides by the Grey. Steel drawn, the Brothers of the Wall watched them with suspicion and warning in their eyes. The First Ranger and his men dismounted and drew their own blades. Harwin Flint looked to the master-at-arms.
"Is this how you treat your guests, Crane!?" he snarled.
"I gave no command, Flint. My brothers drew their steel of their own accord" said Ser Damon.
"And they shall die of their own accord as well! Lest they sheathe it!" replied the First Ranger.
"Will they!?"
The voice of Ser Denys Templeton boomed through the air. The Commander of Greyguard stepped out of the tallest of the towers onto the frozen ground. He wore a shirt of polished mail beneath a shining steel breastplate and a grey cloak lined with grey fur. His head was completely hairless but for a bushy white beard, and upon his bald crown rested a grey half helm. His sword was still sheathed.
"Your Lord Commander sent you here to demand our fealty, didn't he, Flint?!" said Ser Denys.
"It is only right!" said Flint, "We are the senior order on the Wall! We have defended it since Brandon the Builder…"
He was interrupted by Ser Damon.
"And now you have fallen far. What was once a proud order, is now a safe haven for poachers, rapers, thieves and worse!"
"My master-at-arms speaks true, First Ranger!" said Ser Denys, "Run back to Castle Black, and tell Lord Commander Qorgyle that all he'll have from us, is what the wildlings get. Steel!"
"Is that so, Ser Denys?!" called one of the men who accompanied the First Ranger.
"What would the Commander of Sentinel Stand have to say on this matter?"
"Ser Marwyn will give you the same answer I did. The same answer Ser Parmen Crakehall gave before me, and Ser Rickard Celtigar of Icemark before him. I find it strange that you did not call upon the Nightfort on your trek here, and gave your 'offer' to the Lord Brother himself" said Ser Denys with a savage smile. There was hesitation in Harwin Flint's eyes, where moments before there had been only fury.
"That is your… final answer, then?" he said.
"Aye, and you better head back east from here. You'll find nothing at Sentinel Stand but naked steel and death, Ser Marwyn is not as patient a man as me" said Ser Denys.