The Bolton soldiers sat huddled together on the cold wet northern ground surrounded by wildling guards.. There were over a thousand of them still and each of them were in chains. Less than a day ago they were apart of the strongest army in the North.
"Do you think we'll be skinned alive?", Uthor asked.
"I doubt it", Roose replyed, "These are the Starks. It's probably the wall or the block for us."
"Wh-", whatever Uthor was about to say was cut short by many of the Bolton soldiers rising as they all looked in one direction.
The two also looked and realized why. The Stark bastard and Lady Bolton were walking towards them.
"Lady Bolton", each man said with a bow to the red haired woman as she approached.
She stopped and looked across the crowd of prisoners.
"My name is Sansa of house Stark and you shall address me as such", she said loud enough for each man to hear. Her voice was hard and stern.
Many of the soldiers closest to them gave quick variations of "As you wish, m'lady" and "of course m'lady".
"Ramsey Bolton killed your lord, Roose Bolton, his wife, and youngest son. Now Ramsey has been slain.", The Stark bastard spoke, "There is still more war to come and the north will need every man we can muster, so I'm giving each of you two options."
"Here it comes", whispered Roose to Uthor.
"Head north and take the black", the stark continued, "or bend the knee and serve as loyal soldiers for house Stark."
"What?", Roose said aloud.
As it turned out he was not the only soldier taken off guard by this. Around him many others looked confused or asked if they had miss heard.
Eventually one Bolton soldier walked forward in his chains. Roose knew him. Pops is what everybody called him because he treated them all like he was their father. He was old, most of what little hair he had left turned gray years ago.
"None of us will say we regret what happened to the young wolf. The boy was a fool marrying some foreign whore.", Pops spoke as he looked the Starks in the eyes, "but for your younger brother you have my deepest apology and for you ,mlady, we are sorry for what that bastard did to you. Not a single man here carried any love for him."
"Yet you stood by him.", Sansa said coldly.
"Aye, we did. He would've skinned every last one us alive along with our families if we didn't."
"There nothing else to apologize for", Jon said as he reached our his hand. "Which will you choose?"
Pops took the hand, "long live house Stark."
...
"They can't be trusted, Jon", Sansa said when the were alone in their father's old solar.
"We need the men", Jon argued calmly.
"Then send them to the wall then! Don't trust them to guard us with their lives", Sansa countered.
"They have no leadership left. They chose to stay. Winterfell needs men to guard it. The other houses need all the men they have. Wildlings are fierce but they lack discipline and know little of siege warfare."
Sansa remained silent before composing herself.
"Fine", she agreed, "but only if we mix more of our guards. We ask for a few men from each northern house and send them the same number of boltens in return. Winterfell will be defended by men from every house. We let their families stay here in winter town while the men are off at war."
"Good plan", Jon admitted, "I agree".
"I'll tell the master to send ravens to everyhouse immediately."
...
Roose watched from a corner now dressed in Stark armor as the king in the North held court. He was one of the few not sent away to the other castles.
"Tormund", the king called. The wildling chief ctood. "Now that house Bolton is dead and their men pledge loyalty to house Stark the dread fort is vacant. Take your children and elderly there. It is one of the strongest castles in the North, they'll be safe there."
"Right, you better not start calling me lord Giantsbane",The red bearded man teased.
"Your grace", lord Glover interrupted, "your giving the dread fort to these savages."
Tormund and Jon both look frustrated at this but Sansa spoke up.
"Could you please remind us how many men you lost in the battle of the bastards?", The lady of winterfell asked.
Lord Glover said nothing.
"Tormund", she asked now, "how many wildlings died for Jon?"
"More than twelve hundred", Tormund said.
That ended all debate on the matter.
"Lord Reed", Jon called fourth next.
"Yes, your grace?", Howland Reed asked.
"I want you to prepare the neck for an attack from the south. Just because our main enemy is to the north doesn't mean we don't have enemies in the south."
"Understood"
Jon nodded to the crannogman before turning to look acroiathe whole court.
"Also for the time being all prisoners are not to be punished in any way accept by being sent to the wall.", Jon order, "no more executions or cutting off body parts. I don't care if they raped your own daughter ;every last living person counts."
He looked to lord Baelish.
"Can we ask that the vale does the same?"
"Of course your grace", he grinned.
...
Roose stood outside the king's Chambers before knocking on the door.
"Enter", the king said from inside.
"You asked for me, your grace?", He said as he walked in and shut the door behind him.
"Aye, your men tell me you were one of the main drill instructors for house Bolton. That you trained them in Pike drills."
"Yes"
"I want you to start training the women and children in the drills."
"Yes, your grace", was all he could manage to say.
...
The women and children older than ten did there best to form a solid pike bloke. Roose walked down the formation looking at each person as he went. Most wore old Stark or Bolton armor that fir poorly on them.
"Good", he said. He had been training for nearly a week straight. "Now let's work on marching drill."