The Bears and the Lions

Lord Flanders is sailing across the bay to Bear Island in order to talk with Lady Mormont who had requested to meet with him today. Arriving on Bear Island Lord Flanders is greeted by the maester of House Mormont.

"Mi'lord I must speak with you for a moment," Asked the old man

"Yes, what is it maester?" Inquired the Lord

"Mi'lady is going to ask a request of you today and it is of grave importance, so you must be ready for anything," said the maester seriously

"What is this request?" Lord Flanders asked with solemn determination

"That is for the lady to tell you," The maester said gesturing to the open doors of Bear Keep

Lord Flanders begins his walk to the great hall of the Bear Keep deciding to admire the architecture, as he walks he notices little things he hadn't before such as the subtle grooves of the wood into dove-wings, which while not immediately noticeable, accentuates and really ties together the whole of the building. Though he is soon torn from his thoughts when he see the towering and ornately carved doors leading to the great hall, picturing Rodrik Stark wrestling an Ironborn for ownership of the isle, he steels his resolve and pushes open the doors to the great hall.

"Ah, finally you have arrived Lord Flanders," Lady Mormont says solemnly

"Ah, yes my apologies my lady I was testing Lord Salsbury when your message arrived," The Lord explained, "It said you had a request?"

"Yes I do, but before that how is the Lord doing in his training?" Questioned the Lady of the isle

"He has become quite proficient at parrying, he has also bested Ser Maximus in combat, but I still need to continue his actual combat training," The lord explained to the lady

"Well, his training is about to become much more intense," Lady Mormont said solemnly

"And why is that my lady?" Lord Flanders inquired

"We have been getting reports of raiding parties attacking Greenwult on the coast of the mainland, they have beseeched us for aid, so I am sending you, Lord Salsbury, and Ser Maximus to investigate," She explained dispirited

"Oh, well you needn't worry then, while Lord Salsbury is no match for me he is more than enough for common bandits," The lord said providing the lady some solace, "Salsbury and I shall sail at first light tomorrow for the mainland my lady." And with that the lord bowed and exited the Bear Keep.

-Dreadfont-

Lord Salsbury once again was woken up by the sound of metal shields smashing together

"I certainly hope this isn't going to become a thing that happens every day," The lord asked groggily

"I tried waking you more passively, but you just wouldn't wake, but anyway we are going to be sailing to the mainland at first light so be ready," The lord of the castle ordered

"What for?" The still half-asleep lord inquired

"I shall tell you at first light tomorrow Salsbury, for now just get some sleep," And with that he exited the barracks and returned to his quarters

Lord Salsbury woke an hour before first light and prepared his equipment mentally checking off everything he needed

'Longsword, check'

'Armor, check'

'Knapsack, check'

'Supplies inside, check'

Finally sure he was prepared Lord Salsbury left the barracks seeing that the sun had begun to rise and it was officially first light, and he was due an explanation from Lord Flanders. As he thought that he looked over and saw the very person in question standing by the gate, he had never seen Lord Flanders combat ready before. He was an imposing figure, clad head to toe with Flandrian Steel platemail and with a rather large sword gripped in his left hand, it bore a lion on the pommel, the symbol of his house, and an ornate guard though he was to far to see what it depicted, and finally the blade was also ornately forge and appeared to have serrated edges and and extremely sharp tip for easily flaying flesh and piercing mail.

"Well are you just going the stand there or are you going to come on!" The lord suddenly yelled ripping him from his thoughts

"Oh, ah yes I'll be right there!" The other lord called back, "Now why are we suddenly going to the mainland," he questioned after running over to Lord Flanders

"Lady Mormont has asked that we go to the mainland and investigate an increase in bandit activity and put an end to the frequent raiding parties attacking Greenwult," Lord Flanders explained disgusted, "The people of Greenwult are but simple farmers and have no way to defend themselves, I'm going to enjoy crushing these bandits."

After a few hours of sailing, their ship finally reached the pier of Greenwult, large parts of the town were on fire and the sounds of combat could be heard from the center of town.

"Maximus take your footmen and search the town for survivors, Salsbury you're with me were heading to the town center!" With that they all split up and began to scour the town

When Lord Flanders and Salsbury reached the town square they saw a large man clad fully in platemail, like Lord Flanders, but to a much larger degree, clearly a lawbringer, the man was being circled by four bandits, suddenly the man charged and impaled one throwing him into a house-fire then he whipped around with surprising speed and decapitated the one sneaking up on him, the third was blinded by a Fiat Lux and then beaten to the ground, and the final suffered the worst fate of all, the large man threw down his weapon then broke the raider's left knee and proceeded to drag him up the steps of the town hall and hung him from a flagpole leaving him to writhe in agony until he eventually suffocated. After the man had retrieved his weapon Lord Salsbury got a better look at him and noticed his helmet seeing a radiant sun on it he immediately recognized the man.

"Flanders, be wary that man bears a sun on his helmet, another man also bore that mark, The Cyclops, a Frey!" Lord Salsbury said in a hushed shout

"If this man were really an enemy why would he be helping a town loyal to House Mormont, bannermen to the Starks, also I've heard that during the Red Wedding, The Cyclops as you call him deserted killing quite a few Freys in his way out as well," explained the lord

As they were talking the large man had walked away out of sight, but they were suddenly called to attention by a blood curdling scream coming from behind the fountain in the square. Reaching the other side of the fountain they saw the berzerker that had only been beaten down earlier impaled on the lawbringer's poleaxe teetering off the ground until the lawbringer kicked the base of the poleaxe causing the man to fall and smash his face into the ground. One could clearly see that the man was in agony, his face and body were broken even his he survived this event he would never fully recover from the ordeal. The lawbringer then grabbed the berzerker by his neck and placed his head over the side of a crate raising his axe then suddenly flipping the weapon over to its dull side and bringing it down on the man's skull cracking it and killing him instantly.

"He really is a frightening man," Salsbury said readying himself

"Yes, he is which is why we shouldn't antagonize him," Flanders said pushing Lord Salsbury's sword down, "Ser! Can you tell us what is going on here?" He called out

"The freefolk have somehow gotten past the wall and are raiding villages along the coast," The man dubbed the Cyclops answered

"Freefolk! How did wildlings get this far south!" Salsbury yelled in shock

"We can investigate that later, right now we need to secure the town," Lord Flanders ordered

"If you want to help these people then you'd better prepare yourselves, the wildlings are preparing their final assault, it will begin at nightfall," The Cyclops said walking towards the town hall, "We'll make our final stand on the steps of the townhall."

"Why?" Salsbury inquired

"Because that's where all the townsfolk are hiding," he answered

In the hours leading up to nightfall the men were all preparing defenses, putting up barricades around the town hall and creating a bottleneck to force the wildlings into direct combat with them, about an hour after night had fallen they heard a horn being blown signalling the raid was beginning. The wildlings descended from the hills like an avalanche rushing into the bottleneck where they met the lord's waiting force it was their twenty-five versus the wildlings about one-hundred. The fighting was bloody and brutal, there were no injured only dead, Lord Flanders' sword Ser Maximus and his footmen were defending the gate to the town hall, The Cyclops' sword Ser Sandrin and his footmen were in the fray with him and the two lords. The Cyclops was in battle with three of them, but he was encircled by about fifteen corpses, he was mostly toying with them, meanwhile Lord Salsbury was in combat with a raider who he was managing to keep at bay often waiting for him to attack then parrying and counterattacking.

Lord Flanders however was in combat with the warlord of this group of wildlings, the warlord was violently lashing out at Lord Flanders, but every single attack was blocked or parried and then immediately punished, however, the fight was over when Lord Flanders cut the man on his upper right thigh then the left side of his ribcage following it up with a shoulder bash and ending it with an overhead swing cleaving the man's skull in two. After the man was killed Lord Flanders thought he saw another man in the fray, but he pushed it out of his mind and began clearing out the remaining wildlings, when the battle was over Lord Flanders' suspicion was confirmed when he looked over and saw a strange man standing by himself. The man appeared to be wearing armor made of wood and held a very brittle looking one sided blade, Lord Salsbury and the Cyclops soon took notice of the man as well readying themselves for a fight as they began to encircle him Lord Salsbury got a little too close and the man swung at him, but in the end this only ended badly for the man as his sword simply bounced off of Lord Salsbury, the Cyclops then bashed the man over the head knocking him unconscious.

"What should we do with him?" Salsbury asked nudging the man with his foot

"Chain him up we'll bring him before Lady Mormont for judgement," He said looking down at the man, "As, for you Cyclops will you journey back with us, I'm sure the lady will be glad to meet with the man who defended Greenwult."

"I will go with you, but I cannot stay long," He said grabbing the strange man and putting him over his shoulder, "I am a wanderer and need to look for some work"

"The lady may be able to help with that," Flanders said heading for his ship

-On the ship back to Bear Island-

When the lords boarded the ship to Bear Island they sat a row ahead of the strange man and the Cyclops.

"What crest is that on your back," asked the strange man while kicking at Lord Salsbury, "It's the crest of House Salsbury, bannerman of House Reyne," Said with agitation in his voice.

"Ohh so you are part of a dead house that is bannermen to a dead house that's great!" Said the strange man while laughing.

"House Reyne might be dead, but House Salsbury is still alive you are talking to the Lord of House Salsbury right now!" Said Lord Salsbury with rage in his voice.

"And who are you, the proud lord said that I must bow so low?...Only a cat of different coat, that's all the truth I know...In a coat of gold or coat of red a lion still has claws...And mine are long and sharp, my lord, as long and sharp as yours...And so he spoke and so he spoke that lord of Casta..." Sang the strange man

But not for long because Lord Salsbury made the rash decision of driving his sword's hilt into the strange man's jaw breaking it. Then the lord drove the end of his sword into the man's knee asking him to continue singing. Then the lord proceeded to stomp the man's ankle.

"I was beginning to wonder when you were going to do that," Flanders said knowingly, "But, you should probably leave some of him for the lady" Said Lord Flanders laughing.

"Well fuck, I'm lucky you only had a shield" Said Ser Maximus while laughing.

Then Lord Salsbury wipes his blade off on the strange man and proceeds to sit on the far end of the ship away from the strange man for the rest of the trip to Bear Island.