Chapter 8
Lord Commander Jeor Mormont POV, Castle Black.
60,000 wildlings. No matter how many times he read over the message Rebekah Stark had sent him he still couldn't believe it. Yes captured wildlings had revealed that many of their tribes had joined up with Mance but still he never thought for one second that he'd have that kind of strength. Hell he found it hard to believe that 60,000 wildlings could even live north of the Wall, with the lands so cold you could freeze to death in seconds and with little methods of producing food. The fact the message also said that it was likely these numbers would grow was also very worrying.
A horn blowing caught his attention. It seems Benjen had found Horthor and Flowers faster than he had expected. A second horn blast stopped that train of thought immediately. Wildlings he realized with distaste. Rushing out of his chambers into the courtyard as fast as his old bones could carry him he noticing his sworn brothers preparing for an attack and assembling weapons, and he was quickly approached by Ser Alliser Thorne, a rather unpleasant man but he did his job well. "What's happening?" He demanded of Thorne.
"There are hundreds, if not thousands of wildlings gathered beyond the Wall." Thorne answered. Mance was his first thought, perhaps the man had finally made his move.
"Are they attacking?" He asked worried, they had over three hundred men at castle black but barely half of them knew how to fight.
"No, they just seem to be waiting, for what I don't know." Wanting to see for himself he got to the top of the Wall as fast as the lift could take him. When he get to the top of the Wall he stood on the ledge standing next to Jon Snow, Ned Stark's bastard son and the only one of the new batch of recruits that possessed any notable skill or use. Looking over the ledge he tried to see what he could, his eyesight wasn't what it once was but he could faintly make out many figures and like Thorne had said there were thousands of them. They were also too far away for them to fire arrows onto them and they didn't have the men to send out to fight them.
"They seem to be making camp and a couple of them seem to waving white banners." Jon observed. He couldn't see any signs of camps or banners but he'd trust a young man's eyes over his own failing ones.
"If the wildlings wish to parley then so be it. Snow have maester Aemon send ravens to Winterfell, Last Hearth, Karhold and Deapwood Motte requesting reinforcements." He ordered and with that the boy left. He hoped reinforcements arrived quickly as they hadn't the strength to fight them and they couldn't send men beyond the Wall with a host of Wildlings there.
-TVQ-
Rebekah POV, Winterfell
"Are the men ready?" Rebekah asked Hallis Mollen, the new captain of the guards at Winterfell since Jory had gone to Kings Landing with her father.
"Yes lady Stark, 800 men ready to deal with those wildling cunts, when will we leave?" He asked eager. Many of the men were eager to fight the wildlings, after all they'd been doing it their whole lives and in many ways Northerners loved fighting wildlings.
"Immediately." She answered him as she mounted her horse Shadow and then all 800 of them; all mounted began the long ride to Castle Black. Even mounted it would take at least a weak to reach the Wall. Rebekah was both happy and angry about leaving for the Wall. Happy because she would be seeing Jon again and if he hadn't already sworn his vows hopefully convince him to return to Winterfell. Angry because Rickon had not taken her leaving very well. It was understandable, he was barely six and yet as far as he knew their mother, father, Jon, Sansa and Arya had left him and would never return and he had not reacted well to the news that she was going as well, he had cried and screamed but the worst was his direwolf Shaggydog. She and the rest of her siblings were connected to their direwolves in a way that was almost magical, when they were angry their wolves were angry, when they were sad their wolves were sad. And when Rickon had learned she was leaving Shaggydog had lashed out, forcing Freya and Summer to attack and contain their pack mate and then they had no choice but to chain Shaggydog up in the kennels, at least until Rickon calmed down.
Osha had been a god send. Even though she had only been at Winterfell for a little over a weak the women had almost become a mother to Rickon and so far seemed to be the only one capable of calming him down. Her mother was going to be pissed when she returned to find that Rickon now began to view Osha as his mother but she couldn't bring herself to care, her mother shouldn't have gone south in the first place.
They made it to Last Hearth in very good time, within three days. As they got closer she caught sight of the banner of house Umber, the broken chains. When they reached the gates of Last Hearth they were greeted by Mors Umber, the Greatjon's uncle. "Lady Stark." The man said bowing.
"Lord Mors." She replied. Mors Umber, commonly referred to as crow food, had seen better days with his beard now completely white, one eye missing and his face covered in wrinkles. He wasn't the warrior he once was.
"You're the last to arrive Lady Stark. The Greatjon and the Smalljon have already left for the Wall with a thousand men, while Lords Karstark and Glover left Last Hearth a day past with 700 and 500 men respectively." With her 800 men that would make 3,000 fighting men, more then enough to deal with the wildlings. "I assume you'll wish to rest hear for the night?" He asked.
"A bed for the night would be appreciated, we've been hard riding. We've brought our own food and we'll leave at first light so it won't cost you anything." She told Mors and with that Rebekah and her 800 men entered Last Hearth to rest for the night.
-TVQ-
Arya POV, Bear Island
"Left." Clang. "Right." Clang. "Left." Clang. "Right." A clattering sound was heard as Dacey knocked the practice sword out of her hand. "And now your dead." Dacey said smirking. Dacey Mormont, the heiress of Bear Island, was a rather slender women with long black hair and with visible muscles, though not in a grouse way. Ever since she had arrived at Bear Island Dacey had become her personal trainer.
"But you said right and then you went left." Arya protested. Dacey had lied, it wasn't her fault that she'd been disarmed.
"Yes I did because you've learned how to block an attack when I'm telling you where I'm striking it's time for you to learn how to predict where and when I'm going to attack you, after all your enemy isn't going to tell you how they're going to kill you." Dacey explained and she nodded her head in understanding.
"But how do you know when someone is going to attack?" She asked.
"Good question." Dacey said smiling "You need to watch their face, particularly their eyes. The reason so many soldiers wear helmets isn't to protect their heads but so their opponents can't see their face and therefore can't predict their attacks."
"All right now let's try again and remember watch my face." Dacey said picking up the practice sword she knocked out of her hand and threw it to her. Watching Dacey's face she saw her grimace just before she lunged and she raised her sword to block the blow.
An hour later Arya returned to her chambers in Bear Island Castle and collapsed on her bed, groaning as she did so. Every inch of her body ached and was covered in bruises. Rebekah had warned her that the Mormonts would show her no leniency in training her how to fight just because she was a Stark and a girl but she hadn't expected the training to be this rough. Every day she was training for two hours in the morning, two in the evening and one hour before she went to bed. And just because she was learning to fight didn't mean her regular studies had been stopped either, her father had made it clear that if he found out she was slacking in her studies then she would be immediately returned to Winterfell.
"Still not used to the training huh?" Turning to look at the smiling face of Lyanna Mormont, the second and youngest daughter of Maege Mormont who was also named after her late aunt.
"How do you manage to do this every day?" She asked her friend.
"Experience, plus this." Lyanna answered throwing something to her. Catching it she saw it was a flask though what was in it she didn't know. "It contains body lotion. When you finish your training at night apply it to your body and by morning all your aches will be gone." She knew what body lotion was, it was Rebekah who had made it in the first place nearly two years ago and it had become famous throughout the North, perhaps even Westeros and earned Winterfell a good deal of gold.
-TVQ-
Rebekah POV, Castle Black
As she rode closer towards Castle Black she couldn't help but look at the castle in disgust, hell Rebekah wouldn't even call it a castle, more like a crumbling keep. Give her a hundred good men and she'd be able to take the so called heart of the Night's Watch with ease, and that was taking into account the skill of the members of the Night's Watch. Along the outskirts of Castle there were dozens of tents with several banners littered around bearing the Starburst of house Karstark, the armoured fist of house Glover and the four chains of house Umber. "Have the men set up camp, I'll be going to Castle Black to meet the Lord Commander." She told Hallis and with that she left her men and rode through the castle gates.
"Lady Stark." The Lord Commander said as he approached her, bowing his head slightly. Jeor Mormont was an old man, but that didn't make him any less intimidating and despite his age she was half certain he was still most likely one of the best fighters in Castle Black.
"Lord Commander." She greeted. "So how many wildlings are there exactly?" She asked getting straight to the point.
"A little over 5000 at best estimate. We can't get an exact number as we can't send out any of our rangers without the wildlings spotting them." Mormont explained, frowning slightly. These wildlings unnerved him just waiting beyond the Wall doing nothing, it was completely unlike them. "There's something else Lady Stark, two days ago one of the wildlings came with a message. He said their leader, a woman named Karsi, wished to speak with the Stark of Winterfell." Well that was strange, why would a wildling tribe leader wish to speak with her.
"Did the messenger say about what this Karsi wanted to speak to me about?" She asked curiously.
"No." Well that was helpful she thought sarcastically.
"Has there been any word of my uncle Benjen, the last letter he sent said he went ranging beyond the Wall not long before the wildling turned up?" Rebekah asked with concern about her uncle, he was a good ranger but wildlings knew their land better than her uncle ever would it wasn't as if he could fight five thousand wildlings.
"None." The commander said with a bit of sympathy.
"Where are Lords Karstark, Glover and Umber?" She asked.
"In the great hall with a good deal of their men as well as their eldest sons in the case Rickard and the Greatjon." Mormont answered and with that the two of them entered the hall.
"Rebekah." The Smalljon bellowed once he saw her and then stood and went over to greet her.
"Smalljon." She greeted as she hugged the man. Why anyone called him Smalljon she had no clue considering he was almost as large as his father the Greatjon, though Dacey liked to joke it was because he had a hangnail for a cock, though whether that was true she had no clue but there were more than a few rumours about her two friends so Dacey may very well be right.
"So I hear you're to marry Domeric?" Smalljon asked.
"Yes I am, jealous?" She asked smirking.
"Nah, I'm betrothed myself." Yes she'd heard about that, it had been announced not long after her own betrothal. Smalljon was to marry Rickard Karstark's only daughter Alys. "Though doesn't mean Domeric isn't a lucky man, and so are you. Domeric may be a bit strange but at least he's not a cunt like his father."
"True." She admitted, she was lucky that Domeric wasn't a sadistic bastard like Ramsey or Roose, not that it made him any less dangerous then his father and bastard brother.
"Lady Stark." Rickard Karstark said greeting her.
"Lords Umber, Karstark." She greeted the two lords warmly. "Lord Glover." She greeted far less warmly. When father named her his heir, Galbart Glover had given the most objections, why, she didn't know or really care, though she had a suspicion it had something to do with what she had done to the Whitehills after they threatened to go to war with the Forresters, but regardless it had left her with a strong dislike for the current lord of Deepwood Motte. Though she did like his brother, even if Robett Glover was a grim, humourless man.
"About time your here Stark, now we can finally deal with these wildling fuckers." The Greatjon bellowed. The Umbers were a very load family.
"I'm surprised you haven't ridden out and smashed them already Greatjon." She said, the Greatjon wasn't the most cautious man and she half expected him to have dealt with wildling before she'd even reached the Wall.
"Ahh the old bear convinced me to wait and find out what these bloody wildlings wanted first." the Greatjon said grumbling. After greeting Lords Karstark and Glover as well as Rickard's eldest son and heir Harrion, who though she wouldn't necessarily call a friend but she got along well enough with, she looked around the hall for her brother. She found sitting near the corner with three men, one of which was very fat. Considering his size she guessed the man was used to a privileged life style as very few smallfolk had enough food to get fat.
Walking over to her brother she sat down next to him and said smirking "Not going to greet your dear sister Jon, or introduce me to your friends."
Jon smiled in return "Hello sweet sister, lovely to see you again, and these are Grenn, Pyp and Sam." So that was Samwell Tarly, she was a bit disappointed after all, she'd expected more.
"Nice to meet you all." She said with a fake smile. Sam may have joined the Night's Watch willingly, though she had no idea why, but she didn't know about the other two though Jon was a pretty good judge of character so Grenn and Pyp could very well be decent men. "Black suites you."
"It was always my colour." Jon replied smiling. Rebekah noticed that Sam looked like he wanted to say something but didn't seem to be able to do.
"So who's the lanky guy at the head table that keeps glaring at us?" She asked as she noticed she and her brother were being glared at.
"That's Alliser Thorne, Castle Black's master at arms." Jon answered.
"He's a complete cunt." Grenn said staring at the man with hatred.
"What do you expect, he's a Targaryen loyalist." She told them, any man who would willingly fight for that insane family had to be a cunt.
"How do you know that?" Pyp asked looking at her with surprise.
"My uncle Benjen told me." She answered. "According to him Thorne is a bitter and sadistic old man that will do the world a favour when he dies."
"That doesn't sound like our uncle." Jon pointed out.
"Our uncle really doesn't like him." She replied. Uncle Benjen had lost his father, brother and sister because of the Targaryen's; you couldn't really blame him for not liking someone who had fought for them during the rebellion. "You look like you want to say something." She said to Sam "What is it?"
The man jumped in surprise and began stuttering. "Well- the thing is. Most of the ah men here are uh, well I'm not sure how to-."
"For god's sake spit it out." She snapped at him, so what she wasn't very patient sue her.
Sam flinched a little and she felt a little bad for that. "Well a lot of the men here were well rapers and you're very beautiful women." He blushed as he said that and she sent him a dazzling smile in return causing his blush to intensify. "Aren't you worried about being..." It didn't seem like Sam was capable of carrying on.
"Trust me any idiot that tries to go near me won't have anything left to use on women." She reassured Sam with a smile and sent a shiver down his spine.
-TVQ-
As the gate rose Rebekah walked through it entering the lands beyond the Wall. Living in the North all her life the cold didn't bother her but it disturbed her that while not by a great deal it was certainly colder north of the Wall then at Castle Black. She wondered if the Walkers were the reason it was so cold, after all they were said to be beings of ice and winter. In the distance she saw a wildling walking towards her. As the wildling got closer to her it lowered its revealing it was a women and a rather attractive one at that with long black hair and soft features, and Rebekah guessed she was in her mid-twenties. She also wore a necklace made of shells and had two daggers strapped to her waste. She felt comforted with the weight of Ice at her side, she had become rather proficient with the great sword and she was confident that she'd be able to hold her own against the women she assumed was the wildling leader.
"You are Karsi I assume?" She asked the women.
"I am, and I'm guessing you're the Stark of Winterfell, after all you're certainly no crow." Karsi replied.
"I am Rebekah Stark of Winterfell yes and the ruler of the North after my father." She told the woman
Karsi however had a look of confusion on her face. "I thought you southerners tied yourselves in knots about only men having power, or has that changed?"
"No it hasn't changed unfortunately, but luckily my father decided to break tradition and named me the heir of Winterfell instead of my brothers." She explained to Karsi. "Why are you here?" She asked getting straight to the point.
"I need your help." Karsi said sounding rather desperate. "You may not believe me but the Others have returned and if we aren't south of the Wall by winter we'll all be worse than dead."
"You mean as wrights?" She asked causing Karsi to look at her in surprise.
"Not too long ago I encountered a wildling woman by the name of Osha." Karsi's face didn't show any recognition at the name. "She told me about the White Walkers and a deserter from the Night's Watch said the same. Osha also told me about how Mance Rayder is currently building an army. Why aren't you with him?"
"I was until I found out about his plan to attack the crows and settle in the North." The women began explaining.
"Why would you have a problem with fighting the Night's Watch? I doubt you have any love for them." She asked confused why Karsi wouldn't want to fight the black brothers.
A look of anger covered Karsi's face as she growled out "I lost my parents and my brother to the crows, I have no problem with fighting them. What I do have a problem with is what comes after it." She raised an eyebrow at that and Karsi elaborated "Mance isn't the first King beyond the Wall. In fact there have been many over the centuries and what happened to them all. All killed by you Southerners. You may be Kneelers but no one can doubt your strength, especially you Starks." Karsi took a deep breath before continuing "I know you have no reason to help me but I need your help otherwise we'll all be dead by winter." Her mind rushed over what to do, letting them into the North could lead to civil war.
"If I let you into the North you will have to swear me your allegiance." She told Karsi.
"What does that mean exactly?" Karsi asked.
"It means that you'll have to bend the knee to me and my family and if I call upon you and your clan to fight, you will have to. Hostages will also have to be taken to ensure that you and your clan don't begin raiding our lands and force us to fight you."
"I'm not a kneeler." Karsi said through gritted teeth.
"You don't have much of a choice." She snapped at the stubborn women. "You can either bend the knee, and save you people from the White Walkers or you can be killed. I have over 3000 men at Castle Black and none of them would object to riding out and killing the lot of you."
"I also have 3000 fighters." Karsi said glaring at her.
"But do you have 3000 horses, because I do." She asked the women.
"Fuck your horses. I have something better." As Karsi said that she began to hear load thumping. In the distance she could see what looked like a man but no it couldn't be one, he was too big and. No that was impossible it couldn't be a giant, they were myths. Then again so were White Walkers, as well as vampires and witches.
"That's impossible." She muttered.
"Are you sure you want to attack me now?" Karsi asked smirking.
"This is getting us know where." She snapped. "You came to me asking for help, I don't have to help you or let into the North, which risks starting a civil war in the North. If you want to be allowed into the North then you have to accept my terms."
Karsi looked like she'd swallowed a lemon but in the end she said "If bending the knee means saving myself, my children and my people then so be it." And with that Karsi bent the knee. All right now for the hard part.
-TVQ-
"For centuries wildlings have raided my lands, killed our people and stolen our women, hell my own cousin was carried off by wildlings. I will not accept them living on or near my lands." The Greatjon screamed at her. Every single person in Castle Black hated her at the moment, because Rebekah had made it clear that she was going to allow Karsi and the Ice River clan to settle into the North. "I can't picture any other Northern lord accepting just because they make false claims about the Others returning. They are a dead, if they even existed in the first place."
"I agree with the Greatjon Rebekah." Rickard Karstark spoke out. "This is a folly with too many drawbacks and few little gains." Crap, Karstark was one of her most powerful and loyal bannermen, if he spoke out against this the other lords would listen.
"They have a fucking giant" She screamed in return shutting up the protesters. "If giants are real then how do we know that the White Walkers aren't real?"
"There's still the matter of where they're going to live." Galbert Glover pointed out.
"Moat Cailin." She answered. "There's good farm land around the castle, and the area is uninhabited. And if they do decide to raid the our lands, well they'll have the Neck and lord Reeds Crannogmen to deal with on the south and the rest of us to the north of them." The fact that the wildlings wouldn't be anywhere near Last Hearth seemed to appease the Greatjon, if only slightly, now time for Karstark. She knew what she was doing was going to piss off every house in the North, but she didn't need every house in the North. As long as she had the Boltons, Umbers, Karstarks and Manderlys behind her, the Starks will remain Wardens of the North. "Winterfell will also pay the dowry for Alys Karstark's marriage to Smalljon Umber." She told them, which seemed to please both lords.
A bit more haggling and deals and she felt she had managed to appease the Umbers, Karstarks and Glovers, which mostly included offering several positions in Winterfell to their families and there was also the matter of the other Northern houses but she'll deal with them later on.
"Hey." She said to the Smalljon who was without a doubt pissed at her.
"Why Rebekah? Why?" The Umber heir asked her angrily.
"Because it was either let them into the North or let them join Mance Rayder's army." She told him.
"And because they said the Walkers were real." The Smalljon said sarcastically, before he grew angry again. "Don't lie to me Rebekah, I know that's the real reason you're letting them into the North, you've always been obsessed with them."
"Yes I do believe that they're real. Look at the facts Jon, wildling raids are worse than ever and more deserters of the Night's Watch in this last year than in the last decade, hell the last three deserters I've encountered have all claimed that the White Walkers are real. Also the wildlings are stubborn bastards and they are willingly bending the knee to get south." She said listing the reasons furiously.
"I've spent my entire life fighting wildlings." Smalljon said seeming to have calmed down slightly.
"So have I. So we still friends?" She asked uncertainty.
"Yes were still friends, oh don't get me wrong I'm pissed at you but it'll pass."
"Come on there's something you've got to see." She said as she grabbed his arm and dragged him into the courtyard of Castle Black as they saw thousands of wildling walking through the courtyard of the castle and out of the gates, while crows and Northman glared hatefully at them.
"Why are we here?" Smalljon asked confused.
"Just wait." She said hoping they hadn't missed it.
"WHAT THE FUCK." Smalljon screamed like a little girl as the giant, called Wun Wun according to Karsi, walked through Castle Black while everyone stared at it in shock. It seemed no one had believed her when she told them the wildlings had a giant.
"I don't think we call your father the Greatjon anymore." She told Smalljon as Wun Wun was well over twice the size of lord Umber.
"No I don't think we can." Smalljon muttered quietly.
-TVQ-
"Are you sure you've done the right thing Rebekah?" Jon asked her. They were in his chambers drinking proper ale brewed in the south, say what will about the south they made good ale.
"The right thing yes, the smart thing no. So how does it feel to be the brother of the most hated women in the North?" She asked as she took a sip.
"You're not the most hated women Rebekah." Jon defended her.
"I'm certainly not the most liked." She pointed out.
"Wasn't it you who once told me if you spend your entire life trying to be liked you'll become the most hated person world," Jon said smiling.
"True." She said laughing a little, and that was true and Aerys Targaryen was the perfect example, at the start of his reign had tried to become the most loved man in Westeros yet by the end of it he'd become the most hated man in Westeros. It felt good to laugh as she had a strong feeling these next few months were going to be very trying.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. "Enter." Jon called as a member of the Night's Watch entered the room.
"Pardon my Lady, Lord Snow. But one of the wildling said he had information about your uncle, if you'll follow me." And with that the man left. Jon was about to follow before she grabbed his hand.
"Do you have the key to the kennel in which Ghost and Freya are locked in?" She asked him, feeling very nervous. If Karsi knew anything about her uncle she would have told her and so she felt more than a little nervous.
"Yes." Jon asked looking at her confused.
"Bring it and your sword, you'll need it." She told him as she strapped Ice to her waist and saw Jon do the same with his own sword and grab a key. Along the way they stopped at Hallis Mollen's room and brought him and another three Stark guards in case it was a trap.
As they walked to the balcony looking into the courtyard they saw possibly thirty brothers of the Night's Watch, all armed and a sign with the word traitor on it. Hearing the sounds of steps behind them she turned and saw another ten crows all with swords drawn.
"My lady, five of us can't fight forty armed men." Hallis whispered to her.
"If we unlock mine and Jon's direwolves we have a chance." She whispered back to him.
"Rebekah Stark." Thorne, clearly the leader of this coup, began "You have betrayed the North and for that will be killed any who try to defend you will meet the same fate." Well it seemed this man was truly a cunt. What was it Klaus always said when dealing with traitors, anger them to the point that when they lash out it will make their defeat and later their deaths even more humiliating and painful.
"Look at you, despising the Stark family for the role we played in the rebellion." She said smirking. "Tell me when Aerys Targaryen became aroused from burning people alive did you get down on your knees and suck his cock, and is the reason you're so angry and bitter is because he's dead and you can't do that anymore." At the end everyone was staring at her in shock. No one had ever spoken to Thorne that way.
"KILL THEM ALL." Thorne screamed in anger.
End of Chapter 8, please review
