Somewhere in the Riverlands…
Deep within the woods, two individuals had taken a moment's rest after having been on the move for so long. Bodrin, one of King Daveth's contacts at the capital, looked over his shoulder; in all his years he hadn't imagined that at some point in his life he'd be watching over the last of King Robert's bastards. Gendry, a tall and muscular young lad with blue eyes and thick black hair, was a blacksmiths apprentice before the massacre at King's Landing broke out. He kept his bull's head helmet strapped around his waist as the unacknowledged bastard pulled out his hammer to chisel one of the nearby stones.
"You ever get tired of doing that?" Bodrin asked.
Gendry shook his head. "Been hammering an anvil for 10 years," he answered. "Thought things were right as rain, before the goldcloaks started killin' babes in their homes."
Bodrin shuddered as he was reminded of that day in King's Landing when the riots broke out. He heard screams, shouting and cries flood the streets as teenagers, children and infants were butchered by rogue City Watchmen and Commander Janos Slynt like animals. Bodrin barely managed to escape the carnage, but was able to find his way to Tobho Mott's shop and take Gendry out of King's Landing when he realized what was going on.
"I know how much you hated leaving," he spoke with condolence. "But the city just wasn't safe for you anymore."
"But why? Why me? Why did the goldcloaks wanted me dead so badly?"
"We both know that it was only a small group of them City Watch who wanted you dead. Last I heard, those who were involved were banished to the Wall. Well, all except for Janos Slynt; heard that the bald, arrogant cunt got his head chopped off by the Oathkeeper himself."
"And why would the King care about a bunch of bastards?" Gendry implored.
Bodrin had to think of a lie. "Bastard or no, I don't believe anyone should deserve such cruelty. I think, at least I hope, that was why the King did what he did."
"You sound as if you know him."
"In a manner of speaking."
Gendry started getting a little suspicious. "And where exactly did you grow up? Some highborn prick's estate?"
Bodrin felt himself getting tense. "Flea Bottom, actually," he answered, "though both my parents were originally from the Reach. Pops was a farmer, ma was a tavern wench. They died when I was very young."
Now Gendry felt ashamed. "Sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean—"
"No, no. It's alright, my boy," Bodrin reassured him. "I get where you're coming from. Highborn and their gold always get in the way of what's most important in life."
"Tch, tell me about that," Gendry dryly replied as he set his hammer down. "You never did say where we're going, though."
"The Red Fork."
"And that's where?" he asked.
Bodrin took a moment to explain. "It's one of the largest rivers engulfing the Trident. We find it, and we move west from there to Riverrun. I've got a friend there who's in service to Lord Edmure Tully. We convince Lord Tully to take you in, you'll be safer there."
"How would—"
Before Gendry could ask questions, Bodrin immediately grabbed the boy and forced him to the ground. Around the corner, they could hear someone singing in a masculine tone. Whoever was singing, their voice was getting louder. That told Bodrin and Gendry that they were getting close.
A lion still has claws…
"Could a minstrel," Gendry whispered.
Bodrin shook his head. "I don't think so. This one sounds drunk."
And so he spoke and so he spoke,
That Lord of Castamere…
Bodrin felt his eyes widen in terror as the lyrics reached his ears. Gendry took notice.
"What is it?" he asked concerned.
"That's 'The Rains of Castamere' they're singing," Bodrin whispered shakenly. "That song talks about how House Reyne and House Tarbeck were utterly destroyed by the King's own grandfather Lord Tywin Lannister. Rebelled at first, they did. But not only did Tywin crush them, he had every man, woman and child put to the sword. The Reynes and Tarbecks are all gone. This song is meant to serve as a reminder to everyone about the dangers of crossing the Lannisters. And the danger is very real."
Gendry felt his muscles get stiff as he tightened his grip on his hammer. As they remained motionless so as to stay out of sight, both Bodrin and Gendry felt silence surround the woods.
"Something's not right," Bodrin whispered.
Suddenly, an arrow flew right past them and hit one of the nearby trees. Bodrin and Gendry stood shoulder-to-shoulder against the stone walls.
"Who's lurking behind that wall?" one of the voices called out.
Another voice began murmuring. "Doesn't seem like a lion. Maybe a wolf? Nah. Too old, I think; though he does have a stag's scent."
"Stop it!" Bodrin shouted before quickly covering his mouth, realizing he just gave their position away.
The person in question stood atop a stone above Bodrin and Gendry, kneeling down to have a much closer look. He wore a loose fitting red hide and piecemeal armor. What separated him from his companions was that as he drank of swill of ale, was his red hair and red beard with a few strands of grey in it.
"Never thought I'd see a merchant and a smith waddling about the woods," he belched. "Why're you here?"
Bodrin ignored him. "Just leave us alone, ser."
The man laughed. "This one's got balls! That tells me you're dangerous when your back's against the wall. I like that."
"Who are you?" Gendry asked.
"Thoros of Myr," he introduced himself.
Bodrin had heard the name before. "Thoros of Myr as in the man wielding a flaming sword who charged through the breach on Pyke almost single-handed…?" he asked.
Thoros waved his arms out in a humorous fashion. "The one and only," he grinned. "This fellow with the bow to my left is Anguy."
"Who do you fight for?" Gendry asked.
"The Brotherhood Without Banners," Thoros answered. "And before you say anything, son, you've got nothing to fear from us. We're only trying to save those who can't look after themselves around these parts."
Gendry looked at Bodrin, who was equally uncertain as what to do next. At that time, Anguy took the time to speak up.
"We only want to talk to you," he reassured them.
Bodrin looked at Anguy unconvinced. "About what?" he demanded.
"Not my place," Anguy spoke with a hint of impatience. "Our leader wants to talk to you, because I'm done with talking."
Gendry still had his guard up, but Bodrin waved him down.
"Easy, lad," he whispered to the boy. "They've got us surrounded. Best do what they say for the time being before doing anything rash."
"Now there's a smart one," Anguy nodded in approval as the other outlaws laughed and took them both away.
Thoros looked on at the two, posturing slightly albeit a bit wobbly from the ale.
"Curious," he spoke quietly to himself. "Curious indeed…"
As Thoros left to catch up to his crew, a certain direwolf with smoke grey fur and yellow eyes remained in the shadows behind him to stare at him. The beast sniffed the air and gave a small growl before turning around and ran off in the other direction.
######
Somewhere beyond the Wall…
The winds were loud and harsh, the snow beneath their boots were cold. But it was the Great Ranging party that took the brunt of the beating. Samwell Tarly, Eddison Tollet and several others had been camping at the Fist of the First Men, digging trenches as they awaited word from the infiltrating party sent into Mance Rayder's camp as well as from Lord Commander Jeor Mormont. As they dug, one of them in particular began complaining.
"How fucking degrading! This is servant's work! A Prince shouldn't be doing such manual labor!"
Samwell, Edd and the others looked at the sworn brother complaining. Dressed in all black, with the exception of his golden hair and green eyes, was the disgraced former Prince Joffrey Baratheon who was exiled to Castle Black by his older brother King Daveth for inciting a riot and the massacre of almost every one of King Robert's bastards. Before his arrival, a raven informed Maester Aemon and Lord Commander Mormont of Joffrey's behavior so they'd been preparing themselves for inevitable tension. They were right in taking the warning seriously.
"Only difference is that you're not a Prince anymore," Edd countered.
"You're one of us now," Pypar added. "You're part of the Night's Watch. Bet the truth hurts, doesn't it?"
Grenn decided to remind Joffrey of an important fact. "And if you think about deserting, then you're head's going to be on the chopping block. The Lord Commander'll see to it personally. Always does."
Joffrey scowled as he kept digging. "I've done nothing wrong," he growled.
"King says otherwise," Samwell said boldly. "You don't do such things the way you did and not expect to be punished for it."
"Shut up!"
"Pipe down, Illborn!" Grenn shouted.
Joffrey felt his rage and humiliation boil as that word was hurled at him. He didn't like being called that, especially from his brother. Now that other Night's Watchmen were calling him that, it degraded him even further.
"I'm not cut out for this sort of work," Samwell panted as he took a brief pause from digging.
"I can't imagine anything much worse," Edd remarked.
"Where do you think Jon is right now?" Pypar wondered.
"Went off with the Halfhand, but didn't come back."
Joffrey felt his lips curl up. "My money is he's dead."
"He's not dead!" Samwell shouted, feeling heat rising in his voice at that perceived insult towards his friend. The others apparently felt the same. "No, Jon's a great fighter. It'll take much more than that to bring him down."
Grenn nodded. "He's better than me, a lot better than Sam, and superior to you, Joff."
"No one is better than me!" he shouted.
"'No one'?" Grenn chuckled mockingly. "You got your ass kicked the day you arrived in the courtyard! We all saw it. Don't kid yourself, Illborn."
The others joined in laughing as Joffrey gritted his teeth. He slammed the shovel so far down it hit against a flat surface.
"What was that?" Edd asked.
Samwell walked over and brushed some snow aside and it revealed an ancient stone tablet with a detailed circular pattern of unique design. Physically, the ring fort is a simple circle of large megalithic stones around the top of the hill. The stones are incredibly ancient, the site having been used as a defensive position for well over six thousand years.
"The First Men made these marks," Samwell noted before seeing a hidden cache underneath it. "And there! Look! That's a Night's Watch cloak."
"It's been here a long time," Grenn observed.
"Who cares about some bloody black cloak buried underneath a pile of snow in the middle of scenic nowhere?" Joffrey muttered under his breath.
The others pretended not to hear it as they began unraveling the cache to reveal black, spear-headed volcanic glass and an ancient horn.
"Must be dragonglass."
Grenn looked confused. "'Dragonglass'?"
"The maesters call it obsidian," Samwell explained.
"Why would a brother hide it here?"
Edd looked at the materials. "Probably because he wanted someone to find it. We didn't find wildlings, just shit to burn to keep warm."
"Well, you see a tree, let me know," Pypar said as he warmed his hands.
*HORN!*
Once they heard a horn blast in the distance, Edd, Grenn, Pypar, Joffrey and Samwell stopped digging and immediately stood straight up. Samwell noticed the first horn and smiled hopefully.
"It's Jon and the Halfhand," Samwell said. "They're back!"
*HORN!*
Smiles stopped and all grew very defensive. Joffrey was started to get a little frightened.
"What? What is it? What does it mean!?" he demanded.
"Two blasts is wildlings," Grenn explained as he drew his sword.
Edd shook his head. "You're not fighting them alone. None of us are. Come on."
As they moved forward, they heard it again.
*HORN!*
Three times. Once they've heard the horn blasts three times, Edd, Grenn, Pyar, Joffrey and Samwell all equally stood terrified at that sound. To them, that only meant one thing.
"Three blasts?" Grenn murmured dreadfully.
"What does it mean?! What does it mean?!" Joffrey's voice cracked, trembling with fear.
Without hesitation, Edd immediately began barking orders. "Run!" he shouted.
Three out of four of Night's Watchmen sprinted as fast as their legs could carry them, just as visibility dropped dramatically—leaving Samwell alone.
"Wait! Wait for me!" he called out. "Grenn! Edd! Pypar! Joffrey!"
No response came as Samwell turned to look behind him and saw three barely visible figures in the distance slowly advancing towards him. Panicking, Samwell ran to the nearest stone just large enough to keep him from being spotted from whoever was following him whilst the blizzard continues raging the Fist of the First Men plateau and its surrounding areas.
Slightly looking over his shoulder, Samwell spotted what looks to be armed wildlings—but something was off. Their skin was pale, some showed signs of decaying, some were clothed as others were not. What made them all similar to one another was they all had the same glowing blue eyes. Samwell still trembled in fear of being spotted, as he knew these people used to be wildlings but have been turned into wights, reanimated corpses (either animal or human) raised from death by the White Walkers to act as minions. There were thousands, tens of thousands if not more that kept going past him. It was a vast horde of undead.
Momentarily believing to have avoided them, Samwell immediately went back against the boulder again when a decaying horse stepped forward before coming to a stop. Atop stood a pale, gaunt figure riding atop of the undead animal. White hair with a white beard, but mummified, this being was in fact a White Walker—an ancient race of humanoid ice creatures long thought to be gone for thousands of years before the Age of Heroes and were believed to be nothing more than creatures of legend to most living south of the Wall.
The White Walker finds Sam but for reasons unknown ignores him, riding past him atop a wight horse and leading the horde for an invasion.
*SCREECH!*
Holding an ice spear in the air pointing towards the Fist of the First Men, the White Walker began emitting a screeching roar with another White Walker not too far behind as thousands of more wights began coming into view.
As the cold wind rises, the dead come marching with it. If Samwell didn't reunite with his sworn brothers and warn all of Westeros, then it would be too late. The Long Night would return for the first time in thousands of years. And this time, they wouldn't be able to stop them.
######
Author's Note: Another filler arc done, but this time it surrounds Gendry and Joffrey's brief appearance as a Night's Watchmen. Also introducing into this filler arc is the return of the Brotherhood Without Banners, but also a first glance of the White Walkers themselves. What do you guys think about what'll happen next? Thoughts? Let me know.
Hail King Cerion: I really enjoyed this and the scenes with Joffrey too! Been missing that bugger. To be honest I kinda hope the mutiny at Craster's Keep changes him for the better or even becoming part of the group (Jon, Sam, Grenn, Pyp, and Edd) As a snarky asshole. And if so and when and his half-brother meets again that they bury the hatchet of hatred, renewing their siblingship once more.
Again I immensely enjoyed this chapter. Keep it up and stay classy.
―Wouldn't believe how many have been demanding the little Illborn kick the bucket! Hahaha. Still, good to hear what others think about Joffrey being part of the Night's Watch now; though I still doubt he'll ever cross paths with Daveth again.
God of war: Will the night watch change Joffrey behavior
―I seriously doubt it.
BioHazard82: Another good chapter.
―Thanks.
justsomerealguy: I kind of hope Joffrey gets some form of redemption down the road, or at least mellows out a bit.
―I doubt Joffrey would find some form of redemption nor mellow out at some point, but we'll see.
RHatch89: Awesome update :)
―Thanks.
Vulcran Stormblade: Joffrey at the wall? I just have two words that would be used at a jail to describe Joffrey in this situation, fresh meat.
―Fresh meet, indeed. There's still a lot of viewers who've been reading my story that still want Joffrey dead.
C.E.W: So now that the Walkers are attacking the First Men, who knows what will happen. They head for Craster's Keep, if Joffrey survives the White Walker attack, well at first I thought he might join the mutiny at Craster's. But then I thought about Karl Tanner, when Bran and his companions were captured by the mutineers at Craster's, I noticed that Karl has a distaste for Highborn, he might show that on the way back to Craster's. I imagine he has a distaste for Joffrey as well, and I suspect as soon as the Night's Watch starts killing each other, Joffrey will panic and run with Sam and Gilly. Perhaps Joffrey can learn some humility while he is about it, for however unlikely that is. The growing Wildling threat north of the Wall, the Ironborn, the growing threat of Daenerys Targaryen in the east, the possible conspiracy of Baelish and Lysa. And there is the matter of upholding the promise Daveth made with the Martells of Dorne risking his grandfather's suppport. Daveth is going to have quite a workload, thankfully however, he doesn't have to do it alone. I thought about Cersei possibly conspiring against Daveth in response for Joffrey's banishment, and Myrcella ending up in Dorne. Figured she might take her father's place, and have Robb Stark killed by the Boltons and the Freys in a Red Wedding. But then I realized that, neither Roose Bolton or Walder Frey are politically stupid or brave enough to risk the Daveth and Tywin's wrath especially if Daveth is married to a Stark.
―I think you meant the "Fist of the First Men", not the original inhabitants of Westeros themselves. The Northmen and Free Folk are the only living descendants of the First Men, with the Crannogmen of the Neck being a unique offshoot of the Northerners. The Night's Watchmen will try to meet up at Craster's Keep, yes, though we all know what'll come next. I doubt the experience beyond the Wall will change Joffrey that much and he'll get a lot of Night's Watch rangers pretty angry at him. Daveth pretty much has a huge workload on his shoulders and he's been carrying a lot of it alone, but hopefully it no longer has to come to that. I do agree with the last bit about the consequences of what would happen if Cersei decided to take a more active role in conspiring against Daveth though.
kemb92: it feels like you are stalling so far little finger and lisa are still at large nothing about how he is handling cersi's infidelity and making peace with Dorne not to mention the filllers !
―Rush too quickly and it'll blow up in my face. One bit at a time, I assure you.
Fury074: There was never a House Castamere. There was a House Tarbeck that participated in the rebellion you refer to.
―Whoops! Error's been corrected. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
The Three Stoogies: a good chapter nice to see joff again keep up the great work
―Thanks.
mpowers045: Let the little golden shit deserted and beheaded please
―A lot of people still want to see him die xD
DullReign82: It seems more than likely I imagine Joffrey to get stabbed in the back by his own brother's then to lose his head from trying to escape.
―Joffrey sounds like the kind of person who'd do anything to save his own skin. Even the Night's Watch don't like him, and will behead him should he try anything - either treachery or trying to run away.
xx. az. xx: oooh joffery finally makes an appearance, didn't change much tho (liked that they were mean to him)
―He's been away for a long time. Figured it was time to bring him back into a filler arc, though it's rather amusing that even the Night's Watch don't like Joffrey at all. Always like to watch other people put him in his place whenever he steps out of line.
Magi Tail Welkin: I wonder how Joffrey will react knowing now the White Walkers exist?
Even in his pride, vanity, greed, envy and wrath he must figure if the Walkers get through they will nothing of the Seven Kingsdoms left to return to and no one to sing his praises. Of course I imagine he'll want to lead, and try for Lord Commander, he's to self glorifying not to. Whether or not he changes for the better remains to be seen.
―Joffrey'll likely try to make a move like that, though he'd more likely have to get past Ser Alister Thorne and Jon Snow who are consider the top two heavyweights in the Night's Watch. Still believe he'll throw a fit if he doesn't get his way... again.