NB: These events take place just after Episode 7x06 - Beyond the Wall.
When the door to the hall opened, Davos Seaworth turned to see Gendry enter. The boy was shivering, and had the look of someone who had just learned about the maze that was the interior of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.
Tormund chuckled beside him, watching the youth walk straight to the hearth to warm himself. "Cold?" he called out to Gendry.
The dark-haired blacksmith shot an annoyed glance over to the pair, who were smiling good-naturedly back at him. He said nothing as he rubbed his hands together.
Davos had found this small hall while Jon Snow and his team of warriors and misfits had gone on their hunting expedition. While the hall could easily hold 30 people when full, at the moment the three of them were its only occupants. If you knew your way around, you could get back to the watchtower from here in minutes. But until there was something to watch, you had a chance to get away from everyone else and just get some rest.
There'll be precious little rest for us now, thought Davos. Everything is moving too fast.
Still rubbing his hands together, Gendry started walking over to the table where Davos and Tormund had broken fast. Davos rose to grab a chair for Gendry, while Tormund placed his cup at the empty space.
"I owe you a drink, lad." he said, refilling the cup.
Gendry shook his head, but accepted the drink. "I didn't do as much as you think I did."
Davos resumed his seat, and leaned toward the boy. "You ran further and faster than I think anyone has ever ran. Now, you had the dead chasing you and I'd run fast too if it were me. But you also ran further on foot than a man could have done on horse. And that's what made the difference."
Tormund nodded. "We all figured ourselves to be dead men. The only question was who would be the last man standing - because he'd be the one to burn us and keep us dead." Now he leaned back, looking at Gendry and speaking softly. "And then we heard a screech from the sky, and fire rained down. And we were saved."
"Not all of you." Gendry muttered, sadly.
"No, not all of them." Davos agreed. "But if anyone can make their way out of the wilds, it's Jon Snow. Why do you think the queen has us waiting here for him? She still believes in him, and so should you."
"But the point is this - none of them would have had any chance at all if you hadn't made it here as quickly as you did." Davos pointed at Gendry with his left hand. "Yesterday, you gave them a chance. You gave us all a chance."
"I've known some of the finest trackers and hunters beyond the wall," began Tormund, thoughtfully. "And none of them could have made that trek. They would have gone too slowly, for fear of being followed, or too fast and stepped on ice or a drift or some other gods-damned thing and gotten themselves killed."
Gendry took another drink and looked from knight to wildling. Sighing, he set the cup down. "You want to know how I did it." It was not a question.
Davos glanced at Tormund, who didn't take his eyes off the blacksmith. "Aye, I would. A trick like that might save my life someday."
Gendry reached out and took another drink, emptying the cup. Then he rose. "Fine, I'll show you. But I guarantee you won't believe it."
oOoOoOoOo
I shouldn't have come out here, thought Davos. Looking over his shoulder, the Onion knight saw the great expanse of the wall looming behind him. The sentries had all agreed that there was no sign of anything at the edge of the treeline, and nothing beyond it that they could see.
But still. Here he was, trudging north through the shadow of the wall.
Gendry had flatly refused to show them his route on a map, nor would he discuss how he managed to make it back to Eastwatch as quickly as he had. He insisted that Davos and Tormund had to come with him, or else he couldn't explain.
Davos, for his part, had lost any measure of curiosity, but Tormund would not drop the matter. And Gendry wasn't going to go back out into the cold unless they both went.
So Davos told Ser Jorah that they were going to retrieve some of Gendry's gear, lost in his flight to the wall. They were also going to look for any sign of Jon Snow. If he had made it this far, of course, he would have made it all the way - but if he was injured and had fallen? Jorah nodded, told them he'd tell the Queen, and wished them luck. Off they marched, into the cold.
Once they passed the treeline, Gendry had slowed, almost as if he were looking for the trail. Tormund watched him intently, hungry for any hint of his secret. In his mind, Tormund was counting his paces, the better to find the trail later on.
Davos almost walked into Tormund when he stopped suddenly. "There," he said, pointing. Following his gaze, Davos saw what looked like wagon tracks ahead. They came from the north, no question, before turning downhill to their left.
"What's down there?" Davos asked, nodding to the tracks.
Tormund shrugged. "Just a clearing. No one who would be sending out wagons, not anymore. And no place to take one, either. Besides, look how the hill gets steep going down. You'd never get back up, between the snow and the ice."
Now they reached the wagon tracks, and Gendry saw what they had found. "There it is." he said, simply. Davos, meanwhile, was taking a closer look.
These tracks are too close together, he thought. The overnight snow had filled in the tracks somewhat, but the knight could still see the outlines - and a wagon that small wouldn't have been able to carry much.
Rising, he looked at Gendry. "So you found a wagon? Out here? How did you pull it?"
Gendry smiled, and shook his head. "Like I said, you're not gonna believe me." Gesturing down the hill, he continued. "After you, Ser Davos."
Tormund was standing a few paces away, trying to get a good look at the clearing. The light snow made it hard to see between the trees, but he could tell where the trail led. "I think I see something!" he shouted, excitedly.
Before Davos could say anything else, Tormund had begun to make his way down the hill. Gendry and Davos moved to follow.
As the ground leveled out, Davos could see where the wagon tracks led through the trees. Here he saw the tracks became irregular, as if the wagon had lost control and was sliding. One of the trees here had a gash in the bark, where the wagon had struck.
"So you had a wagon and lost control, took a bad turn down this hill?" Davos said, almost to himself. Looking back at the hill, he nodded. "No way you'd get back up that, not in snow like we had yesterday."
Gendry said nothing.
Davos continued. "But why bring the wagon? Just take one of the horses and fly. What was worth taking the risk?"
Gendry looked at him, and Davos could tell that the boy was trying very hard to figure out how to explain.
"Ser Davos, how many horses do you think this wagon had?" Gendry asked.
Davos looked at the snow around them, then at the hill. Even with the fresh snow beginning to fill in the wagon tracks, he would still be able to count the hoof prints. Except…
"There are no hoof prints here. At all." Davos looked back at Gendry. "What the fuck happened?"
At that moment, the pair heard a whoop and a shout from the clearing. Their companion had found something.
"I think Tormund found what we're looking for." said Gendry. "Come, let's go see."
Davos followed the blacksmith into the clearing. There, he saw what had to be the wagon, with a triumphant Tormund Giantsbane standing atop.
The wagon was narrow, as Davos had expected. The sides were as white as the snow, without crest or design - pure white. The driver's seat was level with the back of the wagon, and enclosed with a roof and door. The wagon's four wheels were not wood, but steel with what looked like a fabric covering of some sort. For traction, maybe? Davos wondered.
Tormund gave another whoop and grinned at Davos. "Look at this thing! Have you ever seen the like?" He banged on the roof of the driver's seat, making a sound like steel… only not. Who would make a steel wagon?
"I had been running for close to an hour," Gendry began, as Davos took in the sight before him. "And that's when a wight picked up my trail. So I ran up and along a ridge, trying to escape." Gendry spoke softly as he remembered, and the two watched Tormund jump up and down in the back of the wagon. Davos saw the wagon bounce lightly, as if it were on springs.
"The wight was gaining on me, so I decided to turn and fight it off. If I could knock it off the ledge, maybe I had a shot." Gendry pointed at the wagon. "Then I saw a door in a snowbank. I grabbed the handle and pulled, and climbed in."
They walked slowly toward the wagon. "The inside of the wagon had buttons and levers, none of them I understood. But there was a keyhole - and a key." Gendry held up a small piece of metal. "It was just sitting there, almost in the keyhole. I pushed it in and turned."
Now Davos and Gendry were approaching the front of the wagon. Davos could see markings on the side of the wagon, small letters and numbers worked into the metal. He also saw that the driver's seat was further back on the wagon than usual. It was not open to the air, as Davos had thought - but was encased in glass. The front piece of glass was shattered, however, possibly when Gendry crashed here.
"When I turned the key," Gendry continued, almost in a whisper, "the wagon gave out a great roar. I pulled a lever, and the whole thing began to roll. Maybe it had a lock I opened? I don't know."
They walked to the front of the wagon, and Davos looked at the face of this metal beast. Two glass eyes framed a great metal grille that ran the entire width of the wagon. A small blue sigil rested at the center of the grille.
"But that was the least of my worries. The wight had found me - it was drawn to the noise. The thing was banging on the front of the wagon. It punched through the glass, and I reared back. When I did that, I stomped on another lever - and the wagon moved forward."
Now that Davos was closer, he could see what had to be frozen blood on the front of the wagon. He also saw bits of wood and bark on one side - likely from the tree at the edge of the clearing.
"By the time I realized what was happening, the wagon was already a thousand paces closer to the wall." Gendry pointed at the window, where there was a small mirror. "I could see what looked like an army approaching the lake. I knew I had no time. So I just stomped on that go faster lever and saved my questions for later."
Running a hand along the front of the wagon, Gendry sighed. "I drove for close to two hours before I slid off the trail and crashed here. I didn't know how to get back out, even with this wagon and its magic. But I knew I was already close to the wall, so I climbed out and made the rest of the journey on foot."
"Luck was with you, lad." Tormund said, walking over to them. "It'd be a shame if this were the only one of these in the world." The wildling ran a hand down the smooth white metal, grinning. "I want one."
Davos said nothing. He had seen the sigil on the front of the wagon, and the name worked into its side. He knew that whoever had built this clever wagon, whoever had left it abandoned in the wilds north of the wall, whoever had caused it to be there… that person had saved Gendry's life. And through him, they saved the rest of the party. And all of Westeros, if this plan works. Were they smiths? Maesters with their secret knowledge? If they were a Northern House, perhaps Jorah had heard of them.
Wherever they were, Davos wanted to meet them. He wanted to shake their hands.
The builders of House Ford, and the inventors of the F-150.
A/N: Behind the scenes footage for this episode showed a white pick-up truck in the background. Obviously, that shot never made it to air - but bloody hell, I cant think of another way for Gendry to have made it back in time.
Also, I can't get the image of Tormund bouncing in the truck bed, laughing like a madman, out of my head.
Feedback, as always, is welcome.
Originally published as Tough on Ao3, 25 August 2017.