6 months before the death of Jon Arryn
The Eagle
The man who had once been called Theron woke, and the first thing he was cognitively aware of was his beautiful wife, the Doe. Her eyes were still closed, her mind still lost in the land of dreams. The Eagle hoped they were dreams of him.
Their bodies were still pressed together from where they had finally fallen into a blissfully exhausted sleep. The Eagle hoped they would continue this morning where they left off. Her breath was hot against his face, her skin smooth against his, her heartbeat strong. His heart pulsed in rhythm with hers, pulsed strongly with love for her.
The Eagle heard movement outside his hut. Probably one of his sons, of which there were three. The oldest was the Wolf, who had a son of his own. The middle son was the Raven, who had inherited his mother's dark hair. The youngest was called Matthias, who had not yet been given his true name.
Soon though, Matthias would be given his true name. The thought made the Eagle feel old. It shouldn't though. He could still lead, still fight, still keep his woman happy. It was only when he couldn't do one of these things that he would really be old.
The Doe continued to sleep, and the Eagle regretfully extricated himself from underneath the furs. It was still early, but the Eagle was excited. Today was the day his scouts were expected to return.
Several moons ago, the Eagle had sent out the Hare, the Stag, and the Falcon to scout for a suitable pass for the Eagle's battle. The thrill of battle called to him. The heat, the screams, the chaos, the desperation, the battlerush, the thrill of battle excited the Eagle like nothing else. Well, almost nothing else, the Eagle thought as he glanced at his wife.
He finished donning his furs, and then attached his talon. He had taken the weapon from a ranger of the Night's Watch, after severing three of his fingers. It was small, spring-loaded blade worn at the wrist, and made out of some mysterious substance much stronger than the stone or deer-bone that fashioned the weapons of choice for most of the Free Folk.
Exiting his hut, the Eagle looked around at the small village of Free Folk, of which he was the chief. The people who lived here, between the forks, followed him because they trusted him, mush the same as the Free Folk in general trusted Mance Rayder. But where Mance was charismatic, the Eagle had never been able to inspire people to follow him with words. The Eagle had sworn to kill the Magnar of Thenn after a Thenn raiding party had killed two dozen members of their community long ago. Now the Eagle had a chance to do it.
Messages from Mance had gone out, calling all Free Folk to attend to the King-Beyond-the Wall. The Eagle was not opposed to Mance, indeed he had never met him. The last leader of their community, the Crow, had trusted Mance. He had claimed a special connection to Mance; from one crow to another he had said. When this was done, the Eagle would probably not be in charge any more. His leadership was for this task, and once it was complete the group would choose a new leader. The Eagle would follow without complaint if the new leader chose Mance. But he would also be more than happy to stay. This community, though nomadic, had always been between the forks.
"Will they come today, Father?" asked the Raven, features obscured by the rising sun at his back.
"I expect them to" said the Eagle. "But if not, they will come tomorrow, or the day after. One day, whether it is today, tomorrow, or in the summer after next, we will kill him."
"I'm worried about them. We sent three men to scout the Valley of Thenn. We may as well have attempted to raid the Maggot's home as scout the Valley of Thenn and expect nothing to go drastically wrong."
The Eagle shuddered at the mention of the Maggot. Other Free Folk called him the Night King, but the community between the forks had been calling him the Maggot since before the Eagle had been given his true name.
Before he had become the Maggot, he had been the Rainbow Trout, when he was still a member of the community between the forks. But the Worm, the Night King before the Maggot, had done something to him. The Rainbow Trout had been the best of them. He had been a beautiful man, who made all the women swoon. He had been a fantastic leader, one who truly cared for the well-being of his people. The legends said that not a single member of the community between the forks had died in the entire forty years of the Rainbow Trout's leadership. But then the Worm did something to him, and now he was the Maggot, one who feasts on what is dead.
Three silhouettes appeared behind the Raven, features lost in the sun. Even shadowed, the Eagle recognized them as his scouts.
The Hare was a small, diminutive man, who was even faster than his name suggested. The Stag was a bigger man, though he had gotten his name because he spent every free moment he had chasing the Doe. The Falcon was older, and gray around the temples. In battle, he would often vanish, only to reappear in the least expected places with devastating effect.
"We found a suitable ambush point" the Stag said. "But we will need to move quickly to get to there before the Thenns. It is well outside the forks."
The Eagle nodded.
"But be warned" the Falcon said, "the Thenn's have more than one hundred answering Mance's call. It will not be easy. They are all warriors. We are not."
"They are dispassionate" the Eagle said. "We fight with fire in our hearts, giving us strength. We fight for revenge for what they did."
"We need not fight them" suggested the Hare. "A single well-placed arrow could end this. I could take the shot, hit the Magnar in the throat, and be out before they ever knew I was there."
"No" said the Stag. "The Thenn's must pay like we did on that day."
"Wars start when we will, but never end when we wish" the Hare said. "Imagine what starting a war with the Thenn's could do to this community. It would destroy us all. Please, Eagle, let me do this, let me take the shot."
The Eagle considered it. A war with the Thenns could end very badly. He had seen what a small force of them could do. However, if the ambush was successful, the Thenns would never know who had killed their men. If the Hare was caught, and he gave up the community, the community would suffer a slaughter without inflicting any casualties to the Thenns. But most importantly, the community followed the Eagle because he promised them vengeance. If he let the Hare go alone, he was denying many their vengeance.
"I'm sorry, Hare" the Eagle said. "I need you three to gather up a force. Anyone who wants to go, who you think will not be a hindrance. We leave when the sun is two hands past its zenith." With that, the Eagle walked away.
The Doe startled him on his way back past the hut. She kissed him, and he held her in his arms.
"You leave today?" she asked.
"Yes" he answered. "Will you come with us?"
"No. The Wolf and his woman both go. I must watch our grandson."
"I will miss you. I could be gone a long time."
"Then I must give you something to remember me by."
Some time later, the Eagle left the community with a force of nine-and-twenty behind him.