Ice and Fire: Conquering the World Starting from the Wall

Chapter 42 The White Walkers

A young woman holding a baby and riding a horse was brought before them. She looked about the same age as Lyanna, with a round, baby-faced head of messy black hair.

"You're Caster's...daughter? I'm Mans. Tell me what happened there?"

"Mans asked in a deep voice."

The girl seemed calm, and the baby in her arms was neither crying nor fussing; its eyes were closed, and its pink little mouth was moving.

"The crows were hungry. They weren't satisfied with black bread; they clamored for sausages and ham. When they didn't get them, they killed Custer. The Raven Commander wanted to cut off their heads, so they rebelled and killed the Raven Commander as well."

She explained everything she knew in concise language.

How many of them are there?

"There were forty or fifty of them, many of whom were injured, and several died. Those who did not participate in the rebellion all ran away, fearing that the rebels would kill them as well to cover up their crimes."

As they spoke, three Night's Watchmen were thrown in front of Mance's horse; they had been dragged all night and were already half-dead.

"We...surrender."

One of the watchmen, missing half his left arm, struggled to his feet:

"We killed Old Bear and sincerely want to join you... We planned this long before the ghoul attack. There were fourteen of us, ready to bring Mormont's head to the King Beyond the Wall."

Mans looked at him coldly and said:

"The gods will curse you! It is an outrageous crime for a guest to murder his master in his own hall."

Why should I take in a few outcasts who have violated guest rights?

"Cast struck first; he picked up an axe and tried to kill Karl and Garth."

"That's what the one-armed night watchman said."

"You were the ones who called him a bastard first!"

The young girl retorted in a high-pitched voice.

Although Castor was worse than a beast, he protected her safety, gave her food and shelter, and this sense of belonging could not be dispelled in a short time, especially when facing enemies.

Colin's arrival ended the chaos. When the three Night's Watchmen saw him, they were so frightened that their tongues froze, and they could no longer utter a word of explanation.

"One-Armed Oro, Short Blade, Garth of Greenaway,"

Colin, still pale, read out their names, then whispered:

"I have heard you confess your crimes, plotting rebellion and murdering the Commander-in-Chief."

One-Armed Oro and Garth were ashen-faced, with only Dagger still trying to find a glimmer of hope.

"You're with savages, you're a traitor too, you have no right to judge us!"

Short Blade gasped, thinking he had found the weakness in the severed hand.

"That's true, I betrayed you," Colin said calmly, "but Jon Snow didn't."

He turned his gaze to Jon.

Because he was dressed as a savage, the three traitors did not recognize him at first glance.

"Take their heads off, Jon Snow, and avenge Commander Mormont and our fallen brothers."

Lynn timely threw his long claws at Jon's feet, and Jon, who had been silent until now, shone with hatred in his eyes.

He drew his sword with his hands still bound by bronze shackles, walked to stand behind Garth, who was closest to him, and whispered, "Kneel! Bow your head! I'll make your pain less."

Upon seeing this, the Night Watchman named Shortblade sprang to his feet and ran towards the distant forest.

Although his hands were tied, his balance seemed unaffected, and he ran incredibly fast.

Unfortunately, he didn't notice the giant sitting next to the mammoth.

The giant's hair made him almost blend into the mammoth, making him difficult for the average person to spot. The giant simply swung his fist, and his slender, short blade flew up like a kite with a broken string, sliding several dozen yards across the snow after landing.

When he stopped, his whole body convulsed uncontrollably, blood kept gushing from his mouth and nose, and soon he became still.

Seeing this, the remaining two stopped resisting. After reciting a prayer in the name of so-and-so, Jon beheaded the two men one after the other.

After beheading him, Jon wiped the blood off the sword and sheathed it, then silently handed it back to Lynn, maintaining his status as a prisoner.

Lynn didn't care about these details; he looked at the girl who was still riding on her horse.

"Your name is Gilly, right? Come warm up in the tent, and tell us about the White Cold God while you're at it."

"No, I'll wait for Sam."

The girl rejected Lynn's offer.

"Who is Sam?" Lynn asked.

"He is Lord Raven, the ruler of ravens. I had a son, and my mother said that his brother, the Cold God, was coming to take the baby away, so she sent Sam to take me away."

As Gilly spoke, she hugged the child in her arms even tighter:

"Sam is too fat, and the horse can't run fast carrying him, so it fell behind."

Upon hearing that Sam was still alive, Jon immediately wanted a horse to go to him, and with Colin's guarantee, Mance agreed.

Gilly insisted on waiting for Sam, so she told him what she knew about the God of Cold in the cold wind.

She didn't know much; it was mostly what her mother and Custer's other wives told her.

On the night of his son's birth, Custer would take the baby into the distant woods, where a blue-eyed white god of cold would take the baby away.

Once, one of Castor's wives, unable to bear parting with her son, secretly followed him out. She discovered that the cold god who came to collect the baby was wearing a green stone pendant around his neck, which she had hung on her other son who had been given away five years earlier.

So Castor's wives believed that the white cold gods were all their sons in disguise, and thus called them the "brothers" of the baby boy in Gilly's arms.

This inference has some merit, but it doesn't help resolve the White Walker crisis.

Lynn, Mans, and Colin exchanged glances, feeling that this was a difficult matter to discuss.

It was getting late, so Mans ordered his clansmen to chop more firewood and make the campfire burn brighter to guard against a wight attack, as he was worried that the White Walkers still coveted Gilly's children.

Lynn, along with Crying Blood, helped light fires everywhere, saving the savages the trouble of starting fires and deepening their sense of identification with the dragon.

Even now, many people have never seen a dragon breathe fire, which leads them to doubt the existence of Bloodshed, believing it to be nothing more than a strange-looking beast.

Indeed, an immature dragon doesn't inspire much fear. Most people only feel fear because they've heard too many legends about dragons. If someone were completely unaware of dragons, they might mistake a young dragon for a large, mutated flying beast like a bat.

However, Bloodthirst's growth rate has recently accelerated significantly, growing from the size of a lamb to the size of an adult hunting dog.

This may be due to the environment; it needs more energy to withstand the cold, just like wild animals fatten up for winter.

It's only been less than two months since it hatched, and it's already amazing how fast it's grown.

It wasn't until it was completely dark that Jon returned to the camp with a disheveled Samwell Tarly.

Sir Crow, the fat man, had lost his horse on the road, and he himself nearly got lost in the Ghost Forest.

After the baptism of bloody rebellion, Samwell finally matured a bit, at least he didn't wet his pants in front of the King of the Frontier.