8 Chapter 8

After I found out about the existence of Young Griff, not much changed, since at the moment nothing connected me with Essos, and the pressing problems would not solve themselves.

Besides, today is going to be very interesting, as Lord Manderly and I have to go to Winterfell. Many lords of the North were called there to discuss the situation with Jorah Mormont; it was revealed that he was selling people into slavery, to be more precise, poachers from his lands. At the same time, a meeting was to be held between the most influential people of the North.

And now Lord Manderly and I have been on the road for 15 days.

"Can't you wait to see Arya?" Robb asked with a grin.

"Just like you can't wait for Theon?" I did not remain in debt.

Most of our communication consisted of such jokes and banter. But our quiet journey was disrupted by people who were clearly not friendly towards us. I saw all this because at least the crows were always close to me. I'm not the only one who noticed that danger was near us. And so, the people in front began to take out weapons, and we were told to be on our guard.

Wendel Manderly, who led the knights, decided that we should also gain first blood experience, and so Robb and I were next to him.

"Boys, remember the main thing is to stay calm. It's either you or them," Wendel told us.

To which Robb and I nodded uncertainly, looking at us, Ser Manderly nodded to something of his own. At that moment, our robbers were at a distance of 300 meters... 250...200...50. And at that moment the arrows were supposed to fly, but I and my crows attacked first. And now, 6 out of 10 shooters were left without eyes; the forest was filled with screams of pain, which made our people become more serious.

The second wave was the swordsmen, who expected support from the archers, but one warg destroyed this plan. They tried to surround us; in general, there were about 15-20 of them. Numerically there were more of them, but the quality of weapons and armor on our side, and discipline too.

My first fight was very ordinary; I didn't even have time to think about how the enemy was already lying without a head. He was about 20 years old with dirty hair and the same face...There was no feeling that I had done something irreparable. The cold in his mind helped with this, but Robb was shocked because the first murder was still and he didn't have an airbag like me.

"Are you guys okay?" Ser Wendel asked, clearly concerned for our well-being.

I just nodded while Robb was shaking, and in order to calm him down, I had to give him wine to make him unconscious.

"You're holding up stronger than your brother," Wendel said behind me after Robb had fallen asleep.

"I don't think I did anything terrible, but they attacked to kill us," I explained calmly.

"Go to bed, we still have a long way to go."

Without arguing with the old knight, I obediently lay down, at the same time checking the surroundings with the eyes of crows. After making sure that there was nothing hostile nearby, I fell into the dream world.

In the morning, we continued our journey and the rest of the way was quiet. And a week later we reached Winterfell. At the entrance, we were greeted by Lady Stark and the younger Starks with Theon. After the formal part of the greetings was over, Arya flew like a rocket into me.

"Hahah, how are you doing, little sister?" I asked with a smile on my face; I knew that she had begun to explore the crypt and create anxiety for the inhabitants of the castle. During correspondence, Arya often talked about her successes.

"Great!" a gray-eyed cutie answered me with a huge smile on her face.

The ladies around us showed in every possible way that they disapproved of such actions from Arya, but most of these thoughts did not go beyond looks. After the formalities were completed and all the guests were placed in their rooms, Arya flew into my room with the words:

"Jon! Let's look for dragon eggs under the crypt!" Her eyes glittered with anticipation.

"Okay, but how about tomorrow?" I said because I couldn't refuse her.

To which Arya nodded, saying:

"It's a promise!" - and when she heard a scream from the septa, she ran on.

"Hahah, it's good to be home."

I really started to consider this place my home, if only because Arya was here. After cleaning the room, I decided to walk around the castle. The council and the feast were supposed to take place the day after tomorrow, so I had a decent amount of time left. First of all, I had to go through the library, and I also had to visit Maester Luwin, Ser Rodrik, Jory, Mikken, and Walder.

The next day, the first thing I decided to do was go say hello to people close to me. I found the maester at the Crow Tower; he was glad to see me and Robb, after all, my grandfather taught us a lot, making sure that I did not give up my studies, he went to check the crows. On my impulses to help him with the crows, he only said:

"Jon, I've been doing this business for so many years that it's no longer a burden to me; it's better to spend time with your family."

I just shook my head and said:

"Uh... okay, but if you need my help, don't hesitate to ask."

The Maester just nodded with a smile and said with a look, "Go already." After the maester, I wanted to visit the forge, but halfway there, I was met by Jory, the captain of the guard; he often took us fishing and hunting, the first trout catch happened just with him. It was not possible to talk to Jory for a long time because he had a lot of things to do, but there are still a lot of guests planned.

Then I went to the forge where I found an entertaining picture of two men arguing, who in their dispute did not even notice how I came in, deciding not to spoil the surprise, I listened to their dialogue.

"I'm telling you, brother, that a spear is much more effective than a sword!" the old blacksmith spoke, and I understood the reason for the arguments between these two people.

"And I say that the axe is much more convenient!" Walder also replied without remaining in debt.

"Hahah, aren't you changing?" I said, unable to contain my bursting laughter.

When they saw me, they were slightly surprised, but then they also laughed; still, it's common for them to argue like that. After talking with them, I found out what happened while I was away, although I left one crow here, but she alone could not hear everything. From these two, I learned that Theon started going to brothels and to the girls of the little people; they heard it after one of the girls that this squid dishonored was the daughter of a guard. This guard broke his nose in training matches against Theon.

The next day, this squid started a rumor in the tavern that he had slept not only with the daughter of this guard but also with his wife. They say people barely kept the guard from killing Theon on the spot, although after the unlucky lover received a good slap from Lord Stark who reminded him who he is here. And for some day now Theon has been frowning, but this frown began to disappear with the appearance of Robb; yet for some reason, the heir to the house of Stark admires this Ironborn, and alas, I could not fix it.

Apart from Robb, no one really liked Theon, Arya was annoyed by his arrogance, and Sansa just didn't like him. Lady Stark treated him like a burden too. That's probably why they have such a strong friendship.

After all the greetings, I could sit in the library with a calm soul, I thought, but later Arya reminded me how wrong I was.

"Jon! You promised that today we will look for eggs left under the crypt!" Arya said with a very displeased face.

Unable to restrain myself, I played with her cheeks and stroked her head:

"How could I forget about such a thing, my dear sister?"

Pretending that she believed me, they dragged me into the crypt. I have not been to the crypt after the events with my ancestors, and I doubt that there are dragon eggs there. But having overcome my laziness and a fair amount of skepticism, I went to help my sister in search of the treasure left by the rumored Jaehaerys Targaryen and his wife Alissanna.

First of all, we went down into the depths where the lords of those years were, namely Ellard Stark, who with obvious reluctance donated his lands to the Night Watch. Unfortunately, we did not find the treasure, but we admired the ancestors; we could not appreciate the greatness of this crypt, since the lower levels of the crypt were filled up and we could not go beyond the eight predecessors of Ellard.

After playing a little more with Arya, I got to the library without any problems; I still had unfinished copies here. I read about the history of the House of Stark, more precisely, the years of the wars of the House of Stark with the Andals; they told about the Hungry Wolf, Theon Stark, who was able to repel the invasion and walk through the Andal lands with fire and blood, bringing with him the heads of the dead in order to plant them near the coast. Then this monster, and that's what they say in the records of this maester, conquered Bear Island with Three Sisters and then marched through the wildlings in a bloody march so that even the next generation could not even think about going over the Wall. However, there was a tough guy, according to the chronicles, who was not defeated in any fight.

After a short rest in the library, I decided to practice magic; I originally planned to do it in the godswood, but I did not expect that there would be so many people there. While I was looking for a place to train, I didn't notice how I got close to Robb and Theon.

"Jon! Shall we go hunting?" Robb asked me.

After a little thought, I agreed because it's still worth a rest. Not only Robb, Theon, and I were in our company, but there were also heirs from the house of Karstark and Forrester. In general, the guys are funny in their own way; everyone knows how to hunt and fight. They both got too bored from the fact that nothing had happened for so long, and then these two just casually offered such fun.

Nevertheless, we were very lucky that the Wolfswood was very close to Winterfell; it was not difficult to get there. The wildlife in this forest has always been diverse, ranging from deer to wolves themselves. We quickly got on the trail of one deer that had strayed from its herd, and for an hour we had been following it. I did not use my extra eyes much, since all the excitement would have disappeared, but just in case one crow still flew in the vicinity.

"Are the guys ready to feast?" The heir of the house of Karstark asked with a grin after we began to see the silhouette of a deer at a fairly close distance.

Each of us had already prepared our own weapon. Robb, Karstark, and I were with spears, while Theon and Forrester were with bows. Ideally, the deer should die from arrows, but if anything, we will have to drive it with spears. Here Theon pulls the bowstring, a moment and the arrows are fired; the first hit the throat, the second hit the thigh, he's all ours.

After a couple of minutes of chasing, the deer still collapsed; after skinning it, we headed back to Winterfell, in an atmosphere of fun, I missed the moment when something very dangerous approached us. One bear came so close to the smell of blood....