25 Chapter 25
Robb POV (Age 12), 292 Moon 06
We arrived back at Castle Black close to two months after we left Hardhome. I had accomplished everything I had set out to do and more, and I was incredibly happy.
Over 100,00 Free Folk, 500 Children of the Forest, and 2,000 giants would be coming to the North along with 500 mammoths. Giants have almost cut down a quarter of the Haunted Forest in 3 moons. And The Children had gathered all the animals south of the Fist.
With the help of the mammoths, I could start working on the northern road network, and see it done before my death. The mammoths would have a tough time getting through the Wall, due to their massive size, and I honestly didn't plan to bring them all through Castle Black. I would have some barges made by Eastwatch and ferry them all across the Wall from there.
When he had approached the camps of The Children and Giants. They had reported on the progress of their tasks. They told me of finding a direwolves couple near another Godswood a league away from the wall. And that I should visit them and remake the pact.
I rode at the front of the massive group, Northern heirs on either side of me, and Chieftains flanking them. Behind us were all of the giants and mammoths, with the Children of the Forest riding on the backs of the mammoths. I could see the gate of Castle Black open up, and a group of riders came galloping out.
In the group was Lord Commander Joer, and a few of the Northern Lords, and leading the group was my father. He was seated high on his horse, wearing a new set of plate armor, and he had a longsword strapped to his saddle.
My father stared at the giants and mammoths in awe, his jaw hanging open. He finally snapped it shut, and took a deep breath, before turning a furious glare at myself.
"You, my son, have much explaining to do."
- Scene Change -
I was standing in the godswood just beyond the wall along with my father, Lord Joer, Lord Umber, Lord Karstark, Lord Mormont, Lord Reed, Lord Dustin, Ser Wylis Manderly, my friends, Leaf, Mance, and Tormund.
After my father had come out to meet us, I had had the Giants and Children all setup camp at the edge of the Haunted Forest. Once they were all settled, I left Jory in charge and came here to speak with my father.
"Son, I am honestly having trouble deciding what to say to you. You presented a false letter to the Lord Commander of the Wall, and without any warning to me, you disappeared for over four moons. I was this close to declaring you dead, and naming Bran as my heir." Father told me, holding his fingers closely together out in front of him.
"You have any idea what that was like for your mother and me? How afraid Sansa and Bran were for you? How much Arya nagged me to be allowed to be here to search for you?"
I felt a smirk coming up hearing about his wild sister but I could only bow my head and continue staring at the Weirwood Tree.
"I am sorry Father, I truly am, but look what I accomplished! I found the Giants! The Children of the Forest! Peace with the Free Folks!"
"Fuck the Free Folks! Boy, have your brain finally been addled." Lord Rickard Karstark spat on the ground.
"It is amazing Robb, it is." My father nodded ignoring Lord Karstark. "But, don't you think this is going to bring more trouble to us than it is worth? The South may be happy to ignore us gaining more food and coin, but I doubt they will turn their head to Giants and the Children walking around Westeros once more."
"Aye, I know. But like most things father, I have a plan." I smiled mischievously.
"Pray tell, Robb. What is your master plan?" He asked sarcastically.
"First, we need to get in touch with Mors Umber. Mor's granddaughter is to be Mance's wife. Rowen Umber is alive. Had two daughters, Dalla and Val.
With his help, we should be able to sneak this group past Last Hearth without people seeing. If anyone could do it, it would be him, and he owes us a favor." I began, giving my father a look.
Father thought about it for a moment, before nodding once.
"Even if we sneak them past Last Hearth into the Wolfswood, all the way to Winterfell, the knowledge of them will eventually get out Robb. Especially if you use them for your building projects."
"I will use the mammoths for building projects, once we get a breeding program started. The Giants and Children will most likely be focused on themselves for quite a few years, their numbers are barely enough to create a stable population. If they aren't careful, both of them are likely to still go extinct." I responded.
"Even still, the rumors will reach the south. When enough of the rumors reach the capital, they will eventually investigate them." Father pointed out.
"That's the beauty of my plan Father, and where Alys, my spymaster, and Lord Reed come into play. A gag order will be enforced throughout the North by both of them. No report will go South. And we show that we have Mammoths freely so the rumors only care about them. The Southron won't care that we have The Children and Giants.
If I being honest they won't care about one way or the other. You and one other person will write a report to the King. Omitting the truth of everything else." I said grandly, giving my father a wry smile.
"You seek for me to lie to my king."
"Not lie, just misled. If we can get that one person to cooperate with us too, then the plan is almost guaranteed to work." I told him.
"Oh, and who is this person?"
"I will tell you later father, for now, there is an actual reason we came to this godswood."
"Lord Robb, Put your hand on the Heart Tree and summon them," Leaf said.
"Who?" Father asked us but was ignored.
He walked towards and then stood in front of the Heart Tree, before placing a hand on it. "We are Starks," he said in a suddenly intent voice. "WE have come. To honor the pact and forge it anew. Come. You are summoned."
They stood there in the clearing for a long moment – and then he heard the sound of the undergrowth being pushed to one side and the whisper of old dead leaves being trodden on. After a moment he got his answer. A massive form emerged from the undergrowth, almost the size of a small pony but far more furry. A direwolf.
It was a direwolf. The direwolf that just stood there and stared at me for a long moment, before padding over to then standing by me. This was not what I had heard that they did. And there was something about the girth of the beast that puzzled him – until he realized that it was a bitch heavy with pups. This was a direwolf that would soon need a midwife, so to speak in a few moon's time.
I was staring at the direwolf, which was, in turn, staring back. And then I raised the hand that had been on the Heart Tree and placed it gently on the forehead of the direwolf. "The pact is renewed," I said in that intent voice again. "Protection for protection. No Stark shall ever harm a direwolf. It is sworn."
Just then another direwolf came out of the woods. This one was a male, he could tell. The male direwolf was all black and the She-Wolf had all grey fur.
- Scene Change -
I knocked on the door, waiting to be told I could enter the room. Hearing the invitation, I walked in and saw the person I was looking for sitting in a chair by the fireplace. He was old, with pure white hair. Maester Aemon still looked spry and energetic despite his advanced age and blindness.
"Maester Aemon," I announced myself.
"Young Lord Robb, it is a pleasure to see you again. I would love to hear all of your different adventures, especially those you had north of the Wall. I believe I even heard a rumor that you met one of my wayward kin." Aemon said, giving a welcoming smile and gesturing for me to take a seat.
"I did, he asked me to save his kin despite the important task given to him by the Old Gods." I returned the smile.
"Ah, Brynden always did love his plots and plans." Aemon reminisced fondly, looking off into the distance.
"Yes well, it appears I need your help with a plot myself," I told him bluntly.
"Oh, and what could an old maester like myself do for you, that your impressive list of allies can not?"
"I need you to write a letter to you the King, telling him that I brought mammoths south of the Wall. Mammoths, but nothing else." I stated simply.
"You wish for me to lie to my king? Our King? This is treason you speak of! Why would I ever help you do such a thing?" Aemon asked, suspicious and surprised.
"While I hold no love for the Targaryens. You and Lord Bloodraven have been nothing but cordial to me. Aerys and Rhaegar died even before I was born. Rhaegar's Children were innocent and so was Daenerys. She is the one Bloodraven asked me to save." I spat.
I got up out of my chair and started walking to the door.
"I can't promise I will be able to save her, but if you help me with this, I will try with all my might. Without my help, the Targaryen blood will die to a knife in the back. Help me, write that letter, and your blood will survive somewhere. The choice is yours."
I didn't look back at him and just walked out of the room. I swallowed down the bile in my throat and went to get some sleep. It would be a long time coming.
Robb POV (Age 12), 292 Moon 08
They had given the lumber to the Night's Watch as payment for New Gift and Brandon's Gift till Mole's Town with a promise to send Builders to repair all the Castles.
They had enough land to raise 3 High Lords could be raised easily and a few minor ones. The lands toward the Valley were given to the Thenns, and Lord Styr's son Sigurd will be fostered at Barrowtown and betrothed to Lord Dustin's daughter, Lady Erena. The lands toward Skagos are to be given to Lord Karstark's second son, Torrhen who is betrothed to Wylla Manderly. Lands in the middle of them are to be given to the newly raised House Rayder. Mance married Dalla in the same Godswood in which he reforged the pact with direwolves.
With Mor's help, they had smuggled Giants and the Children into the Wolfswood. Instructed them to raise their settlement East of Kingsroad along the White Knife. Magnar of Giants, Wun Wun, and his family were raised to House Giantsarm, and Leaf's family was raised as Magnar of The Children and named House Haltija.
He had asked Leaf till what distance should be Weirwoods planted to make the land fertile and she had said that Weirwood encompasses 25 leagues around them. So he had given The Children permission to plant a Weirwood at every 20 leagues throughout the North along with using their magic to make new forests sprout up. These tasks are to be carried out after they have settled in.
Animals that they had brought from beyond the wall were told to spread throughout various forests of the North.
Father had left with the direwolfs to Winterfell. And he had taken a ship to Island of Skane, to perform the ritual on the lone Weirwood Tree of Skagos. They had stayed only 2 days there. Fought off a few cannibal tribe raiding parties.
After returning from Skane Island after 2 weeks, observed that Lord Manderly's ship transported mammoths across the Wall and was a third done. His party had left straight for the territory of Mountain Clans. The clansmen were wild, to say the least.
Staying a day each with every clan, feasting with them was exhilarating as well as exhausting. And left for the Last Hearth after the sixth day. Smalljon had started a drinking contest with me during the Feast hosted for my honor. Last Hearth was much poor for wine but ale flowed freely in the Hall. But that was the start of something ominous...
I, Jojen, and Artos had found out that in Last Hearth, tankards of ale were drunk every night by adult Umbers. And they tried to get everyone drunk with them. He wanted to skip the last two castles that he had to visit and just go straight to Winterfell but he couldn't just insult two high lords that could raise 6,000 men between them. Not yet at least.
During his stay at Karhold, he had discovered that Lord Karstark's children were not as much dour as him. His heir Harrison, was a couple of years older than me. Eddard, his second son was a year older than me. Torrhen being the same age as me and Alys, his only daughter was the same age as the twins.
For the most part, Lord Karstark was dour and strict, but fair in his treatment. The children were playful and liked to train. Alys was good at singing and I think Jojen was sweet on her. When we were leaving Harrison and Alys decided to join us for the rest of the trip along with 10 Karstark men. Summer snow had melted so they were back to riding horses.
- Scene Change -
They had been traveling to the Dreadfort and ended up having a much better time than they thought. After deciding to take some river boats down the Bay of Seals instead of riding the horses through the mountain paths. It had cut close to a week off of their journey, and they had gotten off the mouth of Weeping Water about a three-day ride from the Dreadfort.
They had ridden for most of the day before making camp a few hours before sundown for the last two days. However, Jojen and the rest of his companions save for Lady Alys had come up to him, stating that they were going to go for a hunt. He had shrugged and along.
"So, what is the real reason for this foolishness?" He asked as they were walking through the woods. They were taking great care to not make any noise, but they were still obviously not trying to hunt any game. Every hunter knows you shouldn't stand upwind, after all.
His friends shared a glance, and I had to stifle a small smile. It was good to see that they had become such good and loyal friends.
"You shall see soon, My Lord. This is no regular hunt, but that does not mean we are not trying to catch anything." Dacey said mysteriously.
"Now we have to be quiet, father, I think we are getting close," Jojen said suddenly.
He closed his mouth, deciding to wait and see. As they walked forward, being careful of where they stepped, he began to hear the distant sounds of a woman screaming. He sped up his pace, his friends following him close behind.
They came out of the forest on top of a hill, and down below them was a gruesome sight. There was a small stream nearby and built next to it was a small flour mill. There was a tree next to the mill, and from here I could see a man hanging from the lowest branch.
"NO! Please NO!" He heard a woman begging and looked around for the noise.
On the other side of the tree, I could just make out the form of a man the same height as him forcing a sobbing woman to the ground, starting to rip off the woman's clothes. The man was surrounded by 2 other men.
I saw red. Someone in His Kingdom would dare commit such a crime?
I drew Ice and Dusk without saying a word and charged down the path to the bottom of the hill. It seemed to be the only path leading the mill, and there were two men in plate armor, spaced a good deal apart, guarding the path. There were also three horses, all tethered to a tree next to the guards.
I didn't think anything of it, being much too angry. The greatsword Ice cleaved through the first man before he knew what was happening, and the second quickly drew his sword. It was Castle-Forged Steel, but it didn't hold up to my wrath-fueled swing of Dusk, and the Mace broke straight through the sword before planting itself in the man's head.
He urged his horse forward, swinging his sword down, and cut off the rapist's head before he even noticed him coming. I turned the horse around, and quickly got off of it. He reached his hand down to pick up the woman, checking her for injuries. While her simple dress was in tatters, her small clothes were still intact, so he had made it in time. I let out a relieved breath.
He hated rapists. All he could see was his lovely sisters Sansa and Arya when he thought of such things.
"Are you alright, milady?" He asked her gently.
"I am ok milord, but my hus…my husband." The woman trailed off, beginning to cry again.
I grimaced, handing the woman off to Smalljon who began to lead her away. Walking over and picked up the scum's head.
It was Ramsay Snow, Bastard Son of the Lord of the Dreadfort.
'Shit, this would start a war.' I thought.
"My Lord, Do look at the first head you chopped off?" Was there mirth in his voice? Jojen gave me the head.
"This is Roose Bolton." He whispered.
"Line of the Red Kings has been ended. The Scourge of the North is finished." Jojen said.
His friend was giving him a cocky grin. Robb let out a deep sigh.
He was too old for this shit.
