Capítulo 264: Chapter 264: The Horn of Winter
However, the Wildling envoy was not easily intimidated.
He seemed intent on intimidating the southern king. In the eyes of the Wildlings, these 'kneelers' living behind the Wall were soft, easily frightened by a bit of intimidation.
However, the Wildling envoy never expected to meet his match this time.
His threats did not instill fear in the rotund king before him, but instead enraged Robert Baratheon.
Perhaps this envoy had not inquired about the nature of his negotiation partner before coming to the Wall.
After all, King's Landing was too far away for them. To the Wildlings, everything south of the Wall was simply 'the South'.
"Before I decide to cut off your tongue and stuff it up your backside, you'd best get out of my sight!"
King Robert, who was not one to be pushed around, glared with his bell-like eyes and drove the envoy away.
He did not believe in the so-called Horn of Winter, which was said to bring down the grand Wall with a single blow.
However, although Robert was angry, he was not a cruel tyrant. If it had been Viserys, the envoy would probably have been burned alive by now.
He dismissed the Wildling envoy and instructed him to relay a message to the so-called King-Beyond-the-Wall.
"Tell that oathbreaker!"
Robert roared, his voice echoing in the council chamber.
"If you thieves and rapists living beyond the Wall wish to pass, you must kneel to the king of the Seven Kingdoms!"
"And pray to the Seven for forgiveness for your sins, then choose between the gallows and the black!"
King Robert, his beard bristling, roared. He knew that the Wildlings were lawless criminals.
They called themselves Free Folk, distinguishing themselves from the 'kneelers' south of the Wall who bowed to lords and kings. The Free Folk believed that the 'kneelers' lacked freedom.
But now, Robert intended to make them kneel.
Then, the bearded, rotund king picked up his wine cup and took a hearty drink, grunting before continuing.
"Of course."
"This applies to the common Wildlings."
"That oathbreaker... what's his name, Mance Rayder... he no longer has the chance to don the black. He must be sent to the gallows."
King Robert could forgive the other Wildlings, but that did not mean he could forgive the self-proclaimed 'King-Beyond-the-Wall'.
"Mance Rayder should be punished according to the rules of the Night's Watch."
"Your Grace."
At this point.
Eddard Stark, seated nearby, spoke up. His dark hair and grey eyes serious as he said,
"I will hold a fair trial for him and hear his reasons."
Eddard Stark was a man of honor and justice. He would listen to Mance Rayder's reasons for betraying the Night's Watch.
Then he would personally use his ancestral Valyrian steel sword, 'Ice', to behead the 'King-Beyond-the-Wall'.
The Wildling envoy was then driven out of the Black Castle.
...
After the Wildling envoy was driven away, the Night's Watch and the supporting forces from the North and other regions were busy fortifying their defenses.
They had initially thought that the Wildlings would be enraged and attack, but they waited and waited without any news.
Where was the Horn of Winter that could bring down the Wall?
Where were the hundreds of thousands of Wildlings?
The Wall, three hundred miles long and seven hundred feet high, gave the allied forces and the Night's Watch ample confidence.
Everyone was much more relaxed. In their view, no one could breach such a formidable Wall, not hundreds of thousands of Wildlings, not even the so-called White Walkers.
Then, the news of the failed negotiation was brought back to the Haunted Forest by the envoy. The arrogant words of the southern king caused an uproar among all the Wildling tribal leaders.
They refused to kneel to the so-called king for the sake of their freedom. Mance Rayder had united hundreds of tribes, putting an end to the infighting among the Wildlings.
Therefore, he had unparalleled prestige among these Free Folk, which led to his election as the King-Beyond-the-Wall.
They would never kneel to the southern king, and they would certainly not hand over their king to be beheaded by the southern lord.
Hundreds of tribal chiefs and leaders clamored to storm the Wall.
However, the mentioned protagonist, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder, remained very calm and did not show any signs of anger.
He stopped all the tribal chiefs from requesting battle, asking them to calm down.
Because he knew very well that with the support of the king and nobles behind the Wall, they could never breach the Wall.
However, Mance Rayder did not want to blow the Horn of Winter unless it was absolutely necessary.
If the Wall truly collapsed, then humanity would lose its only barrier against the White Walkers, and a catastrophic outcome could very likely follow.
However.
If the southern king was determined not to let the Free Folk through, then Mance Rayder had no other choice.
He had to be responsible for his people, and he did not want to be beheaded.
At that time, he would have to blow the Horn of Winter to bring down the Wall, and then lead his people out.
What happened to humanity afterwards would no longer be his concern.
Therefore.
In order to avoid a situation where everyone would be destroyed together, Mance Rayder suppressed his anger.
Then, he calmly sent another envoy to negotiate sincerely with King Robert.
The Free Folk kneeling to the southern king and handing over his own head were absolutely unacceptable conditions. These were Mance Rayder's bottom lines.
Then, the second negotiation envoy was brought into the Black Castle.
However, this time the Free Folk's envoy was much more humble. He did not start off by threatening to blow the Horn of Winter, causing the Wall to collapse and everyone to perish together.
Unfortunately, even though the Free Folk's envoy showed a sincere attitude this time, after the farce of the previous negotiation, King Robert no longer believed in the Horn of Winter.
In his view, if the other party truly had such a divine artifact, they would have blown the horn long ago, crushed the armies of the Seven Kingdoms, and directly invaded the North.
It was clear that the other party was trying to scare him, using something that didn't exist to deceive him into opening the gates and letting them into the territories of the Seven Kingdoms.
In fact, the conditions King Robert had previously stated were not just bluster, they were also his bottom line.
If possible, he would not want to leave hundreds of thousands of Wildlings outside the Wall, watching them be wiped out by the White Walkers.
However, if these hundreds of thousands of Wildlings were unwilling to submit to the king and the lords, unwilling to lay down their weapons and stop looting, unwilling to pick up farming tools and settle down to farm...
Then letting them inside the Wall would likely be a disaster.
Robert could not agree, and the North, which would be directly impacted by the Wildlings, could not agree even more.
Eddard Stark sat in his side seat, looking at the Wildling envoy below with an icy expression.
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