Capítulo 43: Chapter 43: Crasters Keep
The three men approached the house nervously, even though they knew the man inside was a contact for the Nights Watch, he was still a wildling. Usually any wildling they encountered would attack them on the spot, especially if they approached a village or camp.
The three rangers was made up of two young men and an older man. The small party consisted of Ser Waymar Royce, he was the leader of the group. Although he was young, he was a volunteer of noble birth, unlike most recruits who manned the wall that were rapists, murderers or criminals who chose to take the black rather than be put to death, he volunteered.
Waymar was a knight of House Royce, an ancient and proud family of the Vale, and the third and youngest son of Lord Yohn Royce. Due to having little to no chance of inherting any lands or wealth, he had joined the Nights Watch. He was a skilled warrior, being trained by his fathers master-at-arms, but was untested in battle. He was still fast tracked to become a commander due to his noble birth and training.
Will was the youngest of the three, he was a commoner who had been arrested due to poaching. He was caught by some woodsmen under the employ of Lord Jason Mallister for killing a buck in the forest, rather than lose a hand for him breaking the law, he chose to take the black. He was an excellent tracker and hunter, it was said that no one could move as quickly or quietly thru the forest than him.
Gared was the oldest of them all, by quite a bit, he was in his fiftys while the other two were still in their late teens. He was neither a noble or criminal, he was a commoner who joined the Nights watch a little over forty years ago. He and his brother had joined to have a regular roof over his head and daily meals, they had lost both their parents at a young age and decided to take the black to survive.
He had been on the Wall for so long he was missing both ears, his left pinky finger, as well as three toes due to frostbite, he also witnessed his brother freeze to death on the Wall right next to him. He was a very experienced Ranger, having went beyond the Wall on over 90 missions, he was the one to guide the other two to Crasters Keep.
They were here with food supplies and wine to trade Craster for information.
"Now remember not to look at the women for very long, and don't touch them, this crazy bastard is very jealous and hates when others stare at his daughter-wives. Just trade the information, go to our room, then we leave at first light. So make sure you go piss now so you can avoid any kind of misunderstandings." Gared stated to his two companions.
"So it's true, the man weds his own daughters. What a sick fucker. Well you don't need to worry about me, I have no interest in bedding some wildling cunt." Waymar replied with a sneer.
"Wouldn't be the first time a Ranger stuck their pecker in one. Many before you have done so, just be careful cause this Craster is a bit eccentric." Gared answered back as he shook his head.
Will just remained silent and moved off to the side to let out a piss so he wouldn't need to do so later. He was new to being a Ranger, he had been beyond the wall a number of times, but this is the first time being this far from the Wall for him.
The Nights Watch regularly sent men beyond the Wall to cut down trees, this way they could see any attacking wildlings well before they they got close to the Wall. Due to dwindling numbers they have not been able to extend the gap between the Haunted Forest and the Wall any larger than it has been for hundreds of years.
If they didn't do so then they wouldn't even know they were being attacked until it was too late, that is how dense the Haunted Forest is, a whole army could move thru the forest and the men stationed on the Wall would never see them until they got to the clearing.
After all three were ready they approached the large fortified home, it was large enough to host a garrison of men. Although it is called a Keep, it was far from it, it was a large log hall surrounded by and earthen dike. It consisted of a single gate leading into the compound, which was decorated with the skulls of a bear and a ram.
Inside the dike there is a sheepfold, pigsty and a midden heap besides the house itself, also it was built upon a low hill. The keep itself is made with logs and roofed with sod, it was big enough to hold thirty to fifty men at best. The door leading into the hall was made of two flaps of deer hide.
As they approached Will couldn't help but scrunch his nose, "Oi, is this hill built on mud or feces? This place stinks."
"Aye, that it does. No worse than Kings Landing though, not that a riverman would know such a thing. Now keep your mouth shut, speak only if spoken to, don't need you two pussies ruining my mission." Waymar stated to the two.
Just as he was about to give a shout to notify the occupants inside, Waymar noticed that the supplies they brought to trade were still packed on the horses.
"What the fuck are you dumbassess doing, get the payment for the man. I'm the commander and you two are my bitches, so go get the supplies and haul them over. I am the only one who needs to do the talking. Now go." Waymar said arrogantly, causing Gared to grumble under his breath as he and Will turned around to begin unloading the horses.
Seeing the two men beginning to unload the supplies, Waymar knocked on the wall and was let in by one of the older women to meet with Craster. Once he entered Will couldn't help but say, "What a bloody cunt."
"Aye, most nobles are. Seen plenty nobles in my time, they always act like that till they meet a pack of wildlings, then they just piss themselves. Most don't last very long beyond the Wall, accidents happen all the time on this side, but remember what I said boy about keeping your eyes down. I know its been a while since you seen a woman but these aren't your regular women. If you think that Ser Waymar is a cunt, stare at one of these women too long and Craster will castrate you, and Lord Commander Mormont won't do a damn thing about it." Gared said with a chuckle.
Gared hated Waymar, he was arrogant and haughty, always talking down to anyone not of noble birth.
As Waymar walked in he saw Craster sitting in his chair, it was the only chair in the room, everyone else had benches to sit on. The hall was spacious and open, a large fire pit sat in the middle of the hall, several young women sat around the fire doing various chores like sewing or cleaning.
Craster was fondling one of his wives who didn't look like she was enjoying it very much, but Waymar ignored everything and approached the man, getting a good look at the tenuous ally of the Nights Watch.
Craster was sporting a sheepskin jerkin with a cloak made of sewn skins, he wore a twisted heavy gold ring around his wrist. His grey hair had streaks of white that gave away his age, the flat nose and drooping mouth gave him a cruel look.
"Craster, I am Ser Waymar Royce. I have come to seek some information regarding the wildlings movements, as well as seeking shelter for the night. I have brought you some wine from the Seven Kingdoms as payment for your information as well as for sharing your fire." Waymar stated as he observed the man intently.
Craster stopped fondling his youngest wife, after shooing her away he gave Waymar a big smile, displaying his brown and rotten teeth to him and replied, "Ah good, good. I had ran out of wine several days ago and have had to drink this beer instead. Aye crow, you shall have what you seek, but before that, do throw me one of those wineskins. I been missing the taste. Dyah get bread and salt for our guests."
After Waymar threw over a large wineskin and allowed Craster to take a few gulps, Will and Gared walked in and all three ate a piece of bread after they dipped it in salt to complete the Guest Rights ritual.
"So what can you tell us of the wildling movements recently?" Waymar asked as he sat on the bench closest to Craster's chair, his men made sure to sit close by.
"Well crow, many are on the move. Apparently another king has arisen, a former crow as I hear. Goes by the name Mance Rayder. He be gathering the various tribes further North. There's also a few local tribes here that are talking of a God who walks amonst men, he heals the sick and injured, and kills the Others who attack these settlements." Craster answered as he enjoyed drinking the wine.
"A god? The Others? Next thing you'll tell us is that grumkins and snarks are taking all the bad children away. I came here for real information, not fantasy. We aren't interested in tales mothers tell their children to make sure they behave old man. Tell us more of this Mance Rayder, do you know where he is? Where he's headed? How many people he has? These are what we want to hear about, not some bullshit tales told to children." Waymar said with a sneer.
Many south of the Wall had long forgotten about the true purpose of the Wall, the Others had been in hiding for thousands of years, so they thought it was to seperate and defend against the wildlings. It also didn't help that the practice of magic had declined greatly.
Had anyone with knowledge of magic came to the Wall, they would know the Wall was meant to keep out something far worse than the wildlings. Regular people could scale the Wall, they had done it many times, but if an undead touched the Wall they would be shattered by the magic within.
"Think what you want crow, as far as where Mance be, he still be far in the north, but he is said to be gathering more people daily. Each time that God saves a tribe he directs them to Mance, so their numbers are impossible to know, even if I knew a number it would be inaccurate since he gains more each day. As for where they be headed, I'm sure you already know crow, what has every King Beyond the Wall done each time one has appeared?" Craster gave a condescending grin to the man.
"Attack the Wall." Gerad whispered to himself but was load enough to be heard by his companions.
"Aye, a smart one you be. They will be heading south to take the Wall, the cold winds rise in the north, so they wish to get as far south as possible." Craster chuckled at Gerad's response.
"What about you? If the cold winds are rising, why aren't you joining them?" Waymar sneered at the man, thinking he was mearly trying to cause his men to fear the dark.
"Let them rise, my roots are deep. Nothing can stop the Others when they come, only way to survive is thru the cold Gods themselves. Mance had sent an envoy already to my door, seeking an alliance and to stop the flow of information to you crows. I refused of course, cut the man's tongue out and sent him back to the fucker. He thinks me a fool, like you crows I be dispised by the other wildlings due to my dealings with you lot. I'd find myself surrounded by enemies should I join them, then I wouldn't be able to enjoy all my wives while others would." Craster chuckled as he answered.
He knew that he was hated by all the other wildlings, but he didn't care, he was reaching the end of his life anyway, and once he did he would return as a Other as well as his wives with him, it was the deal he made.
While alive he had to give up any son born, and they would leave him alone, once he died then they would come change him into a White Walker along with his wives. He thought he would be able to live a debauched life for all eternity once that happened.
Little did he know that the deal he made wouldn't be what he hoped, White Walkers weren't as free as he thought. Although they were much stronger and more intelligent than the Wights, they were still under the full control of the Night King.
White Walkers could communicate with the living, they spoke the Old Tongue as well as Common Tongue. This is what made Craster think that they were just like regular humans, with seperate thoughts of their own, but this wasn't the truth at all.
Although they were more intelligent and powerful, the undead worked more like a hive mind, the White Walkers were just higher up in the hierarchy. They could raise the dead like the Night King, but shared the same weakness to fire, dragonglass and Valyrian Steel just like the Wights.
The Night Kings only weakness was Dragonglass and Valyrian Steel, he wasn't as weak to fire as his creations, however even those weaknesses weren't as bad as his creations, unlike them the Night King had to be dealt a deadly blow with dragonglass or Valyrian steel. White Walkers and Wights would die even if stabbed in the arm or leg, you had to stab the Night King in the heart or head to kill him.
The reason for this was he was created using dragonglass by the Children of the Forest, so he did have a bit of resistance to it unlike his creations which are made thru his magic.
After hearing the men's discussion, Aiden felt he had heard enough, it was obvious the Nights Watch was fully aware of Craster's sins, yet just overlooked it and preferred to utilize him to their own ends.
"You two stay near me, there is quite a few Wights around so after I kill Craster, they will assault the house. Protect the women and children, we can bring them to Mance's camp after we deal with these scumbags. I will have to go have a talk with the Nights Watch later on how they do things." Aiden stated as he began to fly down within the interior of the compound.
"Fine, but we want to kill that older crow." Val stated hatefully.
"You know him?" Aiden asked as they landed on the ground.
"You know nothing Aiden, he be the one who killed our parents while they were hunting. He raped our mother after killing father, then killed her. We had to hide and watch since we too young do anything." Ygritte stated thru clenched teeth.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder