บท 748: 42
Chapter 42: Ch 33 Do you remember that one time...Chapter Text
In the hazy memories of his days as a brother of the Night's Watch, Mance could only recall a few moments with absolute clarity. Though raised within the walls of Castle Black from a tender age, his time there was marked by shovelling shit, doing chores and rigorous training. And by the time he was a Man he had already deserted the Watch to live as a free man.
But one of the few things he could remember clearly was a profound conversation he had with the ageing maester of Castle Black, just before he left the Watch.
He had just returned from a Ranging where he was hurt by a shadow cat and then nursed to health by a Wildling woman who also mended his torn cloak with swatches of red silk.
But immediately upon returning to the Wall, Ser Denys Mallister told him to get rid of the cloak and said that he was only allowed to wear black.
This infringement of freedom was too much for the young teen at the time who felt that it was too much and he struggled to understand the Watch's stringent rules, especially the prohibition of love, marriage, and personal freedom. Seeking answers, he turned to the maester, whom he considered one of the wisest men he had ever known.
And he could still remember his wrinkly face as he had told him, "Love is the Death of Duty. When you love someone or something, you'll always have to choose between them or your duty,"
Sacrificing personal desires was the inescapable price for fulfilling their solemn duty to protect the realm.
Of course, he didn't understand him at that time as it wasn't a duty that he had chosen for himself and so he had chosen to break free from the Watch and embrace a life beyond the Wall with the Free Folk. There, he found a sense of belonging and even fell in love with Wildling woman who had saved him and who later became his wife.
But now after all these years, he had chosen a duty of his own, a duty to make sure that everyone beyond the Wall doesn't end up a dead man.
He had looked on as the most faraway tribe started to disappear one after the other, he had seen them kill his friends and raise them as their own. He knew that if someone didn't do anything and didn't gather every one of them together to fight, then eventually they would lose everyone. And everyone he knew and loved would become a part of them.
But he also knew that no 'Someone' was coming to save them, no one cared what happened to the people beyond the wall, and, that no one was going to believe them and help them...
So he decided that he would be the one... the one to unite the tribes and ensure their survival, Mance embraced this new purpose.
And now instead of doing that duty... he was on the other side of the wall on behalf of his wife to find her stupid sister and even though he had tried to make her understand that she was probably dead, his wife wasn't ready to believe it as she said that she felt it in her heart that her sister wasn't dead...whatever that means.
Anyway, one thing led to another as he crossed the wall along with Val's friend Ygritte who was eager to go on an adventure to save her.
And lo and behold miraculously somehow when he went to the town to gather news he found out that the lass was actually alive... just that she was under the clutches of someone named Jon Snow.
So he sighed in relief as he thought that it wouldn't take him long to find her and bring her to his wife. But of course, fate wouldn't be a bitch if she let everything go so smoothly, so just when he thought that he was getting too lucky, he was ambushed by two northerners outside the cave he had made his home.
The one who had him at an arrow point was a young man with brown hair and brown eyes, and a face commonly found in the north. While the one who was holding a knife to Ygritte's throat was a lass even younger than the man, she was a comely girl of about fifteen years of age, which was making it hard for him to believe how she'd even managed to subdue someone like Ygritte.
His mind was running fiercely trying to find a solution to their predicament, his eyes were roaming everywhere trying to find something that would help them.
"Don't look so fierce, Wildling King. We are not here to hurt you or anything," said the man who still hadn't lowered his bow.
"Who are you? And how do you know me?" Mance growled with his most dangerous expression, trying to intimidate the young man and considering his massive size and his broad shoulders it should have worked but the man wasn't phased at all.
"Before I answer any of your questions, why don't we get into a more comfortable situation," the man said with a smile on his face, "Because my arms are going to ache tomorrow if we continue to talk like this," he said while jerking his head to the strung bow in his hands.
"Why don't you lower that then? I promise not to do anything to you and your friend... You have my word as a King," Mance said with a nod, trying to look regal as he said that, hoping that the boy will buy his bullshit.
"Ah! Good try, but I am not as naive as I look... I know that you Wildlings have a very different meaning of what a King is," the young man said, while shaking his head, "What I meant was for you to partake in the guest rights," he gestured towards a plate of bread that had been placed beforehand on a nearby rock, "so that we can have a civilised conversation,"
Mance mulled over his offer for a few moments before he asked, "Why is she gagged and bound?" while pointing towards Ygritted who gritted her teeth.
"Oh! That's not our fault. That girl is too feisty, she wouldn't stay still no matter what we said to her," the man said with a shrug and the girl holding the dagger nodded her head rapidly, while Ygritte glared fiercely at them but she didn't try to move much, "so in the end we had to be a bit rough with her and bind her and as for the gag... Well, she's got a very foul mouth on her and we could just couldn't take it when she started to describe very vividly what she would do to my mother and father when she got free..."
'That sounds like her,' Mance thought before he finally sighed and went toward the bread.
From the looks of it, these two didn't seem to have any intention of harming them at the moment so Mance decided that he would go with the flow for the moment.
The tension in their shoulder seemed to leave for a few moments after Mance took a few bites of the bread. "Now, would you please persuade your friend to do the same," the man with the bow said.
Mance looked towards Ygritte and saw unwillingness and anger in her eyes and knew that the girl wanted nothing more than to get her bow and fill both of them with her arrows but they were not in an advantageous position at the moment so he looked firmly into her eyes and nodded.
Ygritte hesitated for a few seconds before she nodded, and the girl holding the dagger loosened her ropes but didn't lower guard until the red-haired lass had also partaken in a bite of their offerings, only then did she lower her dagger and left her to go stand behind the man who had finally lowered his bow.
Shortly after, all four of them were seated on rocks on two sides of the impromptu meeting spot. The tension in the air was palpable as they exchanged awkward glares and stares. The man with the bow, finally broke the silence, introducing himself "My name is Lawrence Snow and my friend here is Asha," he said while gesturing towards the silent girl who nodded politely, "And don't mind if she doesn't speak... because she can't," he said teasingly and Asha immediately swatted his head.
Mance cleared his throat to get their attention, "You already seem to know me and this fiery lass here is Ygritee," he said while taking a swig of an ale presented by Lawerence, "Now...Answer my question, Who are you? And what do you want with us?"
"Our captain calls us minions, and don't ask me what that means because I don't know it," Lawrence said when he saw Mance open his mouth, "And we are here on behalf of our captain who is also the reason we were on the lookout of anyone looking to cross the wall as he felt that someone would probably be coming to rescue that lass Val—"
"What? You know Val," Ygritte suddenly interrupted him, "What have you done with her? Where is she? If you hurt even a hair on her head, I will kill you!" she said while spitting fire from her eyes.
"Ygritte, Calm down!"
Mance intervened, trying to maintain composure. "I already know she's not in Bear Island and is somewhere down south, so... What do you want from us?"
Lawrence reassured them, "Oh, she's not a hostage or anything if that's what you're worried about. In fact, she was the one who snuck onto a ship, thinking that she'd jump aboard when it passed the wall or something, not knowing that it was moving south," he chuckled. Both Mance and Ygritte groaned as that sounded like the Val they knew.
"As for what we want?" Lawrence said leaning in with a serious expression, "We wants to make a trade deal with you... the King-Beyond-The-Wall,"
"What?" Mance asked with a bizarre expression on his face, "You want to trade with us?"
"Oh, not me!!" Lawrence said shaking his hands before him with a smile, "I wouldn't have even imagined that I would ever sit down and talk with anyone from beyond the wall let alone trade with them, it's our captain who wants it..."
There was silence for a few moments before Ygritte turned to Mance with a confused expression on his face, "Is he mocking us?"
"I am not sure," Mance said to her before he asked Lawrence, "And what exactly does this captain of yours want to trade from us?"
"It really depends on what you can provide," Lawrence continued. "Whatever you can find in that frozen land that could be worth something in the south, we are ready to take. Copper, iron, other metals, and our captain even thinks there might be silver and gold mines out there, so if you can find them, all the better..."
Mance's memory was triggered as he recalled a past encounter when a clansman mentioned finding silver in the mountains. At the time, it had no value to their people as it was useless for making weapons and no one there placed any sort of value on that metal so he had completely forgotten about that, but it seems that now...
"—But of course, even if you can't find those, there are other things we are ready to accept, like pelts and fur of fierce creatures that are only found North of the Wall, such as Direwolves, Mammoths, Snow bears, etc. You know, the animals that people in the South consider legends. And if you can somehow find a few alive cubs, then it would be even better. Finally, if you can't find any of those, then we are even ready to accept good quality wood in abundant quantity," Lawrence finished and took a gulp of water from his pouch, it had taken him a lot of time to remember all the details from Jon's letter, so he was very satisfied that he didn't miss anything.
Mance mulled over everything he had heard for a few minutes before he finally sighed and asked the most important question, "Let's assume for a few moments that I can somehow convince some of the Free Man and Woman to leave their spears and sword behind to pick up saws and shovels... What exactly will you give us in return? Because, if it's money, then it would be useless because it's not exactly valuable out there in a blizzard,"
"Of course, we'll trade with the one thing that you're most in need of," Lawrence said confidently and at their confused expression he smiled, "I am talking about Food!"
Ygritte's face lit up with excitement at the mention of food, but Mance burst into loud laughter, "T-That is very funny," he managed to say amid chuckles, "It is a very good joke, you almost had me for a moment," he said, shaking his head with a smile.
"But it's not a joke though," Lawrence said, amusement in his expression, "I am very serious about trading crops and grains with you."
"Do you take me for some ignorant Wildling, boy? Someone who only knows how to swing their weapon and eat," Mance asked with a raised eyebrow, "Let me tell you something. When you were just a wee little toddler sucking at your mother's teats, I was already travelling across the North and beyond the Wall as a ranger in the Watch. I've travelled to Winterfell, to the land of Umbers, and even to the Dreadfort. I know this place like the back of my hand."
Lawrence opened his mouth to say something, but Mance didn't let him and continued, "You think I don't know what people here go through every winter? Do you think I don't know how many of them starve to death or how many fields get destroyed because of sudden summer snow? And you somehow expect me to believe that you have enough crops left over to trade with the Wildlings," he finished with disbelief on his face.
There was silence for a few moments as the Wildling King finished his rant before Lawrence spoke again, "You've been to Bear Islands before, haven't you?" When Mance nodded his head, Lawrence continued, "So you know about the difference between what it is now and how it was before and the sudden prosperity that has arrived on this island. Do you think this is just a temporary thing or a trick?"
Mance started to reply, but Lawrence didn't let him talk, "No, it's not! You say that you've seen the whole of the North, and I believe you, but have you ever been to the South? Have you ever seen the lush fields of crops in the South, where barely anyone ever goes hungry, where every single farm has more crops than they know what to do with, have you even seen their green forests filled with fruits?" Mance didn't reply, and just stared at the boy, waiting to see where he was going with this, "Where do you think my captain is at the moment?"
"In the place you're talking about, I suppose," Mance said, intrigued.
"Exactly," Lawrence nodded with a gleam in his eyes, "He is out there making deals with the southern nobles so that we too can get those cheap crops so that no one here has to go hungry. And he doesn't intend to stop just there, no, he is planning to go big... From Dorne to Pentos to Lys... eventually, every place that has fertile land will be connected to the North by the sea... So you don't have to worry about us ever running out of food to trade with you."
Finally, Mance started to believe a little that it wasn't all half-rambling of a young man and that it could all be true, but he still had doubts, "Why? Why would he—your captain do this? Why would he go to such lengths for the Free Men of the North or the people you call Wildlings?"
"Of course, for the same reason you became a king," Lawrence said with a knowing smile. He had heard a lot about Mance from Jon and knew the kind of person he was, "Because we know about the truth, the creatures that threaten to destroy all living things, we know the future that awaits us... We know about The Walking Dead."
Mance's eyes immediately widened as he stood up in shock, "What! How?"
"Because we have eyes everywhere," he said mysteriously, and for a moment, Mance's thoughts immediately went to the stories he had heard of the man called the Three-Eyed-Raven, but almost immediately, he dismissed that notion as they were suddenly startled by a hawk soaring towards them from a lush tree behind Lawrence. The hawk came to sit on his shoulders comfortingly while the boy kept looking at them with a smile on his face.
It took Mance embarrassingly long to put the clues together, and when he did, his eyes widened even further as he breathed, "You're a Warg!" He didn't know there were any of those left on this side of the Wall.
"We all are," Lawrence said with a smile, and this time, they were even more startled as a massive bear suddenly stumbled out of the forest. Mance and Ygritte tried to stumble backwards to get away, but the boy stayed put, and the silent girl alarmingly went towards the massive brown bear and started actually petting it, which the bear seemed to like from its expression and low growling.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Ygritte shouted, succinctly putting both their thoughts out.
It took a while before Mance calmed down from these sudden surprises, and when he was finally able to put his thoughts together, he asked Lawrence, "And this captain of yours is obviously one too..." When Lawrence nodded, he continued, "Now it makes me want to meet him even more."
"He says that you've met him before," Lawrence said with a smirk.
"Huh? When?" Mance asked, with a puzzled expression, trying to remember if he had ever met someone like that.
"Do you remember that time when you travelled to Winterfell with Lord Commander Qorgyle to meet Lord Eddard Stark, and you were among the Black Brothers escorting him?" It took him a while, but he eventually remembered that trip and nodded, "Well, he says that you caught him and his brother playing a prank, and when you did, you promised not to tell anyone—"
"Those brats!" Mance exclaimed, "I remember them! They were going to prank not just anyone but Lady Stark... But that means..."
"Yes," Lawrence nodded, seeing the wide-eyed look in Mance's eyes, while Ygritte just looked at them with confusion while occasionally glaring at the mute girl and her bear, "One of those boys was Robb Stark, the heir of Winterfell, and the other was our captain, Jon Snow."
"So that brat's already big enough that he becomes a captain and even has people doing his errands," he mumbled to himself with a shake of his head, "I can't wait to meet him then."
"Oh, you don't have to wait," Lawrence said with a mischievous smile, "He's been here all along."
Almost immediately, Mance and Ygritte started to look around the forest vigilantly. They had already been tricked twice, so this time they were going to be prepared... or so they thought. But when something wet touched Ygritte from behind, she looked behind her to find a massive ShadowCat licking her hand and immediately screamed and jumped a meter into the air, "FUCK! SHIT! SHIT! AGH!" she cursed incoherently as she stumbled away from the predator while Mance tried not to have a heart attack as the big cat actually snorted in amusement while going towards the two people from before.
Finished with their pranks and their conversation, Lawrence and Asha started to leave into the trees with a hawk, a bear, and a shadow cat behind them, and the only thing they left behind were the words, "...Remember, we will meet again after three months on your shores beyond the walls, so prepare as many things as you want to trade..."
...
Jon opened his eyes with a mischievous smile on his face, it was quite fun teasing Ygritte who in the other life would have been tickled by the prank on her.
While he had the intention to do something about the people beyond the Wall from the Start, this plan involving Mance and all the Wildlings had only recently taken shape when his minion sent him a letter reporting about two long wildlings entering the North.
It hadn't taken him long to find out who they were and why they were coming, so his mind immediately started spinning a plan that would be his first shot at poking a hole into the White Walkers' conquest plan.
Now, all that was left was to see if Mance managed to convince the wildlings under him, prepare enough things, and bring them to the shore to make his plan feasible.
"Jon!" he heard Dacey call him and stood up from his spot at the planks above on the port, and went towards where she was standing in front of their main ship.
"Are you ready to leave then?"
"Yes," said Dacey, looking behind her at the ship which was fully loaded, "This is the last ship, and everyone's already boarded. I am the last one... So are you really not coming?"
"No, I want to go the Citadel and look into the books there to see if there is some information on a bird I heard about from the people nearby... it is said to be the smallest and the fastest bird in reach, one that is rarely seen... so I hope to find it," Jon explained while looking at the crew members who were waving at him from the ship, "And besides someone needs to be here when our new ships are delivered by the Tyrells,"
"Fine then," Dacey sighed while massaging her head, "It's just that it would be too much work without you. I can already imagine that I wouldn't get a moment's rest..."
"Don't worry, you'll do just fine," Jon said while patting her shoulders consolingly, "Just remember the most important points. The first thing you need to remember is the proper allocation. Two ships will go to Flint's Finger, three ships to Barrowtown, two to Torrhen's Square, one to Stony Shore, and the rest to Bear Island and Deepwood Motte."
Dacey nodded, properly remembering where how many ships filled with crops would be sent. After a few moments, Jon continued, "And another thing you need to make sure of is that no one is to sell anything at more than twice the crop's value—"
"Do we really need to do that?" Dacey interrupted him with a pout, "We won't earn much from that at all. I think that even if we sell them at a bit more, it would still be a lot cheaper than what they are currently buying, so they'll still be grateful."
Jon shook his head and said with a smile, "The people in the North are already not very rich, and we don't really need to earn money from them, especially for food. Besides, there will be enough money coming in the future from selling other things in the South, so money is one thing that we'll never have to worry about."
"Alright," she said with a deflated sigh.
"And you need to pick up enough sailors from our school so that our more veteran sailors can be freed to move to the new Galleons," Jon added.
"Yeah! Yeah, I know," Dacey said before she gave him a hug and started to leave towards the ships, "I'll get going then."
"Safe travels," Jon said, waving his hand as the ship slowly pulled out of the docks. He stayed there watching it drift away until Sam came to him and said, "Jon, the captain says the ship is ready to depart. We should board."
Jon turned to look at the ship they had rented and saw that they had finished loading, so he put his arm around his new friend's shoulder and said with a smile, "Let's go then, and see what the ancient city of Oldtown has in store for us..."
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