Chapter 74 Chapter 73: Jon

The wind blew wildly from the east, and the heavy cage swayed under its sharp teeth.The wind swirled along the Wall, kicking up drafts from the ice that pushed Jon's cloak against the railing.The sky was as gray as slate, and the sun was just a faint bright spot behind the clouds.On the other side of the battlefield, thousands of campfires flickered and flickered, but the light seemed small and powerless compared to this dark and cold scene. gloomy day.When the wind hit the cage again, Jon Snow took his gloved hand to the rail and held on tight.He looked straight down at his feet, and the ground was lost in shadows, like a bottomless pit.Death is a bottomless pit, he thought, and after today, my name will be forever clouded.

Bastards, they say, are born of lust and deceit, born capricious and treacherous.Jon had wanted to prove that wrong, to show his lord father that he could be a good and upright son like Robb.As a result I behaved poorly.Robb became the hero-king; and if anyone remembers me, Jon, they know me only as a chameleon, an oath-breaker, and a murderer.He couldn't help but be glad Duke Eddard hadn't lived to see his shame. I should have stayed in that cave with Ygritte.If there is knowledge after death, he hopes to tell her.She'll probably scratch my face like that hawk and call me a coward, but I'll tell her anyway.He opened and closed his sword hand, which had been Maester Aemon's suggestion and was now his habit.After all, he needs nimble fingers to have a chance of killing Mance Rayder.

They lifted him out of the ice cell this morning, and he has been locked up for four days in this five-foot-long, five-foot-wide, and five-foot-high ice cellar, which is so short and narrow that he can neither stand nor Lie upright.Stewards have long discovered that food and meat can be preserved for a long time in the ice holes dug at the bottom of the Great Wall...but not prisoners. "You will die in here, Lord Snow," Ser Alliser said before closing the heavy wooden door, and Jon believed it.But this morning they had pulled him out again, and had him shambling back to the King's Tower, before the double-jawed Janos Slynt again.

"The old maester said I couldn't hang you," Slynt declared. "And he wrote to Carter Pike, and had the nerve to show me that letter. He said you were no traitor." "Aemon has lived too long, my lord," Ser Alliser reassured him. "His wit has dimmed like his eyes." "Yes," said Slynt, "a blind man with a necklace, who does he think he is?" He was Aemon Targaryen, Jon thought, son of one king, brother of another, and almost king himself.But he didn't say anything. "However," said Slynt, "I don't want people to say that Janos Slynt hanged a man unjustly. I don't. I've decided to give you one last chance to prove your innocence as you claim , Lord Snow. I will give you one last chance to fulfill your duty, yes!" He stood up. "Mance Rayder wants to negotiate with us. He knows that since Janos Slynt is here, he has no chance of success, so he wants to negotiate. But the so-called 'King Beyond the Wall' is a coward and dare not personally Come here. He knows I'm going to hang him upside down on the Wall with two hundred feet of rope! He dares not come, but wants us to send a representative."

"We send you, Lord Snow." Ser Alliser smiled. "Me." Jon replied flatly. "why me?" "You rode with these wildlings," Thorne said. "Mance Rayder knew you, and might trust you." It was so wrong that Jon almost laughed. "You've got it all wrong. Mance suspected me from the very beginning, and if I showed up at his camp wearing a black cloak again, speaking on behalf of the Night's Watch, he would undoubtedly regard me as a capricious traitor, unreliable." "He wants a representative, and we'll send one," said Slynt. "If you're too scared to face these bandits, go back to the ice prison. But this time there's no furs to wear. Yes, no Fur wear."

"Never mind, my lord," said Ser Alliser. "Lord Snow will do as he is asked. He wants to prove he is not a chameleon. He wants to prove himself a loyal man of the Night's Watch." Thorne was the wiser of the two, and Jon realized that the whole idea was probably his.He fell into the trap. "I'll go." He answered briefly and clearly. "My lord," Janos Slynt reminded, "you'll have to call me—" "I'll go, my lord. But you made a mistake, my lord. You sent the wrong man, my lord. The mere sight of me would make Mance angry, and my lord should have sent—"

"Agreement?" the former Earl of Harrenhal snickered. "Janos Slynt won't make a deal with lawless wildlings, Lord Snow. No, he won't." "We did not send you to negotiate with Mance Rayder," Ser Alliser said. "We sent you to kill him." The wind howled between the railings, and Jon Snow shivered.My legs throbbed, as did my head.He's too weak to kill a cat, but he still has to do his job.This is a hideous trap.Because Maester Aemon insisted on Jon's innocence, Lord Janos did not dare to leave him in the ice prison to die, but could only pretend to be the enemy. "We dedicate our lives and honor to the Night's Watch, just to maintain the safety of the kingdom." Halfhand said Qhorin on Frostfang.He must remember this sentence.Regardless of whether the assassination of Mance was successful or not, he would be executed by the free folk.It was impossible to try to defect again; after all, in Mance's eyes, he had become an out-and-out liar and a chameleon.

The cage jerked to a halt, and Jon staggered down to the ground, then unhooked Longclaw's scabbard with a click.The gate, a few yards to the left, was still blocked by the remains of the turtle's shield, with the carcass of a mammoth rotting inside.There were other corpses here, scattered among the broken barrels, congealed asphalt, and scorched grass, shadowed by the shadow of the Wall.Jon walked toward the wildling camp, not wanting to linger, past the corpse of a giant, his head smashed with a stone, and a crow pecking brains out of the shattered skull.The crow looked up at him as he passed. "Snow," it hissed at him, "Snow, Snow," and flew away.

Not long after setting off, a rider appeared in the savage camp and came head-on.He wondered if Mance would come to the middle ground to negotiate in person.It was easier to do that, though still difficult.As the distance drew closer, Jon saw that the man was thick and short, with gold hoops on his arms gleaming, and a snow-white beard on his broad chest. "Ha!" cried Tormund after the encounter, "Jon Snow the Raven. I'm afraid I'll never see you again." "I thought you were afraid of nothing, Tormund." That made the Savage grin. "Well said, boy. I see your cloak is black, and Mance probably doesn't like it. If you come here again, you'd better climb back to the Wall now."

"They sent me to negotiate with the King Beyond the Wall." "Negotiation?" Tormund laughed. "Excellent. Ha! It's true that Mance wants to negotiate, but it's hard to say he wants to talk to you!" "They sent me." "I understand. Come with me. Do you want to ride?" "I can go." "You fought tenaciously." Tormund turned his horse's head towards the wildling camp. "You and your brother were good, I must admit. We lost more than two hundred people, and a dozen giants. Margot himself stormed the gates, but did not come out."

"He fell by the sword of a warrior named Donal Noye." "Is that so? This Donal Noye is a high lord? A shining knight in iron?" "He's a blacksmith with one hand." "The one-handed blacksmith killed 'Strong Mag'? Ha! That must be a battle to remember, and Mance will make a song about it, just wait and see." Tormund took the horse from the saddle. One water bag, pull out the plug. "It'll keep us warm. For Donal Noye, for 'Strong Mag'." He took a swig, then handed it to Jon. "For Donal Noye, for 'Strong Mag'." The bag was filled with mead, so strong that it made Jon's eyes water, and his chest seemed to be full of snakes.But after staying in an ice prison and then coming down in a cage in the cold wind, the heat wave is obviously very beneficial. Tormund took the bag back, took another swig, and wiped his mouth. "The Magnar of Thenn swore he would open the gates and let us march through. He said he could break the defenses of the Wall." "He did break a part of the Wall," said Jon, "and it fell on him." "Ha!" said Tormund. "Yeah, I never thought Sty would work. A man with no beard, no hair, no ears can't hold him in a fight." Jon limped along. "What happened to the leg?" "Arrow wound. Ygritte, I think." "This is a woman. One day I can kiss you, and the next day I can shoot arrows all over your body." "She's dead." "Really?" Tormund shook his head sadly. "What a waste. If I had been ten years younger, I would have stolen her myself. Her hair, alas, burns quickest on the hottest fire," he lifted the mead bag, "for Ygritte, for the kiss of fire !” He took a big gulp. "For Ygritte, for the Kiss of Fire," Jon repeated as Tormund handed the bag back.He took a bigger sip. "You killed her?" "It's my brother." Jon never knew who it was, and hoped he never would. "You bloody crows." Strangely enough, Tormund's voice was hoarse but warm. "That 'spear' stole my daughter. Munda, my petite Autumn Apple. He stole her straight from my tent with all four of her brothers. Torreg was asleep the whole time, big Stupid, and Torvind...yeah, 'Torwind the tamed,' that says it all, right? But then these young men got into a fight with the kid." "Where's Munda?" Jon asked. "She was of my blood," declared Tormund proudly. "She slit his lip and bit off half an ear, and I heard he had too many scratches on his back to wear clothes. Yet she Like him. Why not? You know, he doesn't fight with a spear, never does. Where's the nickname from? Ha!" Even here, Jon couldn't help laughing.Ygritte loves Rick "The Spear".He hoped Rick would find happiness with Munda in Tormund.Somebody has to find happiness somewhere. "You don't understand anything, Jon Snow." Knowing what he was thinking, Ygritte would have said that.I'm dying, he thought, at least I know that. "Everyone is mortal," she was replying. "Men and women, birds and beasts alike. Those that fly, swim in the water, and run on the ground, all cannot escape. It doesn't matter if you die early or late, the key is how you die. Jon Snow." Softly, he thought, you die in the siege, and I die a traitor and a murderer.My death will not be clean, unless I die by Mance's sword. While chatting, they walked to the tent area.It was a typical savage camp: campfires and urinals sprawled in disarray, children and goats wandering about, sheep bleating among the bushes, and horse hides hung to dry.There is no planning, no order, no defense.There are men, women and animals everywhere. Many ignored him and went about their business, but many more stopped to watch: children squatting by a fire, old women in dog carts, cavemen with painted faces and shields painted with claws, snakes and skulls raiders.They all turned to watch.The long hair of the spearwives fluttered in the wind, and the wind sighed as it blew through the pines. Unable to find any real hills, Mance Rayder pitched his snow bearskin tent on a rocky pile at the edge of the forest.Now the King Beyond the Wall was waiting outside, his red and black cloak fluttering in the wind.Jon saw Harma the Doghead with him. He must have completed his feint attack along the Wall and returned safely, and Varamyr the Six-Shapes was there, with the Shadow Lynx and two lean gray wolves at his side. . Realizing that it was he who had been sent by the Night's Watch, Harma turned and spat, and one of Varamyr's wolves bared its teeth and growled. "You must be very brave, or very foolish, Jon Snow," said Mance Rayder, "to come back to us in a black cloak." "What else can a man of the Night's Watch wear?" "Kill him," Harmo urged, "throw the body back in the cage and tell them to send another. But I'll keep his head for a banner. A chameleon is worse than a dog." "I warned you not to trust this man," Varamyr said quietly, and his shadow lynx stared hungrily at Jon with narrow gray eyes. "I never liked his smell." "Put your paws away, beast cub." Tormund the Giant Buster swung his legs off his horse. "This kid is here to listen to our conditions. If you dare to touch him, I might be able to get the shadow lynx skin I've been longing for." "Tormund who loves crows," Harmo sneered, "you're a big braggart, old man." The skinchanger is gray-cheeked, round-backed and bald, mouse-like but with wolf eyes. "Anyone can ride a saddled horse," he whispered, "and any skinchanger can easily infiltrate a beast that has been bonded to a man. Auriel fades in its feathers, so I accept The union goes both ways, Wolf, and Auriel lives inside me now, whispering how much he hates you. And I can soar atop the Wall and see with the eyes of an eagle." "So we know," said Mance, "we know how few of you are standing in the way of Turtle Shield. We know how many men are watching from the East Sea. We know your supplies are dwindling, pitch, oil, swords, spears, There aren't even any stairs left, only cages to get up and down. We all know that, and now you know we do." He opened the tent door. "Go in. The rest wait outside." "What, even me?" said Tormund. "Especially you. Always talkative." It's warm inside.There was a fire under the smoke vent, and a brazier smoldering beside Dana's fur-wrapped skin, Dana sweating pale, her sister holding her hand.Remember her name is Val. "I was sad when Jarl fell," he told her. Val studied Jon with pale gray eyes. "He always climbed too fast." She was as beautiful as I remembered, slender, full-breasted, always attractive, with high cheekbones and thick, honey-colored hair that fell to her waist. "Dana's going into labor soon," Mance explained. "She and Val will stay. They know what I'm going to say." Jon tried to keep his expression as calm as Xuanbing.Murder in the enemy's tent under the guise of peace talks is bad enough. Do I have to do it in front of his wife who is about to give birth? His sword hand is opening and closing.Mance was not wearing armor, but had a sword hanging from his left hip.There were other weapons in the tent, daggers, short swords, a bow, a bag of arrows, a bronze-tipped spear beside which lay a huge black...horn... Jon gasped. Warhorn, what a big warhorn. "Yes," Mance said, "this is the Horn of Winter, which Joman once blew to awaken the giant from the ground." The horn was huge, a full eight feet long in curved lines, and the opening was so wide that he could fit it all the way down to his elbow.If it's from a bison, it's the biggest cow ever.At first he thought it was inlaid with bronze, but when he got closer he realized it was gold.Old gold, engraved with runes, fading to brown. "Ygritte said you never found the horn." "You think only crows can lie? To be honest, I like you bastard...but I never trust you. My trust needs to be earned." Jon asked: "If you found the horn that really belonged to Joman, why didn't you use it? Why did you bother to build the turtle shield? Why did you send the Thenns to attack? If the horn works as it says in the ballad, why not Blow it and fix everything?" The answer was Dana, who was pregnant, lying on a pile of furs by the brazier. "We the free folk know what you who kneel forget. Sometimes shortcuts are not safe. Jon Snow, the Horned King said. Witchcraft is a sword without a handle, and cannot be mastered." Mance ran his hand along the curve of the horn. "Nobody goes hunting with just one arrow," he explained. "I was hoping Styr and Jarl would surprise Castle Black and open the gates, so I feinted and harassed the defenders beforehand, and as expected, Bowen Marsh took the bait, but you old and sick are much more tenacious than expected. Don't think you can stop us, though, as the truth is, there are too few of you and too many of me. I could go on the offensive and send out ten thousand men to raft across Seal Bay and attack Eastwatch from behind; The men, horses and mammoths went to your abandoned fortress, dug through the city gates, and started working on more than a dozen places at the same time." "Then why didn't you do it?" Jon could have pulled out Longclaw to end it, but he wanted to hear what the Wildling King had to say first. "Blood," said Mance Rayder, "yes, I will win in the end, but you will make me bleed. Blood, my people have shed enough." "Your loss is not serious." "It's not serious in your hands." Mance watched Jon's face carefully. "You've been to the Fist of the First Men, and you know what happened there. You know what we're dealing with." "White ghosts..." "They grow stronger as the days grow shorter and the nights grow colder. First they kill, and then they drive the dead. The Giants cannot stand against them, nor the Thenns nor the Glacier nor the Hornfoot." "You can't either?" "I can't either." There was anger in his tone of admission, a deep bitterness that couldn't be expressed in words. "'Redbeard' Raymond, 'The Bard' Bell, Gendel and Gonny, the Horned King, they are going south for conquest, and to wipe out the Seven Kingdoms, I will hide behind the Great Wall with my tail between my legs. ’ He stroked the horn again. "If I blow the horn of winter, the Great Wall will fall, at least that's what the song says. Some of my subordinates are thinking..." "Once the Wall falls," Dana said, "what will stop the White Walkers?" Mance smiled softly at her. "I have a wise woman. A true queen." He turned to Jon. "Go back and tell them to open the gates and let us pass. If they do, I will hand over the horn, and the Wall will stand forever, till The end of the world." Open the gates and let them pass.Easier said than done, what next? Giants encamped in the ruins of Winterfell? Cannibal tribes live in the Wolfwood, chariots sweep across the barren mounds of the First Men, free folk steal the shipwright's and silversmith's daughters from White Harbor The wife of a coastal fisherman? "Are you a real king?" Jon asked suddenly. "I don't wear a crown or sit on a bloody throne, if that's what you mean," Mance replied. "I'm so lowly born that I don't have a monk to anoint me. I don't have a castle and my queen wears Amber in hides, not silk gems. I am my own warrior, my own jester, and my own lyre player. Any king beyond the wall is not based on blood, free people do not follow names, and do not care which brother came first Born. They believe in the strong. When I left the Shadow Tower, five clamored to be King Beyond the Wall. Tormund was one, Magnar another, and I killed the other three because they would rather fight than Unwilling to obey." "You can kill your enemies," Jon said frankly, "but can you control your subjects? If we let your people pass, will you have the ability to restrain them to maintain peace in the kingdom and obey the law?" "Whose laws? The laws of Winterfell and King's Landing?" Mance laughed. "If the law is needed, we will make it ourselves. Keep your decrees and taxes. What I want to hand over is the horn, not freedom. We will not kneel." "What if we say no?" Jon had no doubt they would.Old Xiong might still listen, but he would hesitate at the thought of letting 30,000 to 40,000 wildlings enter the Seven Kingdoms.Alliser Thorne and Janos Slynt wouldn't even think about it. "If you refuse," declared Mance Rayder, "three days from dawn Tormund the Giantsbane will sound the Horn of Winter." He could go back with the news, tell them about the Horn, but if Mance lived, Lord Janos and Ser Alliser would use it as proof that he was a traitor.Thousands of thoughts flashed through Jon's mind.If I destroy the horn, smash it to pieces on the spot... Before I can think about it, I hear another horn whimpering weakly through the leather tent.Mance heard it too.He frowned and walked to the door.Jon followed. Outside, the trumpet sounded even louder.The savage camp was in a commotion.Three Hornfoot men hurried past with spears in hand.The horses neighed and snorted, the giants roared in the old language, and even the mammoths were disturbed. "Scout's horn," Tormund told Mance. "Something is coming." Varamyr sat cross-legged on the half-frozen ground, his wolf circling nervously.A shadow passed overhead, and Jon looked up to see the blue-gray wings of the eagle. "From the east." When the dead are infested, and ring walls and stakes and swords mean nothing, he remembered that a man can't fight the dead, Jon Snow, and no one knows that better than I do. Harma frowned, "East? The ghoul should be behind." "East," repeated the skinchanger, "something is coming." "The White Walkers?" Jon asked. Mance shook his head, "The White Walkers never come out when the sun is shining." The chariot creaked and rolled across the sand field, filled with natives wielding sharp bone spears.Seeing this, the King Beyond the Wall couldn't help moaning, "Damn, where are they going? Quinn, let these idiots go to their places. Bring my horse. The mare, not the male. I also Armor." Mance cast a suspicious glance at the Wall.At the top of the ice wall, where the scarecrow sentry stood as a target, there was no other movement. "Hamo, mount the raiders. Find your sons, Tormund, and form three ranks of spears." "Okay." Tormund said and strode away. The skinchanger, as small as a mouse, closed his eyes. "I see them...they're following the stream..." "Who?" "Men. Men on horseback. Men in armor and black." "Raven," Mance said the word viciously, turning to Jon. "My former brothers thought they could be caught off guard by taking advantage of the sneak attack during negotiations?" "If that was their plan, they never told me." Jon didn't believe it.Genos lacks the manpower to attack. Besides, he was on the other side of the Great Wall, and the city gate had been sealed with rubble.The intrigue in his head was of another kind, and it couldn't have been his doing. "Lie to me again, and you can't live." Mance warned.The guards brought him a mount and armor.Jon saw the men in the camp go their separate ways, some in formation, as if to attack the Wall, and others slipping into the forest.The women drive the dog carts east, and the mammoths wander west.A loose column of rangers appeared at the edge of the forest three hundred yards away, and he reached over his shoulder and drew Longclaw.Those who came wore black mail, a black half-helm, and a black cloak.Mance, half through his armor, also drew his sword. "You don't know anything, do you?" he said to Jon coldly. The rangers trickled down to the wildling camp like thawed honey on a winter morning, over roots and rocks, picking their way among bushes and trees.The savages rushed forward quickly, shouting, brandishing wooden clubs, bronze swords and stone axes, rushing desperately towards their mortal enemy.A cry, a slash, and a hero to die, Jon had heard his brethren tell of the way the free folk fought. "Believe it or not," Jon told the King Beyond the Wall, "I know nothing." Before Mance could answer, Harma rumbled by on horseback, followed by thirty horsemen, a dead dog on a spear, blood dripping with every step.Mance watched her charge into the ranks of rangers. "Maybe you're telling the truth," he said, "these guys look like they're from Eastwatch. Sailors on horseback. Well, Carter Pike's always been bolder than his head. Defeated the 'Bones at the Long Car House. King', think you can beat me? What a fool. He has no soldiers, he—" "Mance!" shouted from behind.A scout rushed out of the forest, his mount drenched in sweat. "Mance, there are more enemies, and they surround us, Iron Man, Iron Man, a Legion of Iron Man." Mance slammed on his horse, cursing. "Varamir, stay and protect Dana." The King Beyond the Wall pointed the tip of his sword at Jon. "Also, keep an eye on this raven. If he escapes, slit his throat." "Don't worry, I will." The skinchanger was a head shorter than Jon, and he described it as sluggish, but the shadow lynx could rip out his intestines with one paw. "They come from the north," Varamyr told Mance, "you go." Mance put on his Ravenwing helm.His men also mounted their horses. "Spearhead," Mance shouted, "follow me, wedge." But his followers were quickly disorganized as he galloped across the field to meet the rangers with a mare on his heels. set. Jon took a step toward the tent, thinking of the Horn of Winter, but the shadow cat stepped forward to block it, wagging its tail back and forth.The beast's nostrils flared, and saliva dripped from its crooked front teeth.It smells my fear.He missed Ghost now more than ever.Two wolves growled lowly behind them. "Banners," he heard Varamyr murmur, "I see golden banners, oh..." A mammoth neighed past with six archers in a wooden tower on its back. "The king... no..." The skinchanger threw his head back and screamed. The sound was harsh and terrifying, full of pain.Varamyr fell to the ground struggling and writhing, and the Shadowcat screamed... High in the eastern sky, against the clouds, the eagle was ablaze.In an instant, it was brighter than a star, tumbling in a sea of ​​red, gold and orange, flapping its wings desperately, as if it wanted to fly away from the sea of ​​bitterness.It flew higher and higher, higher and higher, higher and higher. The scream drew Val out of the tent, her face pale. "Why, what's the matter?" Varamyr's wolves were fighting each other, and the shadow cat darted into the woods, and he himself was still twitching on the ground. "What's the matter with him?" Val asked in horror. "Where's Mance?" "There," Jon pointed, "he leads the battle." The King Beyond the Wall swung his sword and led his straggling wedge into a group of rangers. "To fight? He can't leave, not now. It's started." "Battle?" The ranger team scattered in front of Harma's bloody dog's head.Screaming and slashing, the raiders chased the man in black into the forest.Then more people appeared from under the bushes, knights, heavy knights.Harma had to regroup to deal with the new threat, but half her men had already rushed in. "Delivery!" Val yelled at him. Trumpets sounded from all around, loud and sharp.Savages don't have trumpets, only warhorns.They knew that as well as he did; the free folk ran about in bewilderment, some joining the fray, others fleeing far away.A mammoth tramples over a flock of sheep that three men are trying to drive west.The drums were beating, and the savages hurriedly formed a phalanx, but the action was too late, the organization was chaotic, and the movements were slow.The enemy emerged from the forest, in three directions due east, northeast and due north, three neat columns of heavy cavalry, all dressed in gleaming black steel armor and bright wool coats.Not from Eastwatch, this is not just a team of scouts, but an army.Could it be that the king really came? Jon was as puzzled as the wildlings.Robb back? The boy on the Iron Throne finally realizing the dire situation? "You'd better go back to your tent," he told Val. Sooner or later, on the other side of the field, a column of cavalry was charging towards Harma the Doghead, and another column was directly flanking Tormund's spearmen. He and his sons were trying to turn the column around.The giants climbed up on the mammoths, which intimidated the riders on horseback.Jon noticed that the armored horses neighed and fled at the sight of the slow-moving mountains of meat.There was panic on the wildlings' side too, and hundreds of women and children fled the field in haste, some running straight under the hooves of the horses.He saw a dog-cart driven by an old woman straddle the path of three chariots, mingling with each other. "My God," Val whispered, "My God, how did this happen?" "Go inside the tent with Dana. It's not safe outside." It's not safe inside either, but there's no need to scare her. "I've got to get a midwife," Val said. "You're the midwife. I'll stay here until Mance comes back." He had lost Mance just now, and now he found it again.I saw the King Beyond the Wall fight a bloody path from among the knights, desperately commanding a counterattack.The mammoth dispersed the middle group of the opponent, while the other two groups closed like pincers.To the east of the camp, some archers were firing rockets at the tents.He saw the mammoth sweep a rider from the saddle with its trunk and throw it forty feet.The savages fled in a single file, most of them were frightened old and weak women and children, but there were also strong men.Some of them looked sullenly at Jon, but he held Longclaw, so no one dared make trouble.Varamyr also crawled away on hands and feet. More and more people poured out of the forest, not only knights, but also freeriders in short waistcoats and round helmets, mounted archers and ordinary soldiers, the number was tens to hundreds.Brightly colored flags were flying above their heads.The wind was making the flag flap, and Jon couldn't see much, but he caught glimpses of a seahorse, a flock of birds, and a wreath of flowers.Mostly yellow, so much yellow, yellow flags, red patterns.Whose coat of arms? In the three directions of Zhengdong, Zhengbei and northeast, groups of savages were still resisting, but the attackers walked straight past them.The free folk are outnumbered, but the attackers have iron armor and heavy horses.In the center of the battle, Mance stood tall on the stirrups, his red and black cloak and ravenwing helm standing out.He raised his sword, and the crowd gathered, and the wedge-shaped formation of knights rushed forward with spears, swords and long axes.Jon saw Mance's mare, rearing and kicking, being stabbed in the chest by a lance.Then, a torrent of steel overwhelmed them. It's over, Jon thought, they're broken.The wildlings abandoned their weapons and fled, Hornfoot men, troglodyte men, Thenns in bronze scales, all ran.Mance was gone, someone picked Harma's head and waved it on a pole, Tormund's team broke up, and only the giants on the mammoths persisted, like furry islands in a raging sea of ​​blood.Flames flew from tent to tent, and some large pines were also ablaze.Amidst the smog, a wedge-shaped formation of knights rushed out, straddling armored horses, with the most eye-catching flag flying above their heads. It was the flag of the royal family, as big as a bed sheet: one side was yellow with a long, sharp tongue of flame A flaming red heart is outlined; the other side, like gold leaf, is embroidered with a black crowned stag. Here came Robert, and for a moment Jon had this crazy idea, and he thought of poor Owen, but when the trumpet blew again and the knights charged, their names were: "Long live Stannis! Stan Long live Ness! Long live King Stannis!" Jon turned to check in.