29 Chapter 29 - Adventures in the North 26.
[Chapter Size: 2050 Words.]
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Third person POV
Northern Kingdom, Last bastion of Essos slave traders, 290 AC, at the same moment.
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"Did this 9-nameday boy really enter a wildling camp and fight them, saving his youngest daughter and resolving this wildling invasion before coming here?"
"Really, boy? Is everything in this letter true, and my men aren't lying?" He said in a tone of disbelief.
He would leave for home the next day, hoping it wouldn't be too late for his little Ester, but it seems the gods favored him this time, with Ned's boy solving the problem in his land.
...
...
"Yes, my lord. We followed the traces of the wild group, skipping sleep for a few nights to catch up with them. We found them on one of their night expeditions, finally, in a location quite close to the coast with their rafts for escape." Jon paused before continuing.
"Seeing that we couldn't wait for the rest of their guard, we decided to confront them ourselves, and with the help of Ducken, a powerful and experienced warrior with a brave blacksmith skilled in handling a bow, we stealthily entered the camp."
"As soon as we managed to capture and free the hostages, despite some unexpected things happening, we managed to get them out of the camp, initiating a total attack against the invading group. I can say it was more of a massacre with the group of those giants there." Jon said and earned some low laughs, as they could imagine a wildling cornered by those monsters showing no resistance.
But many lords were stunned by this. They could imagine the giants causing a massacre; it was just looking at those giant armored things. However, a boy entering a camp with only two men, as they had information that there were almost 200 wildlings there, was quite surreal, even hearing all the fantastical stories from little Jon.
"Anyway, we managed to capture 20 prisoners by the end of the fight, and they were handed over to your men. After 3 days of rest, we began marching here for 5 days, and now we are here."
Lord Glover's look showed some satisfaction, even though this boy next to his lord spoke unbelievable things; he still had confirmation in the letter written to him by a captain of a guard unit.
"How was my Ester? I hope the wildlings didn't do anything to her? Because I'm thinking of starting a company north of the Wall and eradicating any wild village I find!" He growled.
"The girl is well, my lord. She was not harmed and seemed quite helpful and with a stable mind after all she went through." Jon said.
"I'll believe you, lad. House Glover will remember this and will always be in your debt. There will always be a place at my table in front of our fireplace when you want to visit my castle, as a gesture of my friendship and gratitude!" He declared sincerely.
All the nobles beside the lord of Deepwood couldn't help but feel a certain pride; this young man had done a great service, defeating those wildlings and saving a daughter of a great lord. He was just a boy and already had more achievements than most men in the North; at this rate, the North would be glorious and respected in the future.
Ned was a very happy father at this moment, looked at his Jon, who hadn't seen the moons and was very pleased with his achievements, not forgetting to talk to the boy at this moment.
"Jon, I'm very happy and proud, but still, you are just a 9-day-old child to do such things! Enter a camp full of wildlings? You are still just a child!" Ned scolded him with a stern tone.
"Lorde Stark, if you allow me to speak...?" Said a voice behind Jon, Ned looked at the man approaching on horseback, wearing the same magnificent armor as his nephew. He quickly noticed that this man was an experienced warrior due to his posture.
"You must be Ducken, the warrior my son just mentioned, please, continue," Ned said, still crouched in front of Jon.
"I am honored, my lord, and indeed, Jon is very reckless. I advised him always to take the safest path and not put himself in danger, risking in so many dangerous situations. But Jon told me that we could never risk the hostages in the middle of a battle. Jon prefers to take risks and be sure not to hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it, even if it leads to a much more challenging path than an easy victory..." Ducken declared and continued.
"I was born in the North, lived here, and became a Northern warrior. I tried my life outside the kingdom and worked as a soldier and mercenary off the continent. I fought alongside the lord in the Greyjoy Rebellion after I returned to the kingdom, an event that I had immense honor and pride in participating in alongside you, even if you don't remember me. Then I went to that corrupt city where Jon found me in a quite concerning event." He said as Ned continued listening next to Jon, along with the other nobles on their horses on the opposite side.
"Sorry for the word, Lord Stark, but I've seen a lot of shit in this world my whole life, not even our land escapes that kind of thing. I assure you, the North is the smelliest shit in the world. This must be due to your ancestors' management. We are a more honorable, sincere, and noble people than the rest of the realms and continents; there will only be someone here and there who shames the North.
But you know, Lord Stark, in recent months, I started to see a good side in this shitty world. I saw your son show that we can be better than all this shit. He may be a bastard, but he showed me that he is nobler than anyone with a title, a true hero, my lord, A HERO IN THE NORTH!" He shouted the last part, and somehow, all the soldiers in the front lines at a distance of more than 100 meters seemed to hear and quickly responded and shouted together.
"JON SNOW! JON SNOW! JON SNOW! JON SNOW! JON SNOW!" Jon was stunned and speechless with the turn of events; he never imagined that Ducken would speak like that about him, which embarrassed him a lot, giving the man a quite unpleasant look, but the man smirked mischievously at that childish glare from Jon.
They heard the chorus of hundreds of Northern soldiers at the same time. The lords were shouting his name with a big smile, and his father was solemnly looking at everyone screaming while massaging his shoulder in front of him. The wolves began to howl, the giants were shouting "JON SNOW!" in a hoarse tone too. It seemed like his name was making more noise than any name in the last century. Even people in the fort could only look while this name was being proclaimed by humans, giants, and apparently, wolf howls. Even these Essosi mercenaries and slavers began to fear this JON SNOW, unaware that it was someone with only 9 namedays.
Ned turned his attention back to his son after a minute of his name being called. "You are very reckless, Jon. For me, you wouldn't leave the room to do all these crazy things I hear in the last moons, but I am proud of you, my son." He said.
"Thank you..." Jon said a little embarrassed.
"Ned, bring your boy; let's celebrate!" Lord Glover said.
"I think so... Let's go back to the camp." Lord Stark said, getting up from his place and looking at his son's group with thoughts.
"Ned, let them join the camp. From what we've heard so far, they didn't have any problems, so I believe your son's group deserves the benefit of the doubt, despite being a quite intimidating group." Lord Karstark supported Jon as soon as he saw his lord's look.
"I think you're right. Jon, your group can stay in the camp too, but will you ensure that they won't cause trouble?" It was a reasonable and expected question; there is no record of men and giants living in one place for thousands of years.
"Yes, as long as no one provokes them, they will be peaceful until the time of the fight," Jon argued.
"Fair enough, then I accept your group and your help in the siege," Ned said with a smile and turned his attention to one of the Lords. "Inform the camp leaders about this addition and make it clear that no one should mess with the giants and animals," Lord Stark pronounced these words, and some minor Lords from the group quickly rode to talk to the small leaders and organizers in the camp.
"Thank you, I'll talk to them," Jon said, returning to his wolf, which crouched again for the boy to climb on. "Anyway, you can return our scout; he's clearly nervous," Lord Karstark said, looking at the man with his different sigil still close to the carts surrounded by the giants; he seemed extremely nervous to be there.
"Yes, of course!" Jon said immediately. That scout, who found Jon, should run to the camp as soon as he spotted the group, but the moment he saw them, his body froze from a possible imminent death. The man remained paralyzed until Jon caught up with him and asked if he could take him to the camp and that his father was Lord Stark. The man ended up leading Jon without any questioning, which was why Jon's group was noticed for the first time so close to the camp without anyone seeing them.
Jon returned to his group, organizing them after releasing the Stark scout. So, they set out to set up their tents in a corner specially created for them quickly in the camp. Jon seemed amused as he started to enter, and everyone in the place looked at him and the group with strangely perplexed eyes. It was one thing to look at the group from 200 meters away, but seeing them up close made them even more frightened. A giant in armor, heavily armed for any kind of combat, was very frightening; as far as they knew, this could only come from a fantasy book. But here, they witnessed not only one but 7 of them; even though 2 were children, they were larger than men, and the Northerners were quite surprised to find female giants in their armor.
Jon passed by all of them and found the designated place, starting to set up the giant tents for the giants and some for him, Ducken, and William.
"Your father is truly an open-minded man..." William said beside him.
"We got lucky; I thought the other lords wouldn't be pleased with our group," Jon argued.
"The Northerners wouldn't reject us like that," Ducken asserted.
"You know how people can be stupid, Ducken," Jon said.
"You're right..." Admitted Ducken.
"Anyway..." William was about to say something but was interrupted by the arrival of a Stark soldier, one that Jon recognized, Jory.
The man seemed hesitant as he approached, Jon noticed. His eyes looked at him with some bewilderment as the man stared at the boy.
"Jory?" Jon had to speak first.
"Jon... Your father asks for your presence in the main tent. He asked me to fetch you..." He said.
"Understood... can you take care of the camp?" Jon asked the two men.
"Yes, you can go there with your father; we'll take care of the rest," Ducken affirmed.
"Alright then, I'll go there." Jon said, and before he could walk, he felt a presence approaching, which he quickly turned to.
"It's okay, Seryna, I'm with my father, I'll be fine and won't need protection. Still, I doubt the tent will fit you inside..." Jon said to the giant who heard the conversation and wanted to accompany him.
"Alright, Jon..." She said softly with a strangely feminine yet quite loud tone for everyone to hear.
So, Jon set out to face the Lords of the North once again.
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