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Preparations

"Dean did a good job expanding the tribe's walls."

"If he hadn't, they wouldn't be able to fit the people who constantly arrive seeking shelter."

Cam and Wymond spoke as they approached the tribe's first settlement.

If the second settlement was built like a military city, where everything was pre-established, the first settlement was more chaotic, but because of that, it looked more natural.

"I'm worried that my father has accepted too many refugees."

Blake looked at the expansions the first settlement of the black axe tribe underwent with a frown.

"We'll see how it is, I just hope Clay has done his job well and the warriors are not a bunch of morons now."

Cam mumbled and moved forward on his way to the tribe, he was not happy, as his group with the best warriors had stayed in the second settlement to keep control. Now he would have to find good spear men or women and form another team.

Blake, Wymond, and Ygritte followed behind him.

"Open the gates, Blake has returned to the tribe!"

After the guards identified Blake's group, they shouted and the news spread like wildfire within the tribe.

"It's Blake, he's finally back!"

"Dean told us he was fine, but I almost thought he was dead."

"If Blake had died, Magnar Oswin would have marched off with his warriors to take revenge, it's obvious the reason he's still here is that Blake is fine."

"That damn kid, even though he looks like a spirit and just seeing him gives me the creeps, this place felt so strange while he was gone."

Blake entered the tribe, being greeted by a good portion of his tribe brothers, only to see Oswin walking quickly towards the north gate shortly after.

"Damn boy, do you know how much trouble you've caused me?!"

Oswin came shouting curses as he quickly moved forward toward Blake and Ygritte.

"Dad!"

Ygritte leaped from Blake's shoulders, rushing towards Oswin in a hug.

"And you devil child, I sent the hunters after you as soon as you disappeared!"

Blake looked at his father, he had put on a little weight in this year that he hadn't seen him.

"We were also surprised when you arrived with the caravan. Thank the gods you arrived safely."

Wymond said, but then he noticed his wife and children walking toward the north entrance, stepping forward to see them after so long.

Cam did the same, he had several children, and some had grown up a lot.

Blake walked behind Cam, causing Cam to be a little surprised.

"Here's what I promised you, take good care of it, it took me a long time."

In front of everyone, Blake pulled out a beautifully carved tree. It was a Weirwood tree, carved out of white wood, its branches and leaves had been very meticulously made, it looked exactly like a miniature tree.

"Thank you, Blake!"

Osha received the small carved tree with a dazzling smile, looking at it in detail.

Blake saw how happy the girl was and nodded, returning to Oswin. He had promised to carve her a tree, but due to various events he had been unable to do so, today he could finally get this debt off his mind.

"I didn't know you liked Cam's daughter, you went to war and now you're after a woman, you're already a man."

Oswin looked at Blake's actions, speaking to him.

"I don't feel anything towards the girl, it was a promise I put off because of the war. Besides, you should know better than anyone that I can't have a woman right now. Is there any news about the Weirwood tree I asked you to keep looking for?"

Blake had the appearance of a 10 or 11 year old boy, twice his real age, his development had slowly slowed as he grew up. But his strength and the time he could last without eating or sleeping had increased greatly.

Blake had tried as much as possible to ignore his strange physique, he didn't want by experimenting, without any care or guidance, to open up the possibility of losing what little humanity he had left, or worse, being further influenced by the white walkers, his dreams were still constant battles between the three-eyed raven and the white walkers, so he had continued to search for the Weirwood tree that appeared in his dreams.

Oswin did not seem comfortable after hearing the words about his son's physique, so he replied.

"Let's talk inside about it, I want you to tell me everything you've done in the fortress with those Ice-river clans deserters, those messengers you send don't make anything very clear."

Blake nodded, leaving Ygritte in charge of Willa, Oswin's wife, and walking along with his father to the hut.

The tribe had gotten bigger, during this time he'd been gone the population had at least doubled, and Dean had done a good job organizing everything. Rumors about the black axe tribe had been spreading a lot lately, that was good news, but only as long as they could admit these people and feed them through the winter, of course.

Arriving at the cabin, Blake went inside, lit the campfire, and sat down in front of the fire.

"According to Denys, this wine is from Arbor, the best wine in the world, he gave it to me as a gift."

Oswin put cheese and red honey between Blake and himself, then pulled out a Wineskin, poured red wine into two glasses, handing one to Blake.

Blake took the glass of wine, sniffed it, and flashed a faint smile.

"Ser Denys didn't lie to you, it's a fine wine."

Blake took a sip, savoring it for the briefest of moments.

"If you say so, it must be so."

For Oswin there was not much difference, he drank the wine in one gulp, while he watched Blake still enjoying the moment. His son knew things no one else could, it was as if he was living his second or third life, ever since he saw him that day when he entered the cabin, he knew the dark spirits had done something that changed him forever.

"Tell me everything you did in the outpost fortress."

Blake didn't take another sip of wine, one sip was enough for him to savor wine whenever he wanted, remembering it, besides it was pointless, he had tried to get drunk once, but failed, it was as if his body was immune to alcohol, just as he was immune to many other things.

"After I won the war I had all the survivors join the black axe tribe, but I couldn't bring them here, there were too many of them, and there is a limit to the people a piece of land can feed, so I made another settlement surrounding the outpost fortress."

Blake explained in great detail everything he had done, the structure of the second settlement, the people who lived there, and the warriors they had available.

"I knew it was a big deal when you sent all those women and boys along with Dean, but I didn't expect you to create a settlement even bigger than the one here."

"Yes, but they are part of the black axe tribe, and you are the Magnar, you need to go and stay with them for a while, so they know who they serve."

Oswin sighed wearily.

"That will be a problem, now that you're here, I was planning on taking care of the Men of the Frozen Shore."

Blake frowned.

"We've been attacked?"

Oswin poured himself another glass of wine, answering with a grunt.

"Yes, they've attacked the group of the tribe who are in charge of getting salt from the Frozen Shore."

"The Men of the Frozen Shore are as numerous as the Ice-river clans, only much more aggressive. We may need to build another fortress on the Frozen Shore to secure the salt supply, it's a big deal, but we don't have much time."

Blake began to ramble aloud.

"Are you rushing?"

Oswin waggled an eyebrow asking the question, they still had another 6 or 7 years according to what Blake had told him before the dark spirits became a problem.

"There will soon be a window of opportunity to cross the wall, within the next 2 or 3 years."

Blake explained Greyjoy's Rebellion to Oswin.

"You say there will soon be a war south of the wall?"

Blake nodded.

Oswin spoke again.

"The lords to the south are always at war, but the Night's Watch has protected the wall no matter what, a war won't matter to them in the slightest."

Blake agreed, the Night's Watch had forgotten their initial task, and now they were only protecting the kingdom from them, that is to say from the savages, they would not let them pass, no matter how good friends they were thanks to trade. Perhaps if they had more time, they would manage to change the Night's Watch's mentality, but it was not realistic in the short term.

"There is a way to convince them to let us cross the wall."

Blake was silent for several seconds, finally responding.

"We have to capture a white walker, or at the very least a wraith."

Oswin's hair frizzed at the mere words. Blake had told him everything he knew about dark spirits, wraiths, and the night king, if only half of what he told turned out to be true, facing those creatures again would be very dangerous, worse yet capturing one.

"I've only seen those things once, and I managed to slay one of them while he was distracted, failing to respond to my attack. The whole time I was nearby, all my hair stood on end, it was a creepy feeling, I highly doubt it would be possible to capture them alive, and if so, how and where would we do it? The only reason I found them was to follow your mother, but she is no longer here."

Blake narrowed his eyes slightly at the mention of his mother but now was not the time to talk about that, so he continued to explain.

"I got some information from the Ice-river clans, it seems the others are very active to the north, especially during storms."

Oswin shook his head with his arms crossed.

"All the territory after the Milkwater River is the giant territory, if we go too far in and run into a group of giants, we'll all end up dead."

Blake agreed giants were extremely powerful creatures, a group of them, and worse, riding on mammoths, would trample them like dry grass, no matter how well-armed their tribesmen were.

"The Ice-river clans have maintained trade with them, usually offering them food in exchange for skins and ivory. If we can trade with the giants, it will be much easier to approach the lands of eternal winter, and we would have a better chance of succeeding."

"That won't be easy at all..."

Oswin said. It was possible to trade with the giants, but it was a tricky thing to do, most of them would try to kill you on sight.

"There is an old man in the second settlement who knows them well, he could lead the caravan to a village of giants where you could trade safely."

Oswin wasn't completely convinced, still, he finally decided it was a possible plan, but said.

"That still leaves us with the problem of the Men of the Frozen Shore, we are distributing too much salt to the second settlement, if we don't solve this problem we will run out of salt in no time."

Blake hesitated, starting the trade with the giants was a priority, but running out of salt was just as important.

"How many warriors do we have?"

"About 500, counting the spearwomen and a good part of the hunters."

Blake thought for a moment but finally proposed an idea to Oswin.

"I'll send for 300 warriors who can form the phalanxes from the second settlement. With them and our warriors, it shouldn't be a problem for you to march to the Frozen Shore and get a deal. Offer them food, clothing, wine, or whatever they want in exchange for their goods, and don't cause trouble when we collect salt. If they don't want to cooperate you'll have to use force, we can't waste any more time."

Oswin was slightly surprised by Blake's words, it wasn't his style to be so impatient, he usually preferred to solve problems peacefully, so perhaps if they were running out of time.

"With 800 men I can take care of any of their villages, if they won't listen, I'll raze them to the ground so they won't try to mess with the black axe tribe again."

Oswin looked genuinely excited as he said these words, it had been a year since he had left the tribe while Blake had marched off to war against the Ice-river clans, so he was eager to do something.

"Only if necessary, and if given, be sure to bring back alive their women, children, and anyone who surrenders. I'll take care of gathering as much food as possible to trade with the giants."

Both father and son continued their talk for some more time. It was a bold plan, so there could be no mistake.