RoWE - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: A Turning Point

So coincidental?

Aeg, of course, knew what Maester Aemon was talking about the death of the Hand of the King marked the beginning of the main storyline. This was an important time point, but he really wasn't in the mood to consider it. The nearly ten days and nights of escape had exhausted his physical and mental strength. Although the smooth answers he gave to the Night's Watch high command didn't require much energy, he felt as if the last drop of his brain juice had been steamed dry by thinking. He was almost carried by two rangers to the confinement room, and as soon as he touched the bed, he fell asleep.

The days of confinement, which were actually semi-imprisonment, lasted for several days. What would be a torturous imprisonment for ordinary people was a sweet relief for Aeg. He ate his fill, slept, and didn't even participate in drills, enjoying a few dozen hours of comfort. He finally recovered his vitality.

With enough rest, it was time to worry about his personal future and destiny.

Littlefinger had already killed the previous Hand of the King, and during the upcoming royal visit to the North, Robert would invite Eddard Stark, the Warden of the North, to take over the position. Following that, the game of thrones would begin.

None of this had much to do with Aeg as a member of the Night's Watch, except for one relevant part: the deceased Jon Arryn was the Lord of the East, the ruler of the Vale, and the liege lord to whom Waymar Royce and his family were loyal. How "Bronze Yohn" would feel upon receiving news of his liege's death and his son's disappearance was unknown, but if he was too busy to care, perhaps he would give up on pursuing Aeg, the "deserter" who had "caused" his son's death?

Aeg laughed at himself mockingly. Relying on others' negligence or kindness was a gamble, and in this cruel world, it seemed incredibly foolish.

The wrath of House Royce was far away and didn't need to be considered for the moment. He still had to face another urgent problem: Benjen Stark had been summoned back to Winterfell by his elder brother to participate in the welcoming feast for the king. When this man returned to the Wall, he would lead rangers north to search for the White Walkers and Waymar Royce. At that time, Aeg, who had been named as the guide by the Chief Ranger, would either suffer the same fate as the ranger team in the original plot or be turned into a living dead by the children of the forest, like Benjen.

Neither of these was a fate he was willing to accept.

He had to do something.

From the black brothers who brought him food, Aeg learned that Gared had awakened from his coma, so he decided to visit him after lunch under the pretense of checking on him. If there was an opportunity to be alone, perhaps he could ask about ways to cross the gorge. Although his freedom was restricted and he couldn't go to the stables to get a horse or leave the camp, moving around within Castle Black was still possible.

But before he could act on his decision, he was summoned again by the Night's Watch high command.

'Are we leaving now?' Aeg entered the conference room with trepidation, only to find a scene reminiscent of the day he was interrogated, with the only difference being the unexpected person sitting in the interrogation seat.

"Will, you're not dead!?"

"Aeg!" The other party turned around and exclaimed in surprise. The speaker looked quite haggard. Aeg and Gared had taken the only two remaining horses, and the warhorse that Waymar had fled on had actually returned to Castle Black even earlier than the others, meaning the poacher had escaped back to the Wall without a horse or any supplies. He had taken longer and faced more difficulties. If it weren't for his richer experience in wilderness survival from his past as a hunter and the fact that he hadn't been discovered by the White Walkers, he would never have made it back to Castle Black alive.

Will, who had never been fat, now looked like skin and bones. There was even a half-bowl of hot porridge on the table in front of him. He was being interrogated while drinking porridge: "The Seven save me, if it weren't for you, I would definitely be dead!"

"What?" Aeg didn't understand. Will's survival was entirely due to his own skills. What did it have to do with him?

"That day, I was hiding in a tree and saw Ser Waymar being cut down by those ghostly things. After they all left, it took me a long time to come down from the tree." Will trembled as he picked up the bowl and took another sip of porridge, hissing as he was scalded: "I was about to find something to bring back as evidence... he... Ser Waymar got up from the ground, his body was horribly mutilated, but his eyes glowed blue, and he reached out to strangle me. His... It was terrifying. If you hadn't reminded me to be careful of the dead, I would never have reacted in time!"

So that's what happened! Aeg never expected that his offhand remark, made in extreme tension and treating a dead horse as if it were alive, had actually saved a comrade who would have otherwise died. But why was he called here now?

He scanned the surroundings and saw something on the table in front of the legion's high command.

Judging by the hilt, this was Waymar Royce's sword, forged from better steel, which had held up longer against the White Walker's weapon, but the result was that it was shattered even more thoroughly: apart from the tip of the sword, the hilt, and a section at the base of the blade, the middle of the sword was splintered like a tree struck by lightning, broken into countless pieces. It was a wonder for Will. After witnessing the terrifying scene of the White Walkers killing and the dead rising, he was actually able to calmly collect most of the broken sword fragments and trek for days to bring them back to the Wall.

Now, Waymar's broken sword or rather, his shattered sword, had been roughly assembled by someone, possibly Lord Commander Mormont or someone else. Just as Aeg had said a few days ago, the breaks in the fragments fit together neatly, like shattered glass, almost without any deformation when pieced back together.

This was a powerful piece of evidence supporting Aeg's claims! Aeg's heart stirred, suddenly realizing that there might be a favorable turning point for him.

"You two, take Will downstairs," Benjen Stark, who had been sitting quietly, spoke up. "Don't give him too much food at once. A starving man won't realize he's already full. Rest is the most important thing."

Will was helped out of the conference room by two Night's Watch members, still asking Aeg how he knew the dead could rise. When the room was quiet, Benjen gestured for him to sit down.

"What Will said doesn't differ much from what you and Gared told us. Looking at his condition, I don't think the three of you conspired to have him return a few days later on purpose." Lord Commander Mormont said sternly, "I now have reason to believe that there is indeed some mysterious enemy beyond the Wall. Perhaps White Walkers, or something else."

Of course, Will's words were not the only factor that changed the minds of the Night's Watch high command. In fact, during the days Aeg spent eating and sleeping, they had questioned the Night's Watch's blacksmiths and conducted a series of experiments, the results of which proved that no one could damage the standard-issue steel swords of the legion in the way they were broken by the White Walkers. The shattered sword brought back by the poacher that morning was even more exaggerated. No matter what, Mormont was indeed feeling uneasy.

"I'm about to leave for Winterfell. Get ready to come with me." Benjen took over from the Lord Commander. "I want you to report your experience to the Lord of Winterfell and request support. Bring the broken swords of the three of you. Prepare your speech and narrate it as quickly and concisely as possible. King Robert is about to arrive in the North, and my brothers will be very busy."

Maester Aemon nodded and added: "Don't overdo it. Just like when you reported to us a few days ago. You did well that day."

"Understood." Aeg suppressed his excitement: "I... I'll go prepare now."