CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8

Ahh, the integration of Jon skills completely.

It was an exciting feeling to overwhelm an opponent with the skills alone, which usually happens only in my dreams.

After I got accustomed to the playstyle, I didn't outperform Grenn completely.

I still made it look like I was struggling and only slowly getting the upper hand. From the various novels I have read, if you truly want to remain lowkey and have a surprising element to your opponents, always perform mediocrely, so that no one bothers you.

The spar was over after a while and with a condescending remark from Ser Alliser we were left to eat our dinner and rest. The food was slightly better than the one we ate in the camp but was inferior to Winterfell.

I decided to explore the place before resting but there was nothing much, in the morning I decided to visit the top of the wall to have a look.

The cold was slowly creeping into my body.

There were many abandoned buildings in Castle Black which must be due to the declining numbers in the watch. I chose one such building for my room and nobody said anything about it.

I later came to know that it was Hardin's tower with a broken battlement and shattered stone below. Ren chose the room beside me, we were the only ones in part of that tower so it was easy to keep Ghost.

Benjen Stark left the wall after three days of arrival for his ranger activities. He just said he will be going beyond the wall for scouting as there were many wilding activities.

I decided it was about time to slowly change the Night watch into my base by slowly corrupting the top bunch.

Jeor Mormont was the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, he is pretty much like a simplified ruler here and Maester Aemon was like a minister who gives advice to him, followed by Ser Alliser who was like a trainer.

I can't simply go near the commander nor the old man so I decided to target Alliser and was waiting for an opportunity.

In the meantime, I also spared with many others but made my wins look hard earned. I could sense some dissatisfaction from Grenn and his three raper friends but they didn't do much given I could best them on a one-to-one duel and with Ren following me like a bodyguard they didn't do much.

Ren was also relatively strong and even got some praises from Alliser but when it comes to me he didn't say much. On one occasion though after my spar ended, he said I was weak, given I won two and lost one I didn't give much thought to it..

He looked like he was eagerly waiting for me to retort it but with an attentive gaze, 'I will try to do better'. He just stared at me for a while and went to the other recruits.

The next day I decided to visit the top of the wall alone since Ren was still sleeping and I didn't want to bring Ghost up there, the top of the wall had a refreshing feeling of wind passing by me but only colder.

I thought I could see the sunrise but there was no sign of it. It was either that or I'm looking in the wrong direction given I'm not that good with directions, still now it confuses me whether the sun rises in the east or west, haaah…, how I miss the internet.

As I was admiring the snowy winter landscape my mind slowly compared the scenario with the white room, that place truly has no comparison.

"Makes you wonder what lies beyond," a familiar voice said.

I looked around to see Tyrion Lannister. 'I didn't see you coming here'.

He was bundled in furs so thickly he looked like a very small bear. "There's much to be said for taking people unaware. You never know what you might learn."

'Are you learning something here?'

"Oh, I learn things everywhere I go." He gestured up at the Wall with a gnarled black walking stick.

"As I was saying … why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what's on the other side?" He cocked his head and looked at Jon with his curious mismatched eyes.

"You do want to know what's on the other side, don't you?"

'Hmm I always wondered how big the land is beyond the wall, my uncle says it's just woods and mountains and frozen lakes, with lots of snow and ice.'

"And the grumkins and the snarks," Tyrion said. "Let us not forget them, Lord Snow, or else what's that big thing for?"

I looked at Tyrion with a smiling face, 'Aye Lord Dwarf'.

The dwarf lifted an eyebrow with an amusing smile, "You never take insults without counterattacking it seems, use it wisely it will have a good use."

Tyrion then moved towards the elevator, "Come, walk with me. They'll be serving some vile stew in the common hall by now, and I could do with a bowl of something hot."

I was hungry too, so I fell in beside Lannister and slowed my pace to match the dwarf's awkward, waddling steps. The wind was rising, and we could hear the old wooden buildings creaking around them, and in the distance a heavy shutter banging, over and over, forgotten. Once there was a muffled thump as a blanket of snow slid from a roof and landed near them.

"I don't see your wolf," Lannister said as we walked.

'I chain him up in the old stables when we're training. They board all the horses in the east stables now, so no one bothers him. The rest of the time he stays with me in Hardin's tower.'

"That's the one with the broken battlement, no? I thought all those buildings had been abandoned."

I shrugged my shoulders. 'No one cares where you sleep. Most of the old keeps are empty, you can pick any cell you want.'

Tyrion Lannister's laughter steamed in the cold air. "I'll be sure to tell your father to arrest more stonemasons, before your tower collapses."

'It's better that way than mingling with the criminal lot and most of the others are kept at bay due to Ghost'.

"Wise boys," Lannister said. Then he changed the subject. "The talk is, your uncle is too long away."

'He said he'd be back by my name day,' but I don't know when that is, he also said many other things about some bannerman and all but truly, I didn't care.

"I hear that a good many rangers have vanished of late," Lannister said as they mounted the steps to the common hall. He grinned and pulled open the door. "Perhaps the grumkins are hungry this year."

Inside, the hall was immense and drafty, even with a fire roaring in its great hearth. Crows nested in the timbers of its lofty ceiling. I heard their cries overhead and accepted a bowl of stew and a heel of black bread from the day's cooks.

Grenn and some of the others were seated at the bench nearest the warmth, laughing and cursing each other in rough voices. I chose a spot at the end of the hall but near a heat source with Ren waiting for me, well away from the other diners.

Tyrion Lannister sat across from me, sniffing at the stew suspiciously. "Barley, onion, carrot," he muttered. "Someone should tell the cooks that turnip isn't a meat."

He then turned towards Ren and asked. "Does Jon only have you as a friend?".

When Ren was about to answer a voice echoed throughout the hall.

"Snow."

I knew Alliser Thorne's voice, but there was a curious note in it that he had not heard before. He turned.

"The Lord Commander wants to see you. Now."

Huh, is this my opportunity…,