Chapter 177

"The Stark lads are holding well." He said as he noticed Jon holding an area breached by the Free Folk with a few men as his direwolf protected his back until Robb Stark brought some back up and filled the gap, pushing the Free Folk back down the mountain once again.

"Better than most do in their first battle." Lord Commander Jeor Mormont reluctantly agreed.

"Your lassie seems to be doing especially well." He said as he looked at where Dacey Mormont fought on the front lines, not giving an inch to the Free Folk walking up the incline.

The Mormont men as a whole fought more fiercely than any other Northern men.

"She has fought Wildlings before." Lord Commander said, trying and failing to hide the pride in his voice "The wildlings and the Ironborns attack the Bear Island more frequently than any other area in North. They're used to such battles."

They stayed silent and watched the battle unfold from atop their horses.

At this point, the only thing they could do was sit where they were and look stern and imposing. That alone will give the moral to his forces to continue fighting.

Of course, him fighting midst them would be even better for their moral but this battle was won even

"The Bear Island seemed to have recovered well from their status in the last few years." He said and noticed how the Jeor Mormont's grip on his reins tightened at the reminder of how Jorah Mormont bankrupted his whole house for his wife.

"In case you want to know. Jorah's wife left him for a merchant in Myr when he could fulfill her… expensive tastes. The last time I heard of him, he was working as a sellsword somewhere in Pentos"

"This is neither the time nor place for such talk." Lord Commander said, looking straight ahead at the battle and he nodded, not wanting to needle the man anymore than necessary.

He might not admit it but he was still a bit pissed at how the Lord Commander was almost ready to attack him a few days ago. Even asking if he wanted them dead.

Even if he knew that people often lost their way in highly stressful situations, Lord Jeor Mormonrt turning against him so easily had still hurt him.

They spent the next hour in silence as the battle continued around them.

Every so often the Free Folks would break through the lines but the reinforcements he had put in places quickly moved forward to fill the gap and push the Free Folks back down the mountain.

By the end of the hour, there was a large pile of bodies scattered through the slope of the mountain. A fair few of them sliding down to the bottom and forming a large pile there.

Ygritte would release an arrow every now and then, reaping the lives of any commander who was doing too well against the allied forces.

He was particularly proud of the fact that his men had not broken even once throughout the whole battle. They had held firmly against anyone that the Weeper sent after them.

After a while, the Free Folk attacking that area started to trickle down less and less until Weeper started using his men on the other weaker areas. Hoping to gain a proper foothold where he would rally his men and take over the rest of the mountain.

Safe to say that after not getting any foothold for a whole hour and after losing almost half of his men, even Weeper understood that he was not going to win this battle and called for a retreat.

He looked at the retreating form of what remained of Weeper's army and smiled.

If he wanted then he could have asked Ygritte to kill Weeper any time but he had explicitly given Ygritte the order to not kill the man.

Weeper being alive was important for his plans.