Chapter 184

ROBB STARK POV

"We won the battle yesterday." Lord Commander Jeor Mormont said and the tent burst into cheers. The Lord Commander patiently waited for the cheers to die down before he spoke once again "But! The enemy still number about 9,000. 6,000 if you only count those who would fight us. Which means that they still outnumber us about 2 to 1"

The cheerful mood died down at that as the younger generation was reminded that winning a single battle did not mean winning the war.

"We have the higher ground." Harrion Karstark said "We don't need to fear them. They can come at us again and we'll throw them back again."

The Lord Commander frowned at Harrion with a disappointed look. Even he could see that the Karstark heir had grown a bit over confident with yesterday's victory.

Yes, they won a great battle. But that would not have been possible without the higher ground they had. And they would not have gained the higher ground or found about the upcoming army if Lord Bolton had not told them about it.

No one was mentioning it now but this whole victory could be put on Lord Bolton's feet. Without Lord Bolton, he very much doubted that they would have gained any sort of victory let alone a great one against the Wildling forces.

He also hadn't failed to notice how the Wildlings failed to take any ground from the Bolton forces when they managed to break through his own even with his, Jon and Ser Rodrick's constant efforts.

"We have the higher ground now. But we can't stay here forever. You do realize that, don't you boy?" Qhorin half hand asked and the Karstark heir bristled at being called a boy.

"Lord Bolton told us that we have enough food to last us for one and a half month." Harrion Karstark said and he held the urge to face palm himself at the Karstark heir's foolishness.

This is what happens when you put too much focus on army and too little on the logistics.

"Yes. But we need food to get back to the Wall." Qhroin pointed out with dwindling patience "You Northmen don't know these lands as well as the wildlings. Foraging food here is hard. Very hard. And we need to start marching back home within 2 weeks if we don't want to die of hunger before we reach the Wall."

"We cannot fight the Wildlings in the open." His uncle said in a calm manner, lowering any rising tempers in the War tent. "They still outnumber us and a fight against them in the open will be very costly if not outright disastrous for us. Don't underestimate the Wildlings because of this one victory. Most men who do so don't live for long."

"Lord Bolton told us that the lands around here are barren so the Weeper will have to leave sooner or later." He said, getting the attention of everyone in the room even as he tried to put the attention on the one man who might have a solution for this situation. "Once Weeper leaves, we can continue on our way."

"Continue where?" Galbart Glover asked. So far, the only thing I've seen is snow, snow and even more snow. Where are we even going.

At that everyone's gaze fell on Lord Bolton who was only again lounging on his chair with his eyes closed and no concern for the future.