"Do you understand now?"
Davos looked back at his son, speaking with a tone of frustration at the boy's ineptitude.
Dale lowered his head in embarrassment and retrieved his longsword.
Ser Imry sat cross-legged on the ground with a sour face, glaring at the guards who had laughed at him, but remaining silent.
The guards stopped laughing, dispersed, and took up watch positions.
Having just provoked the Night's Watch, they didn't dare let their guard down.
Davos sheathed his sword and walked over to Matthew. Up close, he said:
"Get some sleep now. We'll be relying on you in the middle of the night."
Matthew nodded, leaned against the rock, and quickly closed his eyes to rest.
After traveling for so long, he was indeed exhausted.
Nearby, Little Fish had cried himself to sleep long ago.
Before Davos left, he draped his own cloak over the child, then found a quiet spot to sit down.
He sat slightly away from the campfire, closest to the Night's Watch camp.
Dale watched his father sitting alone for a while, chatting with others briefly before walking over.
"Father, do we continue our journey early tomorrow morning?"
He stood a body's length away from Davos and asked as usual.
Davos glanced at him and said:
"No. We've gone far enough. Tomorrow morning we need to find some food."
Dale sighed in relief.
Rubbing his belly, he gave a bitter smile:
"I'm starving like crazy."
Davos snorted and scolded:
"Isn't that your own fault? Otherwise, we could have bought food and water from passing merchants."
Dale knew he had been reckless and didn't argue, letting his father lecture him.
After a while, seeing his son looking like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, Davos regretted wasting his breath.
He knew his son was a good person, but his rough and reckless nature made him difficult to mold.
This might be the most painful thing for a father.
Davos just wanted to capture Stannis's favor, raise his title a bit higher, and ensure his house could protect the family.
Sighing internally, he kept his eyes on the Night's Watch, determined not to let any accidents ruin this mission.
Stars twinkled, and moonlight paved the ground.
The wilderness grew quieter and quieter.
When the wind blew, the two distant campfires seemed to flicker in response to each other.
The guards relieving Davos and his son rotated through shifts. Finally, after Harwin finished his watch, he went to wake Matthew.
But as soon as he approached, Matthew opened his eyes, his hand instinctively resting on his crossbow.
Harwin frowned and said:
"Kid, you really are overly tense. Careful you don't snap."
Matthew shook his head and smiled bitterly:
"I'm used to it."
With that, he patted his butt, stood up, and walked to the campfire.
Harwin shrugged, having nothing to say. He sat down in the warm spot Matthew vacated and fell asleep instantly.
On the other side, Ser Imry climbed up and ran into the tall grass.
Matthew watched his back, ears perked, listening to the wind and the sound of running water.
However, Ser Imry took a long time to return.
Realizing what he was doing, Matthew made a disgusted face and continued staring at the Night's Watch campfire.
Unfortunately, there was no movement over there.
Otherwise, Matthew would have loved for them to come over right now and drag the defecating Ser Imry away.
A while later, Ser Imry ran back, carrying a stench with him.
As soon as he lay down and fell asleep, the surrounding guards got up one by one and moved to different spots.
Matthew grinned watching this.
But when the southwest wind blew the stench his way, he couldn't smile anymore.
Covering his nose, he quickly turned away, seriously suspecting Ser Imry had shit his pants.
In the end, he had to move to an upwind spot.
At this point, Little Fish was woken by the commotion. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around.
He was very sensitive now. Not seeing Matthew, he panicked instantly, scrambled up, and looked everywhere for him.
Fortunately, fighting against the stench, he found Matthew behind a strange rock.
Walking up to Matthew, whether from holding it in all the way or from fear, he whispered urgently:
"Brother, I'm about to pee my pants."
"So go pee?"
Matthew blinked in confusion twice. Seeing Little Fish's awkward expression, he understood.
The kid was scared to go alone.
Standing up, he led Little Fish a bit further into the grass.
Little Fish was shy and moved a few steps further away by himself.
As he relieved himself, his eyes involuntarily drifted toward the Night's Watch campfire.
They were quite close, and the large bonfire opposite seemed especially bright.
After watching for a moment, Little Fish suddenly turned back, tugged on Matthew's hem, pointed across the way, and whispered urgently:
"Brother, look! There are ghosts over by the crows."
Matthew didn't believe in ghosts. He immediately reassured Little Fish:
"Don't be scared. There are no ghosts in this world; that's just to fool kids. You go back first. I'll go see if someone is playing tricks."
Little Fish nodded and ran back quickly, not wanting to stop for a second.
Seeing his frightened look, Matthew smirked mischievously, then turned his head to focus on the Night's Watch camp, intending to see who was playing the fool.
However, his current position was too angled and blocked by the large bonfire; he couldn't see clearly.
He immediately crawled around the spot where Little Fish had peed, avoiding the light of the large bonfire.
Changing his angle, Matthew's view cleared up instantly.
Something was definitely wrong over there.
Under the cold silver moonlight mixed with the orange firelight, several sneaking figures, having lost their cover, had nowhere to hide.
They were carefully making their way toward the wagon cage at the edge of the camp.
Three wagons held quite a few people.
Matthew knew very well that those people were hardened criminals.
Sure enough, as soon as the figures reached the wagons, they set to work opening the wooden cage doors.
Once the criminals were out, they followed the people who released them back toward the campfire area.
Seeing this, Matthew immediately ran back and shouted loudly:
"Everyone up!"
The guards woke instantly.
The Night's Watchmen opposite were startled awake too.
Yoren saw the escaping criminals and tried to scramble up, but the jagged-toothed brat, who had been nursing his crippled leg and hadn't slept, grabbed his thigh and dragged him down.
Then two more people crawled over and pinned him firmly.
He glared, spitting a mouthful of foul saliva at the person on top of him.
The man, hit by the spit, cursed and stabbed him directly with a knife.
Yoren was instantly rendered speechless by pain.
Besides him, quite a few others were being silenced.
Only a few were quick-witted enough to avoid murder, either running away or trying to save Yoren.
Some believed that the battle-hardened Yoren was their only ticket to surviving the journey to the Wall.
Taken by surprise, the three men pinning Yoren were knocked aside by several half-grown boys.
Yoren scrambled up instantly, fighting the pain, drew his longsword, and hacked at the traitors.
Fighting as he went, he signaled the others to retreat.
Their strength was too weak. They were petty thieves no one cared about, waving short daggers or wooden sticks around with no discipline.
Looking back at the campfire opposite, Yoren shouted immediately:
"Go! Run back! Go to the group across from us!"
Before the traitors could encircle them, he led his people straight for the opposing campfire.
While running, the cleverer boys picked up stones and threw them backward.
Many of the most aggressive pursuers were hit and fell, hindering those behind them.
Davos watched Yoren's group charging over and immediately raised his longsword.
His forehead furrowed deeply. Face flushed red, he warned the guards behind him:
"Rely on each other! Do not expose your backs to the enemy!"