Chapter 214: The Wildling Attack
"Why are they burning the forest?"
"What else is fire for?" Egger said through gritted teeth. "Heat and light. One, to burn things; two, to create a glow. They might be using the blaze to intercept wights, or perhaps they intend for the towering flames to serve as a signal to the wall-climbers. Taking everything into account—Mance Rayder likely wants the firelight to signal the general assault, while simultaneously using the inferno as a barrier to ensure they needn't worry about wights at their back while attacking the Wall!"
His luck was truly abysmal; why did he have to arrive exactly now?
If he hadn't spent those extra ten-odd days in the West picking up Jaime, he would have reached Castle Black long ago and begun plotting a way to deal with the Wildlings. Conversely, if he hadn't encountered Arya's relatives on the trek north from the Neck—causing him to ride at full speed just to shake off that troublesome little apprentice—even a day or two of delay would have seen the first wave of the attack pass by the time he reached Castle Black.
To summarize: arriving either earlier or later would have allowed him to avoid this dangerous battle or at least mitigate the risk. Instead, he had arrived at the exact precise moment to face the challenge head-on, hurried and without a second to prepare.
Was his timing just that perfect, or did the Wildlings have a personal grievance with him?
...
"A general assault? Then what do we do!"
After a year of living on the Wall, Jon was no longer the indecisive boy he once was. It was just that with someone he perceived as older and more intelligent by his side, he subconsciously grew lazy—seeking Egger's counsel.
"What else is there to do? Defend... Keep your eyes glued to the far side!" Egger shouted to the watchmen pulling sentry duty atop the Wall. "We're going down to organize the defense. Remember, if you see anything moving toward the Wall, don't hesitate—give two blasts on the horn!"
"Understood, don't you worry!"
"Come, let's go down."
Egger was a man of the Night's Watch, and an officer at that... he could be afraid of death, but he couldn't desert his post. Since he had arrived at this critical juncture, he would have to brace himself and face it.
Egger and Jon climbed into the iron cage and signaled the descent. Amidst the creaking and groaning of the lift, they returned to the ground just minutes after ascending the Wall.
"Sam! Go find the Lord Steward and the Lord Builder. Have them bring every weapon and suit of armor out of the armory and distribute them to everyone—and I mean everyone, including the stewards and builders!" Jon shouted to the brothers gathered in the courtyard of Castle Black the moment he stepped out of the cage. "Edd, take a horse and get to Mole's Town. Tell the villagers to take refuge at Castle Black. If anyone is attacking us, they'll surely blood the village first!"
Jon has already built his own circle of friends and prestige among the brothers, Egger noted with a slight sense of relief.
Without the Great Ranger Expedition, Jon never had the chance to embed himself with the Wildlings, and consequently, he couldn't escape to bring early warning before Mance's attack on Castle Black. This left Mole's Town and Castle Black severely underprepared mentally. On the bright side, because of Egger's own presence, Castle Black was well-equipped, and they had an additional fifty elite soldiers who had come with Jaime...
In the original timeline, Castle Black held out against Mance's first wave and waited for Stannis's reinforcements with barely a hundred men. Now, there were over three hundred souls here; they would surely hold. Egger's first priority was to stay alive, and the second was to ensure things didn't turn out worse than they would have without a transmigrator like himself.
"Have Maester Aemon write letters to sound the alarm! Go find Ser Jaime Lannister and tell his men—the recruits who came with him—not to disarm. Be ready for battle at a moment's notice!" Egger turned to the subordinates he had brought to Castle Black. "Move the two jars of wildfire I brought from Queenscrown to the top of the Wall. Handle them with care!"
Castle Black was a hive of chaotic activity. Black brothers poured out of the towers, claiming weapons and congregating in the courtyard. With the rangers all gone and the castle left with only builders and stewards, the mainstay of the defense... had unexpectedly become a group of newly arrived recruits who hadn't even said their vows and a band of outside reinforcements.
As twilight deepened, the stewards gave their all, hauling out double-bitted axes, sharp daggers, longswords, maces, spiked morningstars, studded leathers, and mail from the storehouses. Tywin Lannister could never have imagined that the equipment he donated would be put to use the moment it arrived. The squad of stewards, now clad in black plate, actually looked somewhat like elite soldiers.
The brothers stood in the courtyard whispering and debating. To the north, the fire in the Haunted Forest grew fiercer, the glow illuminating a night sky that should have been pitch black. Even without climbing the Wall, one could see the light by merely looking up...
"Are you sure the Wildlings will attack today, Egger?" Bowen Marsh asked. "Perhaps they just want to clear a space to pitch their camps together."
"I wasn't sure a moment ago... but I am now!"
Egger offered no further explanation. He stared toward the south—Mole's Town was barely a mile away. Edd, who had been sent there, came galloping back, shouting from dozens of yards away: "Wildlings! Wildlings are attacking Mole's Town! We have to go help!"
The fresh vegetables the garrison ate usually came from Mole's Town, and many brothers even had "buried treasures" (sweethearts) there. The news of the attack immediately sparked a violent reaction.
"How many of them are there?"
"How was I supposed to get close? I caught a glimpse from afar—at least a hundred..."
"Who cares how many! They're just a bunch of savages!"
"Let's go meet them!"
"Calm down!" Jon shouted, cutting through the brothers' bellicose cries. "Our duty is to guard the Wall. We cannot leave Castle Black now!"
"They are slaughtering our friends, and we're supposed to cower here like turtles?"
"Our duty is to guard the Wall!"
"You're just the Lord Commander's steward, Lord Snow, stop throwing your weight around!" a brother roared. "Commander Mormont isn't dead yet, and even if he were, it doesn't mean you'd be the next Lord Commander! If we can't even protect Mole's Town right under our noses, how can we speak of guarding the Wall!"
"That's right, I am just the Lord Commander's steward, but you're just a builder. Why don't we listen to the opinions of the Lord Steward, the Lord Builder, and the Chief Logistics Officer?" Jon replied loudly, looking toward Egger.
"We cannot leave Castle Black." Smart, Egger praised inwardly, though his face remained expressionless. "But we can saddle the remaining horses and send patrols to the perimeter. If any villagers from Mole's Town escape, we give them sanctuary. Lords Bowen and Othell, do you have any objections?"
"I agree."
"Guarding the Wall comes first."
Despite having just returned to the Wall without so much as sitting down, and despite the fact that many brothers present might have forgotten what he looked like... Egger was undoubtedly the Chief Logistics Officer appointed by Mormont himself. By rank alone, he outweighted almost everyone present. Since the equal-ranking Chief Builder and Steward offered no dissent, his order became the final decision of the command layer.
Hooooo -hoooo—
Others still had words to say, but two timely blasts of a horn from atop the Wall put an end to the dispute. Egger jolted, taking the initiative to command: "As we just divided: I'll lead one group to the top for defense. The rest stay to hold Castle Black against any Wildlings who climbed over. Remember one thing—let them take the abandoned towers, the kitchens, the hall, the stables... let them have it all. We only need to hold the gate!"
...
Mance had adopted a pincer strategy, attacking from both sides. In this situation, being high atop the Wall was undoubtedly much safer than engaging Wildling elites in close-quarters combat on the ground to defend the gates. Egger didn't have much to his name, and every loss hurt. He actively claimed the safer task of the Wall, hoping that besides his own safety, he could preserve as many of the subordinates he brought to the Wall as possible.
At the summit of the Wall, the brothers began using long poles to hoist steel braziers and light signal fires. The wind was like a blade, stabbing at the flames and making the orange light flicker. Soldiers laid out arrows, bolts, spears, and scorpion bolts beneath the battlements. Aside from these precious war supplies, the rocks the brothers had moved up long ago were piled everywhere. Great wooden barrels of pitch and lamp oil were lined up in the corners, layer upon layer, providing a solid sense of security.
With the steady supply from the Night's Watch industries and the efforts of the stewards, the Watch now lacked for nothing—except men.
Egger carefully peered over the edge and quickly realized a third purpose for Mance's fire—with the brilliant forest fire miles away as a backdrop, the edge of the Haunted Forest at the foot of the Wall fell into a darkness under the lamp effect. The stretch of forest where the Wildlings were stationed was pitch black, like an ocean of shadows, where one could barely make out the flickering, moving starlight of their torches.
The massive utility of the clearing became apparent at this critical moment: the snow-covered ground, hundreds of meters wide and cleared of trees, left the Wildlings with nowhere to hide. These Free Folk didn't have winter camouflage; when they charged out of the Haunted Forest in their motley furs and armor, hooting and hollering as they trampled the snow toward the Wall, even a blind man couldn't miss them.
Oooooooo-hoooooooo-hoooooooo—
The horns sounded again, but this time they were not blown by the Watch. Accompanying the massive swarm of Wildlings pouring out of the Haunted Forest like a carpet of ants, at least a dozen horns sounded simultaneously, mingled with the shrieks of pipes and the thundering of drums. The tones were discordant, lacking rhythm or order, relying purely on volume and number to shake the heart.
Amidst the cacophony, a dozen mammoths and a significant number of giants emerged from the woods. Looking down from the Wall, the behemoths standing among the ordinary Wildlings were as conspicuous as elite mobs in a horde... As the giants began to stride toward the Wall with long legs that moved with deceptive speed, the King-Beyond-the-Wall's first direct assault on the Seven Kingdoms began.
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