Chapter 228: The Impasse and Reinforcements
Egger had proposed transferring Samwell Tarly to Queenscrown to tend the ravens a month ago, but training birds to fly between specific points was not something accomplished overnight. The flaw of lacking efficient communication was now fully exposed: to understand even the simplest situation, he had to rely on men running back and forth. Fearing things might be lost in translation, he decided to make the trip himself.
...
"The Castellan of Winterfell has called upon the Northern lords to set aside a quarter of their harvest as stores and sell the rest to the Wall at a fair price for support. Most houses have been cooperative—aside from the Dreadfort and Hornwood, which haven't responded due to a lack of acting representatives. But because of the great distances, only the Umbers of Last Hearth have delivered their first shipment of grain. As for the others..." Yam explained, "I've looked into it; the primary grain-producing regions of the North are the plains east of Barrowton and the fertile lands north and south of Blazewater Bay. These areas are all in the south and west. If the Ironborn invade, those regions will be under immediate threat. They'll be struggling for survival, let alone sending grain convoys north."
"Damn those Ironborn..." Counting the time, Euron would soon return to assassinate Balon and take the throne. For the first time in his life, Egger hoped a villain would appear sooner—at least that madman knew to raid the wealthy Westerlands and the Reach instead of being a fool blinded by hatred, stubbornly clashing with the poor and rugged North. "How much grain did the Umbers send?"
Yam pulled out the storage records. After a quick calculation, it was enough to feed a thousand men for a month.
"There will be more, but as the Ironborn's reach penetrates eastward toward the Kingsroad, we'll soon be forced to assign troops to escort the supply trains."
Escort the supply trains? Currently, the ten fortresses along the Wall held over seven thousand people. The clansmen were fierce and every man and woman was a soldier, but even with nearly a thousand Night's Watch brothers... there were at most three thousand combat-ready personnel. To defend a hundred-league front against tens of thousands of Wildlings desperate to get south, they were barely at capacity. They didn't even have enough men to fully sweep the enemies already inside the Gift—where would they find the manpower to protect grain convoys?
To protect the convoys, the best way would be to pull more clans out of the mountains to bolster the numbers. But more clans meant more mouths to feed; more mouths meant needing more grain; needing more grain meant buying from more places, which required even more escorts...
It was a death spiral. Once you jumped in, there was no way out. It was the worst possible strategy.
"Can we get grain by sea? Buy it from the Riverlands and ship it to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea?"
"In theory, yes. But the Riverlands are blocked by the Ironborn on the west coast, and there are no usable ports on the east. Any available ships would have to move through White Harbor, and White Harbor..."
Egger looked at White Harbor on the map. Dozens of miles to its west sat Moat Cailin, already occupied by the Ironborn. Any grain from the Riverlands trying to reach White Harbor for shipment would have to pass through the Neck, which was now under Ironborn blockade. Furthermore, to prevent Wildling infiltration, White Harbor would likely control or close its port...
Egger felt a massive headache coming on. "The only way left is to petition the King for aid. Have the Riverlands' grain sent to King's Landing, loaded at Blackwater Bay, and then shipped north to Eastwatch."
"But that involves too many people and too much red tape. We don't have the authority to command the nobility of two regions to coordinate like that," Yam frowned. "Besides, the Riverlands are already constantly shipping grain to King's Landing. With the Reach at war with the Iron Throne, grain prices in the Crownlands are skyrocketing. If the Rivermen manage to get grain to the capital, who would dare make the call to let the people of the Seven Kingdoms' capital go hungry just to sell grain to the Night's Watch at a loss?"
The situation was indeed dire. What was the solution? This was the downside of managing a territory that wasn't self-sufficient—every move was like walking on thin ice, and Egger had just unluckily stepped into a hole. If he weren't trying to maintain his composure in front of his subordinates, he would have been tearing his hair out. To prevent exactly this kind of emergency, he had conservatively only brought a few thousand clansmen out and left a significant financial buffer for the industries. He hadn't expected that feeding even this many people would be so difficult.
...
Egger stared at the map, agonizing over a solution. The Riverlands weren't the only place that produced grain. Perhaps he should go to the Reach and ask House Tyrell for help? But they would likely prefer to see chaos in the North to deprive Stannis of a strong ally. He could already imagine the attitude of the Reach lords—the ravens would be ignored, and if he went in person, Margaery, his old acquaintance, would surely host him politely and make him comfortable, but the moment business was mentioned, there would be difficulties here and troubles there. In short, they wouldn't help.
In the midst of his distress, a guard knocked on the door to report: "My Lords, a large party has arrived on the Kingsroad. They claim to be reinforcements sent by King Stannis to aid the Night's Watch... There are too many of them, I didn't dare let them in without authorization."
"Reinforcements from King Stannis?" Egger looked at the messenger in confusion. This should have been good news, but he was currently worrying about how to feed the people he already had. "Did they bring grain?"
"It seems... not," the guard blinked. "There are two carriages, but they're for passengers. They don't look like they could hold much grain."
More mouths to feed. But "a man with many debts does not worry," Egger reconsidered: since they were reinforcements from Stannis, it might be easier to explain the supply crisis to them and have them petition the King directly for aid.
"Let's go out and receive them."
Egger led several subordinates out of the Queenscrown administrative building to the main gate to meet the party held outside.
From a distance, Egger spotted a fiery red figure amidst the hundred-odd people and was instantly shocked: That witch? What is she doing here!
"Lord Chief Logistics Officer, we meet again." Melisandre, unable to guess Egger's inner thoughts, spoke first with a faint smile. "This little town you've built is quite nice, though it's a pity your gatekeepers are so stuck-up... Well? Won't you invite us in?"
"Ah, please, come in." Egger didn't dare offend the priestess and hurried to signal the gates open. But just as he turned his head, a small figure darted out from beside Melisandre and lunged into his arms.
"Master!"
"Arya!" Egger gasped in surprise. He hadn't seen her in over a month; her hair hadn't grown back to its full length yet, and wearing inconspicuous grey cloth clothes while standing behind the Red Woman, she had been invisible. He hadn't even noticed her just now. "How are you with..." He wanted to ask why she was mixed up with the Red Woman, but changed his words mid-sentence. "What are you doing here? Does your family know?"
"I suspect not." The reinforcements brought by Melisandre entered Queenscrown through the gate, bearing the banner of the Fiery Heart, while the Red Woman herself walked closer, smiling. "She ran away from home. She caught up with us the day before yesterday, so I brought her along to find you."
Ran away from home? This brat is looking for a death wish!
Winterfell was hundreds of miles from Queenscrown, a road infested with Wildlings and under the threat of the Ironborn. Without companions, it was currently the most dangerous road in the Seven Kingdoms... Egger really wanted to crack open Arya's head to see what she was thinking.
He looked at the girl sternly. "Explain yourself."
Arya began to sob pitifully, shaking her head against his chest and refusing to speak for the moment.
"Fine, I'll talk to you about this later." Egger wanted to scold her, but seeing her weeping like that, he couldn't bring himself to say anything harsh. He decided to deal with the other headache first. He noticed Melisandre was still wearing only that loose red robe she had on when they first met, with no warm layers over it—and ten to one, she was still wearing nothing underneath. She looked like she should freeze to death at any moment, yet standing near her, he could clearly feel a wave of heat. "Lady Melisandre, thank you for taking the time to come north to support the Night's Watch... Allow me to welcome you on behalf of the Order."
"You are too kind, Lord Egger," Melisandre said calmly. "The long night is coming. The ancient god of darkness, whom mortals cannot name and the arch-enemy of the Lord of Light, aims for all living men. Everyone must contribute their full strength to this clash."
"Well said, my Lady. But we are currently facing a massive problem." Egger sighed, deciding not to start complaining immediately. "You've come a long way. Let us prepare a room and dinner for you first; we can talk while we eat."
Melisandre nodded in agreement and followed Egger into Queenscrown. The Night's Watchman signaled Yam to arrange accommodations for the newcomers, then led Arya back to his office. He sat down across from his apprentice. "There's no one else here now. Speak. Why did you run all this way? Don't tell me your stomach hurts again and you want me to rub it?"
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MistaQuartz
On Patreon, you can explore Extra Chapters in advance!