Chapter 231: Old Acquaintances
That was the trouble with talking to mystics—after finishing his conversation with Melisandre, Egger felt as though he had gained a wealth of useful information, yet he couldn't distinguish how much of it was actual fact and how much was merely his own mind filling in the blanks under her guidance. Leaving the welcoming banquet, Egger decided to attend to some planned, practical matters first.
...
After sending Arya back to her arranged room, he hurried to the guest house to meet the prisoners who had arrived with Melisandre and her followers. Queenscrown had not yet built a dungeon; even if it had, one wouldn't throw political prisoners who were already Night's Watch recruits into a cell. In the dormitory prepared for ordinary residents, Egger met with two men whose names he could actually recall.
Warner Buckwell, the former Captain of the Old Gate and nephew to the Lord of Antlers. On the day Renly stormed King's Landing, it was Warner who first led his trusted soldiers to abandon their post at the gate and turn back to seize the Red Keep. His actions had left Stannis with no way to retreat, forcing him to yield the Iron Throne to his younger brother, Renly.
Unfortunately... after enjoying only a month of hero's treatment, Renly's sudden death sent the man plummeting from heaven to hell, landing him straight here at the Wall.
Profit and risk are always proportional; one must be willing to accept the loss when the gamble fails.
As a key member of the family and one of its heirs, Warner would never have dared to betray the King on the Iron Throne and launch a mutiny without the delayed return of the Crownlands army from the West—and the tacit approval and backing of his house. Logically, the Lord of Antlers himself, who was better acquainted with Egger, should have been the one donning the black. But these old Crownlands houses operated with seamless precision: no matter how hard Stannis's Master of Laws investigated, he would never find evidence that the Lord had instructed his nephew to betray the King. The delay of the Crownlands army was indeed due to various troubles along the road, and their pivot back to Stannis after Renly's death was swift and decisive.
In short, the Buckwell family performed a surgical amputation—just as they had after choosing the wrong side previously—paying a heavy price to avoid being uprooted entirely.
Jarman Buckwell hadn't been fished out yet, and now Warner had been sent in; House Buckwell was truly suffering a run of ill luck. A similar situation applied to a host of other Crownlands lords.
The other acquaintance was a cellmate from when Egger was arrested for helping Tyrion escape: Humphery Hill, a bastard from the Westerlands and an accountant who had managed Lannister business interests in the capital.
In contrast to the situation in the Crownlands, the Westerlands—after being ganged up on and nearly sent back to the dark ages—had managed to escape the vortex by declaring neutrality. After Renly's death, Tywin personally wrote to Stannis, requesting to pay a heavy ransom for the Westerlands nobles captured by Ned Stark during the chaos in King's Landing.
Stannis, facing immense pressure to pay his troops as he prepared to march south against the Golden Company and House Tyrell, agreed to the deal.
Judging by the ransom amount, which was significantly higher than normal, Tywin was effectively making a gesture of goodwill and paying a protection fee to Stannis. However, only those of noble birth were lucky enough to return to the West. Bastards like Humphery or commoners were not so fortunate.
...
"Who was it that said, 'The Wall is a godforsaken place, let whoever wants to go, go'?" Egger joked with Humphery. "How did you change your mind and decide to join the Night's Watch?"
"Dammit, everyone with status was ransomed by Tywin. Stannis didn't want to feed the rest of us prisoners and actually had the idea to send us to the mines on Dragonstone." Humphery looked utterly miserable. "I grew up in Lannisport; is a miner's life fit for a human? You can't even run away from Dragonstone. Rather than slaving away in some pitch-black tunnel until I drop dead and get buried in a wasteland, I'd rather take a gamble at the Wall. Even if I die, it'll be a quick end." He shrugged and admitted, "Of course—hearing that you returned to the Wall was the main reason. Brother, I've come to seek refuge with you. You'd better look after me."
"Haha... don't worry, I won't mistreat an old brother-in-arms. I'll ask Mormont for you later. No matter what, I have to get a talent like you into the Logistics Department."
"I wouldn't call myself a talent; I just know how to keep books."
The Gift, and Queenscrown in particular, was currently starved for people who could manage accounts. Although Yam was bright, he was the son of a mining foreman and lacked professional training. Egger saw how hard it was for Yam to manage the myriad affairs of Queenscrown alone while also running errands for him; he had long wanted to find someone to share the burden. Now that a suitable candidate had been delivered to his doorstep, it couldn't be better.
"Lord Egger truly has a keen eye," Warner interjected sourly from the side. "Clinging to the Starks' thigh, with them backing you, you're lording it over everyone here as if you're the King of the Gift... You knew all along that Stannis was bound to win, didn't you? Why didn't you tell us?"
"The Night's Watch takes no part. I'm afraid I don't understand your meaning, Ser Warner."
"Stop pretending. That day you came to the Red Keep and took that little squire right in front of me—what was he called, 'Ali'? Did you really think I couldn't guess who it was!" Warner snorted. "I didn't recognize her at first, but later when Renly and Margaery were searching all over King's Landing for Lord Eddard's younger daughter, I grew suspicious and thought about reporting it... but I checked with my old man first. He personally told me to act as if it never happened, otherwise..."
There was more to the story?
A chill ran down Egger's spine, but he quickly regained his composure. Who knew if the man was telling the truth? If it were true, they should have used it as leverage back in King's Landing to squeeze more profit out of the Night's Watch industries; why wait until today? It was more likely that Warner hadn't recognized her until he saw the runaway Arya again in the Gift a few days ago, and was now inventing a story to make Egger owe him a favor.
There really were no walls without cracks, but if that brat Arya hadn't run off, he might have been able to keep the secret much longer. Now, he wouldn't even dare deal with the Reach. Thinking of this, the anger in Egger's gut flared up again.
"What are you two talking about?" Humphery Hill listened, completely bewildered.
There was no use in hashing these things out now; Egger needed to win over his future sworn brothers. He shook his head. "Enough. Let's not mention these messy affairs again. We're old acquaintances; since you've come to the Wall, I'll see to it that you're looked after. Ser Warner... as you are already a knight, you'll likely join the Rangers or serve as a commander for one of the newly reactivated forts; I can't control that. But if you encounter any difficulties in your life at the Wall, you can come to me. If I can solve it, I will."
Warner sighed. He did indeed hold a piece of leverage over Egger, but with Renly dead and House Tyrell struggling to protect themselves, what would exposing it achieve now? Would King Stannis pardon him for it? Moreover, he was now on someone else's turf; his future life likely depended on this man's favor. Thinking this, his shoulders slumped. "Then my thanks to you."
"Don't lose heart. Everyone in this room is on the same side, so I might as well reveal some information to you both." Egger didn't forget his primary reason for coming. "Two years ago, I was shipwrecked and drifted to Westeros. After washing ashore, I was sent to the Wall simply because I was starving and stole two potatoes. Since donning the black, I have thought of nothing else but how to leave the Wall through legitimate means and rid myself of this status."
"Didn't you already achieve your first goal? Yet you ended up running back here."
"Correct, I achieved my first goal. An ordinary man might be content to spend his life in comfort in King's Landing as the Chief Logistics Officer of the Night's Watch. But I am not an ordinary man. I have ambition, I have unfinished dreams, and I am not satisfied with this. I hope one day to honorably take off this black cloak!" Egger blathered on without a hint of shame. "And through my efforts, I am constantly closing in on that goal. I have confidence—one day, it will be realized."
"Whoa," Humphery marveled. "But what does that have to do with us?"
"What I hope to establish is a complete, universally applicable exit mechanism for the Night's Watch. Once this mechanism is in place, it means every man forced into the black will have the chance to enjoy..." Egger looked at Ser Warner's expression and continued: "And this cannot be done without first resolving the defense crisis facing the Wall... I already have a plan to handle this crisis, but I need support and cooperation. Only when everyone works together in good faith to weather this storm will the final goal be possible."
Humphery shrugged. "I have nowhere else to go and came here to seek your protection. Of course I'll support and cooperate with you."
Egger nodded to his old cellmate but turned his gaze back to Ser Warner. While Humphery was the kind of management talent the Gift desperately needed, his attitude only represented himself. Warner Buckwell, however, could influence all the Crownlands nobles forced into the black in this batch—more than a dozen future mid-level commanders of the Night's Watch.
Warner Buckwell frowned at Egger. He had mixed in the muddy waters of King's Landing and naturally detected something unusual—they would eventually swear their vows to the Night's Watch, and once they became "sworn brothers," supporting one another was only natural. There was no need to come all this way to say so much and then pointedly bring it up.
(Egger is recruiting. For a "Chief Logistics Officer" who is already part of the top leadership to bypass the Lord Commander and form his own faction, dealing directly with future low-to-mid-level officers—the man's ambitions are no small thing!)
...
"Establishing an exit mechanism for the Night's Watch... easy to say, but how exactly would it work? Do we unlucky bastards who offended the King actually have a chance to benefit?"
"It's a secret for now." In truth, he didn't have a concrete clue yet, but constantly expanding his influence was never a bad thing. He had learned one thing from Melisandre—maintaining mystery and an air of profoundness at the right time often worked wonders. "But I assure you, this mechanism will be fully applicable to any brother of the Watch. And I am moving toward that goal, step by step."
Having witnessed Egger build the Night's Watch industries from nothing in King's Landing, Warner found it impossible to doubt the man's confidence. "Understood... I, and those friends of mine who were exiled here with me, will be your—the Chief Logistics Officer's—staunch secret supporters."
People with desires are the easiest to handle. Fortunately, not everyone was like Jaime Lannister, determined to be a good Night's Watchman and thus immune to such overtures. Both Humphery and Warner had accepted the vision Egger painted and agreed to spread it to the other Crownlands nobles and Westermen in their group.
Up to this point, Egger's voice and influence within the Watch had only just caught up with the other top officers; he had finally earned his title of Chief. He didn't want to stop there. Today, he had made a great start toward going a step further—establishing his own inner circle.
Having settled an important matter, Egger breathed a sigh of relief. He bid farewell to his two old acquaintances and stepped out into the freezing night of the Gift. Braving the cold wind, he walked quickly back to his room, took off his coat, added a few logs to the hearth, and prepared for bed.
"Master, where did you go? Why are you only just back?"
Egger was startled by Arya's voice. He turned around, searching for her, and finally found the girl burrowed under his blankets, only her head showing, rubbing her sleepy eyes as if she had just been woken up.
Running to sleep with me again? Egger's eyes widened in annoyance. "Didn't you say your stomach didn't hurt? What are you doing now?"
"I... the fire in my room was going out. It was so cold."
"If the fire is going out, add wood yourself! Do you expect everyone to do everything for you?"
"But I couldn't find any wood in my room."
"Oh... alright." Egger started to speak then stopped; this was clearly a failure on Yam's part to arrange things properly. But with so much to do, he couldn't bring himself to blame the Mayor of Queenscrown for such a small detail. He walked to the bedside and tucked the blanket in for Arya, reminding himself that the girl before him had just lost her father. Don't get angry, be gentle. "Is it warm under the covers?"
"Warm."
"Good, then you sleep here tonight." Egger rubbed the girl's head. "But there are some things we must agree on right now."
"Mhm." Arya's nose and mouth were buried under the blanket, leaving only the top half of her head visible, her bright, large eyes fixed on Egger.
"Running away from home is truly dangerous. You get a moment's relief, while the people who care for and love you stay up all night with worry. I am very angry, and I want your promise now that you will never do this again. No matter where you go, who you see, or what you do, you must inform your family. Ideally, you should have someone accompany and protect you, just like during your sword lessons in King's Landing. Can you do that?"
Arya knew she had overstepped, and she nodded obediently. "I promise."
"Good. And for the second point. You are a girl. Do not, for every tiny little problem, crawl into my... or anyone else's room and blankets. Not only does this bring danger to yourself, it is extremely easy to bring trouble to others—real trouble, I'm not joking. Understand?"
"Oh... sorry, Master. I understand."
"Good. If you do it again, don't call me master anymore." Egger didn't know how long the brat would remember this; he could only hope the threat worked and that she truly understood. "You sleep here tonight. I'll go find another room."
"Huh?" Arya poked her entire head out from under the blanket, looking a bit embarrassed about stealing his bed. "Don't go to all that trouble. Let's just sleep together for one last night."
Having a noble girl warm the bed was undoubtedly a tempting thought, but with Queenscrown currently crowded with all sorts of people, Egger didn't want his career ruined for such a ridiculous reason. "Didn't you say 'one last night' last time? If you're cold, just stay lying down." He walked to the door, put his coat back on, and turned to say goodbye. "Goodnight."
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