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"A giant wolf is approaching us quickly? Orell, you are a skinchanger. Try to control that wolf first.
"If Orell fails... Ygritte, find your own position and shoot for the giant wolf's eyes.
"Styr, take your people and hide on the left. The rest follow me to the right."
Whatever else could be said of him, Tormund had plenty of battle experience. In an instant, he assigned the next plan.
The free folk often fought among themselves, but when an outside enemy appeared, they could be extremely united. They said nothing more and immediately followed Tormund's arrangement, hiding throughout the hollow.
After a short while, Tormund and the others hidden in the hollow saw a terrifying giant wolf, at least more than twelve feet high, rush in.
A human figure stood on the head of the giant wolf in the center of the hollow, and a scabbed wound was clearly visible on the wolf's left foreleg.
Orell kept his eyes fixed on the terrible wolf, which seemed to be sniffing at something. He seized the chance and tried to form a link with its mind.
Orell's will surged toward the wolf like an invisible flood, but as it neared the wolf's mind, it struck an unseen wall with brutal force and shattered back upon him.
The injury to his will instantly returned to his body. Orell spat a mouthful of blood, and fresh blood streamed from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
Then he fell backward and lay still. Whether he lived or died was unclear.
"Attack!"
Seeing Orell's obvious failure, Tormund roared, raised his axe, and led his free folk out from the right side of the hollow.
At the same time, Ygritte, who had been hidden behind a rock high in the hollow, flashed out and loosed two arrows in a clean, practiced motion.
The two arrows she had made with her own hands shot one after the other toward the giant wolf's eyes.
But just as the arrows reached the wolf's head, two crystal swords flew casually from the hands of the figure standing above and cut both arrows in half with frightening precision.
It was not over.
After throwing the two crystal blades, the figure on the giant wolf's head somehow had a crystal spear in his hand and hurled it at Ygritte.
The whole chain of movements sounded slow when described, but it happened as smoothly as running water. Before Ygritte could react, she heard a sharp sound beside her ear. A crystal spear buried itself in the rock beside her.
Ygritte turned her head and looked at the spear shaft, more than half of it sunk into the stone as if the crystal were harder than rock. Cold sweat covered her back, and she swallowed nervously.
She understood that she had just walked past death's door. The figure had deliberately thrown the spear aside. It was a warning.
She was not imagining it, because the terrible wolf's strangely human eyes were locked on her. A primal fear descended over her, the kind a person might feel when meeting a wild lion at arm's length.
Under that strong threat of death, Ygritte's hands trembled around her bow. She could no longer draw and shoot.
Seeing that the striking red-haired Ygritte was sensible enough not to attack again, Robb nodded with satisfaction and sent a thought to Bloodwind, telling him to rein in his ferocity slightly.
Perhaps because of the changes Robb had caused, Ygritte had not died at Castle Black in this life. Robb did not want to be forced to kill the free folk woman who could finally teach stubborn Jon what love was.
As for the other free folk, whether because he wanted to give Mance a warning or because of the measures he would soon put in place, he did not plan to hold back.
Tormund's group reached Bloodwind first from the right. He led more than a dozen free folk with axes, spears, and other weapons to attack from behind.
But Robb above had already locked his gaze on them. Bloodwind did not need to turn his head. His two massive hind legs kicked backward in succession, and the claws on them, sharp as longswords, easily opened the bellies of two free folk.
Seeing Bloodwind kick, Tormund lowered his head and rolled forward before the blow landed. After rolling beneath Bloodwind's body, he steadied himself, lifted his axe, and chopped at Bloodwind's belly.
Tormund did not feel the axe bite into flesh. It was more like striking hard stone. He looked closely and saw a thin layer of scale-like ice covering the giant wolf's belly.
Several free folk who had rolled under Bloodwind with Tormund attacked as well. Yet that thin ice was harder than steel.
As if sensing insects beneath his body, Bloodwind suddenly dropped his massive weight downward. Several crisp sounds came from below him, like shells being crushed underfoot.
"Fuck, it is a monster! Find a way onto its back and attack from above!"
Tormund's nose for danger had made him roll out before Bloodwind came down. Looking at the red blood leaking from beneath the wolf, he shouted at the free folk beside him, who were beginning to look afraid.
At the same time, Styr and more than a dozen Thenns, hidden farther away on the left, had just arrived near Bloodwind's left front side. Seeing Bloodwind down on the ground, they swung their weapons without mercy.
After a series of ringing blows, they discovered they could not break his defense at all.
As Magnar of the Thenns, Styr had some cunning. He quickly noticed the strange condition of Bloodwind's left foreleg.
At the wound, the ice armor was constantly trying to cover the injury, but blue light kept leaking from the cut left by the Other commander's crystal blade and breaking the armor apart.
Seeing the only weakness on Bloodwind's body, Styr lifted his battleaxe and rushed forward to strike.
A black shadow dropped from above with a howl of wind. The two-handed greatsword in his hands split Styr from head to foot.
Styr seemed to pause for an instant before his body fell apart into two halves. Blood and organs spilled across the ground.
A wisp of red mist rose from Styr's ruined body, and Robb gave it directly to Bloodwind.
The remaining Thenns with their strange faces reacted and rushed at Robb, screaming.
Robb showed no mercy this time. Anyone struck by Ice was either cut in two or left missing limbs.
On the other side, Bloodwind turned back toward Tormund and the free folk. Giantsbane had no answer to a giant wolf. A single mistake sent him flying in a spray of blood.
Ygritte, still beside the rock and still under Bloodwind's watch, dared neither draw her bow nor run. Seeing Tormund knocked away and fewer and fewer free folk alive in the hollow, she had no idea what to do.
Hurried footsteps came from the side.
Ygritte looked up and saw Mance with several free folk, as well as the man she had sworn again and again to kill with her own hands.
"Your Grace! Please spare their lives. They are the scouts I sent."
Breathless from running, Mance saw the slaughter in the hollow and immediately shouted toward Robb.
Robb heard him and still cut off the head of the last Thenn with Ice. On the other side, Bloodwind took the last standing free folk into his jaws and chewed with a crack of bones.
Seeing that Robb had clearly heard him and continued killing, Mance turned and exchanged a glance with Jon. Then he gritted his teeth and ordered the free folk behind him, "Go down and see whether anyone is still alive."
"Aye."
Several free folk immediately ran into the hollow and checked the bodies lying everywhere.
"Cough... ah!"
"Here! Tormund is alive!"
Tormund, who had been sent flying, suddenly coughed and spat a mouthful of blood before gasping for air. A nearby free folk heard the movement, ran over, and shouted.
After the search, only Tormund and Ygritte remained alive in the whole hollow.
"If these people had fought men of the Night's Watch on the battlefield, as you did, I would have nothing to say.
"But as far as I know, they slaughtered many helpless villagers nearby.
"Since they owed blood, they had to pay in blood.
"For your sake, I will not pursue the remaining two."
Blood spattered Robb's face. He walked to Mance, whose expression was dark, with Ice resting on his shoulder. His voice was calm. After speaking, he left the hollow with Bloodwind.
Mance wanted to say something to Robb's back, but when he thought of the more than a hundred thousand free folk inside and outside the Wall, he only sighed heavily in the end.
Beside him, Jon's gaze met Ygritte's.
Ygritte, who had been trembling, suddenly grew still. She drew her bow hard and aimed an arrow at Jon.
"Ygritte, lower the weapon. If Jon Snow had not helped, tens of thousands of free folk at Hardhome would now be part of the dead army."
Seeing Ygritte's movement, Mance immediately stood before Jon, spread both hands, and shouted to her.
Ygritte trusted Mance deeply. She slowly lowered her bow, then turned her head away, clearly unwilling to look at Jon again.
"Jon, that is all I can do for you. Speak with Ygritte properly."
Mance turned, patted Jon's shoulder as he stood frozen, and left those words before walking toward Tormund.
This hollow was not far from Castle Black. Before long, Robb and the others, along with the vast host of free folk, arrived outside Castle Black.
At first, the guards on Castle Black saw so many free folk coming from south of the Wall. They immediately rang the alarm in panic and sent men to report to Owen, Ser Alliser, and the other leaders of the Watch.
The whole of Castle Black prepared as if facing a mortal enemy, ready to fight to the death.
Then Owen saw Bloodwind and Robb at the very front. Without asking anyone else, he ordered the Winterfell soldiers under him to open the gate of Castle Black.
Compared with the two thousand seven hundred Winterfell soldiers still inside Castle Black, Ser Alliser, who had fewer than a hundred brothers left, had no authority to stop it. He could only remain silent.
In the end, under the worshipful eyes of Owen and the Winterfell soldiers, and under the fearful respect of the Night's Watch, Robb entered Castle Black with Bloodwind, whose body was gradually shrinking, followed by Jon, Mance, and the others.
Afterward, Robb summoned all the leaders of the Night's Watch and the free folk to the Shieldhall in Castle Black's main keep.
The Shieldhall was a broad hall made of black stone.
Once, when a knight took the black, he would lose his old arms and identity and take up the black oak shield of the Night's Watch. His old shield would be hung on the walls of this hall.
That was why the hall, once covered with bright shields, had been named the Shieldhall.
Now it served as a dining hall. Important meetings were held here as well. Jon had been chosen as Lord Commander here.
"I have gathered you today to speak of several matters. First, I will briefly tell you what we saw and heard at Hardhome."
After everyone bowed to him, Robb began by describing Hardhome.
When they heard of the army of wights like a sea, the many thinking Others, and the powerful magical king among them, everyone except Jon, Mance, and the others who had seen it themselves went pale and drew sharp breaths.
"Second, to gather all strength against the army of wights that is coming, I permit these more than one hundred thousand free folk to pass through the Wall into the North and live and farm in the Gift near the Wall."
"Your Grace, forgive me, but the Night's Watch cannot accept this proposal. The Gift near the Wall belongs to the Night's Watch.
"The Night's Watch and the wildlings have thousands of years of blood feud between us. Countless brothers died by their hands. We are sworn enemies. We cannot possibly allow them through the Wall to live in the Gift."
Robb had barely finished the second matter when Ser Alliser stood and objected in a firm voice.
"First, this is not a proposal. It is a decision. My decision is the final command you must carry out.
"Second, I am King of the Seven Kingdoms. All land in the Seven Kingdoms lies under my rule.
"The Gift was indeed given to the Night's Watch by ancestors of House Stark thousands of years ago, but it was given to the heroic order that once fought bravely against the Others, not to the useless order of today that cannot even tell who the true enemy is.
"I now act as head of House Stark and King of the Seven Kingdoms to allow the free folk to live in the Gift. What standing do you have to object?"
"I..."
As soon as Robb finished, Ser Alliser tried to continue.
Robb thrust his right hand toward Ser Alliser. A long, sharp spike of ice quickly condensed and extended, stopping just before Ser Alliser's eyes.
Frightened by the ice spike as sharp as a spearhead, Ser Alliser wisely closed his mouth.
"Lastly, if I remember correctly, the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch is Jon Snow. He has not even spoken yet. What are you?"
"Robb... Your Grace. Ser Alliser has a blunt temper. Please forgive his disrespect. On behalf of the Night's Watch, I declare that we will firmly carry out your command."
Seeing that everyone in the Shieldhall had been cowed by Robb's ice magic and that the moment was right, Jon immediately stood and spoke respectfully to Robb.
"Your Grace, on behalf of more than one hundred thousand free folk, I also say that we are willing to carry out your command."
Mance, seeing Jon speak, stood slowly as well. He nodded to Robb and made his own pledge.
"Good. Then the third matter. From today on, the North will follow two arrangements at the same time.
"All lands outside the Gift will continue to follow the rule of House Stark. Within the Gift, the free folk will govern themselves by the rules they set."
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