Chapter 290: The Dagger is Revealed (Part 1)
The first one man, one vote election for the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch in history drew to a close. As the counting finished in the various strongholds along the Wall, the results were immediately dispatched by raven to the headquarters at Castle Black.
Having suspended the election for several days to allow all brothers in black to clear their heads and reflect on their true intentions, the influence of raw emotion on the results had significantly decreased. This was directly visible in the tallies from Castle Black, where Egger's share of the vote saw a slight decline.
However, in terms of the total vote count, he pulled away from his remaining competitors with unstoppable momentum. The gap lost at Castle Black was more than filled by the Queen's Men who had sworn their vows under Melisandre's instruction. Furthermore, the Shadow Tower and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea delivered eleven and forty-six votes respectively to his cause. While the newly reactivated castles that originally supported him saw a handful of abstentions or losses, they could be counted on one hand.
After a series of twists and turns, the final result stood: Egger's tally was nearing five hundred. With dozens of abstentions taken into account, his share of the vote had, in fact, surpassed fifty percent.
Victory was within reach.
"Forty-six votes for that fellow from Eastwatch?" As a commander, having nearly a quarter of his own garrison vote for his opponent was an undeniable loss of face. Cotter Pyke found the result unacceptable. "I have fought alongside my men for over twenty years; they would not betray me! Something is wrong—the Stark counters must be cheating!"
"The person you are accusing effectively holds the fate of the Night's Watch in his hands. If he decided to make Egger Lord Commander, it would take but a single word, my lord." Yohn Royce was also tense due to the results, but he hadn't entirely lost his footing. "Your men might not betray you, but you forget that Eastwatch also houses over thirty rangers recently transferred from Castle Black. They have worked with Egger before."
"That only accounts for thirty or so. Even if every one of them voted for him, where did the other dozen-plus votes come from?"
"The Shadow Tower also gave him over ten votes, and that was with Ser Denys personally presiding. Face reality: no matter how beloved you think you are by your men, there will always be individuals with long-held, silent grudges. There will always be those who feel the man who feeds and clothes them is more qualified to lead than you. The situation is dire, but the fellow is still short of the two-thirds threshold. As long as the plan I proposed works, no matter how great his advantage, we can knock him back to his original form in an instant!"
Cotter Pyke knew exactly what Yohn Royce was referring to. The sabotage plan was sound, but they had encountered difficulties in recruiting allies. First, the commander of the Shadow Tower had rebuked them and stormed off, inadvertently handing a gift to their opponent. Then, the Chief Steward of Castle Black had hemmed and hawed, hesitating for days before ultimately refusing to join.
If something happened to the King-Beyond-the-Wall, causing the New Gift settlers to riot, the blow to the proponent of the settlement plan would be devastating. However, if they failed or were reported after the fact, the orchestrators would be ruined or even executed. To bear the risk and pressure of playing the villain alone was a choice Cotter Pyke, despite his Ironborn tough guy persona, found difficult to make.
Should they act without allies?
Yohn Royce saw the hesitation, his teeth itching with frustration. Robb Stark had left Castle Black this morning with the massive Northern delegation, accompanied by Egger to begin an inspection of the strongholds along the Wall. With both the leader of the Reformists and his greatest patron absent, this was the perfect time to strike. If it weren't for the fact that a few men from the Vale couldn't accomplish the task alone, he would have initiated the plan himself.
Ser Denys was right in principle: Mance Rayder had led the wildlings in surrender and was now a hostage under house arrest. Even once a new Lord Commander was chosen, there would need to be a proper reason and a trial before he could be executed. To use extrajudicial means to remove him just to put Egger in a bind... the perpetrators would have to rely on safety in numbers to escape accountability. This meant the plot required a significant number of participants.
No officers from the Shadow Tower or Castle Black were willing to join. If Cotter Pyke wavered as well, and a mere ranger captain like himself took men to kill Mance...
His fate afterward would be no better than Egger's.
"Do you hear the recruits drilling outside?" Yohn Royce pointed toward the window. "They are all settlers, mountain clansmen, and wildlings lured in by Egger's bait of 'full bellies' and 'fixed wages.' If we don't act soon, do you think those men will vote for us once they finish training and swear their vows, or for the man who recruited them and pays their grain?"
"They aren't nobles; they can't finish training and be permitted to join the Watch in such a short time."
"True, but whether they've 'finished' training is up to the word of Castle Black's Master-at-Arms. The bad news I've received is that Endrew Tarth is determined to be Egger's lapdog. Time is running out, my lord. You must decide quickly!"
Cotter Pyke tilted his head to listen. The clamor from outside was indeed clear. The Night's Watch hadn't had this many recruits training at once in a long time. By custom, a fifth of them would be assigned to Eastwatch upon completion. As one of the three fortress commanders, he should have been pleased, but now...
He clenched his fists, his expression shifting through several shades of conflict. Finally, he ground his teeth and slammed a fist onto the table. "To hell with it. Gather our men. We strike!"
"Yes!"
Royce breathed a sigh of relief, his spirits lifting. He turned to the door without another word, but the door was pushed open from the outside first.
A former knight of the Vale, tasked with monitoring the daily life of the King-Beyond-the-Wall's family in Hardin's Tower, rushed in with a panicked expression. "It's gone wrong! The Kingslayer and his Westerlands men have gathered at the base of Hardin's Tower. They're moving the wildling king's family!"
Was there a leak? Cotter Pyke and Yohn Royce stared at each other in shock. The plan was known only to a small inner circle; the details hadn't even been disseminated to the soldiers loyal to them. The only ones who knew were the few in this room, the trusted Vale lords, and the Shadow Tower and Castle Black officers they had attempted to persuade.
Who had betrayed them? Was it another Conservative officer, or one of their own from Eastwatch?
Regardless of the source, the situation was catastrophic. This was a hundred times more serious than voting for Egger—this was blatant defiance!
"It's that old fossil Mallister—he sold us out to Egger to ensure he keeps his command after the election! It has to be!" Cotter Pyke immediately identified the whistleblower, roaring with eyes wide. A moment ago he was hesitating to take this step, and now he was about to lose the chance to choose at all. "You men, follow me! Yohn, go gather the others. We cannot let the wildling king escape!"
At the base of Hardin's Tower, a large but somewhat aged carriage was parked by the road. Mance Rayder's family, assisted by several Westerlands soldiers, were loading bags and crates of belongings—an obvious sign of a relocation.
"Halt!" Seeing this, Cotter Pyke led his men directly to the carriage, blocking the path of the Westerlands men. "What is the meaning of this? Who gave you permission to let the wildling king's family leave Hardin's Tower?"
The men loading the carriage looked at one another, none knowing how to respond.
As hostages under house arrest, Mance Rayder and his family had no say in the matter—practically zero. The dozens of Westerlands men were technically ordinary rangers of the Night's Watch; facing an officer of the rank of a fortress commander, they were clearly outmatched in the hierarchy of dialogue.
Thus, the executor of the operation—Jaime Lannister—had to step forward.
With his characteristic air of arrogance, the Kingslayer strolled leisurely out from the doorway of Hardin's Tower to the front of his group. He gave a brilliant smile before speaking: "We received word that certain ill-intentioned individuals might seek to harm Mance Rayder and his family, thereby jeopardizing the stability of the Gift. To protect the greater good, it was decided after discussion to transfer them to ensure their safety."
"Discussion? Between whom? Does the disposal of a hostage as important as the King-Beyond-the-Wall fall to a mere ranger captain to decide?"
"It does not fall to me to decide." Jaime shrugged frankly, habitually tossing his hair. "But with all due respect, it also does not fall to you, my lord."
Cotter Pyke was briefly silenced. Indeed, it did not fall to him. The surrender of the wildling king and his house arrest at Castle Black were the arrangements of the late Commander Mormont. According to Egger's theory, these could only be changed after a new Lord Commander was chosen. That cunning fellow! Was he to tolerate Egger using a dead man to hamstring their actions time and time again?
Wait... a second later, Cotter found the hole in Jaime's argument. If the late Commander's arrangements limited the Conservatives, they limited the Reformists just as much! If he had no right to dictate Mance's placement, Jaime had no right to move them either!
"Quite right. It falls to neither you nor me. Only the new Lord Commander has the authority to alter the wildling king's arrangement! In that case, get them back into the tower immediately."
"My apologies, but Commander Mormont came to me in a dream. He ordered me to transfer Mance Rayder's family to Queenscrown to guarantee their safety."
"A dream?!" Cotter Pyke's eyes bulged. "You just said it was decided after discussion!"
"Exactly. I dreamed that Commander Mormont gave me the order. Upon waking, I informed the Chief Logistics Officer. The two of us discussed it and decided to carry it out."
Whispers and muffled laughter broke out among the onlookers. No one believed such an obvious fabrication. In fact, Jaime's own face flushed as he spoke; lying and playing the rogue were not his strengths. He had resisted this script for a long time when Egger taught it to him, but it was the only way to protect Val and her family. With lives on the line, he had finally decided to follow Egger's lead and move the family by force.
"You—" When a man reaches a certain level of shamelessness, he is invincible. If being a rogue wasn't Jaime's strength, then dealing with one certainly wasn't Cotter Pyke's. The Commander of Eastwatch was speechless with rage, the color rising to his neck and face. He reached behind his back and drew his battle-axe. "I don't care about your dreams. Today, not a single member of the wildling king's family leaves Castle Black!"
Perfect. It was exactly as Egger had predicted.
The embarrassment of being forced to play the rogue vanished instantly, replaced by a faint smile on Jaime's lips. Solving problems with force was Cotter Pyke's favorite method, and was it not his own as well? When two men who believed in fighting rather than talking clashed, it was time to see who was the better man.
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