Chapter 383: Level Three Alert
If I just had Sandor Clegane and Brienne of Tarth, the set would be complete— the thought popped into Egger's mind, and he found it hard to suppress.
Having drafted Qyburn (who came without assistants), Beric Dondarrion, and Thoros of Myr, along with Tobho Mott and the King's bastard apprentice, Gendry—whom Egger had almost forgotten existed—he successfully managed to exit the King's Gate before it closed. They boarded at the Industrial Park pier and began the voyage back north.
He had come for saltpeter, but between the sailors and the new recruits, the weight of the living passengers, their gear, tools, and luggage actually outweighed the cargo. The Blackbird was a small sailing vessel. To make room for eight new passengers, Egger had to meticulously arrange duty rosters and lodging, jettisoning a large portion of the ballast to keep the ship from overloading while ensuring everyone had a bunk. They managed to set sail just as the sun dipped below the horizon. To avoid slighting the Lord of Blackhaven and the master smith, Egger even shared the Lord Commander's cabin with Beric and Tobho.
Fortunately, he didn't have to strain his brain writing the second half of a magically modified The Prince on the return trip. Though the cramped conditions left no room for work, it was bearable for a short time.
The fleets of Stannis and Daenerys, which divided the patrol of Blackwater Bay, both granted the Blackbird swift passage, and they reached open water before nightfall. The journey north was not as easy as the trip south; due to weather, the Blackbird spent two nights at anchor rather than sailing through the dark. Still, compared to the average winter conditions of the Narrow Sea, this was as smooth as if the Seven Gods themselves were blessing them, and no one had cause to complain. Finally, after another week at sea, Egger—who had been away from the Wall for half a month—completed his risky pre-war absence within his expected timeframe and returned to the docks of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.
The harbor was eerily empty of other vessels, but fortunately, the sight of workers and soldiers bustling on the shore proved they were still among the living. This brought a massive sigh of relief to Egger, who hadn't received a word of news from the Gift in over ten days. As they disembarked, his eight guests were still craning their necks in awe of the Wall of ice. Egger, however, was already asking Cotter Pyke—the commander of Eastwatch who had once been his rival for election but was now obedient and settled—for the latest situation on the Wall.
"Trouble is brewing constantly at the Shadow Tower and the Gorge. A few days ago, we were getting ravens daily—military reports along the lines of 'the dead have appeared within sight of the canyon patrols, reinforcements needed immediately.' But eventually, the messages became too frequent and we ran low on ravens. I'm no longer receiving news from the west of the Wall; I have to rely on intelligence exchanged between patrols atop the Wall to confirm that, for now, no fortresses have fallen."
Egger nodded. Communication was primitive and limited in capacity; he couldn't expect to know the state of the entire Gift from Eastwatch. As long as the Wall hadn't fallen, there was no reason to panic. "Fine. Prepare horses and wagons. I need to take the guests and some special cargo back to Queenscrown immediately."
"As you command." When he had lost the election and been coerced into swearing fealty, Cotter Pyke was almost certain the Night's Watch would be ruined in Egger's hands. Time had proven the conservatives' fears were groundless. Though he still harbored some resentment, he no longer entertained any thoughts of meaningless defiance against the Lord Commander's authority. "Furthermore, my Lord, there is a situation at Eastwatch that requires an immediate report. Bay of Seals is so cold that the water is freezing even during the day. As you can see, there isn't a single ship in the harbor because the Storm Crow, the Talon, and the newly commissioned Old Bear and Maester Aemon—donated by White Harbor—are all on 24-hour ice-breaking duty. Breaking thin ice isn't hard, but preventing the shattered, unmelted shards from piling up into thick ice is. Even if we solve that, we have to send ships to intercept or clear ice floes drifting in from elsewhere... Once the Blackbird is unloaded, I'll be sending her out too. But we are at maximum capacity. If the temperature drops any further, the freezing will exceed what manpower can resist. Once the Bay of Seals freezes over, it'll be much easier for the Others to walk over the ice than to cross the Gorge!"
To put it simply, the subtext was: The situation at the Gorge is urgent, but Eastwatch needs reinforcements too.
"Let the Blackbird join the ice-breaking to hold the line for now. If any merchant ships arrive from Essos or the south, commandeer the vessels and crews in my name to assist with the ice-breaking." Egger nodded, not giving a direct answer. He just needed a little more time... Once the mass production of dragonglass bombs succeeded, he would welcome the Others to come and meet their doom. "As for the redeployment of troops, I will give you an answer as soon as possible after I've assessed the situation along the entire length of the Wall."
They lacked enough ships, but they had plenty of manpower. The unloading of the saltpeter was completed quickly; the jars filled two entire wagons. If they wanted to leave some horses for the rangers, there weren't enough for everyone to ride. Egger had to squeeze his guests from the south into a third wagon to achieve the goal of returning everyone to Queenscrown in a single trip.
The Capital of the Gift still stood strong by the Kingsroad, even looking a bit more bustling than usual. After the town area outside the central fortress was completed last month, Egger had moved the permanent residents out of their tents and into small—albeit crude—shacks that could at least block the wind and rain. But now, as the heavily laden convoy approached Queenscrown along the snow-covered road, the group could see dense clusters of tents pitched outside the town's high walls again. Many New Gift folk, wrapped in tattered furs, wandered among the tents, staring curiously at the three-wagon convoy approaching from the distance.
"Queenscrown is larger than I heard," Beric Dondarrion remarked with surprise, but then asked curiously, "But I thought there was no distinction between nobles and commoners in the Gift. Why is a town this size unable to house all its residents, forcing these people to pitch tents at the foot of the walls?"
"These tents weren't here when I left, but the day I departed for King's Landing, I decided to issue a Medium-Level Warning ahead of time." Egger understood exactly where the crowds came from. "According to the protocol: all residents of the Gift living more than a day's journey from the nearest fortress must pack their things and retreat to pre-arranged strongholds. Most of these people outside the walls likely arrived from the surrounding areas of Queenscrown after the warning was issued. Because they traveled slowly or arrived late, there wasn't enough time to arrange housing, and to avoid disrupting order inside the walls... they were placed in temporary camps outside."
The Lord of Blackhaven nodded, asking with interest: "You say 'Medium-Level Warning'; I presume there are High and Low levels as well? If it's not a secret, could you briefly explain what triggers these three levels and what the corresponding protocols are?"
"Low-Level goes without saying. Since there have long been anomalies in the Haunted Forest, the Gift has been under Low-Level Alert since I took office: adult males undergo regular basic military training, snow is cleared from major roads, patrols on the ground and atop the Wall never cease, and every inhabited village must have a night watch, and so on. As guardians of the northernmost border, this is the minimum state of readiness even in times of peace. As for Medium-Level—it is declared when large enemy forces are detected operating near the Wall and the commander senses an intent to attack. All activity is retracted to the vicinity of defensible fortresses, and patrol strength is maximized." Egger watched the campers at the foot of the walls as he spoke casually. "As for High-Level, that is the final moment—when the White Walkers lead the dead in a formal assault on the defensive line and the beacons are lit. At that point, not just these temporary residents, but the entire population of the Gift and the Wall—totaling about 45,000 soldiers and civilians—will be completely withdrawn into the nineteen fortresses along the Wall, Queenscrown, and Ice Bay..." At this point, Egger remembered that the existence of Ice Bay Port was still a military secret in the North and quickly stopped himself. "A total of 19 plus 1, twenty strongholds. We open the armories, distribute dragonglass and incendiary weapons to every person capable of fighting, and cease all production. We then either await the good news of 'the front line holding the enemy at the gate' to lift the alert, or we face the final battle."
"This is truly a state of total readiness. Impressive, truly impressive." Beric Dondarrion praised him sincerely, realizing that the rumors of the Night's Watch's combat effectiveness undergoing a tectonic shift under the new commander were not exaggerated. He had led troops himself and had an idea of what war entailed; this three-tier system, combined with the specific measures, meant that even if they only held wooden clubs, they would be a formidable force simply by virtue of such organized execution.
It's a good thing the Gift is sparsely populated, he thought. With a Lord Commander like this, they could probably revolt and seize the Iron Throne without issue.
To the creaking and groaning of wagon wheels, the convoy passed through the gates of the outer walls of Queenscrown, traversing the neatly planned streets. Egger soon noticed that there were significantly more people in the town than expected, far exceeding the number of refugees that should have been there under a Medium-Level Alert. The situation seemed different from what he had imagined.
With various thoughts in their minds, the group finally reached the inner keep. Before even stepping out of the gatehouse, Egger first heard a sharp, clear shout from the nearby practice yard... undeniably in the tone of Arya Stark.
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