WILOW-Ch.345: To Lord Bolton
Northern Army Camp, Near the Twins
POV of Domeric Bolton
"The giants would have made quick work of those gates," Bronn said as they walked toward the center of the Northern army camp with Varko, who was carrying two long wooden boxes in each arm.
"But Lord Stark doesn't want to fight any needless battles," Bronn added.
"He's not wrong in that decision." Domeric said, "There is no point in wasting men against the Freys when we could turn them into allies and use their men against the Lannisters."
Bronn scoffed, "I know that. Doesn't change the fact that we're still on the other side of the river. And the old cunt won't allow us to cross until we give him a few men and women for his children."
"What?"
Bronn laughed, "The old Frey has a lot of children. Many of them are still unmarried. The price for crossing the bridge is the marriage of his children to the lords and ladies of the North. The old coot even had the audacity to ask for Robb Stark and Arya Stark's hand in marriage."
"Really?" he said in an amused tone. "Does old Frey not know that Arya is my ward now? Lord Stark could not possibly betroth her to anyone without my permission." He added.
"Don't look so amused. He asked for your hand as well." Bronn said and laughed as he grimaced in disgust.
"Does that senile Frey think Lord Stark can make decisions for me?" His voice was now more angry than amused.
"Doesn't matter anymore. Lord Stark declined the offer, and now here we are. Sitting on our arse and waiting for a miracle to drop on our laps." Bronn said.
"Miracle, huh. That's not entirely impossible." He said and smiled as they finally reached the command tent at the center of the Northern army camp.
The guards in front of the large tent moved aside as they entered.
The tent had a large table and a few dozen chairs around it. Most of the chairs were filled with Lords from the North.
As soon as he entered the tent, everyone's eyes fell on him, and they became silent.
His eyes went to the head of the table where Lord Stark was sitting, and he nodded.
"Lord Stark."
"Lord Bolton." Lord Stark said and gave a nod in return. "Did you succeed in your venture North of the Wall?"
"I did." He said, "I not only captured wights, but I also captured a White Walker."
There was a pin-drop silence at the table.
Domeric gestured to Varko with his head, and Varko placed the two wooden boxes he was carrying on the table and waited for his next signal.
This time, I buried the White Walker and the wights deep underground in a cage in a place on my lands that very few people knew before I came here.
"No one can reach them without my order. Although I cannot show you the White Walker as proof now, I have brought another piece of evidence to at least dispel some of your doubts," he said, and gave Varko his second signal.
After receiving the signal, Varko quickly opened the lids of both wooden boxes one after the other, and the command tent suddenly started to cool down rapidly.
"These two Ice Swords belonged to the first White Walker we killed and the last one I captured," he said, and watched for a moment as the Lords stared at the two Ice Swords in astonishment.
As the inside of the tent grew colder, Domeric, thinking everyone had seen enough of the swords, gave Varko a new signal, and Varko quickly closed the lids of the boxes and locked them again.
The Lords, who had been in shock, finally came to their senses when the boxes were closed.
Then Lord Greatjon Umber slowly got up from his seat and walked up to him.
"You're one crazy motherfucker. Did you know that?"
He cocked his head, and Greatjon started to chuckle. His chuckles soon turned into full-blown laughter, and he raised his glass of mead "To Lord Bolton."
"To Lord Bolton…"
"The Chosen One…."
"The voice of the Old Gods…"
"To the Boltons…" the men cheered.
After a long moment, the tent finally went silent. He nodded to everyone and raised a glass to them.
But then everyone started bombarding him with questions.
Everyone, including Lord Stark, wanted to know how he'd captured a White Walker, whether he'd fought another army of wights, what other unusual things he'd encountered, and whether they'd suffered any casualties.
In short, everyone wanted to hear the details of his expedition to the North.
Domeric, accepting his fate, began to recount what had happened.
"Frankly, this situation was very different from the previous ones. We encountered the White Walker quite far south, near Craster's Keep," he said.
"What?"
"Craster's Keep? Have the White Walkers started moving south? Is it possible they'll attack the Wall soon?"
Everyone was afraid the White Walkers would attack soon, especially since a large portion of the Northern forces had already moved south.
"You don't need to worry. This White Walker didn't have a wight army and was acting alone. I also made sure there was no other White Walker activity near the Wall." He said.
After these words, all the lords breathed a sigh of relief.
"Lord Bolton. If I'm not mistaken, this time you sailed north of the Wall, and I assume your ships anchored at Hardhome. Why did you go south toward the Wall instead of going north to search for the White Walkers?" Lord Stark asked.
As he had suspected, Lord Stark was the first to realize the absurdity of the situation. He might not have been a great diplomat, but having ruled the North for years, he was certainly not an ignorant man.
"Nothing is hidden from you, Lord Stark," he said, and then continued, "Before I set out to search for the White Walker, I had some business with a Greenseer living beyond the Wall." After saying this, he gave Lord Stark a meaningful look.
And from Lord Stark's changing expression, he understood that Lord Stark had realized he was taking Brandon Stark to Bloodraven as promised. Or at least that the matter was related to Bran.
"The Greenseer is knowledgeable about many things beyond the Wall and is a powerful Skinchanger. Instead of wandering in the lands beyond the Wall, I wanted to find out if he had any information about the White Walkers' whereabouts," he said, turning to the Lords.
A small white lie would be better than telling them he had green dreams.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.346: Are We Doomed?
Ch.347: Heirs to the Iron Throne
Ch.348: New Order