Aegon was a little confused—whether in the novels or the TV series, he didn't remember Benjen Stark encountering any attack on his way back to The Wall from Winterfell.
That shouldn't be the case.
His daze lasted less than a second before a soldier's instinct made him react; he similarly drew his steel sword with a clang, shielding Tyrion behind him before the Lannister's two guards could react.
This short Lannister was his hope of leaving The Wall: "Lord, quickly hide!"
"Lord Benjen, come out quickly, I'll cover you!" A new recruit, a rapist, was unlucky enough to take an arrow in the shoulder, rolling on the ground and screaming.
Yoren shoved a skinning knife into another recruit's hand and roared at him: "If you don't want to die, stay by my side!"
The tent flap was pulled open, and the First Ranger walked out, weapon in hand; figures rushed out from the darkness on all sides, shouting as they charged into the camp.
From the scattered arrows and flying stones, he quickly analyzed the identity of the attackers: "It's Wildlings!"
Get on your horses... damn it, there's no time, everyone retreat to the stone wall, prepare for battle!"
The two Lannister guards should have obeyed Tyrion's command, but with their master equally panicked, they instinctively followed the Stark's orders.
The group of nine huddled back-to-back against the old stone wall the tent leaned against, surrounding a wounded man and a Lannister in the middle, their expressions serious and tense as they prepared to face the enemy.
"Aren't the Wildlings North of the Wall?" Tyrion, completely lacking noble grace, ducked his head and hid behind the two tall figures of Aegon and Jon, unable to see what was happening outside.
Aegon had breathed a sigh of relief after figuring out the enemy's identity, while the bastard was feeling his blood boil at the prospect of getting a chance to show off his skills so soon.
Conversely, while the two Lannister guards were both wearing full armor, only one of them acted like a soldiers.
"No one told me the North was so dangerous!"
"Occasionally small groups of Wildlings cross The Wall, but they rarely penetrate this far into the Wolfswood..."
"Can you give me something for a weapon? I have nothing to defend myself!"
"No, here they come!"
There was no herald, no banner, no drums or horns sounding, not even the flash of steel; the Wildlings charging at them were mostly armed with wooden clubs, stone spears, and stone axes.
Aegon didn't see a single decent weapon, only heard the twang of a bowstring from one of Tyrion's guards; a dark figure screamed, clutched his wound, and stumbled out of the charging line...
Such a ragtag bunch of Wildlings, even with a numerical advantage, shouldn't have been bold enough to attack a group of nine that included Night's Watch members.
What made them do this?
There was no time for much thought, the enemy crashed upon them.
The Wildlings were all ragged and gaunt, wearing various pieces of stiff leather or ill-fitting, tattered armor, and not a single one had a helmet.
The Night's Watch were prepared for a bloody battle, but as soon as they engaged, Aegon sensed something was off.
The roughly ten Wildlings in front of him, though shouting and charging to surround them, didn't actually get close to fight them.
Instead, they stood about two meters away, yelling and waving their various weapons, but defending much more than attacking, showing no intention of taking their lives.
Not only that, but several Wildlings who were clearly women followed behind the men, quickly and skillfully beginning to search the group's belongings; even the squirrel Yoren hadn't finished skinning wasn't spared...
The hot-blooded Jon charged forward, only to be blocked by two individuals holding wooden shields; a few sword strokes merely left marks on the wood, and he was quickly called back by the First Ranger, who was concerned for his nephew's safety.
If they were only after valuables, and since the group wasn't escorting anything important, there was no need to fight to the death; they could just let them take it.
With this thought in mind, the weapons on both sides clanged and parried, testing each other.
After a stalemate that lasted only a few dozen seconds, Yoren was the first to notice something was wrong: "Their target is the horses!"
Benjen turned back in alarm and, sure enough, saw several figures stealthily approaching the horses tied not far away, cutting the ropes one by one.
They came to steal horses?
The Stark suddenly understood, his face showing anger; with the Night's Watch increasingly in decline, warhorses were a scarcer resource than men.
No longer worried about the lives of his subordinates, he swung his steel sword: "Stop them!"
Aegon and Yoren, as Night's Watch soldiers and Benjen's subordinates, were naturally the first to respond, stepping forward to charge the enemy alongside their commander, immediately tearing through the enemy's loose formation.
Then came Jon, and the Lannister guard named Jack; the battle instantly turned, the group, who had initially been forced to huddle together, surged forward at a single command.
As Benjen, with Aegon's cooperation, cleanly and decisively cut down one man with a sword, the originally aggressive Wildlings scattered like a burst pot, some even throwing down the weapons and wooden boards they used as shields, fleeing into the darkness without a second glance.
This scene was remarkably familiar; the "battles" Aegon had participated in after joining the Night's Watch, besides the one where they killed White Walkers which was truly thrilling, were all just driving away Wildlings who got too close to The Wall with the main Ranger force.
The pursued residents Beyond the Wall would flee head over heels in just this manner; countless bloody facts proved that none who dared to turn back and resist could escape the standard issue steel swords...
The First Ranger's command rang out loudly: "Don't pursue the fleeing enemy, secure the horses first!"
The two Night's Watch soldiers, wielding their weapons, followed closely behind their commander, reaching the trees where the horses were tied in just a few seconds.
In the short minute they were surrounded, the Wildlings outside the encirclement had cut many of the ropes tying the horses and had led or ridden away quite a few.
Most of these horses were assets gifted to the Night's Watch by the Northern Lords; Aegon and Yoren, as members of the black-clad army, might even have a chance to ride them in the future...
Naturally, they were extremely diligent in protecting them; as the three fully armed, black-clad Night's Watch members approached, the nearest horse thief let out a loud shout to warn his companions, then abandoned the remaining horses and, taking the spoils they had already obtained, darted into the forest without looking back.
The others didn't have such good command execution.
The new recruits and Tyrion cautiously remained in place, while Jon and the Lannister guard named Jack shouted and chased after the enemy, consecutively catching up and cutting down two people.
Only then, under Benjen's repeated calls, did they stop their pursuit and return to the camp, still not fully satisfied.
...
The freshly cooked stew had leaked all over the ground because the iron pot was pierced, filling the air with fragrance while their temporary campsite was a mess.
Several loaves of bread taken out and placed on the table for sharing had disappeared, a dead squirrel was taken by a female Wildling, and a piece of clothing and the iron spoon that was originally in the pot were also missing... along with more scattered, insignificant items.
Excluding the horses, they had almost no losses.
"Why did they take my book, God, are there any literate Wildlings?" Tyrion stamped his foot, "Never mind the others, that one was borrowed from the Winterfell library!"
"I'm afraid they don't even know what a book is; they just saw it was square and couldn't help but snatch it," Aegon said regretfully, "Ten to one it's become kindling for a fire, or been torn page by page to wipe their butts."
"Should we pursue?" Yoren's face was grim, looking even fiercer: "Eight horses are missing."
"That means fourteen are left," Benjen frowned, considering; there were about twenty men and women among the enemy who showed themselves, and relying on only three Night's Watch members would certainly not be enough to pursue or wipe them out.
There might also be an ambush in the forest.
Ultimately, he could only shake his head and refuse the Crow's suggestion.
A baffling attack thus ended; this was Aegon's fourth encounter with Wildlings, and the first time being passively attacked.
But like the previous three times, there were no Night's Watch casualties.
The gap in combat effectiveness and quality between professional soldiers and farmers is so vast, like wolves and sheep—theoretically, a flock of sheep could band together to kill a wolf, but in reality, no sheep would dare run slower for such a vague possibility.
As long as they didn't panic, even with the advantage of the first strike, the Wildlings could only retreat in disarray after leaving behind three bodies... Had Benjen not been anxious to save the remaining horses, the results would likely have been far greater.
Only one recruit, who hadn't officially joined yet, was unlucky enough to be hit in the first round of scattered arrows.
Fortunately, the Wildlings didn't have strong bows, and the quality of the arrows was extremely poor—they even used stone arrowheads without barbs.
Just pulling out the arrow and disinfecting the wound, it was only a superficial injury.
For Jon, Tyrion, and his two guards, who had never participated in a real war, repelling a sneak attack at the cost of zero casualties for three enemies was undoubtedly a great victory.
As for Aegon, his own safety was more important than anything else.
But Benjen Stark felt immense shame; Castle Black already didn't have many warhorses, and nearly a tenth of them were stolen by a bunch of Wildlings who crossed The Wall under his watch.
Since he joined the Night's Watch, he had never suffered such a great loss.
More important than the loss of warhorses was what the attack implied: the Wildlings were accelerating their flight south, the situation North of the Wall was clearly deteriorating, and the next patrol needed to be organized quickly to determine the situation.
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