While Mufasa and the others were discussing the White Walkers, Mance Rayder sat comfortably, drinking wine, eating meat, and humming a little tune.
To an outsider, he appeared quite cheerful.
Mance Rayder's demeanor infuriated Robert.
"A mere wildling acting so brazenly! Where is Ilyn Payne?" King Robert roared.
Ilyn Payne was the King's Justice, the royal executioner responsible for carrying out the King's commands.
He was a tall, bald, and silent man.
Twenty years ago, he had served as Tywin's guard captain, but Mad King Aerys had ripped out his tongue with hot pincers.
Ilyn Payne strode before King Robert, knelt on one knee, awaiting his command.
Robert pointed at Mance Rayder, just about to command, "Kill him."
But Mance Rayder spoke first.
"I have eaten bread and salt, drunk ale, and eaten onions here in Winterfell, the seat of House Stark. I am under the protection of Lord Eddard Stark. This is the ancient and sacred Guest Right, which neither king nor gods may violate."
King Robert's face darkened upon hearing this; he turned and looked at Eddard Stark.
Eddard Stark wore a look of helplessness.
"Your Grace, he cannot be killed. Guest Right is sacred, ancient, and inviolable."
"So we are helpless against him? We must simply stand by and watch the King-Beyond-the-Wall swagger before us, unable to touch him?" Robert demanded furiously.
"As things stand, yes," Eddard Stark replied with resignation.
King Robert sighed and then turned to Mufasa.
"Mufasa, you've always been clever, far more so than Joff. Do you have any way to deal with Mance Rayder?"
Mufasa looked at Mance Rayder, who was still tearing meat off a chicken leg, and then replied.
"Your Grace, Guest Right is not the only sacred and inviolable right. There are others, such as the right to Trial by Combat."
"Mance Rayder is, ultimately, a deserter from the Night's Watch. By the laws of the Watch, he is sentenced to death."
"Now that he has come to Winterfell, according to the laws of the North, a Night's Watch deserter is also sentenced to death, and the execution must be carried out personally by the Lord of Winterfell."
"Therefore, we can have Lord Eddard challenge him to a Trial by Combat. If Eddard Stark can kill him in single combat, his death will be justified as the outcome of the trial." Mufasa explained.
King Robert nodded upon hearing this.
"Ned, do you think you can defeat him?"
Eddard Stark frowned. While Mufasa's reasoning was sound—the right of Trial by Combat could offset Guest Right—he, Eddard Stark, was not a master of the sword or lance.
Mance Rayder had been a ranger at the Shadow Tower and had been fighting Beyond the Wall for over a decade. He doubted he could defeat him.
"Ah, Your Grace! I have been a lord for many years, and my fighting skills have grown rusty! However, my brother, Benjen Stark, is the First Ranger of the Night's Watch. It would be most appropriate for him to cleanse this stain upon the Watch."
Benjen Stark immediately agreed. He stood and faced Mance Rayder.
"Mance Rayder, I accuse you of desertion. As a sworn brother of the Night's Watch, you betrayed your vows and joined the wildlings. I, Benjen of House Stark, First Ranger of the Night's Watch, now challenge you to a Trial by Combat. You may not refuse."
"I accept your trial. Come, Benjen Stark, let the gods bear witness to my innocence!" Mance Rayder did not refuse the challenge.
"However, it is already night. How about we hold the trial tomorrow morning?" Mance Rayder asked.
"Then enjoy the last night of your life, Mance Rayder," Benjen Stark replied.
The feast lasted through the night; no one slept until the break of dawn.
The crowd, having gone without sleep all night, gathered before the Godswood of Winterfell. In this Godswood stood the largest heart tree, upon which the Children of the Forest had carved a face that was both lifelike and terrifying.
Benjen Stark and Mance Rayder were both prepared. They mounted their horses and donned their armor.
To ensure fairness, Eddard Stark provided Mance Rayder with his own armor, warhorse, and lance.
Mufasa, in turn, lent his Valyrian steel spear to Benjen Stark.
Eddard Stark now stepped forward and addressed the gathered crowd.
"Under the gaze of the Old Gods, a trial shall be held today. This trial is brought by Benjen of House Stark, First Ranger of the Night's Watch, against the Night's Watch deserter and King-Beyond-the-Wall: Mance Rayder."
The reason Eddard Stark gave the opening address was that he, Benjen, and Mance all worshipped the Old Gods. Thus, it could not be delivered by a maester or a septon, as maesters are often non-believers, and septons worship the Seven.
Just as the two were about to clash, shouts echoed from within the weirwood grove.
Mufasa recognized the voice—it was Joffrey. He and Robb Stark had gone out the previous night and had not returned; everyone had completely forgotten about them.
"Help! Father! Help! Mufasa, come and save me!"
Joffrey was currently bound hand and foot by a wildling and pressed to the ground, swallowing dirt as he cried for help.
Beside him was Robb Stark, also bound hand and foot, lying motionless and unconscious on the ground.
"Joff!"
Mufasa, riding his white lion Hrakka, charged into the Godswood. Following the sound, he found a group of about a dozen wildlings who had captured Joff and Robb Stark.
"Joff!" Robert rushed over, accompanied by Eddard Stark, Jaime, and the others.
"Robb!" Eddard Stark looked worriedly at his son, who lay motionless. Ned feared he might be dead.
"Wildlings, are you here to rescue Mance Rayder?" Robert demanded.
"That's right. Release Mance Rayder, or the Crown Prince and the eldest son of the Warden of the North will have their throats slit."
A man wearing a large skull mask spoke. He was adorned with many bone ornaments that rattled whenever he moved. The wildlings called him "Rattleshirt."
"Damn you! Release the hostages at once!" King Robert furiously punched a weirwood tree.
But now his son was in the wildlings' hands, and so was Eddard's son. It seemed they would have to compromise.
Just as Robert was about to agree to the exchange of hostages, Eddard Stark spoke up.
"Is my son still alive?"
"He is alive. He resisted too fiercely last night, so we knocked him unconscious. Truly worthy of House Stark, flowing with the blood of the wolf. Unlike this Crown Prince, who flows with the docile blood of the stag and was easy to capture."
"Hahaha! Hahaha!"
"The wolf's son is fierce, the stag's son is useless! Hahaha!" The wildlings roared with laughter.
While the wildlings were roaring with laughter, Mufasa was quietly shifting his position. Using the cover of the trees, he had already maneuvered behind the wildlings.
Mufasa and Hrakka then worked together, charging toward the wildlings.
Hrakka did not roar during the charge, so the wildlings only spotted him when he was upon them, but it was already too late.
A massive lion's paw swiped one man away, and then Hrakka plunged into the group of wildlings, fighting fiercely.
Mufasa quickly grabbed Joffrey with one hand and Robb Stark with the other, running toward safety.
At that moment, however, a female wildling began firing arrows at Mufasa.
With a sharp "swoosh," an arrow struck Mufasa in the back, sending him tumbling to the ground, and the two boys he held were flung away.
Joffrey was luckier, landing in a pile of leaves, but Robb was unlucky, smashing his head directly into a weirwood tree.
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