Chapter 296
2021-01-06
Chapter 296 NightfortThe attitude of the North princes to the land-grant resettlement program is critical, but at least today Don't be too nervous, Igor: Nightfort was not part of the land-grant resettlement program, its reactivation was a matter of acceptance before the surrender of the wildling, and was approved by all Night's Watch executives.
I chose this place as my first stop after leaving Castle Black, not because of how many original beyond the wall people lived here, how much threat it would pose to North in case of trouble, and what to focus on... It's for another reason -- Bran Stark is missing here, and in the absence of Robb oneself's son, North's first-in-line heir, it's missing here.
The inhabitants of Nightfort's walls are the Flint clan in the mountains, who were invited by Night's Watch to go out to the Wall, but still legally belong to the North. Their clan chiefs, though neither castles nor clankingly poor, were equal in institutional class to count; their clan members, though neither farming nor paying taxes, were equally subjects of the North.
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For Igor, the Mountain Clan is the patch to fill the Wall's manpower hole, cheap labor for the expansion and the first new inhabitants; for Night's Watch As far as Legion is concerned, the mountain clans are the reinforcements they have painstakingly invited, the strength to force the wildlings, and the reliable allies who will face the natural enemies of mankind. The "half-like foreigners" who are sometimes completely ignored... Now they can take the initiative to move out of the mountains to assist Night's Watch in defending the northern border without getting an order. It's too late to be grateful, how can they still shoot people out?
The special status of the mountain clan makes them almost impossible to target - even the most stubborn conservatives will not think of dealing with this group of people to embarrass the reformers... Not to mention that Igor has already notified Nightfort to meet the North patrol team Even if something went wrong, Robb wouldn't blame the mountain people too much, or even resent the resettlement plan.
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Infrequent encounters, neither hatred nor conflict of interest, but the two sides of the monarch and ministers, they will obviously be polite when they meet each other... At this moment, the Flint clan The patriarch was talking eagerly with Robb Stark, expressing his welcome to the distinguished guests and his condolences to the late former lord Eddard Stark, and introducing him to the latest status of this "resurrection" ancient fortress.
The chat didn't last long. After finishing a friendly conversation with Togenhenn Flint, Robb put away his smile and seriously asked what he cared about most: the details of the disappearance of the oneself younger brother.
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"Night's Watch Legion trusts the responsibility of garrisoning Nightfort in the hands of the Flint clan. We dare not take it lightly, and the sentinels and patrols of the clan are always maintained. Be vigilant and make sure threats from the south or the north are immediately detectable. One day a few months ago...our young man on the top of the watchtower spotted a suspicious person in the wild to go beyond the wall Haunted among the bushes, after sending people to take the initiative to search, we caught a big man and three children." Togenhen said gruffly: "They don't look like wildlings at all, so we kept an eye on it and asked after It was confirmed - it was the siblings of Bran Stark and Reed's house that Castle Black ordered us to keep an eye on, as well as a tall stable boy from Winterfell. We took this situation very seriously, and quickly placed them in the main castle room of Nightfort, Sent someone to take care of it, and notified the Lord Commander Mormont."
"We have a general understanding of these circumstances." Roose Bolton interrupted indifferently, "Tell me specifically, how they are in the Flint clan. Mysterious has disappeared under the 'care and care' of my family, and is still whereabouts unknown."
Bolton count's tone made Flint patriarch slightly unhappy, but Duke Stark's younger brother was in the thousands of oneself clan. It is a fact that there is no trace of people under the eyelids, and because of this, even if he has a temper, he does not raise.
After hesitating for a few seconds, he said with a bitter face: "That's right, Commander Mormont was at that time. The reply to us was, look at Master Bran Young and wait for Winterfell to send someone back. We did that...but then Miss Reed was harassed near Nightfort and Commander Mormont changed his mind and he decided to come to Nightfort himself to resolve the issue It was at this time that the three young nobles were brought back to Castle Black when they returned."
...
"Commander Mormont the afternoon before the incident. Arrived, got up very early on the second day, and it was snowing... So he decided to go to the new land-grant settlement of the beyond the wall to deal with the attack on Miss Reed, and then set off back to Castl in the afternoon e Black . As instructed, we took Master Bran Young out of his room, and asked him and his two companions, the stable boy named Hodor, to pack up and wait in the hall. A look of regret appeared on Togenheng's face: "As it approached noon, the Night's Watch brothers who accompanied the commander out suddenly returned to the fortress with the blood-covered and comatose Lord Mormont, shouting for Maester. Or the doctor... At that time, the scene was a mess, including me, everyone in the hall ran to check the situation, and no one didn't expect to keep someone - the one who was watching the room, waiting to return east with the commander three children. In a blink of an eye, they were gone. "
Old Flint is obviously not very good at organizing language, this call is too vague, let alone Robb Stark, even Igor listened to it and felt that it was simply not dignified a Stark taking seriously Of course, he couldn't sit back and watch his stupid allies screw things up, and quickly came forward to remind: "Lord Flint, let's talk about your investigation afterwards. "
"Well, good." The rough guy from the mountains didn't react too slowly, so he hurried down the slope: "When Master Bran Young disappeared, the wall that Castle Black asked us to build was basically completed, and it is unlikely that the adult's younger brother would have inconvenience in his legs and feet. Escape over the wall - then there are only four ways for him to leave Nightfort: the east and west gates of the fortress, the tunnel leading to beyond the wall, and the Wall along the stairs... Follow the top of the wall to other fortresses with stairs down again. ”
The results of the investigation attracted the ideas of the North princes, and everyone listened silently.
“Among them, the tunnel leading to beyond the wall was abandoned as early as Night's Watch. Nightfort was blocked and we were told there was no need to unblock. And there are two doors and a staircase left... We closed or sent someone to guard it immediately after we found that Master Bran Young was gone. After careful cross-examination of the guards and sentries, we confirmed that on the day of the incident, there was no one big Three children' such a combination leaves from these several roads. "
"Maybe they split up?" "
"Uh... no, there aren't many children of this age in Nightfort, and the guard confirmed that no one he didn't know left." "
"Then why did Duke Stark's younger brother just evaporate out of thin air!" ? Karstark count glared at Flint, "I heard that you live here with thousands of people. It's always impossible to go to Mormont when something goes wrong. It's just an old fogey, what's there to see!" "
"Lord Karstark is right. Later we expanded the scope of the inquiry to all the residents of the entire fortress, and we made progress very quickly." At the time of the incident, several women who were drying their clothes saw the Bran Young Master entire group leave the hall and enter the kitchen where the Night's Watches were originally stationed. "
...
The kitchen, or "ancient kitchen," is an octagonal stone house with broken vaults, but it appears to be in good overall condition. Strangely, compared to the crowded and crowded clans in other parts of Nightfort, this place looks very deserted.
Robb looked at the exterior of the ancient kitchen with some doubts, and asked, "Here With a little repair, it will be in better condition than most of the surrounding buildings and tents, so why not use it here? "
"Adults come with me will know when you see it." "
So Igor and a group of North princes followed the patriarch of the Flint clan across the almost trampled threshold into the kitchen used by the Nightfort garrison two hundred years ago.
The huge room is empty, and the only furnishings left are the huge brick stove all around, the slaughtering table full of scars and stains lined up along the wall, and the rusted meat hook hanging from the overhead beam... The overall atmosphere is dilapidated and depressed In the geometric center of the house's ground, there is also a strangely large well, and a crooked tree overturns the floor and emerges tenaciously from beside it. The opening on the top sticks out, gracefully pointing to the sky, and I don't know if it broke the roof, or it chose to grow here because the roof broke through this opening.
Robb didn't know why at first, waiting for the support Genheng's explanation, but after taking a few more glances at the tree by the well, he quickly understood the reason why the clan people refused to use this nearly perfect kitchen: "This...is this a Weirwood? ”
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Hot air floats upwards. Along the cold Wall, no matter how strong and safe a building is, even a hole in the roof will not be able to treat people. The kitchen is more of a functional building. If it is to be repaired and opened, the tree growing in the center of the house must be cut down.
Weirwood is inseparably related to the Old Gods belief in religion, and Here, whether it is the North people, the mountain clan people, or the original beyond the wall people who have just moved to the south of the Wall, they all believe in Old Gods, and they seem to be forgiven for refusing to cut down Weirwood.
But...is it necessary to be so exaggerated?
The Old Gods belief is closer to a Nature Sect religion, and even the most devout Old Gods believers admit that Weirwood is only a symbol of the Old Gods, not the Old Gods themselves. Old Gods Believers do not regard Weirwood as a god like some extreme religions, and they will not see any deforestation and harm it. On the contrary, because Weirwood is strong and does not decay, its wood is an excellent raw material for making various items. Extremely popular up and down the Seven Kingdoms -within the wall beyond the wall, many North people take pride in owning a Weirwood bow or shield - even in the centre of the Kingsguard Conference Hall in King's Landing, there is one. A Weirwood table.
even more how , Weirwood is usually a stout-looking tree with a large proportion of strong trunks and massive twisting roots—and what about this one? The shape is thin and the looks are not straight... The bark is pale, if not for the red palm-shaped leaves, it looks like a boneless arm. This is clearly a deformed sapling that is not many years old. Slim, there is no space to engrave a human face, and you are not qualified to be a "Heart Tree". There is nothing sacred - let these mountain clans prefer to live in those dilapidated small houses or wood houses and tents , and also abandon such a strong building?
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Other Robb dare not say, but if a small sapling pops up on the floor of Winterfell's main fort, House Stark doesn't care whether it's Weirwood or not, and must have asked the servants to pull up and repair the ground, rather than collectively move out of the main castle to make room for this sapling.
"The lord is I'm not thinking, it's just such a small sapling, where is it necessary to take it so seriously? "Toganheng Flint seemed to see Robb's thoughts, laughed: "No, this is by no means an ordinary Weirwood, but probably the oldest Heart Tree in the Seven Kingdoms and up and down—"
"You can be called Heart Tree if you have a face, don't you tell me that the members of the Flint clan are all micro-sculpture masters? "
"No, what you are seeing now is just a tip at the very end of a branch of this Heart Tree. The entire trunk of this Heart Tree under the ground is so huge and its span amazing, absolutely More than anyone could imagine! "
"It's buried in the ground, how can you see it no matter how big it is?" "Morse Umber snorted," and, aren't we discussing the whereabouts of Lord Robb's younger brother, don't you think that just because we all believe in Old Gods, we'll be attracted to a big Weirwood tree? ! "
"I definitely don't have that idea!" In fact, the largest Heart Tree in the Seven Kingdoms is really related to the whereabouts of Master Bran Young. Flint patriarch pointed to the big well in the center of the house: "Everyone who witnessed three children and a stable boy entering the kitchen reflected that they didn't see them coming out again, but we were looking around in this room." , did not find a second exit or any secret passage... Finally, we thought of this well. "
is it possible that, Bran Stark jumped out of the well?
Many people at the scene were heart shivered with cold, and Robb didn't dare to speak until Flint patriarch made a string Inexplicable action: Going straight to the big well, under the surprised eyes of everyone and the sound of sucking in the cold air, he raised his leg and stepped over the edge of the well and stood in the well.
"What are you doing! "Even if you lose your oneself younger brother, it's very hateful, and you won't blame yourself to commit suicide by jumping into a well. Arya, who has been obediently following the big brother, screamed immediately, but she just screamed and held back: "Huh—"
That's right, in full view, old Flint "stands" into the well. Many North nobles, including Arya, are ready to pull people, but after he also stepped in with his second leg, , but did not fall down with a swish, but stood firmly on the inner side of the well, looked at everyone, and shrugged.
Arya shook off Robb and took her hand, and ran over first. , and then everyone crash-banged around and started to study the big well.
first impression That's right -- the well is really big, four meters wide. The walls of the well are extremely thick and wet. It was covered with scale and moss, and it was bottomless. A soldier from House Bolton graciously handed over the torch, and under the light of the fire, everyone understood the reason why the old Flint did not fall: there was actually a stone bar extending inside the well wall. Out of the stairs, spiraling down into the darkness, the torch's rays of light can't shine down.
The crowd watched for a while as if watching some treasure, and Arya finally couldn't bear it.
Staying curious: "A well...why should there be stairs? "
Someone made a guess: "Probably the Wall is too cold, the water in the well will freeze, and you need to send someone down to break it often?" "
"Oh. Arya blinked a few times, without questioning the apparently unreasonable statement: "Then Bran, did you go down this ladder?" "
"So far, that's it." "Old Flint nodded: "Want to go down and have a look?" "
Thinking, but Robb's here, it's weird to make her mess up.
Arya is eager to try, but finally holds back and asks instead, "There's no water down there." ? "
Roose Bolton didn't speak, silently took the torch from oneself's cronies, and threw it into the well.
The torch fell rapidly and quickly turned into a pitch-black well. The star hit the bottom after about two or three seconds, splashing out a cloud of fire star, and finally submerged into the darkness with the sound of "peng".
Whether it is sound or torch falling The sight of the bottom confirms what Togenhen Flint said: there is no water below this well, people can act under it.
The concern for the younger brother overcomes a little fear of the dark well, Besides, listening to old Flint's words, he or his clansman has already gone down to see it, the mountain clan has no reason to harm oneself, the North guardian. After hesitating for a moment, Robb said: "Let's lead the way, let's go down and have a look. ”
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(end of this chapter)