Chapter 157 Mance Rayder’s Worries

Chapter 157 Mance Rayder’s Worries

Mance Rayder was extremely surprised to see the knight in front of him riding an unusually large armored war horse, wearing completely out-of-time and extremely exquisite metal armor, and wearing two weapons on his waist that looked more like decorations. Knight's Great Sword, I didn't know what to say for a moment.

According to his own experience, this kind of person should not appear outside the Great Wall, and dressed like this, he should have been frozen to death not long after leaving the Great Wall, but now this person actually appeared in front of him , he began to wonder if he was hallucinating because he was too nervous.

Benjen Stark introduced Lynd to his mentor and friend, saying: "This is Lord Lynd Terra, Earl of Summerhall and the Chosen One. I just saw a group of prisoners sent to Mole Village a few days ago. , This time he wanted to take a look outside the wall, so he came with our rangers. "

"The Chosen One? Is it the Chosen One of the Seven Gods sung in the song?" Mance Rayder seemed to have thought of something, and confirmed with a look of surprise on his face.

Bunyan nodded and said, "Yes, they are the protagonists sung in your two favorite ballads."

Mance Rayder looked at Lind blankly, speechless.

When Lind heard Bunyan introduce the leader of the rangers, a hint of surprise flashed across his face, and then he sat on his horse and looked at the future king beyond the wall.

When he was at Castle Black, when he didn't see Mance Rayder, he thought he had broken his oath and betrayed the Night's Watch. Who would have thought that he was actually transferred to Eastwatch. It seemed that the number of people in the Night's Watch had increased, causing some changes.

However, he also discovered that Mance Rayder had a panicked expression on his face after learning his identity, and he made a gesture to his fellow rangers by the bonfire without leaving any trace, and those from the East China Sea After seeing Mance Rayder's gesture, all the Rangers who were looking at him secretly removed their hands from their weapons.

Seeing this scene, Lind was sure that Mance Rayder should have broken his oath at this moment, and now he should be taking the people who broke the oath with him to the savage tribe.

Linder did not expose them, but got off his horse, walked up to the two of them, and said, "Brother Bunyan, it seems that you are very familiar with this brother Mance Rayder?"

"Yes." Bunyan seemed happy to introduce his friend to Lind and said, "After I joined the Night Watch, it was Mance who taught me how to be a qualified Night Watchman, and he also patrolled many times afterwards. saved me more than once."

Lind nodded, turned around and stretched out his hand to Mance, saying: "Since you are a friend of Brother Benyan, you are also my friend, Brother Mance Rayder."

Although Lind behaved normally, Mance Rayder always had the feeling that Lind seemed to know his affairs.

"Don't scare yourself. He must not know anything. I just feel guilty." Mance Rayder quickly ran through his thoughts in his mind, and then took a deep breath to calm down.

Afterwards, he shook hands with Linde very calmly, and then expressed his respect for Linde like an admirer.

For him, there is nothing he can do now. He can only hope that Bunyan and the person in front of him will not notice anything unusual about him and his men, because as long as the Chosen One in front of him has one-tenth of the combat power in the rumored stories, then He and his men probably wouldn't even have a chance to fight back.

Benjen Stark did not notice anything unusual at all. They were very happy to see Lind and Mance shaking hands, and then they took the two to the bonfire and unceremoniously took a freshly baked one from the bonfire. of elk meat, cut for two people.

The other rangers also gathered around the campfire in small groups, unpacking the dry food they carried with them, roasting it on the fire until soft, and sharing it with other companions. However, they did not know that these companions from Eastwatch had been attacked a moment ago. Still thinking about stabbing them.

Lind took the piece of roasted meat handed over by Bunyan, dipped it in a little spice powder he brought with him, then handed it to Mance and said: "This is the spice powder shipped from the other side of the Narrow Sea. Dip it in on the barbecue." , it will be delicious, try it.”

Mance looked at the barbecue that Lind handed over and the green spice powder covering the surface of the barbecue that looked a bit like poison. He hesitated for a moment, but finally took it and stuffed it into his mouth.

However, his pained expression was soon replaced by a look of surprise. The smell of barbecue with spices obviously made him feel very magical.

Lind handed the spice box in his hand to Benyan, who was swallowing his saliva, and asked him to sprinkle the spices evenly on the barbecue. Then he turned to Mance Rayder and asked: "Brother Mance, I remember the East China Sea Look at the easternmost part of the Great Wall, which is far away from here. Is this also the patrol area of ​​Eastwatch Rangers? "

Upon hearing Linde's inquiry, Bunyan also showed a puzzled expression, because the patrol area of ​​Eastwatch by the Sea is from the east side of Haunted Forest to the Hardhome side, which is not the patrol range of Eastwatch Rangers.

Mance Rayder explained vaguely: "We were tracking a group of wildlings. We encountered a snowstorm on the way and had to take shelter in White Tree Village."

"Savages? Are they the cannibal tribesmen of Great Glacier?" Bunyan immediately made the association and asked hurriedly.

Mance was just stunned and did not answer, because he just said a reason casually, and he did not expect that it would cause such a big reaction from Bunyan.

Later, Benyan told Mance about the camp of a cannibal tribe of wildlings that he had discovered not long ago.

Mance's face also became solemn, and he returned to the way of thinking of the rangers, and asked the same question as Bunyan just now. In his opinion, unless he encountered something very dangerous, the savages of the cannibal tribe They would not take the risk of passing through the Fangs of Frost and Snow to the east forest, because for the savages on the other side of the glacier, the ghost forest full of elves and ghosts was the most dangerous place.

"Perhaps the White Walkers are chasing them." Lind suddenly expressed his speculation at this time.

I don’t know if it was a coincidence, but the cold wind around me stopped instantly. At the same time, the night watchmen around the bonfire also stopped talking and looked at Linde. The entire Baishu Village instantly became extremely silent, with only the flames burning the pine trees. The snapping sounds were heard one after another here.

"Haha! Lord Linde, you are really good at telling jokes!" Bunyan suddenly laughed, and others around him also raised their heads and laughed. It seemed that they took what Linde said as a joke. .

Linde didn't say much, he just smiled, fiddled with the bonfire with a wooden stick, then got up and walked towards the very eye-catching weirwood tree in White Tree Village.

There are still villagers living in Baishu Village. They are free people, and their relationship with the night watchman is good or bad. The night watchman can live here, and they will not attack the night watchman, let alone talk to the night watchman, just like Now, when the night watchman rests here, they all close the door and don't say a word to the night watchman.

There are four houses in the entire White Tree Village, and they are all built around a weirwood. This weirwood is so big that its crown spreads out, covering the roofs of the entire White Tree Village.

However, this weirwood grew extremely ugly. The trunk seemed to be affected by some kind of force and twisted into knots, forming a natural face. Coupled with its pale skin and blood-red leaves, all of this... Make it look more like a scary ghost face.

Lind walked up to the ghost face of the weirwood and stared at it. His eyes could see some magic power remaining on the weirwood, but he couldn't see it clearly, so he summoned Glory back.

When Glory emerged from the woods, it caused panic among the night watchmen in East Sea Watch. They all stood up with shouts and drew their weapons, while other night watchmen from Castle Black looked at their watchmen with smiles on their faces. The human brothers made a fool of themselves, and deliberately showed a mocking look in their eyes, as if they were laughing at their fuss, completely forgetting their horrified reaction when they saw Glory for the first time.

Mance Rayder was also frightened by Glory, but he quickly remembered the content of the ballad, and immediately realized that this abnormally large shadow lynx was the seven sacred beasts in the ballad, and then took Glory's The identity was told to his subordinates, asking them not to panic, and there was a hint in the words that they should not do anything abnormal because of panic.

Glory walked past the bonfire and came to Lind's side. Looking at the weirwood, Lind entered a state of visual sharing.

What he saw on the ghostly face of the weirwood at this moment was no longer a blur of magic power, but three blood-colored eyes with uncertain reality.

Although he didn't know whether the Three-Eyed Crow was spying on him through the weirwood, he could infer from the state of these three eyes that the Three-Eyed Crow should not have fully recovered yet.

During this trip outside the Great Wall, Linde had no intention of getting involved with the Three-Eyed Crow. As long as the other party did not provoke him, there was no need for him to have trouble with the other party. As for the grudge between him and Vilas, it would be up to them to resolve it themselves.

Therefore, Linde just saluted the weirwood, without making any move to harm the weirwood, and turned around and left with honor.

After Linde left, several crows hiding in the dense branches of the weirwood came out and flew away quickly.

Mance Rayder couldn't help but feel a little surprised when he saw Lind saluting the weirwood that represented the old gods, because in his understanding, Lind represented the Seven Gods, and although the Seven Gods monks did not regard the old gods He would shout and kill like an enemy, but he would never do anything like salute to the old gods. And Linde's actions just now can be regarded as blasphemy.

Mance Rayder couldn't help the curiosity in his heart and asked: "Lord Lynd, why do you, as the Chosen One of the Seven Gods, salute to the weirwood of the old gods?"

"Why can't the Chosen One of the Seven Gods salute the weirwood?" Linde asked, "Is there any relevant prohibition in the Seven Gods classics you read?"

Mance was stunned and didn't know how to answer. In fact, he believed in the old gods. Let alone read the Seven Gods Classics, he didn't even go to the temple to listen to the monks telling the stories in the Seven Gods Classics. How could he know anything? ban.

Afterwards, he thought for a while and asked: "Your Majesty, Earl, I have heard of your deeds in the south. For example, you conquered the savage tribes in your territory and gave them the status of territorial subjects, so that they can be like everyone else. Life. Is this method really suitable for those savage tribes? "

"Then what do you want me to do with them? Kill them all?" Lind knew Mance Rayder's thoughts very well, but he still deliberately distorted the other party's meaning and said: "Although you rangers and wildling tribes have already We have been fighting for thousands of years, and the hatred is very deep, but the other party is also a human being like us, and it is really too much to think about annihilating other people's races at every turn. "

Benyan on the side nodded repeatedly after hearing this, saying that what Mance Rayder did was a bit too much.

"No, no, that's not what I meant!" Mance Rayder shook his head quickly and explained: "I just want to say, Lord Earl, by doing this, you turned an originally free tribe into your slaves, and they have been subject to you for generations. For the control of the country, I need to pay taxes to you from generation to generation. This..."

At this point, Mance Rayder suddenly stopped because he realized that he had said something wrong.

Benjen Stark looked at his mentor and friend with a strange look on his face, and said: "Mance, it seems that the last incident has had a big impact on you, and you have begun to think of free people. If you weren't wearing a black cloak, I would have thought that the person sitting in front of me was a tribal savage."

"That incident did affect me, but it was not a bad thing. At least it allowed me to think about the problem from the other side." Mance Rayder did not hide it, but admitted very straightforwardly.

"Just say these things here. Don't say them when you return to East Sea View, otherwise, something will happen." Bunyan said extremely seriously.

Mance Rayder smiled and did not respond, because he could not return to Eastwatch again.

Mance then asked tentatively: "Where will you patrol next?"

Bunyan unsuspectingly revealed his plan and said: "Let's go back to Custer's fortress, and then use that as a base to patrol the surrounding areas and see what we can find. What about you? What do you plan to do? ? Continue to pursue your target, or return to Eastwatch?"

Mance Rayder thought for a while and said: "I will take people to continue north and take a look at the Fist of the First Men. If nothing is found, I may go to the Antler River to take a look."

Bunyan said uneasily: "Going so far? That's the territory of the savages, it's really too dangerous."

Linde interrupted at this time and said: "Brother Bunyan, don't worry. It just so happens that I am going to the Fist of the First Men, so I can go with Brother Mance. Please believe that my ability is enough to protect Brother Mance and the others. Safety."

Bunyan also showed a look of surprise and said, "By the way, Lord Linde, you seem to be going north as well, so you can go with Mance."

After hearing this, Mance Rayder had to force a smile on his face, and then he asked Lind curiously: "Lord Lind, what do you want to do in the north?"

Linde smiled and replied: "I want to find the legendary Horn of Winter!"