Chapter 177 Negotiation

"Father, I'll go with you."

Ed looked at him. The baby he had brought back from the south had grown almost as tall as him without realizing it. The beard on his chin made Ed have to treat him as an adult.

He saw the shadows of many people in Jon, including his eldest brother Brandon and his younger sister Lyanna.

Memories of Stark flashed through his mind one by one. Stark's running wolf blood was unrestrained and wild, and he should not be as sluggish as him.

Tall, handsome, hot-blooded and unrestrained, Brandon spends most of his time riding horses in the streamlands.

Eddard remembered the tourney at Harrenhal. He was only eighteen years old at the time. Brandon participated in the tourney and was eventually picked off by Rhaegar. At the dance after the game, Brandon invited the Dane family Lady Ashara Dayne danced with Eddard because Eddard was too shy.

He still remembered those purple eyes. When Eddard sent her brother, Sir Arthur Dayne, known as the Sword of the Dawn, back to Starfall City, she cried extremely sadly.

Catelyn once asked Eddard if Jon's mother was Ashara, but Eddard didn't answer her.

He didn't want to recall those sad memories. That competition was the pain of Ed's life.

The champion of the tourney was Rhaegar, who dedicated the queen's crown, which represented love and beauty, to Lyanna instead of his wife "Elya Martell".

Eddard remembered the faces of his father, his eldest brother, and Robert.

Lyanna later left with Rhaegar. Everyone thought Rhaegar had kidnapped their sister, but only Eddard knew the truth.

Just like everyone thought he was in love with Ashara, but Brandon was taller and stronger than him, more handsome than him, and more passionate than him.

They were all dead. Brandon was strangled with a rope. Ed still remembers the mad king's torture of his father and brother. He burned his father in armor with wildfire, had a rope wrapped around Brandon's neck, and then A sword was placed in front of Brandon that was out of reach. The eldest brother struggled to get the sword in order to save their father, but was strangled to death by a rope.

Lyanna died too, in the Tower of Bliss, in Eddard's arms.

Robert died too, as did his adoptive father Arryn.

Everyone Ed knew was leaving him.

"No." Eddard refused Jon's request.

"Jon, wait until I get back. I'll tell you who she is," Eddard told him.

Jon's eyes flashed with hesitation, but he still lowered his head silently. He wanted to know who she was? He would accept even a prostitute.

Lord Ed decided to meet the King Beyond the Wall.

The brothers of the Night's Watch and the northern warriors who followed Lord Stark all urged Lord Stark not to take risks. The wildlings had no credibility, but Eddard told them that these wildlings outside the wall believed in the old weirwood god like they did. Let half of the northerners shut their mouths.

He would not go alone, nor would he go to Mance Rayder's camp. They would meet under the Wall, not far away.

The gate of the Great Wall opened, and one after another the Northern Knights walked out. They were wearing gray direwolf cloaks trimmed with wool. Many of these people were new recruits and they looked young.

When Ed Stark went south to King's Landing, he took away a group of Winterfell's elite, and Robb took everyone away when he went south. Otherwise, Theon Greyjoy would not have taken the opportunity to capture Winterfell. Of course, Xion also succeeded in the sneak attack by tricking the tiger away from the mountain.

Mance Rayder had already set up a tent under the Great Wall. The savages gathered in groups under the Great Wall. Some of them wore bronze armor, some wore animal skins, and held spears and axes in their hands. But it looked like They all looked very shabby.

After a hundred northern cavalry walked out one after another, Ed Stark passed through the deep ice wall and walked out of the gate.

His limping legs made the walk very difficult.

Outside the Great Wall, Ed saw giants for the first time. He estimated the height of these giants in his mind. They were at least ten to twelve feet taller than the Magic Mountain. Their hair was thick and their faces were flat. The arms hang down, the arms are long and the legs are short, and they don't wear shoes in the ice and snow.

Giants and direwolves, these things made Ed feel uneasy.

He recalled some proverbs spread in the north.

The cavalry protected the Duke of the North, and Ed could see fear on the faces of many soldiers. These children had never experienced the test of war, and even Rodrik had not trained them for long.

Ed knows that the war is not over yet. If the war continues, there will be fewer and fewer people in the North, and there will be a severe winter test waiting for them. The Stark family is responsible for leading the people of the North through the cold winter. , this is their duty for generations.

This is Stark's mission. As the Guardian of the North, he must be responsible for hundreds of thousands of people in the North.

The horses kept approaching the camp, and the atmosphere between the two sides was tense. Just the slightest sound could cause a war.

He arrived safely at Mance Rayder's tent. A bonfire was raised in the tent. The King of Wildlings was sitting behind the bonfire. Mance Rayder was a gray-haired man in a ragged red and black cloak.

The Savage King stood up and said, "Welcome beyond the Great Wall, King of the North."

Eddard glanced at his cloak, "Mance Rayder?"

"A thousand years ago, the King in the North made an agreement with the King Beyond the Wall to fight against the enemies of winter together," Mance said. "Lord Stark, I mean no harm. Why don't we sit down and talk?"

Ed sat across from him.

A smile appeared on Mance's face, "We have met before, sir."

Stark didn't remember having any encounter with the wildling king, "Really? When?"

"A banquet, I guess you don't see it anymore." Mance waved and asked someone to bring a piece of roasted bear meat, "The land outside the Wall is barren, we can only use this to entertain you, I hope you don't mind."

Mance cut off a piece of meat, cut a small piece with his dagger, put it in his mouth, and then handed it to Eddard, "Try the meat of the snow bear, I don't think you can eat it in the south."

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Eddard asked him.

Mance swallowed the meat, "Let's talk about what you are interested in first, I will tell you the news of my own Benjen Stark."

Edard Stark stared at him.

"My people have seen him in the Fist of the First Men and the Antler River, but we can't be sure whether he is dead or alive."

"Dead?" Eddard asked.

Mance nodded solemnly, "Yes, it is the dead. We are fighting the dead, Stark. If you think winter is only about cold wind and ice and snow, you are too naive." He shouted to his men, "Bring that thing up and let our King of the North take a look."

His men had just left the tent. Suddenly, there was chaos outside the big tent.

Mance stood up suddenly and drew the sword at his waist, "You lied to me?"