At the Fist of the First Men Beyond the Wall, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont and a little more than 300 men was camped out on the hill. They had left Castle Black in response to unusual activity from the Wildlings and the disappearance of several seasoned rangers, including Benjen Stark, the First Ranger. Sitting in his own tent, Lord Commander Mormont sat with his commanders as a messenger brought some news.
"Commander, we just returned from our visit to New Valhalla, the Commander of the Imperial Garrison, Commander Ivar, informed us that Benjen Stark and the other rangers did stop by the city over the course of the last few months, but after they left, they were never seen or heard from again." Mormont took a deep breath as he processed the news. Though this wasn't the answer he hoped for, it was better than nothing. Uncertainty weighed heavily, but at least they knew Benjen and the others had made it that far. Now, the hard question, what had happened after they left?
Mormont rubbed his beard, eyeing the messenger. "Did they move any direction that you could tell from the reports there?"
"West, Commander," the messenger replied. "The men at New Valhalla said they took supplies and went further out. Past the Milkwater and toward the Frostfangs."
The Lord Commander looked over his crew. Alliser Thorne was not with them. He'd stayed at Castle Black, scheming and cursing every day the Lord Commander was gone. "Doubt we'll have an easy time once it gets colder," Mormont said. "We need to push even further. We can't afford to wait."
Qhorin Halfhand nodded his head. "We need to be careful about the supposed Night King that the Imperials have seen," he said not really wanting to believe that such a thing actually existed. "I have encountered one of those White Walkers myself during one of my trips beyond the wall, but I don't much believe in this Night King until I see him personally." Everybody pretty much had the same opinion on the matter as it was easier to believe something that you have personally seen rather than something you heard from another person.
Commander Mormont sent several scouting parties out to try and find something related to the missing Rangers and find the gathering of Wildlings. If the Wildlings were gathering in mass, then he wanted to know so that he could call for assistance from the other Southern Kings to help defend the wall.
After the meeting, Jon was chosen by Qhorin to accompany one of the scouting parties.
A few days later.
Jon crouched behind a ridge of snow-covered stone, eyes on the clearing below them. Qhorin had sent him and Stonesnake ahead to scout a wildling camp nestled in a grove. Just a small fire and three tents, no more than a handful of people. Jon's heart pounded in his chest. This was his first real mission outside Castle Black without the security of numbers.
They waited for dusk, then crept down in silence.
Jon tackled one of the wildlings to the ground as Ghost charged forward. Swords clashed and arrows flew. Stonesnake slit a man's throat before the second even knew they were under attack. Jon wrestled with the last, a girl.
She fought savagely and was younger than he'd expected, her hair a wild tangle of red. She tried to bite him. Jon slammed her down, pressing the edge of Longclaw against her throat.
"I yield!" she shouted. "I yield, crow!"
Breathing hard, Jon glanced at Stonesnake. "This one's alive."
Stonesnake looked unimpressed. "She's a wildling."
"She yielded," Jon said.
Stonesnake scowled. "Then you kill her quick. We don't take prisoners." Jon hesitated. His grip on the sword didn't loosen. "We might learn something."
"Your call," Stonesnake said, already moving to loot the other corpses.
Jon pulled the girl to her feet. "What's your name?"
She glared at him. "Ygritte. Of the free folk."
He tied her hands and walked her up the slope. She didn't stop talking the entire time. "You lot know nothing, with your Wall and your vows. You think you're so high and mighty, but you know nothing."
By the time they made camp, Jon was already questioning himself. That night, he stood over her, blade in hand. Stonesnake was asleep. The wind hissed through the rocks. Ygritte stared at him without fear.
"Do it," she said. "You crows don't spare wildlings."
Jon stared down at her, then slowly cut her bindings. "Run."
She blinked. "What?"
"Go," Jon said. "Before I change my mind."
She backed away, then sprinted into the trees without saying another word. Stonesnake never found out and thought Jon found the courage to kill the woman.
However, two days later, they were ambushed by a Wildling party.
Ygritte had told them, of course. Jon didn't blame her. It was what any of them would've done. They were surrounded in the pass. Qhorin fought like a madman, hacking through two men before he was forced back. But it was too late. They were captured and bound.
They marched for a day before they reached the main wildling host, thousands of them, camped under the shadow of the Frostfangs. Jon saw things he hadn't imagined, tents built like small wooden houses, wildlings from dozens of clans united under one man. And leading them all: Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall.
But it wasn't Mance who came to see Jon first. It was the women that he had let go.
Ygritte stood in the firelight that night, arms crossed, lips twisted in between amusement and suspicion.
"You let me go," she said. "Why?"
"I didn't want to kill you." he said plainly.
"Kindness'll kills you quicker than a sword," she said. "You're lucky it was me you spared."
Jon didn't answer as he was thinking about a way to escape.
That night, Qhorin spoke quietly. "They'll test you. They won't trust you unless they believe you've turned. You understand what that means?"
Jon nodded slowly. "They'll want me to kill you."
"Yes." Qhorin looked at him dead in the eye. "And you will."
Jon shook his head. "There has to be another way."
"There isn't." That night Jon could barely sleep because of what Qhorin discussed with him. The next morning, they dragged Qhorin into a ring of watching wildlings. They threw a sword at Jon.
"Kill him," they said. "Prove you're not a crow."
Qhorin met his eyes as Jon stepped forward with Longclaw raised. "Forgive me." he said as he prepared to fight.
But, before they could exchange blows with their swords, the fight was interrupted. "The Imperials are here," shouted a man as the Wildlings all stood up and looked to their right. A large group of around 100 Vikings from New Valhalla arrived as they were on their way to search for the White Walkers. This was not the first time that the two sides had met, in fact it is a common occurrence for the two sides to meet despite their differences.
The leader of the group, a Viking by the name of Rollo had stepped forward with his brothers following behind him in a long line formation. Mance approached with his own group of Wildlings.
"What can we do for you this time Rollo." Mance asked as the two had met many times over the course of the last year.
"We're on our little expedition to make sure that the White Walkers and the Night King haven't killed everybody within this camp. I must say I am quite surprised since your just sitting ducks out here in the open." Mance didn't respond as it was a little friendly banter between the two.
"Might as well start calling me brother with all the times you've come to check up on us."
"Folk will start talking if they realize just how often we come to visit you." Rollo said as he looked around. "We're going to continue checking places for any movement. Better warn the other clans that we might be stopping by." Mance had a serious expression as he asked, "Have you seen anything yet? The last group you sent down our way said they saw more Walkers down south." Rollo thought for a moment before answering.
"A few small groups," he replied. "Nothing organized. But they're not far." Mance nodded. "They've killed enough of us already. That's one thing we can't let them do more of." He and Rollo spoke as though they weren't about to take each other's head off at the first chance.
"If it gets too dangerous, we're going to take climb that wall and seek safety in the South." Mance stated.
"As we talked about before, any attack on the wall is something that I would not recommend. The emperor hasn't stated his stance on the matter, but if you march against the wall that will be akin to marching against the North and you may find yourself facing something scarier than those Walkers and the Night King." threatened Rollo.
Mance nodded, understanding, but he also had thousands of people to look after. "You say this, but my priority is my people first. Plus, by the time your emperor gets here, we'll have climbed the wall already."
Rollo nodded his head in understanding as what Mance said is what somebody in his position should say. But it was also his fault for not accepting the emperor's offer of protection several months ago. "Fair enough, just make sure you know what you're doing before you do it."
Jon watched in disbelief. Ygritte saw the look on his face. "You southerners know nothing," she laughed. "Mance is a man like any other." Jon was still shocked as he thought that these wildlings were savages who enjoyed killing everything in their path. They were nothing like what he heard on his travels. They were just people like the rest of them trying to survive.
Looking past Mance at Jon and Qhorin, Rollo's eyes shot up in surprise. "What do we have here,"
"Just two men in Black who attacked and killed a few of our scouts. They were captured a few days ago and brought here." replied Mance. The Imperials were playing both sides and had remained neutral when it came to conflicts between the two sides.
However, Rollo knew that it wouldn't take much for them to pick one side or the other. It was all about who they favored and or what was happening. He looked at Jon's face and recognized who he was. He was one of the people that had gained the interest of the emperor and was being watched by the Shadowhand agents. So, if he was here, then the Shadowhand were close by, and he didn't need to do anything.
"Well," he stated. "We won't keep you any longer Mance," Rollo said as the two sides went about their business.
When they were gone, Mance resumed what they were doing before, resulting in Jon killing Qhorin, making the Wildlings believe that he wanted to join them.