Lancelot had already sent Ser Kevan ahead to the Bloody Gate to meet Brynden "Blackfish" Tully.
When Lancelot arrived at the Bloody Gate with several wildling chiefs and a portion of his retinue, Blackfish and Ser Kevan had been waiting on the other side of the gate for quite some time.
Upon seeing the Bloody Gate, only one phrase came to Lancelot's mind:
"One man guarding the pass, ten thousand cannot open it."
Except for dragons that could fly, the terrain here made it almost impossible to conquer from the ground.
That was why Lancelot had planned that if the White Walkers proved too strong and the war went poorly for the Seven Kingdoms' coalition, he would lure the White Walkers to the Bloody Gate to fight a war of attrition.
"Ser Lancelot!"
Brynden Tully, a tall man with snow-white hair and a trout cloak fastened with a black fish brooch, addressed Lancelot.
"Ser Brynden," Lancelot replied.
"Ser Kevan has already told me about my appointment as a Knight of the Round Table, but I still need permission from the Warden of the East before I can go with you beyond the Wall," he said.
"You mean the six-year-old boy? Ser Brynden, little Robin is your grand-nephew. But it seems Lady Lysa is the one calling the shots in the Vale now. Rumor has it she's erratic... mentally unstable," Lancelot said.
"Lysa..." Brynden sighed. He knew his niece had become unstable after multiple miscarriages, and her political marriage to Jon Arryn had never been a happy one.
It was hard to say whether the widow and her orphan son could hold the Vale of Arryn.
"The road up the mountain isn't easy, and we can't take so many people at once! Let's spend the night here. Lord Nestor Royce, the High Steward of the Vale, will be joining us as well," Ser Brynden said.
Lancelot took his advice.
That night, Robar Royce told Lancelot legends of the Vale: the duel between the Winged Knight and the Griffin King, the wars between House Arryn and House Royce for the title of King of the Mountain and Vale, and how a branch of the Royce family had split off.
Nestor Royce was a portly man, even fatter than Yohn Royce. He had never participated in a tourney in his life.
However, he had served as Jon Arryn's High Steward of the Vale for decades.
"Ser Lancelot!" Nestor Royce greeted him.
"Lord Steward," Lancelot replied.
"These are troubled times for the Seven Kingdoms. Lord Jon Arryn died less than a year ago, and now King Robert has passed as well."
"Even more terrifying are the White Walkers reviving beyond the Wall. Ser Lancelot, are you really going beyond the Wall to fight them?" Nestor asked.
"Yes. Fighting the White Walkers beyond the Wall is far better than waiting for them to bring down the Wall and fighting them here," Lancelot said.
"If we really can't beat them, I'll retreat step by step. Who knows, maybe we'll use the natural barrier of the Bloody Gate to hold them off," Lancelot added.
"What? Absolutely not! You must win! You absolutely cannot let the White Walkers south of the Neck," Nestor Royce exclaimed.
If the White Walkers actually reached the Vale, they would all be finished.
Nestor Royce began cheering Lancelot on; he didn't want the Vale to be threatened by White Walkers! He had never even killed a man, so how could he possibly deal with White Walkers?
"I appreciate your blessings! We'll do our best! Hahaha!" Lancelot laughed.
The next day, they set out from the Bloody Gate and arrived at the Gates of the Moon, the castle where House Arryn resided in winter. In summer, they lived in the Eyrie.
From the Gates of the Moon, one could see Alyssa's Tears, a waterfall on the western side of the Giant's Lance. It was named after Alyssa Arryn, an ancient woman of House Arryn who, according to legend, watched her husband, brothers, and children be murdered without shedding a single tear.
The gods punished her after death, causing her to weep ceaselessly until her tears watered the black, fertile earth of the Vale below, where her loved ones were buried. Alyssa had been dead for six thousand years, yet not a single drop of the waterfall had ever reached the valley floor.
Lancelot thought Lady Lysa might face some retribution after death as well, perhaps weeping forever like Alyssa, since she had conspired with her lover Littlefinger to murder Jon Arryn.
However, Lancelot knew this wasn't the right time to expose them and have them killed, nor did he have any evidence.
Lancelot had used his "Dreamwalker" ability to investigate the details of Littlefinger and Lysa's plot to kill Jon Arryn, but he couldn't see the entire sequence of events clearly.
He only knew that Littlefinger had obtained the Tears of Lys from Lys and had Lysa put it in Jon Arryn's food. After eating it, Jon Arryn immediately fell into a coma with a high fever, his body burning hot.
This was the "fever" Robert and Pycelle had spoken of; he died quickly. Of course, if Pycelle had genuinely tried to save him, he might have lived. But Pycelle, mistakenly believing Cersei was behind the poisoning, hadn't done his best, leading to Jon Arryn's death.
"Robar, why do they say Alyssa's Tears are still flowing? I see the river from the waterfall flowing into the sea," Lancelot asked.
"It's just a legend, General Lancelot. You don't actually believe it, do you?" Robar asked, surprised that someone like Lancelot would believe in divine punishment.
Lancelot had to believe. Not long ago, he had been burned to death by dragonfire in the cave at Sky-Gazing Summit. Thanks to the protection of the Nine-Colored Deer, he had returned to three hours prior and then devised a plan to kill the last dragon, Sheepstealer.
I wonder if Daenerys has hatched her dragons yet. Without long-distance communication devices, it's really awkward, Lancelot thought.
Far away in the heart of Essos, near the lake the Dothraki called the Womb of the World.
This was the location of the Dothraki holy city, Vaes Dothrak.
Jon Snow had finally arrived here after untold hardships. With the help of Varys's contact, he was posing as a jewel merchant, selling gems in Vaes Dothrak.
Among his wares was a necklace of the finest quality, coated in a lethal poison. According to the plan, he was to sell or gift this necklace to Daenerys Targaryen. If she wore it for a day, the poison would kill her.
But Jon Snow waited for a long time, and his contact never showed up. He had only recently learned that Varys had another informant by Daenerys's side—the one providing Varys with intelligence on her.
Jon Snow had heard of the man's identity: Ser Jorah Mormont, son of the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
Rumor had it that Jorah had been caught selling poachers into slavery. When reported to Winterfell, Eddard Stark had taken his greatsword, Ice, to Bear Island to execute justice.
Hearing wind of this, Jorah Mormont immediately fled with his wife, leaving Westeros for the Free Cities.
Actually, if Eddard Stark with Ice had dueled Jorah Mormont with Longclaw, the odds of Eddard Stark winning wouldn't have been high.