Eagle of the Valley of Ice and Fire.

Chapter 288 The Last Hearth City
When Morse Umber first saw the Night's Watch messenger coming from the Wall, he concluded that he was a hateful deserter who deserved to be pecked to death by crows.

The black wool sweater was already tattered, and the few remaining rings on the armor were covered with marks from swords and knives. The thick black woolen cloak looked like it had been mated with a White Walker from the Haunted Forest, or maybe a mountain cat, who knows; in any case, the teeth were all good.

"Traitor," Mors Umber looked at the Night's Watch coldly. The man from the Wall had gray hair on his temples and almost no hair on his forehead. The rings of time had carved traces on his face. "Tell me, what are your last words? I will chop off your head with my own hands in the castle square, and let everyone in Last Hearth City witness the price of betrayal! Tell me, how did the sworn wild king Mance Rayder scare you so much!"

The night watchman raised his head fearfully. The man who was speaking in front of him was two heads taller than him. A thick white cloak hung behind him. Snow bear skin! He couldn't help swallowing his throat. This kind of beast was terrifying enough even in the north of the Wall.

But a dirty white leather eye patch instantly put the night watchman's heart at ease.

One eye, snow bear cape, Amber's family emblem.

Morse "Crowfood" Umber, as the Night's Watchmen thought, was a warrior of the House of Umber, equally famous both north and south of the Wall.

"Lord Mors," the Night's Watch lowered his head and saluted awkwardly. He came from the south and knew some of the Common Language, but knew nothing about the daily habits of the Northerners. He could only get a glimpse of it from the actions of his fellow Night's Watchmen. Now he could barely understand the accent of the Northerners, but the people of the Umber family obviously had a different accent in the North, which seemed more primitive. "I'm here to ask for help. Castle Black is in danger."

"A request for help from Castle Black?"

"A request for help from, ahem, the acting lord of Castle Black, Lord Jon Snow."

Morse Umber was silent for a long time, staring into the eyes of the Night Watchman.

It was not until the Night's Watch felt as if his whole body was being caressed, entangled, and even strangled by countless White Walkers' little hands that Morse Umber spoke out to rescue him.

"Snow, the illegitimate son of Lord Eddard," Morse hesitated for so long, and it turned out that he was reminiscing. "I remember he was not very old."

"Lord Snow is young. Lord Donal Noye pledged his life to him and entrusted him with the defense of Castle Black."

Morse frowned. "Donal Noye? He's dead? The one-armed warrior?"

The Night's Watchman nodded, his fear of being mistaken for a deserter and beheaded vanishing. "Mance Rayder and his army of wildlings attacked Castle Black, and Lord Donal Noye died in the tunnels of Castle Black."

"Great warrior, may the old gods bless him." Morse squatted down and helped the night watchman up.

"You have a place by my hearth, brother Blackshirt," Morse said, meeting the grateful gaze of the Night's Watch. "Tell me what your Lord Snow would like from me. Come to the castle and tell me."

By the time the team arrived at the Last Hearth City from the northern mountains near the New Gift, they were exhausted. However, the Night's Watch noticed that Crowfood, who had been walking at the front of the team, still looked energetic.

Many civilians pushed carts and blocked the wooden fence of the Last Hearth City. It was visibly that the number of Amber's guards was less than half of the previous number. They were trying hard to maintain order.

"This year's harvest is too little!" These words kept coming out of the laborers' team.

There are also some about the wild men: "I will never go to Changhu to harvest wheat again. There are more and more wild men crossing the Great Wall. I really don't know what the black shirt brothers are doing."

The Night's Watchman shrank back at this, but Morse Umber seemed oblivious to it.

He still remembered that when the wildlings invaded the south, all of Crowfood's sons were killed, but the Night's Watch was too lazy at that time. By the time they realized that the wildlings had crossed the Wall and organized troops to support them, the war was already over.

He remembered that during the Battle of Long Lake, the Umber family was the vanguard under Duke Stark and suffered the heaviest casualties.

By the time the night watchmen enjoyed their meal, dusk had already fallen. Finally, a few candles were lit in the main hall of Hearth City. The candlelight flickered as Morse chewed a piece of fish head that he had caught from Seal Bay, making a "crunching" sound in his mouth.

"Tell me your name, child."

"Danna, just call me Danna. I'm an officer of the Black Castle."

"Lord Snow's plan." Morse Umber was always straightforward.

Danner put down the dry bacon and wiped his mouth. "Lord Cotter Pyke of Eastwatch is preparing to lead a team to support Castle Black and attack from the side, but there is a high possibility of exposure."

"Without the support of the organization, it is obvious that we are exposed." Danner did not shut up, but continued: "Lord Snow guessed this result, and Cotter Pyke is willing to cooperate as a feint attack team."

"How could an ironborn abandon a warm castle?" Mors Umber sneered, revealing his yellow teeth.

These words made Danner nervous. He pursed his lips, feeling a little overwhelmed.

Morse Amber's eyes flashed with admiration, "Feint attack, it seems that this Lord Snow is not like other bastards, at least he is not a waste who gives up on himself."

"He is not!" Dana suddenly shouted.

Morse narrowed his eyes and looked at him. "So, Lord Snow intends to use the Night's Watch brothers in Eastwatch to attract the attention of the traitor Mance Rayder, and then ask me to be the main force to take down Mance Rayder's head?"

"No, you may have misunderstood." Officer Dana obviously felt that this was a suicide mission and quickly waved his hand to deny it.

"I have no choice but to accept the honor bestowed by the Old Gods. I am the only one who can take Mance Rayder's head!"

Morse spoke in a serious tone under Danner's surprised gaze.

"Brother." An untimely voice came from the side door of the main hall.

Dana couldn't help but turn his head to look over. Since he called "Crow Food" his brother, then who was in front of him?
"Hother," said Morse Umber, "I will lead my men out to the Wall and cut off Mance Rayder's head."

Hother shook his head. "Roose Bolton wrote to tell us to go to the Dreadfort and swear fealty to him."

Morse smiled disdainfully. "The Young Wolf and the Great Jon are still in the south. Bolton wants me to kneel. It is impossible."

Danner kept his mouth shut, knowing that these matters were not something he, as a Night Watch officer, should be involved in.

"Let me put it this way. It looks like the North is basically stable now. If you want to fight the wildlings, just go ahead and leave me a hundred spearmen. If he wants to kneel, I will kneel in front of him to see." Hother said.

Dana really wanted to tell them that the savages at this time were not just harassing in small groups, but there were as many as 100,000 of them!
"I will take all the riders and archers away with me, and then I can become the Kingslayer of the North and chop off the head of the King-Beyond-the-Wall! In a more honorable way!"

"Sir," Danner still chose to remind, "There are probably a lot of savages."

"The Wall is so long that even if he has a lot of people, he can't gather them in one place. Besides, as long as Mance Rayder is killed, no matter how many wildlings there are, they will just be crunchy fish heads in our mouths!" Morse suddenly laughed out loud, and the snow bear cloak behind him trembled, as if even if the beast died and met the gods, it would still be very afraid of the master under its armor.

“Maybe 100,000”

"One hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand? Half a million? Only the White Walkers know how many uncivilized savages there are in the Haunted Forest!" Morse Umber was not afraid at all. He held the sword tightly. "Hother! I only need you to gather 500 people for me! No matter old or young, there is not a single coward among the people in the North raised by the Mojiang River!"

Hother rolled his eyes and touched the chain around his neck that was full of wooden ornaments, just like a maester's chain, "I'm afraid they are all old people. The children and women will have to stay to harvest, or they will have to go to Winterfell to ask for food."

"Let that damn old Flayed one go! The Dreadfort won't suffer much loss, just let them out!" Morse couldn't sit still at all, so he stood up and left the main hall.

Danner stood up carefully, bowed to Hosser Umber, and followed Morse Umber away.

"Then I have to go there myself." Hother muttered to himself.

Morse "Crowfood" Umber was driven by his inextricable hatred for the wildlings beyond the Wall since the Battle of the Long Lake. Nearly five hundred veterans were led out of the Last Hearth by him (which was also seen as a wise choice to preserve the strength of the Umber family). Hother Umber, who was sent to the Dreadfort to kneel and pledge allegiance to Roose Bolton, was not so lucky. The Dreadfort intercepted all the ravens heading to the Last Hearth, so that the Umber family had no idea of ​​the situation south of the Dreadfort.

At this time, the situation in the kingdoms south of the Neck was gradually returning to stability based on the alliance of the Eagle, Flower and Lion (this was the view of most scholars before not many people mentioned the importance of the Iron Men), but the vast northern border was in a huge crisis.

——"The Millennium Grudge between the Direwolf and the Skinner"

(End of this chapter)