Chapter 498 The Secret of the White Walkers

 The snow on the Great Wall has become lighter, and fine snowflakes are flying in the air.

 But the north wind still blows from the land of eternal winter, like the breath of the ice dragon in the legend, never stopping.

 The night time has taken up two-thirds of the day, and it is still increasing. I don’t know when the sun will no longer rise.

Samwell walked alone on the top of the Great Wall, and the ice wall beneath his feet shone blue and white in the sun.

On a cloudy day, it looks no different from a white rock. On a dark night, it is as inconspicuous as a lump of coal. But on a sunny day, the Great Wall shines like crystal, and every gap is lit by the sun, like ice. The seal is as brilliant and magnificent as a rainbow.

The lifting iron cage stopped with a creaking sound, and two figures came out.

 “What a coincidence, Mance.” Samwell smiled at the King Beyond the Wall and his sister-in-law, “and Miss Var.”

 “Caesar.” Mance Rayder greeted him indifferently.

A few days ago, after Samwell burned the Horn of Winter in the hall of Castle Black and used strong pressure to force many wildling leaders to kneel and surrender, the King Beyond the Wall still insisted not to kneel.

However, although he did not kneel down, he took the initiative to stay on the Great Wall to assist the Night Watch in fending off the White Walkers.

 Wa'er also stayed.

This "savage princess" is all in white, wearing white woolen breeches and high bleached leather boots. A white bearskin cloak is draped over her shoulders, and underneath is a white sweater sewn with bone needles.

 Even her breath was white.

 Only his eyes are blue, as bright as stars.

 “Caesar, your crows are really dishonest.” Val said.

 “You mean the night watchmen? They were rude to you?”

"Someone broke into my camp last night and I beat him out." Wa'er patted the long bone dagger on his waist. "Next time someone comes, they will leave some souvenirs."

 Samwell smiled and said:

“Next time something like this happens again, I suggest you castrate him so that you won’t be able to break your oath.”

 “Good idea!” Vale smiled.

I have to say that this savage princess is indeed beautiful, and she has a wildness that the eldest ladies in the southern castle lack. No wonder some night watchers are so excited that they can't control themselves.

“However, if the women of our free people can be stolen by a man relying on his strength, we will marry him willingly.” Vaer said, his blue eyes staring at the king in front of him, revealing a hint of provocation.

 Samwell smiled inwardly.

It’s a pity that he is not in the mood to steal a wildling princess back to warm his bed. It has been too quiet outside the Great Wall these days, and there are no traces of white ghosts and corpses. This strange calm gives him an ominous premonition.

 “Do you think the White Walkers are intelligent?” Samwell changed the subject.

“Should be smarter than some of the Southerners,” Val said angrily. Looks extremely cute.

"The White Walkers do have intelligence," Mance Rayder said. "The wights are essentially dead people, but the White Walkers are not. They are strange and beautiful, like elves made of ice, elegant and dangerous."

 Samwell rubbed his chin and said:

“If the White Walkers are intelligent and can think, their actions must have a purpose. So, what is the purpose of the White Walkers going south?”

"What is the purpose of the sun rising in the east and setting in the west?" Val asked rhetorically, "What is the purpose of midsummer ending and the arrival of winter?"

"You don't understand what I mean." Samwell explained, "The rise and fall of the sun and the changes in the seasons are natural phenomena and have no purpose. But intelligent creatures are different. Lions hunt to fill their stomachs, and mice dig holes to hide. Natural enemy, then why did the White Walkers go south?"

"Bringing cold and death to the world?" Val said in a guessing tone.

 Samwell shrugged, obviously not convinced by this reason.

 “For revenge,” Mance Rayder said.

 “Revenge?” Samwell became a little more interested, “Do the White Walkers have enmity with humans?”

 “Do you know the origin of the White Walkers?” Mance asked.

“Someone told me that they are servants of the cold god.” Samwell said, but his tone revealed disdain.

"The red witch told you," Mance said, "but there is another version circulating among the free people."

The King Beyond the Wall put his hand on the ice wall of the Great Wall, looked towards the mist-shrouded north, and continued:

“You should know that the Children of the Forest are the earliest aboriginal people in Westeros. They have supernatural powers, know magic, can communicate with wild beasts, like to carve human faces on weirwood, and worship them as gods.

More than 10,000 years ago, the ancestors came to Westeros from the Eastern Continent through the unbroken Dorne Arm. They cut down trees, burned the forest, and hunted animals. As a result, a war broke out with the children of the forest who loved nature.

It is said that the alien ghosts were created by the children of the forest who inserted dragon crystal daggers into the chests of the ancestors and then used magic to create them.

But later, the White Walkers lost control and became a threat to all life. The First Men and the Children of the Forest had to put aside their hatred of each other, signed a peace covenant on Thousand Faces Island, and joined forces to drive the White Walkers to the land of eternal winter and built a The Great Wall has set up the Night's Watch to prevent the White Walkers from coming back.

 So, the White Walkers are actually messengers of vengeance created by the Children of the Forest. From the beginning of their birth, they have only one purpose, which is to destroy mankind. "

"I've heard that," said Samwell, "but I have a question."

 “What’s the question?”

“The White Walkers were weapons of war created by the Children of the Forest to deal with the ancestors, but apparently they lost control. In other words, they should have awakened their wisdom and escaped the control of the Children of the Forest.

 In this case, the White Walkers should hate themselves as children of the forest, right? If you want revenge, you should go to the Children of the Forest. If you want destruction, then you should, well, this is not necessary. The Children of the Forest are almost extinct now.

 As for humans, they probably don’t have any deep hatred against the White Walkers. "

Mance Rayder fell silent upon hearing this.

 At this time, Wa'er said: "Maybe they want to go home."

 “Go home?” Samwell looked at the wildling princess thoughtfully.

"Yes." Val explained, "If the White Walkers evolved from the ancestors, south of the Great Wall is their hometown. They have accumulated strength in the land of eternal winter for thousands of years, perhaps just to break through the Great Wall. go home."

"Go home..." Samwell chewed on this guess and suddenly showed a strange smile, "Have you been to Craster's fortress?"

Val shook his head: "Although Custer is a free citizen outside the Great Wall, we don't want to associate with him. He provides a place for the night watchmen and has married more than ten wives, many of whom are his own daughters. "

"I have been there," Mance said, "Custer is indeed a shameless guy. Although free people have no laws and regulations, they will not marry their own daughters. Oh, the gods will never tolerate this kind of behavior. Look, he is indeed dead."

Samwell said: "Then have you noticed that he is the only man in Custer's fortress?"

“He has a strong desire to protect his wives and doesn’t want to share them with other men.” Mance said.

 “What about his sons?” Samwell continued.

Mance then realized something was wrong.

Samwell said: "Not long ago, the patrol led by the previous Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jeor Mormont, settled in Craster's fortress, and a conflict broke out between the two sides. Have you heard about this?"

 “Hmm. Someone violated guest rights.”

 “No, someone snooped into Custer’s secret.”

 “What secret?”

Samwell said: "This guy Custer has more than ten wives. When he gave birth to a daughter, he married her and gave birth to a son."

 “Kill?”

“No, Craster sacrificed his sons to the White Walkers.”

 Var frowned: "Sacrifice your son to the White Walkers? What to do?"

“Have you ever thought about how the White Walkers reproduce?” Samwell asked.

 Wa'er reacted immediately:

“Did the White Walkers take Craster’s sons to transform them into White Walkers?”

"It's possible." Mance Rayder nodded, but soon he shook his head and said, "No. Most of the free people outside the Great Wall are descendants of the First Men. Why do the White Walkers only want Craster's sons? "

 Samwell’s tone became darker:

 “Mance, do you know Custer’s last name?”

  Mance Rayder shook his head:

“I only heard that Craster was the son of an oath-breaker, and that’s why he has been helping the Night’s Watch.”

Waer looked at the king curiously:

 “Do you know the origin of Custer?”

 Samwell did not answer this question, but turned to look south.

Although there is only the Great Wall between them, the north and the south seem to be two different worlds.

"The White Walkers were transformed from the ancestors, but perhaps not all the ancestors can be transformed into White Walkers." Samwell said, "Custer married his own daughter, probably to keep the bloodline pure."

"Which bloodline?" Val's curiosity became more and more intense, "What is Custer's last name?"

"I don't know either." Samwell shook his head, "I just have some guesses."

Samwell's heart became heavier and heavier when he thought about the strange things in the catacombs of Winterfell.

Contacting the origin of the White Walkers and Val's conjecture about "going home", his worries about a certain possibility became more intense.

 Finally, Samwell spoke:

"Mance, although we have many differences, we obviously agree on guarding the Great Wall. Therefore, I hope you can send a trustworthy elite army to station near Winterfell. If anything unusual is found..."

"You don't trust Stark?" Mance reacted almost immediately, "Is Craster a descendant of a certain Stark? The White Walkers must have the blood of a Stark to transform?"

 Samwell made no answer.

 But his expression already gave the answer.

Mance took a deep breath and thought about this possibility carefully, and the expression on his face became solemn:

“The Great Wall was built to guard against the White Walkers. Judging from their unusually quiet situation these days, the White Walkers may not be able to forcefully break through this ice wall. But if there are their internal agents within the Great Wall…”

"Eddard Stark will not betray me." Samwell said, "The same goes for the living Starks today. But those dead Starks..."

"What? Can the dead still come back to life?" Wa'er said with a smile, but she couldn't laugh after she finished speaking.

Can bring the dead back to life, isn't it the specialty of the White Walkers?

"I have been to the catacombs in Winterfell." Samwell continued, "The situation there seems not to be good. It is not convenient for me to send my own men to Winterfell, as this will cause misunderstanding to the Stark family. So. …”

 “That’s why you want me to send someone.”

"Yes."

Mance snorted softly: "No wonder the temporary residence you arranged for us free people who don't want to kneel is Wolfwood. It's close to Winterfell, so it's convenient for us to arrange troops to monitor the Stark family, right? "

　　Samwell nodded in acknowledgement.

"Okay, I will make arrangements." Mance said, "But what about your army? You won't just rely on the Night's Watch and us free folk to guard the Great Wall, right?"

“The vanguard is almost here,” Samwell said. “They have also brought a large number of dragon crystal weapons, and some will be distributed to you when the time comes.”

"Okay. What about your real army? I heard that you have gathered an army of 200,000 in King's Landing. When will they arrive?"

"It depends on the situation." Samwell said with some helplessness. "An expedition of two hundred thousand troops to the Great Wall is too expensive. Now that winter has arrived, food is already in short supply. Therefore, unless a war really breaks out on the Great Wall, these two An army of 100,000 will not move lightly.”

Mance pursed his lips, but then nodded to express his understanding:

"Okay. However, now that we know that Stark may have a problem, should the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch be replaced?"

"No," said Samwell, "I trust Eddard Stark."

Waer raised his eyebrows:

“Do you trust me enough to bet on the fate of all mankind?”

 Samwell smiled slightly:

 “I trust you so much too.”

Var stopped talking now and just stared at the king with his beautiful blue eyes.

 At this moment, the lifting iron cage made a sound again.

The three of them looked back and saw Eddard Stark, the Commander-in-Chief of the Night Watch whom they had just discussed, walking over quickly.

Ed also noticed that the three people looked at him a little strangely, but he did not ask any more questions. Instead, he handed a letter to the king and said:

"Your Majesty, you have a letter from King's Landing, bearing the seal of the King's Hand."

Samwell took the letter, opened it and quickly read it aside. A smile appeared on his face at first, but then he frowned.

Wa'er was curious and couldn't help but ask:

"What's wrong?"

"My queen has given birth to a little princess." Samwell put the letter away.

 “This is a good thing.” Waer smiled.

Mance and Ed also opened their mouths to congratulate.

“A dragon egg was born with the princess,” Samwell continued, “but it was stolen.”

 The three of them also frowned when they heard this.

Samwell thought for a moment and said:

"I am returning to King's Landing. Lord Eddard, you are solely responsible for the defense of the Wall."

 “Yes, Your Majesty.” Ed responded.

 Samwell added:

“By the way, I hope to bring Bran Stark with me when I return to King’s Landing this time. Is it convenient?”

 “Bran?” Ed was stunned for a moment, “Your Majesty, what are you taking him for?”

"I like Bran very much." Samwell said nonchalantly, "And I think King's Landing may be more suitable for him than the Wall."

Ed thought of his disabled son and understood that the path of knighthood had been closed to him. Perhaps the courtier was Bran's destination.

 Thereupon, he bowed and saluted, saying:

"Yes, Your Majesty. It is an honor for the Stark family that Bran can win your favor."

 (End of this chapter)