Recognition
Every morning at sunrise, Jon practices warging with Ghost. Njara is a good teacher. Her advice is sparse, but when she comments, it is accurate.
Currently, Jon is practicing warging at a larger distance and he can be a couple tents away from Ghost now. He hasn’t been able to do more than switch his vision yet, but he is able to hold it longer every time.
He wants to learn to control Ghost, the same way Njara guides Drogo, but she thinks he is not ready yet.
She laugh. “Jon, I have been warging since I could walk. It takes time. Time and practice. Now go again.”
—
“Tormund! Tormund!”
“Ygritte! Where have you been?” He looks at her skeptically. “Did you leave the camp again?”
“Don’t be mad, Tor! I got information. I listened to some Crows for hours last night.”
She pauses. “I think they were talking about Jon at some point.”
“What? Tell me.”
“There were two of them. One was called Benjen and he was asking about a woman. A long time ago, they said fifteen years. That is springs in Southern, right?”
“Calm down, Ygritte. You’re not making much sense.”
“They talked about Free Folk taking an old woman, a girl and a baby. It has to be about Jon and Tiffany! This Benjen was talking about something with his brother, but he didn’t wanna say much to the other Crow.”
“Anything else they said? About us?”
“They spoke to someone called Craster and he had mentioned Mance, but they didn’t believe him.”
“That’s good, Ygritte, that’s really good!”
“Oh and the Crows also talked about empty settlements, but they don’t know why people are leaving.”
“Anything else, Yg?”
She stares at him and he is shocked to find something like fear in her eyes. His friend Ygritte does not get scared. Even the White Walkers did not appear to phase her much.
“This Benjen. His face.” She pauses. “Tor, he looked like Jon!”
“You mean dark hair? Many Southerners have dark hair, Ygritte.”
“No, no, no. He looked like Jon. Same pretty face, but older. Same hair, no doubt. I didn’t see his eyes well and it was dark, but-”
“Ygritte, you say it yourself. It was dark.”
“No. This Crow was older, but he looked like Jon. I am sure.”
Tormund sighs. “Don’t tell Jon, alright? No one wants to hear they look like a Crow.”
He walks away. He must speak to Mance Rayder about what she has seen.
—
“I need to speak to you in private, Mance.”
Mance looks at Tormund and can see he is serious, so he asks the other occupants of the tent to leave.
“What happened?”
“One of my hunters spotted some Crows southwards and going wallwards. She overheard them talking. The Crows have also discovered the many empty settlements.”
“They were so close? And didn’t find us?”
“Famously the Crows have bad eyesight.” Tormund laughs.
“Maybe we should move the camp.”
Tormund hesitates. “Do you remember Jon?”
“Aye, the dark haired stag killer. I hear he has a direwolf now and a Thenn is teaching him warging?”
“Aye, he is a man of many animals.” Tormund grins proudly, before turning serious. “When you first saw him, you thought he looked like someone. Who did you see?”
“Your father didn’t tell you? Hmmm. I told him the boy looked like a Stark. Have you heard of the Starks, Tormund?”
“Southern lords, no?”
“Yes, but one of them is currently the First Ranger of the Night’s Watch. His name is Benjen Stark.”
Benjen. “He is the King Crow?”
“Almost, the second in command. That boy looks like him, but all those Starks look alike. He could be a bastard or a cousin. I asked your father where he came from, but he didn’t want to answer.”
“Jon came from the other side of the Wall.” Tormund sighs. “When I was seven, a sparrow came to our village. It was the first one I ever saw. They don’t fly that high North as you know. This one had a red ribbon tied to its leg. My father called all the hunters and the next morning, they left at dawn. Two Moons later, they came back with Tiffany and the baby. Jon. No one wanted to answer any questions and my father was silent for Moons after.”
He pauses. “If things had gone like always, he would have told me the truth. But he didn’t and now he’s dead.”
“I am sure that boy is something special to Lord Stark.” Mance says carefully. “If necessary, we could use him to bargain.”
“No! Jon is of the North now.” Tormund feels his anger rising. “He doesn’t belong with Southerners! You should have seen him slay that stag twice his height. Jon is free. I will not let you take him.”
He comes closer to Mance. “If you try anything, I will kill you. I will rip you to pieces and feed you to the fucking direwolf. Do you understand?”
“I am not your enemy, Tormund, but I will do whatever it takes to keep us safe. Fact is, the Iced Ones are coming and there is nothing we can do to stop them. The only chance we have is down South, against the Crows.” Mance sighs. “I fear we will see very ugly things before we can be safe against the White Walkers.”
Tormund stays quiet. He knows that Mance is right.
“I want you to take a small band of hunters and stalk more Crows. We need to know all that they know.” He locks eyes with Tormund. “We also need to divert them if they come too close to our camp. Do you understand?”
Tormund nods and quickly walks out. His father was right not to trust Mance Rayder, but he has no choice. It is better to know what the old Crow is up to, even if he hates following someone’s commands.
—
Ygritte stalks ahead of the group. By now, she knows the lay of the land better than any of them.
Jon walks between Ghost and Tormund. His friend has been quiet lately and there is a wrinkle on his forehead from worrying. He is happy to be going somewhere, even if Tormund forbade him to bring his sword.
“It is a scouting mission, little wolf. We’re not killing anyone today.”
Jon looks at Ghost. The white direwolf almost reaches his waist now. Jon has grown out of his clothes last month, but he cannot stay ahead from the wolf.
“What if a Crow attacks me? Do I kill him then?”
“Of course, you brought your axe, no?”
“And what if they take me? To their Crow Castle?”
“They won’t. I have seen you run, Jon. You’re quick and slippery. Besides I have told you what to do during capture.”
“Lie.”
“Right, lie so much that they will not be able to find out anything. Lying is necessary to the Crows.”
They see Ygritte press against a jagged rock and they move next to her. On their other flank, Tygride leads two more hunters and they take cover too.
Jon lays his ear on the stone and listens. The Crows are moving westwards and there’s eight of them. On horseback.
“Are you sure of this way?”
“It is what the woman said.”
“More like screamed! It was a tough old goat, but we got it out of her.”
“Only two fingers. Not bad aye, Qhorin?”
“Shut your fucking mouth!”
They pass. They are headed straight to the camp. Even the Crows will not be able to miss it. Quickly, Tormund helps Ygritte to climb on the rock. She takes aim. On the other rock Tygride does the same.
They fire two whistle arrows into the behinds of two horses. They reload and aim as one. Their arrows cause great chaos among the Crows as they struggle to keep their horses under control. Two Crows get thrown off.
Tormund gives the sign and their band noisily climbs down from the rocks, before heading into the downhill forest.
“Wildlings!”
“Get them!”
“My horse! It’s running away!”
Jon can hear the hoof beats as the remaining riders get closer and he sprints to hide behind a big pine tree.
He hears whizzing and groaning and he knows that Ygritte’s arrow found her target. He does not know where Tormund or any others are, but he holds still and grabs his axe tightly.
He hears rustling coming closer and quickly looks past the tree.
“Hey!” The rider spots him and Jon starts running between the trees. He moves so the horse cannot follow him and climbs quickly in thick branches. His heart is racing and he can feel it in his ears.
The rider approaches slowly, but does not look up. Jon bides his time and tries not to breathe too loudly.
The rider is in the right spot and Jon moves, but the tree creaks and the rider looks up as Jon jumps down.
The man grips Jon’s wrist and smashes it against the trees. He screams out in pain and drops his axe.
“Son of a Thenn! Bitch Crow, let go off me!” Jon starts to bite and scratch and squirm in the arms of the Crow.
The Crow grips his wrist tighter and looks at Jon. For a moment Jon stills and stares back into eyes very much like his own.
Then he screams, “Attack!” and Ghost jumps out to bite into the leg of the rider.
“Ow, son of a bitch!” Jon uses the distraction to wrestle himself loose and he sprints away into the forest, whistling for Ghost to follow him.
Benjen remains behind, trying to calm his horse and clutching his bleeding leg.
Looks like he found Jon after all.
—
It takes Jon a long time to stop running. His wrist hurts and his heart feels like it is trying to leave his chest.
“Jon! Are you alright?”
He hugs Tormund tightly for some moments.
“Little wolf, you’re scaring me.”
“It’s nothing, Tor. I’m just happy to see you.” Jon lets go of his friend and smiles at him. “Is everyone else safe?”
“Tygride took a blow to her shoulder, but everyone made it out. More importantly, the Crows didn’t make it in. We took down five horses and injured the remaining riders.”
He pauses. “Jon, what happened? Are you hurt?”
“Smacked my wrist against a tree is all. Don’t worry, Ghost got him.”
Tormund starts to fuss over Jon’s wrist. Normally, he would be embarrassed, but Jon decides he quite likes the attention of Tormund’s big gentle hands and his worried gaze. He blushes a bit and Tormund pretends not to notice.