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Robb Returns by The Dark Scribbler
 Books » A song of Ice and Fire Rated: K+, English, Fantasy & Adventure, Eddard S./Ned, Robb S., Theon G., Domeric B., Words: 627k+, Favs: 6k+, Follows: 6k+, Published: Jul 16, 2015 Updated: Sep 287,744Chapter 59
Tormund
He wondered where the bloody hell Mance was and then dismissed it. The man would turn up eventually. He didn't like the fact that he'd gone South so quickly, telling others that he had to talk to the Stark in Winterfell, but then he'd had trouble not following him after he had heard The Call. It had gone through the Free Folk camps like a bolt of lightning.
Oddly enough something had also gone through the Giants, all of whom seemed… shaken. "Old Ways awaken," Wun Wun had told him in the Old Tongue not long afterwards. "Old things awaken. Good and bad. Magic comes." And then the shaggy giant had shrugged and wandered off.
He ducked under the lintel of the hut and looked around the camp. It was a fine day, if a little colder than the day before. The camp had grown again overnight and the sentries had reported that a new group had come in an hour or so past dawn.
Sigorn, the son of the Magnar of Thenn, was standing off to one side, talking to a messenger on a shaggy little horse. As Tormund approached the rider nodded to Sigorn and then booted the horse into a walk and then a trot.
"Trouble?" Tormund asked.
"Ach, word from Thenn. My father wants me to go to the Wall and meet with the Stark. He'd better have that bloody Fist."
He eyed the tattooed man worriedly. He had no idea what the bloody hell he was talking about. The Thenn kept mentioning some kind of Fist, but he had no idea what they were talking about, especially as they never explained.
Wun Wun wandered past at that point, clutching a tree trunk with a sharpened base in one hand and a rock in the other. "New hut," he muttered. "Needs stick."
Tormund nodded affably, as it seemed the only thing that he could do. "Rayder will be back in a few days, or so I am told," he said to Sigorn. "And then we will bloody learn what he has been up to in the South. And-"
There was a thudding noise as Wun Wun suddenly dropped the rock he had been using to hammer the trunk into the ground. The giant was sniffing the air with deep snorts of air and what looked like a frown under all that hair. Alarm stirred in him. Was he smelling a threat? He knew that giants had poor sight but a bloody good sense of smell. And Wun Wun was smelling something now.
"What? What's in the wind?" Tormund called.
If anything the giant seemed puzzled. "Riders come," he said eventually. "Our kind. From West. Many. But… who?" He turned to look West, or rather to sniff to the West.
Tormund looked westwards – and then he saw the sentries start to wave and shout on the western edge of the encampment. And then he saw them. Huge figures in the distance. Giants on mammoths, at least a hundred of them. He stared. A hundred? That had to half the number that still even bloody lived. And if Wun Wun didn't know them…
The giant was striding towards the West now and he trotted to join him, Sigorn to one side. "Many of us," Wun Wun said in astonishment as he kept sniffing. "You see?"
"A hundred I'd say. I sees them, Wun Wun. I sees them there."
The giant looked at him in what he now knew was their look of astonishment and then he redoubled his speed. When they reached the edge of the encampment he stopped dead.
Someone in the approaching group must have seen or smelt Wun Wun, because all of a sudden a horn was sounded, loud and brassy. Wun Wun put his hands together and then roared a response back and Tormund could tell that it was a joyful one. The group started to slow, which was good as they were making the bloody ground shake, and then Wun Wun stiffened as he sniffed – and then he broke into a run. Tormund ran with him, baffled.
One of the mounted giants slithered off his mammoth and then ran towards Wun Wun and the two came together in a thud of chest against chest – and then a great roaring bearhug. The two giants seemed to be crying and waling and laughing all at once. Thormund and Sigorn watched, bewildered.
"Brother!" Wun Wun cried eventually through snot and tears. "Brother! Thought dead!"
Tormund looked at Sigorn, who shrugged. "A reunion?"
He looked at the massed ranks of giants. "Didn't think there were this number left in the West. Neither did Wun Wun." By the way that the giant was crying, he was bloody right about that too. And then his brother rumbled something at him, and Wun Wun stiffened again, this time in total shock. He stared at his brother and then rumbled something back at him. There was a long moment of silence and then Wun Wun sniffed the air and then turned to them.
"Tormund-man?"
"Yes?"
"Brother brought… brought a Child."
This was bloody odd. "A bairn? A young one? A young what?"
Wun Wun stared at him, puzzled. "Bairn?"
"What child?"
Wun Wun seemed confused and then talked to his brother again, who then waved his long arms at another giant, who was leading a mammoth. The ground shook a little as they approached and then the giant brought his steed to a halt and then reached up and pulled something down from the saddle. It was… a kind of nest almost of furs, almost half the height of a man, maybe smaller. The giant walked over to them and very gently laid it down.
Tormund peered at it, confused. And then deep within the nest something… stirred. A little hand with three fingers and thumb, all tipped with black nails, reached up and pulled one of the furs to one side. There was a face there. It was brown, almost black, and old. Very old. Like a crone. And then the eyes opened and he almost pissed himself in shock. The eyes were large and green and looked like those of a cat. They also seemed to be very interested in him.
"I know you…" The voice spoke the Old Tongue and was weak but seemed to have great intensity behind it. "I have seen… you before."
"You have?" He paused. He had squeaked. He was Tormund bloody Giantsbane and he did not bloody squeak.
"In... a vision." A sigh emerged from the little creature. "First Man, I am… Heartstring."
"You are one of the Children of the Forest," Sigorn whispered reverently and Tormund felt his own eyes widen in wonder. "But… you were said to have passed from this world. Not even the Thenn have seen any sign of your kind for many long years."
The wizened little face smiled a smile of deep sadness. "We hid, First Man. We hid. We could not… hear the others and it took time… to realise why. We thought that we… were dying. And we were. I am the… last of my clan. There are other clans, but I am… the last of mine. I was protecting… my brothers and sisters here… in the mountains to the West, and before… that beyond."
"Beyond the Frostfangs?" Tormund choked. "Truly?"
"Truly, First Man. Now… listen. I am dying."
The nearby giants made snuffling noises of sadness and grief and Heartstring smiled sadly at them. "I have… lingered too long… already, my friends. But I had… to get you… to safety. To your friends." The little creature looked back at Tormund and pierced him with a gaze that seemed to go right through him. "Where… is the one who… leads you? I must speak… with him."
"Mance Rayder? He is-"
"Here," said a low voice behind him and he turned in relief to see Mance striding up to them, his eyes wide with wonder of his own. "You are one of the Children of the Forest. I am Mance Rayder. I lead here."
"Yes… I saw you too. In a… vision." Another sad smile. "I am… Heartstring. I came to bring… these to you to protect. And I came to… warn you. The ancient enemy… comes. He gathers his… strength for a great… blow. You must flee South… to the Wall. And beyond it."
Mance nodded sharply. "I know. I have spoken to the Stark in Winterfell. He will tell the Night's Watch to allow us past the Wall and into the Gift." He eyed Sigorn. "And he wields the Fist of Winter. I have seen it." The man from Thenn stared at him in shock.
This seemed to bring Heartstring to life for a moment, because a wizened hand emerged and gripped Mance's own hand tightly. "Truly? The Stark… holds The Fist?"
"Truly." Mance smiled. "I have seen it."
The little creature released its grip and then smiled. "Then the… First Men are… indeed awake. The giants… felt something. Magic stirs…" The eyes closed and then opened again. "My time… grows short. My kind have… long lives… but even we can die. Long… years lie on me. Much grief… and much joy.
"Listen to me Mance Rayder. You must… go to the Wall. To… the oldest place there. The place… that is cursed."
"The Nightfort? Why there?"
"You and this… one, bright of hair, must… go. You will meet… others there. The man with… the golden mind and… the boy who died and fell… through time. The Old Gods… grow strong again. They will be… watching. They will… protect you. But you must go there."
"Why? Why the Nightfort?"
"The hidden gate. It must… admit the man you find… North of the Wall there. He must be brought through. Only… then can he lay down his burden. Long… years he has borne it. At… a great cost. He stands… between life… and death. We saved him… long ago. He must… pass on what he bears. Only… then can he sleep."
"I don't understand," Mance muttered. "What does he bear?"
Heartstring sighed bitterly and wearily. He – or was it a she? – seemed to be weakening again. "When the Wall… was built, it was by men…. And with our… help. But the men did… not understand the way… that our magic works… not truly. They erred. They cut the links… between here and… South of the Wall. They could still… see, but we… could not. Long years it took… before it was clear. And when it… was we thought we could… repair it. A great… magic was prepared. But the… man it was entrusted… to, he was found by the Ancient Enemy. They almost… killed him. We… saved him… so to speak. But he could not… pass the Wall. Pass on the… magic he holds. He waits still… driven by his duty. And those men… who knew of him… died. You have such short lives… you First Men. And… short memories. You will know him… when you see… him. And… his… successor."
The Child of the Forest seemed to be sinking fast now. "I… die now… but you must… know something. The Ancient Enemy – his great… blow will come soon. By… the sea. Wights gather… South of the Frostfangs. I felt… it. Magic. Terrible magic… Be warned. Be… watchful… Warn… your people. Warn… The Stark. Watch… the… sea…" Another smile. "Scatter… my… ashes… at the… sacred… hill… place… in the… land… of… the… rivers…"
And with that the hand went limp and the eyes closed. Everyone watched, but the little figure was no longer breathing and after a long moment the giants threw their heads back and wailed at the skies in grief.
"I will build fire," Wun Wun said eventually, wiping his face with his huge hands. "Burn Heartstring."
"I will help," Sigorn said quietly.
As giant and man started work Mance took Tormund to one side. "How many more have come in?"
"Ten more settlements. You really talked to Ned Stark?"
"I did. He knew that the Others have returned. He sent The Call out. The Night's Watch are stirring again – they have volunteers flocking to the Wall. Things have changed, my original plan no longer stands. And yes the Stark said that we can pass South of the Wall."
"What of the Black Crows?"
Mance rubbed at his face. He looked dead tired and more than a bit dirty. He'd been pushing himself hard, he could tell. "They have heard The Call too. And they rely on Ned Stark to call his banners when needed. He told me that he will call his banners against the Others and not on us. And he said that he will make the Night's Watch see that." He paused. "We've been lucky, Tormund. He didn't know about The Call. His father did, and his older brother, but he knew nothing about the warning signs. There's something else. He claims to have been granted a vision of Hopemourne by the Old Gods."
Terror trickled its way up and down Tormund's back. "Really?"
"Really. He described it to me. He described it true. He's been given a warning from the Old Gods, so what he did not know before he knows now. And now, with this…" He gestured at the body of Heartstring. "We have been warned. We must run for the Wall."
Sigorn broke off from building the pyre to join them. "I will send word to my father. The Thenn will march with you. The Fist of Winter and the Stark command us now." He nodded shortly and then went back to the pyre.
"I'll order everyone to prepare," Tormund muttered. "The Wall it is then, and right fast."
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