After being bombarded with the crows' cries for two days in a row, Theon and the soldiers stationed at the Hindclaw River had fallen into a state of trance.
Everyone was irritable and Theon even whipped two soldiers who dared to glare at him.
He walked to the water's edge, looked at the river water that was getting colder and colder in the autumn wind, squatted down, scooped up some bitingly cold water with his hands and splashed it on his face.
Compared to others, Theon's consumption was more serious. He not only had to patrol but also supervise others. Now, more and more soldiers were secretly taking naps while he was at work, so he had to put in more effort.
After being stimulated by the cold river water, Theon felt that he had barely struggled out of the boundless sleepiness, but if he was not careful, he would be swallowed by fatigue again.
At this time, a soldier walked up carefully, handed him a dry towel, and asked tentatively: "Sir, how about we report our situation to Lord Robb? It would be best if we could change guard..."
Before he could finish his words, Theon stared at him with his red eyes and said angrily, "What do you want me to say to Robb? That we are almost broken by a flock of crows?"
The soldier stopped talking and slowly stepped aside. Looking at the group of listless soldiers who looked like wilted cucumbers, Theon realized that he couldn't just yell at them. So he calmed himself down and said, "Everyone, hold on for a few more days. Jon has not eaten or drunk anything in the Wolf Forest. He might be too hungry to walk. We'll go into the forest and catch him the day after tomorrow at the latest!"
Some soldiers struggled to get up and didn't even have the energy to answer him, while some were in a trance and couldn't even stop to understand what Theon was saying.
In fact, Jon himself couldn't help but doubt whether these crows were really created by Jon, but he couldn't understand how Jon could master such a strange ability in just two or three months.
Jon, who had been observing them in secret, still had the last Meng Huo experience card in his hand. Now he saw that some soldiers were so sleepy that the screaming of crows alone could not affect them. Jon had to let the crows peck at their bodies in order for it to continue to have an effect.
But this also showed that the time was ripe, so Jon made himself a simple 'H'-shaped raft. On the one hand, it was because this would allow him to cross the river faster, and on the other hand, it was because the river water was too cold.
As the patrolling soldiers had just left, Jon dragged the raft to the riverside, checked that his backpack wrapped in ginseng was still strong, then lay on the raft and jumped into the river.
As soon as his legs touched the water, the biting coldness felt like long needles piercing into his bones. Jon gritted his teeth and carefully controlled the direction under the impact of the water.
Fortunately, it was not the flood season and the water flow was relatively gentle. Jon got to the shore smoothly. He slowly poked his head out of the dry grass to look around.
At this time, several soldiers were approaching him.
"Jace, it's your turn! Get up!"
I saw a soldier with a big brown beard patting the soldiers who were sleeping on their horses. They were really too sleepy, so they took turns to rest in this way. Their patrol was not to prevent Jon from escaping, but more to prevent Theon's supervision.
The soldier named Jace rubbed his tired and dazed eyes. Just as the two men handed over the torch, a figure suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Who is it!"
Unexpectedly, the figure did not answer his question at all, but instead shouted: "Who am I! Is this how you 'patrol'? All of you, get down!"
The figure was Jon. He took the wooden spear in his hand and hit the thighs of several other people directly. Several guards who were sleeping soundly on their horses were awakened by the pain.
Several soldiers stood in a row, looking at Jon nervously, trying hard to search their tired brains for memories of the man in front of them.
Jon confiscated their horses and weapons and said to them, "You guys just stay here. Don't you like to sleep? Go to sleep! Pack up your things and leave Winterfell tomorrow!"
Now they really realized that losing their status as Winterfell guards would not only reduce their quality of life, but also their social status would plummet. So they begged Jon,
"Sir, please spare us!"
"Sir, we must patrol well and not be lazy!"
"Please let us go, my lord!"
Jon had already climbed onto his horse, and the horse's body temperature made his cold legs feel a little better, so he softened his tone and said, "I know we haven't slept well these past two days because of those damn crows, but Jon is very important to Lord Robb, and we can't take it lightly!"
"Yes, yes, sir, you are right!"
"We dare not take it lightly again!"
Before Jon had even finished speaking, they quickly echoed him.
Jon found it a little funny to see how nervous they were, but at the same time he knew that he was able to scare them because of their slow reactions due to lack of sleep and because they were sneaky and guilty. But if he stayed too long, he might be exposed.
Jon sighed and said, "I will punish you to patrol on foot tonight. I will take all the horses away!"
After saying this, Jon turned his horse around and rode away quickly.
Seeing Jon quickly leaving with a few horses, everyone was still frightened.
"Jace, is that the adult?"
The soldier with the brown beard asked.
Jace shook his head, unable to remember for a moment.
At this time, someone suddenly said, "That gentleman looks so young. Why doesn't he look like one of our guards?"
The few of them looked at each other and immediately realized that something was wrong. Jace, holding a torch, accidentally shone it on the ground and saw wet footprints and a long trail of water overlapping the footprints.
Following the direction of the water marks, they found that they were extending from the river!
But Jace and his friends still couldn't believe it, so they held torches and followed the footprints and water marks on the ground to the river, where they found a simple raft.
They suddenly realized that the man was not an adult, but Jon, whom they had been trying to capture for so many days!
...
When Theon heard about this, he was struck by lightning, but he did not dare to delay and immediately told Robb about it.
Robb rode his mount and took more than fifty guards to chase in the direction pointed by several soldiers.
Although he could roughly determine Jon's escape route, he was unable to make any arrangements due to the short time.
'Jon, why did you do this! Why did you leave the Wall! Why did you betray your oath!'
Compared to Theon's anger, Robb's heart is now full of disappointment. In his opinion, Jon is bringing shame to the Stark family!
Under the lonely and empty night sky of the North, a team of more than fifty people rumbled forward, looking determined to capture Jon.