The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 694: Varamyr Sixskins

Night. The North. Last Hearth.

The northernmost castle in the kingdom of Westeros is Last Hearth.

Because Last Hearth is the northernmost border castle of the kingdom, it is known as—Last Hearth.

Dozens of miles north of Last Hearth, outside the city walls, lies the Night's Watch's Gift, independent of the kingdom. At the end of the Gift lies the Wall, one of the nine wonders of the world.

The Wall has finally fallen completely, and the main forces of the Night's Watch and the Northern Alliance have retreated into Last Hearth.

With the unfavorable turn of events, the Night's Watch and the Northern Alliance have lost the natural barrier of the Wall. Now, the White Walkers have cleared the obstacles in their path, and all the military strongholds along the Wall have been occupied by them. There are no more natural barriers to stop their advance, and the path ahead is wide open.

*

On the city wall, bonfires blazed, and several mixed duty brothers from different legions were drinking turbid wine around a pile of bonfires.

“Hey, have you heard? I heard today that the Mountain will lead troops to help us,” said a Last Hearth soldier who was taller than the other soldiers.

The soldiers of Last Hearth are the tallest in the North. Lord Greatjon Umber is over two meters tall, and it is rumored that the Umber family has giant blood. The Umber family and their vassals are known for their burly and strong physiques. They are the tallest people in the North.

“The Mountain?” A soldier with a distinct southern accent sneered. He was wearing black chainmail and an earth-yellow cloak, and came from the Stormlands. He was a soldier under Queen Shireen. “Eddard Stark believed that Jaime Lannister would bring men, but Jaime disappeared after escaping. Now you've heard that the Mountain is coming? Heh! No one will come to save us, brother. This chance to catch your breath is rare, so have another drink.”

“Hey, Southerner, it's not just rumors from Lord Eddard's side,” said a Night's Watch soldier. “We also received news, ravens brought messages saying that the Mountain has tamed a dragon in the Mountains of the Moon…”

“The Mountain?!” The Night's Watch brother was rudely interrupted by the Southern soldier. “Brother, I'd rather believe in White Walkers than believe in the Mountain.”

The Night's Watch brother was a young man, a stonemason by trade, an honest man, and a recruit in the same batch as their Lord Commander Jon Snow. He was sure that the news was accurate, and he believed in their Lord Commander Jon. The earnest young man blushed immediately after being interrupted. “You son of a bitch,” the Night's Watchman said roughly, “The Mountain killed your damn King Stannis Baratheon, and then raided Dragonstone in the middle of the night, forcing you to flee to the North like dogs, eating snow and drinking wind with us, living the good life. I heard that no one can mention the Mountain in front of you. But I just have to say it, the Mountain, the Mountain, the Mountain, the Mountain…”

The Southern soldier glared at him. Although the Night's Watch youth was not tall, he was very sturdy, as if his body was made of stone. He put his hand on the hilt of his sword and was not afraid at all. In the end, the confrontation ended with the laughter of the Winterfell soldiers. “No, not just anyone,” the soldier from Winterfell laughed. “If Grand Maester Melisandre says it, they and their Queen Mother will all believe it. Ah, the night is dark and full of terrors, only the Red God is the one true god, Lord of Light R'hllor, please accept our praise and answer our prayers!” The Winterfell soldier made a praying gesture, with a serious face, causing several Northern comrades to laugh.

“Southerner, where is your Grand Maester? Did she run away like Jaime?” Another Winterfell soldier laughed.

Melisandre secretly went south to do things, and ordinary soldiers did not know her true intentions.

“Brothers, don't laugh at their Queen Mother and the Red God, and that charming and flirtatious Grand Maester,” the Last Hearth soldier chuckled. “We heard that Queen Selyse is often in a state of madness now. The people who follow the Queen Mother in believing in the Red God are now staring at us with straight eyes. Damn, yesterday the Queen Mother wanted to sacrifice three of your soldiers to the Red God, but was stopped by our Duke Eddard. Is she crazy? She's even scarier than a White Walker.”

Another Southern soldier looked behind him, his face full of vigilance, and then lowered his voice to a whisper: “I heard rumors that the Queen Mother is preparing to sacrifice Lord Onion to the Red God again to stop the White Walkers from attacking Last Hearth. She said she received a sign from the Red God that as long as Lord Onion is burned to death, the White Walkers will be stopped by the power of the Red God. The blizzard will also stop.”

“God, the last time Lord Onion wasn't burned to death was because Earl Eddard sent our Lord Greatjon to save him,” the Last Hearth soldier said in surprise. “God, is she doing it again?!”

“In our Northern territory, our Duke Stark will definitely stop your Queen Mother's evil,” the Winterfell soldier asserted firmly.

“Actually, there is something even more terrible. I heard some secret rumors that the Queen Mother is preparing to sacrifice Queen Shireen to the Red God. Queen Shireen has royal blood, and the power of the sacrifice is the strongest,” the second Southern soldier whispered, then looked back at his back, as if afraid that Queen Mother Selyse's ears and eyes were standing behind him.

“Your Queen Mother wants to sacrifice your King?” The Last Hearth soldier, the Winterfell soldier, and the Night's Watch youth were all shocked.

“Shh, keep your voice down, we'll be done for if the Queen Mother's people hear us,” the two Southern soldiers said in unison.

The Night's Watch youth's name was Hodor. He was born in a quarry and worked as a stonemason's apprentice. He was sixteen years old three years ago and trained in the same batch as Jon Snow. He was very strong and had great strength. He was also very heavy-handed when training with his own people, just like his honest heart.

He heard this terrible news and decided to secretly tell Lord Commander Jon Snow. Queen Shireen was a little girl with stone spots on half of her face and neck. Those were indelible marks left by greyscale. Hodor had seen Queen Shireen many times and had a good impression of the little girl who spoke politely, had quiet eyes, and was restrained and a little timid.

Bang!

A muffled sound suddenly came from outside the city.

The Night's Watchman Hodor, the Last Hearth soldier, the two Winterfell soldiers, and the two Southern soldiers all shut their mouths and listened carefully.

Bang!

Another muffled sound! It came in the silence of the night, although it was far away, it was real.

The six soldiers looked at each other, what was that sound?

Bang!

Another sound.

The six soldiers got up together and ran to the crenellations to look down. Based on experience, when the White Walkers attack, there will be wind and snow first. But there was no wind or snow tonight.

Bang!

Another muffled sound, the sound was approaching the city wall.

Six pairs of eyes widened and looked outside. The outside was covered with white snow, and there was nothing unusual.

The Last Hearth soldier took out his horn.

“Wait a minute, it should be some kind of strange beast,” Hodor said in a deep voice.

“If it's not a White Walker, there's nothing to be afraid of,” a Southern soldier's voice trembled.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The heavy sound gradually approached, and six pairs of eyes stared tightly into the night. The Last Hearth soldier had already taken out the horn and put it to his mouth.

The Southern soldiers and the Winterfell soldiers had already drawn their bows and aimed downwards.

The heavy sound gradually approached.

“Could it be a mammoth carrying a giant?” Hodor said softly.

Giants riding on mammoths do walk very heavily. In the silence of the night, it was entirely possible that a giant who had been scattered and separated from the Wall had come to Last Hearth.

No one answered Hodor's mutterings, everyone was staring intently at the night outside the city. Under the reflection of the white snow, they could still see relatively far in the night.

Finally, a huge white object slowly appeared in the white snow. It was a snow bear from the Land of Always Winter, as tall as a giant, with white long hair, a huge head, and a huge body like a small mountain. On the snow bear's neck, it seemed like a person was riding.

The six soldiers were all stunned!

The size of the snow bear in the Land of Always Winter was staggering.

Each of the Stark family's children had a direwolf from the Land of Always Winter. Adult direwolves were the size of small ponies, more than twice the size of southern wolves, and could kill the strongest shadowcats and lions in the south.

The beasts of the Land of Always Winter, every species, are particularly huge in size.

What shocked the six soldiers even more was that as the snow bear approached, they saw clearly that there was really a person on the snow bear's head.

The soldiers were shocked. Beside the snow bear, three huge direwolves walked out silently. Hodor let out an 'ah' sound, but that wasn't the end. Beside the direwolves, a huge black shadowcat walked out.

“Lie down.” The person on top of the snow bear, who looked very small, suddenly spoke. He spoke in the wildling tongue. Hodor and his companions could tell that it was the wildling language, but they didn't understand what he was saying.

Thanks to the White Walker invasion, the Southern soldiers of Queen Shireen, the Northern soldiers of the King in the North, and the Night's Watch brothers were all united. In addition, there were also the Free Folk and giants outside the Wall.

The snow bear obediently lay down in response. The man slid down from the top of the snow bear nimbly. He took a few steps forward and shouted at the city wall: “Open the city gate, I am the Free Folk Varamyr. Go call the Free Folk General Rattleshirt. He knows me.”

Rattleshirt?!

After the wildling king Mance Rayder chose to be burned at the stake, the Free Folk Generals Rattleshirt and Tormund Giantsbane became the leaders of the Free Folk. Among them, Rattleshirt was in charge of political affairs, and Tormund was in charge of military affairs, but Tormund voluntarily listened to Rattleshirt.

*

Varamyr, the most famous warg among the wildlings, is called Sixskins by the Free Folk. He is a small man, a dwarf among the Free Folk, taller than Littlefinger and Bronn, with an old, gray-white face, round shoulders, and a round nose and forehead, making him different from other Free Folk.

Varamyr simultaneously controls a snow bear, three direwolves, a shadowcat, and in the sky, he also controls a snow eagle. In the battles with the Night's Watch, every time Varamyr went out, no matter how powerful the Night's Watch's rangers were, Varamyr would use the snow eagle's eyes to lock onto their hiding place and then kill them.

The old Night's Watchmen were very afraid of Varamyr and hated him to the core.

This is the fundamental reason why Varamyr did not immediately join the Night's Watch Allied Forces with Mance Rayder. But in the end, when the Wall fell and the strength of the White Walkers became stronger and stronger, and wights were everywhere, he had no choice but to come out of the wolfswood where he was hiding and choose to return to the Free Folk ranks.

Varamyr, who can shapeshift into six forms at the same time, is a super genius, which is also the origin of his nickname Sixskins. In addition to animals, he can also enter people's bodies, control their thoughts, and occupy other people's bodies. However, humans often resist violently out of fear, which can easily cause damage to Varamyr himself, so Varamyr rarely enters other people's bodies to control them. He likes to ride various beasts, and he is very familiar with it and at ease.

Varamyr used to be called Lump. When he was nine years old, he was thinner than children of the same age, so he was often bullied.

Once, Lump used one of his three dogs—Stump, Sniffer, and Howler—to kill his younger brother Smallpox, who often bullied and beat him. When Varamyr's father found Smallpox, the three dogs were sniffing Smallpox's body. His father did not know which dog had bitten Smallpox to death, so he killed all three dogs. But before Stump died, Varamyr felt Stump's fear of death and screamed loudly.

From then on, his parents and the people in the village knew that he was a skinchanger. The people in the village who had laughed at and bullied him came to his house one after another in the following days to bring many gifts, and then moved away one after another.

Soon, Varamyr's father took him into the forest and gave him to an elder named Haggon, who was a respected elder skinchanger in the tribe.

Haggon taught Varamyr how to control his skinchanging abilities and the rules he needed to follow when using this ability. He also introduced Varamyr to the strengths and weaknesses of different animals and basic survival skills.

Haggon often conducted 'smuggling transactions of salt, cloth, and iron' with the Night's Watch. In one transaction, Haggon took Lump to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. Here, Lump learned for the first time that in this world, in addition to ice and snow, there was also warm sunshine, green grass, and large tracts of crops. The warm climate was fascinating, and he had a dream of living south of the Wall.

That year, Lump was ten years old. Because he could not forget the warm and comfortable south, Lump changed his name to Varamyr.

The former skinchanger genius Brynden Rivers, could possess any birds and beasts, and use their abilities and talents to observe the world and scout out the enemy, winning every battle. Varamyr and Brynden Rivers are the same kind of person. It's just that one is in the Free Folk tribe in the north, and the other was born into the royal family and is the bastard son of Aegon IV Targaryen.

*

Rattleshirt led his guards to open the city gate to welcome Varamyr's arrival. He and Varamyr had been comrades-in-arms for many years, one was responsible for reconnaissance, and the other was responsible for killing people.

Varamyr and Rattleshirt hugged each other. In Rattleshirt's laughter, Varamyr said softly: “Rattleshirt, I know your secret, my snow eagle saw it in the sky. You are my king.”

Thank you to book friend [Book friend 20170601230022031] for the reward, thank you, handshake!