Chapter 22: Between the Neck and the River
The North has two natural barriers. The first is the Great Wall of Desperation in the north, garrisoned by the Night's Watch legion to fend off the wildlings and other threats outside the Fortress. The second is the southern neck, a triangular swamp with no road to follow. The only passable causeway is guarded by the fort of Carlin Bay. The former kings of the North have repelled numerous southern invaders here.
After five days of walking, the huge convoy finally arrived at the fort of Carlin Bay. The king announced a half-day rest here to continue the departure.
Shortly after leaving Winterfell, Evan contracted a wind chill. The maid who had been brought out of Bear Island had been taking care of him for the past few days, and she opened the curtain of the carriage and said, "Lord Aiwen, it's time for the neck, do you want to come out and have a look?" ”
"Cora, give me a hand. I've always wanted to come here, but I've never had the chance! ”
Cora is a fifteen-year-old girl who takes care of Evan when he returns to Bear Island. The two are already familiar. Evan stepped out of the carriage with the help of Kora, and Ammon, the ice wolf next to him, saw his master come out and immediately greeted him.
Evan didn't have to crouch down to stroke its head and stroked it for a while. The two of them came to the side of Neck Ze. Behind him were the twenty guards he had brought with him from Bear Island and the servants who took care of his daily routine.
As far as Ai Wen could see, the huge neck could not be seen, and it was overgrown with weeds, turbidity, and swamps everywhere. It makes humanity fearful.
Is this method of dividing the continent really something that the Green Prophet and the Children of the Forest can do? Not to mention the destruction of the larger Dorne Arm. For the first time, Evan began to doubt the authenticity of the legend. With the bronze weapons of the ancestors, how could they defeat such a powerful existence.
Even if the number of humans is superior, as long as the Green Prophet is sent to sit on the land bridge, how can the ancestors not be able to come to Westeros. Perhaps, these are all rumors created by the children of the forest to deter humanity. They may be magical, but they can't be that powerful anyway. At this point, the threat level of the Green Prophet in Aven's eyes dropped to 10%.
Ai Wen looked at it silently for a while, and Cora next to him said, "Lord Ai Wen, I've always wanted to ask something, but I don't know whether to ask or not?" ”
"You ask, you still don't know me after so many years, I won't blame you!"
"Why didn't you have to go to King's Landing to be that broken staff officer? The king has been so unfair to you! Cora said angrily.
"You're still young and ignorant, but you'll understand when you grow up!"
Cora said stubbornly, "I'm not young, I'm fifteen years old. And you're only seventeen too. He was only two years older than me. ”
Evan smiled and said, "Oh, so Cora is fifteen years old. I've become a big girl, and I can't keep you by my side all the time, I remember that you have always liked each other with my bodyguard. When King's Landing settles down, I'll marry you two! ”
Cora was a little shy, but at the same time expectant. After thanking Ai Wen, he ran to the side to see how the meal was doing.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem."
Weakened by typhoid fever, he and the wolf sat down on a meadow. After coming to this world for so many years, his weak physique has never allowed him to step out of the north. Maybe the southern warmth is more suitable for him, but the simple adaptation to the soil and water may kill him. Whether this trip to King's Landing was bad or bad, Evan wasn't sure.
After a short rest, the convoy continued to move forward after eating. The road is desolate and deserted, and on both sides is a place of poisonous miasma. This terrain stretches for almost a hundred kilometers. Perhaps this is the reason why the northerners and southerners are divided. There are differences in living habits, behaviors, and religious beliefs.
After this 100 kilometers, we gradually approached the river bay area. It is ruled by the Tully family, the maiden home of Eddard Stark's wife and Catherine Tully. The history of this family can be traced back to the Heroic Era.
In addition to the Tully family in the riverbed area, there is also a family that has done a big thing in the original book, the Frey family. The result is a horrific "bloody wedding".
To put it simply, it is a Hongmen banquet, but in this world, there is a principle of guest rights. Guest rights, a thousand-year-old tradition in Westeros, are sacred laws shared by the seven hospitable kingdoms. Guests of both commoners and nobles come into effect when they come to the host's roof and accept the bread and salt offered by the host.
During the subsequent visit, neither party shall harm the other. Those who violate it will break the sacred law, which is believed to be rejected by the gods of old and new. This is true in both the Old Gods and the Seven Gods.
There is one famous violation of guest rights in Westeros' history. It is the legend of the rat chef of the Long Night Castle for a long time. Ballads about rat chefs are often used to remind people of the consequences of trampling on sacred guest rights.
The story of this rat chef is actually the story that Bran told in the original book. Chef Rat is a chef in the Long Night Castle. To take revenge on the king, Chef Rat cooked King Andal's son and made a large pie with onions, carrots, mushrooms and other condiments, sprinkled with pepper and salt, and served with bacon and dark red Dorne wine. He presented the pie to the child's father, who praised it and asked the chef to bring another piece.
Later, the gods turned the cook into a giant white rat that could only eat his own children. Since then, he has roamed the castle of the Night, devouring his children and grandchildren, but his hunger can never be satisfied. It is said that all the rats in the Long Night Fort are his offspring.
After the bloody wedding in the original book, it seems that everything is fate, following this legend. Later, Arya Stark, the first female Assassin in the history of the Facelings, killed Frey's son and made it available for her own consumption. And killed most of the Freys!
In the past, Evan was really relieved when he watched this paragraph, but when he came to this world, with his understanding of this world. He discovers that the Freys aren't all that evil either.
The rapid development of the North in recent years has driven the economy of the entire King's Road, and the Frey family is one of them. On a few occasions, during negotiations, Evan had met several members of their family, who were quite decent.
Each one has a main character, and the reader follows the way the main character thinks about the development of the plot. A Song of Ice and Fire is set off by the Starks. That's why people hate the Frey family so much. If the protagonist is replaced by the Frey family. It should be a counterattack after becoming a repentant and insult.
There is no absolute good or evil in any world, it is just a matter of judging from which position you stand. And the era of human life in this world is just an enlargement of one.