The attitude of the Northern Princes towards the land grant was crucial, but at least for now, Iger didn't have to be too nervous: the Long Night Keep was not part of the land grant settlement plan, and its reactivation was before the acceptance of the surrendered wildlings, and was approved by all the top of the Night's Watch.

The reason for choosing this place as the first stop after leaving Castle Black is not how many original foreigners live here, how much of a threat it will pose to the north in case of chaos, and what needs to be focused on...... It's for another reason - Bran Stark disappeared here, and before Robb's own son was born, the first heir to the North, disappeared here.

The inhabitants of the walls of the Long Night Fort are the Flint clan in the mountains, who have been invited by the Night's Watch to enter the Great Wall, but are still legally part of the northern border. Their clan chiefs, though neither castles nor tinkling, were equal to earls in the hierarchy; Although their clan members neither farmed nor paid taxes, they were also people of the North.

......

For Egg, the Mountain Clans are the tinker for filling the gaps in the Great Wall, the cheap labor force and the first new inhabitants to increase the land, the Mountain Clans are the reinforcements they have painstakingly recruited, the courage to force the Wildlings down, and the reliable allies who are about to face the human predators side by side, and for the North, they are nominally vassals who are mostly ignored as "half-aliens...... Now that he can take the initiative to move out of the mountain to assist the night watchman in defending the northern frontier without receiving instructions, it is too late to be grateful, can he still drive people out?

The special status of the hill clans made them almost impossible to target—even the most stubborn conservatives would not have thought of embarrassing the reformers by dealing with them...... Not to mention that Egger had already informed the Long Night Castle to prepare for the Northern Patrol Force, even if something went wrong, Robb would not blame the mountain people too much, and even be disgusted by the resettlement plan.

＊＊＊

The two parties, who do not meet often, have neither grudges nor conflicts of interest with each other, but have the reality of being kings and ministers, will obviously be polite to each other when they meet...... At this moment, the patriarch of the Flint clan was eagerly talking to Robb Stark, welcoming his guests and condolences to the late Lord Eddard Stark, and briefing him on the status of the "resurrected" ancient fortress.

The exchange didn't last long, and after a polite exchange with Togengen Flint, Robb put away his smile and asked seriously about the matter he was most concerned about: the details of his brother's disappearance.

......

"The Night's Watch has placed the responsibility of guarding the Castle of the Nights in the hands of the Flint Clan, and we dare not take it lightly, and the Sentinels and Patrols of the Clan are always on the alert to ensure that threats from both the south and the north are detected at the first opportunity. One day a few months ago...... Our young man on the top of the watchtower noticed a suspicious person in the field outside the fortress among the bushes, and after sending someone to take the initiative to search for it, we caught a big man and three children. "They don't look like wildlings at all, so we kept an eye on them, and after inquiring about them, we confirmed that they were the brothers and sisters of Bran Stark and Reed, whom Castle Dark had ordered us to keep an eye on, and a tall horse boy in Winterfell." We took the situation very seriously, and quickly placed them in the main fort rooms of the Long Night Castle, sent someone to take care of them, and informed the commander-in-chief of Mormont. ”

"We already have a general understanding of these situations. Luce Bolton interrupted in a cold tone, "Specifically, how they mysteriously disappeared under the 'care' of the Flint Clan, and their whereabouts are still unknown." ”

Earl Bolton's tone made Patriarch Flint feel a little unhappy, but it was a fact that Duke Stark's own brother had disappeared under the eyes of thousands of people in his clan, and for this reason, he couldn't harden his temper even if he had a temper.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he said with a bitter face: "That's right, Commander Mormont's reply to us at that time was that we were optimistic about Prince Bran and waited for Winterfell to send someone to pick it up. We did...... However, when Miss Reed was harassed near the Long Night Castle, Commander Mormont changed his mind and decided to come to the Long Night Castle to settle the incident himself, bringing the three young nobles back to Castle Black when he returned, and the matter was ...... It was at this time that it came out. ”

......

"Commander Mormont arrived the afternoon before the incident and woke up early the next day with light snow...... So he decided to go to the new land-grant's residence outside the fortress to deal with the attack on Miss Reed, and then set off for Castle Black in the afternoon. As instructed, we took Mr. Bran out of his room, and told him and his two companions, the horse boy named Addo, to pack their bags and wait in the hall. Togenheng had a look of regret on his face: "Towards noon, the brothers of the Night's Watch, who had accompanied the Commander out, suddenly returned to the fortress with a bloodied and unconscious Lord Mormont, shouting for a bachelor or a healer...... It was a mess, and everyone in the hall, including me, ran to check on the situation, and no one thought of keeping anyone behind—looking at the three children in the room, waiting to return east with the commander. In the blink of an eye, they were gone. ”

Old Flint was obviously not very good at organizing language, and the call was too vague, not to mention Robb Stark, and even Iger listened to it, and felt that it was simply not a Stark at all. Of course, he couldn't sit idly by and watch his stupid ally mess things up, so he hurriedly came forward to remind: "Lord Fillint, let's talk about your investigation afterwards." ”

"Well, good. The rough man from the mountains was not too slow to react, and hurried down the slope: "When Bran disappeared, the wall that Castle Black asked us to build was almost complete, and it is unlikely that the elder brother would have escaped by climbing over the wall due to the inconvenience of his legs and feet—then there are only four ways left for him to leave the Long Night Castle: the east and west gates of the fortress, the tunnel leading to the outside of the fortress, and the staircase to the Great Wall...... Go down to the top of the wall to one of the other fortresses with stairs. ”

The results of the investigation were kind of attractive to the northern princes, and everyone listened silently.

"The tunnel leading to the outside of the fortress was blocked when the Night's Watch abandoned the Long Night Fort, and we were told that there was no need to clear it. And there are two doors and a staircase left...... We closed or sent someone to guard the absence of Mr. Bran, and after careful questioning of the guards and sentries, it was confirmed that on the day of the incident, there was no such combination as 'a big man with three children' leaving these roads. ”

"Could they split up?"

"Uh...... No, there weren't many kids of this age in the Night's Keep, and the guard confirmed that no one he didn't know had left. ”

"Then Duke Stark's younger brother just evaporated out of thin air!?" Count Karstark glared at Flinter, "I heard that you live here with thousands of people, and you can't all run to see Mormont when something happens, just an old man, what's there to see!"

"Master Karstark was right, and we expanded our inquiry to all the inhabitants of the entire fortress, and we quickly made progress. At the time of the incident, several women, who were drying their clothes, saw Son Bran and his party leave the hall and enter the kitchen where the night watchmen had been stationed. ”

......

The kitchen, or "old kitchen", is an octagonal stone house with a dilapidated vault that appears to be in good condition. Strangely, compared to the rest of the Night's Castle, which was crowded with clansmen, it was unusually deserted.

Robb looked at the exterior of the old kitchen with some confusion, and asked, "If this place is slightly repaired, it will be in better condition than most of the surrounding buildings and tents, why don't you use it here?"

"Your Excellency, follow me in and see. ”

So Egger and the other princes of the North followed the Fillint Clan Patriarch over the threshold that had been almost flattened, and entered the kitchen used by the garrisons of the Long Night Castle two hundred years ago.

The huge room was empty, and all that was left was a huge brick stove around it, a slaughterhouse lined with scars lining the walls, and rusty meat hooks hanging from the beams overhead...... The overall atmosphere is dilapidated and depressed. In the geometric center of the ground of the house, there was a strangely large well, and a crooked tree rose from the floor next to it, and the main trunk stretched diagonally to the roof, and the top branch protruded from the hole in the roof, pointing gracefully to the sky, and I don't know whether it broke the roof, or because the roof broke this opening, it chose to grow here.

Robb didn't know why at first, waiting for Toganheng's explanation, but after a few more glances at the tree by the well, he quickly understood why the clansmen refused to use the nearly intact kitchen: "This ...... Is this a fishbeam?"

＊＊＊

The hot air drifts upwards, and along the cold Great Wall, no matter how strong and safe the building is, there is no way to treat people with a hole in the roof. The kitchen is a functional building, and if you want to renovate it, you have to cut down the tree that grows in the middle of the house.

Yuliangmu is religiously inseparable from the belief in the old gods, and here, whether it is the people of the north, the mountain clansmen, or the original Saiwai people who have just moved into the south of the Great Wall, they all believe in the old gods, and it seems that they are not willing to cut the Yuliangmu, which seems to be understandable.

But...... Is it necessary to exaggerate?

The Old Gods are closer to a natural religion, with even the most devout adherents of the Old Gods acknowledging that the fish beam wood is only a symbol of the Old Gods, rather than the Old Gods themselves. Followers of the Old Gods do not regard the fish beam as a god, as some extreme religions do, and do not see any action to harm it by cutting it down. On the other hand, because of its strong and non-decaying texture, the wood is an excellent raw material for a variety of items, and is extremely popular throughout the Seven Kingdoms - outside of Senese, and many people in the North take pride in owning a bow or shield made of Fishbeam wood - even a wooden table is set up in the center of King's Landing's Kingsguard Room.

What's more, the Fishbeam is usually a very stout tree with a proportionally strong trunk and a large root system that is coiled and intertwined—but this one, which is thin and not straight...... The bark of the tree was pale, and if it weren't for the red palm-shaped leaves, it would look like a fleshless bony arm. This is clearly a deformed little sapling of not many years, the shape is so slender that there is no space to carve a human face, and it is not qualified to become a "heart tree", where is there any sacredness to speak of—so that these mountain clansmen would rather live in those dilapidated and leaky small houses or wooden houses and tents, and abandon such a sturdy building?

＊＊＊

Robb didn't dare to say anything else, but if there was a small sapling on the floor of Winterfell's main fort, the Starks wouldn't care if it was a fish beam or not, and they would have asked the servants to pull it out and repair the ground, rather than move out of the main fort en masse to make room for the sapling.

"Are you thinking, it's just such a small sapling, where is the need to take it so seriously?" Togenheng Flint seemed to see Robb's thoughts, and smiled: "No, this is by no means an ordinary fish beam tree, but probably the oldest heart tree in the Seven Kingdoms today-"

"You have a face to call the heart tree, don't you tell me that the members of the Flint clan are all masters of miniature carving?"

"No, what you see now is only a tip at the end of a branch of this heart tree, and the entire trunk of this heart tree under the ground is huge and the span is amazing, absolutely beyond anyone's imagination!"

"It's buried in the ground, how can you see it, no matter how big it is?" Morse Amber snorted, "Besides, aren't we discussing the whereabouts of Lord Robb's brother, do you think that just because we all believe in the Old Gods, we will be attracted by a large fishbeam tree?!"

"I definitely don't have that idea! In fact, this biggest heart tree in the Seven Kingdoms is really related to the whereabouts of Prince Bran. Patriarch Flint pointed to the well in the center of the house: "All those who witnessed the entry of three children and one horse boy into this kitchen have reported that they have not been seen coming out of it again, but we have searched around this room and have not found a second exit or any secret passage...... Eventually, we came up with this well. ”

Could it be that Bran Stark jumped into a well?

Many of the people present were stunned, and they didn't dare to speak until Patriarch Flint made a series of incomprehensible movements: he walked straight to the big well, and under the surprised eyes of everyone and the sound of cold air, he raised his legs and stepped over the edge of the well, and stood in the well.

"What are you doing!" Even if it's hateful to lose your brother, you won't blame yourself for committing suicide by jumping into a well. Arya, who had been obediently following her eldest brother, immediately screamed, but she held back halfway through the scream: "Huh-"

That's right, in full view of everyone, old Flint "stood" into the well. Many northern nobles, including Arya, were ready to pull people, but after he stepped his second leg in, he didn't fall down with a swish, but stood firmly on the inside of the well wall, looking at everyone and shrugging.

Arya shook off Rober's hand, and was the first to run, and then the crowd gathered around and began to study the well.

The first impression was right – the well was really big, a full four meters wide. The walls of the well were extremely thick, wet and covered with limescale moss, and bottomless. A soldier of the Bolton family graciously handed over the torches, and in the light of the fire, everyone understood the reason why old Flint did not fall: there were stone bars extending out of the inner wall of the well to form a staircase, spiraling down into the darkness, and the light of the torches could not shine underneath.

Everyone watched for a moment like a treasure, and Arya finally couldn't help but be curious: "A well...... Why should there be a ladder?"

Some people speculated: "Maybe the Great Wall is too cold, the well water will freeze, and you need to send people down to break it often?"

"Oh. Arya blinked a few times, not questioning the obviously untenable statement: "Then Bran, is it down this staircase?"

"For now, that's it. Old Filmmaker nodded: "Do you want to go down and have a look?"

I want to, but Robb is here, so it's weird that she'll mess around.

Arya was eager to try, but eventually held back and asked, "Is there no water down there?"

Luce Bolton did not speak, but silently took the torch from the hands of his cronies and threw it into the well.

The torch flew down, quickly turning into a star in a dark well, and after about two or three seconds, it hit the bottom, bursting into a cloud of sparks, and finally submerged into the darkness with a "bang".

Both the sound and the sight of the torch falling from the bottom confirm Togengen Flinter's statement that there is no water under the well, and people can move underneath.

Concern for his brother overcame a slight fear of the dark well, and besides, listening to old Flinter, he or his people had already gone down to see it, and the mountain clan had no reason to harm his guardian of the north. After hesitating for a moment, Robb nodded: "Lead the way, let's go down and have a look." ”

——