"What is this?" asked Jon.

The gate of the black castle was sealed by ice and snow, and the strange ghosts and ghouls could no longer enter, but at the gate, someone put up a spiral diagram with blood and stumps, as well as human heads.

This image is exactly the same as the one Will first saw in the Ghost Forest.

Robb Stark was silent.

Bai Ling and Gray Wind followed the people, raising their heads from time to time and sniffing fiercely in the air.

The black king, Mance Red, said, "There are strangers in the forest. ”

"The Wraiths have been killed by Lord Will, Jaime, and Arya. Jon said, "When the leader of the Wrauges died, the Wraiths and Ghouls all lost their lives. ”

"And the Night King. Mance Rader said.

"Is the Night King one or two?" said Robb.

"The Night King...... There's only one...... The Night King is here...... This sacrifice has proven everything, it is a sacrifice to the god of cold, I understand that. ”

"The Night King is not dead, so perhaps last night's attack was just a temptation for him. Robb Stark walked around the blood-soaked spiral chart.

"Our unicorn army has been wiped out, and Jiujian's plan to ride a unicorn to the land of eternal winter has failed before it can be implemented. Mance looked at the Ghost Forest, "Maybe we're here to watch the Night King's sacrifice, and the Night King is watching us from the Ghost Forest." ”

"I can't wait for the Night King to show up. Robb said lightly.

"Why do you say that?" Jon looked at Robb.

"Last night's battle between Lord Will and the strangers has shown that the strangers are not invincible, and the sword skills can fight the strangers, as long as the swordsmanship is good, the same can kill the strangers. Their supernatural power is to drive the dead back to life and control the ghouls to attack us. The rest can defeat the Night King with their strength. ”

"By strength and sword skills?"

"They have the Night King, we have Tyron Ash, we have the Sword King. James, Will, and Arya can kill a Stranger King, and Tyron Ash and we can kill the Night King. Robb said lightly, "Eight thousand years ago, the strange ghosts attacked, what was the end? They were defeated by us, and this time is the same. Robb said, "We need to give confidence to our soldiers, and we need to understand this ourselves, that the Night King is not invincible, that in the dead of winter and the long night, the Terrans are still here. It was, it is, and it will always be. ”

Jon nodded with Mance Red.

Robb's ability to boost morale is a gift! he can easily motivate himself and the generals around him to make them brave in battle.

Jon said, "Robb, the power of the Wraiths is stronger than that of ordinary people, and we still have a battle formation, and we are better at fighting than them. ”

"Yes. ”

"Robb is optimistic and I'm encouraged. But I still have to say that although the Great Wall was back in our hands last night, our losses were enormous. Two-thirds of the soldiers were killed in battle, and less than 20,000 remained of the 60,000-strong army. Thousands of knights were killed, hundreds of generals were killed, and all the unicorn legions were killed. ”

Jon and Robb are silent!

"Asha Greyjoy, Daisy Mormont, Robert Royce, Gendry, Donald, the best and most determined generals were all killed, the master blacksmiths of the Swordsmith were all killed, Jaime had his left arm broken, Lord Will had several ribs broken, his left shoulder was pierced and frostbite was almost fatal, and Arya's left arm, the whole arm, was almost cut in two. With such a tragic battle, I don't think we have achieved a big advantage. It was a pyrrhic victory. And the key to the two disastrous victories was the success of Lord Will's surprise attack on the Alien King. And in the event of defeat, what are we facing now? Hundreds of thousands of ghouls are heading south...... Five hundred miles of land that swept the night watch......"

"We held the Wall. Robb said.

Suddenly, Grey Wind's neck hair stood on end, and Bai Ling had already pounced towards the Ghost Shadow Forest.

Choke!

The swords of the three were unsheathed and ready for battle.

At the top of the city wall, the warriors stared down, and could only see three figures the size of ants. Bai Ling and Grey Wind swooped into the Ghost Shadow Forest one after another, and the sentries standing guard and observing looked into the distance and did not find anything unusual.

Soon, screams and shouts rang out in the Ghost Shadow Forest, and the roars of the gray wind and the white spirit were full of murderous intent.

Jon, Robb, and Mance Rader looked at each other, and Mance said, "There are still living people in the forest, do you believe it?"

"I heard the voice. Jon said.

"I heard it too, but I thought it might be a trap. Robb said, "There was a big battle here last night, and the army of ghouls ran over everything in the Ghost Forest, and there shouldn't have been any living people. ”

"Yes, we have to be careful. The Night King is here, look at the sacrificial chart around us, this is his way of praying to the god of cold for strength. Mance Rader looked at the forest, "I'll burn this sacrifice, and you two should be careful when entering the Ghost Forest." ”

"Recall the White Spirit, Grey Wind, we need to hurry back. Robb said.

"No, I'm going to check it out. "I heard the shouts of people, not the roars of strangers, not ghouls, but people. We can't let wolves bite people to death. ”

Jon ran towards the Ghost Forest, and Mance shouted, "Jon, there was a great battle here last night, and tens of thousands of strange ghosts and ice spiders were crushed out of this forest like a plow, and there could be no living creatures from either animals or humans." “

"Help!" the cry came, very clearly. It was a woman's voice.

"We won the battle last night, so why can't anyone be out there?" Jon insisted, "I believe what I heard. “

"I agree with Jon, let's go check it out. Robb said.

"If we meet the Night King, the three of us will surely die. "If it's a match, I think only Tyron Ash can slaughter the Night King." “

"There are white spirits and gray winds, and they will sound a warning when they are in danger. Jon insisted.

"Two wolves are fighting people, is that a warning sign?" said Mance Raed, sarcastically.

Jon and Robb glanced at each other and ran towards the Ghost Forest at the same time.

The two brothers entered the forest and hurried over to the sound, only to see Bai Ling and Gray Wind spinning around under several big trees, raising their heads and screaming at the big trees from time to time.

The two brothers looked up and saw several figures lying on their stomachs in the big tree.

And in the snow, under the claws of the two ice wolves, there are still two figures.

When I got closer, I saw two dwarfs, with short hands, short arms, and short legs, about the same height as the little demon Tyrion.

Two gnomes.

But looking at their outfits, Jon and Robb could recognize who they were.

"Children of the forest?" Jon asked.

The two gnomes nodded desperately.

Jon gave the order, and the white spirit let go of its claws, but the wolf fangs still refused to leave the gnome's neck, blood-red eyes staring at its prey, letting out a menacing growl.

The Icewolf is an adult, the size of a foal, and looks very intimidating. Even if the Mountain King Shadow Bobcat encounters these two ice wolves, he will only have to flee for his life.

The ice wolf is different from other wolf species, it is more than twice the size of other wolves, and with a light bite, it bites off a person's arm, and the lion and the lynx will not be an opponent when they meet the ice wolf. No matter how strong the war horse is, as long as it smells the breath of the ice wolf, it will be frightened and uneasy, and it just wants to escape.

Robb ordered Grey Wind to let go of the gnome, but the dwarf lay on the ground, still not daring to move. The wolf's kiss was right behind his neck, and the heat spewed against the back of his neck.

Jon and Robb soothed the emotions of the two wolves by drinking white collar and gray wind, and seven gnomes came down from the trees one after another.

There were nine gnomes in total, both male and female. It looks like the eyebrows and eyes are similar.

"Where are you from?" asked Robb.

"Dungeon. ”

"The children of the forest in the dungeon have long since crossed the Wall. ”

"The dungeons are huge, and the Children of the Forest have many branches, and we're the last of them, and we've gone a different way because we've encountered an army of ghouls. One of the bearded gnomes said. He carries a short axe on his back, which is rare. The Children of the Forest hate iron and refuse to use them, having their own polished obsidian daggers and arrows.

"We hid for a long time on the west side of the forest to avoid the army of ghouls. Another dwarf said. She was a female dwarf with very long hair coiled around her waist.

They carried obsidian daggers and arrows. The short bow is small and looks as if it were a child's toy.

Although Bai Ling and Gray Wind were drunk by their masters, they still let out a low whimper of threat to the nine gnomes. The two ice wolves bared their teeth and threatened, and in front of the gnomes, the two wolves were like giant beasts. For the first time, the Icewolf did not listen to his master's orders and was full of hostility towards the gnomes.

Mance Rader rushed in, and was very wary when he saw the nine gnomes. He had heard that there were also dwarfs who believed in the god of cold. They left the dungeon and hurried to the land of eternal winter to join the Night King.

Within the Children of the Forest, there are several branches, one of which wants to take revenge on the invaders with the power of the cold gods, and these invaders come from the other side of the Narrow Sea: they are the Andals, the Roynas, the Valyrians, and the ancestors. The people south of the Great Wall of Desperation are their enemies.

On this continent, the original aborigines were the sons of the forest. At that time, the entire continent was a primeval forest, and there were no castles.

The ancestors were later migrants from the other side of the Narrow Sea, and at that time there was a long-arm land that connected the two continents, and the ancestors followed the long arm into the primeval forests of Westeros, they drove out the children of the forest, cut down trees and built castles, the war lasted for thousands of years, and finally, obsidian daggers and arrows could not withstand the fine swords and armor, and the two sides signed a peace agreement on the Thousand Faces Island in the Lake of God's Eye in what is now the Riverlands, but soon after, the Terrans tore up the agreement and once again launched a massacre against the children of the forest.

Only the sons of the forest with obsidian daggers and obsidian arrows could not withstand the attack of the steel sword, and they were defeated, and finally had to retreat to the ice and snow of the north. In order to survive, the Children of the Forest built an underground city underneath the Ghost Forest, but this blood feud from the ancestors was not forgotten by some of the sub-tribes of the Children of the Forest, and thousands of years later, they were divided and alienated internally, and a group of the Children of the Forest chose to believe in the God of Cold and follow the Night King. Waiting for the revenge of winter.

The story has been passed down from generation to generation among the freedmen of the North, and Mance Rader knows the legend.

In the eyes of the Terrans, the sons of the forest are all dwarves, and their male and female appearances feel basically no different, and it is impossible for Mance Rader to recognize who is the son of the forest who follows the cold god.

Outside the gate of the frozen tunnel of Castle Black, there is a spiral of fresh blood sacrificed to the corpses of gnomes, are the sacrificed gnomes and the current group of gnomes the same race?

Mance Rader noticed that Jon and Robb were defenseless against the sons of the forest, and he couldn't say more, you can't prove anything with a story that has been said for thousands of years, and Mance Rader was secretly wary.

The Night King is a humanoid being with a high degree of intelligence, human military strategy, war planning, and so on, and if these children of the forest are the eyes and ears of the Night King, Mance Red is not surprised at all.

Jon and Robb were really defenseless against the gnomes. Mance Rader reckoned that Jon and Robb hadn't heard of the Children of the Forest, who believed in the god of cold. Both human and humanoid beings are the objects of the cold god and the Night King's rule and enslavement, and neither Jon nor Robb expected that there would be a child of the forest who believed in the god of cold.

The group came to the tunnel gate of Castle Black, the outline of the door was still there, and the ice condensed by the water had a huge semicircle. The gnomes were all grieved when they saw the stumps of their people on the ground, and Robb decided to let the nine gnomes follow them into the Wall. Otherwise, these nine gnomes will die.

Jon agreed.

Mance Rader did not take a stand.

The bearded dwarf at the head said, "Three generals, the tunnel is already full of ice, blocking the passage. How can we get into Castle Black?"

Jon said, "We have our own secret passage. ”

"The secret way?" the gnomes were surprised and delighted.

Robb said, "Yes, there are secret ways, as long as you can say the Night's Watch......"

"General Robb Stark!" Mance Rader stopped Robb, "let's go to the Wall, then drop the baskets and hoist them up the Wall." ”

"Master Mance ......"

"It was decided. Mance Rader snapped. His eyes were fixed on the nine gnomes, "I don't believe you at all, remember, gnomes!"

The secret of entering and exiting the Great Wall cannot be told, which increases the huge risk.

Mance Red's insistence caused Jon and Robb to back down.

So, the Children of the Forest were temporarily taken aside, and Mance Rader took the lead in reciting the Night's Watch Oath against an ice wall next to the gate of Castle Black, and in the ice wall, a door with a human face slowly appeared. The material of this human face door comes from the fish beam wood, which has a special relationship with the children of the forest.

It is said that all the faces of Yuliangmu on the continent were painted by the children of the forest. In the past magical era, the Children of the Forest saw everything about their enemies through the faces and eyes of the trees.

。