Trials and Tribulations of the Oathkeeper

Chapter 44: Mutiny at Craster's Keep

The surviving men of the Night's Watch's Great Ranging are still recovering their strength following the devastating defeat at the Battle at the Fist of the First Men against the White Walkers. Some of them were dying of their wounds, and the rest were starving for any scrap of food. They had been clearly outnumbered and unprepared against such a terrifying threat and it was a long journey back to Castle Black. Out of 300 men chosen for the mission, nearly 60 men survived but their numbers dwindled down to just 44. Once Lord Commander Jeor Mormont informed the remaining survivors that they were once again making a pit stop at Craster's Keep to resupply, something that had clearly hadn't settled with some of his men. Morale was low, and things were getting increasingly tense. Samwell Tarly was still shaken at having personally witnessed a White Walker up close, but at the same time he felt a sense of relief after managing to escape. He looked to his right and spotted his friend Jon Snow's direwolf.

"Ghost?" he called out.

The albino direwolf simply ignored Samwell and continued scouring the area. Nearby, one of the Night's Watchmen, the former rapist Rast, walks over to the former Prince Joffrey Baratheon.

"We need to get out of here," he whispers.

Joffrey looks at him. "How? And where would we go?" he asks a bit loudly.

Rast waves his hand to tell Joffrey to be quiet, but apparently some of the others heard what he had said.

"When the Lord Commander says we go, we go," said Edd.

"The Lord Commander told us to go to the Fist of the First Men. How'd that turn out for us?"

"He had no way of knowing."

"We do now," Joffrey spat incredulously. "We know what's out there."

Grenn intervened. "Craster's been out here surviving."

"So he's your new protector now? Our good friend Craster?"

Now aware of their discontent, Rast decided to stop playing games. "When the Walkers come calling, Craster will serve us up like so many pigs. If we want to live, we'll have to look out for ourselves." Edd and Grenn looked at them in disbelief as Joffrey and Rast continued venting their growing frustrations.

"That own bastard Craster starved one of our own men, Bannen, to death," Rast stated.

"Craster's got his daughters to feed," Samwell tried to explain, but to no avail.

"Oh, so you're on his side now?" Joffrey sneered.

"We can't just show up and steal all his food. We're brothers of the Night's Watch, not thieves."

"Everything was fine for me down at King's Landing, piggy! I had everything! I had food, I had warmth, I had safety... I had power. Especially power! 'Til the day my own brother, the great King Daveth, took everything away from me and banished me to this frozen shithole of a wasteland!"

"Quiet, Joffrey!" Edd chastened him.

"You're gonna get us all in trouble again!" Grenn gritted through his teeth.

Samwell was taken aback by Joffrey's outburst; though he wasn't sure whether it was from the fear of the White Walkers or being forced to live the rest of his miserable life bound in service to the Night's Watch until his death.

"The day we leave, Craster will tap a barrel of our wine, and sit down to a feast of ham and potatoes and laugh at us starving in the snow," Rast agreed with Joffrey. "He's a bloody wildling."

In the main hall, Lord Commander Mormont is checking a map in his journal, as Craster continues to crassly berate the men of the Night's Watch. 

"Never knew Bannen could smell so good," he mocked. Craster was a thick man made thicker by the ragged smelly sheepskins he wore day and night. He had a broad flat nose, a mouth that drooped to one side, and a missing ear. And though his matted hair and tangled beard might be grey going white, his hard knuckly hands still looked strong enough to hurt.