End Game// Tormund Giantsbane (3)

31. Cowards & Heroes

 "The answer is no." Robett Glover declared when they got to his camps.

"Lord Glover, if you could just hear us out." Jon begged

" I've heard enough. We've only just taken back this castle from the Ironborn. The Boltons helped us do it. Now you want me to fight against them? I could be skinned for even talking to you." Robett declared.

"Pussies." Caro muttered. "I can skin you. How about that?" Caro offered stepping forward but Jon grabbed her arm. 

"The Boltons are traitors. Roose Bolton--" Jon corrected

" Have other northern houses pledged to fight for you?" Robett cut him off.

"House Mormont." Jon answered stiffly

" And?" Robett prompted.

"We sent raven to Houses Manderly--" Jon began.

" I don't care about ravens. You're asking me to join your army. Who is fighting in this army?" Robett demanded.

"The bulk of the force is made up of wildlings." Jon admitted and Robett laughed out.

"They are damn good fighters you watch yourself. You are a coward they are going to be heroes." Caro informed him. 

" Then the rumors are true. I didn't dare believe them." Robett remarked. "I received you out of respect for your father and your brother. Now I would like you to leave. House Glover will not abandon its ancestral home to fight alongside wildlings."

" Lord Glover." Jon requested as he turned to leave.

"There's nothing else to say." Robett corrected

"I would remind you that House Glover is pledged to House Stark. Sworn to answer when called upon." Caro countered Robett turned on his heel and walked right up to Caro but she was fearless.

"Yes, my family served House Stark for centuries. We wept when we heard of your brothers death. When my brother was lord of this castle, he answered Robb's call and hailed him King in the North." Robett agreed taking another step closer. "And where was King Robb when the Ironborn attacked this castle? When they threw my wife and children in prison and brutalized and killed our subjects? Taking up with a foreign whore. Getting himself and those who followed him killed." Robett looked to Jon then back at Caro, she smelt his breath as he spat back down at her.

"I served House Stark once, but House Stark is dead." Robett sneered before leaving, stomping on the ground.

+

"Stannis camped here on his way to Winterfell." Davos remarked.

"And that's a good thing?" Sansa countered

"He was the most experienced commander in Westeros." Davos remarked. 

"And good fucking riddance." Caro declared. Davos stared back at her. "He made his bed, now he burns in it." Davos swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked around. 

 "He chose this place for a reason. Those mountains are a natural fortification. There's a stream down there for the horses." Davos went on stiffly.

"We're not staying here long. Another storm could hit any day.." Jon corrected

"Aye, the snows defeated Stannis as much as the Boltons did." Davos added.

"You are southern man." Caro reminded him. "We are northerners. Jon is not only a stark but a snow. We got the best damn man on our side." 

"We have to march on Winterfell now while we still can." Jon reminded them but his smile stuck to Caro. 

 "2,000 Wildlings. 200 Hornwoods, 143 Mazins--" Davos remarked.

" 62 Mormonts." Sansa remarked.

"Lyanna fucking Mormont. I like that girl." Caro decided. 

" It's not what we'd hoped for. But we still have a chance if we're careful and smart." Davos agreed when he spotted two men fighting. "For fuck's sake." Davos muttered running off. Jon and Sansa watched him go.

" So he's your most trusted advisor now? Because he secured 62 men from a ten year old?" Sansa pondered and Caro snorted a laugh. 

"Ser Davos is the reason I'm standing here talking to you and he served Stannis for years." Jon corrected

" Stannis who lost the Blackwater, who murdered his own brother, who doesn't have a head?" Sansa countered as she stopped walking. "It's not enough. We need more men." Jon turned back to face her.

"There's no time." Jon corrected

"If we went down to Castle Cerwyn, I know that Lord--"

"We fight with the army we have." Jon corrected her.

"We get rickon back, if we can't get winterfell, we get rickon then get our home." Caro offered. "We can't win but need to get Rickon." 

" Friends, this is not worth fighting over!" Davos begged. Jon moved past Sansa with a sigh to Jon Davos. "This'll be it, now. Right now, we don't need to be fighting."

" Who the fuck are you?" The man challenged getting in Davos face.

" Hold on." Davos countered raising his hands in surrender, he was just trying to help.

"Yeah, who the fuck are you?" now the two men that were fighting each other had their violence pointed at Davos.

"He told me before he was no hero, no fighter... yet he keeps putting himself in dangerous situations." caro remarked. "I might trust him."

Sansa looked to bear island, seeing a crate of ravens being delivered. She knew what she needed to do. So she wrote a letter, signed and sealed as she poured the wax over it. She pressed her seal, a direwolf, sigil of house stark. She stared down at the sigil. She was a stark. 

+

"My heart's been broken too many times already." Tyrion offered.

"I'll walk the rest of the way myself. I can't go off on a secret mission in the company of the most famous dwarf in the city." Varys offered

"Varys" Tyrion corrected. "The most famous dwarf in the world".