Flint’s Saga…  A Tale of A Song of Ice and Fire

Book 1: Hard as Flint, Sharp as an Axe

Chapter 1: A Murder in Pembrook

          Lady Mirella, Arig Botley, Therik Bolton , Ardwyn and Lynda Flint are summoned to Pembrook, a village a few hours away from Castle Flint where they discover a group of Nightswatch soldiers besieged in the smithy by an angry mob of villagers.  While the rangers were in town, the tavern keeper’s daughter was raped and her body discovered in the Lost River.  It would become widely known that she gave herself to several who wooed her, including Arig Botley and Ser Merwyn Frey, the leader of the resupplying rangers.  After calming the mob, the party interviewed and collected what evidence they could find.  During this, Arig Botley was able to cover up many of his missteps and intimidate Pug, a waif and the only witness who could place him in the village the night before, and even plant evidence in Frey’s saddlebags.  Promising justice, all are brought to New Flint for Lord Flint to decide the case… but he is unconvinced by the case made for either suspect.

Ser Frey demands his innocence, and offers himself up to trial by combat to prove his innocence.  Ardwyn the OldSworn champions the murdered girl and soundly defeats Frey.  As he is led to the master for healing, the rest return to New Flint to discover Eddard Stark, Warden of the North awaiting their return.

 Lord Stark summons the party to the audience chamber to learn where Arig has fled.  Stark announces that he does not recognize the claim of Arig's bastardy, and orders an immediate search for Arig Botley to begin.  Ser Mayin Bearsbane, a bastard of Roose Bolton and a new lordling of the Iron Isles, swears to find the impertinent scum and heads east to search the Kingsroad. Stark then introduces Gavril Umber, a scout who brings unconfirmed rumors of wildling attacks on the western shores of the Gift.  Stark gives the party a two-fold mission -- travel up the western shore seeking evidence of wildling incursions and ensure that Botley doesn't use the independent port town of Raven's Bay as a route back to the Iron Isles...

  Interesting information gathered before leaving new Flint:

• Ser Bearsbane left almost immediately after his orders were received, likely he was gone before Eddard warned you not to trust him fully.  The stable boys who were on duty will have informed the group that Bearsbane left with one other rider, pausing only to acquire a dozen plain black woolen cloaks and the few remaining ravens from the Nights Watch's mule train before galloping down the eastern pass.  "'E said it were Lord Stark's business, 'e did."
• Maester Hargin reports that the spider that bit Theon would have not done much harm to a full adult, but could be potentially fatal in a child like Theon.  He also reveals that several of his medicines are gone, though he can't quite say which.  He suspects Arig, who stole a book of heraldry that Lord Flint just returned.
• A quick search of Botley's quarters reveal they were tossed through -- anything small and of value gone along with his clothes and blades while much of the rest thrown around and/or broken.  A small book of the Seven Gods was even set on fire.

 

Chapter 2: Old Stones, New Residents

The party (the Ladies Flint, Therik Bolton, Lannis and the remainer of the Night's Watch, Black Jayke and the youth Gareth, keeper of the ravens) are joined by two Flint guards (everyone's favorites, Anson and Redder) for the journey.  Ardwyn remains behind, promising to catch up when he is well.  The party travels west to Flintsport, a harbor carved into the cliffs 40 feet above the waves.  From there, the group took a Flint longship to explore the villages along the shore.  Thh island villages near Flintsport were unharmed, but once the party got near Raven's Bay, they found evidence of raiding.  Soon afterward, Wildlings ambushed them, killing Redder before they were put down. 

 

Therik
 After driving his sword through the final Wildling's chest, Therik calmly wipes the blood on its clothing, then leans against a tree.  He removes his black helm to reveal a reddened face, a mixture of heat and subsiding excitement.  "Anson, you'd best begin digging a grave for Redder there, if we're to make Raven's Bay by nightfall."  He turns to Gareth: "The work will move more quickly if you help him along, boy.  If either of you ladies have the skills, dress and bind the ranger's wound - we can't do anything more for it until we reach a maester.  If it's not too far, I shall return to the last peasant village with Jayke and the weaponry of the dead; the next time the wildlings attack this area, they may not find it such a simple target.  We'll leave as soon as the grave is filled.Black Jayke pauses from his work of heaping the Wildlings into a pile.   "Gareth, forget wasting time with a hole.  Check to see if they've got anything worth keeping before gathering up some dry wood. Therik, I'd suggest you just bring Ol' Redder over here so we can burn him with the rest.  It's not wise to leave the dead for the wolves or the Others this far north.  And it's unlike the Wildlings to just be wandering beyond the Wall -- there may be more.  Everyone keep your eyes open."Therik responds, "The final decision as to what's to be done with Redder belongs with Mirella; he's her man.  I agree that there are more wildlings about, which is why I intend to arm those peasants.  Take what you think will serve you, and then I'll return to the village with the remainder.”  Therik has gathered the Wildlings' weapons into a small pile, casting aside the broken bow.  He waits for the others to take their pick, setting about removing the Wildlings' arrow from his shield.

Mirella sighs and looks at the body. "Black Jayke's right, we can't spend the time now to bury him as he deserves, but let us hope the gods will understand." She looks up at Therik. "While saving the weapons for the people of the area is a noble idea, do we have time for this?" She looks around for Lan and then nods at Jayke. "Perhaps we should listen to those of the Night's Watch on this one, they have more experience in these woods."

 

 

 Cautiously, they advanced to Raven's Bay, the northernmost port on the western shores of Westeros, now little more than a harbor of desperate freemen and criminals.   It was immediately obvious something was wrong -- no evidence of the 200 desperate residents that lived there except for four large pyres of freemen and wildling corpses in the center of town.  Several charred remains of boats are also found, and examination of the deserted village revealed a massive wildling attack followed by their continuing -- with what appeared to be entire clans, not just warriors -- into the pass leading to the abandoned Old Flint Castle.

 

  Thuri Bayraven, the young son of "Lord" Grigor Bayraven, the self-styled idealistic ruler of Raven's Bay, cautiously approached the party and related a tale of a late evening attack by the wildlings accompanied by the treachery of several of their own citizens.   Those who survived fled into the night, reforming in a local mine. 

  

          After sending ravens to the Wall and Lord Flint, the group split up -- Lan and Thuri would travel a dangerous mountain path to scout out Old Flint, then rendezvous with Nightwatch reinforcements beyond Blackwood Vale.  The rest would hold up in the Raven's Bay area and keep an eye on the area and wait for Thuri's report.

 

  Three days after splitting, another dozen Wildling boats are observed approaching the docks, with a longboat in their midst.  Mirella and Lynda decide to take a closer look, and sneak into Raven's Eye Tower in the middle of the harbor to have a closer look.  From the vantage point, Mirella Flint recognizes several of the longboat crew to be Farwynds -- a strange and disreputable Iron Islander house.  As the Wildlings spend several hours unloading families and cargo in the harbor and a group arrives from the pass, Therik Bolton begins to be worried about the Flints trapped amidst a sea of Wildlings.   He and Gareth gallop in on a borrowed horse, trying to distract the Wildlings with a lightning strike.  After several close calls, Therik is forced to flee, having confused the Wildlings but suffering an arrow wound in his back for the effort.  The ladies and Black Jayke try to escape the tower, but Jayke is quickly noticed and surrounded by a dozen Wildlings and forced to surrender after several wounds. 

 

    Lynda and Mirella almost escape, slipping through the Wildlings, but are stopped by Ironborn Captain Reyto and several of his crew.  Despite their best efforts, the mysterious Reyto isn't convinced that the two ladies are desperate peasants, and demands their weapons.  Unwilling to part with their only chance or their honor, the ladies defenestrate two of his oarsmen before their opponent loses patience and makes an ultimatum they are unable to refuse.  Hoping to at least salvage their reputations, Mirella and Lynda admit their nobility without admitting their house names.  Intrigued, their captor invites them in to the saloon for food and a discussion of their fate.  As they are tossed into a wagon for the long trip to Old Flint, Reyto offhandedly orders the murder of the man Lynda disemboweled, and his men jump to comply.

  

Noticing that the Wildling pilgrimage had left Raven's Bay, Gareth and Therik quickly scout it for evidence of the missing three party members.  They find Black Jayke, naked but for his black cloak, hanging from the top window of the tower by a rope bound about his feet so that he looked out to sea.  Freeing him, it became obvious that he would not regain consciousness, and Gareth decided that he deserved an honest death before the two of them followed the caravan.  Before leaving, they ordered Anson to bring the remaining villagers to the relative safety of the towns to the south after one of the final ravens sent to Flint to warn of the enemy presence was almost shot down by wildling scouts near the mine.

 

 

    Meanwhile, Lan has discovered that Old Flint is indeed occupied by invading Wildling families, and continues onward to the east, where he is following what seems to be a small clan of Wildlings east into the lands of the Gift...

 

 …Having arrived at Ravens Bay just hours after the others left, Ardwyn decided that he must reach the castle before the Flints did, and convinced a young townsperson to guide him along the deadly mountain- ous path Lan dissappeared along several days past . Ardwyn managed to make the dangerous climb through the mountains despite much delay and a seriously sprained ankle in one of the falls.  Unfortunately, his shortcut ended up taking more time than the main path's caravan, and he arrived in the Old Flint area just in time to observe the caravan entering the ruined castle.  Undaunted, he took a shortcut through the Flint ancestral crypts and arrived at his destination -- the Old Flint Weirwood across the river from the castle.  From there, he began terrorizing lone wildlings hunting in the woods and leaving corpses in terrible condition to frighten the superstitious Wildlings...

 

   Following the caravan, Therik and Gareth were confronted with a dangerous challenge to their stealthy mission -- two Wildling scouts set atop the pass with a clear view for over a thousand yards.  Bravely the child Gareth wandered up the pass alone, drawing down one of the curious scouts while the other watched from afar.  As Gareth, our lost and scared 13 year old child clung to the legs of one scout, begging for help and mercy, Therik neatly pulled off the shot of a lifetime -- bullseyeing the one at the top of the pass.  Gareth returned the kindness of the scout by hamstringing him and then getting into a life and death struggle until Therik arrived to finish the Wildling.  From there, the route to Old Flint was secured... but a quick investigation revealed far more Wildlings were ahead than expected, and even more were expected to be coming by sea.

 

When Therik arrived at Old Flint, it was obviously far more active than the last 100 years combined..  Old Flint was built on a steep bluff looking down into the river.  Its twenty-foot walls are crumbling with disrepair, but the natural stone bridge vaulting over the river to the Godswood and Flint ancestral tombs on the far side seems as solid as ever.  At least a dozen cook fires were burning inside, and sounds rolling out of it were of a multitude.  Upon the broken wall facing him, Therik saw several Wildlings lounging about.  Needing more information, Therik sent Gareth slinking over one of the broken walls into the encampment.

 

  Inside Old Flint, a party began as another 200 Wildlings arrived...  swelling the numbers towards five hundred.  Though rumors are beginning to circulate about some hideous evil across the river, those in the great hall don't notice such trivial matters when two morsels as fine as the Ladies Flint are presented to them.  Gareth, who managed to sneak into the castle after Therik made him some Wildling furs, managed to get himself a spot basting the deer for the feast, and observed as Lynda and Mirella, still bound and haggard from their journey, were escorted to the head of the table.  Soon afterwards, the lords of the castle appeared... Captain Reyto who captured them, a Wildling chieftain, and a very corpulent individual who Mirella Flint recognizes as Dalen Herric the Huge, brother of Lord Jaril Herric of Treefall, a minor lordling of the Boltons and a sworn bannerman of Lord Eddard Stark... a man far from home and in rather odd company.  Herric offered Lady Mirella and Lynda the ancient custom of hospitality of bread and salt, and they were released from their ropes after they accepted. 

 

Outside, Therik was surprised as a hand grabbed him by his helm, yanking back, and heavy, cold steel dug into his neck.  Enough pressure is put on the blade that some blood seeps from beneath the blade.

 

  "If you want to live, you'll do what I say, and you'll do it quickly and quietly.  You're going to unbuckle your swordbelt, then slowly get up and walk away from it.  Once that's done, you and I are going to have a nice conversation about who your friends are in there, and just exactly what they're doing there...   Now move"

Therik silently cursed himself for allowing the man to get the drop on him.   He followed the man's instructions without speaking, undoing his sword belt and letting it slide to the ground.   As soon as the sword is away from his throat, Therik turned to look the man in the face, still not saying a word.  It was Arig Botley, their quarry. 

 

Chapter 3:  A Desperate Chase

 

            Lynda and Mirella Flint, captured by Captain Reyto and his Ironborn raiders, were brought to Old Flint where they met the other conspirators, including Dalen Herric the Huge and the Skinreaver Wildling tribe’s chieftain, Dranwil the Deadly.  While Gareth, disguised as a Wildling child, served them dinner, Dalen revealed that he and Reyto arranged to deliver Wildlings south of the Wall if they agreed to attack Eddard Stark on his way to visit the Wall.  In fact, the deal was all but done… in the morning, a raiding party would head out to attack Lord Stark who was already travelling north. 

 

            Outside the walls, Arig Botley and Therik Bolton confronted each other.  Therik escaped his capture and tried to get Arig to yield, but the noise of confrontation drew a patrol of Wildlings.  Cooperating to defeat their common enemy, the two warriors eventually defeated ten Wildlings before the field was clear.  Facing each other once again, Arig refuse to yield, despite his weakened condition. And Botley’s final strike was a grave one indeed.  Realizing that Arig wouldn’t survive without immediate aid, Bolton was forced to leave the ladies to their wiles and keep his word to bring Botley back alive.

 

            The ladies didn’t hesitate long – within a few hours of being locked up, Gareth had them free and they managed to use Mirella’s knowledge of her ancestral castle to slip away undetected. 

 

            Ardwyn, after killing several lone scouts, was faced with a new danger – the shaman and a hunting party.  Knowing he was outnumbered, he chose to reveal himself, and was warmly welcomed into the camp as one of the followers of the Old Ways.  Free to wander about, he collected information about the Wildlings and the others before learning the captive had already escaped, and he hurried after them.

 

            Lan, well ahead of the others, turned north on the Kingsroad after a brief meeting with Ser Bearsbane and contacted the Nightswatch Rangers moving south to interdict the Wildlings.  There he discovered the rangers had already captured Ser Bearsbane and his men, dressed as Nightswatch rangers, now in chains until they could be brought North to take the oath for the crime of impersonating a member of the Nightswatch.

 

 

Chapter 4: Harrowing Ends

 

            The small, nameless inn at the base of the Old Flint Pass became a busy place.  First Arig Botley and Therik Bolton arrived, turning the common room into a sick ward.  A day later, the ladies arrived.  By then, Arig was fitfully slipping in and out of a coma, with only Gareth able to provide rudimentary aid.  The group waited an evening, knowing that every moment was precious.  When Botley failed to improve, Mirella took matters into her own hands, and ensured the group would move on by strangling the stricken Botley.

 

            They raced south along the Kingsroad and soon found the trail of the Wildlings that left the castle in the morning after their escape.  The trail was now nearly a day old, and soon split.  The larger, slower group with wagons headed east, while a much faster but smaller party of about 40 headed south.  Hurrying after what was obviously a raiding party heading toward Stark, the group raced south again. 

 

            They discovered a scene of horror.  In a location where the Kingsroad ran between a swamp and some high hills, the Wildlings ambushed the Northmen along their entire column.  Over a dozen Stark bodies were strewn about the muck or piled on hurried pyres along with over twenty Wildling corpses.  The trails made it obvious several Northern knights survive and fled south while most of the Wildlings turned eastward.  Eddard Stark was not amongst the dead, so the party rushed on to aid him.  The next few leagues showed a desperate flight – several more bodies of young nobles were left where they fell, usually taken down by arrows.  What were six sets of shod horseprints being chased by a dozen dwindled to three, then two chased by at least seven horses.  The sets of prints continued for miles, and the party followed them, gaining precious seconds each mile, racing through the night.

 

            Morning broke and they ran into Harrion Karstark, leading 40 knights North in response to the desperate warning the party sent.  He had discovered the remains of Lord Eddard Stark just a few hours earlier.  Stark and Jory Cassel were found filled with arrows, their horses dead of exertion beside them.  From the scene, it appears Stark was true to the end – Jory had a shattered arm from when his horse stumbled and ended its run, and Stark remained with him.  Once they were both out of action, Eddard and Jory had their throats cut and their bodies left for the wolves.  Eddard’s Valyrian steel blade, Ice, was nowhere to be seen.  Lord Karstark ordered the bodies prepared for travel and sent men out to seek the murderers.  They would return hours later, having lost the trail.  While preparing for travel, the group is met by Lan arrives with Ronnel Harclay leading a score of Nightswatch rangers and Ser Mayin Bearsbane and his crew in chains.  All head to Old Flint and the remains of Stark’s train.