Chapter 197: The Wildling's Proposal
"How dare you?" Joffrey shouted angrily. "I am the Crown Prince! I—"
Before he could finish, Joffrey was once again thrown to the ground, drawing laughter from the onlookers.
"You'll regret this!" Joffrey scrambled to his feet, his face flushed red, his beautiful golden hair covered in mud. "And you all, you'll all regret this! I'll have my mother order you all killed! Kill you all!"
The wildling boy who had just thrown Joffrey took a step forward upon hearing this, startling Joffrey into retreating. He slipped and fell to the ground again, then burst into tears of humiliation.
The onlookers laughed even louder, the sound becoming increasingly grating to Joffrey's ears.
"Kill you all! I'll have my mother kill you all!" he muttered, picking up a small stone from the ground.
Joffrey intended to throw the stone at the boy who had just struck him, but upon meeting the boy's eyes, he trembled, dropping the stone from his hand.
Tyrion watched Joffrey being put in his place from afar, remaining silent. He was pleased to see his nephew being disciplined by the wildlings. Cersei had spoiled him rotten, while Robert had always neglected his children, fostering Joffrey's excessively arrogant character.
Although he didn't know the wildlings' purpose, they hadn't harmed them. They had even provided him with warm furs, which was enough.
Thinking of this, Tyrion pulled his furs tighter.
It was terrifyingly cold here, and the temperature was steadily dropping. The nighttime temperature had long since fallen below freezing, and every time the northern wind blew, it cut like a sharp blade through his warmest sheepskin coat.
This was beyond the Wall. These supposedly kind wildlings had rescued him from the fate of freezing his cock off at Castle Black, only to take him to an even colder place. His little brother truly had a tragic fate.
The good news was that these wildling women were quite open-minded, so he didn't have to worry about finding whores like he did at the Wall. The bad news was that these wildling women looked down on dwarfs. If you offered them coin, you'd most likely get a beating.
"Tyrion Lannister." A voice sounded behind Tyrion, and he recognized it.
It was the leader of the wildlings, who had led a full forty skilled warriors to raid the caravan from Winterfell to Castle Black. They had laid an ambush all around, as if they knew the group would be passing through.
Although the Winterfell escort was mounted, not a single man escaped.
The wildlings slaughtered the cavalry, sparing only Joffrey, Tommen, Jon Snow, Benjen, and himself, before leading them through the secret passages beneath the Wall to the lands beyond. Tyrion really wanted to go back and complain to the Night's Watch about their negligence.
Well... if he hadn't already been exiled.
"Yes, thank you for remembering my name, but I would be even more grateful if you could overlook this unfortunate surname, esteemed Free Folk." Tyrion turned around.
"The Free Folk have no lords. We never kneel," Marvin said with a smile, unconsciously getting a little into character. Good line, he added in his mind.
"That's a fine habit, enviable," Tyrion praised. "I'm serious."
"Then it's good that we have something in common. It will be very helpful for our cooperation."
"Cooperation?" Tyrion raised his voice, looking down from his feet up to his chest. "I wonder what cooperation a great Free Folk warrior and a dwarf less than half your height could possibly have?"
"If this dwarf's surname is Lannister, then yes."
Tyrion frowned. He didn't like being reminded of this repeatedly.
"And I have more news that will surely please you," Marvin continued. "Your brother Jaime has left the North. If all goes well, my friends should be sailing with him on the Trident by now, and they'll arrive in the Westerlands soon."
"What?" Tyrion was instantly excited by this news. "Jaime wasn't captured?"
"He's as free as you are. No, far freer than you are now."
"Your friends will take him back to Casterly Rock?" Tyrion asked Marvin for confirmation.
"Otherwise, who are we supposed to collect the reward from?"
"What about us? Me, and..." Tyrion pointed to his two nephews not far away, "them... are you also planning to use us for ransom?"
"You sadden me, Tyrion. We saved you. I considered you a friend, and you treat this like a kidnapping."
"Friends?" Tyrion laughed. "You saved Jaime, and then, by sheer coincidence, you saved us? Even the Seven couldn't create such a coincidence. No, no, no, you knew everything all along, didn't you? Who are you, anyway?"
As expected of the sharpest mind in Westeros, Marvin immediately saw the problem. "It's magic, my lord," Marvin said without hesitation, attributing everything to sorcery. "We saw everything that happened in Winterfell through greensight, which is why we rushed here to rescue you. It's just a pity we arrived too late."
No, you arrived just in time, Tyrion thought to himself.
If they had arrived earlier and prevented the terrible consequences, what benefit would they have gained? Only after Jaime and Cersei's affair was exposed would the Lannisters be grateful for saving their lives.
Of course, Tyrion saw through this but didn't say it aloud. Saying it would be detrimental to their cooperation.
"Anyway, we should thank you, shouldn't we?" Tyrion followed Marvin's lead. "Tell me, what can I do for you?"
He no longer resisted the idea of cooperation as before, because he knew Jaime was still alive.
His father, Tywin, might abandon him, but Jaime wouldn't.
As long as Jaime was alive, he would definitely come to save him, no matter where he was. Tyrion had no doubt about this.
"It's cooperation," Marvin corrected again. "It's a win-win situation for us."
"Win-win?" Tyrion asked, puzzled. It was a new concept to him.
"It means we both benefit."
"For example?"
"You need to write to Lord Tywin and Ser Jaime, telling them about the situation here, and also telling them you plan to build an army beyond the Wall."
"Build an army???" Tyrion was stunned. "Where in seven hells am I supposed to build an army?"
"We are your army, Lord Tyrion. We are your army," Marvin pointed to himself. "Mance Rayder is uniting the Free Folk. He has already gathered thirty thousand at the Frostfangs, and in the next year, we will raise an army of a hundred thousand."
"You can't possibly tell me this army will be under my command." This was more unbelievable than sorcery.
"As long as Lord Tywin agrees to our terms," Marvin began to explain. "At the clan gathering, I promised the chiefs of the various tribes that I could procure thirty thousand iron weapons, three thousand sets of iron armor, and twenty thousand sets of leather armor, as well as enough food for all of us for three months."
"And these things will be provided by Casterly Rock, right?" Tyrion began to understand his intentions.
"That's right. Once I fulfill this promise, my prestige among the Free Folk will surpass that of Mance Rayder. I will become the new King-Beyond-the-Wall, and then our army will invade the North, forcing the Starks to keep every soldier north of the Neck. This will drastically reduce the military pressure on the West."
"A very idealistic suggestion," Tyrion commented after a moment's thought. "Do you want the truth?" he asked.
"Would you lie?"
"Of course. I've always been good at lying."
"Then tell the truth."
"I consider you a rabble, untrained and undisciplined. No matter how many of you there are, you're no fighting force," Tyrion's assessment was merciless this time.
"If my brother Jaime were to answer this question, he would tell you that even if you had a million men, he only needed two thousand knights to tear you to shreds on the plains.
One charge from him and you would scatter, trampling each other in complete chaos.
War is imminent, and Casterly Rock cannot possibly scatter such a large quantity of arms and provisions into the wilderness. Tywin would never agree. If he did, he wouldn't be Tywin Lannister!"
"That's why we need your wisdom, my lord," Marvin said earnestly. "After all, this is your army. Besides, we need to protect the two princes, don't we?"
Tyrion's face darkened. Marvin's last words carried a threat.
But he was right. Jaime's two sons were in his hands. Success or failure, he had to try.
(End of Chapter)
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