Finally, having crossed the Great Canyon, Mufasa, Tyrion, and the others arrived at Westwatch-by-the-Bridge, the westernmost outpost of the Night's Watch. To their disappointment, Westwatch-by-the-Bridge had long since become a complete ruin, with only a collapsed stone wall remaining, and everything else covered in ice and snow.
"I suggest we abandon the idea of rebuilding Westwatch-by-the-Bridge here in the Great Canyon," Tyrion said.
"Uncle, why?" Mufasa asked, looking at the ruins.
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"The Night's Watch has nineteen castles in total, but this is the only one that stands alone. Rebuilding it would require too much manpower and resources; it's not worth it."
"Besides, the Others don't even come to this godforsaken place!" Tyrion cursed.
The Great Canyon is a natural glacial canyon, devoid of any life, no flora or fauna, and naturally no wildlings. Without wildlings, the Others wouldn't come here to kill people.
"If we want to repair Westwatch-by-the-Bridge, we must start from Castle Black, go through the tunnel in the Wall to Beyond the Wall, and then take a long detour to get here."
"I think repairing Westwatch-by-the-Bridge would take three times longer than repairing Nightfort," Tyrion estimated.
Mufasa nodded.
"The Milkwater River Beyond the Wall flows into the sea here, entering the Bay of Ice, and within the Bay of Ice is Bear Island, which is the territory of House Mormont. However, the wildlings don't have much shipbuilding capability, so it's impossible for them to cross such a long distance by sea to invade Bear Island."
"Their most suitable crossing point is still Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. So, the west side actually doesn't need defending."
"Then let's search around here for any other situations, and then return to Castle Black."
The group began to spread out, while Mufasa, riding Heraka, once again came to the edge of the Great Canyon.
The figure he had seen before seemed to have vanished.
"Heraka, fly down."
Braving the strong updraft, Heraka still carried Mufasa to the riverbank at the bottom of the Great Canyon.
Because of the low temperature here, the river's surface had already frozen, and the thick ice layer was strong enough for people to walk on.
"Are these footprints?"
Mufasa stepped onto the ice, while Heraka continued to fly. Its weight was too great, and Mufasa feared that if it landed, the ice might not hold, causing it to fall into the water.
Mufasa examined it carefully, and indeed they were human footprints, without shoe prints, because the wildlings Beyond the Wall generally didn't wear shoes like those from the South that leave distinct prints.
Mufasa followed the tracks, which led towards the coastline.
"Could it be that some wildlings really left Beyond the Wall by boat?" This question arose in Mufasa's mind.
He immediately mounted Heraka.
"Let's go, Heraka, head in that direction."
Mufasa pointed, and Heraka immediately accelerated.
When they reached the coastline, they saw ships already setting sail.
"No identifying marks, can't tell what faction's ships these are? But daring to come here, are they involved in slave trade?"
Mufasa didn't know who had reached an agreement with certain tribal chiefs Beyond the Wall, but they definitely weren't hiring wildlings as bodyguards; they must have been capturing them to sell as slaves.
Beyond the Wall is very primitive, and tribal conflicts often occur. All members of a defeated tribe would be killed or sold. It seems Mance Rayder hasn't completely stopped the conflicts among the wildlings yet!
That's right, it's said that Mance Rayder only formed a Free Folk alliance of 100,000 people, and the number of wildlings is certainly several times more than that.
After Mufasa returned to Westwatch-by-the-Bridge, he saw that everyone except A'guda had returned.
"There are some human traces around, but no one was seen," Tyrion said.
"Let's wait for A'guda, perhaps he went to catch someone," Mufasa said.
"You trust him that much? He's a wildling!" Tyrion was somewhat surprised by Mufasa's trust in A'guda.
"Wildlings also keep their promises. Since I saved him, he's willingly become my attendant."
Soon after, Mufasa used the Fire-Spark Technique to start a fire, and the few of them began to cook.
Mufasa had to admit, Podrick's cooking was getting better and better, especially in the wilderness.
The wine was gone, but there was plenty of snow here. Melting the snow yielded clean mountain spring water. One sip was refreshing, two sips left a lingering taste, but a few more sips would send you squatting to relieve yourself.
Tyrion was currently off relieving himself.
The ice here hadn't melted for thousands of years, and many microorganisms hadn't died; they were frozen in the ice, and when Podrick melted the ice in the kettle, they were still alive.
Tyrion had fallen ill because he drank water contaminated with microorganisms.
Mufasa and Melisandre had magic, so they were fine, and Podrick also had a special body that was immune to viruses.
Only Tyrion couldn't handle it; he was small and had weak resistance.
A'guda arrived from a distance, carrying two wildlings.
"Ser Mufasa, while searching around, I saw these two sneaking about, so I tracked them. However, there was no one else in their camp, and they were also planning to return Beyond the Wall, so I captured them."
Mufasa looked at the two wildlings thrown in the snow; their most distinctive feature was their unusually large feet, as they wore no shoes.
"Which tribe are they from?" Mufasa asked.
"They're from the Hardfoot Tribe, known for their strong feet. Their tribe is particularly ancient and doesn't speak the Common Tongue. I can translate what they say for you. Do you have any questions?" A'guda said.
"First, ask them what they're doing here? There's no game here, and no shelter, so they must be here for something else."
A'guda began to speak the ancient language of the First Men. It is said that the Children of the Forest and giants also spoke the language of the First Men.
However, in the Seven Kingdoms, including the North, the language of the First Men is no longer spoken.
Only Beyond the Wall still preserves the phonetics and intonations from thousands of years ago.
Most wildlings speak both the language of the First Men and the Common Tongue, allowing them to communicate with people from the Seven Kingdoms.
Mufasa found it interesting as A'guda conversed with the two captives using several distinct nasal sounds.
"Do you understand?" Mufasa asked Melisandre.
She shook her head.
"I studied the Common Tongue, Dothraki, Valyrian, Asshai'i, and some Dragon Speech at the temple of the lord of light in Volantis."
"But I have never heard anyone speak the language of the First Men."
When Mufasa listened to A'guda talking to them, it was very interesting; they not only spoke with their mouths but sometimes also used body language, gesticulating wildly.
"Ser Mufasa, I've asked them. They say the Hardfoot Tribe won a great victory in a battle against the Cannibal Tribe, capturing dozens of them. Then their chieftain, a man called Iron Leg, sold the captives to a captain from the Iron Islands."
"So that's it, no wonder I found footprints below the Great Canyon. But do the Iron Islands also have contact with the wildlings?" Mufasa asked.
"Yes, Ser, they do."
"We actually have connections with several lords of the Seven Kingdoms. We also do business in secret. Mainly slave trade and fur trade," A'guda said.
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