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When the guards at the Commander’s Tower finished asking Leon the purpose of his visit, they stepped aside to let him pass, opening the door to the Lord Commander’s study.
Leon raised his head and strode forward, left foot crossing the threshold first.
His eyes adjusted to the indoor light, and he took in the scene, the Lord Commander had no shortage of visitors today.
The Lord Commander held a parchment letter in his hand.
He paid Leon no attention, instead rolling the letter up and sliding it into a small wooden tube.
He tied it to a raven and released it out the window.
“That’s the third great lord we’ve appealed to for help.
Let us hope he does not disappoint us — we need those soldiers and provisions desperately.”
Maester Aemon, his eyes clouded with age, stared out the empty window and muttered quietly to himself.
Seeing that the Old Bear had finished the task at hand, Leon mimicked the tone and bearing of the veteran soldiers and saluted.
“Leon Victor, reporting for duty, Lord Commander.”
“You little rascal.
Boundless energy in you, isn’t there?
Two fights in two days.
Have you picked your opponent for today yet?”
The Old Bear launched into a rapid-fire string of deliberate rebukes, his expression hovering somewhere between stern and unreadable.
The question put Leon in an awkward spot, he had no idea how to answer.
“When Qhorin left, he asked me for you.
Insisted on making you his second in the Rangers.”
“I refused.
You have yet to take the oath.
As for whether you intend to take it, I trust these past two days have given you ample time to think it through.”
The Old Bear spoke with an authority that brooked no interruption, so Leon stood ramrod straight and listened with his head held high.
“As a noble, you are not like the prisoners.
You may leave at any time before the ceremony, and doing so will not mark you as a deserter.
For a thousand years, countless men have set out full of hot-blooded passion, only to be scared shitless the moment they felt the Wall’s biting winds.”
“And know this — the loves of this world, its power, its families — all of it will cease to concern you.
Leon Victor.
Are you prepared?”
“Always prepared, Lord Commander.”
Listening to the Old Bear’s stirring words, Leon, who before his transmigration had been nothing more than a high school student, felt his blood surge.
He could barely restrain himself from swearing the oath on the spot and becoming an honored brother of the Night’s Watch.
“Good.
Master-at-arms, gather your men.
We go to the sept.”
“Yes, Lord Commander.”
Alliser Thorne, who had remained utterly silent from the moment Leon entered, finally spoke.
As he did, he glanced at Leon.
For some reason, Leon had not spared him a single extra glance today, as if the man were nothing but air.
It seemed the long-standing hostility between them, as compatible as fire and water, had been laid to rest now that Leon was about to join the Night’s Watch.
“Don’t you think it.
I’m not done with you.” Alliser Thorne muttered the words under his breath.
His petty nature would not allow him to release his hatred so easily.
But on the way to the sept, Alliser Thorne noticed flocks of crows drifting overhead.
Several had the gall to land on his shoulders and head, cawing without pause.
Annoyed and agitated, he waved them away, only for more crows to descend upon him.
It felt like an ill omen.
“Hmph.
Why trouble yourself over a few little crows?”
The Old Bear’s grunt froze Alliser mid-motion.
After that, he had no choice but to let the crows use his body as a perch.
Fortunately, the moment they entered the sept, the irritating birds vanished.
Mormont stood before the altar, the seven-colored rainbow light gleaming on his broad bald head.
“You came to us outlaws,” he began.
“Poachers, rapers, debtors, killers, thieves, and tricksters.
You came to us children.
You came to us alone, in chains, with neither friends nor honor.
You came to us rich, and you came to us poor.
You came from noble houses, or with only a bastard’s name, or with no name at all.
None of that matters.
All of that is in the past.
On the Wall, we are all one family.”
“At evenfall, as the sun sets and night descends, you shall take your vows.
From that moment, you shall be sworn brothers of the Night’s Watch.
Your crimes shall be washed away, your debts forgiven.
So too must you erase your former family loyalties, cast aside old hatreds, and forget past loves and grudges.
Here you shall be born anew.”
“The Night’s Watch serves the realm.
Not the king, nor the nobility, nor the honor of great houses, not for wealth, not for glory, and not for the love of women.
All is for the safety of the realm and the peace of its people.
The Night’s Watch takes no wife and fathers no sons.
We take duty as our wife, honor as our mistress, and you are our only sons.”
“You have heard the words of the oath.
Consider carefully before you swear it, for once you don the black, there is no turning back.
Desertion is punishable by death, and death alone.” The Old Bear paused, then continued.
“Is there any man among you who wishes to leave?
If so, go now, and we shall think no less of you.”
No one moved.
“Good,” Mormont said.
“At evenfall, you shall return here and swear your vows before Septon Cellador and the First of your order.
Are any of you followers of the old gods?”
Leon thought for a moment.
“Yes, my lord.”
“Does House Victor follow the old gods?”
“No.
It’s just that, having come to the Wall, I thought it best to pay my respects to the local gods.”
The Old Bear found the answer odd but did not press further.
“After this is done, go north half a league to the haunted forest.
The old gods’ weirwoods are everywhere there.”
“Now then, lad.
According to our needs, and your own abilities and skills, you shall be assigned to different orders.” Bowen Marsh, First Steward of the Night’s Watch, stepped forward and handed the Lord Commander a sheet of paper.
Mormont unfolded it.
“Hodder, to the Builders.” Hodder gave a stiff but excited nod.
“Grenn, to the Rangers.
Albett, to the Builders.
Pypar, to the Rangers.” The recruits whose names were called all showed expressions of relief.
“Messar, to the Rangers.
Dareon, to the Stewards.
Todder, to the Rangers.
Leon…
as second to the master-at-arms, responsible for training recruits.”
“Night gathers, and now my watch begins.
It shall not end until my death.
I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children.
I shall wear no crowns and win no glory.
I shall live and die at my post.
I am the sword in the darkness.
I am the watcher on the walls.
I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men.
I pledge my life and honor to the Night’s Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.”
The recruits whose names had been called knelt and recited the oath.
Their voices differed in tone, but the words they spoke were exactly the same.
“You knelt as children.
Rise now, as men of the Night’s Watch.”
At the Old Bear’s command, the recruits rose to their feet, faces brimming with excitement.
They looked at one another, scarcely able to believe they were now truly men of the Night’s Watch.
“Others may call you men of the Night’s Watch, but you’d be fools to believe it.
You’re all still green boys, stinking of summer.
When winter comes, you’ll die like flies, flat on your backs with your legs in the air.”
Alliser Thorne’s vicious words hit like a bucket of ice water dumped square over the recruits’ heads.
And when he heard the Old Bear say that Leon would serve as his second in training the new recruits going forward, his anger flared instantly.
He turned to face the Old Bear.
➤ Next: Unwilling to Accept His Post as Master-at-Arms Was Stolen, Alliser Thorne Ros…