New chapter is live.
Settle in, take your time, and let’s see what waits in the dark 🖤 ✦ “Fear,” Aeg said.
He let the word sit for a moment.
“The largest fortification ever built, defended by a military order that once numbered more than ten thousand, must have been raised against the most terrifying enemy imaginable.
Only fear could have driven the First Men to build a wall that high and sustain so many sworn brothers, men set apart from ordinary village life, local service, and the wars of southern lords.
Nothing else explains it.” “Well,” Tyrion said, frank enough to concede the point, “you make a fair argument.
But forgive a small stubbornness of mine.
Until I see monsters with my own eyes, I will not believe in them.” “You have every right to doubt me.” Aeg spread his hands.
Convincing Tyrion that the Others were real was not his true goal.
“In fact, before I fought one myself and watched it break the steel sword in my hand with an ice blade as if it were glass, I did not truly believe either.” “A moment ago I took you for the man who kept the Watch’s ledgers,” the dwarf said, curiosity brightening his face.
“Now you tell me you duel monsters.
Which are you, steward or ranger?” “A ranger, unfortunately.” Aeg looked toward Jon.
“Boy, do you want to know why your uncle does not support you joining the Watch?
Come with me and look at the steel swords the Others broke.
You will understand very quickly that the swordplay and skill you are so proud of mean very little against such an enemy.” The bastard followed without hesitation.
Tyrion hesitated only briefly before his short legs carried him after them.
Aeg relaxed a fraction.
He had used Jon as the stated reason to show them something, but his real aim was to draw Tyrion close enough to continue the conversation and lead it where he needed it to go.
Tyrion and Jon followed Aeg through a series of turns until they reached the room Benjen Stark had arranged for him.
The black brother took out the evidence he had brought from the Wall to show Eddard Stark and set it on the small wooden table.
“Ser Waymar Royce’s sword was shattered worse than these,” Aeg said as he laid out the pieces.
“Benjen left it with your father, to be sent to the dead man’s family—to Lord Yohn Royce of Runestone.
The two here belonged to me and my comrade Gared.” Tyrion raised an eyebrow.
“The version I heard was that Waymar Royce vanished on patrol.
Is his death certain?” “I saw him fight an Other and die,” Aeg lied.
In truth, he had only heard the fight, but Waymar Royce was dead, and neither of the two men before him could prove otherwise.
“Gared and I should have died as well, but a dragonglass dagger saved our lives.
That black thing there is the weapon.
I made it myself, as clumsy as it looks.
If you are interested, you may try fitting the swords together.
Not everyone has a chance to see steel blades cracked by ice magic.” Jon’s curiosity got the better of him, and he began fitting the fragments together at once.
Tyrion cared little for weapons, much less broken ones.
He strolled around the room with his hands behind his back, found neither wine jug nor cup, and eventually returned to Aeg.
He tilted his head up.
“You are called Aeg.
Aeg what?” Aeg’s spirits lifted.
He had been looking for a way to begin the performance, and the dwarf had handed him the cue.
“I am not truly called Aeg,” he said with a bitter smile.
“Aeg is only the name a few Westerosi farmers gave me.
I do not even know what they meant by it.
Nor do I have a family name in the way you use them.
Where I come from, names work differently.” “I did think you looked unlike anyone here.
So you are not Westerosi.
Where are you from?
Essos?
The Summer Isles?
Surely not Sothoryos.” “None of those.
I come from a continent beyond the Sunset Sea.
In my language, it is called Caina—the central lands, in an old tongue.
The name dates from an age when my people knew little of what lay beyond their own shores.” * * * “Caina?” Tyrion had only followed out of boredom and curiosity.
A question about the black brother’s origin had been meant as idle conversation.
Now the answer caught him completely off guard.
“I have never heard of such a place.
How did you come from there to Westeros and end up in the Night’s Watch?” “That is a long story.” Aeg had not expected everything to go this smoothly.
A few sentences had already caught Tyrion’s interest.
Now he had to hold it.
“Our scholars spent years making astronomical observations and calculations before reaching a conclusion: the world is a sphere.
A ship that sails far enough in one direction should eventually circle the world and return to where it began.
To test the theory, the ruler of Caina ordered an expedition beyond the known seas.
We built several strong, steel-hulled ships and sent them east, west, south, and north.” “Ships made of steel?” Tyrion said.
“Impossible.” “If you place an iron bowl in water, does it sink?
A steel ship follows the same principle.
Its shape must displace enough water to bear its weight.
Our shipwrights know arts unknown in Westeros.
Given time, I could explain them.” “An iron bowl…” Tyrion murmured.
He caught the principle quickly, but another question followed.
“How do you make one large enough to carry men?
If even one part leaks, it will sink faster than stone.” ✦ ✦ ✦ Want to keep going?
I hope this chapter gave you another reason to stay with the story.
There’s still plenty ahead, and things are only starting to unfold.