Chapter 1: Winterfell’s Call to Arms
The icy winds howled across the North, stirring up snowdrifts and numbing even the hardiest of men. Beyond the Wall, the wildlings gathered in the Frostfangs, driven by hunger and desperation to raid the lands of the Seven Kingdoms.
And among them, a new leader had emerged, one who threatened to unite the disparate tribes and pose a greater threat than ever before.
In Winterfell, Lord Eddard Stark received the first reports of this new wildling leader.
He sat in his great hall, surrounded by his bannermen, who had come at his summons to discuss the troubling news.
“Tell me, Lord Manderly,” Eddard said to one of his vassals, “what have you heard of these wildlings?”
Lord Manderly, a portly man with a walrus mustache, cleared his throat. “My lord, our scouts have reported sightings of a new leader among the wildlings. They say he is a fierce warrior, and he has been rallying the tribes to his cause.”
Lord Eddard frowned. “Do we know anything about his tactics, his strength, his intentions?”
“Little and less, my lord,” replied Ser Wendel Manderly, Lord Manderly’s son and heir. “But we can assume the worst. They’re wildlings, after all. They’re not to be trusted.”
