Game of Dragonborn.

Chapter 66 - Taking Leadership of Camp 01.

[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]

Third Person POV.
Westeros.

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Jon was standing in front of Mance as Val and Della walked away.

"Don't go out through the camp yet," Mance began, looking at Jon. "I haven't spoken to any of my leaders yet, even though they sought me out yesterday. I just wanted to stay with my wife and the child she carries in her belly. But I know very well what is happening, Jon Snow... or should I call you by your other name, or nickname..."

"..." Jon said nothing and waited for Mance to continue.

"But I know very well what is happening here. I know that everyone in the camp is turning their attention to you. I doubt I will have the same respect I had when I left to go south," he said with an intense look.

"And you must be angry about that..." Jon commented, but Mance shook his head.

"Not in the way you think... in fact, I'm relieved," he said, and Jon raised an eyebrow upon hearing that, not expecting it, though he had already noticed that Mance didn't hate him.

"I know you're surprised, but I don't think I could defeat someone like you after everything I heard and saw at Winterfell," he admitted.

"You're giving up too easily," Jon remarked.

"You might be right about that. But instead of creating two groups fighting against each other, we should join forces to get past the Wall," Mance said.

"You know that's not how it works," Jon replied, knowing he would still have problems with the camp.

"No... it's not. And everyone will demand a fight in the end. That's why you'll have to fight in front of the entire camp," Mance stated, and Jon accepted it as something natural.

"If you think I'm going to kill you, I'm not that cruel," Jon said, acknowledging the value Mance still held.

"I hope not... but what I want is..." Mance admitted, not wanting to lose the chance to see his child born. "But I want to know what you plan for this camp. I've heard that you didn't seem very interested in taking command before, but Della mentioned your growing interest in leading everyone now," he said, still unaware of the details behind Jon's interest in the camp.

Jon nodded. "Before that, can you tell me what you think will happen once we cross the Wall? Let's assume we manage to hold off the Night's Watch. Now we're in the North, with the Wall behind us. What do you think will happen, and how will the North react to it?" Jon asked calmly.

"They won't accept us, obviously. But we'll have to fight them. We have over 100,000 men to fight on our side. We can withstand the attacks," Mance said, but Jon almost laughed.

"Mance... I know you're smarter than that. You've been on the other side, you've fought for the Wall, and you know how the southern armies work... Do you really believe the camp can fight against thousands of mounted men with spears? The Free Folk are great individual fighters and know how to survive, but in a pitched battle between armies, they'd be cut down like cheese by the southern trained men," Jon said.

Mance looked at him for a moment before continuing. "And what do you plan to do about that?" he asked, not disagreeing with Jon's reasoning.

Jon Snow knew that this might be the main reason why Mance clung to the idea of having someone better than him leading his people. The Wildling leader knew that crossing the Wall could be easy, but dealing with the South was the real challenge.