What IF

Chapter 19

Two important things before you read.

1) With regards to timelines, the first POV is told 3 weeks before Rhaenys takes King Landing and before Jon and Dany go to the twins. The rest plays out concurrently with the last chapter

2) For those of you that grew up watching Tom and Jerry, you know how whenever Jerry inflicts pain on Tom he let's out this very loud scream, in particular when Jerry cut of Tom's tail. Something happens to a character in this chapter were he/she let's out a blood curdling scream, you will know when you read it. I just wanted you to know that is what I thought of when I wrote that specific part.

Anyways happy reading X

Wildling Warrior

Things were bad. Things were very bad.

That was a simple approximation if Karsi were to give a summary on the situation they were in right now.

How things had escalated to this point, she had no idea of knowing.

Too many things were going wrong,

A lot of bad omens were occurring. Omens that would lead to the death of her people and her children.

The only problem was that she was the only one who seemed to notice them. Her people didn't and she needed to protect her children.

This all started when Mance died. She had urged her King not to go through with his vendetta of a mission. Tried to dissuade him and tell him that if Ramsey Bolton were sick enough to do that to his wife and daughter then his mission for revenge would be fruitless.

She had urged him to stay with them and not try to play mind games with a mad man.

But her King was filled with rage and she had to watch in horror as Ramsey's hounds tore his arse apart.

That was the beginning of the end for them. Despite their victories.

Mance was the one thing that held them all together.

The Free Folk had different clans all with different beliefs. The only thing they had in common was constantly being at each other's throats.

But then Mance had reminded them of another thing they had in common. The one thing that frightened them all into working together to get past the wall.

The cold creatures that cared not if you were part of the Ice River clan or if you were a Thenn.

Mance had come to some arrangement with one of them, with one of the "others" but she never dared to ask what arrangement he had made.

All she knew was that these ice creatures had demanded that they leave their land and never return along with some newborns.

It was that motivation and that glue that brought them all together.

But that glue had been thinning as of late.

When they had taken Castle Black she had urged that they take hostages. Show the southerners that they weren't complete monsters and perhaps from there, they could negotiate a truce.

Mance had listened to her and she was thankful.

But as soon as he heard what Ramsey did, he forewent the diplomatic approach and the fat boy, whose name was Samwell Tarly had been food for one of the Thenns.

That was the beginning of the end as Mance unleashed his most brutal forces to take the castles from here to Winterfell.

Karsi had no love for Southerners, except the one.