What IF

Chapter 21

The Free-Folk Kissed By Fire

Tormund missed Mance. He missed his friend more than he cared to admit.

He truly did.

These were the moments that Mance would thrive on. When things were in absolute chaos, when everything was going to shit and there seemed to be no way of resolution and unity.

Mance was always there with the solution.

He could bring together enemies that had a history of killing each other's sons. Tormund was always amazed at his ability to do that.

He also missed his friend's ability of quieting down grumblings within their camps.

Tormund had done his best to quell them but it felt useless.

The Free-Folk believed in their right to be free and do whatever they please and Tormund was a huge advocate of that. But right now it was of the most inconvenience especially considering they were technically living in enemy territory and their "king" was a big target for their enemies.

More and more of their men would wander further away from the castle and it would lead to headaches for them to stay compact and guarded.

This was amplified by the fact that a few of the Nights Watch members had escaped from their fucking cells.

An internal unrest along with a lack of leverage that they could use on any army was what they had, and it all compounded into a massive headache that he wished Mance were there to deal with.

But all he had was the iron boy. The boy that they had chosen to lead them.

At the time Tormund thought it a questionable move, one that he would have protested but in the case of the Free-Folk it was usually the loudest voices that won the lot. He gave the boy the benefit of the doubt though, hadn't Mance been a crow before he turned his cloak for them and he had managed to unite all of them.

He thought the Greyjoy might be better because he had helped them cross the wall and take individual castles.

Ygritte had also been his biggest advocate and Tormund trusted her. Now Tormund had many regrets with placing his trust in her.

She was the wildest of all of them and the boy had been stupid enough to betray her. Now Ygritte was gone and Karsi as well along with her children, he had always thought it strange that she visited the cells to attend to the prisoners.

He never expected Karsi to fall in love with a crow. But then again, love was always the reason that men fought, if not for lands and castles.

Tormund released a sigh as he went to see their King, their poor excuse of a leader.

When he arrived he saw the Lord of Bones standing outside his door barking orders as if he were in charge.

'He doesn't want to see anyone, he is stressed and the disappearance of Ygritte has got him by the balls' the man chuckled underneath the idiotic skeleton he had always put on his face.

A custom that he used when he would collect the bones of his enemies so that he may scare all of them but a habit that Tormund always laughed at.

Tormund just growled at him as he barged into the room.

When he entered he saw his King laying on the floor hunched up to his knees as he shivered.

There were many things he wanted to say, things he wanted to scream but Tormund just sighed and took a deep breath.

'Your people are waiting for you. You can't hide in here forever' Tormund stated.

He got no response, only the shivering and sniveling form of their kind as he hugged himself with his knees like he was a caterpillar that had just been poked.