Chapter 165: Not You

"Lord Commander, you cannot."

Coris Danel said it first, but everyone on the platform was saying some version of it.

"The Wall needs its commander."

"Send the rest of us."

"If you fall, who holds the Council together?"

Ulrich waited until they had finished.

It did not take long. He was very good at waiting.

"I am the strongest man on this Wall," he said. "That is not pride. It’s a fact, and every one of you knows it. If a small group goes into that forest to face an Elder, the strongest man on the Wall goes with it. Otherwise, there is no point in sending anyone."

No one could argue with that.

Encrid could see it on their faces. They wanted to argue. They simply had nothing to argue with.

"I will take three," Ulrich continued. "No more. More would be noticed."

He looked at Kass.

"Captain Kass. You know the forest beyond the stakes better than any man alive who still has two good legs."

Kass straightened.

"Yes, Lord Commander."

Ulrich’s gaze moved on.

"Garrick."

Garrick Dane did not seem surprised. He only lowered his poleaxe from his shoulder and held it upright beside him.

"Your poleaxe breaks joints," Ulrich said. "Whatever that thing is, it walks. Things that walk have joints."

"Yes, Lord Commander."

"Dael will hold the Western Gate while you are gone."

"He will hold it well," Dane said.

It was, Encrid thought, the most words he had ever heard Garrick Dane say about another person.

Ulrich turned to look at the rest of the Council.

"That is two. The third-"

"The third is me."

Ysolde Marr had finally turned away from the parapet.

She walked across the platform toward the Lord Commander, and the Watch commanders moved out of her way without being asked.

"No," Ulrich said.

"I am stronger than Garrick."

"Yes."

"I am stronger than Kass."

"Yes."

"Then I should be the one standing beside you."

"No," Ulrich said again.

Ysolde stopped in front of him.

Encrid had seen her angry before. He had seen her standing on a sparring yard with red light running along her sword, looking at him like she was deciding where to cut. But he had never seen her like this.

Her face was very calm.

Her hands were shaking.

"Give me one reason for your refusal," she said.

"I will give you three."

Ulrich did not raise his voice.

"First. You fought for three days without rest. You slept for one. You are not ready to fight again, and you know it."

Ysolde’s jaw tightened. She did not deny it.

"Second. You are the only mobile reserve this Wall has. When a section breaks, you are the one who runs to it. If you come with me, then the next time a section breaks, nobody runs to it."

He paused.

"And third."

For the first time, something in Ulrich’s voice changed. It became quieter.

"If I do not come back, you are the strongest thing left on this Wall. The men will look at you. They already look at you. I need you standing on this stone when they do."

Ysolde stared at him.

For a long moment, she said nothing.

Then she said, very quietly, "You are leaving me behind to watch."

"I am leaving you behind to hold."

"It’s the same thing."

"It isn’t," Ulrich said.

Ysolde turned around and walked back to the parapet.

She put both hands on the stone and looked north, and she did not turn around again.

Encrid watched her back.

He understood exactly what the Lord Commander was doing. From a strategic point of view, it was the right decision. It was the decision Encrid would have made.

But he also understood what Ysolde was feeling.

For nineteen years, she had been the one who went. To every broken section. To every desperate stand. She had buried more men than anyone on the Wall except Ulrich himself.

And now, when the worst thing ever to come out of the forest was walking toward them, she was being told to stay behind.

It was not an order to protect the Wall.

To her, it felt like an order to be protected.

"I’ll need a guide," Ulrich said. "Someone who knows the ground north of the treeline. Not the old Far-Watch paths. Those are covered in Roamers. The ones they don’t use."

Kass frowned.

"I know most of the paths, Lord Commander."

"Most is not all."

Wilm Trask scratched the back of his neck.

"Isn’t that what the mercenary boy does?" he said. "The one everybody’s talking about. Goes out past the stakes on paths nobody else knows. Sorry. I don’t mean to put him forward for something like this. It just came into my head."

Several people looked at Encrid, they all knew who was behind the mercenary guild as it was no secret.

Encrid did not answer right away.

Trask was right. There was no one on the Wall who knew the forest north of the ninth mile better than Rael.

And that was exactly why Encrid did not want to say his name.

Rael had cracked ribs. Rael had only become a Master the night before. Rael had a hundred and fifty people who depended on him.

And the system had listed Rael’s death as a failure condition for one of Encrid’s quests.

"I’ll ask him," Encrid said finally.

"Ask?" Bastian Ryn frowned. "He’s under contract to the Wall. Tell him."

"His contract is to hold the ninth mile," Encrid said. "Not to walk into the forest. If he goes, he goes because he chooses to."

Ulrich looked at Encrid for a moment.

Then he nodded.

"Ask him, then. And quickly. The sun goes down in six hours."

✧ ✧ ✧

The Council broke up after that.

The commanders went back down the stair one by one, returning to their sections. Most of them did not speak. Garrick Dane stopped briefly at the top of the stair and looked back at the Lord Commander, then went down without a word.

Wilm Trask paused beside Encrid.

"I’m sorry about that," he said, lowering his voice. "The mercenary boy. I shouldn’t have said it. You looked like you’d swallowed something sour."

"You weren’t wrong," Encrid said.

"Doesn’t make it pleasant." Trask shook his head. "Good luck, Watcher. I’ll be at the Center if anyone needs me."

He went down the stairs.

Encrid turned back toward the parapet.

Ysolde was still standing there, with both hands on the stone.

Encrid thought about going to her.

Then he thought about what she would say if he did.

He left her alone and went to find Rael.

✦ ✦ ✦