04 Night's Watch.pdf - Chaos Bleeds

Chapter 2: The Wall & the GiftOther StructuresThe other buildings of the castle radiate out from the Redoubt like therays of a star or, as the men under Cotter Pyke’s command prefer it: “likepiglets ‘round a sow.” The largest is the common hall, a long buildingwith low walls of field stone and a high, peaked roof layered with sod.A pair of hearths stand at either end and a broad fire pit in the center.The kitchens occupy the end nearest the Redoubt and work around theclock. The atmosphere inside the hall more resembles a raucous tavernthen an army mess. As rigid as Cotter Pyke is regarding the discipline ofhis men on duty, he is just as adamant that they have a place to cut loose.Ale flows freely and the kitchen fires burn night and day so that no mangoes hungry nor thirsty, no matter when his ship comes in. Free as thehall may be, there is one rule that remains inviolate: violence betweenBrothers is strictly forbidden.The armory is a long, low building built of rough timbers with a twostorystone block of a storehouse on the northern end. Only one of theforges has seen any use in recent memory, but the others stand ready toburn should need arise. The storehouse has a single entrance, a door ofoak with an iron gate inside it.There are eight timber barracks meant to house the men of Eastwatch.These days only three of them are occupied, each one claimed bythe crew of a galley. Four men sleep to a room, the close quarters meantto foster loyalty among the men in them.Huddled against the Wall on the west end of the castle is a smallstable. It stands at the base of a wide stone stair that climbs the wall toa height of four hundred feet. Above that, wooden steps very similarto the stair at Castle Black climb the last three hundred feet to thetop. Eastwatch has the same winch-and-cage arrangement as her sistercastles, and the same tunnel and gates as well.The EndAt its eastern end, the Wall climbs a narrow spit of rock that rises fromWesteros like the tip of a spear thrust up from the earth and into thesea. A half mile from the water the ice at the base begins to be replacedby great blocks of stone. Every few dozen yards, another course of stonebegins and the Wall narrows.As it passes onto the promontory, the Wall is a mere four hundredfeet high, forty feet thick and made entirely of stone. It narrows furtheras it climbs out on the spit. At its terminus the Wall is but thirty feetnorth to south and two hundred feet from top to bottom. It is cappedwith a tower called the Torch: a lighthouse standing another thirty feetabove the Wall, itself capped with a stone cupola over an oil-fed flameset before a bronze mirror eight feet in diameter. Mirror and flame areBrothers of Eastwatch-by-the-SeaBelow are some of the brothers of the Night’s Watch mentionedin A Song of Ice and Fire.BBCommander: Cotter PykeBBRangers: Iron EmmetBBStewards: BorcasBBOthers: Maester Harmunemounted on a pintle and gudgeon, permitting them to swivel and castlight on the sea all around. No one lives in the Torch, but it is mannedday and night by the men of Eastwatch.A narrow causeway stretches along the foot of the Wall on the southside out to a long, stone quay with space for a score of ships. Never morethan a handful are ever tied up there at any time now, and most of thoseare traders up from the south or Skagos, or even from across the NarrowSea. The Night’s Watch has but three ships of its own, and finding morethan one of them in port at a time is rare.Brothers ofEastwatch-by-the-SeaEastwatch-by-the-Sea is a port keep. As such, many of its men arethose who are familiar with sailing and life by the sea.Cotter Pyke“Bloody hell. T hat would shove a spear up Mallister’s arse,wouldn’t it? Might be worth it just for that.”–Cotter Pyke, A Storm of SwordsIt takes a pirate to catch a pirate. Whether he’s looking out over theBay of Seals from his chambers in the Salt Tower overlooking the stonequays at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea or standing at the tiller of one of theWatch’s black-sailed longships chasing smugglers over the frigid, blackwaves, it’s hard to imagine a better man for the job than Cotter Pyke.HistoryBastard-born son of a tavern wench, Cotter Pyke went to sea before histenth nameday. By his twelfth, he was a blooded reaver well seasoned onthe seas from Sea Dragon Point to the Shield Islands. When his shipwent down in a late autumn storm off Cape Kraken, overloaded with theplunder of a fruitful month of raiding, Pyke found himself ashore and inthe hands of Lord Rickard Flint. Rather than decorate a crow’s cage atthe crossroads outside the castle at Flint’s Finger, Cotter took the black.The Reaver of Eastwatch rose swiftly among the Brothers that watchthe sea between the Wall and Skagos. Seamanship, skill at arms, anda knack for inspiring loyalty in the men around him drove Pyke upwarduntil a scant six years after arriving he was named Commander ofEastwatch-by-the-Sea.He has held that post ever since, plying a reaver’s ruthless devotionto violence and a canny, piratical sense of diplomacy at turns to keepthe Bay of Seals free of smugglers and seagoing wildlings alike. Hismen love him, but their affection has been slow in spreading to therest of the Watch. Opinions among the men of Castle Black are mixed,but it is generally considered a fine thing that there is the width of thecontinent between Eastwatch-by-the-Sea and the Shadow Tower. SerDenys Mallister despises Cotter Pyke, generations of conflict betweenhis House and the Ironmen given vent in his dealings (thankfully few)with his fellow commander. For his part Pyke has nothing but scornfor Mallister, a man whose victories are decades past and counted on atourney green rather than any true battlefield.52