En-route to Karhold

Tormund and his men wound their way down the path towards the river, leaving behind the relative comfort of Whitecastle, a modest holdfast built to control the upper reaches of the White Knife decades before the far larger and more imposing Wolf's Den was established to dominate the entire waterway, controlled by a castellan appointed from Winterfell who, in truth, did little to live up to his charge. The holdfast, however, was a useful base for when Tormund and his warband were operating in the northern stretches of the White Knife.

The Bloody Wolves were heading north, aiming to pass Winterfell, to the Lonely Hills and the Long Lake, and from there striking eastwards into the wooded region that held Karhold. They had just completed the long journey from the Sheepshead Hills, where tribes of semi-nomadic herdsmen would still occasionally clash with the more settled peoples whose loyalties were with Winterfell. Authority in that region was a patchwork, with some parts subordinated to the Wolf's Den itself and others to Winterfell directly, though no prominent Lord or keep existed, with the Wolf's Den to the east and the Dreadfort to the north. The Ashwoods were nominally the Lords of the Sheepshead Hills, but their authority did not stretch far beyond the sight of their paltry wood-and-earth seat, more resembling a fortified village than a true holdfast.

"Karhold spoke of Andals," said Tormund to his veteran sergeants at arms, "They establish villages along the shoreline and have apparently come into conflict with the Karstarks, killing the Lord and seizing property. They ask for aid in bringing them to justice."

"The Broken Branch remains unruly and poorly controlled, Tormund. Let the Karstarks spill their blood fighting foreign fishermen, the Den requires a stable hinterland, not a stable Karhold." spoke Harrag Knifesrun, Tormund's second, a man from a small but newly-landholding family near the Wolf's Den that moved to the region among the many other families from more secure (and loyal…) royal domains, promised land to farm and peasants to rule.

"Aye, but let them carve out a petty kingdom from Karhold's domains and more will come." Tormund countered, "The Broken Branch is not unified, it's Lords are weak and divided, it's peoples questioning of Winterfell's rule. The Andals will find it easy pickings. We must not allow them to believe the North can be a homeland to them: let them have the Vale and the Riverlands, let them war against the Storm King for those!"

"Our time would be better spent bringing the Branch under a single banner, then!" came the retort.

Harrag made solid points. The regions to Winterfell's south remained fractious, ruled more in name than in practice by the Kings of Winter. Indeed, it was within Tormund's own lifetime that the Wolf's Den was established in an effort to pacify the region, beset by pirates from the Sisters, raiders and bandits from the hill tribes and Marsh Kingdom, and so backward as to attract little attention from the royal armies.

Tormund had formed the Bloody Wolves to combat this: he would see the White Knife and the Broken Branch become core regions of the royal domain, ruled as firmly and unquestioningly as Winter Town itself.

"We go north." Tormund said simply. Tucked into his cloak was a letter from his own father commanding it so: the Karstarks would be lent aid, and the Bloody Wolves could get there fastest.