Jon is being lowered down the side of the Wall in a cage. After five days in a cell, he was brought before Lord Janos and Ser Alliser. Maester Aemon has written to Cotter protesting Jon's imprisonment, and Janos can no longer hang him. Instead, he is sending him as an envoy to Mance, who has asked for a parley. Lord Janos wants Jon to kill Mance. Jon walks through the gate and is met by Tormund, who takes him to the wildling camp. Tormund is amiable enough, but Mance, flanked by Harma and Varamyr, is not at all pleased to see Jon. Mance tells him that they know how many men the Watch has and how few supplies they have left. He takes Jon inside to talk alone. Val and Dalla are there as well, and Dalla will be giving birth anytime now. Jon is shocked to see the Horn of Winter sitting there. Mance did not tell Jon about it because he never trusted him. Mance says that he could attack all three Watch castles at once or send men to dig out gates at the abandoned castle, but he does not do it because his people have bled enough. The Others have been hounding them relentlessly, and no one has been able to stop them. He is not moving south to conquer; he is running. He does not want to sound the horn because if the Wall falls nothing will stand in the way of the Others. He tells Jon that if the Watch lets his people pass through, he will turn over the Horn of Winter. If not, then the horn will be blown in three days. Suddenly, a horn sounds. Mance goes outside, and Varamyr tells him that riders are coming from the east, including men in black. A group of rangers appear, and Harma rides past to meet them with thirty raiders. Mance mounts his horse to join his men. He orders Varamyr to watch Jon and kill him if he flees. Suddenly, Varamyr screams, and Jon sees his eagle on fire.¹ Val comes out wondering where Mance is because the birth is beginning. Jon sees the rangers give way before Harma, but they are supported by a group of knights. Jon tells Val to go inside the tent. Three columns of heavy horse emerge. One smashes into Harma's raiders, while another engages Tormund and his spearmen. All is confusion among the wildlings. The giants on their mammoths engage the center column and scatter it, but the other two keep coming. Jon holds his ground as women and children run past and Varamyr slinks away on all fours. More and more men emerge from the trees behind a yellow banner. Mance tries to rally his men, but his horse is killed under him. The wildlings break and run. Jon sees Harma's head on a pole and then sees gigantic royal standards bearing a flaming heart and the prancing stag. Jon thinks for a second it is Robert, even though that is impossible, until he hears men crying out the name Stannis.