Jon wakes to the sound of horns blowing on top of the hill up beyond the wall, but it’s only Qhorin the Halfhand from the Shadow Tower returning from his scouting mission. Qhorin is another tough guy who responded to having most of his hand cut off by shoving the bloody stump in his attacker’s face to blind him and then kill him. He’s not to be messed with. A three way fight between him and GREGOR and the Greatjon would be fun to watch.
Anyway he’s killed Alfwyn Crowkiller and managed to find out that Mance Rayder is up in the mountains looking for an ancient magical artefact so he can smash the wall with sorcery. He wants to go and scout out the mountains to find out more, and he’s taking Jon Snow (or more accurately Jon Snow’s wolf, which he seems pretty interested in) with him.
