Chapter Seventy-Three - Jon 10 - A Storm of Swords | A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF)

Jon gets a reprieve from the ice cell and noose that Thorne and Slynt had promised. Hooray! It's so he can go on a suicide mission to assassinate Mance Rayder. Boo! But at the last second redemption comes from an unlikely source. Simon and Mackelly consider the new power structures at the Wall.

Chapter Review:
Jon is lowered down the north face of the Wall in a cage. It beats the tiny ice cell in which he’d been held for the last 4 days. Thorne and Slynt’s plan to hang him had been foiled by Maester Aemon. But they’ve found a sure-fire alternative. He’s to go parlay with Mance Rayder, murder the King Beyond the Wall in the middle of his army, and then make it back alone to Castle Black - this will prove his loyalty.

Tormund guides him through angry faces - none are pleased to see the turncoat back in black. Mance’s woman Dalla is about to give birth. Mance himself is relatively sanguine about Jon’s return. He never trusted Jon enough to tell him that they had found the fabled Horn of Winter in the Frostfangs. Mance says that the Night’s Watch will let the wildlings pass through the Wall or the horn will be blown in three days, and they’ll pass through the rubble instead.

Jon concedes that the Night’s Watch might consider this, if Mance and his people bend the knee. But Mance won’t promise that. Seeing an impasse, Jon looks for ways to carry out the assassination. But before anything happens, an army attack the wildlings. It’s Stannis coming west from Eastwatch, and he routes Mance’s forces with ease. During the chaos, Dalla goes into labor. 

Characters/Places/Names/Events:
Jon Snow - Bastard son of Ned Stark. Member of the Night’s Watch.
Maester Aemon - Elderly, blind maester of the Night’s Watch.
Ser Alliser Thorne - Senior member of the Night’s Watch. Recently returned from King’s Landing.
Janos Slynt - New recruit to the Night’s Watch. Former commander of the Gold Cloaks in King’s Landing.
Mance Rayder - King Beyond the Wall. Former brother of the Night’s Watch
Dalla - Mance’s pregnant partner.
Thormund Giantsbane - Wildling leader.
Stannis Baratheon - Brother of dead King Robert Baratheon, claims the Iron Throne because Cersei’s children are not Robert’s.