Jezal laughed. 'You can't mean that you think he'll beat the Union?'

'He's beaten worse odds, but you know best. We don't all have your experience.'

The laughter stuttered out in Jezal's throat. He was almost sure that had been irony, and it made him think for a moment. Was Ninefingers looking at him now, and behind that scarred, that plodding, that battered mask thinking, 'what a fool'? Could it be that Bayaz had been right? That there was something to be learned from this Northman after all? There was only one way to find out.

'What's a battle like?' he asked.

'Battles are like men. No two are ever quite the same.'

'How do you mean?'

'Imagine waking up at night to hear a crashing and a shouting, scrambling out of your tent into the snow with your trousers falling down, to see men all around you killing one another. Nothing but moonlight to see by, no clue who're enemies and who're friends, no weapon to fight with.'

'Confusing,' said Jezal.

'No doubt. Or imagine crawling in the mud, between the stomping boots, trying to get away but not knowing where to go, with an arrow in your back and a sword cut across your arse, squealing like a pig and waiting for a spear to stick you through, a spear you won't even see coming.'

'Painful,' agreed Jezal.

'Very. Or imagine standing in a circle of shields no more than ten strides across, all held by men roaring their loudest. There's just you and one other man in there, and that man's won a reputation for being the hardest bastard in the North, and only one of you can leave alive.'

'Hmm,' murmured Jezal.

'That's right. You like the sound of any of those?' Jezal did not, and Ninefingers smiled. 'I didn't think so, and honestly? Nor do I. I've been in all kind of battles, and skirmishes, and fights. Most of them started in chaos, and all of 'em ended in it, and not once did I not come near to shitting myself at some point.'

'You?'

The Northman chuckled. 'Fearlessness is a fool's boast, to my mind. The only men with no fear in them are the dead, or the soon to be dead, maybe. Fear teaches you caution, and respect for your enemy, and to avoid sharp edges used in anger. All good things in their place, believe me. Fear can bring you out alive, and that's the very best anyone can hope for from any fight. Every man who's worth a damn feels fear. It's the use you make of it that counts.'

'Be scared? That's your advice?'