With his surprise attack, Shagga the Falconslayer struck a heavy blow on the Vale nobility, yet none were willing to bend the knee to a wildling. Alas, half of the strongest Houses were left in the hands of babes and widows who had no taste for war, and some main lines, like the Hunters, were extinguished, leaving the cadet branches to squabble for the Lordship, uncaring of the happenings outside their lands. From the other half, Grafton and Corbray proclaimed themselves kings, while the young Robert Royce, Bronze Yohn's grandnephew, ascended as the Lord of Runestone and seemingly decided to ignore the squabbling would-be-kings and called his banners with the intent to dislodge the treacherous wildlings from the Gates of the Moon. Yohn Royce and his heirs died at the Crimson Feast, and his daughters were defiled by the savage wildlings, never to be seen again.