Chapter 9: The council of Ramsgate

Jon opened his eyes and the silver aura in his eyes vanished as he came out of the Weirwood network. He has been observing Ramsay through the Weirwood trees and he had to say that bastard has some balls in what he was attempting. The Bolton's bastard was not someone he was going to dismiss or underestimate. The bastard may be a psychopath but he has a good head for hunting and strategy when the situation calls for it. Right now the bastard was implementing such a scheme and it was a brilliant one if it succeeds.

If he really wanted to he could put a stop to Ramsay's schemes but he was not going to do anything. Rather he was going to let the bastard's plan take effect and make his own move to cut the bastard at his knees from Winterfell. But first, he will have to convince the other lords of his plan and then there was the other thing that he wanted to discuss—Petyr Baelish. His musings were cut short as he picked up on the sound of footsteps behind him.

"The lords are expecting you." said Sansa as she stood next to Jon beneath the Weirwood tree.

"That is one of the perks of being a king. Everyone is expecting something from you. You are not here to say that now are you, sweet sister?" Jon asked as he stood up and faced Sansa.

"No. I was hoping I could see it you know." said Sansa as she took his hand and together they walked down the cliff.

"That depends…" he trailed off with a small smile.

"On what?" Santa asked

"Are you going to turn Rhaegal into a big softie. You turned Lady into well—a Lady and she was a Direwolf!" said Jon with a laugh. He noted that Sansa was equal parts amused and pained. He stopped laughing and berated himself for bringing up some painful memories for his sister.

"Lady was Lady. This is a dragon we are talking about." Santa gave him her puppy eyes look and he caved in.

A flicker of a thought passed through his mind and the nearby hill moved all of a sudden. To Sansa, that's how it looked like as the green colour of the dragon blended in perfectly with the hill. Soon in a flap of wings, the dragon was before them.

Jon led an awestruck Sansa closer to the dragon and let her touch Rhaegal. The green dragon was not that happy being an object of fascination but the dragon stayed docile for the time being and endured Sansa's inspection. Sansa on the other hand was walking around Rhaegal poking and prodding the dragon to sate her curiosity. Jon couldn't blame her because he himself was of the same mentality.

In his Weirwood enhanced lessons, he had learned that there are two types of dragons. There were those dragons that would bond and then there was another group that would never bond with a rider. The unbound dragons usually became wild would seclude themselves in mountains preferring solitude even from other dragons.

Usually, such dragons can be identified by the shape of a dragon's skull. Such dragons had a small depression at the back of their skull. The exact spot would be the area behind the large horns that protrude from a dragon's skull. Another sign would be that the dragon's spine would be covered with spikes with no gap whatsoever. While Jon was sure Rhaegal had bonded with him he still searched Rhaegal for any of these signs. He found none and he had the distinct impression that Rhaegal did not appreciate having someone jumping around on his body.

"Your grace."

Jon looked up from behind Rhaegal's neck to see Melisandre and Ser Davos standing a healthy distance away from Rhaegal. The Red Woman would like nothing other than sing praises about him and Rhaegal but thankfully he had the presence of mind to swear her and the other lords to secrecy. Being Jon Snow gave him an advantage over his enemies and he was not so easily going to reveal himself dramatically. Because of Ramsgate's unique location at the edge of the sea and being surrounded by mountains to the west keeping Rhaegal a secret was not that hard. Considering the North was scarcely populated also contributed in the secrecy of their troop movements.

Without further delays, Jon and Sansa joined Melisandre and Davos on their trek back to the castle of Ramsgate where the rest of the lords were waiting patiently.

"Any more ground shattering revelations you have your grace?" Davos asked as they walked in comfortable silence.

"If I spill all of them in one go where will be the fun in that Ser Davos?" Jon asked with a chuckle.

"I hope the next one will not be as big as that dragon." Davos commented

"Don't keep your hopes up." said Jon patting the Onion Knight on his shoulder playfully.

Soon, Jon was looking over the map of the North with other Northern lords as well as Davos, Brienne, Sansa and Melisandre. The Red Woman was completely quiet and seems to have lost all her 'fire' and has given up on her sales pitch of prophecies. That was one of the reasons why he had asked her to join this meeting and then there is also the fact that she will be charged with a mission soon enough.

Thankfully, he didn't have to explain himself too much to the Northern lords as Howland Reed had done that part. It didn't matter all that much because having a giant fire breathing dragon and a Direwolf was more than enough for the present Northern lords to accept him as King. But, that doesn't mean they were happy with the Wildlings. He could already see the Mormonts, Glovers and Manderlys glaring at Sigorn and Tormund quite heavily.

"You can't expect the North to fight side by side with Wildlings Jon Snow or Daeron Targaryen or whatever you call yourself. We won't…" Maege Mormont didn't get to finish her tirade because Jon smashed the table hard stopping her halfway.

"You will be fighting side by side with the Free Folk because I order you to Lady Mormont. If you have a problem with that you can say so and you can scurry back to where you came from. But know this, when I take back Winterfell and the North the first thing that I will do is to send you and anyone that follows you to the Wall. There you will see the Night's Watch preparing for the Long Night with the aid of the Wildlings you so despise. When Death marches on the Wall you will be thankful to have all the living by your side and I do mean ALL the living." said Jon as he glared at the she-bear of Bear Islands shutting her up.

"So the rumours are true. We have been getting disturbing reports from the Wall even when Jeor Mormont was the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. The war in the South distracted us and the news of Wights and White Walkers were hard to believe." said Galbart Glover with a worried frown.

"The rumours are true my lords. The Cold Winds are rising and the dead rises with it. They are led by the Night King and I saw him with my own eyes at Hardhome. I led the Night's Watch along with Tormund had sailed there to evacuate the Free Folk fearing that they would be attacked by the Others. We were too late and many now march in the Night King's army. There will be giants, mammoths, wolves, bears and thousand other wild beasts in the army of the dead. Let's not forget the hundred thousand or more Free Folk warriors already in the Night King's army. The second Long Night is here and we need all the living to beat them back." said Jon as he stared into the eyes of everyone that was standing with him in the room.

"If we can't join our forces together and face the Great Other the whole world will sink into an endless night. You will all become servants to the Great Other if you won't assemble under the Prince that was Promised whose song is that of Ice and Fire as was prophesied long ago." said Melisandre and Jon knew that Davos was going to come up with a clever rebuttal so he interjected before that could happen.

"The Long Night can wait a little bit as the Wall will undoubtedly hold the Others at bay for some time and there are other allies beyond the Wall that will attract the attention of the Night King. We have at most a little over a year before the Walkers concentrate their might on the Wall and by that time I will unite Westeros to face the Night King. For that to happen I have to secure the North first. Only a Stark can hold the North and I mean to take Winterfell before this month is out."

"It will not be easy your grace. Winterfell is a huge castle and it is easily defensible. If Ramsay has any amount of tact then he will shut himself inside Winterfell and wait out a siege." said Galbart Glover bringing everyone's attention to the matter at hand and Jon graced the man with a thankful nod.

"War is not easy lord Glover. With Karstarks taking as much food as they could carry Ramsay will be forced to give us battle especially when the whole North is watching." said Jon

"Will the whole North be watching though?" Sansa asked, everyone including Jon looked at the eldest daughter of Ned Stark who paused for a moment but quickly found her voice.

"When I was in Winterfell I had a lovely chat with Barbrey Dustin. She holds a great level of hatred for Starks, especially my father. She had once hoped to marry uncle Brandon but Rickard Stark put a stop to that. She holds a grudge against my father for not returning her husband's bones after the war. She explained the story in great detail to me in the crypts. She even revealed her plan to feed the bones of my father to the hounds just as the bones pass through the Neck to the North." Sansa explained and the Northern lords shouted furiously.

"The gall of that dried up bitch. To even speak of desecrating Lord Ned's bones! Her head should be put on a spike." Maege Mormont screamed and the other Northern lords readily supported that.

"That can wait after we take Winterfell. To answer Sansa's question Lady Dustin won't be helping Ramsay even if it is to fight the Starks. She knows that Ramsay is the one that killed her nephew and she hates him for it. The same is true for the Ryswells. Ramsay had already sent ravens to the Dustins and Ryswells and the response he received has not lifted his spirits. For the time being, the only obstacle in taking Winterfell is Ramsay but we have to move fast to take the advantage."

"How do you know all this, your grace? Do you have a spy in Winterfell?" Edric Mallister asked curiously.

"Let's just say that I have eyes and ears in Winterfell." said Jon as he exchanged a look with Sansa silently agreeing not to divulge his status as a Greenseer yet.

"So what's our plan of attack? We are wasting our time sitting here doing nothing." said Lyra Mormont and Jon merely nodded in her direction.

"Lady Mormont may be impatient but we all long for battle. I personally would enjoy dealing with Ramsay and the Freys. There are many debts to be paid with blood and death." Jon smiled coldly as his eyes squinted at the map. He placed his finger on Castle Cerwyn attracting everyone's attention.

"While Ramsay may have lost all his allies he is still feared by many. Unfortunately, Castle Cerwyn lies just a few miles from Winterfell and that means…"

"Ramsay can restock the supplies that he lost from the Karstark raid." Wyman Manderly finished grimly and other occupants of the room realised what was going on.

"You want to attack Castle Cerwyn and force Ramsay to fight us in the open field. Without the food from Cerywns, Ramsay won't be able to wait out a siege inside Winterfell." Weirman Maderly deduced

"Correct my lord. It is imperative that Ramsay gives us open battle." Jon nodded at the Lord of Ramsgate before taking the cavalry pieces of House Manderly and placing them on Castle Cerwyn.

"The Knights of House Manderly will ride out and attack the Bolton men en route to Castle Cerwyn. Lord Cley Cerwin fears what Ramsay would do especially after his mother was flayed in the castle before him and his sister. If House Manderly intervenes on House Cerwyn's behalf I am sure Cley Cerwyn will openly support our cause." said Jon and the old Manderly nodded his assent.

"What about the rest of us Jon Snow? What would you have us do?" Lyra Mormont asked

"He is your king my lady. Have a care how you speak to his grace." Wyman Manderly growled

"I actually prefer the name Jon Snow, my lord. It is a name given to me by Eddard Stark and I would bear that name with pride." said Jon and Wyman merely bowed his head in respect of his decision.

"As for your query my lady we will be riding straight for Hornwood. Larence Snow and Lord Robbett Glover have already started the siege of Castle Hornwood. With our arrival, we will force the garrison to surrender the castle. From there we will quickly march our forces to Winterfell and draw out the Boltons. I suspect Ramsay will be forced to use his only remaining trick and that is Rickon which is exactly what I want him to do." said Jon before once again turning his eyes to the map.

"Lord Manderly, you will be tasked with another responsibility as well." said Jon catching the interest of old Wyman.

"Of course, your grace. I will serve in whatever capacity as I can although I believe my sons will have to take charge of the horses as I am in no shape to lead an attack against the Boltons." Wyman bowed his head in apology.

"Ah, this task only requires your fleet, my lord. I want you to ferry a sizeable fleet to the Fingers. The fleet will need a sizeable host of men who can be trusted and with knowledge of numbers. You will be transporting someone of great importance to that location and see to the transport of six million gold dragons. Ser Davos and Sigorn will also aid you in this endeavour." said Jon looking at the leader of Thenn and the smuggler turned knight who nodded in agreement.

"Six million gold dragons! Your grace, I don't understand." Lord Wyman spluttered, doing a very convincing imitation of a goldfish.

"Let's just say that we will arm and feed the entire North thanks to an unwilling but broken enemy. I want you to secure the gold and immediately establish contracts with Braavos, Lorath and Norvos for food to feed the people. We will need to prepare the North my lords. Winter is Coming!"