Chapter 17: Becoming The Dragon

Jon

The day after the double wedding of Robb Stark and Edmure Tully to Roslin and Alyx Frey bloomed bright and early. Autumn truly was in full swing, as Jon awoke in the room that he had been given in the Twins, he heard the birds chirping and saw the sun's rays peaking through the windows. Sighing he got up, and began to put on his clothes. They would have to march north today, for they could not stand to wait any longer, for after learning of Roose Bolton's attempted betrayal Jon was weary of giving the man another opportunity to betray them. Jon knew that he would have to talk to Robb and Edmure about what Lord Walder had told him, and he was unsure as to how they would take the news that one of their most able commanders had been about to betray them.

Once he was changed he put his crown on and walked out of the room, nodding to Ser Barristan who had been on guard duty throughout the night, he made his way down to the great hall for breakfast. As he entered the hall with Ser Barristan close behind him Jon noted that the hall seemed relatively empty, and assumed that it was still early yet. He moved to a table far from the doorway and sat down next to Robin Flint and Lord Blackwood. They exchanged small talk for a little while before Lord Blackwood got up and made his way to greet his sons, Jon and Robin continued talking about the upcoming battles and how best to take Winterfell and Deepwood Motte from the Ironborn. As their discussion advanced Jon came to realise that perhaps after arriving at the Twins yesterday on Serrax's back, many of his men and perhaps some of the spies that there might be in the camp would be expecting him to use the dragon in battle. Whilst Jon knew that Serrax was big enough to ride into battle he still felt a little unsure about using him for battle, for he was worried about the damage the dragon could do not only to the enemy but also to his own men.

Eventually Robin got up and begged leave to go and tend to their horses, which Jon granted. As he watched Robin go, he could not help but think of Winterfell as he had last seen it. A tall and strong castle standing proud amongst the north, he could not understand why Ramsay Snow had put it to the torch, nor could he truly understand why Roose Bolton would wish to betray him, in case the man hadn't noticed they were winning the war. But Jon swore to himself as he saw Robb and Edmure enter the hall that he would find out and he would avenge Bran and Rickon. When Robb saw him, Jon gestured for him and Edmure to sit by him, which they did. When they had both sat down Jon looked at them both and then asked, "So then my lords, did you have fun last night?"

Both men blushed and stuttered out that yes they did enjoy last night thank you very much. Jon laughed and even saw Ser Barristan's lips quirk into a smile. But then Jon turned serious once more and said, "That is good for I have something important to tell you. Something that I learnt last night." Both Robb and Edmure leaned forward listening intently as Jon continued. "I spoke with Lord Walder last night after the bedding and all the other lords had gone to bed or to wench. He told me that Moat Cailin was won back by Ser Rodrik, he knows this because one of his own men was there fighting alongside Ser Rodrik and was also there fighting at Winterfell. Now what I am about to tell you must remain between the three of us until we have taken Winterfell back," When they both nodded their acceptance Jon continued, "This same soldier told Lord Walder that it was not the Ironborn who put Winterfell to the torch, no it was Ramsay Snow."

Both Robb and Edmure seemed surprised by this and Robb asked "How though? I thought the bastard had died?"

Jon shook his head, "Apparently not. He came with men from the Dreadfort, and attacked Ser Rodrik from the rear, taking him prisoner and then with the help of the traitor Arnolf Karstark broke the gates open and put Winterfell to the torch. Bolton was the one who told his bastard to do the deed, and hoped to benefit greatly from it by having us three killed last night."

Both Robb and Edmure cursed aloud, and said "How are we to trust Lord Walder's word though. The man might be playing us false Your Grace."

Jon nodded and said "I thought about that, but I see no reason why he would wish to when, we have a dragon that could easily get the confession out of him. And besides you did not see for you both were too busy with your respective brides, but Lord Bolton left the feast before the bedding was announced and did not come back into the hall."

Robb then asked "So what are we to do?"

Jon smiled then and said "Why show him the truth of our words of course Robb." And so they talked for some more time planning and plotting as to how to get Bolton to confess to his crimes and pay for them without him suspecting that they were trying to get him to confess for as they all knew Lord Bolton was a cautious man by nature, though his bastard was not.

Eventually they went their separate ways to prepare for the journey north, and as Jon put on his armour and entered the courtyard he saw Robb saying goodbye to his lady wife, and felt a pang in his chest. He ached to see Sansa, but he knew that he needed to get this business with the Ironborn sorted first before he could ever look her in the eye again, and so putting all other thoughts out of his head for the time being he mounted Serrax and nodded to Robb and Edmure and then dug his heels into Serrax's side spurring Serrax into action, for the black dragon let loose a deafening roar and then jumped into the air before he opened his wings and began to fly toward Winterfell.

Jon made sure to keep Serrax flying in the air above the army, which was being led by Robb and Edmure, so as to lead them as quickly as possible to Moat Cailin. They kept going at a fast pace and eventually reached the neck by nightfall, where it had been agreed that Jon would fly ahead to the Moat to check its defences before flying back. As he flew to Moat Cailin and looked down upon it he saw the direwolf banners of House Stark, plus his own banner (the white direwolf on a grey field with the three red headed dragon on black) flying high from the ramparts of all three towers, signalling that what Lord Walder had said was true, he flew back and told Robb, Edmure and the other men the news that Moat Cailin was back in their hands which led to much cheering and drinking.

The next day they were up before sunrise and marching, or in Jon's case flying north toward Winterfell. It took them three days even at the fast pace they were marching to reach Winterfell the seat of Jon's adopted family. But when he saw it from up high on Serrax's back he felt like crying, the once great castle was now a smoking ruin, he once more cursed Bolton's Bastard and promised to make the man pay for what he had done to his home, and to Bran and Rickon.

He brought Serrax down to land next to where Robb and the others had made camp, and they began to speak of what they would do to take back the castle. "We cannot lay siege to it, for they will be able to hold up on the stores." Robb said.

"Aye, we must engage them in battle." Jon said.

"Why not send your dragon in Your Grace? That would get them to surrender surely?" Lord Umber said.

There was silence for a moment, and then the sound of a gate opening could be heard, and as Jon turned his head he saw a party of mounted men riding to where they were camped. "Who is that do you think?" Jon heard one of the men ask.

"Why its those Ironborn scum isn't." The Greatjon said.

No its not Ironborn, its Bolton scum. Thought Jon, and as the men came closer into view Jon heard the shocked gasps of his men as they saw the flayed man of Bolton being carried by one of the men. He heard one of the Lords swear- it might have been the Greatjon or it might have been Lord Karstark he was not sure- Jon turned round to see if Lord Bolton was anywhere in sight but as expected he had disappeared, calmly Jon turned to his men and said "Send people out to find Lord Bolton, make sure he does not escape. Ser Barristan, Ser Perwyn remains here with me. Let us see what Bolton's Bastard has to say."

Bolton's Bastard and his party of men stopped about a yard in front of where Jon and the northern and riverlords were camped. He had a sneer on his face when he dismounted and approached them. He bowed mockingly and said "Ah Your Grace, Lord Stark. So nice to see you. It is rather unfortunate what happened to your brothers my lord, I did try my best to stop the Ironborn but they were too good and quick for me."

Jon saw Robb glare at Ramsay Snow, and he himself had to all that he could to restrain from hitting the man. Instead he fixed the bastard with an icy glare and said "Quit the act Snow. We know it was you who burned Winterfell and killed my cousins. What is it you want, death or the wall?"

Snow had the nerve to laugh then, and said in a voice laced with sarcasm, "Why your grace you wound me. I have always been a faithful servant to the north, and was only acting on my Lord Father's orders. But since you have offered terms let me do the same. If Lord Stark wants his castle back, he shall have to fight me in single combat. If he wins he gets Winterfell. If I win I get Winterfell and his lovely little Frey Bride."

Jon saw Robb tense as well as the other northern lords, but then Robb said "Very well then. We duel till one of us has drawn first blood."

Ramsay Snow smiled his mocking smile and said "Very good my lord."

Jon pulled Robb aside and said "Are you sure about this Robb? The man is a known trickster who knows what his actual goal his."

Lord Karstark said "Be careful of him my lord. You have said first blood but he will try and kill you."

Robb merely nodded and drew Ice from its sheath before he stepped forward, as did Ramsay Snow. The men formed a circle round them, as they danced round each other both with their swords raised and drawn, neither man made the first move to strike, until Ramsay Snow kicked a patch of dirt at Robb and then whilst the dust was still in the air made a wild swing at him, Jon breathed a sigh of relief when Robb brought Ice up in the nick of time and blocked the swing. He pushed the sword away and then made his own attack, a flurry of swings some of which connected with Snow's armour and dented it, others which were blocked by Snow's sword and cause the steel to sing.

Both men continued their dance, circling round each other both breathing heavily, until Snow swung his sword once more and this time mainly due the force of the swing managed to strike Robb's sword and then Robb's armour, denting it quite badly. Robb recovered quickly though moving back, until he was almost at the edge of the circle, Snow of course followed Robb wishing to finish the Lord of Winterfell himself. When he was a sword's width a way from Robb, Jon saw Robb feint to his left, drawing Snow's sword point there but Robb quickly moved to the right before Snow's sword could connect with anything, and whilst Snow was unbalanced Robb swung his sword and brought it crashing into Snow's right side, breaking the armour there with the force of the blow.

A cheer went up amongst the northern and riverlords when they saw Ramsay Snow injured and bleeding. That only served to aggravate him further, he retaliated by swinging and hacking wildly trying to find some purchase that could give him the upper hand, though his attacks were wild there was a force behind them that allowed some of them to connect with Ice or with Robb's armour denting it, and causing Robb's old wounds to burst open and blood to become visible. However for all his forceful blows Snow still lacked the patience for a well timed attack and soon had spent most of his energy hacking and slashing wildly, and though Robb was cut and bleeding in several places Snow himself was bleeding from the exposed wound to his right side and to a cut to his right eye.

Jon stepped forward then and said "This fight is over. Robb drew first blood, Snow you have forfeited any claim to Winterfell lay your sword down now and we shall forgive you and let you leave."

Snow grunted and said "No I shall not bend until this Stark cunt is dead." And with that he began to slash wildly at Robb cutting him again and again, but Robb was edging backwards and drawing Ramsay Snow further and further away from the centre and away from any patches of dirt, as well as tiring the man out. Eventually Ramsay Snow stopped cutting and hacking and stood there with his sword up and drawn breathing heavily, Robb looked a state cut and bleeding all over but he still had that determined look in his eyes. Robb shifted his weight around and then began a counter attack. Whereas Ramsay Snow had used brute force to attack Robb, Robb used skill and battle experience to attack Ramsay. Swinging in all the weak spots that he could find, and cutting Snow below his ears, his hands his chest and the finishing blow was the thrust through the throat, as Robb buried his sword into Bolton's bastard's throat, the man gurgled and did something that sounded like laughing. Jon saw Robb lean in closer keeping the weight of Ice buried in the bastard's throat. Jon leaned in closer as well until he was near them both and could have sworn he heard the man say "Not dead, fled, and north. Stark cousins fled." Robb pulled his sword out of Ramsay Snow's throat and Jon watched as the man fell down onto the ground dead.

There was much cheering amongst the men then when the result became clear, Jon embraced Robb and then said in what Sansa had taken to calling his kingly voice "You needed to be treated Robb, I won't have you dying from wounds. Maester Willam see to Lord Stark."

The portly maester who travelled with the army nodded and said "Of course Your Grace."

Jon then had men move Snow's body away, and then said "Has anyone found Lord Bolton yet. Where is that treacherous son of a whore?"

It was Torrhen Karstark the newly made Lord of Casterly Rock and his brother Harrion who came forward holding Bolton under the arms, as the man bled from several cuts to his mouth and chest. "He tried to flee Your Grace," Harrion said. "We caught him just as he was about to mount his horse."

Jon nodded, "Thank you for catching and stopping this traitor." Jon then turned and looked Bolton square in the eye. "And you my Lord what do you have to say for yourself? You would have sold us out to the Lions, and for what?"

Bolton said nothing only looked at Jon, until Jon lost patience and said "Well since you will not talk, perhaps something else might make you. It is often said in your house that a flayed man has no secrets is it not Lord Bolton?" Jon saw Bolton's eyes widen in a comical fashion, and continued. "But what about a burned one I wonder?" He whistled and Serrax came walking over on a click of claws and wings. Jon looked at Lord Bolton then and said "Lord Bolton you are accused of treason and plotting the murder of your king and liege lord. You are accused of plotting the murders of Brandon and Rickon Stark. Do you have anything to say?"

Bolton remained silent his eyes on Serrax. Jon sighed and then said "Very well then I find you guilty of the above charges and sentence you to death." He turned to look at Serrax, who was growling at Bolton, and said "Serrax," The dragon looked at him and then Jon said "Ignis." Serrax turned back to face Bolton, and roared before unleashing a jet of black fire that engulfed Bolton and made the man scream in pain and agony, until there was nothing left of him but ash. Jon then told Serrax to stop, and looked around grimly to see that the lords were looking at Bolton's ashes with a look of fear in their eyes, Jon spoke loudly "Let this be a lesson to all of us. Traitors and oath breakers will not be tolerated. The Lion will resort to trickery to keep us from winning and getting justice for our dead. But will we let them?"

The lords shouted back "NO!" This was then followed by chants of "King Jon, Long Live King Jon!" And "SERRAX!"

Later after the body and ashes of Lord Bolton and his bastard had been cleared away and sent to the Dreadfort to be buried there. Jon and his men entered the gates of Winterfell where Ramsay Snow's men either bent the knee or were sent to the Wall. As Jon looked around Winterfell and saw the burnt towers and the broken buildings he felt a sense of loss engulf him and when he looked at Robb he knew that his cousin felt the same. Eventually though a council was called in what was left of the great hall and it was decided that they would spend a few days in Winterfell to rest and regroup before they would march on Deepwood Motte and remove the Ironborn that still held that castle. It was decided that Robb would lead the assault along with Galbert and Robett Glover on Deepwood Motte and that Jon would ride Serrax and would burn the Ironborn ships docked in the shore of Sea Dragon Point, to prevent any Ironborn from escaping.

When the allotted day came, they marched from Winterfell with a grim determination to rid the land of Ironborn once and for all. Scouts were sent out the closer the got to the Motte to make sure none of the Ironborn heard or saw their approach and lived to tell the tale. One Ironborn that they captured told them that Asha Greyjoy, Theon's sister held command of the Motte and she had some 1000 men with her there. Of Victarion Greyjoy the man knew nothing but that the man had not been present when Moat Cailin had been retaken.

Once that had been sorted Jon mounted Serrax in the dead of the night and flew over the Motte, the starry sky gave him some cover from some of the men on the walls and he managed to pass uninhibited to where he saw roughly thirty longships docked in all flying the Kraken banner of house Greyjoy proudly. Jon counted to three before urging Serrax to burn the ships, which he did readily. As Jon watched the black flames engulf and destroy one ship after the other he could have sworn he heard screams coming from the ships but tried to shake them from his mind, he was already plagued by nightmares enough as it was.

Eventually when there were no more ships left to burn, Jon turned Serrax around and flew back south for Deepwood Motte. When he arrived there he found the battle well under way in the morning light, from the litany of bodies strewn around the castle and the hill surrounding it Jon assumed that the Ironborn were near defeated. Jon brought Serrax down for landing on the top hill near the main castle and found it strewn with bodies. He saw Ser Barristan cut down one, two, three, four men at once and saw Ser Perwyn cut down man after man. When Serrax gave a roar however, the fighting on the hill and the surrounding area stopped, as all turned to look at him. Jon shouted "Ironborn give up. You are outnumbered and defeated, give up and bend the knee and you shall live. If not then you shall die. Where is Asha Greyjoy?"

When no one answered straight away Jon shouted it again and this time Serrax roared as well, "Where is Asha Greyjoy?" Eventually she was brought before him in chains, her face and hands bloodied, she was dragged before him by Dacey Mormont.

"Here is Asha Greyjoy, Your Grace." Dacey said as she bowed.

Jon looked at the woman who was Theon's sister and said, "Why do you keep fighting Lady Greyjoy? You are outnumbered."

She gave him a mocking smile and said "We are Ironborn; we do no bend so easily."

Before Jon could say anything Dacey stood forward and whispered in his ear, "She fought Lord Stark, Your Grace. He is grievously injured, though he took her hand, she nearly took his life had Greywind not knocked her leg off."

Jon looked at Asha Greyjoy again and said "You refuse to surrender is that correct Lady Greyjoy?"

She looked at him defiantly and said "Aye, we are a free people now Greenlander."

Jon sighed then and said "Aye but not for much longer, Serrax Ignis." And Asha Greyjoy became the second victim to fall to Serrax's flames.

Davos

This is folly, attacking Maidenpool. We should be allying ourselves with King Jon not fighting a losing battle. That red woman is bad news for Lord Stannis. She told him that she could help him win at the Battle of the Blackwater, but when it came to it she saw not the wildfire and how it would destroy his ships, nor did she see the Lannisters and Tyrells attacking him from the rear. Her red god is useless; the Seven are punishing us for not siding with our rightful king.

This is folly we only have 1000 men and 7 ships, we do not have enough to attack King's Landing again, and once either King Jon or the Lannisters learn that we have attacked Maidenpool they will send men up to take us in the rear and then we shall all die. Stannis is not in his right mind, I must get the red woman away from him but how? Why does he continue to listen to her when all she has said has gone wrong? She said that after Renly's death he would be seated on the Iron Throne by now, but he is not. Her false god has cost Lord Stannis his honour and his pride, her false god has cost me my sons. And yet here I am taking her to shore so she can give birth to a shadow baby once again the same that killed Ser Cortnay Penrose, and gave us Storm's End. Seven forgive me.

Davos watched horrified as the red woman Melisandre moaned and groaned and forced a creature from her legs that looked like Stannis Baratheon but was not. He watched horrified as the shadow creature moved from the boat and the shore and slithered its way toward Maidenpool and went up the walls and toward the castle where Lord Mooton lived. Lord Stannis had sent envoys demanding that Lord Mooton open his gates and allow Stannis and his men through as their rightful king. Lord Mooton had refused stating that the only king he recognised was King Jon Targaryen, and that he would never open his gates to an usurper nor a red witch who followed a demon god. Lord Stannis had bristled at that and had promised retribution for Lord Mooton, though Davos was not sure whether or not Lord Stannis was really Lord Stannis anymore. Gone was the man who was a firm believer in honour and duty, gone was the man who was broad shouldered and strong of mind and body. In his place had come a man who believed in human sacrifice to achieve a throne that was not his, and a man who looked so gaunt and devoid of any emotion or life Davos thought that he was now a ghost, and that the minute the Red Woman left his side he would wither away and die.

Stannis Baratheon had become a mere shadow of his former self, he spent more time with Lady Melisandre than he did with his own wife and daughter, and there were whispers that Lady Melisandre often shared Lord Stannis's bed and was his true queen. On Dragonstone at Lady Melisandre's insistence Stannis had burnt Lord Florent alive, simply because the man had written to Lord Tywin and offered the hand of Stannis's daughter Shireen to Prince Tommem in return for Stannis becoming Lord of Storm's End and Dragonstone and refuting his claims about the legitimacy of Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommem. Stannis had bristled at that when he had found out what Lord Alester had done and had had the man imprisoned, Davos knew this for he too had been imprisoned for seeking to kill the red woman for her corrupting influence and part in his sons' deaths. He had been freed and had been named King's Hand but Davos knew not how to make Stannis see that he was not the King, not when King Jon was the rightful king had been declared the rightful king in front of the whole of King' landing by Eddard Stark and was winning the war against the Lannisters. Stannis was too deeply enthralled to Melisandre and no longer listened to reason.

So when news reached them that Lord Mooton had died, and that the city was in chaos, Stannis Baratheon gave orders for his men to scale the city walls, and Davos went with them. They scaled the walls and cut down the sentries and other guards that normally patrolled the walls, and broke open the gates allowing the main bulk of Stannis's host to come through to the city where, any who stood in Stannis's way were cut down, houses were sacked and shops plundered, in the midst of it all Davos watched as Stannis Baratheon rode like a man possessed to Castle Mooton, which Davos saw was trying desperately to close their gates, but a word from Melisandre and the gates flew open and the men trying to close them died, or were killed, Davos was never sure.

Davos followed Stannis into the castle and watched silently as he entered the great hall of Castle Mooton, and sat himself down on the throne where every Lord Mooton had sat since the beginning of time, and declared himself the rightful king. Davos watched silently unable to do anything when Lord Mooton's daughter was brought before Stannis beaten and naked, and when Melisandre whispered in Stannis's ear that for her red god to grant Stannis true victory she needed to be given to him, Davos was helpless to stop Stannis from ordering a fire built and lit, and he watched helplessly as Lord Mooton's daughter the last of her line was given to the flames, and as her screams echoed around the courtyard, and the Queen's men began chanting their prayers to their red god, Davos saw Stannis Baratheon walk away from the fire and back into the great hall. As Lady Mooton's screams began to die down Davos could have sworn he heard the roaring of dragons in the distance.

Benjen

He had gone on a ranging to find out why the Wildlings were gathering in so great a number. A number not seen since the days of Raymund Redbeard. He had gone to Winterfell when Ned had sent him a raven informing him of King Robert's impending visit, to go and speak to Ned about Mance Rayder and the possible threat he might pose to the North. Ned had agreed that if it came to it the North would be rallied and they would march to help hold the wall. Then he had gone back to the Wall without his nephew, without Lya's boy, much to Ned's nervousness for Jon had begun to show many of Lya's traits as well as some of that fool Rhaegar's and both he and Ned were worried what that could mean for Jon.

But Jon had said he wished to stay and help Robb run Winterfell, and so Benjen had come back to Castle Black with Lord Tyrion. Then Lord Mormont had called for him and told him off strange occurrences happening north of the wall and the non return of Wymar Royce, he had agreed to go scouting with a few men to see what was wrong. It had quickly become obvious why Wymar Royce and his company had not returned. Halfway through the Haunted Forest they had found the remains of the horses Wymar and his men had used on their ranging. Of the riders there was not a sign, at least not until they had reached the very edge of the forest and they had been set upon by dead things, more specifically dead rangers. It had been quite a fight, no matter how many times the creatures were struck they did not go down, and by the time they had figured out that only fire could finish them three rangers had been killed and had risen up as the undead. The fires had been quick short things that Benjen and his men had just about managed to get working, and by then day had come and the creatures had retreated to wherever they had come from.

They had then stumbled wounded and weary to Craster's Keep where the old man had seen that they were fed and had a place to rest albeit grudgingly, the next day they had headed off further north on their travels. At the Fist of the First Men they had come across scattered clothes and other such things belonging to Wildlings. That had been the second time that the wights had attacked them. They had set up their tents for the night and were just about to turn in when an unnatural cold had settled around them and mist had drifted in from the west and then the wights had struck killing three men before anyone knew what was happening. When it had become clear what it was that was attacking them, Benjen and the remaining men had lit their torches and put flames onto them and when they saw movement in the shadows threw their torches in that direction, it seemed to work for there were no more Wight attacks that night. The next morning they counted their losses and burned their dead and moved on.

That was when the others attacked them. They came upon them in their droves forcing Benjen and his men back and massacring any of the men not quick enough to make it back to the Fist. Benjen had watched horrified as the White Walkers killed men and then flung them aside like they were no more than rag dolls and watched as the men who had been his sworn brothers had risen up from the dead and had attacked the Fist. With little to no wood left Benjen watched as his brothers were massacred and killed rising up all around him as wights, just as he thought that his day had come, the sun rose and the Others and wights all disappeared back into the shadows.

Wounded, tired and cold Benjen had beat a hasty retreat back south, his horse had died midway between the fist and Craster's keep and so he had had to walk for many a mile back to the village of Whitetree. It was nigh on deserted when he entered it cold and close to death, but there was one woman and her child left in the village, a woman named Lya, Benjen remembered she had been a healer and had seen to his wounds and had made him stay in bed whilst he recovered. Eventually he was well enough to continue his journey south and this time Lya and her child accompanied him. They avoided Craster's Keep on the journey south but every time they stopped they saw more and more wildlings marching north, Benjen wanted to shout at them that they were mad to be marching north they should be marching south or fleeing. But then Lya had explained to him that Mance Rayder was amassing a wildling host, one of the biggest in living memory and they were to be marching south to take the Wall, and then head further south away from the cold and creatures of the night.

After three weeks of walking and nearly dying Benjen and Lya and her child arrived at the gates of Castle Black tired beyond belief. They were allowed into the Castle only for Maester Aemon to inform him of the great ranging that was being prepared by Bowen Marsh to find him and discover why two dead brothers of the Night's Watch had risen up in the dead of the night and killed Lord Commander Mormont. In his tiredness Benjen knew not what happened next only that he remembered telling Aemon about the assembling wildling host and the things he had seen at the Fist, and that Bowen Marsh would need to be warned and word would need to be sent to Winterfell.

He thought he might have imagined the look of sympathy that crossed Aemon's face when he mentioned Winterfell, or misheard him when he said that Jon had crowned himself king and was marching on King's Landing. After all he had been close to passing out when he spoke to Aemon and had duly passed out afterwards.

Three Eyed Crow

There was darkness surrounding him always now. There was darkness in the cave where he resided, darkness in the trees outside, darkness engulfing the world outside. There was nothing he could but wait for the chosen one to come, to arrive on the back of the sleeping giant and with the cranongmen for company. They would have to travel through dark lands and face many hardships but if they made it the boy would be the one to lead the world through the darkness along with his cousin, the one whose song was that of ice and fire.

Oh yes he still remembered the boy and the prophecy. He had not been a man of prophecy in his younger days, he had never seen the use for the words on some dusty old tome when he had had a kingdom to run, and rebellions to crush. No he had never been a believer in the prophecy that had haunted his family since the days of Daenys the dreamer. Not like Aerys had, but then again Aerys had believed in many things, and since he had become one with the trees he too had seen things that had since come to pass. He had seen the downfall of his family through the second Aerys madness, and Rhaegar's folly. He had seen the trees burn with live and drink the blood of his family as Egg had tried to bring the dragons back to live at Summerhall.

He had been a man of the black one, sent north by Egg as part of the honour guard for Aemon, and he had risen high oh yes, he always rose high when he set his mind to something, in his time as a man of the black he never once missed the weight of burden that had always followed him King's Landing, there he had been suspected and never fully trusted, the bastard kinslayer with the strange eyes but with the black on he was just another brother, another member of a cause that had forgotten its original purpose. The only thing he ever truly missed about King's Landing was the feel of his Seastar in his arms her lips on his, the feel of waking up next to her in the morning. He knew she was still alive somewhere out there in the vast world, her mother was an enchantress as was she. She was still alive just as he was.

He had discovered his true calling one day whilst out on a ranging trying to quell the Wildlings who had grown more and more ambitious during his time at the wall. He had gotten separated from the main party and had gone off wandering deep into the Haunted Forest until he had come across a cave, a deep and voluminous cave. He had thought then that the cave was calling out to him, whispering his name like a seduction it was only later that he learnt that the children had been calling him. The children of the Forest thought dead for eons had lived on in this cave, waiting for him to come, no one had come looking for him after his disappearance the children had explained that the men thought him dead, killed by wildlings. In actual fact he spent the next twenty years learning and perfecting the art of green seeing through the trees.

Though his art came with a price as all things did. He could see into the distant past and recall things that had happened long before he had been born, he could see things as they would happen in the future or as they could happen in the future. He could see things as they happened in the present, yet he could not change them he could only watch them unfold, he watched helpless as Aegon (Egg they had called him when he was a boy) foolishly listened to that woodswitch and allowed her to trick him into creating a fire so strong Summerhall burned to the ground killing Egg and his son, leaving the crown in the hands of Jahaerys and Aerys. He watched helplessly as Aerys descended into madness, and as Duskendale occurred and the Lion plotted against the Dragon, and the Rhaegar, the kingdom's best hope and the restoring glory for House Targaryen had descended into his own elegant madness once he had found the prophecy and his own girl to fulfil it. He watched as Rhaegar took the Stark girl with sweet words and loving caresses. He watched as Aerys burned two wolves to death, and called for the third wolf to die. He watched as the Wolf, the Stag and the Falcon rebelled joined by the Trout and he watched as the Dragon lost and lost, until Rhaegar was dead and Aerys and his grandchildren were killed by the Lions, as vengeance for many years of slights. He turned his attention to the sun kingdom and watched as the Prince was born, the one whose song was of ice and fire. He watched the prince grow and kept him safe.

He watched as the Third Wolf put his family back together and watched as the Broken Boy was born, and knew, felt it in his gut that the Broken Boy would be the one to succeed him, the boy would be the one to help the Prince fulfil his destiny. Such knowledge came at a price though, he could no longer remember what is mother looked like, nor could he remember what it was like to make love, no all he saw or knew was the trees and visions they gave him. But soon his waiting would be over, his pain would end, soon the Broken Boy, who was not broken at all would come and he could rest easy, for the world was about to be plunged into darkness and the broken boy would need to know all he could to help the Prince, restore the light. Through Ice and Fire he swore.