The War of the Dawn III

The horns blew and that was the beginning of the battle, man or the dead will lose this fight but not both.

Nearly two-thousand archers manned the top of the Wall, stretching a good three miles, dragonglass and fire-arrows drawn and ready. Within the tunnel, eight-hundred Unsullied formed a shield wall facing the gate which may very well be the intention of the dead.

Jon Snow, now Jaehaerys Targaryen unsheathed his sword and walked on to an opening which let him see the army of the dead.

Below the Wall and within the Camp, the Dothraki and Valemen riders were restless, this formation called for defense where a cavalry charge was unnecessary.

Daenerys Targaryen and Rodrik Arryn were walking out of the castle of Eastwatch, they walked in silence for some time until they've reached the dragons which were eager to fly. Daenerys glanced at Rodrik who stroked the large snout of Sheepstealer.

"Be careful out there, Dany." He said with his back to her, she sighed in dread as the sound of men marching around was heard around them.

"We'll burn them all, down to the last corpse." She was determined to stop the dead from coming too far, Rodrik took a deep breath and nodded before they both mounted on their respective dragons, the four pairs of wings flapped once or thrice and all four dragons entered the air.

Waymar and Jorah watched their King and Queen fly off, "They'll be fine, they have to." Waymar sprayed for his friend, Jorah smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

"While they take the fight in the air, we'll handle things on the ground," Jorah told the man who is King Consort of the North, the Old Bear thought that the Unsullied and the rain of arrows and dragon fire should be enough but from what the red-bearded man said, there are giants behind the Night King where they only have the one.

Wun Wun remained at the entrance of the tunnel, the giant fashioned a weapon from a tree, dragonglass splinters around it which should siphon the dark magic from the dead corpses.

Back atop the Wall, Tormund and Jaehaerys watched the dead come out of the forest, they saw the dead horses and the White Walkers leading them. "Where is the damned Night King?" The Wildling Chief wondered and Jaehaerys didn't have a clue where the enemy was hiding.

"He will never reveal himself." Both men turned to Beric, "He knows from the last encounters that once his generals are slain that all they've resurrected fall with them. He will emerge when he sees an opportunity." Beric informed and Jaehaerys narrowed his dark eyes back on the dead.

"Nock your arrows. Draw... " He paused, then threw down his hand, "Loose!" The many archers on the Wall let the arrows fly and the weapons flew through the air and struck the many dead, the White Walkers evaded them and all but one was hit, its minions falling a few hundred at a time.

It didn't lessen the dread as the clouds and mist rolled in. The army of the dead began to move, arrows followed from the living which didn't stop them.

A screech was heard and on cue, four shadows dived down and breathed flame on the dead, the dragons have joined in the battle. "They don't scare like men, they don't fear the fire so don't let up. Loose!" Jaehaerys roared to all on the Wall and more arrows left their bows and fell on the dead.

Below, undead giants, a dozen of them darted for the gate. Three were shot down by scorpions which had dragonglass tips put on them. Sheepstealer with the most flame blew across the edges of the Haunted Forest, diving and his claws grabbed a giant and threw him into the air.

It seemed like the living was going to win this fight, Jaehaerys heard Tormund hollering victoriously. "Drop the fire on them!" A Night's Watchmen and Wildling dropped pitch and flame down on the front gate which burned two giants and thirty corpses.

The attacks on the gate didn't stop, the mist got thicker as the dead below became less and less visible. It made some worried, then a scream was heard twenty feet down, Jaehaerys and Beric and Tormund walked and saw a man running towards them and webs came out and wrapped around the sorry man and pulled him back.

"Ice Spiders! Arm yourselves!" Beric lit his flaming sword and Jaehaerys held Longclaw tightly and they came, three of the giant creatures darted across and headed for them. Archers loosed three arrows at them, it killed one but a melee battle ensued where the three men and several others fought the monsters of the night.

Below at the gate, the undead giants returned and began to lift the heavy iron gate. Grey Worm and his Unsullied got into position and shield raised. "They do not pass!" The Commander shouted to his men who stood firm and ready, Missandei crossed the thoughts of Grey Worm who promised to take her home and protect her people.

A swath of dead began charging the Unsullied who began battle with them, their dragonglass spears pointed forth and ready, they pierced many of the enemies of their Queen.

Rodrik and Daenerys burnt the Haunted Forest, the dead being swallowed by the flames and returned to ashes and death. The Dragon Queen shifted Drogon right to avoid a large arrow shot by a giant. Viserion defended his brother by blasting the giant with flame.

Rhaegal blasted a White Walker off his horse, Daenerys and Rodrik watched with shock as the flames from the dragon didn't even affect the ice being. "Rhaegal, flee!" the Dragon Queen shouted and her child barely missed a javelin from a nearby giants bow. She sighed in relief but that relief turned into horror when a projectile shot down Viserion who was farthest into the burning forest.

Atop the Wall, Jaehaerys finished killing another Ice Spider which shattered into snow glass. He breathed heavily but heard a cry and turned to see a beast tackling Tormund to the ground, "Tormund!" He shouted and rushed over to his friend, he killed it but the creature had already torn open Tormunds gut.

"Bah, in the end, one of the cunts got me... " He held his breath and Beric gave him a sympathetic look. "Fight on, Jon, I don't care who you are now... You're of the North, it will never leave... " The red-bearded man breathed his last and he got to his feet and nodded for Beric to light his friends corpse on fire.

Edd, and now Tormund. The Army of the Dead has taken two of his companions from him, he grunted and turned back to the sky to see Viserion fall into the forest as the fires went out. "He's here." He whispered and started to nock and loose arrows himself into the enemy below.

Beneath the Wall and into Eastwatch's tunnel, Grey Worm slew another of the dead. He's lost a few hundred of his men once two giants opened the gate completely which allowed undead soldiers and giant spiders and a number of dogs. "Hold! Hold them back!" He called and stuck an Ice Spider in the face and the beast shattered.

Jorah turned to Waymar and Davos, "They've entered the tunnel, the Unsullied are fighting well but it won't be enough." Waymar stated as the men gathered thought a dark thought about what to do. Jorah didn't want to imagine doing this to their men, to Grey Worm.

"... They'll hold them back, I trust them. Ready to shut the gate when I give the signal." Jorah told the others and went up to one of the men he recognized as White Rat, "Begin back up, we're shutting the gate." He ordered and the order went all the way to the front, Grey Worm nodded and slowly, the remaining Unsullied began moving out of the tunnel.

"Now!" Once the last of the men pulled out, Wun Wun broke the gate which slammed shut. "Ser Davos, tell Jaehaerys that we've lost control of the tunnel." The Onion Knight hurried to the top of the Wall, Jorah turned to Waymar, "Hurry, get some more soldiers in this place, we hold this yard when they break through, give all the men atop the Wall enough time to leave it." Waymar reluctantly went to find some men.

The horns blew once, a ranger returning.

Waymar ran to the entrance and saw a weary rider falling from his horse, "Where did you come from?" He asked the man who was wounded from fighting, but where was the fighting and what happened was the thought coming from the King Consort of the North.

"Shadow Tower... It was taken... The dead broke through the Wall." And like that, the heir to House Royce's heart stopped as he thought about Sansa and his unborn child.

Atop the Wall, Jaehaerys and Davos began moving the men down from Eastwatch after Waymar told them about the Shadow Tower, Rodrik was flying through on Sheepstealer and he stopped him. "Rodrik! We need to leave, the Wall has fallen!" Rodrik grunted and the flapping of the wings went back into the air.

The Army of the Living started the retreat, Winterfell is in danger of being attacked by the undead and the Night King has yet to reveal himself into the battle. The Dothraki and Valemen rode out in force, they have the best chance of getting to Winterfell to bolster the defense.

To cover the retreat, Greatjon, and Rickard and Yohn Royce chose to stay behind with 5,000 men. Waymar begged his father to not do this, to let him fight and protect their retreat. It reminded him of when Lyn Corbray defended their march on King's Landing during the War of the Five Kings. To think his father sacrificing himself and the others giving their lives for a retreat of all things.

They've killed thousands of the dead, it has to make a difference. It has to have slowed down the enemy somewhat.

In the air, Rodrik found an angry and enraged Daenerys burning several hundred soldiers. "Dany! I know you're angry but we need to go!" She didn't want to listen, "Dying here won't bring him back, we've lost too many already and we can't lose you or your dragons too!" She looked at him and he pled to her silently, she eventually nodded and they were going to turn their steeds back behind the Wall until another projectile flew across air and hit Rodrik in the chest.

Daenerys looked in horror as Rodrik glanced at her once more and she screamed as he fell from Sheepstealer, "Rodrik!"