Chapter 399: The First Encounter

When Lynd returned to Castle Black, Stannis had just left with Mance Rayder to arrange the garrison locations for the Free Folk.

Samwell Tarly and Jon Snow, who had stayed behind, led the men of Castle Black to the cleared courtyard to welcome Lynd's arrival.

When they saw Lynd dismounting from the dragon with Ella and Yara, they froze for a moment. It was the first time they had ever seen a person with two heads.

Though they were shocked and curious, they didn't show it much in their expressions. After all, this woman had been brought by Lynd and had ridden the dragon with him, so she was clearly no ordinary figure—perhaps someone like Melisandre.

From the moment Ella and Yara laid eyes on The Wall, they were completely entranced. Their gazes remained locked on it, and rather than being suppressed by The Wall's magic, the magic within them contracted rhythmically, as if engaging in a dialogue with The Wall's own magic.

"I see them using the Wall as a node. Doesn't it hurt them?" Ella and Yara followed behind Lynd as they entered Castle Black, unable to resist asking.

Hearing this, Lynd stopped, turned to look at them, and said, "You can see Willas and the others?"

"Mm," Ella and Yara answered in unison.

Lynd glanced up at the towering Wall and said, "That is their mission. You may think it's painful, but perhaps they take joy in it."

The group made their way to the council chamber, where Sam handed over a stack of organized documents for Lynd to review.

The contents were straightforward: reports from Ranger outposts detailing the advance of the wight tide and the personnel and supplies allocated to each defensive position.

Lynd went through the documents twice, and after confirming there were no issues, he set them aside and asked Sam, "I heard that some Rangers spotted an Ice Dragon beyond the Wall?"

"Yes," Sam replied. "The outpost near the middle reaches of the Milkwater River saw an Ice Dragon flying out from the Frostfangs and heading east as they withdrew to Greyguard. However, the outposts at Whitetree, Craster's Keep, and along the Antler River didn't see any Ice Dragons. Some suspect the Rangers may have mistaken mountaintop clouds for a dragon."

"It's possible for one person to mistake it, but for a group to all misjudge? That seems unlikely," Lynd shook his head and asked, "Have all the outposts beyond the Wall been withdrawn?"

"Yes," Sam nodded. "Now, all reconnaissance beyond the Wall is being handled by Skinchangers from the Free Folk tribes. The Lord Commander has gathered them into a single unit under Jojen Reed, specifically for scouting beyond the Wall."

It was clear that Stannis, a master of positional and defensive warfare, had fortified The Wall perfectly. Lynd knew he couldn't match Stannis in this regard and found no room for improvement.

At that moment, Melisandre, who had just returned from Icemark, arrived at the council chamber along with Benerro, the High Priest of the Red Temple of Volantis, and several other red-robed priests.

"Your Grace, we wish to take a more active role in this battle," Benerro said eagerly upon seeing Lynd, not even waiting for Melisandre to speak.

"Didn't Stannis assign the Hand of the Holy Fire to the defense?" Lynd frowned, picked up the documents at hand, glanced at them, and said, "Wasn't your order tasked with defending the section around Hoarfrost Hill Castle?"

"I mean we want to participate even more directly," Benerro quickly explained. "Only by doing so can we earn the favor of the Lord of Light, and only then can we..."

Lynd raised his hand to cut him off and said in a low voice, "Be specific. How exactly do you want to participate more? I can't just send your Holy Fire warriors north of the Wall to directly face the White Walkers and wights, can I?"

Benerro opened his mouth to say more, but Melisandre stopped him. She gestured to a nearby soldier, who took out an ordinary arrow. Holding it in her hand, Melisandre silently prayed for a moment. Then, flames suddenly erupted around the arrowhead, wrapping it in fire without setting the wooden shaft alight. The flame seemed almost illusory.

But Lynd knew this was no illusion. Even without activating his special sight, he could clearly feel the power radiating from the flaming arrowhead—and he knew exactly what kind of impact that power would have on White Walkers or wights.

At that moment, Ella and Yara, clearly intrigued by the flame on the arrow, reached out to touch it.

"Be careful!" Melisandre immediately warned, but she quickly realized her warning was unnecessary. Ella and Yara reached into the flames without suffering the slightest burn, as if the fire didn't exist at all.

This scene not only surprised Melisandre but also left High Priest Benerro and the red priests visibly shocked.

When they had first seen the two-headed person standing beside Lynd, they hadn't thought much of it. Though such deformities were rare, they had encountered similar and even more grotesque sights before. They were merely curious why Lynd would keep a deformed individual by his side.

Now, however, they were both astonished and deeply curious about Ella and Yara. They knew exactly what the flame on the arrow represented. Even they had to handle it with great caution, yet Ella and Yara had plunged their hands straight into the fire without any harm. They couldn't help but wonder how the two had managed it.

Lynd had no intention of explaining anything to Melisandre and the others. Instead, he asked directly, "How many of you can create this kind of flame?"

"All of us. Every red priest can," Melisandre said, pointing to the group behind her.

Lynd continued, "How many arrows can you enchant with this flame at once? And what does it cost you?"

"As long as the arrows are piled together, we can imbue all of them with the Lord's holy fire. The fire will last for a period of time before fading, so it must be used immediately and can't be stored," Melisandre answered. "As for the cost, it only requires some physical exertion, much like directly fighting in battle. However, we can take turns praying to manage it."

Lynd thought for a moment, then said, "In that case, station three red priests at each guard post along the top of the Wall. How you distribute yourselves is up to you."

...

Just then, a horn sounded from outside. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing, listening closely to the length and pattern of the horn blasts.

"Wights," Sam quickly identified the signal based on the horn's rhythm.

At Lynd's lead, everyone left the hall, moved to the lift, and ascended to the top of the Wall.

Once at the top, Lynd headed straight for the watchtower and gazed out beyond the Wall.

At the edge of the Haunted Forest, a massive horde of wights was emerging from the trees, swarming like an endless tide of ants from east to west as far as the eye could see.

Although Lynd had warned them before that the number of wights could reach tens of millions, seeing it with their own eyes was an entirely different experience. The sheer scale of the tide struck them with far greater force than any vague figure. Some of the rangers were so overwhelmed they had to cling to the Wall just to stay standing. Only the soldiers of Lynd's God's Chosen Corps remained steady at their firing posts, drawing arrows and nocking them to their bows, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

At that moment, the beacon on a distant part of the Wall to the east flared to life, thick black smoke rising into the sky. One after another, other beacons were lit, quickly forming a continuous line across the horizon.

As soon as the beacons were lit, the horde of wights in the distance abruptly halted. They stood motionless, no longer advancing. Moments later, several White Walkers riding wight horses emerged from the forest, positioning themselves at the front of the army and staring up at the Wall.

Seeing this, Lynd calmly took down his dragonbone bow, drew an arrow tipped with Valyrian steel and inscribed with runes, nocked it, and drew back the string to full tension. He aimed at an elf White Walker standing at the front of the formation and released.

The arrow whistled through the air with tremendous force, flying in a perfectly straight line without the slightest drop, reaching the elf White Walker almost instantly.

Caught completely off-guard, the elf White Walker had no time to react. The arrow struck him squarely in the forehead.

The power of the Valyrian steel shattered the White Walker's magic instantly, and his body crumbled to the ground like broken ice.

The special arrow didn't simply fall after the hit. The runes on the shaft activated upon impact, unleashing bolts of lightning that crackled outward in every direction. All the wights within a hundred meters were struck by the high-temperature lightning, igniting them instantly and turning them into burning torches.

The fire quickly spread among the wights, carried by flying sparks and direct contact with the flames engulfing the first ones.

The White Walkers, realizing the danger, swiftly commanded the wights to retreat from the flames, forming a firebreak to halt the spread of the inferno. Even so, more than a thousand wights had already been consumed by fire, transforming into flickering human torches.

"Long live the Chosen One!"

"Long live the King!"

...

Cheers quickly spread from Lynd's defensive position. With just a single arrow, he had destroyed so many wights that even the Night's Watch and other troops on the Wall, who had been overwhelmed by fear moments ago, quickly regained their morale.

Lynd, however, remained unaffected by the cheering around him. He gestured to Melisandre, signaling her to imbue ordinary arrows with the sacred fire of the Lord of Light—he wanted to see how effective the sacred fire would be against the White Walkers.

Melisandre and a black-skinned, white-haired red priest each took two arrows, whispered prayers over them, and soon, flames flared at the arrowheads.

Lynd picked up one of the flaming arrows and shot it toward a distant human White Walker. Without pausing, he continued to grab arrows imbued with sacred fire from the two red priests, firing one after another at different targets—wights, human White Walkers, and even elf White Walkers.

Although these ordinary arrows infused with sacred fire were far less powerful than Lynd's specially crafted rune arrows tipped with Valyrian steel, they still dealt considerable damage to wights and White Walkers.

Most human White Walkers and wights struck by the arrows either burst into flames or shattered into ice crystals. Only the elf White Walkers, though able to pull out the arrows after being hit, were left with wounds that could not heal—clearly, the Lord of Light's sacred fire was still not potent enough to deliver a fatal blow to those blessed by the gods of cold.

The arrows fired from Lynd's dragonbone bow were simply too strong. Although the White Walkers tried to intercept them, without exception, they failed. Very quickly, over a dozen White Walkers had been killed by Lynd's shots, and the cheers atop the Wall grew louder and louder.

Perhaps sensing they had become little more than target practice, the elf White Walker wounded by the sacred fire let out a sharp shriek and quickly retreated into the Haunted Forest. The other White Walkers followed suit, withdrawing into the forest and leaving only the wights standing motionless at the front.

"The sacred fire is quite effective. What about attaching it directly to Dragonglass?" Lynd asked, seeing that the White Walkers across from his position had retreated and ceasing his attack.

"No!" Before Melisandre could respond, Benerro stepped forward and said, "If the sacred fire touches Dragonglass, it will immediately cause it to explode."

Hearing the word "explode," Lynd's eyes lit up and he asked, "Is there a way to delay the explosion?"

"No. The moment it touches, it explodes," Benerro said, shaking his head.

Lynd thought for a moment, then ordered, "Send a red priest to the secret laboratory I set up in Icemark. Work with the spellcasters there to see if you can find a way to stabilize the sacred fire so it can be attached to Dragonglass."

Upon hearing Lynd's command, Melisandre and the others' expressions darkened slightly. To them, the sacred fire was a holy gift from the Lord of Light, and now Lynd was asking them to supply it for research with spellcasters—a move that, no matter the intention, felt like a form of sacrilege.

"If it's too difficult, just forget I said anything," Lynd said quietly, realizing immediately from their expressions that his request had crossed a line.

"No, we will cooperate with the research," Benerro quickly responded. He turned to the black-skinned red priest beside him and instructed, "Moqorro, go assist the spellcasters at the cipher lock."

Moqorro, his face obscured by a thick beard and his skin so dark that no expression could be discerned, made no comment. He only gave a low grunt of acknowledgment before stepping to the side.

Lynd then turned to Ella and Yara and instructed, "You two go to the secret laboratory as well. If I need you, I'll call for you. If Willas Tyrell gives you any orders while you're there, follow them. But if the orders come from Bran Stark, hold off—come tell me first."

"Yes, Your Grace," Ella and Yara responded.

Lynd then turned to look at the dense horde of wights gathering beyond the Wall and said, "Let's go! They probably won't attack before nightfall. We still have time to rest, because once it starts..."

Lynd didn't finish his sentence, but everyone knew what he meant. Wights and White Walkers didn't need rest or sleep, and with their numbers like an endless sea, once the battle began, it would be an unending fight without pause.