A Will of Iron
Jon
The first part of the army took far longer to reach Torrhen's Square than expected due to the poor weather and their large numbers. However, despite the cold and the numerous small but annoying problems they encountered along the way, Jon realised he felt far more comfortable in the role of commander than he did as king.
Birds sent regular messages back and forth between the army and Winterfell; Missandei's mynah regularly appearing for Greyworm with news from Daenerys, whilst Jon received similar updates from one of Bran's many ravens. He had Edd and his crow here as his personally assigned bird-Rider but preferred to send his news home via the ravens where possible, knowing that information relayed between two Wargs would be very much more reliable. In addition, Ghost still met up with Drogon most nights, as Winterfell was still not far away for two large wings and four fast paws.
Jon was still deciding what to do with his Familiar once they took to the seas as he knew his direwolf would not do well on a ship. He was fairly confident that their exceptionally strong bond should allow them to remain in contact across the water, and having Ghost on land to act as an emergency messenger could be useful too. It was true that the wolf was not as flexible as birds or dragons in that regard, but he would be considerably less obvious, able to skulk through the woodlands during the night and not draw attention to himself as flying Familiars tended to.
Torrhen's Square sat on the northern edge of a large lake and, when Jon's army finally arrived, it was to discover the harbour packed with Greyjoy ships ready and waiting for them to load up for the long journey south. The young king moved with his party of advisors to greet Theon and his sister Yara, fighting to put his emotions to one side as he approached the pair. He had never got along especially well with his father's ward when they were growing up together in Winterfell, but recent events had caused him to become even more confused about his feelings regarding the young man. Theon had done some terrible things whilst Jon had been studying beyond the Wall and yet had also suffered numerous hardships as a direct result of them. Justice perhaps? Certainly there was little sign of the cock-sure youth he had sparred and snarked with as a boy, and yet this pale shadow made Jon feel uneasy in other ways that he couldn't quite explain. Should he hate the man he used to be or feel pity for the broken remnant who now stood in front of him? Theon looked up at Jon and winced, his gaze dropping straight back down to his boots and Jon, feeling awkward, turned to the sister, finding her a far easier prospect to deal with.
"Your Grace," she said respectfully although her stance and expression seemed anything but. "My ships are at your command."
"Thank you, Yara. Any idea when we'll be able to depart?"
"The weather is set fair for the next few days," she replied with a casual shrug. "So it depends on your men really." She smirked. "I do hope they have strong stomachs though, as the seas are rarely calm during winter."
Jon pulled a face. "Aye, it was a deciding factor in choosing which troops to send where, in fact. Most of the Dothraki have remained with Queen Daenerys."
She grinned slyly again. "And you, Your Grace?"
He shrugged. "I am a wolf, in more ways than one - a land animal in truth - but am able to keep my feet and my stomach in all but the very worst storms."
"I would expect nothing else from the famed Jon Snow," Yara said with a slight smile. "Come, let us introduce you to our captains. Most of them are grumpy and irascible, but act like the king you are, and I swear that they'll give you no trouble."
He followed her confident stride, nodding at her brother as he fell into step beside him. "Theon."
"Jon." There was a pause. "How's Sansa and … everyone?"
"All well when I left."
He noticed Theon frown, considering his next words carefully. "And so we're fighting for Daenerys Targaryen now?"
"We have an alliance with her, Aye."
"I hear you were … pushed into that?"
Jon turned sharply towards him, eyebrows raised. "Pushed? Is that what you heard?"
Theon winced. "The word … seduced may have been used but-"
"-I heard that one too." He shook his head when it seemed Theon might comment further. "But there are more important things to discuss right now."
"Of course ..." He frowned. "… Your Grace."
Jon couldn't help but feel amused at the man's struggle to use his title. How things had changed.
~o~0~o~
The journey to the Iron Islands was suitably unpleasant and Jon spent most of it bored and irritable. It didn't help that many of those men he was closest to had been assigned to Daenerys' army and those assigned to him were perhaps not the best choices to help keep him from his brooding. Not only that but he seemed to have acquired the quiet, glowering Grey Worm and Ser Jorah as his almost constant shadows; an unfortunate side-effect of their awkward alliance, with both sides wanting advisors they could trust keeping an eye on the other army.
Jon was especially uncomfortable in Mormont's company, only too aware of the knight's feelings for Daenerys. He felt that the older man was constantly on the verge of approaching the delicate subject with him and had no idea how he would respond if he did. Telling Jorah that he was merely the queen's lover and nothing else, felt no better than admitting that he had some deeper feelings for her and so he fervantly hoped the knight would keep his thoughts to himself. At least Jon had Davos with him, a man who seemed to have quietly adopted the young king as a surrogate son, even if he had no idea what he had done to have inspired such quiet loyalty.
A violent storm arrived at the islands at the same time as they did and appeared determined to stay for a while, circling Pyke constantly and forcing Jon and his army to remain as guests for longer than originally planned. They urgently needed to get a message out to Daenerys to explain the delay and so, when the Riders were reluctant to send their birds out in such severe weather, Jon said he would give it a try.
"What can you do?" Jorah asked him.
"Hopefully contact my direwolf who's on shore," he replied. "I'd already had him move east, in fact, so that he'd be closer to the King's Road."
"He's still not going to be able to get close enough to the queen for you to pass a message onto her," Edd said.
Jon pulled a face, knowing how hard this was going to be for regular Riders to understand, never mind the Outsiders here, especially given how reluctant he was to discuss his unique communication with the queen.
"I think perhaps I can pull it off when I'm asleep," he said, hoping they wouldn't push him too much. "You know how more instinctive these things are during dreams and I have … a few tricks up my sleeve, so to speak."
The only problem was that his dream meetings with Daenerys had never been planned and had become considerably less frequent the further south they had all travelled. By now though, her army should be at Moat Cailin and, assuming she hadn't decided to fly back to Winterfell for any reason, she and Drogon shouldn't be too far away from Ghost's current position.
Jon decided to start the attempt whilst awake, lying on his back on his bed and reaching his mind out as he attempted to connect to his direwolf. He immediately felt a slight pull to the north, very slightly east, and smiled at his success, allowing his thoughts to travel in that direction and trying to get his Familiar's attention. No regular Rider would have a hope of doing this from such a distance but Jon was relying on his uniquely strong bond and special abilities and, if that didn't work, he would try to fall asleep whilst thinking of this problem to see if that made the connection any easier.
And then he felt it; a sudden snap as his mind seemed to hurtle across the rough sea, over to the Neck and to the edge of the forest there, and then … he was Ghost.
"We need to find Drogon," Jon explained to his direwolf.
'Flew close night past.'
And then they were moving north-east on four paws, heading towards Moat Cailin. But how could he contact Dany's Familiar?
'Dragon will not talk to me," Ghost told him, "but can hear you.'
Jon frowned, confused. "Because of my connection to Daenerys?"
'No. Blood bond.'
"What?" Where had he heard that before?
'There.'
Jon knew, via Ghost, that the dragon was on his way but, even in this form, his human senses tended to restrict his instincts and so it was a little while before he saw the black shadow moving across the dark sky towards their position.
"This is so much harder than I thought it would be," he admitted as the odd vision appeared to shift and blur slightly.
Drogon landed in front of Ghost soon after, but there seemed to be no communication for a while, the two Familiars simply eyeing one another. Jon tried to push his awareness into the dragon but could do very little over such a distance - Ghost had been challenging enough - and then, just as he was about to give up and try again later, he felt it. It was a mere whisper, so much quieter than their previous conversations, but then ... she was there.
"Jon?"
It worked. "We couldn't get the birds out to you," he explained.
"What happened?" she asked. "Where are you?"
"Pyke."
"Really? Impressive."
"I'm not sure if this will be possible as we move further apart though."
"Maybe not but, if we keep practising?"
"Perhaps. Anyway, just in case I get pulled back I'd better be quick. You're getting bad weather here too, I see, but it's severe on Pyke right now. Yara reckons we'll be stuck on the islands for at least another week."
Drogon lowered his head until his muzzle was really close to the wolf's nose. "I'll come flying this way every night then? Halfway between Pyke and Cailin?"
"Yes," Jon agreed. "This is starting to hurt, Dany, I need get back now."
"All right, but slowly, remember? You know what will happen if you snap out too quickly." Drogon started to turn away but, despite the distance, Jon sensed a strange emotion and called her back.
"Dany?"
Ghost backed up as the dragon's neck snapped quickly around towards him. "Yes?"
"Are you … all right?"
Deep orange eyes regarded the wolf for a long time. "Yes. Just impatient to get this over and done with. These delays are … making me nervous."
"I know just how you feel."
"Go now, you really shouldn't be Riding Ghost from so far away."
The direwolf watched the dragon fly away, whilst Jon started to think of Pyke and his chambers there and very slowly allowed himself to relax. He heard Ghost whine and then his consciousness was rushing back over snow covered shrub, then woods, then water and then …
"Urgh!"
Jon scrambled up from his bed, heading for the chamber pot in his room and feeling as if he wanted to throw up. Fortunately he had managed a certain amount of control on the return journey and, after taking several deep breaths, the uncomfortable sensations began to ease. Hauling himself back up, Jon poured himself a small goblet of weak wine and returned to his bed, lying down heavily and closing his eyes whilst he waited for everything to stop spinning. He wondered then if he would have to attempt that feat again when he was back on board the ship and just the thought was enough for his nausea to return. Soon though, he managed to get up for long enough to undress before returning to his bed for the night and falling quickly asleep.
He dreamt he was flying through the air as Ghost; a white, winged direwolf heading north to Winterfell and gliding through the uppermost window of the Broken Tower where Daenerys was waiting for him; warm, soft and naked, buried under a pile of dark furs.
Some time later Jon woke up breathless, emotional and turned on, after a highly erotic dream, hating to admit how much he was missing her, even here in the privacy of his own head.
~o~0~o~
A week later the weather finally eased and soon the fleet were sailing again, heading south towards Oldtown. They were now two weeks over their original five week plan and more storms were rolling up from the south, with the wind set to blow against them for most of the journey. Jon paced his cabin, frustrated. The longer they were delayed the more chance there was that Cersei would learn of their movements and their element of surprise, such as it was, would be lost. At least his ability to keep in touch with Daenerys via Ghost was helping to keep their plan alive for the time being, even if the effort of extreme Riding combined with rough sea travel was not doing much for his health. Fortunately, a few nights later, the wind changed in their favour and by dawn the following day their fleet was rushing past the Shield Islands, the Ironborn whooping in delight at the sudden change of speed, and even Jon managed to smile as he came up on deck and saw the hints of bright winter-blue sky peeking out from behind the snow-grey clouds.
Later that night Ghost and Drogon met in the middle of the vast sprawling farmlands of The Reach whilst, back on the ship, Jon ground his teeth and tried to focus on talking to Daenerys from such a very great distance.
"Tomorrow?" he managed to ask.
"Yes. Heavy rain here but we should be ready."
He wanted to stay there with her. He wanted to tell her that he missed her smile, the taste of her skin and the comforting warmth of her body and mind as he slipped inside her but, what would be the point? Regardless of the nature of their odd relationship, practicality dictated that he couldn't remain here, even if this method of communication was far more immediate than Rider-birds with the news guaranteed to get straight to the queen. So, with the vital information relayed, Jon relaxed and very slowly allowed his mind to float back west, noting with detached interest that the fleet had now passed Bandallon.
Their battle for Oldtown would begin the following day whilst, in the east, Daenerys Targaryen would start her own, simultaneous attack on King's Landing.
~o~0~o~
A light squall greeted them the following morning although the Ironborn seemed exceptionally unconcerned, even believing it would give them a slight advantage with the strong wind still running in their favour. The enemy fleet came into view as they rounded Blackcrown and Jon squinted into the grey mist in order to make out the numbers and sigils.
"What do you think?" he asked Yara.
"The same as we have in this main group?" she guessed, "and not all of them Ironborn by the look of it which should give us the advantage."
"We'll need to be careful though," Theon said, "Euron is famed for using any methods at his disposal to ensure a victory."
"Jon!" Edd was at his side, pulling at his sleeve and pointing upwards. "That seagull is being Ridden."
He nodded, lifting his head up towards the bird. "On it." And he pushed his mind forwards, latching on to the swirling thoughts.
"Damn sea-birds," Edd grumbled, "far more suited to this sort of weather."
"True," Jon agreed, "but they're nowhere near as bright as the corvids which makes them very easy to over-Ride."
He focused, hands clenched as he pushed his own thoughts into the bird and shoved the Rider's consciousness out with very little effort on his part. The seagull squawked, flapping his wings in a panic as it dropped like a stone towards the waves and Jon grinned bleakly at the brief flash of human emotion he'd sensed before the man had blacked out.
"One down," he declared, instantly looking back up at the sky to scan for more.
It was vitally important that the enemy fleet were not able get a close look at them or land their birds on deck where they could cause some subtle mischief and so, from that point onwards, Jon's mind was focused almost entirely on searching out flying Familiars and knocking their Riders out of their heads. This was a unique Warg ability and one which put them at a huge advantage during this fight - with Daenerys able to do the same thing to the Familiars around King's Landing - preventing the enemy from gaining any tactical advantage whilst their own Riders could go in unchallenged.
But, just as Jon was feeling smug about that, he heard Edd gasp next to him and turned to see his friend collapse in a heap on the deck next to him.
"No." He dropped down to his knees, discovering that the man was unconscious and a sudden fear gripped him as he realised what that meant. "Riders, retreat!" he shouted. "They have a Warg of their own."
He looked up as numerous birds sped towards their ships, trying to determine friend from foe. Ghost would not be in danger, of course, and so Jon should also be safe but … he was getting a sense of dread here. A familiar feeling of a very powerful animal presence. Something large and magical and …
"Kraken!"
The ship lurched to one side as a monstrous creature rose up near the prow of their ship and Jon had to grab at the rail to stop his body from falling, whilst his mind reeled from the strength of the contact with the creature which was quite obviously being Ridden. If one of those arms touched him there was a slim chance his Rider could grab hold of his mind, but such concerns were nothing compared to the issue of what that creature could physically do to their ships.
A loud crack from the starboard side had Jon turning to see a massive, long limb crash down on one vessel, splintering it instantly. Behind him Yara was yelling at the sailors to tack and turn and manoeuvre the ships away from the beast as quickly as possible but, when Jon saw the next tentacle emerge at the opposite end of the fleet, he knew it was hopeless. How could any of them get away from that?
"You need to get closer to land!" he shouted at Yara.
She shook her head. "The rocks."
"It's the only way. We cannot win this battle on the water now." He looked over to Theon who was staring at the kraken, wide eyed and fearful, and strode forward, shaking him to gain his attention whilst Yara went back to barking orders.
"Who's the Warg, Theon?"
"I … I think it's our uncle Euron but ..."
Jon grabbed the front of the young man's tunic, snarling. "You didn't think perhaps that was information I needed to have before today?"
"No, but he was just an ordinary Rider, I thought. Talented but … a Sleeper and then … then he went to Essos and ..." Theon swallowed, terrified, as Jon continued to hold onto him firmly.
"Learnt from the Riders over there, no doubt." He grumbled at the irony. The whole point of him, Bran and Arya training away from the Seven Kingdoms was so they could keep their abilities quiet from Cersei. Unfortunately, that worked both ways and Euron had apparently managed to bond with a large, magical creature of his own.
Another crash from behind had Jon finally release Theon, looking over his shoulder to see another of their ships explode into splinters on the port side. He growled in frustration then, knowing there was only one option left to him now.
"Davos, Jorah … stay close and hold onto me firmly. I'm not going to be able to stay upright once I go in."
"Go in where?" Davos asked. His gaze then followed Jon's as the massive creature briefly surged above the waves and he gasped. "Your Grace … I really don't think ..."
"No choice ..." Jon replied as he ground his teeth and focused.
He was now grateful for the knowledge the dragons had given him; both the touch of the green during the Battle of the Dawn and his recent, regular communication with Drogon. This mind was as strong and immense as theirs and with a surprising amount of intelligence, if not quite on a par with Ghost or the dragons. But its intellect would not be the only reason that this would be a challenge. Jon would now have to over-Ride a fellow Warg and he had never once attempted such a feat. It was unlikely that his strange connection with Dany would be of much help now and, unless Euron had a lot less power than he did, the best Jon could realistically hope for was a stalemate, which would at least give their ships a chance to get away.
Jon skirted the great kraken's mind, allowed himself to reach out all of his senses towards the beast, and then forced himself inside.
~o~0~o~
It was the strangest battle Jon had ever fought; one of pure wills and abstract consciousness. In this situation, a Rider's mind would translate the instincts and emotions of both Familiar and Riders into unique images that the feeble human brain could deal with and, for Jon, this mental battle became a physical fight, with a sword in his hand and a faint, ghostly direwolf by his side, although Euron was likely viewing his side very differently.
The figure In front of him now was half-man half-kraken, turned giant by Jon's imagination, swirling with dark shadow, green water and seaweed, his face full of gleeful rage as he snarled and snapped, whilst vicious weapons rapidly appeared and disappeared from his hand and tentacles.
"What is this?" the giant boomed, raising a large hooked blade above his head. "A little wolf adrift on the sea with no Familiar to help. You think you can over-Ride me, pup?"
Jon said nothing, simply lunging forwards with his sword before neatly spinning and skipping away as the large, unwieldy weapon crashed down by his side. Euron looked very briefly surprised but hid it well, laughing as he loomed closer, unnaturally large, though his immense size did not phase Jon for a moment. Most men he had fought in his life had been taller than him and most of those men were now dead. He had no fear of fighting giants.
As he danced away again, he fancied his opponent had shrunk a little; still far taller than him but now considerably more manageable. Back and forth the battle went and it wasn't long before Jon began to fully understand the nature of this fight. With Euron's attention on him, the kraken now had two Wargs Riding him and giving two contradictory instructions - fight and stand down - which meant it was trapped, unable to obey either order nor break free to return to the depths. That it could currently do no harm to his fleet suited Jon just fine and, the longer he held Euron within this virtual battle, the more time Yara's ships had to pick up survivors and either head north or into land. In other words, the longer he remained here, the more lives he would save.
And his own life? That was less certain. If he won this, if he was actually able to throw Euron out of his own Familiar, then Jon could take control of the kraken and perhaps manage a cautious returned to his body, much as he did after visiting Dany. If he lost though, if Euron was able to expel him …?
Jon put that worrying thought to one side and continued fighting. Euron apparently couldn't see Ghost but Jon knew his faint presence was here, a reassurance for him, even if he didn't offer the same strength that the kraken was currently giving Euron.
'Jon.'
He skipped away, glancing down at the faint image of his direwolf, trying to work out where the quiet message had come from. That couldn't be Daenerys surely? Not from this distance. Not when she would currently be focusing on her own battle.
'Jon … Bran … Look ...' It was his brother, his message exceptionally faint from such a long way away and from communicating whilst Jon was over-Riding.
"Bran? What?" he asked.
The scene in front of him shifted then as the shadowy figure of Euron suddenly became pale ice, rising back up to his giant form, and Jon yelped at the sight of the Night King in front of him, his ice spear raised to deal the killer blow. But then he remembered that he held Longclaw and lifted it at the last moment, the clang setting his teeth on edge and sending him down to one knee.
He was losing. It was hopeless. He didn't stand a chance.
"They're coming," Bran said.
"Who are?"
"Look up."
"Dragons!" Someone shouted. "The dragons have returned."
"No," Jon said, trying to pull his mind from the confusing images. "This isn't the Battle for the Dawn and I'm not fighting the Night King. This is Euron, I'm on a ship in the south and that is only … one dragon?"
One, green dragon flying over Oldtown and breathing fire at the enemy's ships.
"Get out of there, Jon," Bran said. "Now!"
With a screaming battle cry, Jon plunged Longclaw into the image of Euron's chest and hauled his mind out of the kraken's and towards the damaged, listing ship which hopefully still housed his body.
And then the world around him exploded in fire and his mind retreated into blackness.
~o~0~o~
A/N: So, not only do I split Jon and Dany up but also leave you with a cliffie. Sorry. I did promise you a ride though, right? :P
*jaq skulks away*
News: My other Jonerys canon era AU idea (now called The Prince Next Door) was put to one side when I couldn't seem to make it work. Fortunately, I think I've solved the issue, which was mostly due to my stubborn habit of writing my stories in order. Apparently this one is crazy enough that it actually needs to be written out of order. (And yes my infamous imagination is getting me into trouble again) I'm pleased to have a second project to work on, but this odd way of writing (for me) means that I have no idea when I'll be ready to start publishing, although I definitely want to get it out whilst WR is still going. Good news is that I just have three more days left of work before a two week Easter Holiday so, hopefully, plenty of time for writing and maybe even finishing my WR book cover!
