A/N: danceegirl92 – Jasper didn't take Sansa with him because the thought did not occur to him, he was too pissed off with the Lannisters. He thinks they are shaming his family intentionally.

blazedflame – The Twins were destroyed by Theon and Robb never broke a marriage pact. Do you mean the purple wedding?

Lilnudger82 – Not the first kiss, I direct you to reread ACOK Jasper IV, and possibly before as well.7

It has been said by some that Stannis Baratheon knew the strengths and weaknesses of every single house in the Seven Kingdoms. The validity of this claim could easily be doubted by many, however what could be denied was that Stannis did know the strengths and weaknesses of every vassal under his command. It was for this reason that Davos Seaworth was organising the unloading of troops from the Crownlands at Eastwatch by the Sea and from there, their transportation to Castle Black, where the Wildling horde was supposedly descending on the Wall. The first two waves, both the one that Davos had lead and the one that had arrived before him, he had sent along the southern side of the Wall towards the headquarters of the Night's Watch where they were to support the weakened black brothers in their defence of the Seven Kingdoms. However, Davos had been hearing troubles reports. Reports that Lord Monford, who had commanded the first squadron and now the representative of Stannis at the Wall, was claiming command over the defence of the Wall, but that a bastard boy, Jon Snow, half brother to Robb Stark, the Young Wolf who was currently rebelling against the throne, was claiming that the Watch did not answer to Kings or Lords, and that the command of the defence of the Wall was both their responsibility and what they knew to do best, as such they should command. Thankfully the best hope to resolving the situation was currently approaching Eastwatch, as the Fury, Stannis' flagship, came into dock, along with the next squadron, which would contain much heavy horse, soon to be the bane of the Wildlings, at least, Davos hoped so, for they were still outnumbered at Castle Black and, with these divisions rising, there was no telling what was to happen there.

Davos was waiting by the dock at which the Fury unloaded the knights of the Crownlands. As had been the case with the foot levies, the men were clearly not happy to be here, not used to the biting cold and unsure of how to proceed against such barbaric foes. Morale was low, Davos himself was sure that, had Stannis not already taken the tips of his fingers, which were currently around his neck, then they would have frozen off before Cotter Pyke, the commander of Eastwatch by the Sea, had gifted him some elk fur gloves to ward off the worst of the cold. Stannis led the knights from disembarking, the horses to be brought off soon afterwards. 'Ser Davos', he said, as he approached, 'what news from Castle Black?'

'No news my lord', Davos replied, as knights and horses poured out of the ships of his squadron as they came into dock. 'We have not heard that it has fallen, nor that it has repelled the enemy'.

Stannis nodded. 'Then we need to ride as soon as possible, where is the commander here?'

Davos turned and pointed to Cotter Pyke's tower and Stannis, not saying another word, marched off to it, no doubt discussing his plan to break the Wildlings in a single stroke.

It turned out to not be so much a battle, as a complete rout. When the final squadron of the Royal Fleet disembarked and the men marched down to Castle Black, with Davos accompanying them, it turned out the battle had been won several days before. Whilst the footmen had been able to hold the Wildlings at bay from the north side of the wall and defeat the raiding parties south of the wall, Stannis had divided his heavy horse into three columns and scythed through the Wildling's unprepared lines like a sickle through wheat, only the giants held their ground temporarily, but it was not enough and those who did not throw down their arms in surrender scattered back to the lands far north of the wall. According to captured men of the Wildling horde, they were scattered under different leaders, one of them, a dour warrior, took thousands north, towards the lands of the Thenns, another scattered them inside the haunting forest, yet more bands were leaderless as they fled north from the southern knights.

Davos had been invited to a meeting with Stannis, the Red Woman, whom he had not seen since she left for Castle Black with the rest of his men of the first wave. Also there was Maester Aemon, the one who had sent the request for help from the Night's Watch that had drawn them here. There were also two boys there, both dark haired, but one was lean and muscular, with a sword at his waist which had a wolf sculpted onto the pommel. The other was large and plump, more the look of a Septon about him than what you would imagine would be a man of the Night's Watch. 'Ser Davos, you are here', Stannis said. 'Good, I would value your input in this matter'.

'What matter is that my lord?' Davos asked, curious.

Stannis indicated the fat boy. 'Tell us again what you saw, leave nothing out'.

The boy timidly stood up. 'We were at the Fist of the First Men', he began, 'we were waiting to hear back from scouting parties about the size and strength of the Wilding horde. It was there we came under attack'.

'The Wildlings attacked you?' Davos asked.

The boy shook his head. 'The dead', he said, 'the dead rose and nought but fire would slow them down'. He gulped, clearly horrified by what he had seen, but unless Davos was much mistaken, he was not so terrified of the dead, but of something else. 'Lord Commander Mormont and a few of us were able to escape, we broke through them and rushed back for the Wall. As we went they kept harassing us, every night, but we made progress. Eventually we made it back to Craster's Keep. When there some of our brothers betrayed us, but I was able to escape with Gilly'.

'Gilly?' Davos asked.

'One of his daughters, and wives', said the swordsman of the Night's Watch, Davos shivered at the foul thought of it, not even the Targaryens wed parent to child.

It took a few seconds, but the fat boy was able to continue his tale. 'When we were nearly at the wall, with her babe in arms, that is when we saw it'.

He gulped, but Lord Stannis was not being patient. 'Saw what?' Stannis pressed, without any regard for the boy's obvious terror.

'A demon', he croaked eventually, 'skin like cracked ice and eyes a bright blue, brighter than saphires, brighter than anything I have ever seen, like the stars, but just as cold'. Davos could not quite believe it, but he knew what the boy was describing. 'White Walkers', he said finally.

'And what happened?' Stannis asked.

The boy held out something black, a dagger, but it looked like a cross between rock and steel. He felt like he had seen it before, but could not quite picture where. 'Frozen fire', the Red Woman said in her strange accent.

'Dragonglass', Stannis muttered, and now Davos remembered where he had seen it, all over Dragonstone. 'What did you do with this dagger?'

'I stabbed it', the fat boy said, and Davos looked him over, he did not seem the kind of person to stab someone else, but there may well have been some truth to it. 'It fell to it's knees, shrieking, then it cracked and shattered into a thousand pieces'.

'And nothing else can kill these demons?' Stannis asked, to which Davos raised his eyebrows. Stannis accepted the tales quickly, he had not known Stannis to make such rash beliefs before, but for the good of the realm, maybe it was a good thing that he did.

'No other solution to this… problem', said the one with the sword, 'has been found as of yet'.

Stannis nodded. 'Then it seems I have come at the right time, I shall leave three thousand footmen here at the wall, under your authority', he said to Maester Aemon, 'followed by the authority of whomever is elected your new Lord Commander. I myself shall return to Dragonstone, for there are matters in the south to deal with. When there I shall organise the mining of Dragonglass to be shipped to the Wall, where you can craft it into weapons of war to use against these demons'.

Maester Aemon nodded. 'What of you my lady', he asked the Red Woman.

The Red Woman smiled. 'First I shall make for Volantis', she said, sending a look at Davos before returning her gaze to the half blind maester. 'I shall contact the Red Temple there and beseech them to spread the word. Death marches on the Wall, and aid must be sent'.

'Thank you, Lord Stannis', Maester Aemon said, a sentiment seemingly supported by the other black brothers.

However, the one with the sword had another question. 'We will have to ask that no southern lords remain at the Wall'. Stannis arched an eyebrow and he continued. 'You will be leaving far more soldiers than me and my brothers, if you leave a lord here, he will claim lordship. At the very least, whoever remains behind in command must understand that, here on the Wall, we are in command'.

Stannis nodded once more, 'very well then Snow, I shall see to it'. Stannis turned to Davos. 'Ser Davos, take the Lady Melisandre back to Eastwatch. From there you shall go to Volantis, and then return to meet up with the Royal Fleet at Dragonstone'.

Davos nodded and stood aside for the Red Woman to leave before him. Just as he was about to leave, Stannis seized his arm. 'She must get to Volantis Ser Davos', he said seriously, more seriously than Stannis usually was. 'The word must be spread, and Volantis is near the heart of the Lord of Light, they will come'.

'Do you think the King will stand for a Volantene force landing at the Wall', Davos asked. Surely the boy king, if he was as mad as Stannis had said, it would not go down well. 'He might use it as an excuse for war'.

'The Lady Melisandre will not bring hosts', Stannis replied, 'she will bring priests'.