The Moon's Child

by housedarkchylde

The Prince who was Promised is not the only child of prophecy, in a world where dragons fly, the dead walk and a three eyed raven has risen, one child has the power to undo it all. The powerful will flock to her like moths to a flame, and only her most unlikely protectors stand in their way. OC's and familiar faces all round, set during and after the series

23. Chapter 23

Game of Thrones

The Moon's Child

Chapter 23

The War

304 AC- The North- Winterfell

Chaos. As soon as those fires went out, the dead had surged forward. The Unsullied seemed to stand their ground, but the dead swamped them. Before long, the flanks were engulfed as well. The Stormlanders had not seen the dead before, and now they were being charged again and again. Some with swords, some with spears, some just snapping and clawing with dead mouths and hands. They managed to keep their line together, a line of shields emblazoned with the flaming heart and rampant stag. Some men turned to run past them, they were followed by others, or chased by the dead, it was hard to say.

Ky was surprised the brittle looking dragonglass stopped them so quickly, no writing or flinching, just an inhuman scream and then collapsed into the ground. Their swords did nothing, merely swatted them away. No, this was not the honorable combat they sang songs about. This was cowering behind a line of shields, thrusting an obsidian dagger through the gaps or over the top into the flesh… or the bones of whatever undead ghoul slammed into them next. But as easy as one fell, another came, then another… and another. It did not cease. Ky noticed their own side falling, they didn't get back up. No one came to replace them.

Albert thrust forward, he could have sworn he just saw the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch have a blade driven through his head. Ky hit the floor hard, he felt the dead rush over him for a moment before someone behind him managed to pick him back up. "Where did the Red Woman go?" Albert called

"I dont know!" Ky called back, "We've got our own problems." Ky didnt know how many of their men were dead, or how many of their new comrades. Their line was a shambles now, more a mass brawl than a tactical formation.

Albert looked back to the castle, he saw people streaming across a bridge into the gates. "They've called a retreat."

Ky swallowed hard and looked around "We fall back to the castle." He called as they slowly started backing away.

…

304 AC- The Stormlands-Nightsong

The babe was silent, sat on the floor of the castle's cold floor, Lilly bent down to look at her closer. Her eerie blue eyes were wide open, staring vacantly ahead. Her breathing was slow, Lilly tried to talk to her, she didn't react. She clicked her fingers in front of the babes face, no response, she just stared straight ahead.

…..

304 AC- The North- Winterfell

They had retreated into the castle, into one of Winterfell's towers. They made their way onto Winterfell's battlements, a brief and desperate respite. The Dead were coming, over walls, through gates. They were cut down and more came to replace them. "Ky, she's there!" Albert called out. A column of Unsullied formed up as the Red Woman walked at their centre.

"Looks like she's upgraded from us to the Unsullied." Ky called back, before looking at the dwindling number of men who had managed to follow him "Wish I'd had that idea." He said under his breath.

"Do we go to her?" Albert yelled

Ky watched the Red Woman, she placed her hands on one of the wooden fortifications, she said an incantation, over and over again. Before finally, an ignition of flame, a wall of fire encircled the castle, consuming those dead warriors caught in its wake. "Yeah, lets go to her." He called back "Whatever the baby's unlocked in her, it looks like we stand a chance."

The Red Woman walked away from the fortification "You're alive then Reeve." She nodded as she approached Ky, Albert and their rag tag band.

"Just about." He nodded

"Have you got a plan?" Albert asked "Because that fiery trench won't hold them all night." He stopped and pointed to the sky "I haven't seen those dragons for a while."

Melisandre looked into the depths of Winterfell, "I need to go inside. I need to find someone."

"Who?" Ky asked

"A lone wolf." Melisandre said distantly "Will you help me get back inside the castle?"

Ky looked around at the chaotic scene, the piles of dead and screams of the wounded "Well, it's too late to run, isn't it?"

…..

"They've lit the trench." Brandon Stark heard Theon's words. He took a look at the archers surrounding him one more time. The God's Wood looked beautiful in the torchlight.

"I'm going to go now." He said distantly as his eyes went a milky shade of white, he did not wait for Theon Greyjoy's answer. In an instant he was high above the clouds, the broken body of Brandon Stark looked like an ant, surrounded by fireflies from up here. He left the beauty of the God's Wood behind him, he wasn't just one crow, but several, and he was heading straight for the storm.

The birds battled bravely against all their instincts as Bran took them further and further into the storm. They climbed higher, until he was there, atop a cold dead dragon, he stared into the flock with cold dead eyes. The birds fly closer until with a single wave of his icy hand they are scattered, Bran felt himself falling, the bird spiralled back to the ground. He left the birds and opened his human eyes once more.

But he was not sat back in his chair, in the dark God's Wood surrounded by flame and Ironborn. He stood, dressed in black leather, in a forest clearing, surrounded by tall trees, he felt a gentle breeze and the sun beating down on his face. He looks across the clearing to see a girl with flaming red hair, she has her back to him. Dressed in a silk white gown she kneels down and tends to a small shrub with white branches and blood red leaves. Bran struggled to focus, he could see the whites of her arms, and the red of her hair, but nothing more. "Sansa?" He called out.

The girl stood and turned, she was not his sister, a girl of about thirteen, with a button nose and eerie blue eyes "From smallest acorn, the mightiest oak Brandon." The girl smiled, as she motioned to the small shrub.

Bran walked closer, carefully studying the small plant she had been tending, not the shrub he had originally thought, a small bone white trunk, sprouting leaves of blood red. "A weirwood…" Bran looked at the infant tree "...It's our Weirwood" He looked around "This is The God's Wood."

"Not yet." The girl said softly "Not for a long time actually. But someday it will be."

"Who are you?" Bran asked

"Come now raven" She smiled "You know who I am, you've been watching me for a while now. Through my goat, through my little lord."

"You're just a baby"

"And you're a cripple, yet here we stand." She again motioned back to the tiny weirwood "And this tree is a giant, it's got a face. Yet here it stands a baby, countless years before a face will be carved into it."

"Why have you come here?" Bran asked her

"Why are you watching me Brandon?" Her voice was still soft

"Because you're dangerous." Bran nearly snapped this time "I saw the moon bleed the night you were born. I heard your scream when that sorcerer came for you."

"I'm dangerous?" She teased "The Night King comes for the Three Eyed Raven and I am the dangerous one? A lady came to see me, after the sorcerer, she wanted me to help make her powerful."

"The Red Woman" Bran said coldly "Well it worked, she is powerful. What did she want."

I couldn't understand her." The girl shook her head "I don't know how to speak yet."

"You're speaking now." Bran told her plainly

"No my dear Raven" She shook her head again "Neither of us are speaking."

"The dead are getting closer." Bran looked off into the distance

"Who wins?" The girl asked "I know you know."

"Would you believe me if I told you it's not been written yet." Bran asked with the slightest hint of a smile on his face

"Probably not dear raven." She smiled softly "But I can not see the future, so I will have to take your word for it. I can feel his pain though… The Night King. Such a tortured existence."

"He chose his path." Bran was cold again

"No Raven." She shook her head "He did not. Evil… evil magic. Though not as bad as yours."

"Says the child who can end it all." Bran looked through her "Why do you come before me like this… why not an adult? Because the Moon's Child does not get to be an adult."

"Is that written Raven?"

Bran did not give her an answer, he just stared at her blankly, menacing in its own way. "I was there when you were born, you know. Not the baby in the Stormlands at the moment, but the Moon Child's Power. They placed a baby on an altar near an ancient shining city, the moon bled, the babe was drenched in blood and disappeared."

"They were all there that day." The girl smiled "Children and Deep Ones, Flames and Shadows, The Green Hand and The Pearl Emperor with his shining dragon. Yes they were all there. They made The Moon Child that day, because they knew what would happen when men grew too powerful with magic… Night Kings...Three Eyed Ravens. What happens when they grow too powerful?"

"Why not stop it all now?" Bran asked her

"I don't know how yet." She conceded "I'm just a baby."

The shadow of a grin crept on Bran's face again "When all this is done, if the Dead win. The Night King will come South for you. You're too dangerous for him not to."

"And if the living win dear Raven?"

Bran looked at her dead in the eye "Then perhaps a different King will come south for you."

The girl turned away from him, and walked back to the little tree. Gently stroking its branches and leaves she turned back to him one more time "I can feel a lot of pain in your God's Wood tonight, I know the Raven does not care about The Night King, but does Brandon still care about the man guarding him? Goodbye dear raven."

Bran opened his eyes to find himself sitting in his chair, the cold breeze of the night blowing through the God's Wood. He felt him, the Night King and his legion of frozen sons walking across the sacred ground. He looked around, dead Ironborn carperted the ground. Only one man stood with him now "Theon" He called to him "You're a good man. Thank you."

…..

The dead swarmed over them, men fell all around them. They had walked the Red Woman through the corridors of Winterfell, she had led them to a girl who looked oddly familiar to Ky, the dying Beric Dondarion and a large man with a burned face he had seen before at the Black Water. She had told them to hold the door, while she spoke to the girl. It seemed like an eternity, and the dead kept coming. As Albert let out a scream of frustration the dead collapsed to the floor. Every single one of them, all at the same time.

The men left standing stood dumbfounded, Ky cautiously poked one with a sword, he didn't move. The dead had stopped coming. It was over. Ky looked through what was left of the door. The Red Woman began to walk away, followed by the large man she had been with. He had taken his share of injuries as well.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" He said in a gruff voice as he let his stringy hair fall across his burned face

"The ugly cunt who killed my brother." Ky sighed under his breath as he leant against a wall "You killed my Brother at the Blackwater."

The Hound tightened his grip on his axe "You want to do something about it boy?"

Ky looked at the carpet of corpses on the floor, to his wounded men, he felt the bruises forming on his body, the blood coming from his nose, his ear, the scratches and lacerations. He then looked to the size of the man holding the dragon glass axe. "Doesn't seem like much point now. I think I've seen enough death."

Melisandre looked back over her shoulder "You belong in the South gentlemen." She called to Ky and Albert "The child will have need of you."

"You coming South with us?" Albert asked

"Thank you, but my journey ends here." She half smiled

"You not worried they'll hang you?" Ky asked

Melisandre paused for a moment "I have a debt to pay dear Reave… I must die in this strange country."

She left the hall walking along a corridor, she stepped out into the fresh air through a narrow doorway, The Hound followed her, crouching down as the fresh air hit him.

The first rays of the morning sun broke through the clouds, the sounds of the first crows feasting on the remains of the dead could be heard. Albert and Ky watched as Melisandre walked past piles of the dead, she left Winterfell through one of the breaches in its defences, stepping out onto the soft snow, she pulled the ruby choker from her neck and dropped it to the last of the charred ground before it became virgin snow. It was hard to see from a distance but her hair lost its fire as her body became frail, she collapsed into the snow, as a cloud of dust dispersed into the morning breeze.