AN: I am referring to the books when describing how wights and white walkers act.
Disclaimer: I don't own Game of Thrones or A Song of Ice and Fire
Warnings: not much
Enjoy!
A Time for Others
Daemon POV
Each hour of sunlight was spent planning. And with the hours of sunlight slowly dwindling day by day most of their work was done in the night. Dragonglass weapons were supposedly effective against the dead, according to Jon Snow.
Egg had regularly sent messages from the South. The campaign in the Stormlands has been going well and King's Landing was the primary goal along with the Dornish forces joining them.
Where Cersei was concerned they hadn't learned much. She and Euron had been quiet and it greatly concerned Daemon. What was left of Cersei's forces came from the Westerlands, Crownlands, and whatever was left of the Stormlanders. It was only a matter of time before Egg and his fellow companies along with help from the Dornish would sweep up from the south and siege King's Landing.
Jaime Lannister had also taken most of the Westerlands forces as well as some crown royalists, most notably houses Tarly and Hightower, to besiege Highgarden. It's potential wealth could allow Cersei to hire one of the most notable sellsword companies in the world, the Golden Company.
Daenerys intended to instruct her child Viserion to fly south and burn Jaime Lannister to a crisp. Daenerys hoped that the close proximity of the Tyrell's on Dragonstone would help guide her child. He was a smart beast, his cream and gold coloring would help disguise him when he flew high in the sky.
If they lost the Tyrell's, Cersei would gain the advantage, the Golden Company a looming threat. There was no telling how costly the battles against the dead would be. It was very possible that, if Cersei remained unhindered, Cersei's Westerlands, the remaining Stormlands, Crownlands, and Reach crown royalists as well as the Golden Company would overpower Daenerys' sellsword companies as well as the Dornish forces.
Even then there was no telling what the Crow's Eye was up to. Daemon has urged caution and only hoped that his sister listened to his warnings.
If Viserion were to take out several major threats in one blow, Cersei's army lead by Jaime Lannister and the funds to hire the Golden Company, then the war in the South would come to a close sooner rather than the alternative.
It was a gamble he and Daenerys were reluctant to take but considering the possible alternatives it would have to be done.
He stood outside the walls of Winterfell watching Daenerys say goodbye to her child. Viserion nuzzled into his mother, listening to her soft croons, before taking several large strides away flapping his great wings that propelled him into the air. His flight taking him South to the Reach and to the aid of the Tyrell's.
He pulled his sister into a hug when she reached him. "He'll be fine." he told her as he wiped away a few errant tears.
"He's my child." Daenerys told him softly. "I cannot help but worry for him."
"I know, but he will be fine. He's smart." Daemon replied to his sister.
"He's the gentlest of my children. I take no joy in sending him off to war without his mother." his sister said as she broke away from the hug.
"I realize that but he's a dragon." Daemon said with a calm smile. "He doesn't need his mother to hold his hand. Or wing."
Daenerys scoffed at that. "Yes, yes."
They were silent for a bit looking over the flat, snowy landscape of the North. He'd bet Daenerys had never seen anything like it before in Essos.
"You think we can win?" he heard her ask quietly.
"Yes." he said confidently.
Daenerys nodded. "But what will it cost?" she asked, still looking across the North.
Daemon shrugged. "A little, a lot, I have no idea."
His sister turned to him then. "Then how can you know that we will be victorious?"
Daemon sighed. "We have the tools. If the plan is to trap them on the ice before they reach the other side of the Wall then it is easy to take advantage of the bottleneck. And these creatures are dead or have been dead for some time. They're rotting and decomposing. When we know a definitive way to kill them, we know how to beat them."
"That's all well and good but this plan doesn't account for real life." Daeneyrs told him cuttingly. "And we still have Cersei to deal with. Something could happen to us, to my children, to our allies. There is no plan for the real world."
"Well we can do our best Daenerys." he shot back. "There are some people I am willing to live and fight for. I don't plan on losing."
"I just said you can't plan for everything."
Daemon sighed irritably at his sister's words. "Forget about it then."
"Fine." Daenerys huffed. "I don't want to lose. I'm just trying to be realistic." She said several moments later.
"I know."
Daenrys just nodded tiredly. "We best be going to the meeting then."Her voice defeated. He wanted to say more but didn't want to ignite another argument between them. With that she walked back towards the Winterfell gates. He took several moments to drink in the dimming landscape in front of him before he turned away to follow his sister into Winterfell.
The gates opened for the returning pair and they stepped into the courtyard. He spotted Sansa and turned to his sister. "I'll meet you up there?"
Daenerys saw what had prompted the question before rolling her eyes and nodding. He just smiled at his sister's impatience as well strode off to meet up with Sansa.
Jon POV
King Jon,
Numerous dead standing outside the Wall. Near 80,000 if my boys counted correct, probably missed some too. Counted several White Walkers among them.
The sea is quiet and slowly freezing over. Ice has yet to truly thicken but I'd give it a month's time before the dead cross. Going to need that army sooner rather than later.
Cotter Pyke,
Commander of Eastwatch by the Sea
The letter was hastily scribbled Jon observed. He closed his eyes and sighed when he placed the letter on his desk. The cracks from the fireplace the loudest sound in his solar. The stiff semi-silence was broken by a knock at his door.
Maester Wolkan's voice came through the door. "The meeting is to commence soon Your Grace, Queen Daenerys just entered Lady Sansa's solar when I departed."
"Thank you Maester." Jon called out. "I'll be there in a moment."
He listened as the chains of the maester slowly clinked away. Jon sighed again and rolled up Cotter Pyke's message before stuffing it into his pocket. He stood, took a deep breath, ready to face the Dragon Queen. To try to formulate some kind of plan to defeat their enemy.
He pulled open his door and strode purposefully to the lord's solar, Sansa's solar really. It was the best room for a war meeting and a place where the annoyance of bickering lords couldnt interrupt their planning process.
He entered the well lit rim all eyes looking towards him.
It was just them now, the important people, the ones who gave the orders.
Jon the King in the North, Sansa the Warden of the Vale, Ser Davos Seaworth who was Jon's Hand, Lord Royce the commander of the Vale forces, Daenerys the Mother of Dragons, Grey Worm the commander of the Unsullied, and Daemon who will be second in command to Lord Royce.
And so they started. For hours they labored over logistics and information. Plans of who should be where and why that is. Queen Daenerys' forces were split. The Tyrells were stuck in the Reach fighting to defend their home from the Lannisters. The sellsword companies along with the Dornishmen were sweeping up to King's Landing from the south. Their only problem were small units of Euron's Ironborn saboteurs that continued to harass them, nothing they couldn't handle, a nuisance.
According to the Dragon Queen, Euron himself was engaging her own Ironborn fleet in Blackwater Bay and the sea around Dragonstone. But this was about the dead. And so they talked. And talked and talked. For hours upon hours into the night and maybe even into the morning.
"Allow them to come under the walls of Eastwatch giving us support from the castle as well as from the Ironborn at sea."
" My men can take the front" "The Unsullied will take up the front in a tight formation, taking a step back every minute, so the bodies will not overwhelm their front line."
"The terrain may impede our men" "The Vale knights will ride in support at either side of the Unsullied formation making sure they aren't surrounded."
"I believe the Queen's dragons should be deployed along the enemies side of the engagement. Once they get bottled up they will be stuck in the back lines."
"The Ironborn ships could launch projectiles from their boats onto the ice bridge, breaking it up, they could also ram the ice as well"
Almost every hour of the day was graced with night with the sun peeking its head above the horizon only for a few hours. The Long Night really was approaching. The ideas bounced off of each person in the room. And with those ideas arguments followed. It was up to Jon to break those up.
"From my own personal experience…" Jon cut into the argument looking around the table to see they were all listening. "Wights are slow and clumsy. At Hardhome we were behind walls but the sheer number of them overwhelmed us. They also smell, not like a corpse, different."
"How so?" Queen Daenerys asked, her brows scrunched in thought.
"It's hard to describe to you, Your Grace. It is similar to the smell that comes right before snowfall. Every other smell seems dampened when a group of wights are near." Jon tried to explain.
He could see the recognition of the familiar smell that people of the North are accustomed with but the Queen and her advisor looked visibly confused. It probably never snowed in southern Essos.
"What matters is they make easy targets but can overwhelm with their large numbers." Jon explained. "With the dragonglass we can quickly make short work of those wights in the front. If we can create a pile or funnel with the bodies we would be at a large advantage."
"And you want my Unsullied to do this." more a statement than a question from the Queen. Jon just nodded his answer.
"We can do these things." Grey Worm said confidently, his shoulders set. The Queen nodded right along with her commander.
"I'll send word to the Greyjoys." Queen Daenerys told the room. "They should be arriving no later than we will."
Jon nodded in thanks. The plan had been taking shape for some time now. The Dragon Queen with two of her three dragons will be invaluable. Dragonglass bowmen utop the wall of Eastwatch as the Unsullied and Freefolk hold the line. Half of the Ironborn fleet firing from the sea. Vale knights and Dothraki Screamers to eliminate any that got through the line.
Jon felt a spark of something in his chest.
Robb would be remaining in Winterfell with the remainder of the Northern forces and a smaller number of Vale Knights and Dothraki.
Once they all stepped out of the meeting room Jon couldn't help but let loose a small smile. In two days time they will move out to meet the enemy that had lingered for so long, biding its time, waiting on the edges of their vision to take them off guard. But Jon was ready. The people of the North were ready. His heart pumped and tingles shot down his spine at the thought of finally ridding the world of White Walkers.
AN: Stay safe out there.