Hi,

The Long Night or Battle of Casterly Rock or War for the Dawn begins as well as my murder spree!

Fun times ahead!


Chapter 91: The Wrath of Winter's First Man

Few minutes later …

Walls of Casterly Rock (Low level), Behind the Lion's Mouth, Casterly Rock, Westerlands


Tommen stared up into the nights sky with wonder as the three dragons flew through the air and disappeared into the misty clouds.

He squinted to see the fate outline of flapping wings then three swords of fire erupted down onto the field below drenching the targeted area in destructive light. As soon as the dragon fire touched the wildfire sodden ground it lit up in an inferno of green flames that spread the entire width of the walls of Casterly Rock and dispelled the gathered mist just above the ground, partially revealing the front group of wights standing eerily still. The skeletons didn't move even as they burned and melted in the heat of the wildfire.

The men that lined the walls started to cheer as Daenerys's dragons continued to spew fire onto the battlefield. It was a sea of burning wildfire and all the wights were drowning at its touch.

"Maybe the dragons can kill them all," Lancel said hopefully, leaning on the top of the wall beside his King.

Maybe, Tommen thought as his eyes were transfixed on what he was seeing.

Then he heard a piercing shriek, followed by something whizzing way above his head and smashing into a building above the wall's line behind him.

The three dragons emerged from the mist still in the air and Tommen noticed the shrieking was coming from the largest one that Daenerys Targaryen rode.

"What is happening?" Tommen let out.

"It's wing," Tywin replied at his shoulder.

Tommen narrowed his focus. There was a significant hole in the left wing of the black dragon and before he could ponder what had done the damage, he saw the dragon shudder in the sky like it had been hit again. The beast gave out a terrifying shriek and started to plummet through the air.

Tommen watched in shock as the dragon tried to flap its wings and stay in the air but skidded and crashed to the ground in a heap by the bridge leading to the Lion's Mouth.


A minute later …

Bridge (Lowest level) just in front of the Lion's Mouth, Casterly Rock, Westerlands


Daenerys's opened her eyes and saw flakes of snow raining down on her. She tried to move but a sharp pain radiated from her arm. When she dared to look, she saw bone piercing through her skin and she damped the scream within her so it only came out as a stifled moan. She pushed through the pain to sit upright and note that she was on the bridge and Drogon was grounded just beyond it, with only his head resting on the stone foundations. Rhageal and Viserion were still in the sky flying overhead looking for their mother. She called out for them but they remained hovering in the air above her, unsure of what she expected of them.

"Drogon," Daenerys shouted, rising onto unsteady legs as she held her broken arm close to her chest.

Drogon let out a loud roar that faded into a pained screech as he withered on the ground moving his head side to side.

Daenerys walked forward and saw what had taken them out the sky. A near translucent spear was lodged in Drogon's lower body and blood was pouring from the wound down onto the snow-covered grass beneath the dragon's underbelly. She guessed that was what had hit Drogon's wing as well.

"Shhh," Dany placated as she tried to make her way to the spear but Drogon's flailing made it difficult to get near and the pain in her arm was throbbing all over her body, blurring her vision.

She heard the gate behind her open and was relieved to glimpse Ser Jorah and Ser Barristan charging towards her on white horses with a large group of Dothraki at their back.

When they reached her Daenerys tried to point out the spear in Drogon but Ser Barristan quickly dismounted and roughly pushed her towards Ser Jorah, not listening to her pleading. Ser Jorah lifted her and placed her in front of him on his horse before turning immediately around and heading back towards Lion's Mouth.

"Drogon," Daenerys said, while holding back pain induced tears.

"He's dead," Jorah said quickly but softly.

Daenerys's head snapped back to her child. Drogon wasn't moving anymore and his eyes were closed.

"No!" Daenerys screamed as Jorah continued to carry her away.


Ser Barristan was about to mount his horse and follow Ser Jorah retreat but he noticed how the flames beyond Drogon's body seemed to be parting to let a figure through.

He saw what he presumed could only be the Night King emerge from what was once a solid wall of green flame with a large group of white walkers following him through the wildfire's flames in a line. He walked towards the bridge, his frosty eyes surveyed the remaining men and horses on the bridge.

Ser Barristan observed how wights filled the path the Night King had taken through the fire and began crowding the area before the bridge that wasn't set alight.

Barristan unsheathed his black sword and called for the Dothraki to stay with him. He knew better than anyone the quickest way to win a war was to kill the leader and just maybe, this Night King would be another Maelys Blackfyre.

Barristan's aggressive movement caught the Night King's attention. The large ice man walked around Drogon's body with a group of white walkers following him closely. The ice monsters didn't faulter in their advance, even when a barrage of fire arrows rained down on them, they simply raised their ice shields to protect themselves and their leader. Some wights that had made it onto the bridge fell when struck but more simply replaced them as they swarmed over Drogon's body.

Ser Barristan raised his sword and charged on foot as the Dothraki galloped around him and smashed into the white walkers. Ser Barristan took advantage of the Dothraki's push and his blade tore through a white walkers neck before he shoved past another to challenge the Night King in the middle.

The famed knight held his sword out and swung at the creature that would usher in an eternal night.

The Night King didn't reach for his sword at his back but swiftly stepped out of range of the old man's strike. Ser Barristan set himself again, noting how the white walkers around him were only focusing on the Dothraki whose blood curdling screams where indicating how they were fairing.

"Come at me!" Barristan yelled.

The Night King's blazing blue eyes settled on the white-haired night and he moved in the blink of an eye.

Ser Barristan didn't get the chance to parry the blow he knew was coming and didn't even remember the Night King releasing his giant ice sword from his back. But the blossoming pain in his chest told him he had been hit and the cold aura around him indicated who had dealt the blow.

Ser Barristan dropped the sword shaking in his hand and looked down at his chest. He didn't see the handle of a sword poking out of him, instead he saw the Night King's arm disappearing into him; through him.

The Night King retracted his bloodied arm and Ser Barristan fell to the floor. He only had a few seconds to see the Night King turn away from him and his world went black.


Tommen's eyes widen as he saw the Dothraki riders get slaughtered by the white walkers. He heard his Grandfather order for another barrage of fire arrows but his attention was fully on the Night King who turned away from Ser Barristan's crumpled body and walked slowly back to Drogon's corpse. The Night King crouched and placed a hand on the dead dragon's head.

A few seconds later the Dothraki that had just been completely mascaraed started to get back up and worst of all, Drogon open his glowing blue eyes.

"He can't," Lancel whispered as he scurried along the wall, away from Tommen and Tywin, to get a better view point.

Tommen turned to his grandfather with an ashen look on his face, "He has a dragon now."

"It changes nothing," Tywin said resolutely before looking to Lord Royce and King Artys to see their reaction.

The Valemen were just as shocked as Tommen had been but Lord Royce ordered for the catapults to fire all the same.

Flaming stones smashed into the reanimated Drogon and the area around the bridge. The beast screeched in pain but still took flight, leaving the Night King and his followers to advance on the Lion's Mouth's gate.

Tommen realised a moment too late that Drogon was heading for their section of the wall. He looked to Lancel and screamed for him to move but the blond man seemed paralysis to the spot as men ran frantically around him and the newly created ice dragon came straight at him.

Tommen took a step towards Lancel but Tywin yanked him backwards before pushing him to the floor. The young King felt the numbing cold of the dragon's blue fire as it drilled across the wall, smashing into the mounted catapults and any fool who hadn't ducked below the line of the wall.

When he could hear the flapping of the dragon's wings fading, Tommen pushed himself to his knees and saw that the spot Lancel had been standing in was now just a crater in the stone wall of Casterly Rock. He looked behind him to see Tywin getting to his feet.

"Don't think about his death," Tywin advised, knowing where his grandson's mind was, "We need to focus on the living."

"Lord Tywin? King Tommen? Still with us?" Lord Royce called out through the dust and debris from the other side of the crater where Lancel had stood.

"Still alive," Tywin returned for the both of them as Tommen regain his full height, noting that the thick wall was still largely intact and that Drogon had moved on to engage his siblings in a fierce dance in the sky.

Rhaegal and Viserion seemed to be unwilling to engage directly with their bigger sibling and were content to being chased around the black sky occasionally avoiding the blue fire that was aimed at them from the slower undead dragon.

"We might not be alive for much longer though," Artys shouted, looking over the damaged walls edge.

"Fuck," Lord Royce's voice boomed as he copied Artys's movement.

The wights were climbing over the Lion's Mouth's gate and were scaling the walls of Casterly Rock as the Night King and white walkers gathered around the gate waiting for the undead giant wight at the other end of the bridge to reach them.

A few moments later a serious of distant but loud bangs indicated that the undead giant had begun battering the gate.

When the banging stopped the screaming began.


Twenty minutes later …

City Streets (Middle level), Casterly Rock, Westerlands


Robb tightened his grip on Trident's Vengeance and Jon did the same with Long Claw as a few dozen panicking Golden Company mercenaries emerged from the exit of the Lion's Mouth and ran past the waiting unmounted Dothraki riders up towards where the Northerners and Dornish soldiers were standing ready.

Robb advanced and collared one frightened looking mercenary.

"What happened?"

"The torches went out and … and there was only a thousand blue eyes in the darkness … and it was so cold …" the tanned man stuttered back.

Robb released the now shaking man. He was covered in blood, as were the other few dozen men running away from the dark entrance into the Lion's Mouth. The Dothraki in front of them where hooting and had their curved swords out, ready for whatever was going to emerge from the darkness of the cavern before them.

Robb spun around when he heard a gurgling scream behind him.

He saw Oberyn's spear lodged in the man torso he had just let go. Oberyn's men did the same to the retreating mercenaries before torching their bodies.

Oberyn saw Robb's frown and shrugged, "If they won't fight for us it is better that they die and burn now."

Although Robb couldn't disagree, he still felt aggrieved at the Prince's actions. They were here to kill the dead not the living.

That state of distaste didn't last long as wrights that wore the armor of the Golden Company started to spill forth from the Lion's Mouth and launch themselves at the unmounted Dothraki.

The scene quickly became carnage as the Dothraki and wrights alike were cut down with the air becoming heavy with the smell of burning flesh as the fighting continued.

Robb and Jon shouted simultaneously for their men to join the battle and contain the wights push to the lower part of the city and maintain the choke hold they had at the entrance of the Lion's Mouth.

Robb heard Jon chanting beside him as three wights started to run directly at them.

"I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn."

Robb raised his sword as Jon did in preparation. They were about to engage the rushing wrights but Ghost and Grey Wind tore into two of them and an arrow shattered the last one.

Jon nodded at Ygritte who had positioned herself on top a nearby building and the two Stark men continued onwards into the fray with their direwolves staying close to them.


The combined Dothraki, Northerners and Dornish men were doing a good job of restricting the oncoming wights to the area around the Lion's Mouth with spears, swords and torches. Any man that was killed was immediately set on fire to ensure that they were not added to the army of the dead.

Robb half hoped that the Night King would never emerge and some lucky Golden Company mercenary had managed to kill him but he knew the Gods were not that way inclined and the undead giant that charged out the Lion's Mouth confirmed that theory.

The blue skinned giant bashed through the line of Dothraki and kept going letting out a roar that deafened those close to it. Robb rallied his swordsmen and formed a line to stop the large wright's rampage up the wide cobbled street.

"Hold!" he shouted as the wight barreled towards them, each step shaking the ground they stood on.

Suddenly a dozen spears flew over their heads and tore into the running giant, slowing its charge. One spear went through its eye but still the giant stomped onwards throwing its arms around the Northerners at its feet.

Robb threw himself out the way of the fists smashing to the ground and hacked at the wrist of the giant when he regained his balance but he was knocked into the air for his efforts alongside some of his men.

He landed hard on the cobbled street and his sword clattered away from him. He thought he heard Jon scream his name but all he could focus on was reaching Trident's Vengeance. A man without his weapon on the battlefield was soon to be a dead man. He took a few deep breaths and crawled to where his Valyrian sword had skidded to. Once his hand gripped the pommel, he swung it back and caught the skeleton wright that had been about to stab his back. Bones and dust fell onto his front partially blinding his vision but when he shook his head it was Jon's worried face he saw next.

Jon hauled Robb back to his feet, "Thought you were done for!"

"Me too," Robb panted back as he heard Grey Wind and Ghost growl in the background and dragon screeches overhead.

Robb quickly reorientated himself and looked for the undead giant that had flung him away. The Dornish were still harassing the large wright and at least two dozen spears were now sticking protruding from the giant but it was finally on its knees.

Trystane was charging at the large wright and rammed his spear with a cry of fury into the midriff of the giant. It seemed the giant had one last attack in him and grabbed at the young Dornish Prince. It was only a last second shove from Areo Hotah that saved Trystane from the giant's grasp. Instead, the large wright's fingers curled around Areo Hotah large frame.

The loyal bodyguard started to scream in agony as he was crushed. His cries of pain just mingled with the rest as the Dornish spearmen threw missile after missile to free him under Trystane's command but their efforts were too little and too late to save the beloved bodyguard form his gruesome fate. By the time the giant fell forward and collapsed into a lifeless husk once again, Areo too was a limp corpse in its blue tinged hand.

A few torches were immediately thrown onto Areo's corpse and his body was engulfed in flames. No one wanted to fight the former formidable man, least of all Trystane who was now raging around the battlefield stabbing anything that came near him with his spear while Oberyn covered his nephews lack of defensive thought.

Jon and Robb quickly got into a fighting partnership managing to reform the line that the giant had broken through when suddenly the waves of wights coming out the Lion's Mouth stopped.

There were a few mutterings in Dothraki and Westerosi from the men surrounding the caverns entrance. Some even preemptively gave a cheer thinking the battle was over.

It was then that the extreme cold hit them. Steam had been coming off their bodies and their breathes were already mist before their eyes but this type of cold touched them inside and could be felt in their heart.

The Night King surfaced from the Lion's Mouth and saw the thousands of men filling the street that led up the mountain to the Great Hall of Casterly Rock. To where Bran was in the Godswoods.

Those close enough saw him grin and it was a terrible sight to behold. White walkers started to appear from the darkness of the Lion's Mouth and each of them brought more wrights with them.

The Night King took a measured step forward and the wights charged to once again clash with the Dothraki, Northmen and Dornish protecting the lower streets. The fifty or so white walkers that had appeared with the Night King surrounded him in a defensive circle and copied their leaders forward momentum, gracefully slicing apart any man that challenged their slow trajectory up the mountain.

Robb observed the way the ice men worked in perfect tandem to block any threat on the Night King's person.

"We need to surround them and attack all at once," Jon stated, watching the deadly storm of ice swords cut through another dozen Northmen who sought to stop the white walkers advance up the mountain.

Robb gestured to Oberyn and Trystane. The two Dornish Princes immediately converged with their Northern counterparts in the middle of the street while keeping an eye on the pack of white walkers escorting the Night King their way.

"Get your men to charge with us," Robb shouted, "We need to surround him and attack as one!"

Oberyn nodded and gathered his spearmen around him. Jon and Robb's swordsmen mixed with the Dornish and they enacted their strategy. The group surrounded the white walkers and charged at the same time. Some men were instantly skewered on the end of an ice sword while others got a few hits in and Robb even saw a white walker shatter at the end of Oberyn's dragonglass tipped spear.

Jon parried a blow and saw an opening to the Night King as the white walker blocking his path shattered to one of Ygritte's arrows. He took it and launched himself. His sword swung at thin air as the Night King ducked and simultaneously kicked out at him. The Night King connected hard with Jon's torso and he flew backwards out of the melee to roll across the street a few times before his head thudded hard on one of the cobbles. The dying screams of the living faded and his vision blurred into darkness.


Jon didn't know how long he had been out but when he came to the Night King had advanced up the street, passed where he and Robb had initially been defending. About twenty white walkers had broken off from the main group protecting the Night King and were standing in a line, blocking anyone from following the Night King.

Being trapped between the growing swarm of wights at the bottom of the street spilling from the Lion's Mouth and the wall of white walkers halfway up the street was not a tactical position they could stay in for long if they wanted to survive the night.

Jon willed himself to move and help the men led by Robb and Oberyn in engaging with the white walkers but his suffering muscles refused the command and everything hurt when he tried to move, except where the Night King's foot had touched his torso, that area of him was just numb.

Robb shatter a white walker with a downward arc of his sword before parrying a blow from another white walker. He noticed Jon still prone on the street floor with blood running down one side of his face. He disengaged from his duel and sprinted over to his cousin. But Robb wasn't the only one to have noticed Jon's vulnerable state.

Half a dozen wrights donning Golden Company armor and sigils started to run at Jon and as fast as Robb was, he wasn't going to make it in time to save him.

Jon steeled himself and felt the comforting feeling of Longclaw in his hand but try as he might his arm refused to lift the Valyrian blade. His head was still dazed from smacking against the stone street and he truly thought this was his end. He had tried to kill the Night King and he had failed; death was the price of failure.

The blades of the fallen were nearly upon him when a blur of white filled his vision and feral snarls echoed in his ears.

Ghost!

His direwolf tore through two of the wrights with ease but the other four pounced on the white wolf. It wasn't a fair fight. Jon winced each time the tip of a blade plunged into Ghost's white mane. Blood of his beloved companion even flecked onto his face to mix with his own as the vicious butchery continued right in front of him.

The dying howls of his direwolf urged Jon to move. He pushed off the floor unsteadily and dragged himself up to lift Longclaw in front of him. He got ready to swing his sword and avenge Ghost but Robb got there first, smashing through the bloodied wights that were above Ghost's warm corpse with Trident's Vengeance in two swift strikes.

"Come on Brother, the Night King still stands!" Robb yelled placing a steady hand on Jon's sword arm.

He won't be for long! Jon thundered in his head as he took in the mutilated corpse of Ghost. The red blood was stark against the white fur and the sight fueled his rage and gave him a second wind.

Jon looked up the street to see the Night King had nearly reached the Great Hall at the top. He locked eyes with Robb.

"Let's get him," Jon roared.

Robb looked back at the streets. The wall of white walkers was still in place half way up the street but the diminishing number of ice men blocking the path gave him a small sense of hope that they could be defeat. He looked back at the Lion's Mouth to see that the number of wights breaking through was increasing while the numbers of the living was dwindling. It wasn't a situation that would hold out forever. They needed to break the line of white walkers if they were going to pursue the Night King and end this battle.

Jon and Robb nodded at each other as they return to the fray approaching a lone white walker together and attacking simultaneously.


Author's Notes:

A lot of action I know and minimal dialogue but I'm trying to be succinct so this battle doesn't expand into five plus chapters but I still want to go into detail for the big moments!

Will the living be able to stop the Night King? He hasn't had to unsheathe his own sword yet …

A word on Dany surviving a fall from Drogon as he crashed down, I'm using Jon's fall from Rheagal in Season 8 to justify that (mainly to myself xD)

If people have any more predictions on deaths and survivors let me know! I like knowing what you are thinking/predicting!

Note on NK & Bran's control over wights & WWs – Bran can 'block' the NK's control over the wights, not the White Walkers, but it has limits so if a bunch of wights are close to the NK he can still control them (which is what was happening at the bridge, Lion's Mouth and in the city streets) but obviously once they are dead, they are dead hence why he raises the Golden Company mercenaries he and the white walkers killed in the Lion's Mouth. The 'living' alliance is trying to strip all the wights away and kill the white walkers so they can target the NK specifically but it is proving hard considering the NK and the white walkers are supernatural ice men and the majority of the NK's army is just waiting outside the walls too …


RIP (This list is long even for me!)

Drogon (Killed by the second spear the Night King threw after crash landing in front of the bridge leading to the Lion's Mouth)

First big casualty and turned into the Night King's greatest weapon, not a good start but Daenerys at least has made it safely back into Casterly Rock with Jorah.

Ser Barristan Selmy (Punched through the chest by the Night King)

Trying to relive the good old days. Even a young Barristan stood no chance against the Night King. He didn't even need a sword!

Lancel Lannister (Burnt/frozen(?) to death by the flames of undead Drogon)

Meh … was about time this guy died to be honest. He did well to survive this long!

Commander Harry Strickland (Butchered along with his men in the Lion's Mouth off page)

I think the living alliance as a whole underestimated how strong individually the Night King and the white walkers are specifically as his men were killed so quickly that the tactic of burning the bodies to reduce the chances of the dead being reanimated failed big time here.

Areo Hotah (Killed by the undead giant crushing him)

I think this dude would have gone out in style, not quite Lyanna Mormont level, but he got shafted in the TV show so this is my attempt at giving him a worthy death and I do think his sole reason for being in Dorne was to protect Doran's children so job achieved!

Ghost (Killed by some wights saving Jon)

In the end, you were a good boy! I tried rewriting this chapter so Ghost wouldn't die but I couldn't escape the fact that a wolf's aggressive style of fighting with no defense at all would certainly mean death with so many wights running around. Look out Grey Wind and Summer!


Reviews:

Guest (commented 10/02/2021) – Indeed.

Ser Dorito of Aisle 13 – Nice predictions, got two already but do you think you picked enough people to die? xD

Any siege of King's Landing is a way off. They have to get through the Long Night first and although I know I'm kidding no one into believing that the Night King will be victorious but the board is going to be dramatically different when the night is over so …

David Daniel B – The Twilight before the dusk.

Supremus85 – I mean it's Tywin Lannister and the Long Night won't distract him from the fact Dany wants to roast his entire family. Lol no, Paxter Redwyne is no Euron Greyjoy.

Antares Graceford – The Vale boys and the Lions are stationed at the walls but the most dangerous place to be is in the path of the Night King. A lot of characters are about to kick the bucket so you never know. No, Kenna sleeping with Robb was more of a tactical decision than it was of the heart. She knows his trust was wavering in her and was trying to pull on his heart as Robb has been ruled by that before. Team Kenna!

NightlyRowenTree – No problem :)

Guest (commented 11/02/2021) – Yes but no bastard is actually a bastard in the eyes of their mother. Yes, Cersei does know Joffrey tried to murder Tywin and that is the only reason Cersei didn't gut Tywin in Chapter 47. Cersei doesn't feel the same connection to her grandchildren as she does with her children but would care to the extent that Tommen and Myrcella would care.

NCVII (commented on Chapter 74) – I think you have actually already reviewed Chapter 74 but by all means review again!

Guest (commented on 12/02/2021) – Cersei is conflicted, complex, sometimes confusing but always compelling, to me at least. There is a dark cloud over the Stark/Arryn alliance for now and it is in the shape of a lion :P Arya would totally take Kenna out if she saw the benefits for her family as for Kenna, she is probably more likely to break her word than Robb but both are very much people who don't operate that way (Robb with his Dad's honour & Kenna with her promises but people and circumstances can change ;P). 'Poor Tywin' lol he was always going to be in the thick of it.


Next Up: Dany reaches a 'safe' place, the wights attack those atop the walls, and the undead engage the Tyrells down in the docks of the Rock while the Night King comes face to face with Bran.

If you are enjoying this story please *Toss a coin to your writer, Oh valley of readers* and review, follow and favorite!