Jon stared at his uncle Benjen, and his uncle Benjen stared at Jon. There was a hint of panic in his eyes, a bit of fear as well. Urgency oozed out of his posture. It was not only him. The Lord Commander of The Night's Watch was the same, as were the recruits that came with him. A look of confusion took over his uncle's face but was soon gone when his other uncle, Ned Stark stood and walked forward to greet his brother, Jon and Robb not too far behind.
"Benjen, you didn't inform us that you'd be visiting" Ned spoke, and then turned to Jeor Mormont. "And you too Lord Commander. It is a pleasant surprise to see you here" he said.
"Aye, I wish we came bearing good news Lord Stark" Jeor Mormont spoke.
"Wildlings?" questioned Maege Mormont. Bear Island had always been the target of Wildlings who dared to cross The Wall through the waters. So any major news regarding them interested the she-bear greatly.
"Worse," said Benjen Stark, much to the confusion of the gathered Lords, Ladies and Masters.
A look from the Lord Commander and one of the recruits moved forward, dragging the basket that had been shuffling moments back. It was a big one, standing tall at just below Ned's waist height. The lid of it had been closed firmly with thick ropes. At another look, one of the recruits took out a small blade and began to cut the rope. They were afraid, the remaining recruits standing at a safe distance from the basket while the one cutting the rope looked ready to run at any moment. The rope snapped and the recruit kicked the basket down. At first, there wasn't any response from the action. People were confused and murmuring to themselves. Then they heard it, the sound of clicking and then a shriek, Something jumped out from inside of the basket and on reflex, Jon pushed his uncle Ned aside, who had been standing in the way of the thing that jumped out.
Screams and roars filled the halls as Jon, with his sword held before his face, pushed against the thing that jumped out of the basket. Its blue eyes stared lifelessly at Jon, the stink of death making Jon reel. Its teeth clashed against Jon's blade, its hands clawing at Jon's arms and shoulders. The world around Jon seemed to blur away, the shouts and screams all but static noises. All his senses were on high alert, his breathing smooth. He had dealt with these before, in a time that no longer would come to pass, but he had dealt with them. And with those memories came those which kept him alive in another time.
He moved fast, faster than those close to him had ever seen him move. First came the shove back. The skeleton staggered back and before it could attack again two slashes from Jon's sword disarmed it. Yet it still charged. Jon dodged and swiftly cut its legs off.
"Separate the limbs from the body!" Jon barked on instinct, his old Lord Commander voice coming out. The recruits acted accordingly, each one grabbing one limb and taking it far from the body. But the body still moved, its jaws clicking as it made its way to Jon. Jon beheaded it and crushed its jaw. Still, the body moved.
"What the bloody hell is that" growled Rickard Karstark, a little unnerved and agitated by the sight of the moving skeleton.
"Wights" spoke Brynden as he stalked forward. Its eyes did not leave the moving body as he made his way to Jon. "The dead slaves of The White Walkers."
"The White Walkers?!" Catelyn Stark, who had now come beside her husband, said in shock. "Those are just legends!"
"Does this look like a legend to you, Lady Stark?" Lady Barbrey Dustin spoke, looking emotionlessly at the writhing corpse. Like her, all of The Northern Lords were staring at the thing with no emotions. All of them had grown up with the stories of The Long Night, of White Walkers and they enslaved Wights. To see one of those now, could mean only one thing.
"There are more of these, yes?" Jon asked his uncle Benjen.
"We think so," the man answered, "I was bound to go and look for three of my rangers who had disappeared on a ranging. But before I left the watchers spotted two of them coming back without horses. We opened the gates and they came back as those" he pointed to the writhing body. "We killed one of them, the other one we were told not to kill. That we needed it to get support on our side."
"And who told you this?" Ned Stark questioned, wincing to his feet. The push had aggravated the injury to his heel.
"Short human-like creatures, but not dwarfs. Nut-brown skin dappled like a deer's with paler spots. Three-fingered hands with one thumb and black claws, large ears and they had golden-green slitted eyes like a cat" Jon answered instead and Benjen looked at him in shock, as did the rest of the black brothers.
"Aye…" Benjen murmured.
"You dreamt it?" Ned asked and Jon gave a stiff nod.
"Dreamt it? Are ya saying the King's a greenseer?" Master Galbart Glover asked.
"The Old Stark Kings are coming back" Greatjon Umber roared with laughter, slapping Jon on the back and making the boy stumble a little.
"What do we do about that?" Rickard motioned to the moving torso. "How do we kill these things?"
"There are three ways" Jon held up three fingers. "The first one Is dragon glass, or Obsidian as we know them. The second is by fire" Jon asked for a torch and one of the limbs. When Jon lit the limb on fire, a hiss went through the air and the limb stopped moving. "And the third" Jon held his hand out to the Lord Commander who passed his sword to him. Jon unsheathed Longclaw, feeling a sense of nostalgia. It was a blade gifted to him in a time long since gone. This time around he would not get it. "The third is dragon fire" he stabbed the torso with the sword and all limbs and the torso stopped moving. "Or weapons forged with dragon fire. Like Valyrian Steel."
"How are we going to manage to find more of all of that?" Valyrian Steel isn't readily available on demand. It went down with Valyria and the ones The Targaryens gave as gifts are not on our side other than Longclaw and Ice" Lord Medger Cerwyn asked.
"And Dragonstone is the seat for Stannis. He won't be readily giving us dragon glass unless we kneel to him" argued Roose Bolton.
"Before we do any of that, we need to make sure that the army of the dead get no more than they already have" Jon spoke and the room listened. "The more they have, the more precarious our situation becomes. With a smaller army, it is easier for us to defend the gates and hold them. A large army would make that more difficult than we'd like."
"So what are you suggesting, your Grace?" Ned Stark asked, using Jon's official title instead of his name.
"What I'm suggesting uncle, is that we should meet with the King beyond The Wall and talk about peace."
"You would have wildlings cross the gates?" Lady Maege Mormont questioned.
"I would have the least casualties on our part" Jon looked to each of The Lords, Ladies and Masters present. He saw the conflict on their faces, their disapproval. "I will meet with him beyond the wall, close to the closest village to The Wall. And when I sit with him, I will give him two options. One, they kneel to my rules and pass the gates. Or they can choose to fight their way in and be slaughtered by the men of The North" he spoke plainly. "The army of the dead will prove a larger threat if we let them gather men for their side. We won't take them all in of course. We'll take only those that are inclined to live under The Northern rule and not be a problem for us. The King Beyond The Wall might have gathered them together, but not all clans get along with one another. We take in the peaceful ones, the ones that are more like us and were unlucky to be born on the other side."
"And the others?" Lord Howland Reed questioned.
"If they won't kneel they shall meet steel before anything else" Jon declared. "We are not accepting them from just the goodness of our hearts. My Lords, Ladies and Masters, I have put forward the notion that I wish to populate The North. We accept the wildlings and we use them to populate the lands around The Night's Watch. Most of The Gift is arable land that has been abandoned due to the decline in the numbers of The Black Brothers. Willing wildlings will be relocated in the gift, used to repopulate say the abandoned town of Queenscrown. They will be taught how to farm, how to produce something from nothing. When they pass through the walls they enter as people of The North and they will act as such" Jon declared. His idea was met with some enthusiasm, but a lot more looked disinclined to accept. Jon held back a sigh.
"But this is all a theory on my part" Jon stated again, "they only get to pass if they agree to our terms. If not then they can fight their way down here and get picked off one after the other by our men. They are warriors but they do not have the discipline we do. Our men will easily pick them off" Jon explained, This his Northern nobles were happy to accept.
Jon then turned to Lord Commander Mormont. "I'm assuming Mance Rayder can read?" the commander nodded, "good. Write him a raven and tell him that The North would like to sit with him and the clan leaders to talk of a potential peace offer. Tell them that White Tree is where we'll meet. Under the ancient Weirwood Tree," he instructed.
"How will the raven know where to go? They've never been that far beyond the wall" Jeor asked.
"Trust in them," Jon told him, squeezing his shoulder. He turned away from him and shared a fleeting look with Brynden who nodded. "My Lords, Ladies and Masters, till we get any sort of a reply, we focus on. The South is volatile and we can do either of two things. March and meet them in open war. Or let them cut each other down and we ravage what remains."
"As much as the idea of seeming weak by not fighting our enemies head-on, the latter idea suits us best," The Greatjon said and the others nodded.
"It would give us time to collect ourselves and prepare for war" Lord Rickard stated.
"Very well then. Stay the night here and tomorrow you may all return to your homes and prepare your men. The fight will not be easy in any sense, but we are not people who give us so easily. We WILL come out victorious!"
"ALL HAIL JON OF HOUSE TARGARYEN!" the men roared, banging their boots against the hard stone floor.
The Winterfell Crypts
"So you told them all then. And you plan on taking the throne for yourself?"
"Rather me than Joffrey Lannister" Jon shrugged, looking to his uncle Benjen with a small smile. "The boy is not right in the head. He's mad and will grow to get madder the longer he stays in power. And I do not trust either of Robert's brothers to sit on The Throne."
"So you'll sit on it instead" Benjen just shook his head, "I hope you know what you are doing Jon. It's not easy, being King."
"If it was, any man with half a mind would sit on the throne" Jon added. The two of them silently stared at the statue of Lyanna Stark for a moment.
"You remind me of her, you know? The same fire in your eyes, the kindness in the way to treat others and the justified hardness when required. Your uncle Eddard was never as close to her as I was. So I see it more plainly than he does" the man spoke softly.
"Arya comes a close second I'm told" Jon stated.
"That she does" the two men shared a laugh.
"I'm sorry you had to take The Black to keep yourself safe and keep my secret," Jon said softly.
"And I'll do it again" Benjen gave Jon's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "You are my blood, all I have left of Lyanna. I'll happily give my life up to protect yours."
"If you were not sworn to The Watch, I'd ask you to be on my Kingsguard" Jon chuckled, embracing his uncle.
"I'd have accepted in a heartbeat" Benjen answered, returning the embrace. The two men separated and smiled at one another. "So what's the plan for King Jon?"
"Stop, it feels weird when you or Uncle Ned say it" Jon muttered, a slight tinge on his cheek, something Benjen found funny. "Tomorrow the news of my heritage would be made public knowledge. A raven would be sent to The Citadel and from there they would send a raven all through Westeros. Another raven from us would be sent to The Mountain clans. They are as much Northern as we are. The conflict will involve them and we will need their support as well."
"Sound ideas" Benjen nodded.
"A delegate will be sent to Skaagos, led by Robb. Ser Wyllis and Ser Wendell alongside Lord Bolton and Ser Donnel Locke will accompany him with a few men. They have dragon glass and men who can forge using it. We'll need their help."
"You think they'll help us?"
"They know of the threat of The Others as much as we do. They'll help" Jon said with the utmost certainty. Benjen nodded to his words, a little unsure but liking the confidence in Jon's tone.
The two turned away from Lyanna's statue and began their walk back. But not too far from the statue, Jon stooped. To his right was the statue of Cregan Stark. Something about the statue felt odd to Jon. Benjen had stopped when Jon did and Ghost, who had remained as Jon's shadow began to sniff around the statue. Jon followed Ghost, ignoring the shouts from his uncle. Ghost went around the statue and scratched the wall behind it. Brows furrowed Jon stood where Ghost was. He put a hand on the wall and felt the heat from it. His brows knit closer and he ran his hand around the wall until he found a loose stone. He pulled it out. One by one Jon found more loose stones to pull at. Benjen had joined him too in helping him pull out the stones. Soon the two of them were staring at a small opening. It was too small for Jon to pass through, but Ghost rushed right in before Jon could stop him. Jon waited for his wolf to come out, but he didn't, Jon was ready to bring the entire wall down to go after him. But he didn't need to do that. Ghost pushed something out of the hole and came out himself, wet as if he had just been showered.
"An old Hot Spring channel?" Benjen asked as he felt the heat come from Ghost's fur. But Jon was more focused on what Ghost had pushed out.
He picked up the oval-shaped stone and felt heat radiate from it. The three walked out from behind Cregan Stark's statue and Jon looked at it better in the light of the torches. It had scale-like patterns all along its surface and was the colour of whitish-blue ice. Jon realized what he was holding the moment the stone cracked and from the darkness inside, a single crimson eye stared at him.