Euron

There were times in Euron Greyjoy's life when he wished he'd been born a northerner. Now was one such time. The weirwood tree was a small thing, sitting among a small group of grey-green sentinel trees which the four of them had found just north of the Neck's swamp lands. The face carved into the bottom of its trunk was neutral save for the tears of red sap it was crying. Not even Euron could put a word to how those tears made the face look.

In the south, weirwoods were only found on the Isle of Faces, and none were on the Iron Islands, but in the North, they were common, at the very least. All because the damn First Men cut them all down in the South. It angered Euron to no end, having to travel as a young man to find the trees which allowed him to harness the powers which the Three-Eye Raven had begun to teach him. It meant a lot more work that I wouldn't have needed to do if I had been born to some northern petty lord or one of the greater houses. Not the Manderlys though, I wouldn't want to inherit the absurd girth which seems to run through that family.

"I hope this won't take long," Lucas said, laying his cloak on top of unbroken snow. He slumped down on to it, producing a confident crunch from the snow.

"At least we are not on an island of men who could kill us at a moment's notice," Euron replied, bluntly, his words a small mist in the air. On his shoulder sat the crow, shifting about before squawking right into his ear.

They had been lucky in their trip to the Isle of Faces. Euron had done all he needed to without any of them being come upon by the Green Men, who were the caretakers of the weirwoods on the isle. And that was for the better. They may have known I took a branch when first I visited, for which they would've killed me. After his initial session with the weirwoods on the isle, he'd eaten and got some proper sleep; while the state his body went into while using the weirwoods was sleep like, his mind was still active as anything, so it didn't get the rest the body got. He entered the weirwoods once more while on the isle, during which he searched for the best way to make the journey north.

Leaving the isle, he and Lucas went to a tavern to buy the rum he'd said they would need, all the while, the mute thralls, Hotho Harlaw and Erik Ironmaker spread themselves out, making small camps they'd be staying in for the time being. The farm he'd found while in the weirwoods. He and Lucas sat in some bushes close to it, waiting for the farmer to come outside to do his work. Bennis was his name. Nearly forgot. They were not so close that Euron's screams would be heard.

That had been after the Long Night started, and Euron knew immediately what had happened when the sun neglected to rise; rocks from the moon had fallen to the land and broken the Wall, breaking any spells in it that the Night King's mark couldn't when Bran passed through. All the event did was motivate him. We must do this business quickly if we are to get into position to help the Night King at the right time.

Euron steadily drank half the bottle of rum, waiting for himself to be thoroughly drunk before telling Lucas to do the deed. He was using Euron's own knife, the one of valyrian steel. After the command was given, Lucas poured the rum both along the knife and over Euron's face, and then took a sip for himself before corking the bottle. Steel met eyeball, and Euron experienced a burning pain that made him cry out. The rum on the blade and his face only made it sting all the worse. At the every least, it was not nearly as bad as the pain he'd felt when all his crew burned alive in the fire sent down by the dragons. At the end, Lucas opened Euron's left nostril of his own accord. "So it looks more real," he said. "And you less recognisable."

After the theatre was done, the farmer and his wife dead, they found a wayn in a shed on the farm. The horses did not come easily of their own accord, so Euron skinchanged them, passively so that they would behave. They hooked the largest of the horses up to the wayn, and Ironmaker and Hotho claimed one each. Lucas joined Euron on the wayn, which they used to transport all their supplies, Euron's armour and Dragon Binder.

They did not depart as eleven, instead splitting up into smaller groups so that they could not all be caught at once if they were discovered. Euron kept with the men who could talk, and one thrall, who had killed the farmer's wife and got the last horse; with him in their group, they could say his tongue got cut out during the war. The other thralls he sent away in threes, with orders to find means of getting north by themselves. Euron knew he did not have to worry about giving them a place to regroup once past the Neck; his control of them could not be broken by distance.

So, Euron, with his three Ironborn men and one thrall, made the journey north, travelling parallel to the Kingsroad until the Trident, where they broke off west, travelling up alongside the Green Fork. All the way, Euron kept his hair and beard shaved. The eye alone will not do. As for the other men, they were not keen to scar their faces, Ironmaker and Harlaw at least, and so resorted to keeping their scarfs tight around their faces for the nonce. Lucas had Euron to cut open his left cheek: they did it while travelling alongside the Green Fork, and they went to a village healer, claiming to have found Lucas stumbling toward the village while making their way North to help in the fight. As for the thrall, he did not need to bother changing his appearance, his face wasn't known.

They did not cross at the Twins, instead they continued North toward the woodlands east of the Neck. Travelling as a small group of five, with one wayn and three men on horseback, they were like to have caught up a decent bit with the army led by the Kingslayer and Dragon Queen, and Euron wasn't going to risk crossing paths with it.

Those woodlands were tricky. The five men kept to what roads they could find, but they doubled back on themselves enough timed to make Euron angry. One night when the others slept, he skinchanged a crow and flew about the place, finding the correct path north. Unfortunately, they could not avoid the swamplands of the Neck, but the crow allowed Euron to find traversable paths through them and up into the Barrowlands, where they found themselves now.

"We were also lucky that none soldiers we came across bothered to inspect our belongings," Ironmaker said. He had been clean-shaven when they left King's Landing, but now his white beard reached the bottom of his neck. That should serve to as a change to his appearance.

"They had other concerns," Euron said. "And as for how long I should take with this weirwood, it is a tremendous difficult thing to say, so expect that every time we find one. What time I spend in the weirwoods doesn't translate to the time you four experience."

"Just get on with it," Hotho said, bluntly. "I like not this cold. The sooner we are off the better."

"On that, we're agreed."

The roots were snowed over, but that didn't matter to Euron, he sat on them regardless. The crow he'd started skinchanging in the woodlands flew up to the branches of the tree. Removing a glove, he found the bark of the tree.

The corridor was warm, and well lit by torches, though he knew it would do nothing to help his physical body, which was different to his spirit form in the weirwoods now. He had his eye back. Makes sense. The Stark Prince can walk, why wouldn't I get my eye back? His hair was also back at a reasonable length, with his beard the length it had been before he first shaved it off.

As he had done on the Isle of Faces, Euron updated himself on where the Kingslayer and Dragon Queen's army was. It was in the North, well past the Neck. We were delayed by those fucking woods. We should be on the army's tail, yet we are straggling behind. He would have to suffer the setback, there was nothing he could do to help it.

Next, Euron checked Winterfell and what was going on up there. The dry moat was being worked on day and night, for lack of better phrasing. The castle was never completely asleep, and leading all efforts in the absence of her husband was Sansa Stark. Gods, he's a lucky man. I can't wait to see both of them in person. While inspecting Winterfell, he knew Bran was in the wierwoods as well. He could feel it. Euron was just thankful he could choose whether or not to show himself to the Stark Prince. Should I? Just to speak to him. I'm going to have to at some point, might as well be now.

Bran was just about to step through a door when Euron showed himself. "Hello," he said. The boy snapped round. He couldn't say anything before Euron grabbed the sides of his head and kissed him full on the lips. Bran nearly fell over as he pulled away. "That's for making this corridor."

"Where are you?" he demanded. "I know you escaped from the battle in King's Landing. I haven't been able to find you since then."

"Maybe you aren't looking hard enough," Euron replied. He began pacing the width of the corridor. "I'm not doing anything consciously to hide myself. I can't, save when I'm in here. I'm surprised you haven't found me already, but of course, it's not like you could do anything with where I am, that being far away from your home. Your brother and sister aren't stupid enough to send men after me." He pointed. "Oh yes, give them my congratulations, by the way. Watching their wedding night was very entertaining, especially the bedding. He was right to do away the ceremony and strip her naked himself. How drunk did you get while they were at it? Once they left, you did away with the one ale limit."

"What is your goal in speaking to me? Gloating? Tormenting me?"

"Neither sounds like a bad idea. But in truth, I wanted to say hello while I could. The branch I used to talk to you last time was burned along with my ship, and I don't know when I'll get to use a weirwood next, so I'm doing it now, because I know I'll have to some point."

"What do you mean 'have to?' What are you planning?"

"I wasn't fucking stupid when I declared for the Lannister bitch. I did leave men on my islands who were loyal to me."

"So, you're retreating home?"

"Where else would I go?"

He hid himself from Bran's sight, and Euron watched as the boy began to panic. He disappeared from the wierwoods, making Euron laugh. He's going to tell his sister of me, no doubt. If I can keep him confused as to my actions, then that will be for the best.

Northward Euron continued.

To the Wall he went, and what a sight it was to behold. At the very centre, there was no evidence left of Castle Black. It was buried beneath a tomb of ice which stretched for several miles in both directions. Massing on the southern side was an army of walking corpses with icy blue eyes, but they hadn't moved away from the Wall. He wants to get his entire army past it before he moves. Euron could not fault the Night King for that. As for the White Walkers, they were still the North side of the Wall, sitting at the very back of the army. Thousands of them, easily, all riding dead animals – horses, snow bears, shadowcats, enormous elk with antlers to match and direwolves. Some even rode ice spiders; eight-legged creatures with white skin and the blue eyes of their riders, the largest looking as wide as six large horses and as long as eight.

But none of those beasts compared to the Ice Dragon.

It had made a nest for itself close to a weirwood tree. The floor was scattered with broken trees and tall pillars of ice so fine they looked like white crystal, and so sharp that they would impale you were you to fall on top of them. There was no other word Euron could think of to describe the colossal beast other than 'beautiful.' It, like the pillars of ice, was a fine white, with great leather wings like blankets of snow. All of its icy scales were edged with the coldest blue Euron had laid eyes on. In the centre of its chest there was a blue crystal which gave off the same light as its eyes. And there is no doubt in my mind that it is bigger than all of Targaryen's dragons put together.

It will do battle with the two that remain, said the cold voice of the Night King, sounding so suddenly in Euron's head that it almost made him jump. Greyjoy walked up to the weirwood tree, where the physical form of the Night King was sitting, a hand on the roots, and beside which his spirit form stood.

"I'm in the Barrowlands, further south than I wanted to be by this time," Euron told him. "My men and I will get as close to the castle as we can, but I don't expect to be going into the camp, posing as free riders. What are your plans?"

Sweep the land north of Winterfell before moving on the castle, the Night King told him in his mind.

"How long do you expect that to take you?"

As long as it needs to. Once all the footsoldiers are the southern side of the Wall, we will be splitting up. By the time I get to Winterfell, I expect you to have at least done some work in crippling their efforts.

"I intend to find a weirwood tree two days ride from the castle," Euron said. "From there, I will look at my options to kill Stark, Lannister and Targaryen. I can't use the horn on the dragons to begin with, because I will need to be too close to the castle for my liking for it to work. I can't skinchange one of them either because you want the Prince's child, as well as whatever child Stark gets on his wife, so I will have to wait until I hear the news she is pregnant before I kill Stark."

I will wait to move if necessary, though I expect to speak to you only once more before I fall on the castle. That will be the last opportunity for us to coordinate our moves together. How long do you expect to take until you reach where you want to be?

"Difficult to say. I want to say two weeks, but I expect to close the distance between me and the army, and I don't want to reach my destination until they're at the castle. All three of those I need to kill are in the army and they will move slower than normal because of the weather."

In that case, I will remain at a weirwood waiting for you. But before you contact me, confirm whether or not Stark's wife is with child.

"Why do want those two babes so badly?"

Their blood.

"What about it is so special?"

The Starks are an old house. When first we fell upon the Realm, it was their precursors whom did battle with us, and whom we made peace with.

"Peace?"

It matters not. That peace has been broken for some time now, and that is why we fall upon the Starks now.

"So, you are at war with the Starks?"

No one else. I knew Jon Stark would become a problem when first I knew he was at the Wall, and I nearly had him when we fell on Hardhome.

"Are you sure you want him dead? If you want, I can find a way to subdue him. He keeps a wolf near him. I could incapacitate him. You've said you can turn me and my men. Why not do the same to him if you want Stark blood?"

No. He dies. I will not have it any other way.

"If that's what you ask, then I'll do as such. Before I go, I'd like to ask more one thing? Bran Stark said he cannot find me with the weirwoods. Is that your doing?"

I have done nothing to limit his abilities. I cannot do such a thing, save choose to show myself to him while I am using the weirwoods, same as you. And before you ask, I do not know what could be causing it, but I will look into it when I next can. Is there anything else you wish to ask?

"No. Me and my men will find an inn, or some place warm to rest, and then we'll make north using what roads we can find. I don't want to risk the Kingsroad."

Smart move. I will probably be leading our assault on the Umbers' castle, so I will wait there as my soldiers do their work everywhere else. Once it is done, we will be regrouping at that castle and heading south.

"I look forward to meeting you in person."

With that, Euron opened his eyes to Erik Ironmaker and the thrall sitting guard while the other two men occupied a tent. Licking his lips, Euron felt & tasted cold honey. They must have given me some for sustenance. The older man looked at him.

"A day you were in there," he said.

"Wake the others," Euron told Ironmaker. "We're going to find a better place to rest."