JON
Jon had been having strange dreams of being Ghost for years. Ever since he had gotten him in fact. The Wildlings or the freefolk as they liked to call themselves, called it warging or skinchanging. They had the ability of entering the minds of animals and controlling them. Most were scared of the wargs and skinchangers but some thought it a blessing from the old gods. Jon would dream of hunting stags and other game at night and in the morning, he would see Ghost with a bloody muzzle. Then he knew it wasn't a dream. All the stories that old nan and the Free folk told him of people entering the skin of animals were real.
All his life he had been a curious lad. He had loved to read and tried to read all the books in the great library at Winterfell before it had been burned to the ground after he had left for the wall. Jon had succeeded and thanks to his incredible memory he could remember all he had read. So to no surprise to himself he had to try out the connection he had with his direwolf.
It had been hard going at first but when he had gone undercover beyond the Wall he had gotten better and better at controlling this strange gift.
But not long after he had started on the Great ranging, he had started getting other dreams. Even stranger than his wolf dreams. He didn't know what they were at first but soon he realized that he was dreaming he was a dragon.
He had been sure for a long time that he was finally losing his mind.
Then he had heard that Daenerys Targaryen, the last Targaryen, had hatched three dragon eggs and birthed dragons back into the world. That had been when Jon realized that he was warging into one of them.
Jon had learned the name of the dragon he was warging into, his name was Rhaegal, Daenerys had named him after her brother Rhaegar who had sparked Robert´s rebellion by taking Lyanna Stark and died at the Green Fork.
When Jon had realized he was warging into the dragon, he had gone to maester Aemon and tried to ask him questions about dragons and the Dragonlords of old Valyria without giving anything away. He did not want the old maester to think Jon was losing his mind.
Regrettably maester Aemon didn't know anything about the subject of dragons and their riders that Jon hadn't read in the library of Winterfell.
Though after Jon and Aemon had spent a lot of time talking about dragons and related topics, they had formed a close bond. Jon had come to look at the old Targaryen maester as an uncle. So, when he returned from Hardhome after rescuing the last of the Free folk he had been devastated to learn that the maester had died of old age.
His best friend and sworn brother Sam Tarly had dragged Jon with him to go though the maester´s things.
And that was where Jon was now, sitting on the floor of maester Aemon´s quarters and looking through his things and trying to sort though everything.
"We have been at this for hours Sam. Perhaps it is time to take a break and get some dinner and go to sleep." He had not had any rest since he had come from Hardhome. Sam had whisked him straight away to the maester´s chambers.
"We are almost done, just look in the chest under the bed and then go and get some rest."
"I thought I was the Lord Commander." Jon responded with a tired grin but did as Sam asked.
Jon stood up and walked to the bed and got on his knees and looked under the bed. There in the far corner was a long chest. It took him sometime to actually reach the chest even though he was tall and long limbed. The chest was heavy, but he managed to drag it from under the bed.
"How did you know of this chest Sam?" Jon´s eyebrows were drawn together in a frown.
"hummm…oh uh well maester Aemon told me to give this chest to you when he died. He said that you would most likely be in need of them." Sam answers with a shrug.
Jon stared at Sam with a frown painted on this face. What could maester Aemon possibly wanted to give him.
He opened the chest slowly and peaked inside. He sat on his knees and stared, this could not be possible. How could Aemon have hid this here at the wall for so long and no one was the wiser.
"What is it? What did maester Aemon leave you?" Sam asked after a little while. When Jon did not answer Sam stood up and looked in the chest. He stood there silent beside Jon for some time opening and closing his mouth like a landed fish for a good five minutes.
"Where did maester Aemon get four dragon eggs and a Valyrian steel sword?" Sam finally managed to croak out. "And not just any Valyrian steel sword either, that is Darksister if I am not horribly mistaken."
"Brynden "the Bloodraven" Rivers came with maester Aemon to the Wall, and he had Darksister at the time. He must have left it here with maester Aemon when he left beyond the Wall."
"Yes of course, and this is the Butterwell egg. Brynden Rivers must have taken it with him and left it with maester Aemon." Sam picked up the egg that was red with golden flecks and black whorls. "They are very pretty, but I wonder why he would give them to you."
"Ever since I got back to Castle Black he and I have been talking about dragons and everything related to them." Jon wondered if he could tell Sam about his dreams. They sounded crazy even to him, how could he expect anyone else to believe that he, Jon Snow the bastard of Winterfell to be warging into the dragon that Daenerys Targaryen had hatched on another continent.
"And because of that he decided to give you four dragon eggs and his family´s ancestral sword?" Of course Sam saw through that awful excuse. "I´m not stupid Jon." Sam was getting irate.
"I know you are not stupid Sam, I´m sorry. I don't know why he gave them to me, to be honest." Jon bit his lip and knew he had to tell Sam the secret that had been gnawing at him for years now. "What I am about to tell you...You can´t tell anyone, do you understand?"
Sam nodded. He looked like Jon was about to confess to a murder. "I have been having these dreams…well not dreams exactly…it is hard to explain."
Jon walked to the bed and sat down. "You should sit down Sam. This is going to sound crazy."
"More crazy than an old man giving you four dragon eggs and his ancestral sword instead of sending them to his only living kin?"
"Yes…"
"Alright…"
"You know of warging right…the thing that some of the Freefolk can do. You know control animals and seeing with their eyes?" Sam nodded looking skeptical and a little bit worried.
"Well I can do that too, I have been doing that with Ghost since I got him and that is how I can control him like I do." Sam nodded again and seemed to realize something.
"Is that how all the raven and horses are so calm when you are near? They know you are a… warg?" Now it was Jon´s turn to look puzzled. The ravens and the horses were calm in his presence? How come he never noticed that?
"I don't know, maybe but I have never noticed that other animals besides Ghost being calm in my presence." Jon shook his head and refocused. "But that is not the point. Ever since we left on the ranging beyond the Wall I have been having different warging dreams than the dreams with Ghost, I am someone or something else." Sam said nothing and waited for Jon to continue explaining.
"I think I am warging into one of Daenerys Targaryen´s dragons." Jon couldn't meet Sam´s eyes. He didn't want to see the horror in his eyes when he realized that Jon had lost his mind.
After a few minutes of silence Jon gathered the courage to look his friend in the eye. Sam was once again doing a remarkable impression of a fish. Maybe he should not have sprung the news on him.
"I know it´s sounds crazy and you don't believe me but I swear to you I am not lying or making this up." And still the silence stretched on. Jon was realized that he had made a huge mistake, and now because of his desire to confide in someone about him warg into the dragon, he was losing a friend.
Jon stood up abruptly. "Nevermind Sam, forget I said anything." He tried to walk out the door, but Sam stopped him.
"I believe you Jon." Jon turned slow towards Sam with disbelieve written all over his face. "I mean you are right, it sounds completely mental, but you have never been exactly normal." He said with a nervous laugh.
"And if anyone is going to warg into a dragon on the other side of the world, it is you" Jon just stared at his friend. "And to be honest it kind of explains why you always know all the news of Daenerys Targaryen before the rest of us and in such a great detail. And I have never known you to lie about anything."
Jon had never been more grateful for having Sam as a friend than in that moment. He could feel tears start to build up in his eyes, he refused to let them fall and willed them away. "Thank you, Sam." He could hardly speak because of the lump in his throat.
Sam put the Butterwell back into the chest and closed it. "Here you should take the chest and get some rest." Sam could barely lift the chest so Jon walked towards him and took the chest from his arms. It was heavy but he could manage it well enough. Jon turned to leave the chamber, but Sam stopped him again.
"Jon, you know I will always believe you, no matter what. You could tell me that you are a grumpkin in a disguise and I would not doubt it for a second." Sam said with his impish smile. "Now that I think about it, you being a grumpkin makes a lot of sense."
Jon couldn't help but to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. He bid Sam goodnight and left for his own chambers to sleep for what felt for the first time in years with a lighter heart than before.
A few days later, Jon was sitting at his desk in the solar of the Lord Commander. Sam had already left for the citadel with Gilly and little Sam, and Jon was taking a break from planning what to do with the abandoned castles of the Wall.
Like most nights after he and Sam had found the dragon eggs and Darksister, he was starring at the eggs that lay in the chest. He had placed the chest by the fire so he could look at them in the evening. Jon could not explain why he had the overwhelming need to stare at the eggs for hours at a time. It was like they were calling to him, demanding his time and attention.
The eggs had turned to stone, but they glittered like jewels in the light of the fire. The egg that he and Sam guessed was the Butterwell egg, shone red with golden flecks with black whorls. That egg had been made famous for being the prize in a tourney many years ago when Aegon the fifth had been a child and a squire for Ser Duncan the Tall.
Maester Aemon had told him that he himself had been given the beautiful blue egg that was adorned with whorls of bronze. That egg had been laid in his cradle but obviously had never hatched. But maester Aemon had never shown Jon the egg, it was however unmistakably his.
The other eggs were not so easily identifiable. But he was sure that the egg that was silver colored with steaks of gold was the egg of Elaena Targaryen. One of Baelor the blessed´s sisters. Her egg had been famous for matching her silver hair that had been streaked with gold.
The last egg was pale green with swirls of silver that looked like molten rivers running all over the fossilized egg. There were a few candidates that came to mind but he couldn't be sure.
He didn't know how long he had been staring at the eggs, when the doors of his solar burst open with a bang, effectively pulling Jon out of his trance.
Olly stood in the doorway, panting and sweating. "What is it Olly?"
"You have to come outside Lord Commander, there is a ranger that came from beyond the Wall. He says he has news of your uncle Benjen!" Jon stood abruptly from his chair and raced down the stairs with Olly on his heels. In the courtyard some of the sworn brothers had gathered in a circle, effectively blocking someone from view.
"Over here Lord Commander!" One of his brothers called.
Jon pushed through the wall of men only to find no ranger returning from beyond the Wall but a sign.
A cold chill ran down his spine, and for a moment he could not comprehend the situation.
TRAITOR
That was the only thing that was written on the sign, and it was written in blood red paint.
Then there was pain in his back. Jon turned around and stared wide eyed at the men surrounding him. Ser Alister Thorne, Bowen Marsh, Wick Wittlestick and Olly. They were the men closest to him. Jon could barely breath from the pain in his back and he looked down and saw that Ser Alister was holding a bloody knife in his hand. He had stabbed him in the back.
Again Ser Alister thrust his knife in Jon, but this time it was in the belly. Jon staggered but did not fall. Another knife pierced him, this time it was Bowen Marsh who had stabbed him. Bowen was crying and muttered "For the Watch."
"Why?" was all Jon could manage to get out of his mouth that wasn't blood.
"For the Watch" and a knife in the chest was the only replay he got as he fell to his knees in agony. His chest, belly and back were all on fire. It felt like someone had doused him in wildfire and the pain was unbearable.
Then all he felt was cold and numb, he looked up at his murderers sluggishly. "Ghost…" Then Olly stepped forward and thrust a dagger right into his heart and the cold overtook him and everything turned black.