Chapter Eleven: Battle for the Wall II

Jon POV-Later that night

When Jon woke, his head was still a little fuzzy, and he was a little confused, but it was disappearing rapidly thankfully. He noticed Oberyn laying beside him as the events leading up to his unconsciousness came back to him. He cursed himself for his hesitation. Now he and apparently Oberyn were both going to be stuck here for the remainder of the battle, for good or ill. He could tell he had several broken ribs as well as a kneecap, and Oberyn's arm was in a sling.

"Look who is awake!" Came a cheerful voice in his head. Apollo. "You know you can heal yourself with those abilities I taught you right?"

"What happened to not being able to interfere without the Titans here?" Jon grumbled back. Not that he was complaining much. He had forgotten about his abilities from Apollo, having been so long since he had healed anyone or himself. He was just annoyed at how cheerful the god always seemed to be. More so ever since the gods had regained most of their former strength and youth lately from all the prayers.

"Interference? No!" Apollo answered cheerfully. "I'm merely having a conversation with you. Can't help it if I reminded you of something I thought you might already remember."

"Right." Jon replied before cutting off the conversation with the god's reverberating laughter in his mind. He carefully moved his hand, infusing it with his powers, and began to gently touch his wounded areas, wincing as the bones rearranged and the skin healed over. He had scars still, something he could not get rid of with just the blessing of Apollo, but it stopped hurting him each time he breathed or moved and gave him his full range of motion back. Helpful, that ability was, except he couldn't stop scarring or refill someone's blood if they lost too much or heal more damage than he had energy for. You'd have to be Apollo himself or one of his children to do one of those things, not just blessed by him.

He had a quick conversation with one of the startled men watching him about the Prince sleeping nearby and found out what happened. He quickly infused himself with his powers once more and healed the arm, a scar stretching the length of his forearm. Oberyn woke quickly and started, grabbing for his dagger before he realized who it was.

"Get up, giant slayer. There is much to do, and I don't know how Stannis is faring on his own." Jon said, grinning. He was proud of his friend's accomplishment. Slaying a giant was no small thing, especially for one without special powers.

"It wouldn't have needed slaying had you not been sleeping on the job." Oberyn informed him matter-of-factly. "Indeed, I only did so to spare you waking from your beauty rest to do so yourself."

"I'm sure. Beauty sleep is over now though, I'm afraid. Duty calls."

"Let us go then." Oberyn replied smoothly as he rose from the bed. He looked at his arm. "Your doing, I suppose? Another of your powers?"

"Yes, but this one drained me quite a lot. No special powers from me for a while I am afraid. I have not used this ability in some time, and the less I do so, the harder it is." Jon answered as they left the building after telling the men to thank the maester. Jon reminded himself to thank the man himself when the battle was over. They immediately went to the top of the Wall. Apparently Jon's armor had begun to mend itself as soon as it was taken off, so thankfully he did not have to wait on that as it had the entire time he was unconscious to repair itself.

The tunnel was devoid of enemies, and the top of the wall clear when they came to it, which was expected as it was well into the night and the enemy never seemed to move at night, likely in fear of falling or becoming lost in the dark. They met Stannis on top of the Wall, who seemed relieved greatly to see and hear of their amazingly quick recovery. There had been no attacks since the two had fallen. They each tasked their commanders with waking them if something happened, and they all went for a quick bite to eat and some rest.

They all woke with no news of an attack. In fact, they had rested well, the men were well rested, and there was still no sign of even movement from the enemy. Jon knew this couldn't be good, but he was also grateful that whatever may come he was finally well rested for it. He went to get breakfast and meet with Stannis and Oberyn to discuss what the enemy may be planning and how to put an end to this siege before it went too much longer.

Breakfast was a couple boiled eggs with some cured ham and a mug of dark beer. The beer was watery, the eggs harder than he liked, but the ham was good and no man, even a king, ate extremely well when they went to war. Other than when need dictated or when he had extra time on his hands, Jon preferred to eat like the rest of the men instead of using his powers so he could understand what their conditions were like. Afterwards, he found Oberyn and Stannis both in the Lord Commander's solar already going over plans.

"What are we thinking?" Jon asked after pleasantries were exchanged.

"Whoever is in charge, this Rattleshirt that Mance told us about, is smart. They started in small waves and then increasingly avoided or smashed through our defenses once he learned of them." Stannis said, his brow furrowed in concentration. "My guess is an all out assault. That's what I would do in his position, especially given their previous assaults on the Wall throughout history, and them having fewer resources."

"I agree on the assault part, but I also believe they would have discovered that we aren't manning all the castles, just this one. Is it possible that this Rattleshirt has sent men over the Wall in the other castles and is sending them to assault us from behind?" Oberyn asked while staring at a map of the castles.

"It is possible, but not probable given their previous attempts on the Wall. These savages have no mind for strategy beyond the intelligence he has shown in attacking the Wall head on." Stannis replied in a dismissive tone.

"That may be true, but we cannot dismiss the possibility." Jon cut in as the mediator. "I would rather we prepare for all possibilities. After this next assault, we need to bring the fight to them somehow."

"Is that even necessary?" Oberyn asked. "Would not their…employers…take care of the rest of them if they failed and had insufficient numbers to continue the siege?"

"That…may be possible." Jon said slowly. "Of course, if we last long enough to kill enough of them they will likely quit and scatter. When I was tired all I could think of was ending the battles soon, but now that I've rested I realize that our best option is likely to hole up in here and bleed them as they come after us. Once we lower their numbers a bit, we can use the respite to begin building defenses up once more so that they cannot continue their assault without their army. We could make this fortress so unassailable that a few men could easily hold it."

"It is agreed then. My men and I will hold the top of the Wall, as that is where we have made our stand until now and we have the most experience in that area." Stannis said simply.

"My men and I will take the gate from behind in case the bastards did manage to send some men over the Wall." Oberyn said.

"I'll have most of my men set up facing both the tunnel, and the gate to support the Dornish. I'll also send a force of five thousand to each usable castle on the Wall with their own Lord commanding them. That should be enough to both defend and retake castles as needed. All we know is Eastwatch-by-the-Sea hasn't been taken or we would have received some sort of either survivors or raven message." Jon told them. "Beyond that, I'll need to assign someone to start combining and looking over our provisions if we are here longer than another week."

"True. There is no way for us to get more supplies here without sending for it by ship, and none of us here have any sort of wealth with us with which to buy said supplies." Stannis said

"That is all true, but let's not look any further than we need to at the moment." Oberyn replied. "We can cross that bridge when we come to it."

With that, they each went their own way, set on their separate tasks. Half the day passed uneventfully, aside from the moving of men. Jon began to suspect Oberyn was right, and perhaps they were waiting to push forward for the men on this side of the Wall to send a signal of some sort. If that was the case, they would have to watch for anything that looked like a signal so they could be ready too.

Two hours later

The signal came as their own horn, which Jon really felt he should have expected. This Rattleshirt was far cleverer than Stannis gave him credit for. As soon as the gate was attacked from their side, the horn rang out twice for enemies. As soon as the horn rang out, enemies streamed from the woods on the opposite side of the Wall and began to climb the Wall and attack the tunnel.

Jon heard Oberyn issuing commands and knew the Prince and his men could certainly handle a few men. Not too many could have made the climb over the Wall, and they couldn't have marched too large a party toward the gate even if they had taken one of the other castles without it being spotted and reported or meeting one of the battalions Jon had sent to reclaim them. With Oberyn occupied on the gate and Stannis on top of the Wall, Jon took command of the fighting at the tunnel.

As the enemies began pouring into the tunnel, Jon cursed the fact that they had no defenses in place. Really there had been no time, but now they had to hold them back purely with manpower alone. His men readied themselves, his veterans holding the second line of defense as usual to allow the enemy to tire themselves out first. Lord Umber and his men held the front line, and it became chaos immediately as their line was hit with a tidal wave of enemies.

The fighting was fierce. Lord Umber was a good friend of Ned Stark, a veteran of many battles, and Jon liked the man. Organized he was not, but that made he and his men no less fierce. They whirled through the fight like a whirlwind, slashing, stabbing, and slicing with their swords. It took almost ten minutes before they were pushed back and swallowed back into the main force to rest a moment. When the enemy hit Jon's veteran line, the fighting became downright one-sided for a moment. This time, they had been able to prepare and settle into their positions, and the tunnel made a good funnel now that they could use it properly.

The men began to push the enemy back into the tunnel slightly, and halfway down it they stood their ground. Bodies piled halfway to the ceiling, and wildlings were being killed while trying to move their comrades out of the way to continue the assault. Jon couldn't have dreamed of the battle going any better when suddenly three horn blasts sounded, and he froze for a moment. His hesitation didn't matter much, as he didn't know how or where the attack was progressing even if he knew it meant the Titans had finally shown up to the battle, but it was still long enough for the next event to begin. The next thing that happened was a blast of cold, out of nowhere and colder than any air he had felt before, making his very bones shake hard and he dropped to his knees.

The wildlings and his men fared no better. Perhaps even worse than he, given his heritage and increased strength and health. They all fell to the ground, some on their knees while others curled into the fetal position. Then, even worse than before, others began streaming into the tunnel behind the wildlings. Dead men, wights, began to indiscriminately kill the wildlings from behind. The dead wildlings would then begin to rise in turn and kill their own comrades. Jon forced himself to his feet despite the bone-chilling cold and shouted for his men to do the same and prepare themselves. A few struggled to their feet, but most did not.

Jon drew in a deep breath and felt for his inner power. When he released it, he raised his hands and heat radiated from him like their own personal sun were in the tunnel with them. The men rose to their feet, and the wights began to burst into flame within a certain distance of him. They shrieked and clacked their teeth, and while the men heard only that, Jon heard another language. He heard them shrieking for their commanders, that a demigod was present. They quickly burned and fell to the ground, finally fully dead. Jon stopped using his powers and slumped to one knee again for a moment, exhausted.

He soon gained some strength back and stood once more. His men had rallied and now held the line against the remaining wights. The valyrian weaponry was working wonders, felling each wight it came into contact with. Unfortunately, there were so many of the wights that they began to lose ground, backing out of the tunnel toward the main army. Jon hoped they were ready by now and hoped Stannis and Oberyn were ready as well. They backed out of the tunnel, slowly and killing many on the way, until they reached the main body of the army. The fighting turned chaotic once more as the two armies met, living against dead.

Everywhere Jon looked, something was happening. He saw both the most courageous and the most saddening things of his life so far that day. He saw his men fighting the dead, saw the people he had become friends with fight for the living without letting their fear control them, saw them unite together to save each other. He also saw his commander fall to three wights, saw five of them surround Lord Umber and take the large man down, and saw Howland Reed fall to a wight that jumped from the shadows behind him.

The worst sight, and shock, of the day came when there were three loud horn blasts from OUTSIDE the Wall. With each blast, the Wall shook. On the second blast, a crack appeared. On the third, before Jon's very eyes, the Wall came tumbling down. Men fell screaming from the sky, debris crashing around them with a terrible noise, thunder and rain began at the same time increasing the darkness, and a cold snow began to mix with the rain. The wights took no notice and continued to kill left and right as the men panicked. Jon ordered a retreat to the gates, repeating the order loudly until the men took notice and began to flee to the gate, not an orderly retreat as he would have preferred.

In that moment, as Jon ducked a blow from a wight and cut its head off, Stannis' body came crashing down in front of him. It was preserved perfectly, hardly a scratch, but his face was one of surprise and his neck was broken. He must have fallen from the Wall either from the section that broke or a misstep or even pushed by a wight, Jon did not know. All he knew was his friend, a man he respected, and the king of the other six kingdoms was now dead in front of him. He was roused from his thoughts as a wight jumped at him.

Jon killed the wight and took one last look at his friend. He stifled a small sob and used a small amount of his power to set the body alight. His friend would not become a wight. He would never allow it. Following the example of his men, Jon retreated to the gate and began to try to rally them for a more orderly retreat. Oberyn found him then, doing just that.

"We saw the Wall fall. I can hardly believe it. Stannis?" Oberyn asked worriedly. He quickly issued orders to his men to create a defensive line and for the rest to help get the others in order.

"He didn't make it. We need to fall back to Winterfell; we do not know how much of the Wall has fallen." Was all Jon could manage in response at the moment. Oberyn nodded and put a hand on Jon's shoulder. The two men stayed like that for a moment in silence before Jon nodded in thanks and they turned back to their task. By the time they got most of the men organized and began sending the back half of the army on the march to Winterfell, the enemy was on them.

The fight was fierce, quick, and brutal. The enemy fell on the front line and was pushed back twice before the second line had to reinforce them. By the time the third line had pushed forward, the enemy fell back. They began to retreat, and Jon sent a messenger ahead to Mole's Town to inform them they needed to pack all provisions possible and be ready to move out to Winterfell when the army arrived within the hour. He and Oberyn got the army on the march, setting the Dornish who were reasonably fresh as the rear guard.

It took three marches and two hours before they made it to Mole's Town. Each time they began to march, they would be attacked from behind by wights and would have to turn to defend themselves. On the second march, they attempted to leave a rear guard to allow them half an hour march before rejoining them. They made it ten minutes before the attack came, and the men returned with blue eyes and attacked them as well. The third attack, they finally saw an Other. The White Walker, or Titan as it were, stood near seven foot tall and moved quickly and gracefully for its size. It seemed to bring the cold with it and had more strength than normal men. When one man attempted to stab it, it was clear that valyrian weaponry burned them, but the normal spear the dornish man used merely shattered as it laughed at him.

The titan then shrieked and sent forth wights at them. Jon quickly summoned his bow and shot an arrow at it, and when it struck the Other shrieked one last time before it blasted into mist suddenly. Jon knew its body had died but its spirit had been sent to Tartarus to reform. The gods had explained that to him. Suddenly several of the wights dropped and did not rise while the others retreated. This gave Jon some hope as to how to defeat this madness.

They finally reached the town and found the residents waiting for them, thankfully with their supplies packed and ready on wagons. It wasn't much, but carefully rationed would see them to Winterfell. The snow began to come down more harshly, and Jon ordered the march to begin. They were three hours into the march when night truly fell. Jon was now at a dilemma. He didn't want them caught out at night by the wights, but navigation in the dark was difficult and those that fought needed rest. He discussed it with Oberyn.

"Perhaps we could send a northern lord with half the men and the townspeople to Winterfell to set up, while the other half rests?" Oberyn suggested.

"Maybe, but I think those that fought today all need rest." Jon replied tiredly.

"Us included. Perhaps we send the townspeople with the men from Dorne and a northern lord or two? My men did not see so much of the wights or fighting as yours."

"That will do." Jon said in relief. He found two of his lords and sent them off with the Dornish and townspeople while Oberyn directed setting up camp. Jon then moved to setting up a perimeter defense and digging trenches. They set sentries as well, and by the time all was accomplished it was well into the night. They voluntarily skipped dinner despite being hungry, knowing Jon could make them food in the morning in the privacy of one of their tents instead, in order to preserve food for the men and to get some rest as soon as possible.

The next morning, at dawn, they awoke and had a quickly summoned small breakfast between the two of them before rushing to pack up camp and begin the march. They were surprised at the lack of attacks through the night, and no sightings had been made either. Oberyn reasoned aloud that Jon killing one of their own had made them a little wary. Jon thought that could be true, but also thought they were up to something else as well. Whatever the truth, they had to make it to Winterfell, send out messages, and prepare for this threat.

In that moment, as they began the march, a swarm of wights came over the hill behind them and attacked. Jon and Oberyn wheeled the men around and began to counter-attack, when another group of enemies attacked from behind them again. Half the men did an about face to face this new threat, when an attack came from both sides as well. Jon cursed. They had used the cover of night to surround those that remained. There were many of them, too many to count, and on the hill on all sides stood the Titans, simply watching the battle and out of reach of bow.

"That's how they plan to kill me then. Numbers." Jon thought. Where were the gods? They were supposed to come if the Titans showed up. Jon felt for them in his mind, but for once could not feel them.

They were surrounded. There was no way out, and morale dropped like a ton of steel from a cliff. The men, cold and tired still, were fighting as best they could, but were being pressed in from all sides. Jon began to gather the power in him. He knew this might kill him, but it may be their only chance to escape.

"DOWN!" Jon yelled at the top of his lungs. Most of the men dropped, and he released a blast of fire over everyone's head in every direction. The first couple lines caught fire and Jon thought it had worked, but then an oppressive and wet snowy wind came from all directions and the fire was immediately put out. Jon dropped to one knee and looked up. The titans all had their hands raised. They had overpowered him with ease by working together. He lowered his head, gathering strength to stand and fight. They were doomed, but he would go down fighting.

In that moment, they heard a roar. Jon stood and turned his head looking for the noise. There was another roar, followed by two more and a steady thrumming noise. Suddenly over their heads shot three dragons with a woman in white on top of them. The dragons swooped down and turned back around, spraying fire on the wights. One of the White Walkers got caught in the inferno, but it seemed not to affect him. Not so the next one to get caught in the flames. The next pass caught three of the walkers in the fire and all three burst into mist immediately. Jon gathered the one immune was Kronos, their leader. His men quickly dispatched the wights closest to them and watched as the remainder retreated. The three dragons landed, and the woman slid off their back.

She was breathtakingly beautiful. Long white, blonde hair flowed down her back, her face was strikingly pretty and young looking with full pink lips and purple eyes, and her body seemed thick in all the right places and yet slim and desirable. Jon felt a stirring in his loins as soon as he saw her and was sure that despite knowing who she undoubtedly was, Oberyn did as well. Both men stepped forward to greet her and she did the same, though staying nearer to her dragons than their small army.

"My name is Daenerys Targaryen, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons, and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms." The woman pronounced as they got closer, and they stared at her in both awe and some trepidation. Where would they go from here?