Chapter 44; The heart of ice;

Characters of the chapter

Daenerys Targaryen, The Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, the Breaker of Chains, Queen of the of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men of the South, Queen of the South Kingdom of the Twin kingdoms and Protector of the Realm

Grey Worm Master of War on the Small Council of Queen Daenerys, High Commander of the Royal Army

Meera Reed Lady of Greywater Watch

Meera moved cautiously forward in the darkness, the moon a narrow white sickle in the skies. Behind her about a dozen of other Crannogmen were following right behind her, cautiously stepping only where she stepped. Before them was Moat Cailin, illuminated by pinpricks of light created by torches.

Their progress was torturously slow. Not only did they have avoid being seen or heard by enemies patrolling on the walls, but they also had to be cautious of the various traps that had been in the area. She had a cane with her with which she cautiously prodded the water and mud before her before taking each step. If anything remotely hard was felt under the surface her group altered course at once. She wondered how many of those had been genuine traps and in how many cases she had wasted time dodging rocks. For as long as they still had the light they had spent time planning this mission, and she had been provided a sketched map of all the known trapped areas Daenerys's people were aware of. But that map was a reasonable guess at best, and damn if she could remember all those places in the dark. Taking a look at the map would not do, since that would require light and that could be seen by the enemy, and then the mission would be fucked. So she had to guide her band of fighters through a field of hazards and hope that the diversions were necessary, for they only had as much time as the darkness lasted.

The risk posed by the traps was real enough though. A frightening moment had occurred when her cane had triggered a bear trap, snapping shut with a clang and shearing straight through the wood. The noise had startled them so badly that almost quarter of an hour had passed before they had dared to resume their forward progress. She could only hope no one on the walls had heard, otherwise they would be wandering straight into a slaughter.

When this attack had been planned it had been suggested that her group should have approached the castle from the south, along the road where these traps would not be, but she had refused the idea altogether. The southern road was the area that was watched most intently by the enemy, even now as they thought they were alone. Circling all the way around and striking from the north might have been a better idea, but it might have taken too long, so instead a compromise option had been chosen and her group was now approaching the castle from the western side. The plan itself was much the same as the Queen had presented it: Sneak inside, find whatever was stopping the castle being burned by dragonfire and destroy it. Then they were to signal the Queen, who was waiting nearby with her beast, then flee the scene fast.

Meera could not help but wonder if she should be doing this. Here she was leading her dozen into a castle occupied by hundreds better armed and armored. When her people did war they favored striking hard and fast where the enemy was weak and unaware, then melting away before a retaliation could fall upon them. Intruding straight into an enemy strongpoint was the opposite of what they preferred.

Silence and secrecy were their only defense right now. If they were discovered too soon death would be certain. Her people knew how to be silent and sneaky, but even they sometimes made mistakes. And there was the dragon to worry about. Now there was a massive being that understood nothing of subtlety. It didn't have to. She could only hope the thing was smart enough to understand why others depended on such a trait, and would keep silent.

Even on getting inside the castle unnoticed their problems would not be at an end. Once inside it was only a matter of time until the enemy became aware of their presence. In that time her people would have accomplish their task. She had no idea what to look for inside, or how to destroy whatever it was, or whether attempting such a thing was even remotely safe. And certainly she didn't even pretend to understand magic, which this business surely entailed. The only thing she did know was the vague location given to her by the Queen. Whatever she was seeking, with luck a blade would suffice against it. Otherwise things might get tricky.

Success held its own dangers as well. Daenerys had made it clear that as soon as she got the signal that castle would be set on fire, unwilling as she was to give the imperials an opportunity to use even more tricks they might have up their sleeves. That meant that unless they coordinated their actions just so they would kill themselves. If the signal was given too late the by then doubtlessly alerted enemy would overwhelm and murder them, leaving their allies unaware of what had transpired. Too soon and they might not vacate the premises in time and end up roasted. Being a hero was nice and all, but she and her people would much rather live to receive the praise.

Yes, the more she thought about this the less she could understand why she had agreed to entertain this potentially suicidal idea. But her family were loyal bannermen of House Stark, and on those grounds she had promised to see this through. Her people were probably the only ones who had a chance of handling this job right now, so was there really a choice?

Finally her group had managed to get close to the walls. She stopped, observed the situation for a moment, then, concluding that the enemy had not yet noticed them, motioned one of her fellow Crannogmen over. Without uttering a word she held up a pair of fingers pointed the positions of Orlesian guards. Finally she raised a finger to her lips followed by a cutting motion across her throat.

The Crannogman nodded, and they took blowpipes into their hands. Meera placed a poison dart inside, took a deep breath and brought the pipe to her lips aiming at one of the guards. Almost without a sound the dart flew through the air and embedded itself just beneath the Guard's breastplate. Throat might have been better, or his arm, but both of those were encased in metal. No matter. With the poison they were using a hit on his big toe would be lethal, as long as the dart made it through.

Both guards were hit at almost the same time. Seeing her target flinch and glance down she knew the dart had managed to pierce the padded coat. Almost at once the soldier began swaying. The Orlesian managed to bring a horn to his throat and for a brief moment she was scared that he might be able to give a signal. Then the paralysis rapidly spreading throughout his body, reaching his throat and lungs, leaving him unable to give the warning. He disappeared from view, falling onto his back with a crash that made Meera cringe. By that time the second Orlesian had also died in similar fashion.

For a time she waited again, listening for sounds from inside the castle. But only silence greeted her.

"Good. No alarm." She though. She motioned at the rest of her people. They gathered around her and a grappling hook attached to a rope was handed to her. That grappling hook she tossed upwards, to attach itself onto the crenellations. But as she gave the rope a yank to see if it was secure the grappling hook detached itself and fell back down. She whispered a curse and tried again. This time she managed to make it hold and began climbing upwards. As she climbed two more crappling hooks were attached and the others began climbing up after her.

Reaching the top she crouched down and surveyed her surroundings. Suddenly a door of a nearby tower opened and another Orlesian stepped through, then stopped mid yawn when he spotted her, and the pair of corpses nearby.

Briefly they stared at each other, frozen in place. Then, as the soldier drew breath to sound an alarm she lunged at him. Before the soldier could get out a sound she rammed into him and they went tumbling through the door and inside the tower. To keep him from shouting she slipped a hand under his helmet and clamped it over his mouth. As they struggled, the man making muffled shouts all the while, she saw the Orlesian reaching for the knife on his belt, so she quickly caught his wrist with her other hand. The soldier's remaining had reached for throat, and with both of her hands busy there was little she could to except move her head away. Instead of finding her throat the he grasped her face, the gauntleted fingers painfully scratching her forehead. Then that same hand moved down, taking hold of her clothes close to her waist an flung her off him. The Orlesian had just managed to get back on his feet when another of Meera's people barged in through the door and knocked him to ground again. As the two of them grappled, Meera drew her shortsword and ran to them, quickly slipping the blade through a weakpoint in the Orlesian's armor, putting an end to his struggles.

With the brief struggle now over Meera drew a shuddering breath. "Too close. We almost blew it."

More of her people were now coming through the door. "Ok. You, you, you, stay behind and protect our exit point. Bar any other doors and hide the bodies. No point in helping the enemy figure out where we are. The rest of you, follow me. Quietly now." She told them in hushed tones.

And so the Crannogmen proceeded down the stairs and into the castle's yard. There they darted from shadow to shadow, avoiding more guards. Luckily they did not have to raise their blades against any more enemies. As the Queen had predicted the enemy's guard was down, with most of them probably asleep at this hour. Fairly soon they managed to make their way inside the inner portion of the castle.

"Very good. Spread out. Look for anything that might be our target. But remember where we are as you do. Don't provoke the hornet nest." She whispered, and her people began moving from door to door, listening, peeking through when they thought it safe. All the while they were being excessively cautious, their hearts in their throats.

Like mice in the cat's den…

"My Lady, over here, I think I have something." One of them soon told her. She nodded and motioned those closest to her to follow, and the man led her to a door. She was just about to open the door when something crunched beneath her feet. Looking down she saw… frost? She became aware of how cold it had become, her breath and that of the others misting in the air.

"What in the hells…?" She whispered, then raised her hand to the door. The door had apparently frozen into its frames, so she had to apply some force, but eventually the door was pushed open with a crack. Immediately she recoiled from the sudden cold emanating from the other side, hiding her face. When the coldness relented a fraction she made herself look again.

"What she beheld was a dark blue crystal about twice the height of a person, standing on its tip and glowing with blue light. What the material was she could not even guess. Bands of gold engraved with runes were around it, slowly rotating around themselves, somehow suspended in the air without being visibly connected to anything. About every three seconds the crystal emitted a soft pulse of blue light accompanied by a quiet hum followed by a new wave of cold. The room it was in was coated in a fine layer of hoarfrost.

"This is it. It has to be." She said, and moved toward the crystal blade at the ready before anyone could say a word in protest. Every step towards the crystal made the air exponentially colder. It bit straight through her clothes, making her shiver, her movements growing sluggish. She hesitated, but advanced toward it.

"Don't… don't come in here! This thing is very dangerous!" She told her people, shaking from head to toes, but nonetheless forcing herself onwards. Finally she was standing before the crystal, seeing her reflection on its gleaming surface.

She was so cold. Not even in the lands beyond the Wall, standing before the White Walkers, had she felt like this. She had no way of knowing this, but this was coldness that became from outside the physical world, and thus it was not constrained by its rules. It was the very concept of cold, given form by the Fade and the labors of mages, crafted into this object. The icy air burned her face, and her lungs with every breath she took. The crystal loomed before her, ominous and strangely majestic, mocking her frail human form with its very presence. It would be the death of her, not because of malice or anger, but simply by proximity.

That thought made her angry and somehow gave her the strength to raise her sword and strike the surface of the crystal. The impact emitted a loud clang, but luckily the thing proved fragile, long thin cracks glowing with white light spreading from where she had struck. There was a new blast of cold so intense she almost dropped her sword, doubling over into a ball. Nevertheless she struggled through and struck again. She hacked away at it, the cracks on the crystal becoming longer and more numerous with each strike while the crystal itself glowed with a steady blue light now, growing brighter by the second. Small fragments were breaking off the crystal, swirling around it instead of falling to the ground. So sharp were those shards that they shredded her sleeves when they passed close to her arms. With each strike the air around her grew colder and colder, parts of her starting to go numb from it. A layer of ice was rapidly expanding across the floor, also coating her sword.

She felt her strength starting to wane from the relentless cold, and realized she could not keep this up. With every ounce of strength left to her she roared and struck the crystal one last time. On impact her sword exploded, driving a splinter of metal through her palm, making her scream. The crystal began glowing with white light, far too bright to look upon, a loud rumble filling the room. She tried to flee the room, but discovered that her limbs had grown so numb that she could barely move.

Just as she thought that this was to be her end she felt someone rush into the room, grab her and throw her through the door and into the arms of her followers. This was followed an instant later by a shockwave emanating from the room that knocked everyone to the floor.

When she recovered her senses from the blast she raised her eyes to look inside the room. The crystal lay in pieces now, the light on the fragments slowly dimming until they had gone from dark blue to a deep black. The bands of gold likewise lay twisted and broken on the ground. Wisps of blue energy still lingered in the room before fading away. From floor to ceiling the room was now encased in a layer of ice several centimeters thick. And in the center, near the device's remains there was a vaguely humanoid statue of ice, its head turned to the side and arms raised to protect his face. The ice was too thick to make out any details, so she looked around herself to see who was missing.

"Hendrik… he gave his life, to save me." She finally concluded, unable to tear her eyes from the ice sculpture he had become. If not for his actions that would have been her fate. As it was, the tip of her nose and the ends of her fingers had gone milky white and hard to the touch, the skin on her face and hands was red, dry and flaky, and she was still injured from the metal that had pierced her palm. But she was alive.

Shouts made in a foreign language made her snap out of her trance. The enemy had heard the racket destroying the device had made. No surprise there. No one with functioning ears could have missed that noise.

"We have to go!" One of her people told her.

"We can't just leave Hendrik like that…!" She tried to protest.

"He's dead, and there's no time! We have to go now!" The Crannogman countered.

Realizing that he was right she nodded hastily and fled with the rest of her people, cradling her injured arm against herself. As they fled back to where they had come from groggy Orlesians stumbled from their rooms along the corridor, some of them with weapons in hand. Most of them got a blade through them before they could even register the situation. Shortly they emerged into the open air and Meera spotted the trio she had left to guard their exit atop the wall.

"The signal! Light the signal!" She shouted to them as she ran forward. In response one of them lit a torch had brought with him, held it up for a moment, then cast it down the far side of the wall.

Further away, out of sight from the castle in the dark, Daenerys waited, seated on Drogon, eyes locked on the castle. She had been waiting like this for hours, and never once she had removed her eyes from the castle. She thought she could hear shouts and clangs of weapons in the distance now, sounds which filled her with anxiety. But finally she spotted what she had been waiting for: A pinprick of light falling down from the wall.

The signal.

Her heart swelling from the promise of hope she urged Drogon to take flight.

Meanwhile Meera's people had reached the top of the wall and were heading down the ropes while holding off the Orlesians as best as they could. More and more of the enemy were streaming after them, including the fully armed and aware night guards. But the Crannogmen weren't paying them much attention. They knew what was coming, and knew they had to get away from it. Meera herself headed down with the last of her people. Holding on to the rope with only one hand she progressed more slowly than the rest and was still halfway when an Orlesian appeared above her, angling a bow to shoot her dead. Before he could however he turned his face up, then promptly fled, disappearing from sight. The flap of massive wings behind her told Meera exactly what the Olesian had seen.

Thinking quickly, Meera let go of the rope and dropped down the rest of the way followed by two other Crannogmen that had still been climbing down as well. The instant her feet hit the ground and she fell on her back the castle was struck with fire bathed in flame from end to end, many structures within shattering immediately on impact. Meera shielded her face from the intense heat and crawled backwards. When she got a bearable distance away she huddled there along with the rest of her people, at base of the hill the castle was situated on. Finding that they were too exhausted to carry on immediately they simply lay there, looking at the stars, listening to the crackling flames. For a long time none of them said anything.

"Do you remember how during wintertime we stored meat by tying rope around them and hanging them outside on stakes high enough that scavengers couldn't get to the meat?" Meera finally broke the silence while nursing her injured hand.

"Yeah, in the cold it froze rock solid. When we needed meat we just chopped off as much as we needed and melted it over the fire. Why?" One of the Crannogmen said.

"Oh, nothing really. It's just that I was suddenly struck by this overwhelming feeling of sympathy for those slabs of meat. It's like I understand what they have gone through now." Meera said.

Tired laughter echoed in the night.

Meanwhile Daenerys was directing her dragon back toward the ground. On the ground the Royal Army unit that had followed her here was awaiting for news on the results of the mission. The landed a respectable distance from them, dismounted and ran the rest of the way.

"Success! Success! We did it!" She shouted as she approached, grinning from ear to ear.

Grey Worm smiled and nodded. "We saw the flames Your Grace. Word was sent to the army as soon we did, to put them on the march."

"Good, good. As soon as the flames abate enough to allow it we will be marching them to the North. I'll also be doing some scouting with Drogon." Daenerys said.

"Just scouting for now I promise." She added, holding up her hand. "I'll fly high and in the dark so I should be able to pass unnoticed. I'll look for signs of the Grand Army's presence so we can have better idea of where we are supposed to go. We can add to that with other scouts once we get past Moat Cailin."

"Meanwhile you should get to work to prepare for the army's arrival. Make sure the Imperial's didn't leave any more surprises for us. I doubt there is much you can do about it but if you can help put out the flames it would helpful as well. And check on Meera. If she and her people are still alive I wish to speak with her when I return." She continued.

"I'll be back before dawn." She said in conclusion and headed back to Drogon.

Hours later, as the pale dawn arrived, she was standing amidst the smoking ruins of Moat Cailin, watching her troops march by. Most of her army had passed through by now, only the rear guard still remained. Even so she would not have them stopping again before nightfall.

The dragon's fire burned so hot that the wooden parts had been consumed in short order, and the rest of the flames had died out for lack of fuel. Moat Cailin had been in poor repair since before the Orlesians had occupied it, and now it had been reduced to a pile of rubble. The only thing to survive the fire unscathed was the room where the Orlesian artefact had reportedly been stored, perhaps protected by some magical residue, she did not know. The room had been soaked with water, containing the body of the Crannogman that had died during the mission, already returned to his people. Remnants of the device had been turned over to the Maesters in the hopes they could learn something of value from it. She didn't put much faith in that though. Something like this was beyond their expertise. Beyond the expertise of anyone in Westeros. More likely they would just document what they could, then stuff their findings in some dusty archive of theirs and forget about it, like they always did. And certainly even if they had some useable results they were willing to share it would not come soon enough to have any bearing in this war.

Her thoughts were caught up in what she had discovered during her flight. She had found the Grand Army just as planned. To her considerable surprise they were still parked at Winterfell. At Winterfell, but not inside the place as far as she could tell. Why would they still be there, but keeping their distance from the castle? Unless… could the castle still be holding out after all? As much as she wanted to believe that, she was afraid to in case the hope was a false one.

She was not entirely certain how long it had been since the Orlesians had reached Winterfell, but it had to be a few days at least. It would take a few more days at least reach the home of the Starks. Even if time hadn't yet run out, there could not be much left. With this in mind she had ordered a forced march to cut down on travel time. She hated asking this of her soldiers so soon after the hell they had just been through, but this was war, and in war you sometimes had to push your soldier's to their limit if you wanted to win. The forced march would mean that her troops would reach the enemy tired and so less effective. On the other hand by moving quickly the odds of catching the Orlesian forces unawares were better, which had been the main point she had used in selling the decision to Grey Worm and her other officers. The element of surprise was very important, since the Grand Army might outnumber her forces by around twenty thousand. Drogon would balance those odds of cource, but it would not hurt to have another advantage in their arsenal come the day of battle.

She broke off from her musing's when she noted Meera approaching, the other woman's hand now wrapped in bandages.

"Your Grace. You wished to speak with me?" Meera said.

"Yes. To thank you. What you have done for us, I don't think there is any way to overstate how much it means. If things go our way from now on you may have won the war for us. If there is any reward you wish that is within my power to grant, name it and it shall be yours." Daenerys said.

Meera smiled. "Win the war and let us go back to living our lives in peace. Beyond that I don't think there is much that you can give that is of use to us in the life my people lead."

"I shall do my best then." The Queen said. "You have done much for the war effort already. First in keeping the Orlesian raiders off us the best you could while we were stuck here, then in this. If you want to lead your people home now I think that is more than fair. But if you choose to join us I could certainly use the help."

Meera considered. "I'll ask. But I won't force anyone to come with you." She said finally.

"I would not want them with me unless they were willing." Daenerys assured.

"I'm not very fond of war myself. Even so I would come with you if I could, just to stay true to the oaths of my family. Unfortunately…" Meera said, raising her bandaged hand.

"I understand." Daenerys said. "You need to heal. Do so, and do it with pride, as a hero."

Meera shook her head. "Not a hero. Just someone who tries to do the right thing as best she can."

"Incidentally that is the perfect description of a hero. Ordinary people can do great things when they have to, and you are not so ordinary. You are the head of a notable northern family. To my shame I must admit it is a House often overlooked by the South Kingdom, shunned even. But no less important." Daenerys countered.

"Your Grace!" Grey Worm called out then, strolling over. "A raven from Yara Greyjoy. Arrived just moments ago." He said, handing her the scroll.

Daenerys read the words quickly, then a relieved smile broke out on her features. "She heeded my command. Not happily, but she did."

"So she will attack the Orlesian navy then?" Grey Worm said.

"According to this she left a portion of her forces to guard against Qunari incursions, but the rest have set sail, sailing around Westeros as we speak." Daenerys said.

"It feels like things are finally going our way." She said, all smiles. But then her expression turned serious again.

"And we are going to need that. In the next battle the Imperials must be defeated. If we succeed we will be back in the race and have a chance of winning this war. If we lose… then we cannot afford to continue resisting, not with other enemies waiting for the opportunity. If our army is defeated in the next battle we will have no choice but to surrender. The next battle will decide the outcome of this war. Make sure every soldier in my army understands that, and fights accordingly." Daenerys told him.

Grey Worm nodded gravely. In a few more days the victor of this war would be known.