And another drabble for this fic! Enjoy!
"Why are we here again?" Tyrion Lannister complained as he sat in his horse. Daenerys glared at her Hand before she took another step towards the last rebel Kingdom in Westeros, the North. Or at least the leader of the three surviving rebel Kingdoms and home of their King. Jon Snow, the famous Jon Snow, King in the North. "Don´t worry to answer, you don´t need to remind me, your Grace."
"Hummm" it has been a surprise when Daenerys arrived in Westeros to hear that the Boltons, a family already despised in many places before killing their own king in the most despicable way, were overthrown by a Stark. Well, a Stark girl and a bastard boy, Ned Stark's bastard. She was about to send one a raven with a warning, demanding their loyalty, but then decided that Cersei was a priority. The Starks, after all, were just recovering from having their home usurped. And the children deserved the benefit of doubt. She, as daughter of a madman, should be the first one to understand it.
She expected for them to come to her while she was warring the Usurper, but they never came. Then she found out they have crowned Jon Snow as King in the North and married Sansa Stark to Robert Arryn to bring the Vale into their alliance, along with the Riverlands. If she wasn´t in such a delicate position, with Euron Greyjoy having neutered her fleet and Ellaria Sand captured, she would have mounted a dragon and flew to Winterfell to fry the pretender, but, again, reclaiming her heritage was first. So she continued warring the Lannister Queen, waiting for the right moment to reclaim it all.
That was before. Now, Daenerys was ready to take the three last Rebel Kingdoms with Fire and Blood. Just to be courteous, she sent a raven to the so called King in the North, to demand him to bend the knee to his rightful queen, but no answer came. That was the end for her patience and she prepared her host and dragons and went to the North. The first step was the Riverlands…
"Your Grace, we are close to Raventree Hall" Ser Barristan, who rode near her all the time, informed. "It´s Lord is Tytos Blackwood, a kin to you through your great grandmother, Queen Betha Blackwood. We should be able to find answers or help in there."
"Are you sure, Ser Barristan?"
"No, but… I don´t think they will turn you down. They suffered greatly under the Lannister rule and you defeated them. They might even be grateful for your victory over them" Dany nodded, hoped that she found an ally in enemy territory. That would be a great help in the war against the North.
Unfortunately, it seemed it was not the case. Raventree Hall was surrounded by a camp, which had badly made wooden walls as defensive measures. She immediately mounted Drogon, flew over the camp with the aim of eliminating the enemy forces, when she noticed that the people down there were not soldiers. There was not preparations for war, there, only lowborn. Especially women and children. One of the few guards spun a white flag when they noticed the dragon and Daenerys descended, deciding to give it a try.
"Only the Kingsguard and Unsullied accompany us, the Dothraki stay here" she ordered before ridding towards Raventree Hall. The doors were opened for them when they arrived, the captain of guards greeting her. He then took them to see Lady Blackwood. While they were crossing the camp, the Queen and her followers got to see the state of the people there. They were clearly refugees, women and children the most. And not very well feed.
"This is…" Ser Barristan tried to find a word to define it when he saw a young woman holding a lance in front of her tent as they passed, a child cowering behind her. "Your Grace, maybe we should rethink what we were supposed to do."
"Why?" Daenerys asked. She supposed she was going to leave Raventree Hall and it´s refugees alone, they clearly went through too much already, but the King in the North was another history. "This people are victims of the Lannister´s war…"
"No, your Grace, they are victims of the invasion in the North" an elegant woman in a dark simple dress walked to her, bowing in front of the royal. "I´m Lady Blackwood, my queen. Raventree Hall is yours."
"Is it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Aren´t you swore to the King in the North?"
"The King gave us leave to surrender ourselves if you happen to appear. All to save our people´s lives" the older woman explained, sighing. Daenerys was shocked, did this king not care about his lands? "Come inside, your grace, good Sers. We have little after so many wars, but I can still offer you bread and wine."
"Save it for your refugees, Lady Blackwood" the Targaryen signalled. "You mentioned an invasion in the North, no? Care to explain me how?"
"Please, come inside" the Lady pleaded, her eyes passing through the people that were occupying her courtyard. "The people is unrested after… everything that happened and… I don´t want them to hear anything that might start a revolt" they entered the keep in silence and sat down with the Lady in her solar. "You might be surprised to hear this, your grace, but there has been an invasion in the North."
"How?" she asked. The only force that should be interested in invading the North at this point should be hers. Besides, who else in Westeros could? The Lannisters were nearly gone, the Tullys and Arryns behind the Starks, the Tyrells, Greyjoys and Martells with her, the Stormlands leaderless… It was unexplainable! "And where is your Lord, my lady?"
"Tytos went to fight along with the King in the North. The enemy in there…" she shivered and handed over some letters. "He wrote back to me a few times, describing it. And the refugees described them too. Many of them come from the North, some as far as the Gift or Last Hearth, and swore to me that every word in my husband´s letters is true. Or even worse, if that´s possible."
Tyrion revised the letters carefully, along with his queen. In the end, both of them were of the same opinion: the lord was insane. And the King too, if he believed in this. Or maybe Jon Snow´s madness was contagious and affecting the people of his kingdom. The letters only talked about mythical creatures attacking the North and breaching the Wall. Daenerys sighed, she would be making the people a favour disposing of such a ruler.
"What do you think?" she asked after exiting Raventree Hall. There were no rooms available, much to Lady Blackwood´s distress, but the Dragon Queen didn´t want to impose to her in such a situation. And she needed to talk with her Hand in private.
"I thought that the Wall would change Jon Snow from the idealist boy I once met, but… grumpkins and snarks? Really?" the Imp shook his head. "He must have lost his wit to believe we would take it."
"Yes" Daenerys frowned. "What I really am worried about it´s that invasion on the North. Some truth has to be behind it for so many people to be fleeing."
"Maybe it´s just a trap, your Grace"
"Trap or not, we will find out soon" she said, kicking her horse to make it walk again. It was, after all, a long trip to Winterfell.
-Days later-
"We should have found people by now" Barristan said, looking less and less sure that it was safe for his queen to travel through this territory. While the Riverlands were full of people, thousands and thousands of refugees, the North was completely abandoned. Cities were completely empty, covered in the thickest snow the knight has seen. And the houses… it was as if they were tombs. The castles, full of burned bodies.
"What the hell happened here?" asked Tyrion, trying to take in everything they have seen. The place was terrible. "I know it´s the middle of Winter in the North, but that can´t be a reason to abandon the castles…"
"Something really bad happened here" Daenerys said, then saw someone approaching on a horse, a few people in foot behind. "There is a horseman, we can ask him"
"Your Grace, there is something…"
"He is the only one in kilometres, there is no one to answer our questions"
"There!" Tyrion signalled another party, which just appeared in the horizon like a spot in the white sheet of snow. The leader of the party was making signals and screaming that no, but the queen´s party was not listening to him. Daenerys rode towards the closest party, only to abruptly stop when she got close. The creature there was something out of her worst nightmares, with hair as white as snow, translucid skin and eyes so blue that shone like sapphires. With malice.
"NO!" someone screamed. The White Walker, because she was sure that was what it was, ordered his small army, wights all of them, to attack. Grey Worm intercepted the first monster, Drogon the next. Daenerys watched with fear as the wight impaled in the lance continued moving while the burned one stopped. He just… died… she guess. Barristan joined the fight, trying to help the Unsullied captain, but he didn´t have much success. The walker simply went towards her, raising his sword…
"Dracarys!" she ordered, trying to roast the creature. It just dodged, letting his dead horse fell. It went again against the queen… until arrows started raining over the wights. They felt to the ground and stayed there, but their master didn´t. the leader of the northern party appeared in that moment, with a black knife in his hands. He knifed the creature before it could reach Daenerys, shattering it. They all breathed in relief when that happened.
"What in the Seven Hells was that?" finally asked Tyrion, white in the face.
"Grumpkins and snarks, Lord Lannister, grumpkins and snarks… as you put when we called for your help" said the young man in armour that leaded the northerners. "Your Grace, welcome to our land. The king would have wanted to be here to receive him, but… he is busy with another kind of monarch right now."
"I… I see" the shaken queen picked herself up from the floor. "I… I guess the news we received in Raventree Hall were true, then. The White Walkers are trying to invade the Seven Kingdoms. I see that now" she looked at Tyrion, nearly wanting to kill him. The dwarf returned the look. Who in their right mind would believe the Walkers were real? "I´m sorry for the misunderstanding, Ser…"
"Lord Larence Hornwood, my lady" he finally introduced himself, sighing. "I was put in charge of the refugee movement by the king. He said I was too young to fight in the Wall, but I could help with this. And he was right, this was the third Walker south of the Wall this month."
"Worrying news" Ser Barristan said, immediately recognizing them as an advanced party in an infiltration mission. War was something known to him and it was reliving to know that, even with a magical army, the tactics stay the same. "The king and most of his army are at the Wall, I take it."
"Yes. It´s been months since he departed and haven´t returned. Lady Arryn is worried" he sheathed his knife. "She opened the Vale to refugees, but with even the soldiers of the Vale falling in the far north… the news were not good at all. And with Lord Brandon in Winterfell and refusing to part, she fears that she might lose the last family she has."
"Ehhhh, your Grace…"
"I know, Lord Hand" the queen said, regretting her decision to burn Jon Snow. If she had known his circumstances before… "I see that Lord Stark, Lord Tully and Lord Arryn were stopped by… extenuating circumstances from travelling to King´s Landing to swear their loyalty to their Queen" Larence shuddered, looking away. "I will not take their defiance into consideration, because there was none."
"Ahhh, your Grace…" the northerner tried to say. "That's another thing. The king is dearly beloved by the people and… the wildlings that are now populating the Gift. The would not like this" He bit his lips. "But he is willing to bend the knee. In exchange for help in the war, of course."
"He shall have it. My armies will take some time to get here, but I will help in any of my sworn bannerman´s war" Daenerys said. "And my dragons too."
"Yes, they will be the help we were expecting for" they spent the rest of the day talking with Larence Hornwood about the Wights, White Walkers and other dangers of beyond the Wall. The young Lord offered to guide them to the great construction of Bran the Builder, but she turned him down. The refugees needed him more than she did. Besides, someone else needed to send the letter she wrote to King´s Landing. Finally, the royal party left for the Wall.
"What do you think we will find there, Lord Tyrion?" asked Barristan when they approached the ice construction that guarded their Kingdom from the magical dangers.
"Death" answered the dwarf, who have read before northern scary histories. It was relatively calm when they reached there, but darkness covered all the place and the men looked exhausted. Many of them even traumatized. Piles of the dead illuminated the place, burning to avoid wights.
"You see?! You see?! I killed a Walker!" one particularly enthusiastic knight was screaming somewhere.
"Shut up, Harry!" someone answered, a man on Blackwood heraldry. Tytos Blackwood raised his head, looking at the queen when she approached. "Your Grace… we were starting to doubt our calls for help arrived."
"They didn´t, but I wanted to see why some lords of the Realm refused to attend King´s Landing to swore their oaths of fealty. Don't worry" she assured him. "In the way we found ourselves in danger because of a Walker and rescued by Lord Larence Hornwood…"
"Ahhh, good boy that one, is he alright?" another person, this one with a fist in his armour, approached. Daenerys nodded. "I heard some of those fuckers managed to pass Bran´s sorcery. I feared that he might have encountered them."
"He did, but managed them. Is his Lord Father present? I would like to talk to him…"
"Old Lord Halys died in the War of the Five Kings, your Grace" answered the Glover man. "His son Daryn too and his wife was murdered by the Bolton bastard. Larence is the last of that family."
"I´m sorry by his loses, then" Daenerys answered. "I want to see Lord Stark" she said, conscious of what she was saying. With that she said to them that to her their king was only her Warden of the North. And that they will have to bend the knee. "Where is he?"
"I will take you there" another voice, a female one, said. Daenerys lifted his eyes, surprised, and saw a beautiful woman there, clad in skins. She had a spear by her side. What was a Lady doing there? She asked while the other woman walked towards her. "He was hurt in the last fight, but don´t worry, it was nothing serious. Or at least that´s what master Sam says."
"I´m glad, Lady…"
"Just Val, girl. Some here call me the Wildling Princess, but that´s stupid" the blond answered, taking her to a room. "Even the Crow King tell us to call him Jon sometimes" she opened a door. "Hey, Crow! We got company from the south!"
"It was…" Jon froze when their eyes crossed, not expecting her there. He had heard tales of the Targaryen beauty when he was little, but… he was not expecting this. Her face… the form of her eyes, her high cheekbones and perfiled nose… were the same as his. Like a confirmation that all Sam and Howland Reed said about his parentage was true. It was like a bucked of cold water falling over him. "Your Grace… welcome to Castle Black"
"I´m glad to be here, Lord Stark. I brought the help of my dragons to defeat this threat to your lands" Daenerys said, not understanding his inquisitive look. Or perhaps it was just shame, as he was in his smallclothes, as the injury was in a leg. "Maybe we should talk when the master finishes with your wounds."
"Thank you" she exited the room in a hurry, wondering if she had just hurt his pride. For his part, Jon groaned. First time meeting his aunt and he was nearly naked and with bitemarks all over his right leg.
"Woow, Jon, your aunt is pretty" Sam said.
"Please, don´t say it" he said, lifting a hand. "Not a word"
"But…"
"NO" he still needed some time to digest it. Knowing that you have been lied to all your life and that you have another father has been hard enough, but with the White Walkers on the loose, there was no time for family drama. Or for drama at all. After the war he will decide how he wanted to deal with it, but now… not now.
"Wonder if your father was as pretty as her"
"Sam, please, SHUT UP!" he screamed, burying his face in his hands.
Well, poor Dany is now faced with the Walkers, zombies and an awkward newphew still in negation. Will she be able to stir some feelings inside of him? Or should we expect another pairing for poor Jon? Review!