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Chapter 9

Shorter chapter than usual, sorry about that, but any more then it would just be pointless filler.

In A World Where Fire Is Powerful, Thermite Shall Prove Superior In That Domain; Though With It, Very Little Shall Remain!

Chapter Nine: Raiders, Rebellors And Righteous Fire

Ygritte looked behind her, seeing the massive metal gate close on its own, then to her side to see Tormund looking impressed.

"Well, that was certainly something to see," he said, and turned to the dark-skinned woman with them. "How the fuck did you get to make a place this massive so quickly?"

Massive? One could call it that. She'd never seen a castle before, they were supposed to be marvelously large homes made of stone, but fuck that, this place was bigger than dreams and made of metal. Castles can piss right off.

Colonel Bello shrugged. "We have our means, especially when needs demand it." Her winter clothes were very different from their own, looked light but seemed to keep her warm better than the Freefolk's furs. Probably more magic, Ygritte figured. At this point, she'd guess their shoes are magic just for the hell of it. "Though the best I can explain is that the IMC have experience in creating similar bases of operations in haste."

"And how does one make such a base with so many soldiers without us noticing, hmm?"

Again, Bello shrugged. "Not our fault you aren't aware of your surroundings." Bitch. "We weren't here long, and we were bound to be found sooner or later. Combined with our advanced means of construction, and your difficulty in navigating large amounts of snowy terrain, it's mostly up to chance."

"Chance?" he asked, to which she nodded. "Anymore shit-out-of-your-arse you'd like to share?"

She wasn't impressed. "I gave you my answer, take it or leave it, up to you." She gestured ahead of them. "However, I'd say we have far more important things to do."

Ygritte looked ahead, and she agreed with the dark woman. And more so, proved Tormund's words correct. 'Seven fucking hells, Mance brought out all of Hardhome.' She doubted it was for just the two of them, but because this place was just that colossal in size. Still, she appreciated being able to live at the end of it. She didn't expect it after she seen everything that happened.

"I'll follow you," Bello told them. "And I was told to remind you that should you or your people turn violent, we were given orders to neutraliz- Erm, kill any threat to the IMC." She gestured above them. "I'm sure you have an idea of what that means."

Both Freefolk looked upwards, seeing those monoliths with large pipes begin turning in their place, pointing at different parts of Mance's army. 'They had one pointed directly at us when we first came. They knew where we were since the beginning and waited to see what we'd do.' The realization sent chills down her spine.

"Then let's move," Tormund said as he strode forward across the snow, and the two women followed behind. "I'm going to assume those on top of your walls are similar to that 'gun' of yours."

"Yes, but far more complicated," Bello answered. "The gun Slone shot your ear with shoots simply metal bullets, or arrows if you want to call it that. Those on top of the walls, however, they're called cannons, and they fire large shells. We call them that because what's inside a shell can be anything we need depending on the situation. The one used to neutralize your scouting party is called high-explosive fragmentation, meant to eliminate groups of foot soldiers quickly in a large area. We could, for example, load an incendiary shell that emphasizes covering an area in fire for area denial, or smoke shells that clouds an area to reduce the enemy's visibility."

Fucking hells, this Asha woman certainly seemed to be gloating on the matter of the lethality of their 'canons'. And considering what she'd seen, she believed it all. Mance was right to hold back until they came through, she didn't feel like all of Hardhome had a chance. The group they came in with couldn't handle a single one, but now with dozens of them around? No, it was right to be cautious.

"Covers an area in fire, you say?" Tormund asked.

"Exactly that. Though those types of shells won't be so useful with all this snow. It'll cover an area in fire for sure, but only for a few seconds until the snow puts it out." She shrugged. "Though if it ever came to it, those wights of yours would've been burned to a crisp before then."

Tormund looked to her. "You can move those hulking things?"

"The canons? No, those stay where they are. They're made for base defense, and that's exactly what they'll do."

"Then how in the hells are you going to help us kill the army of the dead?"

"We have more fire-based weapons than just the canons." She snorted. "Scorch types comes to mind."

"Scorch types? The fuck are those?" From the name, it had to be fire-based.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Bello said. "Besides, if those wights are that big an issue, you'll see them soon enough." She gestured ahead. "I'd say focus on the few soldiers headed to meet us halfway, because they have their swords out."

Ygritte saw them, and saw that Bello wanted them to make sure that those swords were only decoration, because they'd be damned if it was for anything else.

They stopped halfway in the snow, standing between an army, and a wall that brings fire upon those that go against it. They're group was three, but this welcome party had ten men and women, all Freefolk, thankfully none were Thenns. Ygritte didn't know if Mance managed to get them on their side during their capture, but considering the Others and what needed to be done, the Thenns would join one way or another.

"Tormund," said the woman leading the group. Karsi, if she remembered right. Strong fighter, good leader, and a damn more smart than most at Hardhome. "Glad to see you're alive." She nodded to Ygritte. "Your red girl, too." Then nodded to their third. "Who's your friend?"

He looked to the colonel, then back to the spearwife. "She's from that fortress, and her people want to meet with Mance."

Karsi narrowed her eyes. "And why would we allow them that? Especially when they made a fucking castle in the middle of our lands."

"Because they say they can deal with our White Walker problem." That shut her up. "Put your swords away, you might as well be carrying twigs." He glared at them all when they didn't even move. "Put them away, or I'll sheath them myself in your fucking chests."

Karsi turned to the men and nodded, having her soldiers place their blades in their sheathes. "At least you are actually Tormund. I'll take you to Mance and you can say your piece, under heavy watch."

Giantsbane grunted, Ygritte doubted any of them could have expected anything less.

Like the spearwife said, the soldiers she was with encircled them, and it stayed that way as they walked to a towards the Freefolk army. Their blades might've been sheathed, spears pointed away, but any wrong move, she felt she would quickly be impaled all the same, even if she was one of them.

The eyes around them particularly stuck to Asha Bello, whether for her dark skin or her queer-looking garments, they had plenty of reason to be cautious, but not the right ones. Ygritte's own eyes went to Bello's waist, where she had one of those guns, sheathed in its own little pocket. They Freefolk around them didn't know, and she would make up for it.

They passed through the first line of the army, and they parted away as easily as sword through bare flesh. No one talked, but they all stared at them. Tormund and Ygritte wore their Freefolk garb, freshly cleaned when returned, according to Bello, so it shouldn't be them, but they stared regardless.

When they finally reached the tent, an older man was waiting outside. She knew who he was, they all knew, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder.

"Good to see you alive, Tormund," he said. "I wasn't sure if you've been killed or worse."

Giantsbane shrugged. "I'm not easy to kill. After today, I'm going to drown myself in soured goat milk."

"I'm sure you will," Mance snorted, then looked to the woman behind them. "And I assume you brought me someone from inside." He nodded. "Or is it that they forced you to bring her here?" Again, he nodded. "For war or submission?"

"A bit of both, really."

Ygritte turned to Bello, and she looked far from pleased. And from the look of it, licking the sides of her teeth in impatience.

"They want to talk with you," Tormund said. "They sent her as an envoy, and the two of us as her protection."

He snorted once more. "From what I've seen, you two they need least as protection." Mance gestured to the steel wall. "I saw what those things do, and considering I see only two of you out of the large scouting party, I assume you know what they do as well."

"Somewhat. Either way, the two of us are here for insurance. Those on the walls are only part of what I've seen, and we've been allowed to live to make sure you understood."

Concern grew on Mance's face, and stared long at Colonel Bello's hard face. She showed no emotion, her face as though carved from stone.

"We've stood out here long enough," he suddenly said. "You three come inside with me." He turned to Karsi. "You and five men, as well." She nodded and picked out who would be the guards of this meeting, while Mance went into his tent with two other men.

"Come on, then," Karsi said, three men behind her, and lifted the flap of the tent. "You want to talk, dark woman, then let's talk. You first."

Bello frowned, but held her tongue and ducked under the flap and went inside. Then Karsi looked at Tormund and Ygritte, and gestured for them to get in as well.

Tormund looked to Ygritte and shrugged. "The sooner this is over, the sooner I'm knee-deep in goat milk."

"Or we all die in scorching flame," Ygritte countered.

"Well, at least we'll finally die warm." He turned and went into the tent.

'Bastard,' she thought in grim amusement, and followed close behind, with Karsi and the three men behind her. Inside, Mance sat on a short stool, across of him was the IMC envoy, Asha Bello, standing with arms crossed behind her back, Tormund off to the side with a Freefolk guard, in the room was also a small table with an empty stool.

"Sit," Mance told the colonel, to which she did and crossed her hands on top of the table. "Drink?"

"No, I'm fine," Bello said, for the first time since joining them.

Mance hummed. "So, who are you?"

"I am Asha Bello," she said. "I hold the rank of colonel and I'm under the employment of the Interstellar Mining Corporation, though easier to refer to them as simple the IMC."

"A mining company?" he asked, taken aback. "I'd have though you people were a military, not some merchants that sell ores."

"The IMC is particularly large, as I'm sure you all noticed." Several people snorted. "We have business in precious metals, technology, and weapons, thus we employ our own armies, augmented with a hired mercenary force."

"All well and good, and why are you people here?"

"The IMC have found a certain energy present in these lands, and invested funds, resources, and manpower in finding it. While our search continues, we have an idea of where it might be."

Mance leaned onto his leg, stroking his chin. "Found an energy? Lady Bello, you speak like those red priests. Any other day I'd have called you insane and thrown you into the frozen rivers to bring you back to your sense, but this isn't any normal day, and you are not normal people." He turned to Tormund. "What say you? You've been in there, what have you seen?"

Giantsbane stepped forward. "Nothing too bad," he answered haphazardly. "Horseless wagons that move on their own. Bottles of lights that hang from the ceilings. Metal puppets the size of men that move as though they're alive. Little, metal crossbows half the size of my cock that shoots better than any longbow." He took off the bandage on his ear, showing the wound from before. "Those little fuckers make holes in people."

Mance turned to Ygritte. "And you?"

She thought on what she'd seen, organized it in her mind, and said, "a slave collar that brings pain throughout your body under the control of the owner. People that can run on walls, with backs ablaze in fire. Helms that block arrows nigh feet away." Her eyes went to Bello. "A mirror that showed me a birds-eye view of Hardhome."

Every Freefolk face in the room turned grim.

"Girl, explain," Mance demanded, not tearing his eyes away from Asha.

She nodded. "When captured, one of their soldiers interrogated me, and threatened me with a view of Hardhome, as though eyes were flying right above the main tent, people walking around like ants, fires spotting the village. They told me that they could easily destroy all of it, right from here, their main hold."

Rayder scowled, a face she had seen very few times, mostly when other Freefolk tribes threatened him or his wife with war and rape. It was a face when Mance hated what he heard, and knew it must be dealt with.

"She's right," Bello said. "We have done all that she said." She sat straighter. "What's more, we have the capabilities to turn Hardhome into nothing but a smoldering crater and more."

"And yet, here we are," the King-Beyond-the-Wall responded. "Talking to each other at a table. Tormund said you people came with an offer for me. What do you people want?"

Bello reached for her pocket, and the swords and short spears immediately leveled at her. She lifted a hand placatingly, and slowly drew out a folded piece of parchment. "Your lands are very interesting," she said as she began spreading the paper across the table. "We have tools used for accurate scanning of areas from a distance. How far, the number is something very difficult for you to wrap your heads around." The paper showed a map of the land north of the wall. "I assume this is as accurate as a map of your lands as we're going to get."

Mance peered over. "It is. I believe there are similar ones in castles south of the Wall, made by the Night's Watch." His accusation was visible in his statement. Ygritte knew Rayder was once a crow, he would know such things. If the IMC were working with the crows already, then they must be working southern lords. What this meant, she didn't know, she needed to ask Mance.

"How we got hold of one doesn't matter, you can assume as you like," Bello said, and quickly gestured to a line drawn across the northern part of Freefolk lands. "This map is clearly incomplete, and North of this line, scanning and mapping tools don't work, it may be because the energy we're searching for is there, or not. Regardless, the IMC must know for sure."

From what Ygritte could see, Bello was pointing to an area that she knew was always plagued by heavy clouds. The crows made a map thanks to their constant need to shove their nose up here, but even then, any further north is unknown territory. The Lands of Always Winter was a wasteland with very few tribes dumb enough to live in, but north of that, no one alive knows. If one did, they were lying.

"The IMC want to conduct a scouting party further north, with the aid of your people."

Mance stared for a while, then laughed an unamused laugh. "You can go by yourselves. You have the weapons; you have your ability to erect large cities with steel walls without anyone noticing. You don't need us, so you can feel free to march onto those blasted lands yourself."

"Not without experts, we won't. It's too risky for us who have no experience in those lands, and some of our more important tools crippled for unknown reasons that could only be found up there."

He stood from his seat, leaning forward onto the table. "Do your people even know what's there, what's making us abandon our homes, burn our dead?"

Even though he was aggravated, Colonel Bello was as calm as ever. "The girl, Ygritte, told us about your 'unkillable' White Walkers and their dead army of wights. How they are being led south, killing all men, women, and children, adding them to their already vast number."

"Then you know why it's pure fucking suicide to go there."

It was what tipped things, even the cold Asha Bello stood from her seat, swords and spears again levelled onto her. "That's why I came here with an offer, not a demand."

"Then speak it!" he shouted. "I'm tired of dancing around, tell me your damn offer."

Bello, again, pointed on the map where all Freefolk flee from, but neither Mance nor her broke eye contact. "Take us there, help us search for our onjective, and in return, we'll kill every White Walker and wight."

Mance burst out in laughter, one of ridicule. "Nothing can kill them. Your wall defenses might, I do not know, but the Others will not wait for you to build them, they will swarm you. It is futile."

Asha stood straight, swords and spears orienting themselves to stay on her. "Nothing is unkillable, you just couldn't find a way," she said. "If there's one thing the IMC is good at, it's finding ways to kill our enemies." She turned to Tormund and gestured to the guard beside him. "Take his shield and block."

Giantsbane narrowed his eyes at the sudden demand, but when Bello quickly drew something from one of her pockets and aimed it at him. Both he and Ygritte's eyes widened. But only Giantsbane wasn't so slow.

He quickly snatched the man's shield away, kick him away in exclamation, grit his teeth, and immediately put the shield's face between him and the insane IMC woman. Ygritte saw the gun spit bright orange flame, and it hit Tormund's shield, pushing him onto the ground, and lighting the wooden heater shield on fire.

Everyone in the tent exclaimed and closed in on Bello, and all she did was raise her hands as though unarmed. Karsi was first to grab her into a hold, and brought her to the ground with her knife on her neck. More soldiers began forcing their way into their tent, spears and swords ready for a fight.

"WAIT!" Tormund shouted. "Ah, fucking hells!" He cursed as he through the alight shield onto the snowy floor, smothering it. "Don't harm her or we're all fucking dead!"

"He's right," Bello said uncomfortably as Karsi stood upon her. "If anything happens to me, the base will rain this area with fire, burning all of you into ash. That was our deal with these two."

Ygritte grit her teeth. She knew that these IMC people had a way to communicate over long distances, and considering their ability to see Hardhome, she had a nagging feeling that the fort knows exactly what's going on.

"Gods damn you, let her go!" he shouted at Karsi, then turned to Mance. "Get things under control, or the Others won't be the ones that end us."

Mance stared at the chaos happening in the tent. Where there was once ten people now there were more than twenty, steel drawn and screaming for blood of who perpetrated this mess.

"Enough!" their king shouted. "All who weren't here, leave immediately." People paused, but didn't move. "Did I stutter? Move!" It was slow at first, people sheathing their blades begrudgingly before slowly stepping out in single file. With order restored, he turned to Asha, who was still on the floor with Karsi's knife on her neck. "What did you do?"

Asha was allowed to turn to Mance. "A performance of one of our weapons." She gestured to the gun on the floor near her. "The Mozambique, a powerful weapon that shoots flaming thermite pellets that burns near that of the temperatures of the surface of the sun." She paused. "Though that one was purposefully underpowered, for experiment's sake." She turned to Tormund. "If it was the standard power, it would burn through even metal shields, whoever behind it, as though they were being burned alive." His face lost some color at the explanation of how he was almost killed. She looked to Mance once more. "I hear your wights can only be killed by fire, and we have these in surplus."

Ygritte couldn't believe it, a gun that shoots burning embers, setting even hardy wooden shields on fire. If things like that Mozambique were used in their army, then the Others' army won't be so unkillable. And from the look on Mance's face, he held similar thoughts.

"Karsi, let her go," he ordered unhappily.

The spearwife frowned, but slowly moved the knife away, and freed her from her hold. "I don't trust these people, Mance," she informed him. "I'd almost rather trust the crows and the milksop cunts south of the wall."

Mance made sound that he almost agreed. "The milksops don't have weapons that shoot fire and engulf whatever it hits in flame." He placed his fallen chair back in place, and watched as Bello picked herself up and do the same. They both sat as before, as though nothing happened.

Bello put a hand forward. "Do we have a deal, Mance Rayder?" she asked. "Your help in scouting north, and in return, we help you and your people kill your army of the dead."

Mance stared long and hard at the gloved hand of one Colonel Asha Bello, envoy of the IMC, and the one who offered their salvation against coming storm. What would they do after it all, no one could say, but Ygritte knew that if they didn't take this, the future was a mixture of blood and snow.

Mance snatched the woman's hand. "A wise choice," Bello said.

"No," Mance replied. "It was the only choice."

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