The high emotions, both anger and joy, were a result of knowing that the kind of war they were all about to join, was an overwhelming battle of life and death. It was all driven by fear, yet when the time came courage would kick on, because they all fought to protect someone and yet it was also for themselves. The bottom line was this was a war of survival and those who didn't run from it, would use fear to move forward. They would harness it and use it, as they had always done.
The ships came into the port, were secured and began to unload. First came the animals, then supplies and weapons. Everyone helped in the process, except Tyrion. He headed towards the castle on horseback, however the street with stairs that lead to the new castle, was something he would have to climb on his own. His mission was to speak to Lord Wyman, who in the past oversaw the defences of White Harbor. He also hoped that Jon Snow and Daenerys were in the castle too.
Taron and Aulix disappeared after unloading had stopped. Gendry, Arya, Tam, Byt, the three junior alchemists and the rest of the Dragonstone army continued into White Harbor. The streets were wide and had white cobblestone, which made walking easy. A commander from the forces that had remained at White Harbor, came to meet the army and direct them to where they'd be stationed, until departure. The others had to tackle the same stairs that Tyrion had earlier. The reason for the stairs, was because like many castles they'd been to before, it sat on a hill top, that rose above the city's thick white walls. The teenagers appreciated all the fountains and statues of merfolk. The household guard wore cloaks of blue-green wool and carried silver tridents, not spears. It wasn't until they reached the great hall of the New Castle, where the Manderlys held court, that Tyrion came back to find them.
"Everyone is waiting," Tyrion announced.
As they walked into the hall and saw who everyone was, Arya stopped dead. A tall, graceful woman, wearing a fur cloak, came forward. She had pale skin, blue eyes and reddish hair, that stood out from the rest.
"Sansa!" Arya said and separated from her friends to come forward.
"Arya! You're alive sister!"
Arya smiled, "you're more beautiful than mother and as brave as father."
They embraced, yet both were not as joyful as it appeared. Each knew the other was dangerous. But before a play on wills began, Arya stepped back and began to introduce her friends. At last she reached Gendry, "dear sister, this is Lord Gendry Baratheon, my betrothed."
"He must be a great man, to put up with you," Sansa smiled. "Come everyone, we have much to discuss."
"Is Bran here too?"
Aulix and Taron came in right then. "I spoke to him in the Godswood, by the weirwood tree."
Taron bowed, "my Lady Stark, I am Taron and this is Aulix. We're good friends of Arya."
Aulix remained silent, eyes slightly narrow, as he watched everything unfold.
"So is he really here?"
Sansa was the one to answer, "not anymore."
"Then how… oh I get it…. Okay, at least he's alive and well, that's all that matters I guess."
Daenerys entered with Lord Wyman and Jon Snow. "There will be time later to reunite with your family, we need to talk about this war."
Everyone sat down. "Tomorrow we will take barges up the White Knife, packed with men, warhorses, siege engines and your dragon killer. At the fork we go north on land to meet the Night King and his army of the dead."
They all discussed the logistics of the war, including if retreat must happen.
Aulix added, "it won't be retreat, but it might be escape for survival."
As the meeting came to a close, Jon could see fear in most eyes and acceptance in others. "Just remember that when winter comes the pack lives, the lone wolf dies. Winter never lasts, but we will."
With that everyone broke up. Arya and Gendry joined her family. The rest of their party were directed to rooms and other areas of White Harbor they could visit. Aulix, Taron and Tam went to explore White Harbor. Eventually Gendry went to check on the smithy. He met with the three of them and went to drink some ale, before retiring early.
Morning came with the ring of bells, but everyone was already on the barges going up river. It didn't take them long to arrive at the fork and begin unloading. They were told that a sea of white walkers, including giants and beasts were ahead of them. When everyone had travelled far enough that they could finally see the swarm, they knew that battle would soon begin. At first they had a plan and believed they were invincible; the archers would fire the obsidian arrows en mass. Swords men stood beside them, waiting to take forward the battle, while the archers collected their arrows. Meanwhile the dragons would blast flame as they made passes above, with Jon Snow and Tam lighting wildfire to rain down onto the white walkers and the giants. Ordered chaos is what they expected. The reality was far from that.
The cold tried to rob them of their breaths, air almost stinging the eyes. It wasn't long for everything to fall apart. All around was nothing but a whirlwind of disorder and confusion. The only smell was that of sulphur from dragon breath. The screams were theirs, when the horde took them down biting until death. The horses that fell, were even more terrified than the men.
Arya shot again and again, not thinking anything except kill the white walkers. When the first wave of swordsmen advanced, she dug through the snow to find that feather tipped arrow of survival, not even looking up to see if a white walker would get her. She trusted that Gendry would have her back, protecting until the next batch of arrows were ready to fire. Fingers began to bleed, for the first time in her life. They were raw from the cold and bow line, yet she didn't stop, knowing that meant becoming a white walker. Fear of that fact, overrode pain. And the white walkers never stopped coming. All battle plans vanished as everything became chaos. It felt like they were losing. She dropped the bow and stood back to back with Gendry. He swung his dragonglass hammer and ax, while Arya had sword and dagger. She saw that Aulix and Taron were using the same tactic beside them.
Nymeria and Ghost, with the wolf pack, went after heads and legs of white walkers. It helped slow down the attack against Sansa, who rode her horse, swinging a sword to decapitate the enemy. When the horse fell, the wolves made a circle around her, as Sansa tried to return to the area where her sister was. A pack of large cats, with thick black fur and white stripes, cut off her path. They too had the blue eyes of the white walkers. She knew these were shadowcats and possibly were even more ferocious than the direwolves.
"Arya help!" Sansa screamed.
"What are those?" Taron yelled.
"Shadowcats!" Arya shouted in reply.
Everyone who had looked in Sansa's direction, were horrified when Ghost's neck was ripped open by a shadowcat's fangs. Jon's wolf had protected his pack mate Nymeria. Arya left the protection of Gendry's back and attacked with new energy, trying to get to her sister and wolf. The whole pack died, while protecting the two women and their wolf leader. Attention had shifted to the shadowcats and only Aulix's shout, kept Arya from going down from a white walker. The men fought to get to the two sister's sides. They were almost there, when two white walkers grabbed onto Arya's legs and dragged her to the ground.
Sansa hacked at their arms, freeing Arya. "Run!" She screamed, as cold hands and teeth tore into her living flesh.
Arya didn't obey, but Gendry threw her over his shoulder, forcing retreat. "She's gone! Don't you die on me too!"
Nymeria protected the side of him that couldn't use a weapon and they made it to Aulix and Taron. Arya's tears froze to her face. Taron slapped her and still the shock kept Arya immobile, so he punched her in the face.
"Wake up or you'll die and take us with you!" Aulix shouted.
Arya's training kicked on and once more her blade of dragonglass cut a space between them and the white walkers. The four of them stood with their backs to each other. No longer could they see the people fighting around them, as there was just eyes of death and bodies controlled by evil. Still no call for retreat came, because the Night King and his dragon had yet to come close enough for the ballista catapult to be used. The white walkers had the advantage in two ways: in numbers and they never got tired. If anyone looked up into the sky, they would see Tam had switched to throwing dragonglass tipped spears at the giants, from Drogon's back, while Daenerys tried to keep him from falling off and direct the dragon's flame. Jon Snow did both as he rode Rhaegal.
Jon got his dragon to blast a fire path around his sister and friends, then yelled, "try to retreat to where the weapon is!"
They took the gap in white walkers behind them and ran in the direction of the dragon killing machine. Byt and the three teens used dragonglass spears to keep the white walkers at bay. There was a small group of soldiers fighting there too. Only the roar from Drogon let them know that at last the Night King and his ice dragon had become airborne too. The ice dragon went after Drogon, taking Tam out of the fight, as he held on to the harness so he wouldn't fall off. Their dragon flew higher and dodged spears thrown by the Night King. Two bounced off the chest plate that Gendry had created for Drogon. Jon had Rhaegal trying to keep up and get close enough to launch a dragonglass spear, but the Night King's dragon's ice fire kept them away. Suddenly the ice dragon turned towards Rhaegal and a spear pierced his thigh. The bugle of pain from his brother, made Drogon angry and he disobeyed Daenerys. Instead of keeping his distance, the black dragon attacked mid air. Jon saw the Night King waiting for his chance to send the spear into Drogon's neck. He sent Rhaegal straight into the ice dragon, ramming it. The spear sunk into the smaller dragon and it screamed, falling from the sky. There was nothing Jon could do to escape, before he was crushed by the weight of the dead dragon. Daenerys shrieked in grief, punching Drogon with her fist, until he stopped trying to attack the Night King. She asked her remaining son to burn his dead brother and Jon.
Arya screamed in horror, but it was drowned out by the roaring dragons.
"I swear your death will not be in vain! I swear to never let you become a slave to the Night King!" Daenerys wept.
Tam was able to see that the only ones alive beside them, were those by the ballista catapult. "My Queen, head towards the weapon, maybe the Night King will finally follow!"
Drogon turned towards the group of survivors. The Night King followed for a while, but he then saw the machine and kept just out of range, sending the horde instead. His smile was pure evil, when he looked at the pile of black ash, that had once been his enemy on a green-bronze dragon. That mess he couldn't bring under his control, but he would get the big dragon and make it's rider his queen.
Aulix suddenly dropped a sword and clutched his head in agony, eyes going white.
"What's wrong with him?" Gendry shouted, not expecting an answer.
"How the fuck should I know?" Arya swore.
Taron explained, "your brother Bran is using his energy some how." He pointed at the ice dragon, "I think Bran is trying to warg the Nigh King's mount!"
Drogon's flame had given them a moment to catch their breath and Arya could look to where the Ice Dragon flew. It's path was directly in line with the catapult. She shouted, "get that thing ready to fire!"
"We'll protect Aulix, you go make sure they don't miss! It might be our only chance to take it out of the game!" Gendry commanded.
She did as he said and ran to the point of where the weapon could be fired. "I'll protect you. Focus your life on getting this spear into that white dragon's chest!" The man beside her nodded.
The dragon flew closer, the Night King jumped off and into the arms of a giant. He knew that his control over the ice dragon had ended. From his new perch, he sent every last white walker straight at the people by the weapon. As his commanders came upon bodies of their fallen enemy, new white walkers were added to his army. His anger mounted as he saw the weapon fire and a shaft penetrate the skull of the ice dragon, instantly killing it. Loosing the dragon meant not being able to take winter across the Narrow Sea.
Once more from the dragon's back Tam shouted down, "everyone retreat! To the barges and back to White Harbor! The King of the North, Jon Snow is dead!"
No more encouragement was needed, those who still lived, moved as fast as they could to the barges and down the White Knife. Drogon once more was obeying the Mother of Dragons, burned the ballista catapult and kept the white walkers from following. He wanted to go after the Night King, but he wouldn't unless Daenerys asked him to.
On the barge the only man who could lead the army was a captain, but the man was almost insane with his fear. Arya was focused on Aulix, who was having a seizure. Gendry guarded her, so Taron took charge. "When we get back to White Harbor. We'll keep watch, but our main focus is to get everyone to evacuate and onto those ships. This battle is lost. The Night King rules Westeros, so we must go to Essos. If you refuse to leave, then at least go to the southern tip, by the Red Mountains! It is no longer the time to fight, to survive we must flee."
A soldier spoke up. "He's right. There's a secret passage beneath the New Castle stair, connected to the Wolf's Den, where the ships have been docked. That will give us some cover to escape."
Taron crouched by Aulix, hands on his head. He knew how to give his energy to Aulix. To his relief, as he almost passed out himself, Aulix opened his eyes. He was still in pain, but the seizure was over. "What happened?"
"The ice dragon is dead, we're in full retreat. The white walker army continues to come and only Drogon's flame keeps them away."
"The Night King still lives?"
"Yes. We've lost, but at least he can't cross over to Essos." Gendry sighed.
"Or so we hope," Taron whispered.
Not everyone wanted to leave White Harbor, they believed now that the ice dragon was dead, the war of white walkers could be still won. Some left the city by land, heading towards King's Landing. Others chose to follow the remaining living dragon and Queen Daenerys, leaving by ship to sail to a new life in Essos. There were meany tears as those from the north remembered all those who died fighting for their freedom. Daenerys and Arya did not cry, for they thought that if they started again, the tears wouldn't stop. Pain in their hearts of loosing those they loved, was a sharp reminder that they had been defeated by evil.
Byt doctored Aulix back to heath, who was told what really had happened. However he couldn't tell Arya or anyone if Bran was still alive. It was a week later, while the ships sailed towards Essos, that Taron had a greenseeing session that showed him that the Night King and his winter horde had taken over King's Landing and was heading south. The worst news was that he now had a queen. They expected the description of her having long white hair and blue eyes, but the shock came when they heard that at her side was a white wolf with a chunk of neck missing.
A terrified shiver ran across Arya's body when she realized who the Night King's Queen was. Arya announced suddenly, "the Winter Queen is Sansa."