It was either terribly late or far too early, which ever one chose, when Daenerys realized her mind was still racing, and sleep was far from her. And for a week her rests had been long and heavy. She new why. There was a little ache in her belly constantly for the same reason. The night stretched, and she lay hopelessly awake, until at last she rose determinedly and crossed the black, silent hall. She had to knock twice when she got there, and Jon was all confusion and eye-rubbing. Overcome with uncertainty, Dany searched for an excuse or explanation and had just opened her mouth to speak when he snagged her by her waist, and pulled her into his room. Shortly after, she slipped back across the hall to her bed, and into a satisfying sleep.

Though the rising was early and she ate her breakfast in the gray breaking light, it was nearly midday when her armies crossed the bridge to the west of White Harbor and truly set off for Winterfell. Jon had been convinced to lead the party, to stay visible and identifiable. He was hating it, she imagined. Not the sort to revel in praise, Jon was probably uncomfortable every time someone shouted, 'The King in the North!' and they shouted that gratuitously, she noticed. The Dothraki were last of all, their camps followers trailing on for miles hunting about as much as traveling. Toward the middle of the convoy was the Unsulllied, and somewhere within she marched and shivered. Though it seemed like just a precaution before, now that they were traveling Dany was grateful for the disguise but the North was nothing like the hot winds of Essos and she felt it's sting right into her bones.

But where is Drogon, and Rhaegal? she wondered for the hundredth time. The last word from scouts was that they had flown North, and it made her nervous-

"Unsullied do not look up so much." Greyworm said in a low voice. He'd stayed as close as he could and guided her as the road grew rough and her joints stiff with cold.

"Not even to watch for dragons?" she whispered back.

"Only then." he answered after considerable time.

The trudging was hard because of the snow underfoot. She was used to sand and grass, but then, so were Greyworm and all the men around, and their steps never faltered or tired. Hours were passing, she could tell by the sun, and every time she wanted to stop and ask for a horse, she thought of the rest of them walking for her as she asked them to, and was glad to know what they went through. Though she stumbled many times, she kept pace with them. At least moving kept some parts of her warm.

The wind shifted and she caught a strange sound from the patch of trees they were passing to the left of them. A sound that made her jump and turn around.

"Did you hear that?" she asked Greyworm.

"No My Queen. Hear what?"

"There was.." but it was silent now. She had just been imagining it.

"We must keep moving."

Again she heard the sound and suddenly knew it for what it was. A baby. I can hear a baby crying in those trees.

"There," she grasped Greyworm, "A child... Do you hear it?"

"No My Queen!"

"Some one has to save it!"

She fled suddenly, breaking out of the perfect formation of the Unsullied. Greyworm was close behind warning her, begging her to fall back in.

"Be careful for deceptions, My Queen."

"But it is so near!" Dany slipped in the snow and drove herself on. "Greyworm keep near to me."

He followed diligently, and somewhere inside her gut she felt guilty but the baby sounded desperate, probably freezing! The snow grew deep and she felt it tumble into the cracks of the armor, but still pushed through, until finally she broke into the trees and saw a blanket writhing on top of a log pile.

"There now," she called, but the crying didn't stop. "Someone has left him there all alone."

"My Queen." Greyworms voice was filled with concern, "I see nothing."

She turned to her Commander, to cry how absurd that was, but his face halted her. He was serious. Now she had to see, what thing was there that seemingly only she could see and hear. And now the thing had stopped it's crying. She peered in at it, and saw just what she thought she would. A sweet sleeping thing, just born. She stepped a little closer, and it's eyes opened. Daenerys flinched at it's cold blue stare and watched it morph from a perfect child into a scaled misshapen thing. Not human. A long black tail roped itself around her wrist, and she felt it's teeth sinking and clamping into then soft skin between her thumb and fingers.

She winced and Greyworm slice his sword down just beyond her outstretched arm. The dragon-baby shifted into a blue mist and Greyworm gasped, "This is Essos magic! We must find a healer."

Dany held her hand and felt a porous, oozing cold begin to steal up her arm. "I thought I had left all my enemies behind, defeated." she shivered, and glanced at the trees all around her, "I've been a fool."

Greyworm also peered around at the forest, "Something is wrong."

Daenerys covered the wound, expecting it to be cold to the touch, but it was not. "Let's return, this can wait until we reach Winterfell."

But the cold was really seeping into her, and chattering her teeth. Greyworm stopped her from falling a few times, and she knew he was watching her carefully. They left the trees and plowed across the dirty snow, trying to join the party on the road. Dany was slowing them, she knew it, but she could hardly move her legs forward. Every step was an agony of prickles, as though her whole body had gone numb and were slowly regaining it's feeling. She finally stopped entirely.

"You must go on and get help, Greyworm." she closed her eyes for a moment, swaying on her spot.

"My Queen, this one will stay."

She smiled and opened her eyes, but saw that he looked past her now, and his eyes were wide. From the trees there burst a long line of golden horsemen, shining and large, and they fell upon the Unsullied with huge war cries that filled the road with sound and action. They spilled into the convoy and broke it apart, slashing and swiping their big broadswords down at her troops. Dany cried out when she saw three Unsullied fall under the hooves of a gilded stallion, it's rider whooping in celebration.

"Greyworm! You must help them!' she shouted, but he stayed by her side.

They were soon besieging him as well, and he kept them well at bay. Dany noticed one of the riders was cloaked in a midnight black cloak, hood pulled and shot arrows over swinging the great-swords of his partners. This rider, she saw one second, and the next he was elsewhere, too fast to even see. Her fear was growing, and when she saw that this cloaked attacker was aiming his arrows at Greyworm she screamed a warning. But it was too late.

Greyworm took an arrow to his leg and his chest. They hit with the loudest sound she'd ever heard, and almost felt like they were ripping into her. Her Captain dropped to his knee, grunting. The arrow was close to his shoulder, Dany realized with relief, but still he fell. She wavered. Tempted to fall alongside him and give up. She turned around to face the trees, and saw that a rider watched her, and now that she was relieved of her protector, he urged his horse closer.

He carried a gold-tipped spear, and wore a golden helmet, sprouting a long red tail. The rings on his arms were so numerous they nearly reached his elbows, which be-told of his many successful contracts as a sell-sword. She'd spent enough time with Daario to know this man was dangerous. And she was not hidden any longer, for she could feel that her hair had come free and blew all around in the wind. She could fight, she had a sword, and there was the small dagger she always carried...but it was underneath all her armor and the cold was making her rattle inside it. She felt her eyes lift up to the cold blue sky.

Drogon...Rhaegal, she thought, I need you so desperately!

The rider drew close, and she tried all she could to lift the sword, but everything had stopped working properly and instead she shivered and glared. When he reached down to take up the bulk of her hair in his fingers, she could do nothing, so much of her was paralyzed. She wondered if this was the commander of the riders, and knew it had to be the Golden Company, as all of them were showy and richly outfitted.

It seemed they both realized they heard something at around the same time, and turned together towards the source. The sound was her name, over and over again, being called over the din of the dwindling raid, and it was marked by the urgency. She knew the voice well.

The rider spotted Jon at once riding in a dead line to them, and when he lunged forward, his horse knocked Dany to the ground. Her heart stopped as she watched the sell-sword hit full speed, with Jon barreling straight towards him. Though the riders sword was huge and swung around skillfully, Jon dodged everything the man tried, and knocked him off his ride rather quickly. At first they had seemed well-matched but Jon was soon spinning his sword, tripping and slashing him. She felt such over whelming relief that she laid back at last.

Time felt like it had warped. One second she was up in the clouds, and the next Jon was gathering her up in his arms, but she could hardly hear or feel it. She knew she should feel afraid, but there was a strange spreading calm, and the only thing that really felt cold anymore was her nose and lips. In fact she smiled at Jon, touched his cheek with her hand, all blue and poisoned looking, and said, "I am alright now. But Greyworm-"

"We will see to him." Jon shook her, "Dany, stay awake, you hear?"

She wanted to, and she supposed she was, but the world was becoming one of shadows, dim and empty. There were more vivid souls appearing in front of her now. Her new allies who had perished, a girl with red hair, and a father, a mother and a two sons grouped together. She saw the men she'd executed, even the slave in Meereen. They paced and watched her. Her brother even was there, though distant and he stared at her with his same damning hatred. Of all of them, the only one who spoke was the red-haired girl she didn't know. She whispered in Dany's ear, and sent a shiver throughout her body that seemed to wake her up just enough.

"Jon?" she focused on his face, and the cold air hit her hard. "I'm to tell you... that you still know nothing."

He reacted so strangely, as though she'd stabbed him through the heart. She wanted to stay, to understand what she had just said, but the warmth of not caring was tempting her back into it. Waning light told her she was fading fast. And the vivid figures even were beginning to grow dim."No... Fight Dany!" she heard him arguing, even growing angry. "You stay awake, Daenerys! Don't you close your eyes!"

There was commotion, and suddenly a strange face appeared in front of her. It was familiar, calculating steely eyes and shaggy red hair with a white streak through one side. "A girl has enemies in the House of the Undying?"

Dany roused slightly. "Yes. But I killed the Warlocks...and what was left..." She noticed him then, in the strange spirit world she somehow saw. Ser Barristan was the only one who smiled at her.

"What was left has returned." the man turned to the others who were still shadowy, as though there were dark veils over their faces. For some reason this strange man from Braavos was still plainly visible, and she heard him say, "Nightshade is in her wound. The queen cannot move but is aware still... though she will be passing through the shadow soon." Someone asked the man a question and he answered with, "She will if a boy can get her Winterfell in time. The cure is easy enough to prepare, but a man would need the supplies of a Maester."

There was conversation, and Dany tried so hard to listen to it but in a split second everything changed. There was sudden chaos, and a spray of snow across her face, and muffled shouting, and fighting. The ground trembled beneath her body, thundering with the hooves of many horses, and that was the only way she could deduce that the attack had began again. It raged. She could hear the muffled yells, and clanging of weapons, the garish cries of dying horses. And then a face appeared to block the sky from her. A devilish face wearing an overconfident grin.

"Hello love," Euron Greyjoy smiled, gleefully, "I told you I'd see you again." He cackled and crouched over her, pulling her off the snow and, like a child's doll, she flopped powerlessly up onto his horse. Quietly, stealthily, Euron slipped away from the fight.