A/N: Here is the catch up chapter at the Wall that a few of you were asking about. I am hoping for it to be the last catch up type chapter for a while. I think I am up to date with almost all the characters now. So not the most action filled chapter but necessary...

Chapter 95: Melisandre & Jon

Melisandre

Melisandre was used to people fearing her. They feared her still. They feared the power that R'hllor gave her. That power grew stronger at the Wall. Their fear was not the problem. The problem was the continued mistrust. Jon Snow believed. It took him too long but he did believe. That belief did not equate with trust.

He blames me for the death of the princess.

Melisandre tried to warn Stannis about Patchface. She told him of the skulls, of that creature bringing death. She did not know the princess would be amongst the dead. She did not know Queen Selyse would be amongst the dead. She did not know when it might happen. If she had time to mourn, if it might achieve something she would. It would only cost them all precious time so she did not.

The Lord Commander did not attend upon her. When she did see him he appeared angered.

"You have your king's blood sacrifice priestess."

Melisandre touched the ruby at her throat. The thought had occurred to her too but it was not a welcome one.

"The sacrifice was not the one I wished to make. It was not done in accordance with R'hllor."

The power of the sacrifice does not benefit us.

Jon Snow did not want to hear it. They had quarrelled many times about the bastard boy, Gendry. The Lord Commander refused to hear of offering him to the Lord of Light.

"The enemy grows stronger. I fear that soon it will be too late."

Jon Snow frowned, took his leave and turned on his heel. Melisandre knew he understood the threat. He spoke often enough of the dead things still to come. The Great Other did not send their full numbers but the time drew near. Melisandre saw it in the flames and she feared that they might lose. In her visions they faced more than just the dead.

We cannot afford to lose.

The messages were only half-revealed and Melisandre did not always uncover their secrets in time. She still saw Jon Snow, R'hllor's champion. Stannis also appeared in her flames, even if he was not Azor Ahai. He took me to the chosen one. R'hllor sent the messages but even with all her years of training Melisandre erred in reading them.

I saw what I wished to see. I almost brought myself down with a false vision.

It was not truly false but her reading of it took her further from the path, it cost her time they did not have to spare. Melisandre did not like errors. She knew she must be more certain now. Stannis was still an instrument of R'hllor, even if he was not the chosen one. Others still appeared to her too. She saw the one with the thousand eyes who watched her and the boy who howled like a wolf.

The Great Other sees us and he knows we are vulnerable. We need the dragon.

Melisandre saw winged beasts every night now, more than one of them. It made her doubt for a time. It made her think on what the girl said.

Arya Stark claimed that Daenerys Targaryen was the one of prophecy.

R'hllor still showed Melisandre visions of Jon Snow. The revelation of his blood confirmed it. When she asked for a glimpse of Azor Ahai, R'hllor showed her Snow. Melisandre would not be led astray again. The messages had been sent to her long before hearing of the dragon queen. She saw Snow when Stannis was battling to retake Winterfell.

The Lord Commander slept little. Melisandre saw it in his face. Between the report from the Nightfort, the continued threat from dead men and the ravens from the South, Jon Snow's burden seemed almost too much for him to carry.

"Let me be of service," she urged him. "There will be power from our union."

He pulled away from her again. This time his grey eyes were cold but he did not retreat.

"There are survivors at the Nightfort. Lord Davos sent a raven reporting that more men have returned."

Melisandre laid her hand on his arm.

"They are dead men. I have seen men whose touch turns others to stone. They are unclean. They must not be allowed to infect the others."

He stared at her.

"The wildlings say the same but these men are not dead. The Princess lived with the illness-"

Melisandre interjected. "This is different. You cannot take such a risk."

He nodded slowly, looking weary. "The Nightfort must be abandoned."

"That would be wise."

The look the Lord Commander gave her told her more than words might.

"Stannis will not want to see you."

The King arrived almost a moon after the raven reporting the death of Princess Shireen and Queen Selyse. His presence proved that Jon Snow told it true. The anger and grief hung like a cloud over Stannis. Lord Davos too did not disguise his disapproval of Melisandre.

"If you had warned us earlier the Princess might still live. I will never understand my lady."

She heard them speaking with the Lord Commander. Jon Snow uttered the familiar phrase, the one he learned from the wildling woman.

"Sorcery is a sword without a hilt."

Her warning to Lord Davos when he left Castle Black had been taken the wrong way.

I saw Stannis losing his path. I did not see the cause.

She let them be, having to remain content with Davos aiding Stannis. Melisandre still wished to help him. He would be needed in the fight but until he wished for her help she knew she must focus her attention where it might have the most effect. Stannis did not linger at the castle long, returning to the Nightfort to make final arrangements.

The arrival of yet another raven and the whispers around the castle prompted her to seek the Lord Commander again. She found him brooding in his solar. He acknowledged the threat of the Great Other, he did not veer from his focus on the war but he stubbornly refused to embrace his destiny.

Still distrustful, still suspicious, still in the shadow of his trueborn kin

The Lord Commander refused to welcome the truth of his birth. Instead he chose to mourn the loss of Ned Stark, the father who never was, to be angry at the lies.

He will always see himself as a bastard.

"I have heard," she informed him. "I saw it in the flames but I have heard that the dragons are here. Your kin may answer your call."

Snow tensed. "She is not my kin."

They had discussed this before. He always said the same thing.

"Rhaegar Targaryen already had a wife."

The Lord Commander focused too much on his Stark mother and not enough on his father's blood. A brief smile flitted over his lips and she knew there to be more, even if he did remain troubled.

"It is as you say Priestess. Even with my wish for her to not be in the midst of war Arya will come. She appears wroth with me for suggesting I wish for her to be safe."

Melisandre smiled. "She is not new to war. She has only been fighting the wrong war. You wish to see her."

Jon frowned. "Of course I wish to see her. She is my..." He trailed off.

He wished to say little sister.

"You are still her brother," Melisandre said. "She knows no different. Arya Stark has a role in this war. You must not resist her presence."

His frown deepened. "I do not wish to lie to her Priestess."

"You love her dearly." She saw the Lord Commander stiffen and begin to argue. She spoke over him. "You died in an attempt to save her. Your blood will not matter unless you let it."

He gave her a sharp look and a wry smile. "I would be glad to think that. If only you might accept it too."

Melisandre could not help but laugh, even with the doom lingering over them.

"I will speak of it no more for now."

She left the rest unsaid. Soon you will be forced to face it. She returned to her chambers only to pass Davos Seaworth, newly returned again from the Nightfort. She knew he wished her ill but he did not mean to harm her by his own hand, not at that time.

"I did not see the death of the Princess. I hope that she did not suffer."

Davos grimaced.

"It is Stannis' suffering which concerns me now. He gave the order and watched the men burn the bodies of his wife and daughter along with the rest of the dead."

Melisandre hurried to her hearth, worried more than she dared to say. She uttered the prayers and saw the visions come to life, praying that she was wrong. She had seen it, seen it over and over but it was only half revealed. R'hllor only showed her the flight, not how it happened.

It still might be the bastard boy. The dragons have arrived but the stone beast might still be to come.

She knew her mistake as the image formed in the flames. The body burned and she saw it and knew it to be the past, not the future. The figures watching retreated and a winged creature, many leagues away, rose and screamed into the air.

The stone beast has taken flight.

Melisandre had seen it as something to bring about. That was why she tried so hard to convince Stannis to sacrifice Edric Storm. She thought R'hllor meant for her to use it as an instrument.

I was meant to prevent it.

Jon

The Priestess had shut herself away. Jon felt a little troubled by it. Her absence did make matters easier with Stannis present. The king wished for the red woman to die. His grief mixed with his anger.

"She says she did not know, Sire."

Stannis ground his teeth.

"Are you fool enough to believe her? She has wanted a sacrifice with king's blood for years."

Jon saw the flicker of fear on the face of the priestess when he made the same accusation.

"I do not believe she planned this Sire," he said stubbornly. "We have other matters to attend to."

Stannis seemed weary of the other matters. He had arrived at Castle Black, given and taken counsel, returned to the Nightfort briefly before taking up residence once again in the King's Tower. He seemed inclined to stay there. Only Lord Davos spurred him into action again.

"You still have a duty. You said it yourself."

Jon prompted him.

"Is the quarantine in place?"

Lord Davos appeared uncomfortable. "There is no quarantine, my lord."

Jon could not hide his surprise. "May I ask why not?"

Stannis did not mince his words. "They are dead."

He knew Stannis capable of being ruthless when necessary. He did not expect this.

"How did it happen, sire?"

Lord Davos supplied the answer.

"They deserted their post in fear that the castle was cursed. When the King gave them a second chance, to take their punishment and live in isolation in the Nightfort they attempted to repeat the offence."

Desertion is treason. The punishment is death.

Jon sighed. He supposed it to be for the best. They could not afford an outbreak of greyscale. So many other threats lay ahead of them already.

"Are you certain that no others have the disease?"

Stannis gave him a withering look.

"I am not unaware of the risks, Lord Commander."

Jon endured the King's displeasure. He was about to take his leave when Lord Davos cleared his throat.

"The Wall is still undermanned and even more so now. King Stannis made a request before the dead attacked."

Jon remembered the request.

"Lady Melisandre told it true. I have word that Arya is travelling North. I will send a request to Winterfell for fighting men."

When he returned to his solar he drew out the letter. The previous one scolded him enough to make him smile. This one made his chest feel tight.

I have spoken to your brother from the Night's Watch. I know what it is that you face. I am sorry Jon. I am coming. If I had known the whole truth I never would have left. I miss you.

He felt selfish for being happy for a moment. He felt selfish for wanting her there. The excitement he felt at the thought of seeing her smile, of seeing her for more than a day or two and being able to muss her hair mixed with the guilt of needing her safe.

This is not the place for a woman, even one like Arya.

He thought of her other news, that she might have found Sansa. It did not make him pleased. It only gave him more kin to fear for.

Sansa should have remained in the South.

Mormont's raven flew at him.

"Warg," it shrieked. "Warg."

Ghost stirred at his feet. Jon frowned and waved the raven away. It had behaved even more oddly with time. He knew it had heard the word but repeating it still seemed queer. It made him think not only of Ghost but Arya and Rickon and their wolves too. He knew them to be wargs. Others spoke of rumours but Jon knew it to be truth.

It is not a welcome truth to those who do not know us.

Jon harnessed the ability better after Melisandre revived him. He used it during the wight attacks. He made use of it once again when they met with another wave of dead men. Melisandre emerged from hiding to use her fire magic. She watched the sky.

"Are you expecting dragons my lady?" he asked her, only half in jest.

"You will need the dragons," she answered seriously. "I have seen terrible things."

The battle was a short one though it still served to show how woefully prepared they were for a full onslaught.

"The Wall is our best weapon," he observed from standing atop it.

Melisandre stood quietly beside him, her red robes billowing and her red eyes looking into the distance.

"I fear for the day it falls," she said softly.

Jon realised on his way back down from the Wall that she did not speak of if it fell. He remembered talk of the horn of Joramun, that the free folk confessed to Mance's horn being a fake and felt unsettled.

If it falls then the war will be lost.

A/N 2: The next chapter returns to the West with Aegon's POV. I have begun writing it already but expect to post it in a fortnight due to other things I have going on