The Riverlands 300 AC.
Daemon.
They'd stopped so Lyanax could rest and eat and so they could stretch their stiff muscles out. Daemon watching as Thoros lit a fire and as Shiera walked to the nearby river to wash the dust from her face. Once she came back Thoros offered her some of the dried meat he'd brought with him and Shiera refused, apparently not feeling hungry at all. Instead, she sat looking off into the woods and Daemon felt she wished to be left alone with her thoughts.
Moving beside Thoros he ate the meat and drank the water they'd brought with them, the supplies they had weren't plentiful but they could replenish them at the Wall if need be. All three of them sat quietly and as he looked into the flames he began to feel his eyes grown heavy. So bidding the other two goodnight he wrapped himself in his cloak and lay down, finding himself asleep in moments.
When he woke the next morning it was to the smell of something being cooked and as he looked around he saw Thoros cooking some fish on the fire. After washing in the stream he sat down and was happy to see Shiera eat as much as he and Thoros did. His aunt had not been herself since they'd set out on this journey.
"We'll stop off at the Wall before heading further north." he said and Thoros looked to him and then Shiera.
"Do we know where we're going from there?" Thoros asked.
"I have some idea and Lyanax knows but to be truthful I only know we're heading north to a Weirwood tree." Daemon said.
"We'll see it clearly once we're there." his aunt said and Daemon nodded
After finishing their meal and after asking his aunt if she was ready to fly further, she told him she was and soon they were in the air once more. He felt the weather get colder and knew that they were flying in the North. When he saw the walls of Castle Black finally appear in front of him, Daemon felt a momentary pain in his heart. Aemon wouldn't be there for him to speak to this time, his loss something that he'd not had much time to digest.
Just like he'd been forgotten about in life, Daemon felt the guilt that he'd all but been forgotten about him in death also. Yes, he'd been very busy and not had much time to reflect on anything since Aemon's death, it still didn't lessen the guilt he felt about it. They landed outside the gates and made their way inside, Thoros looking at the poor state of the buildings while Shiera still seemed to be in a world of her own.
For Daemon, though he noticed the difference in how it looked now to how it had before, work had begun on fixing the place up it seemed and he was glad his coin and when it ever arrived, the crowns, was actually helping. The black brother on the gate recognized him from his armor and waved them inside. They were no sooner inside the courtyard than they were joined by the Lord Commander, Jeor giving him a small nod in recognition.
"My prince, we had not expected you."
"Forgive me, Lord Commander, we're just passing. We travel beyond the wall but for now, a warm meal and a place to stay would be most appreciated." he said and saw Jeor look to a man beside him who ran off.
"We'll fix you up some rooms in the King's Tower, as for a meal you've arrived just in time, we'll be eating within the hour." Jeor said looking from him to Thoros and Shiera.
"Forgive me, Lord Commander, may I present my aunt, Shiera Seastar, and my good friend, Thoros of Myr." he said and saw the man's eyes widen when he said his aunt's name.
"Princess." Jeor said stumbling over his words as he looked to Shiera.
"Just Shiera, Lord Commander, I'm no princess." she said and the man nodded.
"Come, I'm sure you want to get inside somewhere warm, the fires are lit in the Common Hall." Jeor said and Daemon and the others followed as he led the way.
The meal they were given was much appreciated and more than anything it warmed them, the stew hearty and Daemon even found himself asking for and getting a second bowl. They sat with Bowen Marsh, Othell Yarwyck, and Jeor himself, the steward, chief builder, and Lord Commander of the watch respectively. Both Othell and Bowen were at pains to tell Daemon of the difference his coin had already done for the watch.
"We've been able to start building work, my prince." Othell said.
"Aye, and the food supplies, gods the lads never had it so good." Bowen said with a smile.
"Has the coin arrived from the crown, Lord Commander?" he asked spooning more of the stew into his mouth.
"Coin, my prince?" Jeor asked confused.
"The king has agreed to match my own coin Lord Commander, I had hoped some would have arrived?" he said and Jeor shook his head.
"We've not been made aware of this my prince, but I welcome it all the same."
"If it hasn't arrived on my return, I'll speak to the Master of Coin when I'm back in King's Landing,".
"I thank you, my prince." Jeor said.
"What more can you tell me of the Free Folk, Lord Commander?"
"Wildings, Savages, we've heard tale they band under a new King Beyond the Wall, a former brother named Mance Rayder." Jeor almost spat.
"Aye, a traitor and oathbreaker" Bowen said.
"Some oaths deserve to be broken." Shiera said softly and whether the others heard her and ignored it or didn't hear, Daemon couldn't be sure.
"I intend to meet with the man." he said to shocked looks.
"Why, my prince?" Jeor asked.
"I've heard disturbing things from beyond the wall, tales of things that defy belief. I intend to find the truth of these tales."
He watched as Bowen and Othell looked to each other, both men seeming to know more than they let on, though it was Jeor who answered and that would be the last they spoke regarding the Free Folk that night.
"I'd be careful around the wilding's my prince, they're untrustworthy and liars." Jeor said and Daemon just nodded and left it at that.
They were taken to the King's Tower and given a warm room, Jeor suggesting that Shiera should stay with them rather than on her own, something or other about someone called Danny Flint which Daemon barely heard. Thoros immediately went to bed and his aunt asked if they could go to the top of the wall. Daemon only too happy to accompany her.
Once they reached the top, Shiera directed him away from the fires and the few black brothers who guarded it. Daemon following her to a cutout point which looked out on the expanse below. The Land's Beyond the Wall, he remembered reading of them as a child, the idea of a wall and lands beyond it not really something he could comprehend then, and the image he'd gotten was nothing like what stretched out ahead of him.
"Those men are fools, Daemon." Shiera said.
"I know, I spoke to them when Aemon passed, asked them and they told me the same things then as they did now, we'll find no friends amongst the Watch when it comes to the Free Folk." he said.
"You still intend to help them?" she asked and he looked to her wondering why she had.
"You need to ask?" he said and saw her smile.
"No, but it keeps me from asking what I must." she said and he nodded.
They stood quietly, both of them looking out on the white snow, the moonlight giving it an even more eerie feel. At times he felt she was on the verge of saying something, telling him some truth or asking for his advice and yet in the end Shiera said nothing. She and Daemon instead heading back down and to their beds after no more than an hour on top of the wall. He noticed though that she didn't sleep that night, his own sleep equally troubled though more because he missed his wife than anything else.
"Get up you lazy sod." he heard Thoros shout at him the next morning
"Go away." he said grabbing the pillow and placing it over his head.
"Daemon, come it's time to eat." Shiera said and he heard Thoros's chuckle as he staggered from his bed.
The morning meal was warm which was the best that could be said for it, Jeor then making sure they were well provisioned when they left. Lyanax seemed eager to fly over the wall and take them to their destination and Damon wondered whether that was a good or bad thing. If he faced what he expected to once they got there then his dragon's confidence he could only hope would fuel his own.
They had been flying for hours when he felt it in the distance, almost like a beacon calling to him and telling him to come. When he then saw the glade and the giant Weirwood in the middle, it was like nothing he'd ever seen before. Considering the things he'd seen and experienced in his life to Daemon that was saying something, but the glade it rested in made the tree seem otherworldly. Yet what most struck him about it as Lyanax landed was the power that resonated off the tree itself, power older and different than some he'd felt before.
It reminded him of the room below the Red Temple in Volantis and of the temple of Balerion in Valyria, Thoros and Shiera seemed unaffected but for Daemon he wished to explore. Something that seemed quite possible when the child moved towards them, her eyes on him and the dragon and not looking anywhere else.
"He said you'd come." the child said and Shiera answered for him, Daemon feeling himself lost looking at the child's golden eyes.
"Brynden is here?" Shiera asked.
"Come, follow my prince." the child said and Daemon felt the spell broken as he looked to Shiera and Thoros who nodded, all three of them following the child into a cave at the base of the tree.
Beyond the Wall 300 AC.
Shiera.
She had been nervous about this ever since she came back to Westeros, each day she'd spent her she'd felt herself aging, the thoughts at first scaring her and then making her happy. It wasn't as if she would suddenly wake up her true self, the magic's in her blood wouldn't allow that to happen. More it was that unlike from the moment she'd hit Essosi shores, her hourglass had been turned over on its side, and no longer did the sands of time affect her.
Arriving in Westeros had seen that righted and while a part of her wondered if she went back to Essos would it stop once more, the larger part of her welcomed it. She would die here in her homeland, and for that she was more than grateful, to see Brynden once more before then would be something she would be less so for. Not that she didn't wish to see the man she had once loved with all of her heart, more in knowing that when she did then his own time would be at an end.
Now walking through the tunnels, looking at the cold earth around her, she felt anger that this was where he had come, this place was where he had sought to end his days. Though nothing could truly compare her for the shock of seeing him in front of her. What had he become she wondered looking at the roots that entangled, no, that grew into him.
"Brynden?" she said softly.
"You came." he said his voice devoid of the passion she knew he was capable of.
"I came, my love, I came." she looked to Daemon and the children, to Thoros, and was glad when they walked from the cavern they were in, leaving her and Brynden alone.
Moving to him, she raised her hand to his face and briefly saw the look in his eye, a look she knew all too well and one that warmed her heart. Leaning forward she brought her lips to his and though he didn't kiss her back, she felt the power that came from him and felt it almost overwhelm her. She moved back from him and looked at him angrily.
"What have you done?" she asked.
"What I must, you must find the one to take my place Shiera, my time is at an end and I've failed in that at least. I'm sorry to put this burden on you my love but I have no choice, time goes on and waits for none of us." Brynden said.
"Why, why did you come here, why did we waste everything we could have had?" her voice was strained and she saw then the sadness in his eye as he looked to her.
"What we had could never last, Shiera, it was like the crimson star itself, beautiful but fleeting. Our love would have melted the Wall, seen man fall and gods die, that we had it for as long as we did is my only comfort."
"I don't understand?" she said shaking her head.
"We each had a role to play, mine here, yours there, and the young man with you is the direct result of that role. For so long I thought I'd failed, I doubted, I lost hope and yet you, my sweet star of the sea, you were forever my strength."
"There is really no other way?" she asked and he smiled at her, the old one-eyed man no longer there but the dashing, fierce, enigmatic man she had fallen in love with was once again in front of her.
"No, not for me, you will live your life and do what I could not, and one day if the gods are kind we'll see each other again." he said "Now I need you to call the boy. We are almost out of time"
She did as he asked and soon Daemon, the child and Thoros were back inside the cavern, Brynden calling Daemon over to him.
"You have done more than I could ever have wished for my prince, but your fighting is only just begun, the rubies, you have them?"
"I have two, Aemon gave me one that Shiera gave him, I found one in the Red Temple in Volantis." Daemon said.
"You need all five, my prince, mine own is yours now, but there remains two. One belonged to the conqueror and the other to the Rogue prince, Daemon's is where Caraxes fell, the other where Rhaenys met her end. Find them, my prince, find them all and when you have them you'll know what you must do."
"I will."
"The three you have will be enough I think for blue eyes, I hope, four will be needed for red and all five for white, find them, find them before he destroys them." Brynden said.
"He?" Shiera asked.
"The Great Other, three champions you must defeat Daemon, the first already makes his way here."
"Then I'll be ready for him when he arrives." Daemon said.
"No, you have to save them, save them before they are lost. I have failed them don't let my death doom them all." Brynden said his voice almost dejected.
"I won't."
"Leaf and her brethren will travel with you, they are no longer safe here. Now leave me with my love, she'll bring you the gem." Brynden said.
She was left alone once again and she moved over to him, Brynden, her Brynden was there facing her and this time when she leaned forward he kissed her back, deeply and passionately. For the first time in almost a century, she kissed the man she loved and felt his lips on hers, his tongue touching her own. When she moved away from him she saw the tear fall from his eye and yet he smiled at her too.
"Death is only the beginning." he said as she took her knife out, her own tears falling freely as she plunged it into his heart.
She felt it like a shockwave, the power inside her taking root and she heard his voice in her head 'A Thousand eyes and one'. Reaching to his neck she took the chain off, the ruby she had given him all those years before still sparkled. Two she had found using the glass candles, why she'd given one to Aemon she could never truly remember, the one to Brynden though was a token of love. Later traveling trough Essos she had found another, though this was of a lesser quality, lesser power.
Taking a last look at Brynden she walked from the cavern to find Daemon with the others, there were less than two handfuls of children, all of them looking almost identical, or perhaps that was just to her.
"We serve you now." Leaf said and she looked at the child confusedly.
"What?"
"You're the Three-eyed Raven until there is another." Leaf said matter of factly and Shiera just nodded as she handed Daemon the chain.
As she watched him put it around his neck she couldn't help but chuckle, three he wore now and it was a funny sight to see. Yet seeing him stagger and then quickly right himself she worried for a moment.
"Daemon?" she asked.
"It's nothing, I just, I feel, it's different." Daemon said.
"Should I be worried, my prince?" Thoros asked and Daemon began to laugh.
"You always worry, why should today be different."
They made their way from the cave and she saw Lyanax land beside them, no sooner were they on her back than she felt something in the distance,, and the need to close her eyes almost overwhelmed her. When she did she was flying, the bird sawing through the sky and a storm was heading there way, a storm coming directly towards the glade.
"We need to go, now, Daemon." she said loudly and Daemon didn't need a second request.
Turning her head she took one last look at the Weirwood and glade, the last resting place of the most amazing man she had ever known.
"Goodbye my love." she whispered her words lost to the wind as the dragon flew onward.
Beyond the wall 300 AC.
Mance.
The journey to Hardhome had been hard and he had feared for his son, and for Dalla having to make it so soon after the birth. Mother told them both though that their boy was strong that he would make it and if Mance was to believe her about the prince then he had to about his son also, didn't he?. Dalla believed so and as they walked and he tried to make it as comfortable for her as possible, he saw the hope she had give her the strength she needed.
For Mance himself, his own strength came from her. When his resolve threatened to leave him or his doubts overwhelm him, Dalla was there to offer him hope, strength, and comfort. He could see it in her eyes how much the idea of the prince meant to her and now here in Hardhome itself, Mance had once again regained his faith. He had always worshipped the old gods but rarely had he prayed to them, since coming here he found himself at the Weirwood tree more than once.
"Please, for her, for the babe, let it be true." he whispered softly as he knelt.
Mother suggested they ready Hardhome in case the cold ones came, her idea of defenses far different than his or Styr's but he had set the men to work on implementing them. Food, wood for heating, freshwater all of this wasn't a problem and he'd sent scouts out to keep watch to the north. Five groups in all as an early warning system, along with the wargs that used birds, Orell's eagle now flying off somewhere past the Antler River and near the Haunted forest itself.
On Val's suggestion, he'd sent some men south too, both looking to see what settlements they could find and to keep watch for the crows. As the days went on he began to worry though that this was a fool's errand he'd taken his people on. Dalla still believed and Mother was resolute but he'd heard the grumbles as he'd drank around the fires. People saying that there was no prince, no such things as dragons, and while things were peaceful here, for now, they were only waiting for the inevitable and the cold ones would come soon.
The stories of the cold ones were enough to put a chill in his bones far worse than the cold winds of the North. Mance had never seen one, he'd heard enough about them though from people he trusted. The Thenns had lost a hunting party to them, all but one and that man had practically lost his mind. Styr though told him the man was true, that it would take something more than they could imagine to make him falter.
"The prince will come, before the week ends he'll be here." Mother said firmly after allowing the grumbles to continue for some time.
"How can you be so sure, Mother, how do we know you're not mistaken?" a Hornfoot asked.
"Once the prince was sworn to the Old Gods, to be their hero in the fight against the cold ones. The prince would have been raised a Snow, to the crows he'd have gone and as one of them, he'd come to us. At first, he'd be lost to us, think us as the crows do, but he'd love, lose, bleed with and for us and eventually each and every man and woman of us would call him king." Mother said.
"We'd kneel?"
"Mance is our king?"
"I'd name no crow, king beyond the wall."
The voices rang out and Mother laughed, looking to him and to Tormund who had said the last line.
"No, King Crow we'd have called him, but king we'd have named him all the same. He'd fight for us, live for us and die for us." Mother said.
"Die?" Styr asked.
"Aye Die, you think the crows would let him help us? Do you think a king follows? They name him their chief and he'd use that power to help us, then after bringing us through the wall, they'd turn on him and come for him in the night. Jon Snow would have died for us, but death for a gods chosen is not forever and soon he'd rise again." Mother said.
"He'd be a cold one, you'd have us follow a cold one?" Harma said with disgust.
"He is chosen by the true gods, not the Great Other, and gods don't bring back their chosen as agents of him." Mother said.
Mance listened on as she told the tale and as a story, it was as good as any, like with most of Mother's tales though it was unbelievable to him. A prince raised as a northern bastard, sent to the wall and rising to be Lord Commander, killed after bringing those the watch considered their enemy through the wall, only to rise again. It was incredible, impossible and it required far too much faith to make it true.
'M ore faith than allowing an old woman to change your plans?'
He heard the voice and though it was his, it was not, softer, scared, hurt, the voice sounded like a man broken and Mance was anything but. When Mother began to tell of the different life the prince had, Mance looked to see that at least it ended the grumbling. Faith was as important as food, water, and shelter to his people, it gave them the strength and will to go on and that would be much needed in the days to come.
Mance rose to his feet and bid them a good night, nodding to Tormund and placing a hand on Val's shoulder as she spoke to Jarl, before he walked to his tent. As he entered he saw his boy asleep in Dalla's arms, the warm furs over them both and he took off his weapons and lay down wrapping his arms around them both. Dalla was still awake and she asked him about Mother's tales, Mance telling her that she'd said the prince would be here within the week and enjoying the smile that came to her face.
'Please gods let it be true' he thought as he fell to sleep.
Three days later he was out fetching wood with Tormund and some others, each man of the Free Folk had their work to do and king or no, he was no different. They had gathered what they needed and were making their way back to the camp when he saw it and Mance was not the only man who fell to his knees as it flew over him. The dragon was huge, as black as the night sky and on it were figures, more than one though he couldn't make out how many.
Leaving the wood behind, they'd get it later, Mance, Tormund and the rest ran to the camp, arriving to see the dragon was already landed. He saw a beautiful woman with silver hair, a man dressed in red with an incredible piece of armor on his chest. With them were children, real children, those of the forest and he could see people look wide-eyed at them. In front of them all stood a man who wore the same armor as the man in red, his though was full and not just on his chest. On his back he carried two swords and his black hair and deep purple eyes identified him even though with the dragon behind him, there was no need.
"My prince." he heard Mother say as she moved toward him "Have you come to save us?"
"I have." the prince said his voice soft but firm and Mance felt the hope in his chest grow as he moved to speak to the prince himself.
Hardhome 300 AC.
Tormund.
The prince was not a big man, though he was a mighty one to control that beast of his, Tormund wondered how he managed it. Seeing it fly over him, watching it as it stood there looking over everyone, none of his people willing to go too close yet all eager to see it, Tormund could help but smile. He had come just as she said he would, and soon he found himself pushing past people with Mance, and then after hearing what the prince said, Tormund had almost knelt once more.
When Mance stepped forward, Tormund watched the red-robed man move a little closer to the prince, though he made no move to his weapon. What was said he didn't know, the children with the prince having grabbed his attention briefly as did the woman who stood by his side. Had she stolen the prince? If so then she was a mighty one too and he found himself smiling at the thought.
"Tormund, round up Styr, Val, Harma, find Rattleshirt and the Weeper, bring them and the rest of the elders to my tent." Mance said and Tormund went to do as he was bid.
Most of them found him, Val and Styr running his way from where they'd been setting up the defenses.
"He's here?" Val asked and Tormund smiled and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Aye, him and his dragon, he's got children with him Val." Tormund said.
"He brought his children?" Styr asked confused.
"No, Children. Children of the forest." he said to shocked looks "Mance wants you in his tent, he's called for a meeting, where's the Weeper and the Lord of Bones?"
"Outside the gates, I'll get them, Styr will help you get the rest of the Elders. The dragon Tormund, you've seen it?" Val asked.
"Aye, bigger than anything I've ever seen bar the wall itself." he said to a smile from the blond as she ran off.
He found Harma quickly enough and most of the elders were with their people, all of them soon walking with him to Mance's tent with excitement and wonder in their eyes. When they saw the dragon he heard the gasps and he chuckled when Harma fell to the ground when the great beast moved. Inside the tent, he watched as the prince spoke to Dalla and looked down on her and Mance's son, a smile on the man's face as he did so.
Soon they were all assembled and the prince took a seat beside the silver-haired woman and the red-robed man. Only one of the children sat with them and he wondered where the others had gone, but his eyes and mind were soon focused when Mance took a seat, Mother sitting beside him and staring at the prince. Mance named each of the elders and chiefs and then the prince spoke.
"My name is Daemon Targaryen, this is my aunt Shiera Seastar and my friend Thoros of Myr. Leaf is one of the children, she'll introduce the others to you later." Daemon said and Tormund looked to see just how young the man was, he'd not seen his twentieth year by his estimation.
"The cold ones rise my prince, my people seek passage through the wall, seek its strength to keep us safe." Mance said.
"I wish I could give you that Mance, truly. But we don't have time for it, they march and soon they'll be here, this is where the fight will be and this is where they'll fall." the prince said to loud voices.
"Silence, let the prince finish." Mother said.
"If we march to the wall, I could get you through, I may not have the authority just yet, but my father would see it done. But they'll come for us when we march and out there we're far more vulnerable than here. I've been sent here by my god and by your own, sent to see the Free Folk live and live you will, on that you have my word." Daemon said looking at each of them.
"What would you have us do, my prince?" Mother asked.
"Here is where we make our stand, so we need to be ready for them. I'll not lie to you, some will fall, but less than would had you marched to the wall, and if we do this right, less than you think. Lyanax will keep the worst from your people Mance, Thoros will help you organize your men, Styr, can your men work with him?" Daemon asked.
"Aye, Daemon." Styr said and Tormund expected to see the prince frown only to find him smiling at his name being called.
"I need someone to work with Leaf and the children?" Daemon asked.
"I'll do it Daemon." Val said and Tormund watched as the prince smiled and nodded at her too, a different sort of kneeler then he thought.
"I'll seek answers in the fires tonight, show you all what we face and how we beat them. When they're beaten, what is it your people want Mance?" Daemon asked and Tormund's head almost spun at the prince's words.
When? He was speaking as if it was a forgone conclusion that he'd beat the army that came for them. Was he a fool? Or was he that confident, Tormund wasn't sure, but he hoped it was the latter.
"We have most of what we need here beyond the wall, Daemon. We raid for that we've not and are hunted by the crows when we do and even when we don't. I'd see my people at peace, see us allowed to grow and live." Mance said to loud ayes.
"You will not kneel?" Daemon asked and Tormund grinned, the prince knew their ways.
"We do not kneel, Daemon."
"Would you be willing to live to an accord?"
"A what?" he asked confused.
"An agreement, a bond between men, one which if either side broke then the other would be owed a debt." Daemon said.
"We have no coin." The Weeper said.
"Not all debts are paid in gold. If I gave you an accord, things you'd agree to, under pain of punishment or even death should you or I break it, would that be acceptable?" Daemon asked.
"You'd not seek to make us kneel, nor to abandon our culture?" Mother asked.
"Do any of you know much about the land's south of the wall?" Daemon asked.
"Aye, it's full of fucking kneelers." Rattleshirt said to laughs, Daemon's included.
"That it is. But amongst those kneelers, different rules apply, true everyone has to kneel to the king and true some rules are sacrosanct."
"Speak fucking normal." a voice said and the prince laughed loudly.
"Too much time among the kneelers for that." Daemon said to more laughs "Your people, each of the clans, there are things you don't allow, things if a man or woman did would lead to punishment, are there not?"
"Aye."
"In the south, these things are called the King's Laws, break them and you face punishment. There are other laws too, stronger laws, the laws of gods, and not men. Here your people live up to those laws, I'd ask you to do the same in our agreement."
"Aye, that we could do." Mance said.
"Our culture, Daemon?" Styr asked once more.
"The North follows the old gods, the South the new, in Dorne they accept Rhoynish culture and me I follow the god of light and shadow, all is acceptable, none is wrong. If it's not for them or me, I'd not see it so for you." Daemon said to nods.
"Aye, we may be able to make an accord, Daemon." Mance said and Tormund smiled when Dalla began handing out the horns, the goat's milk.
"To the prince." Mance shouted.
"To the Free Folk." Daemon shouted back.
Tormund looked keenly at the prince as he drank the goat's milk and barring a small grimace when he first got the taste both he and the red-robed man drank it down. As they left the tent he saw the prince say something to Mance and his king nod and then they were outside and the prince looked around, his eyes landing on his.
"Can you show me the camp, Tormund?"
"Aye, my..Daemon." he said and saw that smile again "Aye, come with me."
As they walked he noticed the silver-haired woman had stayed in the tent with Mance and wondered if that was what he'd asked him for.
"Your woman is safe with us, Daemon, no man will try and steal a woman who's already been stolen."
Daemon laughed as he looked at him "My wife is in King's Landing, my aunt is not mine and I'd pity the man who tries to steal her."
"You didn't ask Mance to protect her?" he asked.
"No, I asked him to allow her to stay with his wife and babe, I'd not see some of your men die, not when we'll need them in the days to come, and trust me Tormund, the man who tries to steal Shiera, would die." Daemon said though it wasn't a threat simple a statement.
"Your beast, Daemon where did you get it and how do you tame something that big?"
"Lyanax is far from tame, A dragon is not a slave, Tormund, they do what they wish and we can only ask and not make them do so, should she decide not to then she wont."
"She'd not help?" he asked worriedly.
"No, she'll help, but only because she trusts me if she did not then not even a god could make her do something she didn't wish. As for where I got her that's a long story." Daemon said.
"Tonight at the fire Daemon, you tell me yours and I'll tell you about Sheila." he said.
"Shiela?" Daemon asked.
"Aye, Sheila." he said grinning.
He found himself looking forward to the night to come, to hear the tales of the prince and his dragon. Just walking with and looking at the boy beside him filled him with more confidence than he knew he had. Daemon seemed undisturbed, unafraid at the thoughts of facing the cold ones, as they walked, Tormund found himself feeling it too.
Hardhome 300 AC.
Thoros.
He didn't know much about the Free Folk, though within a few moments of walking around the camp he learned a few things. They weren't as he'd initially assumed, Dothraki without horses, they were very badly prepared for what was to come and the man walking with him was as different from most of them as Thoros was from him. Styr was the leader of a clan called Thenns and as disorganized as the others were, he and his men were not.
The defenses though were almost non-existent, there were people outside the gate who would need to be brought inside, which would make the cramped cognitions even more so. As they walked Thoros saw caves that were empty and he wondered why that was. They could be used far better to protect people and defend than the wide-open spaces they currently had their tents in.
"Those caves, your people aren't using them why?" he asked pointing at them.
"My people fear the darkness, fear what lays within." Styr said.
"If they saw the light?" he asked and Styr shrugged his shoulders noncommittally.
He walked with the man out the gate and to the end of the camp. Once he got there he began to kick at the ground, the hardness of the frozen ground making it almost impossible to dig into. Wondering if they even had shovels or anything to dig with he asked Styr and found that they did. Next, he walked with the man to the trees, the large area of forest was full of good wood and they'd need a lot of it, stakes, trenches, fire pits, and walls, as he stood looking around he hoped they'd have the time to do all of it.
"What weapons do you have?" he asked and Styr showed him his own Weirwood spear, it's bronze head ornate and Thoros smiled when the man let him touch it.
"You have more of this wood?" he asked and Styr looked at him with a curious look on his face.
"The Weirwood is sacred, only what falls is used, some have bows, a few spears, and some arrows." he said.
"Your men, or others?"
"My men less than fifty, maybe twice that in the other clans." Styr said.
"Can you gather every man or woman who carries something made from this?" he asked and the man called to a young man, someone he later found out was his son Sigorn and told him to do what he bid.
Thoros stopped and looked to the cliffs above, an unsettling feeling coming over him and he resolved to speak to Daemon about it after they looked to the flames. At the edge of the forest, he began to kick trees, Styr and his men looking at him as if he'd lost his mind, which given the large smile he had on his face wasn't the worst guess.
"I need a lot of these, trees, branches, how do you fell them?" he asked.
"Axes."
"I need a lot of them Styr, a hundred or more, all brought to the camp, how quickly can you do it?
"A hundred or more would take days to fell." Styr said and Thoros knew he was right.
"If they had already fallen, they could be moved quickly?" he asked and Styr nodded.
Another thing he'd need to speak to Daemon about, he only hoped that Lyanax would be forthcoming. As he walked back to the camp he could see the amount of older men and women, children, too and they all needed to be protected, he hoped his prince had a plan for that, for he did not. Once they reached the gate and the wooden walls he walked along them and saw they'd need to be shored up, there would need to be trenches built on this side also.
"Fat, do you have any?" he asked when he saw the pigs and other animals.
"Fat?" Styr asked confused.
"For cooking, the.." he tried to think how to put it simply "What comes off the animals, makes the flames rise?"
"I do not know, I can ask." Styr said.
"Thank you."
As they walked back to Mance's tent, Thoros was eager to tell Daemon and then for him to give out the orders. Also to come with him to the caves and make them liveable, Styr looked at him, a question it seemed on the tip of his tongue.
"He won't abandon you or your people, Styr, if you fall, he'll fall with you." he said seeing the look on the man's face change.
"Why?"
"I thought the one called Mother told you?"
"Aye, she says he's the Promised Prince." Styr said.
"He is, many years ago he came to my land, since then I've seen him do incredible things, Styr. I've seen him walk places where no living man has dared to walk, wake dragons from stone and I'll see him shut blue eyes forever." Thoros said and Styr smiled.
"We will, together." Styr said slapping him on the back "Come let's drink."
The offer was tempting, the goat's milk was vile stuff but it warmed you and in this cold place very little else did. He had to decline though, there was work to do and until tonight he'd not know how much time they had. Styr, funny enough seemed happier he had said no, the man walking back to the king beyond the wall's tent with him. Thoros was disappointed to find that Daemon wasn't there, so instead, he walked inside to speak to Shiera.
Daemon's aunt had been quiet since they'd left that cave, killing your lover no doubt the cause of it, but there was more going on and she hadn't yet confided in Daemon either. The children seemed drawn to her also, Leaf and her brethren watching her when she sat. As he entered the tent though he saw her smile as Dalla held her babe and the little boy played with Shiera's fingers, Thoros glad to see the woman happy once more.
Hardhome 300 AC.
Val.
A child of the forest, she was actually waking the camp with a child of the forest. Leaf drew as much attention from their people as the prince's dragon did. While the dragon itself was a mythical creature, to the Free Folk the children were things of legend. To see not just one but six amongst them gave them as much hope as Daemon's arrival had.
Leaf walked silently with her, her eyes everywhere, and then all of a sudden the child stopped and smiled, Val looking to see what it was she was smiling at. Ahead of them, there were some of their own children playing, the little ones using acorns they'd stolen from their mothers to play some game or another. As Val looked closer though it wasn't the children that Leaf was looking at, instead it was the acorns they held in their hand.
"You have more of those?" she asked pointing in the direction of the children, though thankfully Val had realized what she was interested in or the next few moments would have been embarrassing.
"Some of the women may, there is a grove, not many miles from here.
"Take me, we need as many as we can get." Leaf said and Val looked at her.
"Why?" she asked.
Leaf walked over to the children and gave the child something for one of the acorns, walking back with it in her hand.
"Take me and my brothers and sisters, I'll show you why." Leaf said and Val nodded, sending Jarl to fetch some more men, she'd not leave the camp without a large group.
If she thought walking with one child brought the camp's attention onto her, walking with several did so even more. Some people even running to ask them if they were leaving them when they saw them walk out the gate, Val putting their minds at ease and telling them they'd return. They were perhaps a mile or so from the camp when she could bear it no longer. Leaf had been speaking to the other children in a way she didn't understand. Their voices high pitched and almost like a song to her ears and yet she sensed the excitement in them too and Val needed to know why.
"Will you show me now?" she asked and Leaf looked at her, then around them to see there was nothing but the empty ground.
Leaf nodded and then closed her eyes, Val looking to see her fist was balled up and she was squeezing something inside of it. When she opened her eyes she looked to her and then smiled before opening her fist. In it, she held a glowing orange ball, Val for a moment not sure where it had come from. Then she watched as Leaf through the ball further than Val believed she'd be able to.
"An acorn." she heard and then there was a flash of orange fire and ice being thrown up as if it was a snowstorm.
"You did that, with an acorn?" Val said as they walked to where the acorn had landed, she saw that the area around them was now clear of ice and the ground underneath scorched as if it had been set on fire.
"Aye, we need more." Leaf said simply.
Val didn't need to be told twice after that, almost hurrying them to the grove and the acorn trees. She sent her men to gather as many as they could that had fallen and was readying to send others to climb and collect them when as one the children climbed the trees. Watching them move was like nothing she'd ever imagined let alone thought about, they moved like the fastest squirrels she had ever seen. Val looking on as they glided on branches that shouldn't have been able to bear their weight.
At one point she looked up to see Leaf walking on a branch that was no more than a twig, the child balancing on it as if she placed no weight on it at all. Beneath her, the branch didn't even sway or move and as Val looked on acorns began to fall from each of the trees around them. It took them a number of hours until the children seemed happy, her men using their packs, britches, furs, anything they could to gather the acorns, excitedly now they'd seen them work.
"Is that enough?" she asked as they walked back to the camp.
"No, but we know not how much time we have." Leaf said.
"If we have more time you'll come for more?" she asked.
"We will."
"Can we use them?" she asked and Leaf handed her an acorn, looking at her and telling her to do as she had done.
Val closed her eyes and that was it, she had no real idea what the hell she was doing. She was about to open her eyes and say something when she heard Leaf's voice telling her to throw. Without thought she did as the child had said and waited for the sound of the acorn hitting the ground, only to hear a sound of laughter instead.
"What the hell?" she said to the laughing children, Leaf being the loudest of them all, the others bar one still laughing at her, while that one had gone to grab the acorn.
Leaf said nothing and as the other child ran back to them just reached out her hand and was handed another acorn. Val looking on as Leaf closed her eyes and fist and then opened both to reveal the orange ball before handing it to her. Val held it in her hands, no warmth or feeling, or anything other than an acorn in them, yet she could see the orange ball clearly.
"Throw." Leaf said and Val nodded and did as she asked.
The ball of fire landed far closer to them than it had when Leaf had thrown her own and Val had to shield her eyes from the ice that had been thrown up.
"You cannot make them, nor throw them, you need slings so they'll travel and not damage you or your people." Leaf said.
"Slings?" she asked and Leaf nodded to one of the other children who came holding a strip of leather tied between some sort of wood.
It took some time for Leaf to show her how to use it, then placing an acorn in it she told her to throw it as far as she could. Val pulled the leather back and then let go, the acorn flew thrice the distance it did last time, Leaf once again sending one of her brothers or sisters to bring it back.
"We do not waste." Leaf said simply as Val looked at the sling and saw how simple and easy it was to make, before wondering what else they could aim with it.
They were almost back at the camp when she noticed it, had the child not taken it from her hip she would not have. The knife was as black as the night and she recognized it, it was the same as the ones she had in her tent. They'd found a bag of them on the Fist of the First Men, others had thought them nothing but Val had kept them for some reason and now as she looked at it in the child's hand she felt excitement brewing within her.
"That knife, is it important?" she asked as she directed Leaf to where she was looking, the child taking out her own.
"It kills the masters, the ones made from ice." Leaf said simply and Val almost cheered loudly.
"I have some, twenty or more, arrowheads too. I found them at the Fist." she said and Leaf looked at her, a smile on her face.
"Bring them to your king, they will be needed in the fight to come."
After leaving Leaf back and racing to her tent, she found the cloth the knives were wrapped up. She quickly grabbed them up and brought them with her to Mance's tent. Val had no idea what had made her keep them, it had her wondering now if it was the old gods who'd acted through her. Had they guided her knowing that these would be needed one day? She didn't know, what she did know was that she was glad she kept them. Glad of that and that the prince and children had come to them.
Hardhome 300 AC.
Daemon.
Women, children, old people, for as many fighting men and Spearwives as Tormund called the women, they had twice as man people who couldn't fight. Thoros would give him a better idea of their defensive strengths and where they needed to work but as he weighed up their strengths and weaknesses when it came to fighters he could already see problems. Those who couldn't fight would need to be protected and to do that they needed to be gathered together.
They couldn't be spread all around the camp, he needed fighting men and women outside and them inside. Stopping he bent down and picked up a stick from the ground, looking at the ice he began to draw. Circles with circles inside and locked in a box, around the box he drew X's, and by the time he'd finished Tormund and his men were standing looking at him.
"What is that?" Tormund asked pointing to his crude drawings.
"The children, the old, the mothers who can't fight and fathers too ill to pick up weapons, we can't have them spread out, the cold ones will pick them off and add them to their army. Men who need to fight them will rush to protect those who cannot and soon we will all fall." he said and Tormund nodded before he then got an angry look on his face.
"You mean to abandon them?" he asked her anger even more clear.
"No, I mean to save them." he said and Tormund looked at him abashed.
"How?"
"We put them here." he said pointing to the innermost circle "Men here and here, we protect them, to get to them they'll have to come through us." he said and Tormund smiled.
"Back to back in a circle, like men on a hunt." Tormund said and though he wasn't sure exactly what the man was saying, he nodded anyway.
As they were finishing up, Daemon was now sure the strengths he had outweighed the weaknesses, he saw the caves and felt drawn to them. But as he moved to them Tormund grabbed him pulling him back.
"No Daemon, we do not go into the dark places." Tormund said and Daemon laughed.
"My god is the god of light and shadow, where I walk I walk with him and in his light." he said taking Flame and Spark from his back.
He closed his eyes and the swords lit up, the flames not as bright as they could be but he heard the surprised noises from all those around him.
"Are you coming?" he asked and Tormund nodded, though the others still hesitated.
"Are you true men of the North or southern kneelers, the prince lights the way." Tormund said and as one the men began to follow.
The caves were dark, but Flame and Spark led the way, and once inside and you could see them for truly what they were, Daemon began to smile. He closed his eyes and found a bat at the back of the cave, in its deepest darkest part, and with it began to explore some more. Pretty soon he knew it all, the large caverns with their hot and cold pools, that there was one way in and out and nothing to fear but the fear of the unknown.
When he saw the walls though he found himself amazed, the Free Folk were sitting on a vast amount of wealth, tin, copper, gold, some gems he knew not, and most importantly Dragonglass. The rest could wait until they had beaten the army which marched for them. The kingdom beyond the wall would be a boon to the rest of the kingdoms and the Free Folk themselves, but only if they survived the fight to come.
"This." he said picking up a chunk of dark black rock "This we need." he said and told them to close their eyes for a moment.
Flame and Spark lit up even more. The light shining far back into the cave and when Daemon felt it safe for the men to open their eyes he told them, giving them a warning first.
"Don't look into the light I hold, look beyond at the cave, the walls." he said and heard Tormund say he'd not look to the light.
The walls were black as far as the eye could see, Dragonglass, and while not a mountain of it like he knew there was on Dragonstone, it was enough for what he needed. They didn't have the tools to mine it, shape it into weapons or use it conventionally, but then the enemy they were facing was anything but conventional and Daemon's mind began to whirr with the possibilities.
It was dark by the time he made it back to Mance's tent, the beginnings of a plan forming in his head. He saw that Thoros and Leaf were back too, both of them looking far happier than they had been. Entering the tent he walked to his aunt, Shiera also looking happier than she had been since they'd left the glade and Bloodraven.
"You seem better?" he said and she nodded.
"I've calmed the voices in my head, I know now who and what my purpose is."
"Which is?"
"To pass on the power I have, to teach and train the next Three-Eyed Raven." she said.
"You know who it is?" he asked.
"Your son." she said and he looked at her shaking his head.
"I'll not let any child of mine turn into that….that thing." he said almost shouting.
"He won't, I swear it Daemon, he carries your blood. Just like you're the only one who can be who you are, he's the only one who can carry this power and not turn into what Brynden did. He will live a normal life Daemon, he'll just never be normal, just like you are not." Shiera said.
He was about to argue when he felt it in his head, it was time, turning to Mance who had run into the tent at his outburst he asked him to gather the elders. He'd speak to his aunt later after he spoke to his god, he was giving enough of himself to change the fate of the world, he'd not give his blood up too. As they waited Leaf told him about her day and what she had found and then Tormund did likewise. Daemon looking at the weapons Val had found and the slingshot she'd made and feeling the ideas crystallize in his head.
Soon enough they were all gathered and he wondered what they'd see. Would his god share his vision with them all, or would he just allow his chosen and his priest to see it? The small fire that burned in Mance's tent would soon give up all the answers, Daemon taking his knife out and holding it in his hand as he moved towards it.
"Don't be afraid of what you may see, it's not happening now." he said and cut his hand, the blood falling into the flames.
The army was huge, it dwarfed the Free Folk that faced it, the sheer scope of it more than anything he had expected. Amongst it, there were differences though, dead men too but different. There were men of ice, their blue eyes a little bluer, a little more light shining in them and then there was one whose eyes were the bluest of them all, one who the others moved around and who wore a crown of ice itself.
On the cliffs over Hardhome, they stood, and then as one, they began to fall, rising again once they did and the defenses they'd worked painstakingly on were beaten from the inside. Those who'd faltered on the outer now found their pathway clear and all around them people fell. Men, women, children, the dead were indiscriminate and those who fell rose again, their eyes now blue. Then they too began to fall, a group here, a group there, until finally the men of ice were no more and only the one with the crown was left.
Daemon watched as the flames of his swords hit the ice of the other's, as fire met ice and finally as fire prevailed, the dead all falling at the one with the crown, the leader, the Night King fell also.
As the flames died down he looked to see the horrified looks on the elder's faces, the Free Folk chiefs, and Mance himself shocked by what he saw. All of them looked shaken, even Thoros did, yet Shiera and Mother Mole did not, Daemon smiling as he looked at them and seeing them both nod.
"The future is unwritten, ever-changing, and the one thing in this world we can control. We cannot change our past, we've yet to live our future though and so that we can. What you saw is possible, not definite, and now we know what their plan is, we know how to beat them, and we will. You saw me kill the Night King, but in that future, it cost too much, I give you my word we'll not pay that heavy a price, I swear it to you on Fire and Blood."
He had a moon, one moon to ready himself, to ready them and to fight the first champion of the Great Other, as he felt the rubies on his chest warm he felt his god's presence.
" You are my chosen, Daemon, show him why that is." R'hllor said in his head.
" In your name, I will." he said softly and felt R'hllor's pleasure.