"Congratulations, Your Majesty, on unifying the continent of Essos!" This was the phrase Lynd had been hearing the most lately. Ever since the reports from Slaver's Bay had spread to the Wall, no matter where he went, he would hear congratulations from the Night's Watch, the Chosen of the Gods, and the Hand of the Sacred Fire. If the Silent Court could speak, they would probably offer similar congratulations as well.
Although the conquest of Slaver's Bay had little to do with the war at the Wall, the Night's Watch, the Hand of the Sacred Fire, and the rest of the warriors still felt a sense of shared pride.
Lynd welcomed this sentiment, as it showed that even the recently subdued people of Volantis were beginning to see themselves as part of the future empire, and were genuinely pleased by its growing strength.
However, the good mood didn't last long. A war report from the eastern coast soon shattered Lynd's spirits.
The report was straightforward: an Ice Dragon had appeared over the Shivering Sea northeast of Hardhome and attacked a Miracle Fleet patrol. Out of twenty warships, only three managed to escape—thanks to the Storm Priests aboard who summoned strong winds to speed their ships and used storm clouds to obscure them from the Ice Dragon's sight. The remaining seventeen ships were torn apart and sunk beneath the waves.
Since the Miracle Fleet had been founded, it had never suffered such devastating losses. Lynd chose not to make the news public, nor did he summon Stannis and the others. Instead, he gathered his advisors, including Samwell Tarly, showed them the report, and sought their counsel.
After reading the report, everyone exchanged grim looks, their expressions turning heavy.
Though they had long known that an Ice Dragon had appeared beyond the Wall and that it was an ally of the White Walkers, the creature had not yet joined any battle. Over time, they had subconsciously pushed the threat from their minds. Now, seeing how easily the Ice Dragon had destroyed seventeen ships—like a child smashing toys—they were reminded of just how terrifying it was. Scenes of the Ice Dragon appearing on the battlefield at the Wall flashed through their minds, and a trace of fear stirred within them.
Sam took a deep breath to steady himself, then asked with a frown, "Your Majesty, there's something I don't quite understand. Why didn't the Ice Dragon destroy the remaining three warships? Logically, even with the strong winds created by the Storm Priests, the ships' speed couldn't possibly match the Ice Dragon's flight speed. And the storm clouds wouldn't pose any real threat to it either. It should have been fully capable of catching up and destroying the last three ships after dealing with the others. So why didn't it? Why let them go?"
A stream of questions poured from Sam's mouth, gradually helping the assembled advisors calm down and seriously consider his points.
"Could it be that the Ice Dragon intentionally let the three ships escape to spread fear about its power, create panic at the Wall, and break our morale?" someone speculated.
"Impossible," Sam shook his head and said, "While the Ice Dragon is formidable, His Majesty commands dragons as well. Setting aside the Cannibal and the Lava Dragon, Deltos alone is powerful enough to stand against an Ice Dragon. A single raid on the Miracle Fleet won't shatter our morale."
The room fell into silence once more.
After a long moment, the Onion Knight Davos spoke up, "Could it be a diversion?"
Everyone turned to look at the Onion Knight, puzzled. Lynd straightened in his seat and motioned for him to elaborate.
Davos gathered his thoughts before speaking. "When I used to be a smuggler, if the guards were particularly strict, I'd arrange for someone to cause a distraction elsewhere. That way, while the guards were busy, I could smuggle goods into the city." He paused briefly, then continued, "The Ice Dragon's flashy attack on the Miracle Fleet, and its deliberate choice not to pursue the three escaping ships—maybe it's trying to draw our attention to the eastern waters, and then..."
Sam quickly followed Davos' line of thought and added, "Then the White Walkers could seize the chance to focus their forces on Westwatch-by-the-Bridge, capture it before we can react, and open a new route."
Everyone nodded in agreement, recognizing the strong possibility.
"Or... could there be another explanation—that something prevented the Ice Dragon from continuing the chase?"
Suddenly, a woman's voice with a distinct accent from beyond the Wall echoed through the room. Instinctively, everyone turned to look at the speaker, and many couldn't help but reveal admiration in their eyes.
The woman had an astonishingly beautiful face, her golden hair shining like a crown, and her gray-white eyes set in a stunning face only enhanced her exotic allure. Her nearly perfect figure—slender yet full—and her milk-white, flawless skin made her beauty nearly unparalleled. Whenever she appeared among a crowd, all eyes were inevitably drawn to her.
She was Val, Mance Rayder's sister-in-law. When Mance had first introduced her, no one could believe that such a breathtaking woman, with such noble bearing and dazzling looks, was actually a wildling from beyond the Wall. Even someone as highborn as Stannis seemed like a rustic bumpkin standing beside her.
When Lynd formed the temporary advisory council, Mance Rayder brought Val along, asking for her to join the group. His intentions were obvious, but Lynd didn't mind, as long as Val was capable enough to handle the council's various tasks.
In fact, aside from being slightly less sharp than Sam, Val was far superior to the other members. Her only shortcoming was that her methods still bore too many traces of the Beyond the Wall tribes. Though her ways were simple and direct, they didn't quite fit the current environment. It would take some time before she could become as independently capable as Sam.
"Go on and share your thoughts." After hearing the new theory, Lynd looked at Val with interest and gestured for her to continue.
Val stepped forward and spoke fluently, "I don't know if everyone noticed from the battle report, but the Ice Dragon didn't simply give up on chasing the three warships. After sinking seven ships, it immediately pursued the remaining three, only turning back later to sink the others. The report mentions that during the pursuit, every time the Ice Dragon attempted to attack, it would inexplicably stop and fly away from the three warships. It's clear that some force was preventing it from attacking."
"And what do you think that force is?" Lynd asked in a low voice.
"I would like to say it's the power of the Storm God, but..." Val hesitated for a moment before continuing, "it doesn't feel like that. It seems more like... the three ships themselves are affecting the Ice Dragon."
After hearing this, Lynd fell silent for a moment, then ordered detailed information on the three ships to be brought over.
The documents were soon delivered. Lynd carefully examined them and discovered that these three ships were actually early prototypes built for testing, and the material they had been designed to test was the mysterious black oil stone.
The Black Cave had created a range of test equipment— including weapons, armor, ships, and horse tack—using materials suspected or known to contain mysterious powers. These three ships had been constructed specifically to test black oil stone.
The black oil stone used in these ships had been sourced from the ruins of the Valyrian Freehold, and initial tests showed no special properties. Eventually, the ships were incorporated into the Miracle Fleet and, by chance, were assigned to the Shivering Sea, where they encountered the Ice Dragon.
After reading the reports, Lynd couldn't help but think of Euron, the City of the Dead, and the elven White Walker named Peinan.
Sam, after reviewing the documents, thought for a moment and said, "I remember the foundation stones of the Wall were also made of a similar black stone."
Lynd immediately issued orders to the Iron Islands, Oldtown, and other regions possessing similar black stones, instructing them to mine the stone and transport it to the Wall. At the same time, he sent word to the Miracle Fleet stationed at the ruins of Valyria, ordering them to work with the lava dragon Neltharion to mine the black stones there.
In addition, he issued commands to the Stepstones, ordering the deployment of other warships containing black stones to the eastern Shivering Sea, to join the surviving three ships and form a new patrol fleet to continue monitoring the east coast and track White Walker movements.
After signing off on the orders, Lynd dismissed his advisors to their respective duties, then mounted Deltos and flew west toward the Frozen Shore.
As he passed over Westwatch-by-the-Bridge, Lynd surveyed the Frostfangs across the Gorge.
Just as he had expected, the hills opposite the Gorge were now swarming with wights, their numbers so great they covered the entire mountainside.
When Lynd tried to approach, hundreds of ice crystal spears shot up from the ground, aiming to strike him and Deltos from the sky.
However, they clearly underestimated Deltos' power. With a powerful flap of his two pairs of wings, a massive whirlwind formed around them, sending all the incoming ice spears spiraling off course.
Then, Deltos opened his jaws and unleashed a bolt of lightning. It struck a nearby hill, exploding on impact and flattening its summit. The intense lightning crackled outward in chains, using the surrounding wights as conduits to spread even further, quickly engulfing several hills and peaks. Thousands of wights were struck, burned to a crisp without exception, and the ground itself was scorched black.
After venting his fury and wiping out a swath of White Walkers and wights, Lynd landed on the grass near the Westwatch-by-the-Bridge outpost. He immediately met with several of the post's commanders, informing them that this location would soon become a prime target for the White Walkers' assault and warned them to stay vigilant.
The officers all nodded, promising to remain alert and follow Lynd's orders.
Afterward, Lynd checked the supplies stored at Westwatch-by-the-Bridge. Confirming that the stockpiles—especially the wildfire reserves—were sufficient, he left the post and flew toward the coastal waters near the Frozen Shore.
...
Buck Lown was an Ironborn from the Iron Islands. Unlike most of his kin, he never believed in the Greyjoys' dogma that "what is taken by force is better than what is earned." Rather than become a pirate raiding villages and towns on land, Buck dreamed of becoming a true sailor.
Long ago, he stole a multi-sailed longship and attempted to set out on an adventure. Unfortunately, just a few days after setting sail, he was captured by a fleet from Lannisport, mistaken for a pirate, and sentenced to death.
Fortunately, someone helped him escape from the Lannisport garrison's prison. Unfortunately, that someone turned out to be his cousin—an unabashed Ironborn pirate. As a result, Buck was reluctantly drawn into a pirate's life at his cousin's urging.
Later, after Asha Greyjoy conquered the Iron Islands and became its new ruler, Buck was incorporated into Asha's fleet of sea-maidens, serving as a navigator aboard one of her ships. Over the following years, he earned several notable achievements and steadily rose through the ranks until he eventually became the captain of his own warship.
Initially, Buck's ship wasn't assigned to the fleet dispatched to the Frozen Shore, but he volunteered for the mission. He wanted to see for himself what the legendary Frozen Shore was like—and what the White Walkers and wights really looked like.
Now, he had seen it with his own eyes and had even personally manned a catapult to clear out a cluster of wights. His initial wish was fulfilled. Now, his greater ambition was to accumulate enough merit during the war so that afterward, he could travel to Summerhall's Redemption Sept, undergo a full redemption trial, and then apply to join the Sothoryos Expeditionary Force. It was a chance to fulfill his childhood dream of exploring uncharted lands.
"Captain Buck, the flagship is ordering us to approach the shore and launch wildfire jars at the cluster of wights to clear them out!"
Just as Buck was thinking about how to make the most of his wartime achievements, his boatswain burst into the captain's cabin with the urgent report.
"Attack immediately," Buck ordered, quickly regaining his composure.
Following his command, Buck's ship, the Crone, began moving toward the coastline. Several jars of wildfire were loaded onto the catapults, ready for launch. Nearby, six or seven other ships were preparing to do the same, each positioning for an attack.
Just as Buck gave the final order, a dragon's roar suddenly echoed from afar. Moments later, everyone aboard the fleet's ships saw a colossal Ice Dragon descend from the thick clouds above. It was hundreds of meters long, its wings so wide they could blanket an entire section of sea.
With its appearance, a fierce, biting wind swept down from the Land of Always Winter, freezing the surface of the sea almost instantly. A thick shell of ice formed over all the ships, seizing up the catapults' tracks and levers. Even the water itself turned solid, trapping every vessel where it floated.
Immediately after, the Ice Dragon swooped toward the fleet at terrifying speed. As it approached, it opened its enormous maw, and a blinding silver-blue light began to gather inside. An immense force of cold was building—and once unleashed, it would surely annihilate the entire combined fleet of the Miracle Fleet, the Iron Islands Fleet, and the Bear Island Fleet.