Chapter 35: Blackfyre's Echo, the Raven's Gaze, and Winter's Deepening Wards
The reign of King Aerys I Targaryen, overshadowed by the quiet diligence of his Hand, Brynden Rivers, was a period of uneasy peace for the Seven Kingdoms, a peace punctuated by the ever-present threat of Blackfyre resurgence from across the Narrow Sea. In the year two hundred and nineteen After the Conquest, that threat materialized once more. Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers, his hatred for his Targaryen kin unquenched by years of exile, landed in the Stormlands with Haegon Blackfyre, Daemon's third son, and the formidable Golden Company at their backs. The Third Blackfyre Rebellion, though ultimately doomed to failure, sent another tremor of violence through the realm.
From their Northern fastness, the immortal Starks observed with their customary detached vigilance. Warden Jonnel Stark, his public persona that of a Northman in his prime despite his true age now well exceeding a century, received the calls to arms from King Aerys's loyalists with polite but firm refusals. The North, he declared, while loyal to the Iron Throne, was beset by its own harsh winter and the ever-present threat of wildling incursions; its strength was needed to guard its own vast borders. This was the now-traditional Stark response, a carefully maintained facade of regional preoccupation that masked their true, global concerns.
The hidden council – Jon, Beron the Elder, Edric, Torrhen, Brandon, Rickard, Cregan, Jonnel himself, and his son Beron the Younger – analyzed the rebellion with cold precision. "Bittersteel is relentless," Cregan noted, his image in the obsidian mirror sharp and focused. "He learns from each failure. The Golden Company is a hardened force. This rebellion, while likely to fail given Bloodraven's preparations, will bleed the South further."
"And Bloodraven," Jon's ancient voice added, "will use it to consolidate his own power, to root out dissent with even greater ruthlessness. His 'thousand eyes and one' will be everywhere."
This was the greater concern for the Starks: Bloodraven's increasingly pervasive intelligence network and his own formidable sorcerous abilities. While the North's physical remoteness and magical wards offered significant protection, Jon knew that a mind like Brynden Rivers' would be endlessly intrigued by any anomaly, any whisper of power that did not conform to known patterns.
Edwyle Stark, Beron the Younger's son and the tenth immortal of their line, now in his early thirties and fully integrated into the council, played a crucial role in their counter-intelligence efforts. His bond with Umbra, the amethyst Pentoshi dragon, had deepened into a profound psychic partnership. Umbra's empathic abilities allowed Edwyle to sense the subtle intentions and emotional states of those they observed from afar, while her telepathic reach, though limited by distance and shielding, could sometimes intercept stray thoughts or project disorienting illusions. Together, they became the council's primary tool for monitoring Bloodraven's potential scrying attempts or the activities of his agents near Northern borders, weaving a complex tapestry of magical misdirection and mental static that kept the Hand's gaze clouded. It was a silent, unseen duel of sorcerous wits, a game of shadows played across hundreds of leagues.
The other two Pentoshi dragons, Lumen and Kratos, continued to develop their unique abilities under the guidance of Rickard Stark and his father Brandon. Lumen, the dragon of light, whose scales shimmered with an inner radiance, proved to be a powerful force against shadow and illusion. Its breath, a concentrated beam of pure, cleansing light, could dispel dark enchantments and even cause physical pain to creatures of unnatural origin. Rickard began to theorize that Lumen's light, if properly focused and amplified by the Grand Philosopher's Stone, could be a potent weapon against the Others themselves, or at least their wight minions. Kratos, the earthen dragon, whose bond with the ancient Torrhen Stark (now long "deceased" but a pillar of the hidden council) was one of stoic companionship, demonstrated an incredible ability to manipulate stone and earth. At Torrhen's direction, Kratos assisted in the secret fortification of Wyvern's Eyrie, sealing ancient, unstable tunnels, reinforcing cavern walls with its immense strength, and even helping to carve new, hidden chambers within the mountain's heart.
The Third Blackfyre Rebellion ended as the Starks had predicted: with Haegon Blackfyre slain, Bittersteel captured (though he would later escape en route to the Wall, a fact Bloodraven would undoubtedly find infuriating), and the rebel army shattered. King Aerys I, still largely engrossed in his books, left the grim business of justice and retribution to his Hand. Bloodraven's methods were thorough and brutal, further deepening the divisions within the realm.
Aerys I's reign itself ended a few years later, in 221 AC, his death unmourned by many. His youngest brother, Maekar I, a stern, capable, and often harsh warrior who had long chafed under Aerys's and Bloodraven's rule, ascended the Iron Throne. Maekar was a different kind of king – a proven battle commander, a disciplinarian, and a man determined to restore the Targaryen dynasty's martial prestige. This shift in leadership in King's Landing prompted a reassessment by the Stark council.
"Maekar will be less tolerant of perceived weakness or defiance than Aerys," Beron the Elder observed. "His gaze will be sharper, his demands perhaps more direct. Our Warden will need to tread carefully."
That Warden would soon be Beron the Younger. Jonnel Stark, his public reign having spanned several decades, his true age now approaching one hundred and thirty, was preparing for his own "passing." The glamours of advanced age were settled upon him, his public appearances carefully managed to project an image of a wise but fading patriarch. His son, Beron the Younger, was already recognized throughout the North as a capable and experienced leader, having served as Jonnel's right hand for many years.
Edwyle Stark's own children were now young. His eldest son, Willam, a boy of ten, was already showing the faint, unmistakable signs of the Stark Spark – an intuitive understanding of animals, an uncanny resilience to the cold, a quiet, watchful intelligence that belied his years. Arsa Stark, Edwyle's sister, now a powerful nature warden in her own right, her true age nearing sixty though she appeared timeless, took a keen interest in young Willam and his younger sister, Lyarra (named for Jonnel's sister), guiding their early connection to the natural world and the old magic of the North. The generational cycle of nurturing potential immortals continued with meticulous care.
Jon Stark's grand project, the creation of the "Resonance Dampeners" to counter the "Heart of Winter," moved into its construction phase. This was an undertaking of breathtaking scale and complexity. Using the Grand Philosopher's Stone, Jon directed the transmutation of vast quantities of common Northern granite into flawless, miles-long obsidian conduits, which were then secretly laid along major ley lines converging near the Wall. At these convergences, colossal resonating chambers were carved deep beneath the earth, their walls lined with Starksteel and intricately patterned weirwood, each designed to house a "Heartstone" – a massive, perfectly tuned crystal grown over years from the Stone's own essence.
The Stark dragons played a crucial role. Kratos, the earthen wyrm, helped to excavate the vast underground chambers. Adamas and the other fire dragons provided the controlled, intense heat needed to fuse and shape the Starksteel components. The "dragon song" itself, the harmonized roars of all eleven dragons, was used to attune the Heartstones and the obsidian conduits to the precise vibrational frequencies Jon had calculated would disrupt the Others' connection to their power source. It was a symphony of arcane engineering, elemental magic, and draconic power, all orchestrated by Jon's ancient, formidable intellect. The first prototype Dampener, hidden deep beneath a desolate Frostfangs peak, was nearing completion, its activation a perilous experiment that Jon planned to oversee personally.
Arya Stark, her spirit now almost one with the ancient weirwood network, delved ever deeper into the legacy of the Children of the Forest and the First Men. Her communion with the lingering Children's spirits had become a true dialogue. They revealed to her the locations of several long-forgotten First Men strongholds beneath the snows, places where runic magic of immense power still slumbered. They taught her the principles of this ancient magic, different from Flamel's structured spells or Valyrian sorcery – a magic of names, of pacts with the spirits of stone and ice and wind, a magic that could bind and ward and endure for millennia. Arya, with Lyanna, Serena, and Lyarra, began the painstaking work of rediscovering and reawakening this lost Northern heritage, seeing it as another vital layer in their defense against the Long Night. They started by reinforcing the ancient runic wards on Winterfell itself, a task that took years of quiet, unseen effort.
In Essos, Bittersteel, having escaped Bloodraven's clutches, was once again rallying the remnants of the Golden Company and seeking new Blackfyre pretenders. The threat was perennial. Finnan's network reported that Bloodraven's spies were also increasingly active in Essos, hunting Blackfyres and counteracting Bittersteel's schemes. It was a shadow war fought across continents, one the Starks observed with keen interest, always wary of any spillover that might threaten their interests or their secrecy.
The immortal council, now a venerable assembly whose youngest member, Edwyle, possessed decades of lived experience beyond his youthful appearance, reflected on the changing world. They had seen the zenith of Targaryen dragon power, its fiery self-destruction in the Dance, the uneasy peace of Aegon III, the martial folly of Daeron I, the pious eccentricities of Baelor I, the scholarly detachment of Aerys I, and now, the stern, martial ambition of Maekar I. Through it all, they had endured, their own power growing in the silent, frozen heart of the North.
"Each Targaryen king presents a new face, a new challenge," Torrhen Stark mused, his voice echoing from the obsidian mirror, his true age now nearing two centuries. "But their fundamental nature, their Valyrian ambition, their reliance on overt power, remains. Our strength lies in our patience, our secrecy, our deep roots in the ancient magic of this land."
Jon nodded. "Maekar will be a strong king, perhaps a harsh one. He will seek to restore Targaryen prestige. He may look north with renewed interest, seeking to bind us more closely to his Iron Throne. Warden Jonnel, and soon, Warden Beron the Younger, must be prepared for this. Our veil of Northern simplicity and rugged independence must be maintained flawlessly."
His gaze turned inward, towards the immense magical calculations that consumed his ancient mind – the Resonance Dampeners, the Heart of Winter, the cosmic cycles. The games of southern kings, the Blackfyre rebellions, even the formidable Bloodraven, were but distractions, fleeting storms on the surface of the deep ocean of time. The true enemy was the eternal cold, the endless night. And against that, only an equally eternal, equally unyielding, fire of winter could prevail. The Starks were that fire, hidden but burning ever brighter with each passing generation, their vigil absolute, their resolve unbreakable.