-Chapter 220-

-Chapter 220-

-3rd POV-

"Ah…ah….ah…"

"Come on, just a little more," murmured Benjen Stark to himself, continuing to run without stopping, even though the sky was already clear and the sun was about to reach its zenith.

"Ah…Lord Benjen…I need…we need…Ah…to stop," said Lancel Lannister, placing his hands on his knees as he struggled to catch his breath.

"No, we must get to Icemark as quickly as possible before the walkers catch up with us," Benjen replied, continuing to move forward, even though he was stumbling with every step.

"No one is following us," said Ser Vylarr, who was also exhausted from the endurance run that had already lasted several hours.

"No one is following us now, but once night falls, it will be a different story," Benjen Stark said, deeming it unsafe to stop with what was pursuing them.

"What do you mean?" asked Lancel Lannister, beginning to panic.

Benjen Stark paused for a few seconds to catch his breath and then said, turning toward the young Lannister and his escort:

"The White Walkers are more active in the dark. I fear they’ll use the cover of night to attack all the fortresses."

"We need to take a break," insisted Ser Vylarr, seeing the state everyone was in.

"We already did. Now move! I can already see the outline of Icemark fortress from here," Benjen Stark said in an authoritative tone, not sparing another glance at the Lannister soldiers.

"What should we do?" a soldier asked, looking at his lord and commander, Lancel.

The latter furrowed his brow, and just as he was about to respond, Ser Vylarr intervened and said:

"We should recover—"

"No, keep moving," interrupted Lancel Lannister.

"But—"

Lancel didn’t even give Vylarr a chance to justify himself, saying in an authoritative tone:

"Ser Vylarr, you are under my orders, so I command you to advance."

"Very well," said the knight after a few seconds of hesitation.

"The sooner we inform the imperial court of what’s happening here, the better our chances of survival," Lancel Lannister said, resuming his run, forcing himself to catch up to the former Hand of the King.

---

-A few hours later-

"Hey, look, there’s something moving," said a Lannister soldier, squinting into the distance.

"Maybe it’s White Walkers, Barth," said another soldier, more focused on trying to make the fire they’d started burn brighter.

"Ouuuh," teased another, blowing near the neck of the first soldier, Barth.

Barth quickly turned around, feeling his companion’s breath, and everyone burst out laughing.

"Hahahahaha."

Barth blushed and said, "Stop joking about things like that. You don’t know if they’re real."

The second soldier, who had been teasing Barth, rolled his eyes and said in a tone dripping with disdain for his companion’s naivety:

"Northerners are pagans. They believe in all sorts of nonsense. It’s just wildlings attacking them, not frozen corpses rising from the dead."

"But the Emperor seems to believe in them," Barth murmured almost to himself, sitting down by the fire and glancing toward the area where he thought he’d seen something move.

"Look, there really is something moving," Barth said suddenly, standing up.

"Oh, stop it, B—"

"Wait, he’s right! Look, there’s someone there," said the soldier who had been mocking Barth just moments earlier, catching the attention of the rest of the group.

Barth drew his sword and ran toward the figures he thought he’d seen moving in the distance.

He was quickly followed by a few companions. The soldier who had previously mocked Barth, now seeing the figures becoming clearer in the distance, warned the group:

"Be careful; they might be enemies."

"They’re one of ours," said Barth, proving he had the best eyesight of the group as he quickened his pace.

Once Barth was close to the first of the newcomers, the only one not wearing red and gold clothing, he tried to support the man, noticing he was utterly exhausted and barely moving with each step.

Unfortunately, the exhausted man collapsed just before Barth could help him and murmured:

"The walkers…"

"What did you say?" Barth asked, leaning closer to the man’s mouth to hear better.

But the man didn’t respond further, having passed out upon hitting the snow.

"Help me! It’s Commander Lancel Lannister," shouted the leader of the small group authoritatively, supporting Lancel Lannister, who was slowly fading.

"The White… Walkers… They’re coming… Warn… the crown," murmured Lancel before losing consciousness entirely.

---

-POV Cregan Snow-

"Commander," shouted one of my lieutenants from the other side of my door. Without waiting for permission to enter, he burst in, clearly panicked, and said, breathless:

"The Lannister soldiers we sent to the Wall have returned… with people."

"People?" I asked, confused, as I couldn’t understand how intruders might have come through the Wall without passing by the fort.

‘Maybe they’re from another fort. It would be inconceivable for them to have come from the other side of the Wall,’ I thought.

"Hmm… Lannister soldiers from another fort? They say that… they say that…" Ulrick stammered, struggling to get the words out.

"What are they saying?" I demanded firmly to snap him out of it.

"They said the Wall has been breached," he finally managed to say.

My heart momentarily stopped before I rose abruptly and asked:

"Where are they?"

"At the infirmary. The apprentice maester is tending to them. They were nearly frozen and exhausted when we found them."

---

-POV Benjen Stark-

I opened my eyes, wrapped in various furs, lying on a bed.

Panicked, I scanned my surroundings, trying to understand where I was and recall my last memories.

‘The Wall,’ I thought, sitting up abruptly, noticing the dimming light outside as night began to fall.

"Where am I?" I murmured, spotting a guard in Lannister armor nearby.

The guard widened his eyes upon seeing me awake, quickly ran to the door, and shouted to another guard outside:

"Hey, call the commander! One of them is awake."

I tried to get out of bed, remembering my mission, but dizziness overwhelmed me.

The guard who had run to the door returned promptly to support me.

He pushed me back down gently and said:

"Don’t move. The maester said if you move before regaining your strength, you might fall into an even deeper sleep and not wake up."

"I’m fine," I replied, though a sharp headache struck me almost immediately.

"I must see your commander at once," I insisted, lightly pushing the soldier trying to keep me in bed, forcing myself upright while gritting my teeth.

At that moment, the door opened, and the commander of Icemark entered the room where I rested.

"Commander Benjen, please stay where you are," he said, motioning for the guard to step back.

"Cregan, you must… you must send a message to everyone. The Wall has been breached by the White Walkers. We failed," I said, gripping his arm tightly to convey the urgency of our situation.

"I’ve already sent a letter to the crown after hearing Lancel Lannister’s account. I also took the liberty of informing all the noble houses of the North about the threat looming over us," he said, placing a reassuring hand on my arm.

‘Perfect,’ I thought, feeling slightly relieved, as this meant all hope was not lost and Aegon could organize a proper defense.

"How did the Wall fall?" he asked.

"I don’t know yet, but I think it has something to do with the Wildfyre," I said, repeatedly recalling the events leading up to the Wall’s collapse.

"You think the White Walkers might have used it to destroy the Wall?" he asked.

I turned to him, surprised, as the thought had never even crossed my mind.

Though I believed Wildfyre was the cause of the Wall’s collapse, I hadn’t considered the possibility that the White Walkers had manipulated it to their advantage.

"It’s possible, but I can’t be certain," I admitted, shrugging slightly.

‘In any case, it no longer matters. What matters now is protecting the Empire,’ I thought.

"What should we do now that they’ve crossed the Wall?" he asked.

I pondered for a moment before responding:

"We need to retreat. I must send letters to Walton Steelshanks and Cat, ensuring everyone regroups at Winterfell. We’ll devise a plan to establish defensive lines stretching miles, slowing their advance as much as possible while the news reaches Aegon."

"Bring Lord Benjen paper and ink," Cregan instructed the soldiers who had accompanied him.

‘Let’s hope time is on our side, and may the gods watch over us,’ I thought, silently praying that fortune would favor us.

---

N.A : I’m stunned by how long it took me to complete this chapter.

I spent nearly 18 hours over three days working on this.

The closer I get to the end, the more it feels like I’m sinking into quicksand.

It’s truly exhausting, and I can’t wait to finish this story.

I’ll try to catch up on my backlog tomorrow.

Thank you for your patience, and sorry for the delay.