The Burnt Prince- GOT SI Ch.40

Chapter 40

EDDARD STARK

Eddard Stark watched the gates to the True North open as the Fremen rushed towards them, the storm behind them sending its chill all the way to the wall. The cold, it was not natural anymore. It ignored the fires, the thick wools and penetrated to the bones.

“Are you sure about this, Ned?” Jon questioned, as they looked into the distance at both the storm and the hoard rushing towards them.

He could shut the gates even now. One order, that was all it would take. And they would all be safe, but thousands would be dead. Hundreds of thousands, of people.

“I am,” he said as he looked towards Jon.

“Has the letter been sent?” he asked, knowing that it was imperative that the King learnt of this at once and had asked for the fastest raven from the rookery to be dispatched.

“I saw the crow fly out myself. The maester believes it will reach Kingslanding by the night,” and that would be too late.

And he looked in the distance and watched the Fremen racing towards the Wall, as f an army trying to crash into them as the Black brothers behind him grew nervous. All their lives they had grown up considering these people to be their enemies, they had fought them, killed them.

But now as the Fremen rushed towards them, he had made them open their gates. Leaving them all defenceless.

“We cannot wait too long,” he said as he turned towards the training ground where the men of the Nights Watch were gathering, each of them nervous and looking towards him and Jon Arryn for guidance.

And as Eddard made his mind, he stepped forward and watched as all eyes turned towards him as he beckoned Jeor to his side, and whispered an order in his ear, taking a gamble.

“I know all of you here have questions, about why I have ordered you to open the gates,” he began and saw Jon frown as Jeor ran off with a few of his men in a hurry.

“Especially as the Fremen march towards you in abandon, but I do this for the truth is that the Fremen are not our enemies. Not really. Not now,” he began and saw Jon’s eyes widen as murmurs and whispers broke out amongst the gathered men.

“Thousands of years ago, Bandon the Builder built this wall. House Stark and the men of the Kingdom have been manning this war for thousands of years but not to guard the realm from the Fremen. No, this wall was not built to keep out the Fremen,” and he saw many eyes widen.

Of course there would have been rumors. The men of the Nights Watch must have heard the rumors and the stories, they must have wondered why the King was pouring so much gold into an order as broken and reviled as the Night’s Watch.

And as he looked at Jon he gave the old man a nod, as he stepped forward and joined him. As the Lord Commander it was his tale to tell.

“The true purpose of the Wall and the Night’s Watch was to protect the realm from the Great Evil that slumbered away in the True North, the very evil that the men of flesh and blood defeated and pushed back in the Age of Heroes, during the First Battle of the Dawn,” and he let those words sink in.

The First Battle of Dawn and the Age of Heroes, these were tales that all of these men would have heard, they would have been told of it by their mothers, and their grandmothers.

They would have heard them as stories, and now he would show them the truth.

And as Jeor and his men dragged one of the boxes to the training ground the men backed off, as Eddard stepped down into the yard, as the muffles screams of the monster chained inside it made the men scamper away in fear.

“The true enemy, the one that is coming for the Fremen rushing to the war is death. Death that would wake them all up and turn them into its ow weapon....” and with that he gave the man a nod, and the door to the massive wooden box was opened, and that same blue eyed skeletal monster jumped out at him.

“AHHHHHH!” it screeched as the men around him gasped in fear.

“Heathen!”
“DEATH!”
“It’s a walker!”

He let them see it, see its bones, its ferocity as it tried to claw at him as Eddard let the murmurs die down, leaving behind only the monsters screeches before he spoke once more.

“And as we stand here thousands of thee very monsters chase after the Fremen trying to turn them into a soldier of the dead. This battle. This war, it is not between Fremen and Nights’ Watch. No this is a war between the Dead and the living,” he screamed ashe reached into his side and reached for the Dragonglass sword.

“But fear not, for the King has been preparing us for it for years,” and with that he swung his blade at the monster and cut off its head in one single swing, and as it rolled to his feet he looked at the men.

“Regular steel does nothing to them. And that is why for years now all of you have been given Dragonglass weapons, to prepare you for this very moment!” he shouted and saw the men reaching for the Dragonglass weapons on their belts.

“And today is the day you use them. As we stand here death marches towards the Fremen, and if it devours them it will turn them all into its soldiers, bulking up its own army. I need volunteers. Men. Brave men, who shall ride forth and face this absolute menace, hold it back to buy us time to save as many men, women and children as we can.” And that was his plan.

At the rate the dead were moving, the Fremen would be caught soon. Despite their numbers they were not an assembled army, and if he let the storm devour them, the army of the dead would be gaining a hundred thousand soldiers.

He had to stop that.

The Fremen had Dragonglass weapons of their own, but they were not nearly as much as the Noghts’ Watch had. And if they were to stop the army of the dead from devouring them all whole, they needed to battle them.

“You will probably be riding to your death. There will be no retreat. But you will be going out there for a greater purpose. Your will be riding out of this castle for no lord, no King. You will ride of of here for humanity, for all of humanity. You shall be doing the very thing you promised to do,” he finished warmly.

“Guarding the realm of men from all evil, from the greatest evil of them all....”

“The Evil of Death itself,” and at the end there was silence, as Eddard bit his lip as the unmoving remains of the white walker lay there at his feet.

And then someone stepped forward, but not from the men infront of him. But from beside him, and he watched as Jon Arryn stepped forward much to his surprise.

“I have served alongside many of your for more than decade, I have shared my bread and mead with you all through the coldest of nights, shared tales of glorious battles besides a fire. And have led you all as your lord commander for years. I have kept my watch, and though I am weak and old, I will keep it for one day more, whether it be with you lot or alone,” and with that Jon turned towards him and have him a smile and with a slap on his shoulders moved past him as he called forth.

“Get my horse ready!” and with that, a slew of men stepped forth.

“Mine as well,” they shouted, as they all slapped his shoulder as they moved past him.

“Let me see this death for myself,” and then a flood followed as more and more men came forward, each of them calling for their weapons and their horses, as Ned stood there and as he looked up he found the yard empty, as the Night’s Watch reared for battle.

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MANCE RAYDER

Mance Rayder ran in the middle as the Fremen ran towards the wall in abandon and desperation. The attack from the White walkers and the Night King’s army had been unexpected and had completely caught them all off guard.

And as his men, ran towards the Wall he could see the weak, the old giving in as either their age or the cold got to them, and yet he ran. He continued to run as the storm chased after them.

No. It was less of a storm. It was more of an army. One made up of thousands and thousands of undead rushing towards them with abandon, as they crushed and tripped over their own while running towards them.

“The gates! The gates! They are opening up,” the scream made him look straight ahead as he grabbed the far eye from Val and began to look ahead and indeed, the gates were being opened.

The gates to the lands beyond the Wall were opening up, and his heart eased at that as he looked at Val, and saw her eyes glinting as she smiled.

“They have not abandoned us. The Kneelers and the Crows! They have not abandoned us!” and that was his own greatest fear, even as he had called for the men to make for the Wall he had feared the worst.

He had no idea whether they would let them in or not. But the man, the Stark lord he was an honorable man, one who understood the danger of the true enemy coming for them.

“RUN!” he screamed as he used up all the air in his lungs.

“THE GATES! THEY ARE OPEN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!” and with that he saw the pace increase as those who were beginning to feel hopeless, pushed forth, suing all their strength to continue on and yet they would not make it.

The enemy was far too close.

And as he looked back and calculated the distance, he knew that the enemy would devour them all before they would reach the wall. And so, he had to do something, if not for himself then for the thousands who had named him King.

“Mance! Look,” Val pointed, and he did and saw Crows pouring out of the gates, and as he took up the far-eye, he saw hundreds of them ride forth, and his heart nearly gave out at that sight.

Had he been wrong. Were they trying to kill them before they reached the wall, but then his eyes landed on the man leading them. The Lord Commander, the old man stood at the front and he saw the man reach into his belt as he took out a blade and the men behind him did the same, and yet the blade was not steel.

No. It was of the same kind that was strapped to his side. It was Dragonglass, and as the implications of that dawned on him Mance felt his heart burn in passion as he saw them ride forth. And seeing that he made up his own mind.

“Val!” he called for his good sister and handed her back her far-eye.

“Lead them well. I leave it all to you!” and as she frowned at those words Mance slowed down, as he began to speak.

“MEN OF THE TRUE NORTH!” his shout reverberated across the clearing.

“SPEAK OF MY MESSAGE TO THOSE WHO CANNOT LISTEN TO ME! THE ENEMY APPROACHES US FROM BEHIND GAINING ON US EVERY SECOND! WE CANNOT ALL OUTRUN IT! THE CROWS SEE IT AS WELL” he announced, as those up ahead began to repeat his words so that everyone could get his message.

“AND YET THEY RIDE FORTH OUT OF THEIR CASTLES! THEY RIDE FORTH NOT WITH STEEL BUT WITH DRAGONGLASS! TO SAVE US! SAVE OUR WOMEN! OUR CHILDREN! OUR ELDERLY!” he screamed, as Val’s eyes widneed.

“WILL YOU LET THE KNEELERS SAVE YOUR FAMILY! YOUR BLOOD! WILL YOU LET CROWS BE THE ONE’S WHO FACE DEATH WHILE WE RUN AWAY LIKE CHIDLREN!” he screamed and the answer came even more loudly.

“NOOOOO!”

And he smiled.

“THEN JOIN ME! FOLLOW MY CALL! WE SHALL NOT LET IE BE KNOWN THAT THE MEN OF THE TRUE NORTH ARE ANY LESS BRAVE THAN THE CROWS THAT RIDE TOWARDS DEATH!” and with that he slowed down, and yet Val did the same.

Hundreds, thousands of men did the same as well as they all began to slow down as they let the women and children, and the young one’s continue.

“TO MEEEEE! BRAVE FREMEN!”

And with that their steps halted, as thousands of Fremen men stopped, and with a final look turned their backs on the hoard rushing towards the wall as they turned their faces towards the storm of chill and death rushing towards them.

“DO YOU FEAR DEATH!”

“NOOOOOO!”

“I ASK AGAIN! DO ANY MAN HERE FEAR DEATH!”

“NOOOO!”

“Then form a line! WE SHALL FACE THIS DEATH AS FREEMEN OF THE TRUE NORTH!”

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