[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV.
North.
...
...
"Well, here's the thing: we're taking down this castle. It will be under your right or your brother's until the end of this war," Jon said calmly, looking at the structure of Karhold. It wasn't so sturdy, but certainly larger and longer than the Last Hearth.
The red-haired girl looked intently from her horse at her home and nodded to Jon's words.
"I see you're not going to use your dragon," she murmured.
"Why would I?" Jon looked at her, surprised.
"I heard what you did at the Dreadfort. You completely destroyed the castle."
"You're more open now, from what I can tell...." he raised an eyebrow.
The girl, who had been silent the entire time—even the meetings were a bit slow with her not saying much—had still passed on important information about the North to Jon, some things he hadn't known.
"Besides," he continued, "you just confirmed why I used Eragon: I destroyed. I only use the dragon to destroy, which is not the case with Karhold. Unless you're so angry at your uncle that you want to turn your house into a pile of stones," Jon teased.
"No... it's not that." She grew uneasy before continuing. "What will happen to him afterward?" Alys changed the subject.
"Well, I'm sure the Wall will need new men for what's coming... I hope your uncle enjoys wearing black," Jon said, just as the castle door opened with a flag of truce.
They had surrendered.
"Your uncle gave up that easily?" Jon smiled, a bit surprised.
"No... that can't be..." Alys couldn't believe it.
"Well, let me check that," he said.
"You're going alone?" Val exclaimed nearby.
"I'm always safe, Val. Don't worry," Jon said, advancing alone directly to the man at the castle door with the white flag.
While the man from Karhold seemed a bit surprised to see Jon speaking with him, they talked for a bit and he returned, unconcerned with the men murmuring behind him. They were confident, and Jon came back to the group.
"Well, it seems your uncle is in the dungeons. The castle folk threw him there themselves."
"After he betrayed me..." Alys couldn't help but spit on the ground. Disappointed that most of the castle had sided with her uncle, forcing her to flee.
"Do you feel safe holding it? I can put some Free Folk men here. Only if you don't have such a strong stance against the people beyond the Wall, of course," he said, while she, strangely, didn't seem to mind.
"I would appreciate that. Better than trusting the castle's men again," she said.
"Great. Now let's take control of the castle," Jon said, quickly moving in with a crowd of men, easily entering the courtyard with Alys as the men dropped their weapons.
Though there were at least five thousand men there ready to resist the siege, the news that it only took taking down a few archers before Jon destroyed the gate of the Last Hearth made everyone think twice before having fifty thousand men march into the castle.
And so it was. Karhold fell easily, with Jon placing Alys Karstark as regent lady of the place, leaving a thousand Free Folk men with a leader to look after it.
The dungeons were silent as Jon calmly walked to where the treacherous Karstark was.
"What do we have here?" Jon looked at a man staring at him from behind the cell, eyes cautious.
"You're Daemon Targaryen... but you look a lot like a Stark," the man muttered.
"You know flattering me won't save you, right?" Jon mocked, staring at the man who had plotted against his kin to seize control of his house.
"And am I wrong to stop a woman from taking over the house that belonged to her brother? I won't let my niece destroy our house!" the man scoffed with some courage.
"Seems like ever since Robb's failed campaign, the North has turned into a mess. We'll have to clean out these houses," Jon muttered, not even speaking directly to the man in front of him, but rather thinking aloud.
"What will happen to me?" the man was growing cautious again.
"You're going to the Wall. Enough of people trying to steal from their own kin," Jon said.
"You think I'm a fool? I'm trying to save my house!" the man tried to argue. "Just like you, yours!"
"I don't recall stealing from my cousins. I made it very clear in my letter that I don't want Winterfell as my domain. I have plans for the succession of the next Stark generation. My problem is with my idiot uncle," Jon stated.
"But you're a..." the man seemed to grow angry, but couldn't finish the sentence before being slammed against the wall, feeling his neck squeezed by an invisible force lifting him off the ground.
"You people remain grumpy and... stupid. Well, anyway, come with me," Jon said, simply throwing him to the floor. The man coughed as Jon clenched his hand in the air, the cell bars bending with telekinesis.
Then he pulled his hand back and the entire place trembled, exploding—the entire gate of the prisoner's cell flew backward, passing beside Jon with a screeching sound.
The man looked terrified before feeling the force pulling him, Jon walking ahead while he was dragged along the floor, groaning in pain.
The sound quickly made the door open, guards staring in horror at the sight of Jon dragging the man across the ground, unable to do anything.
Even Alys couldn't believe it when she saw Jon simply lift her uncle into the air without touching him and throw him forward like a dog.
"Put him in the carriage with the prisoners we're collecting. We'll dump them all in Winterfell, including his son—he wanted to marry him off to you. And you, Alys Karstark, better have the evidence ready for the trial in Winterfell," Jon said, though he had already given his verdict—the man was going to the Wall. Still, he would hold a fair trial.
"Thank you very much, my king," she said politely, even addressing him by the proper title.
"Good to see House Karstark is with me. Now, if you'll excuse me, let's start moving," Jon said, not wanting to stay in Karhold any longer.
The troops quickly began to organize, starting to move south and conquer all Bolton territory.
Jon showed no mercy in that place. Each of the smaller strongholds of minor nobles began to be sacked by the Free Folk as the group advanced—he even split his forces into thousands to spread across the entire territory, making sure they didn't commit crimes in the cities.
They simply invaded places with ease, killed any guards, expelled families, took whatever was of value or gathered resources, and then burned the place down.
His journey through Bolton territory was quite terrifying for the people of the region. After all, all the soldiers and relatives from the small strongholds of the lesser nobles had joined in betraying Robb's campaign.
It took some time while the territory descended into chaos, as he began to burn every side until Jon reached the southern limit, where he gathered his troops and summoned the leaders.
He had visited the pile of stone that had once been the Dreadfort, quite impressed with Winter's handiwork after passing through the site.
Ten days had passed since he left Karhold.
"Well, I want us to split up here. I want to send 5,000 men to Winterfell. We'll set up a siege," Jon said.
"But only 5,000 men, my lord?" one of the leaders asked.
"Ramsay Bolton went south with most of his men and left Winterfell with only a few trying to hold it. I want them to make camp. There's no need to start the siege yet. But we want to deceive not the Bolton or Northern men, but the ironborn who are around the region. That's why I'll leave most of the camp set up here," Jon pointed to the southwest of Bolton territory.
"In the meantime, I'll take 10,000 men with me to the south. I need to deal with what happened at House Hornwood," Jon said.
"The one where they killed the noblewoman?" Val asked beside him, and Jon nodded.
"Exactly, Val. I want to handle that personally and then move on to House Cerwyn's territory," Jon pointed to the neighboring region.
"They have ironborn men there, so we'll take care of them. Then I want to move north and eliminate all the ironborn in the Starks' region before moving the army entirely to surround Winterfell. Then we conquer the castle, bring in my Northern kin, and head west to wipe out the ironborn. Meanwhile, we'll move the majority of the army, which is still in the Gift, straight to Winterfell to deal with the Boltons and Stannis in the south," Jon said, analyzing the map.
"I want to be with you," Val said beside him, and Jon nodded.
"Alright. Let's begin," he declared, as his eyes turned to the plan. He began managing the 50,000 men: 10,000 would go with Jon, 35,000 would remain in Bolton territory, and 5,000 would go to Winterfell.
The Manderlys, the Flints, and even House Locke were marks on the map, territories Jon would deal with later. After all, they were aligned with Stannis's army in the region.
Jon headed toward Hornwood. Lady Hornwood had been murdered by Ramsay Bolton to seize her territory after marrying her, and Jon sought personal justice for that woman—not just against the Boltons, but also against the castle itself that had allowed such cruelty. He would leave no trial for Winterfell this time. He would personally take the lives of every one of them, servant or soldier of that house.
At the same time, on a night they had camped while entering Hornwood territory, Jon found a weirwood tree and approached it to gain some interesting information.
He discovered the location of certain people and was also alarmed by Stannis threatening to attack White Harbor in search of grain and the support of Lord Stark.
"Jon, are you there?" Ygritte had approached him. As he sat at the heart tree, she crouched beside him.
"Hello, Ygritte. I'll be a bit longer. I want to prepare a few things. Why don't you go warm up the bed for us?" Jon said, while she nodded and stood.
"Alright. Just don't come to bed too late," she asked.
Jon nodded.
The first thing Jon did was send an owl from Wolfswood. It perched above Asha's camp and stayed there for a while, until it spotted the woman heading to her tent with a lustful gaze, dragging another woman—captured by the ironborn—to be raped by another woman.
Making sure the owl had sharp claws, it simply leapt from the tree and flew straight into the tent, just before screams began to erupt.
At the same time, in the south, Ramsay Bolton was with two thousand men who had left Winterfell, stopping to hunt as the bastard liked to amuse himself on the road to Mount Calim. He had a habit of bringing his dogs along for the hunts for fun.
Theon was leaving Ramsay's tent while the man delighted himself with his mistress. Despite the destruction of the Dreadfort, Ramsay still indulged in life's pleasures there. Still, Theon was seeing, for the first time, Ramsay truly desperate.
Losing the Dreadfort had been a powerful blow against House Bolton, which was now increasingly cornered, being attacked from all sides.
Theon couldn't help but notice the dogs were starting to behave strangely inside the wagon where they were kept.
They weren't barking or giving any alerts, but he could see they were climbing over the door and trying to reach the opening in a very odd way.
No one else noticed, busy drinking and eating.
Theon stood there, staring, unsure of how to react, as the dog finally managed to open the door. Two more followed behind, taking their first steps outside.
He swallowed hard, realizing the dogs were staring intently... until they suddenly began running straight toward that tent.
He panicked and ran along the side, watching as the dogs stormed inside, the screams of Ramsay and his lover echoing, drawing the attention of the entire camp.
The growls of the dogs tearing into human flesh echoed throughout the place.
At the same time, Jon had to send a message to Stannis. His female dragon was still in the North, and she simply raised her head upon hearing Jon's call from the south.
She then spread her wings, flying south the very next moment, as Jon had a task for her.
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