[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV.
North.
...
...
What had happened at Hornwood Castle quickly spread south, as the surviving servants and soldiers chose to flee rather than remain in that castle, afraid of Jon's actions, scattering in all directions at full speed.
No one wanted to stay there after witnessing the carnage Jon inflicted upon all those he deemed guilty — even by negligence — against Lady Hornwood.
Many thought Jon's actions were unfair, since they were only following orders, but it was a symbolic message not just for the North, but for all the Seven Kingdoms.
Unfortunately, the Hornwood bloodline would end there, and someone else would have to take over those lands, just as House Bolton had been destroyed.
He was already planning to divide its territory into two or three parts, taking the opportunity with the Boltons exterminated, to ensure no future house could become powerful enough to rival House Stark.
But that would be decided later.
For now, they had to march west.
At this point, his 5,000 men should already be arriving at Winterfell, but Jon didn't even bother to look through the animals as they began leaving Hornwood Castle, leaving two thousand Free Folk men there to keep the castle locked and functioning, offering shelter to the victims of the kingdom's internal and external disputes.
Now with 8,000 men, he marched toward Cerwyn territory.
His wolves did most of the work here, capturing small groups of Ironborn camping without even seeing the size of the army approaching them.
They were so arrogant they didn't even seem to have set up an intelligence network in their invasion that could quickly relay information across the regions.
Otherwise, they would know that an army of nearly 50,000 Free Folk had arrived in the heart of the North, with only a few left behind at Karhold Castle before entering Bolton territory.
They didn't even seem to realize it, as the groups kept setting up camp, still looting villages for spoils, confidently continuing to capture women after killing their husbands and sons.
And so moved a pack of wolves led by Ghost — Jon's main wolf, or rather, the alpha — whom he had made a point to bring personally to the battlefield by his side, leading all the other wolves, which were no longer just direwolves at this point.
As Jon passed through the North, he let Ghost advance into the forests in search of regular wolf packs.
He quickly dominated them, making them follow as one gigantic pack.
This did pose some problems with food, as they had to feed over 200 smaller wolves, but that wasn't an urgent concern with White Harbor just ahead, with its supplies stocked in the port warehouses — or so he hoped from Lord Manderly.
Otherwise, the man would be quite upset with Jon having to forcefully collect his losses when he had already given the order to be obeyed.
"Hey, why does everything here feel... kind of... uneasy?"
An Ironborn man was in a camp of thirty others, sitting with a companion in front of a fire that night, when he began to hear some strange sounds and everything went silent, with no nighttime animal activity.
"What are you talking about, you fool? What's the problem with not hearing anything?"
The other said, laughing as he drank, just before seeing a man grabbing a woman and dragging her by force into his tent.
"And what are you doing with that blonde? I had my eye on her!"
He complained immediately, standing up.
"Tough luck, you idiot. I plan to spend the night with her,"
The other replied, laughing, while the woman screamed in despair.
But then some footsteps began to emerge — animals started running around the camp — the first man ignored the others' argument and stood up, afraid.
That's when he could swear he saw a massive white beast running between the trees in the dark forest, vanishing the next moment without leaving a trace.
Another sound came from the opposite side as he looked around, searching for anything circling the camp, watching them.
"Hey, can you guys stop arguing? Something's wrong here. Seriously wrong."
He began to murmur, visibly frightened.
"What are you talking about, you fool? There's nothing here,"
his companion replied, glancing at the woods, just before two wolves ran behind them — both the size of a horse.
One lunged at the man still trying to drag the woman, and the other went for the one who had been arguing with him.
It was the screams and the sound of the wolf crashing down on the men that made the first one turn around quickly, terrified, before he even saw the silent white wolf rushing at him from behind.
As he watched in horror as his companions were devoured, he was taken in the next moment, without even knowing how he had died — his head being the first thing Ghost destroyed.
This alerted the entire camp.
Quickly, several men around other fires stood up, while others ran out of their tents trying to put on clothes — but it was already too late.
As they looked around, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by wolves of all kinds and sizes, even colossal ones, charging toward them.
A massacre began in the next moment, before they could even run.
Small wolves and massive ones continued killing them one by one.
Screams of terror and pain echoed throughout the camp, while the women were the only ones left unharmed.
But they were just as terrified, thinking they too would be devoured.
The wolves, however, did not attack them.
They simply vanished the moment the last man fell dead.
Not knowing what to do or even think, the women could do nothing — all still tied up — until a group of Free Folk arrived, scaring them even more with their wildling clothes.
They walked among the corpses of the Ironborn and began to release the women, speaking in the Common Tongue, telling them they were there to help.
None who tried to act like the Ironborn toward those women was spared — they were beheaded on the spot.
Jon did not forgive rape or murder among his soldiers while helping the people of the North.
Unfortunately, that didn't stop it from happening a few dozen times — but each was used as an example to the rest of the men as they marched through death.
Some Free Folk committed crimes,
but not even the dragonborn could always control everyone he led —
yet he never failed to punish even a single one who broke his laws of war.
And that was just the first camp.
While Jon brought the group of women with his march, offering them shelter and food, some were so broken they no longer wanted to live — after their husbands and, especially, their children had been slaughtered like animals, only for them to be enslaved by those horrific men.
Jon had seen something similar on Bear Island, and it hadn't been pretty.
But he couldn't help but notice how the North had been degraded by those damned Ironborn.
"We would make them pay.
It couldn't be today.
But soon, I'll make every one of those who survives the carnage I plan regret ever attacking the North like that."
After all, brutal attacks — looting and destroying everything in their path, without laws or honor — were abominable acts to Jon.
He was there to bring order to the North, even if some saw him as a monster. But that was what war was.
He had to become a monster to restrain the monsters within all those people.
As they continued advancing, more and more small camps were eliminated, which was quite easy, with almost no losses by sending only the wolves to do all the work.
This kept happening during the nights.
Obviously, some groups had to be taken down during the day while on the march, but the wolves were also efficient at handling small groups of no more than fifty people scattered across the territory.
He already knew the Cerwyns had not yielded to the Boltons — that's why their lands were under attack.
The Boltons had allowed the Ironborn to pass through to weaken the Cerwyns, whose heir was just a child.
Not that he blamed his mother for protecting them from the Boltons — they could be just as bad or even worse than Roose Bolton's bastard.
Entire villages were deserted, while demolished and burned homes were left behind with decomposing bodies.
Many lords managed to remain within their castles, but for the common folk, there was only destruction and pain.
He had already eliminated half the Ironborn in the territory when he finally spotted Saltcastle under heavy siege.
Jon looked at the scene calmly.
He didn't advance, waiting for nightfall, ensuring no information had been passed on by this group of Ironborn, eliminating all the scouts as they neared the group.
The good thing was that the Ironborn were more concentrated on the other side of the castle, so they had a blind spot.
After all, they hadn't placed many men around the walls, and Jon was able to take out some scouts with his own wolves on that side or with arrows, as some Free Folk men were skilled in the art of moving unseen, while the army advanced in secret before dawn.
When the moment came, Jon led the group forward, with Val at his side and Ygritte in the rear, firing arrows as they caught an entire group — around two thousand men — by surprise.
He had already sent a letter to Lady Cerwyn explaining his plan, not wanting anyone on the walls to alert the enemy when they arrived.
And it worked.
The Ironborn quickly saw their formation collapsing, as Jon's men advanced, cutting them down and crushing their troops, while sounds of explosions rang out from Jon himself unleashing his Thu'um to ease the battle.
In the end, the damage was done, and the Ironborn began fleeing like frightened cats, leaving the Cerwyn castle wall behind.
While the men inside the castle didn't know what to do, the lady quickly intervened, asking them not to attack Jon's group and opening the gate for him, with a plea for peace.
She knew very well what had happened in all the castles he had passed through — none had survived his assault.
All had fallen.
He had managed to breach them all.
But, of course, after what happened at Hornwood, everyone was clearly afraid, since that information had already reached here.
However, Jon had assured in a letter before the attack that his executions were justified through vengeance, negligence, and even alliances with the Boltons as grounds for personally executing so many people.
The lady had placed her bet on that, and Jon approached the castle alone.
"Hello, Lady Cerwyn. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Daemon Targaryen," Jon introduced himself.
"Hello, Daemon Targaryen,"
the woman replied, beginning to kneel in submission to him, with a cautious look.
Jon reacted with a satisfied smile.
"Please, the castle of House Cerwyn is yours, and my family is at your disposal, Your Majesty."
She even stumbled over her words, still looking nervous.
"I'm not here to do harm. But let me meet your son, since House Cerwyn seems willing to support my cause.
There's no reason to fear my presence,"
Jon said with a small, pleased smile for having won over yet another Northern castle.
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