[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV.
North.
...
...
While Jon settled in at Castle Cerwyn, news began to arrive about the events at Hornwood Castle, and it was certainly shocking.
"He judged and executed 300 people by his own hand?" Stannis asked with a grim look.
"Yes... my lord. Servants and guards from Hornwood Castle..." A man kneeling before Stannis spoke with a cautious look at King Stannis Baratheon.
"What do you think?" Stannis turned to the red woman.
"This happened... the false dragon king is beginning to spread terror, the people are starting to fear him throughout the North, and soon they will all be here, before the king, seeking answers to defeat this evil." Melisandre said in an euphoric tone.
"You think we will have Lord Stark's support, then?" Stannis asked.
"Yes, my king. All the houses will soon be seeking your cause, we can have the North as your first conquered kingdom and the heretic king destroyed." Melisandre said.
"That is good..." Stannis responded with a tone of satisfaction.
"We must not forget what Daemon Targaryen possesses, my king. He has a dragon. He destroyed Dreadfort a few weeks ago. We must be cautious." Davos was the one who spoke this time, also among the counselors around the king.
"The dragon is highly managed, and so it will be when the time comes, Ser Davos. The Lord of Light is on our king's side, have no doubt of that." Melisandre interrupted him with a firm tone.
"Even so... I know we need to defeat him. We also need the North with us, my king. But the acts of burning their sacred groves... it doesn't seem like we'll win their love. No more than Daemon is winning, when his cause is against what they did to Lady Hornwood, even if it was done brutally..." Davos said to the king, ignoring the red woman's disgusted look.
"Do not worry, Davos. I appreciate your words and counsel, but I believe the Red God chose me for a reason. I am the promised prince." Stannis said with confidence, while many around him nodded in agreement.
"Yes, my king. It won't be a dragon that stops us. You will have your crown." Ser Justin Massey, also among the war council, said firmly.
Davos said nothing more, but looked at Stannis with a reluctant gaze.
This same woman had said they would win the city of King's Landing before the attack on the Blackwater, and look what happened: his last son was killed in the battle, and most of the fleet was destroyed. Stannis lost his men, and now he was here in the North trying to raise a new army to march south with the North's support.
At the same time, he had to give up trying to help the Wall, when he was on his way there upon receiving the letter from the Lord Commander asking for help. They knew that if they had helped stop the wildlings from taking the Wall, they would have had the North's favor.
But before they could reach farther north, the Wall had already fallen.
They had no choice but to return to the southern part of the North, when there were 180,000 wildlings south of the Wall.
King Stannis wanted to rally the northern houses to his cause when he discovered that Lord Stark was alive in King's Landing with some lords of the Vale, after escaping capture by Lady Arryn of the Vale.
At the same time in the south, Joffrey would soon marry Margaery Tyrell — or so the old lion wanted, as the Lannisters were desperate. House Tyrell seemed to be stalling due to the recent events in the North over the past few weeks.
Tywin Lannister wanted House Tyrell's support as soon as possible to deal with the threat coming from the North. That was when this same enemy had already destroyed two castles in the West, might soon have the support of the Iron Bank, and even rumors suggested that the House of Black and White was no longer taking contracts to eliminate Daemon Targaryen — or anyone related to him and his family.
This eventually reached the ears of the people in Westeros, with Tywin Lannister sparing no gold to send men to make offers for Daemon Targaryen's head, who needed to be eliminated before he became a threat in the south.
They were in a difficult position, Davos knew that. They had arrived in the North while he advised a more civil approach with everyone there. However, his king no longer paid much attention to him and listened more to the red woman's counsel.
She sought a more aggressive approach: threaten White Harbor, burn the Northerners' sacred trees, threaten the nobles, force them to kneel before the king.
It wasn't something Davos truly wanted to do — and he found it insulting to their potential allies.
The woman already seemed to be making many mistakes in her predictions, and all she wanted was to burn people and trees in search of new visions. But Davos could see the uncertainty in her eyes in recent days.
She had said many moons ago that she encountered Daemon Targaryen once, after searching for King Robert Baratheon's bastard following the incidents in King's Landing.
She said she had no choice but to retreat, claiming it was not the right time to engage him, and had simply turned her back on him. But now she said they must face him, and that soon, the false dragon king — as she always referred to him — would be kneeling before Stannis.
She claimed that Stannis would be using his powers to deal with all other enemies, which left Davos skeptical.
She called him a false dragon because, according to reports, it was an ice dragon. And since he did not follow her lord's path, the Lord of Light — where a dragon should breathe fire and not ice — he was the dragon of her god's enemy, despite claiming that Stannis would use him to his advantage.
Davos stopped thinking too much about it and turned his attention back to the conversation. They were discussing strategies, even taking White Harbor soon to seize the food — the army needed supplies — while Lord Manderly and Lord Stark didn't seem too willing to hand them over, especially under threat.
Davos's gaze suddenly shifted to the tent's entrance. He didn't know why, but he felt a certain sensation. Through the small opening to the camp outside, he could see the nearby men, like guards. The wind blew, making the entrance flap gently.
There was no clear reason, but it felt... important. Davos sensed that something was about to happen.
That was when, suddenly, he began to hear people pointing at the sky in the distance through the small gap. Screams started, people were running, and the meeting seemed to stop at that moment.
At that moment, the entire council turned to the entrance, eyes filled with confusion as they heard the people shouting.
Then someone rushed in.
"My king! Something from the sky! Something is coming toward the northern camp!" he shouted desperately. It wasn't hard to understand what they might have been seeing at that moment.
The dragon was there.
That was all Davos could think.
He immediately rushed outside, passing through the entrance, ignoring the men running and screaming as they looked up to the sky. His gaze followed theirs, and there he saw the white creature flapping its wings — not flying too high, but beginning to pass alongside the camp.
Davos had never seen a dragon before and certainly wasn't pleased to see his first as an enemy, swallowing hard.
Stannis, the red woman, and all the other men also came out shortly after, watching the dragon fly past them.
"What is it doing?" Stannis demanded of the red woman.
"..." She studied the dragon. Words seemed unable to leave her mouth.
Davos slowly turned back and his eyelids trembled. They were at least two kilometers from the sea, and that was where the dragon was headed, ignoring them.
"The ships! He means to burn the ships!" Davos shouted as he realized, turning to the king.
"To the coast! Quickly!" was Stannis's first urgent command.
"Father! What's happening?" his daughter came out of another tent in fear, as her mother pulled her back inside.
"No time! Quickly, get the horses! Prepare to ride to the coast!" Stannis shouted as his men ran in all directions.
Davos rushed to a horse and saw his king already mounting. He followed with a large number of men, quickly grabbing horses where they could, weapons in hand, advancing behind in a completely disorganized march, born of desperation, while people started running toward the coast, unable to see what was happening due to the hills ahead.
It didn't take long before they finally gained sight of the sea, where their ships were anchored, with some of the men already far ahead. What Davos saw made him immediately furrow his brow, as he watched the white creature suddenly begin to spew fire. With it, freezing or destroying everything below, moving along an entire row of ships.
This was bad. Very bad. They were still over a kilometer away, and a good portion of the ships had already been destroyed.
"Go, go!" was the only thing the king said, full of frustration.
Stannis always spoke in a firm, serious tone, as he always had. Stannis was an inflexible man, but Davos knew him well enough to hear the desperation and nervousness in his voice as he watched the current situation unfold.
He rode beside the king, watching the creature circling, destroying more and more ships.
It would have been a spectacle, if it weren't so tragic.
Davos didn't want to admire the sight of a dragon with white flames devastating everything around it. Who needed red fire when it could do all this right before their eyes as they rode?
But it was against them.
They were the targets.
Davos feared the dragon might simply turn toward them and begin burning them with ice flames.
His gaze fell on the red woman, who rode at full speed. He was surprised she could even keep up, and Davos could see the glint — there was fear in her eyes.
The dragon continued freezing and devastating everything. They hadn't even reached halfway there, and all the ships had already been destroyed.
How could they possibly deal with such a creature? Davos couldn't stop himself from swallowing hard.
The creature simply burned the last ship and flew off. Davos could swear it had been watching them for a moment, as it turned its head before letting out a roar of protest toward them and simply flying north once again.
Stannis had already stopped at this point. The whole group had. All they could do was watch the creature grow smaller in the distance.
When they resumed their ride, everyone was silent, and though it took only a moment, it felt like an eternity.
When they reached the coast, all they found was the strong, icy wind that burned even from afar, keeping them from getting closer. The entire fleet Stannis had, his only real advantage to give him any chance at the throne, had been devastated.
By land, they held little advantage, as their forces were smaller than the Lannister-Tyrell alliance. He could have dominated the eastern coast of Westeros with those ships.
But now...
All of them were destroyed.
Davos couldn't help but glance at the red woman, to see what she had to say about the false dragon, as she always called it.
But all he saw in her eyes was confusion and fear.
Uncertainty.
And Davos could see the scowl on Stannis's face, noticing it too.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝
I deeply appreciate your support since the beginning of this exciting journey!
I hope each chapter has provided incredible moments. If you like my work and would like to support the continuation of this fanfic, consider becoming a patron with plans starting at $2!. As a token of gratitude, I offer access to more than 210 extra chapters with 7 active fanfics at the same time, along with other exclusive benefits on my profile, such as images and significant decisions for the stories.
Even if you are not a patron, I am making chapters available a few hours earlier here, so become a free member on the platform!
🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟
Visit our Patreon for more: https://www.patreon.com/RaccoonLeague
Extra Content Already Available:
🏴☠️ One Piece - I Am a Different Luffy!: 30 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: The Legend of Jon Arctic!: 30 extra chapters!
🌀 Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI!: 30 extra chapters!
🗡️ The Witcher - As Uchiha Madara! 30 extra chapters!
⚡ Harry Potter - Shadow Monarch! 30 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: DragonBorn! 30 extra chapters!
Except for One Piece with daily chapters and DragonBorn once a week, all fanfics are updated 3 times a week, there's just a pause in updating in the week, only to create drafts for the week's chapters.
In addition to the extra chapters, daily chapters are posted and 25 chapters per week!
Your support is very important and makes all the difference in keeping these stories alive.
Thank you very much for being part of this journey! I hope you continue to enjoy the story and that it brings even more joy to your life!
Visit our Patreon for more!!
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆