[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV.
North.
...
...
After beating the best warriors that this tribe from Skagos had to offer, no one else dared to question Daemon's worth, while everyone was looking at him as if he were not an ordinary man, which earned him looks of admiration and adoration from many there, now turned to follow him. In the end, the leader had to submit to Daemon's conditions.
With Daemon being a Stark, the Magnar of Skagos agreed to send more than two thousand men to the continent. After more than a hundred years, they were summoned by another Stark, and more tribes would be called, giving a total of over five thousand men.
But still, Daemon needed to visit other tribes on the island. He had a brief meeting about it, while also needing to deal with transporting those men to the continent. Although the island was not far from the coastal lands, there were no ships, with the people not being very developed due to their isolation.
He would have to see with Alys to try to get transportation, since there were some port cities in that region.
He mounted his horse again outside the city and advanced to the next territories of the island, where other clans were scattered. Just as he determined, his passage through the clans was not long, since he had only faced a challenge in that last city. The rest of the people followed him and, upon seeing the dragon, looked automatically.
And they seemed to believe when he said that he had conquered the Magnar of Skagos by accepting his challenge. All would be summoned after that, but Daemon had to show who would be the man they would be fighting for.
Daemon spoke of his reasons for being there and why he was summoning all the people of the island, expecting everyone to answer his call. He finally left the clans and went straight to the continent, heading to the region south of the Karstarks' lands, where he found Alys and the others advancing toward Winterfell.
They were surprised by the arrival of the dragon while Daemon gave instructions, asking her to send a letter as soon as she met the lady of Karhold.
He already had a raven ready to carry the information to the castle. She, though surprised by the haste, did what he asked. Daemon tied the message to the animal's body and, through his connection, commanded it to leave the place. He then returned to his dragon, while Alys's group continued heading south.
Jon also noticed that Alys was very close to the leader of the free folk whom he had placed to help her control Karhold with the thousand men, but he said nothing about it.
She flew back west and a few hours later, he finally reached the coast above the lands of House Glover. Daemon quickly saw the mountains before the coast.
Here it would be a bit more complicated, given the number of clans in that region, and he would not be able to conquer them all at once.
There were more than forty of them, and with the exception of the south and the western houses, these were one of the only territories that had no men favorable to his cause, and he needed to conquer them somehow.
That is why he needed to draw everyone's attention, for he would not have time to visit all the clans.
He would aim only at two of the clans in the region, which would be the Norrey, closest to the Wall and also with stronger ties between them and the Night's Watch. In addition, it was the clan that most spied on them in the Gift.
They would serve as a base for Daemon to see in some way how the situation stood and what they thought about Daemon and the army of free folk he had brought from beyond the Wall — since the mountain clans openly hated the wildlings, like any other southern lord. Even more so, as they were constant targets of attacks just like Bear Island, the Umbers' territory, and even the Glovers.
The Mountain clans were also considered minor lords, just like those who made up the regions of the great lords among the other houses of the North. Despite this, internally they did not see themselves as great lords.
Even so, Daemon needed to place them under his command. They had long ago been subdued by the Kings of Winter, when they were still seen as a group of wildlings. Unlike the Moon clans, who live in the Vale, they submitted to a lord/king, knelt before the Kings of Winter, and became vassals.
The main clan Daemon wanted to visit were the Wulls, considered the most powerful in the region. Lyarra Stark was a distant cousin of Rickard, her husband in life, and both were the grandparents of Jon and all his cousins. She came from this clan.
In any case, he began to circle further north, observing both the clans that lived in the mountains themselves and those who lived on the bay.
The main means of livelihood for these clans was fishing in the icy sea, but agriculture and hunting were also nothing strange to them, it being common that some chose that path.
Daemon flew on Winter, advancing through the sky above the tribes and made his announcement. Her roars began to draw attention, exactly as he wanted. First, he wished to display his dragon coming from the south, making anyone who heard the sound leave their homes to point fearfully at the forgotten creature in the skies flying northward.
The Norreys were near the coast, being the clan at the northern tip, very close to the ships Daemon had left guarded until the summons at Winterfell. The tribe was formed by simple houses, as he could see as he approached mounted on his dragon. The place had been raided by the ironborn and had certainly left its marks on the clan.
Soon he heard the shouts of the men announcing the dragon's return to the North, and especially before them — something that was no longer a complete secret, since they had spied both the camp in the Gift and his actions on the coast. It would be no surprise if they already knew what had happened on Bear Island.
Daemon circled above the town until he finally landed in front of the entrance. The place was identical to the town in Skagos: walls made of tall logs protected the community, with burn marks and arrows on them. He waited patiently for the leader to approach, the gate having been shut as soon as he landed.
After some time, the gate finally opened. A group of armed men emerged, carrying two-handed swords, axes, and spears, along with some wielding slings with stones ready to be hurled at him.
They were not primitive at all, much less similar to other tribes north of the Wall. They possessed well-forged weapons, made of iron, and even chainmail beneath their leather cloaks, as Daemon could see — something rare, but enough to distinguish them from the Moon Mountain clans in the Vale.
This was the privilege they carried from having a lord.
Daemon watched them calmly. The leader stared at him from the gate, not taking a step beyond it. He kept his distance, studying him, as if waiting for Daemon to be the first to speak. And when he was just about to…
"My name is Hrogar. We know that you are the one who brought down the Wall and brought more men than we can count to the south. We demand to know what you want with us," said the man at the front, in a deep, firm tone.
"Well, if you know who I am, that makes things much easier. In any case, I came to talk. Winterfell has just fallen into my hands. The North, almost entirely, is already under my command. We have driven out the ironborn, defeated all the Boltons in the north, who betrayed the Starks, and I summoned you to a meeting in the Stark seat." Jon paused, studying them, before continuing.
"But since I received no answer, and since none of you seemed willing to heed my calls, I am here to see the stance of the Mountain clans," Daemon replied.
"Do you really think you will have our loyalty? We know very well that you never got along with Ned. Your disdain for the Starks has been known throughout the North for a long time, boy," Hrogar retorted.
"Then you must also know how he treated me as a child. But, if you don't, I would like to talk," said Daemon at last, choosing a simpler approach rather than resorting to threats.
He knew that would only feed the stubbornness of those men even more.
The man stared at him for a while without saying anything, his eyes shifting between Daemon and the dragon, which remained still, watching them with crimson eyes.
"Very well. We will accept you as a guest and hear what you have to say," Hrogar declared, surprising Daemon a little, who nodded in satisfaction at seeing that his attempt at approach had worked.
Daemon then took his first steps toward the gate, leaving the dragon behind.
"I'm sure of that...", whispered one of the men into the leader's ear, and Daemon managed to hear it even from a distance.
"We have nothing to lose by just having a conversation. Besides, he was the one who drove out those ironborn pests who kill our sons and turn our women into salt wives. At the very least we should be grateful for what he's been doing, even if he brought an army of wildlings. I also need to know what he wants," the man murmured to his companions.
Daemon stifled a wry smile. Those same men had once been wildlings themselves, before being pacified by the Kings of Winter thousands of years ago. That made it easier for them to accept the presence of the free folk in the North. As he approached, they offered him bread and salt, honoring the rights and customs of the south.
Daemon accepted the bread and salt, taking a bite in front of everyone, while the leader led him to a large wooden hall. People stared at him curiously, but he ignored them, analyzing the small town.
The Norreys led a very simple life. There were more women than men, a reflection of how many had died fighting the ironborn and their raids. Even so, they seemed to endure well, especially for living near the coast, which gave them a certain disadvantage against those pests.
There were still men with slings and stones at a distance, waiting for any movement from him, but Daemon no longer cared and headed for the hall. None of them actually attacked or spoke directly to him. There were no weapons to be taken, and however much they tried to search him, they would find nothing. Thus, he entered the hall with the leader, sitting at the great table, with the men of the tribe on one side and him on the other.
"O Ned used to sit there, O Targaryen," the man said.
Daemon merely snorted. It was a strange way to refer to other lords by that name, but it was part of their customs, and he would not question it for lack of decorum.
"Well, I can't say I'm happy… it seems I should be honored to sit in the same place as my uncle, my 'beloved' uncle," Daemon said, heavily ironizing the word beloved, while arching an eyebrow.
"So your antipathy toward your uncle is entirely true. They say you despise him more than anyone. We like Ned very much, and any sign of hostility from you toward him would be an offense to us. But at the same time, you helped us get rid of an enemy along with your men. That's why I will accept your request for a conversation, and that's why I invited you here, Targaryen," the leader replied.
"Very well… let's talk," said Daemon, opening a small, friendly smile.
------
Raccoon Here.
Lyarra Stark's origin is a bit complicated to pin down, so I made her come from one of the mountain clans; she and her husband were distant cousins, asserting that she was a Stark as well, but since it's still somewhat confusing, I placed her as living among the mountain clans.
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