Chapter 188: Unexpected Delay
Beyond the Wall, True North
POV of Domeric Bolton
Four Weeks Later
"Are you sure that this is the way?" Benjen Stark asked as he rode in his horse beside Domeric, impatience oozing from his very being.
"Yes. I'm sure." He replied, feeling a little happy about finally solving the problem of the Valyrian Glass Candle and finding the White Walkers with it.
Well, he didn't technically find the White Walkers.
What he found was an area where he could not observe even with the amplified Valyrian Glass Candle, as well as the footprints that could only belong to hundreds of Wights.
"That is what you said when we followed you at the start of this journey. Then you had us wait in the middle of the Wildling territory for three whole weeks. Our men must have reached Eastwatch-by-the-Sea by now."
"Perhaps." He said, not really caring about Benjen's grumbling.
"This is not a small matter, Domeric. If Robb and Jon don't return to the Wall before the end of the month, then Ned might call for the banners and lead a great host beyond the Wall in order to find them."
Domeric snorted at that.
He was sure that finding the White Walkers would still take some time, even with the amplified Valyrian Glass Candle. But the North was a vast kingdom, and gathering the banners itself would take a month or two. And then it would take one more month for that host to reach the Wall.
They would easily be back home by then. Provided that the White Walkers don't kill them first.
"You don't need to worry, Benjen. We'll reach our target soon enough."
Well, he might have been a little wrong in his previous assumption that they would find the White Walkers quickly.
When he decided to work on the magical runes to enhance the range and power of the Valyrian Glass Candle, he knew that such a process might take him weeks, so he had cast a charm around them that stopped the scattered Free Folk from Weeper's army from noticing them.
Of course, when he announced this decision, everyone was against it at first.
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Four Week Ago
Main Tent
POV of Domeric Bolton
"We need to stop and camp for a while," Domeric said to the heirs and commanders who followed him in the main tent.
"What? Why do we have to stop? You know the Wildlings are foraging around us, looking for food, right? If they spot us with so few men, we're finished." Smalljon said.
"You don't have to worry about Free Folk. I'll make sure they don't find us while we are camping." He said, but he didn't expect them to believe him so easily.
"How do you plan to achieve this? And why, and how long do we need to camp?" As he had predicted, the next person to speak was Benjen Stark. At least, it was easier to talk to him. Unlike Smalljon, you could carry on a rational conversation with Benjen Stark.
"I have my own methods and a plan to keep the Free Folk away. If you're really curious, I'll be using wargs in general, along with many other methods. As I said, you don't need to worry about Free Folk." Domeric said.
"And the other questions I ask are: Why and for how long?" Benjen Stark insisted.
If possible, Domeric wanted to avoid these questions, but he knew that was unlikely.
They needed to stop because Domeric needed time to work on the Valyrian Glass Candle, enhancing it with a dragon egg and increasing its range.
Otherwise, if they continued to wander around looking for White Walkers, he wasn't sure how long it would take them to find them.
But he couldn't tell them that he had to work on a magical object to increase its range. So, he had no choice but to distort the truth and partially explain it to them.
In any case, they wouldn't be happy with the news he was about to deliver.
"We need to stop because we've lost track of our target. If we keep moving, we'll be doing nothing but wandering around randomly. While we camp, I'll continue searching for our target with the wargs. Once we find their trail, we'll move on."
"You said earlier that you knew where our target was? I hope you're not saying you've been leading us around this whole time." This time, it was Qhorin Halfhand who spoke.
"No. I've known the target's general location all along, and that hasn't changed. As I said, we've simply lost their trail and need to wait until we find them again." Domeric explained.
"And for how long?" Benjen Stark asked again. Domeric had to give him credit—Benjen was a stubborn man indeed.
"Probably a few weeks. I'd say two or three. But it's hard to say for sure."
"What?"
"Two or three weeks…"
And when they learned that they had to wait two or three weeks in the middle of nowhere, the silence in the tent was broken by everyone's grumbling and complaining.
Frankly, Domeric wanted to conclude this conversation and begin work on the Valyrian Glass Candle as quickly as possible, but it didn't look like he could return to his own tent anytime soon.
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Nowadays.
POV of Domeric Bolton
Domeric and his small host lost the notice-me-not charm's advantage one week ago when they started to move once again.
And by that time, they had been surrounded by Weeper's people from all sides.
Only, the Free Folk didn't know about their presence, so they were able to slip past most of the scattered groups.
Most, meaning that they still had to fight a few of them.
In hindsight, his tendency to gather the corpses and burn them might have been what led to them having to fight so many groups in the first place.
He had been overconfident in his magical armors. Thankfully, the magical armors did their job, and no one died.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.189: Strange Footprints
Ch.190: Playing Cat and Mouse