Chapter 348: Knowing the Enemy (Part I)
"When I last scouted the movements of the dead, they had finished massing about ten miles north of Castle Black. Instead of advancing toward the Wall, they split into two groups, heading east and west. The group moving toward Bay of Seals numbers between five and six thousand, led by three Others; they are currently lurking in the Haunted Forest outside the watchtowers, Greenguard, and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. As for the group heading toward the Gorge, they cover the ground like a blanket, impossible to count. Because the Night King leads them, I cannot approach for reconnaissance, so the specific details remain unknown."
If five or six thousand could be counted precisely, just how many were impossible to count? Egger felt a chill run down his spine. This was even after he had taken in over thirty thousand wildlings; without that move, the enemy would have thirty thousand more, and his own side thirty thousand fewer...
His heart sank slightly, but he remained silent, waiting for the rest.
"Even without deep thought, one can judge that they are looking for a way to bypass the Wall while waiting for the power supporting their existence to reach its zenith... seeking the most advantageous moment for the final battle." Bran's sentences began to break and falter, as if the consecutive explanations had exhausted his strength. "I have no wish to flatter, but the primary reason the dead have not yet invaded the Seven Kingdoms is the series of arrangements you have made, Lord Commander—whether it is the airtight defense along the Wall, the large-scale de-icing of the Bay of Seals, or the patrols along the Gorge... the Night's Watch has sealed every path. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if you truly are the Prince Who Was Promised."
"Thank you. I am no prince. I simply put caution first, put myself in the enemy's shoes... and then plug every hole I can find." There was no denying it—recognition for hard work feels good—but Egger wasn't about to let vanity distract him from business. "Bran, I won't force you to risk tracking the Night King's exact location, but I hope you can answer a few questions about the enemy. After all, to know the enemy and know yourself is the only way to win a hundred battles. First: Are the Others and the wights afraid of water? Can they swim through the sea or walk across the seabed?"
"A question worth prioritizing," Bran nodded. "I can give you a clear answer, but it must be explained in parts. First, the Others fear water. Although they were transformed from living men, through ages of saturation by ice magic, their flesh has slowly faded, replaced by increasingly pure magical energy to sustain their forms. The body of a mature Other is merely a shape held up entirely by magic. Just as humans must consume food to generate stable heat and will die if their temperature is too high or too low, the Others have an optimal temperature range to maintain their existence. For humans, that temperature is extremely low. If they touch water in small amounts, they get encased in ice, hindering their movement. But in large amounts—say, if they were thrown into the sea—they would die from the heat, losing their 'normal temperature' just as a human freezes to death."
So that was it. Did that mean one could use water to capture an Other alive? Egger considered the possibility but realized it was impractical. With the god-like strength required to slay a dragon, an Other could instantly break free of a few buckets of water even if frozen; only a sudden deluge of several tons of water could truly trap them, which was beyond current technical capabilities.
His mind whirled before he asked about a more likely scenario: "Why don't they just stand on the shore, cast a spell to freeze the Bay of Seals, and walk across?"
"They are Others, not gods." Bran rolled his eyes—the first time since Egger had entered the room that he actually looked somewhat like a child. "You have a Red Priestess of considerable power at your side. When she wants a hot bath, does she jump into cold water and use magic to boil it? In this world where energy is thin, magic is precious. Compared to an individual human, an Other is peerlessly powerful, but before nature, they are mere ants."
"Meaning the Others lack the capacity?"
"I am not one of them; I cannot answer for them," Bran shook his head. "But I can confirm that the Others expend most of their power just maintaining their own forms and temperature. To freeze a passage across the Bay of Seals solid enough to ignore the Watch's sabotage from above, they would likely have to sacrifice a dozen of their own as fuel."
I hope that's true, Egger thought, feeling slightly relieved. "What about the wights, then? They don't have low body temperatures. What if the Others command them to wade across?"
"Theoretically possible, but practically unlikely. First, wights cannot be too far from the Other controlling them, especially not with the Wall in between—I'll tell you why in a moment. Second, the Night's Watch has encountered wights many times now; have you ever studied why they fear fire?"
"Of course. Their bodies are filled with a special, highly flammable corpse oil."
"Exactly. Now, have you ever wondered why the enemy would leave themselves such a glaring weakness?"
True, why?
Prompted by Bran's question, conspiracy theories immediately flashed through Egger's mind... Was it a trap? Once the Watch was convinced the dead feared fire, would the wights suddenly become immune in the final battle, annihilating the human host?
If so, the vast amounts of wildfire he had prepared would be useless. Egger was startled, but quickly suppressed the wild thoughts—it wasn't logical. If the wights didn't fear fire, the enemy's threat level would jump an order of magnitude. In that case, they could just steamroll the Seven Kingdoms; they wouldn't need a conspiracy.
"I imagine that corpse oil is like blood to a human—an indispensable component of a wight. So even if it's a weakness, they can't discard it?"
"Correct... The oil serves at least three functions: first, it stores the ice magic used to 'wake' the wight, which is the key difference between a thrall and a mere corpse. Second, it acts as a medium for the wight to absorb magic from the air to sustain its existence. Third, it acts as a lubricant for muscle and bone... while slowing the natural decay and desiccation of the body." Bran spoke in short, labored bursts; clearly, his journey beyond the Wall had left him severely weakened. "It is irreplaceable. A wight without oil would be stiff and brittle. While it would no longer fear fire... it could be killed by ordinary swords or clubs, and might even collapse just a few steps away from an Other."
So the corpse oil was that critical. Egger had previously worried about encountering fire-proof wights; it seemed he had been overthinking.
"But that only explains why they fear fire. My main concern is water... Does this corpse oil dissolve in water?"
"No, wights are not theoretically afraid of water. What they fear is ice." Bran shook his head, explaining with a faint, knowing smile. "I know it sounds counter-intuitive—how can a wight controlled by ice magic fear ice? Even I had to observe for a while to understand. The reason lies in a naming error: the Long Night when the Others first appeared left an impression of bone-chilling cold, so chroniclers named their power 'ice magic.' In truth, cold is a favorable condition and a side effect of the magic's operation, not its purpose. Ice is what water becomes at low temperatures—because the arrival of Others is always accompanied by temperature drops and freezing, people mistakenly assumed a causal relationship. It is not so."
The boy paused for breath before continuing. "A more accurate term for ice magic would be 'cold magic' or 'necromancy.' Ice made from water looks like it should pair well with ice magic, but it is actually a terrible conductor of magical energy. In this regard... you should have experience. Whether it is the bodies of the Others or the weapons in their hands that look like they are made of ice, they are not the same substance as frozen water at all. When wights pass through water, the water itself doesn't affect them. But the ice that forms in low temperatures not only hinders the wight's physical movement, it also obstructs the flow of necromancy, making it extremely difficult for an Other to control them. Worse, ice magic cannot be used to de-ice... and that is why the Others will never drive wights to wade around the Wall!"
Egger sat quietly in his chair, trying his best to digest the secrets of the Others revealed by the Greenseer.
He first grasped the part where Bran mentioned he should have experience—the Greenseer, having become interested in him, had clearly looked back through time to see Egger's desperate struggle against an Other in the Haunted Forest. He carefully recalled the details of killing the Other three years ago and remembered what Bran wanted him to notice: that day, both the magical sword—which looked like ice but shattered upon hitting him—and the milky-white body of the creature itself had vanished in a way that defied the physics of ice. It didn't melt into a puddle of water; instead, melting and boiling occurred simultaneously. Once the process ended, nothing remained but a lingering chill—not a trace was left behind.
Rather than water, it seemed more like a gas with a high freezing point... sublimating instantly when exposed to heat!
A theory that is logically self-consistent and matches practical observation is either the truth or a meticulously crafted lie. Since the Greenseer had no reason to lie to the Watch about the enemy, this was likely the reality.
Noticing Egger's pensive state, Bran spoke up: "I do not know what the Lord Commander is thinking, but do not become careless and reduce the garrison at Eastwatch because of this. One force of nature can counter another—the Others cannot freeze the Bay of Seals, but Winter can."
Egger nodded. Even without Bran's warning, he wouldn't take such a pointless risk. The Watch was not short on men now.
"Understood. The deployment at the Bay of Seals remains as it is." He leaned on his knees and pondered for a moment before posing his second concern. "The Builder raised a Wall seven hundred feet high, so why did it stop abruptly at the Gorge instead of extending west to the Bay of Ice, leaving a gap?"
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