Chapter 131 - Finding Ghosts.
[Chapter Size: 2300 Words.]
Third Person POV.
Gift.
...
...
Jon had returned to the free folk's camp at the Queen's Crown, while the entire place was already being occupied with the construction of a small town as they adjusted to what the free folk called home.
He had placed a group of 500 men on the coast, protecting the ships, with a group of wargs and their animals patrolling the area. Any attack coming from the sea would be foreseen by them, and Jon needed to protect the ships — after all, they now had enough ships to carry thousands of men.
His arrival with the 1,400 men was quickly celebrated, as they spoke of how they had defeated nearly 5,000 ironborn with almost no losses, always catching the enemies by surprise in continuous attacks.
And only a thousand men had faced 4,000 of them on Bear Island, while Jon's dragon had massacred most of them — but they had prepared the ground for that.
Tormund wasn't one to stay silent, so he went around telling the rest of the free folk what they had done, while they received admiring looks from everyone.
Jon ignored all of it and headed to his tent, finding Mance standing with other leaders. He greeted them quickly, not staying long, just wanting information for a later meeting.
He went to his tent with Val and Ygritte, while Daenerys and Lucis were waiting for him, around their wolves. He greeted them, and they all went inside, where Jon took a bath and talked with them.
A few hours later, he was gathered with all the leaders, with them already aware of everything that had happened on Bear Island, with Tormund himself having already told half the camp.
"So the Umbers are afraid to come to the camp. Well, that's no surprise," Jon said, while the Umber soldiers were setting up a small camp a few kilometers away, trying to approach, but seeming quite hesitant.
"Well, so they are here," Jon said, leaning over the map, while looking at other points.
"These are some groups that the wargs identified in the region... Possibly, they are those you said belonged to the mountain clans," said one of the scouts.
"I see. Well, I'll pay them a visit starting tomorrow, since they won't come to us," Jon said.
"And there are also some letters that the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch delivered to the camp for you," Mance said. "I didn't read them, as I was waiting for you to do it."
"Very well," Jon commented, as he picked up a small chest with at least three letters.
He ended the meeting shortly after and said he would just rest for the remainder of the day. He read them after returning to his tent, while spending the afternoon and evening there, enjoying some time after the Battle of Bear Island.
One letter began in a rather interesting way, saying that Stannis' army had given up on coming north, near the Wall, and had disembarked everything near White Harbor, wanting to unite forces with the North — they had probably already heard about the Wall falling, though it was quick.
Another letter indicated that Lord Stark had also arrived in the North and was heading to White Harbor.
And the last letter said that Robb was alive, also coming north, but encountering difficulty since both the Bolton men who came from the south with Roose Bolton, and the ironborn, were causing problems in the southern North.
All the letters basically pointed to the downfall of the idea of the Boltons as the supreme lords of the North. This would ruin their cause, as all the Starks were practically gathering in White Harbor — and if they were joining forces with Stannis, surely the Boltons wouldn't last long.
But it would also raise a force against Jon.
"Are you smiling?" he looked to the side and saw Daenerys beside the table, where she sat silently near him and was looking at him with her hand on her chin, curious, while he was reading the letters.
"Let's say I might finally get the battle I've been wanting to have," Jon said calmly.
He honestly wanted to face his uncle, wanted to challenge him, wanted to beat him in battle, and not as someone who would surrender beforehand.
Daenerys moved closer to him, reading the letter in his hand, also curious.
"Is this more fighting?" she commented.
"Yes. There's nothing I know how to do better," Jon said.
"I'm worried. I like you doing something else..." she said, kissing his neck.
Jon looked at her as she continued.
"I've been wanting to have you in bed for days, Daemon," she said, trying to seduce him.
Jon just smiled and set the letters aside. He simply grabbed her and took her to the bed, removing her clothes and giving this dragon what she wanted from him.
The next day, Jon headed out early to his horse, riding with another group, including Val, who would go with him.
"Let's go," he said, turning around after saying goodbye to the others and heading off with the small group of six people to the south.
Jon didn't fail to stop by Winter first, lying near the camp, checking that everything was fine with the dragon before returning to the group.
The dragon even wanted to go, but Jon made him stay, as he would only be dealing with a dozen men.
For a few hours, they rode through the Gift, until finally one of the men, being a warg, spotted the small Umber camp.
The same Umber men saw the approach and quickly became worried about that group coming toward them, preparing for any attack.
Jon approached to about thirty meters from them with his men, before raising his voice to the group.
"I am Daemon Targaryen! I heard you want to make contact with the free folk, but you're being cautious, so I decided to come to you with a few men. If you want to talk, do it here, in front of me," Jon said, while the men on the other side looked at each other, making a few comments.
Some mounted up and left the camp to meet Jon's group, with only six, while eight other men remained behind in the camp prepared for any attack.
"Lord Daemon Targaryen..." one man said, the same one Jon had found fighting against the rebellious group that had disobeyed him.
"He is king, not lord," Val said, already knowing a bit about southern customs she had learned from Jon. After all, there was a big difference between the two titles.
"It's alright." Jon didn't mind and asked him to continue. "Have you spoken with your lord?" he asked calmly.
"Yes. The one in command of the castle is Mors Umber, in place of young Ned Umber, with no further news from the south... With no Grandjon, the family heir, and because he's too young, Mors, despite his age, is in command of the castle," he said, as Jon raised an eyebrow.
"Stop dragging it out and get to the point," Jon said, and swallowing hard, the man continued.
"My lord has decided not to ally with you. Here is the letter he asked me to deliver." he said, as Jon stepped forward, taking it without any trouble.
Obviously, it was a negative request, even a letter full of insults. That was why he had been so cautious approaching the camp — after all, it would be certain death to deliver that letter to the leader of the wildlings, in his thoughts.
"Well, seems I still have no reputation in the North," Jon said with some amusement in his voice, as he returned to his men.
"We can bring them to their knees, Jon, like we did with those ironborn on Bear Island," Tormund exclaimed, making the Umber men uneasy.
"We're not going to hurt them," Jon warned. "They're just here to deliver a message."
"But that's fine, everyone must already know what happened at the Wall. Time to show the true power of a dragon to all the North — after all, I only used it to scare the Watch," Jon said calmly.
The men seemed to look at him with fear, not knowing what he planned, but it would certainly be terrifying. Jon knew it would take time for the word to spread about what happened on Bear Island, while Winter had killed over 2,000 ironborn with her breath alone.
But that wasn't even close to what she could truly do.
"Well, go back to your lord. Tell him that, from now on, we are enemies," Jon said, while they only nodded and left the place, as the men looked at Jon, waiting for the next orders.
"We still have the whole day. Let's check on a few more groups," Jon said.
So, they went to see other camps, surprising everyone as they approached.
Most were composed of the mountain clans, wanting to know if it was true that 200,000 wildlings had passed through the Wall.
Jon spoke to everyone calmly, explaining the truth, leaving them quite uneasy. They quickly left to inform their lords and about Jon's cause, recruiting all men in the name of House Targaryen, while a third group, with at least fifteen men, tried their luck. Thinking Jon was just a wildling leader, they thought attacking and killing him would be easy — but things ended badly.
The entire group was burned alive when Jon, from atop his horse, unleashed a Thu'um to spit fire upon them.
Even Tormund swallowed hard among the group, as those fools screamed, dying burned alive as soon as they took their first steps against them.
Jon moved on to another group that had been spotted. It was a slightly more closed-off group, looking at them with interest as he approached, using a raven whose eyes he was seeing through — finding a big surprise upon seeing who they were.
"Let's go," was all he said, ordering.
The group was surprised but quickly ran after him, while Val was right behind Jon.
A certain group that had been running through the forests on foot for weeks was soon surprised by the sound of horses coming toward them. They tried to flee quickly, but were surprised as direwolves began surrounding them, keeping them from entering the forest depths, and all the wolves were adults.
"This..." one of them murmured, scared, as more and more direwolves began approaching from all sides.
Jon had brought the wolves and always kept them away from the groups, so that if needed, they would surprise any attackers. That's why he never showed them when speaking with the men he met. It would make it harder to approach other groups if they feared the direwolves were with Jon and his companions.
Obviously, he had called them to trap that small group in that location as he approached. After all, that group was quite interesting.
"Hodor..." the largest one murmured, frightened.
There were two direwolves with them as well, but they were smaller and quickly intimidated upon seeing more than fifteen wolves surrounding them, blocking any escape.
The horse finally approached. This time, as it stopped, the wolves parted, and Jon analyzed the group for the first time in person, while the group widened their eyes upon seeing him.
"I thought you were dead," Jon commented, looking at the boy being carried by Hodor.
Rickon Stark was also beside him, both accompanied by the two wolves, siblings of Ghost, and two more people Jon recognized instantly: Lord Reed's two children.
"You're Jon...?" Bran murmured, stunned to find him.
Hodor swallowed hard too, remembering Jon, who had stolen a horse before leaving Winterfell.
"We meet again... and now you're Daemon Targaryen? The one who brought down the Wall, who crossed over with the army?" Jojen murmured.
"Obviously, I remember saying I would deal with the white walkers. But first, I had to save the people from that frozen land full of dead things," Jon said calmly, as his gaze returned to Bran and Rickon, watching them cautiously and with some fear.
"But knowing that I had done that... it seems you're coming here to find me?" Jon asked, as the horses came up the trail he had made, with the rest of the free folk group approaching and looking surprised at the band of children Jon had found.
"Yes. The North is a mess. I thought you could help us. I dreamed we would find you. That's why I brought your two cousins to ask for help. I dreamed you would help them," Jojen said, while Jon continued analyzing them.
"Yeah... I would help them. I have nothing against these children. My issue is only with their father," Jon said, still studying them.
The young ones stared at the man who had appeared some time ago and who had assaulted their father and mother, after it was revealed he was their brother — and later, the news came from King's Landing saying he had gotten their father imprisoned and killed the king, beyond everything else they'd heard about him. They had even received letters from their brother, and later, the news that he was Daemon Targaryen, son of Lyanna Stark, their aunt, who had died before they were born.
"Alright. They'll have my protection," Jon said calmly, still seeing the caution in the children's eyes.
"I'm also not going to use you as bargaining chips against your father. I don't need that. But know that it's very likely we will fight each other. I won't force you to stay with me, but if you want help, I offer a place in the camp," Jon said, while the boys continued to simply stare at him, uncertain of what to say.
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