Chương 37: Chapter 37
Second Bonus Chapter~
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'It's cold…'
'Well, it's snow. It's supposed to be cold. It's molecules have slowed so much that it takes your energy or in another word heat to speed up and change their state. That loss of energy makes it feel cold for you.' Harry replied patiently.
'I know that. I also listen to Vlad's lessons. And I often watch memories of your old classes.' Tiamat complained while playing in the snow.
A dragon, almost big enough to carry one person, was playing in the snow like a child.
They were surrounded by a world of whiteness. Snow and ice were all present in the lands beyond the Wall. These lands were wild and untamed, with harsh, cold climates.
At first, they used boats to pass by the ruins of Hardhome, one of the only fixed settlements the Wildlings ever had. It had been destroyed over six centuries ago under strange and unknown circumstances.
Multiple versions of the tale existed. While Harry would love to examine and explore the ruins closer, on this expedition he had a different goal in mind.
Beyond Hardhome, they further sailed north along the shoreline, fully up to the Antler River. He left a major part of his escort up there, with the river acting as a fresh source of water, to set up camp and defend their boats.
He came with about 200 men, fully equipped and supplied with a surplus of weapons, food, water, and clothing. But the party he took with him was far smaller, pretty much consisting of Wildlings that had joined him, all familiar with the territory.
Even small in size, with him, Tiamat, and the Eldunari, this party was pretty much stronger than the 200 men that were waiting for them at their camp.
Their journey took them further into the North, into colder, wilder, and darker lands. In fact, their actual goal wasn't fixed, since it was moving. They were only aware of a rough area where they had to search, around the Frostfangs and the Valley of the Thenns.
'Can you feel it?' The Voice of Jura asked in his head with a serious tone.
'Of course. Since we passed the wall, I had this feeling.' Harry replied equally seriously. He now knew for a fact that the Wall was highly magical, with tons of powerful ancient wards and spells.
As soon as they had passed it from the south, the magic and atmosphere of the world had changed drastically. The Wall seemed to act like a magical barrier, completely isolating and cutting off the true North, as the Wildlings were calling it, from the South.
Here, the magic felt different; it was more powerful but also wilder and untamed. It's a strange feeling that's hard to explain.
It resembled the feeling he had in Du Weldenvarden, but at the same time, there was something very different about it.
In Du Weldenvarden, there had been darkness and old and ancient beings hidden in its depths.
But they had felt like nature, like ancient magics, ancient animals, and ancient plants—all dangerous but all part of the wild.
But here, the difference could be clearly felt. Up North, in the very distant North. When he asked Rattleshirt, who acted as his guard, he called it the Lands of Always Winter. The northernmost past of Westeros.
Rattleshirt was scared of that region. Amongst the Free Folk, it was known that these were the places where the Others slept. They even had some form of Icy fortifications there. While in the past they had dared to go there and look at them, in recent years none of the people had ever returned.
When he was a child, Rattleshirt had seen the ice fortresses himself. Although none of the Free Folk had ever entered them, those who did never came back.
The oldest of the Free Folk told about one fortress of pure ice and evil. So evil that any man looking too long at it was befallen by a madness. It was very far in the north, passing multiple of these smaller ice fortresses, right at the top of a massive ice mountain.
They even had a name for it. In their legends, they called it Hopemourne, the birthplace of the Others. Other stories said it was the sleeping place of the Great Other.
While their legends said the other ice fortresses were built by the Others, Hopemourne, on the other hand, had always been here. A place of great evil, of death, and of ice.
And Harry believed them. He could clearly feel it himself. Ice, Death, and Darkness. The further north he got, the more intense the feeling became.
It was corrupting the land beyond the wall. The wall was blocking its influence.
But the scariest thing he felt was the fact that it was getting stronger.
'A great evil sleeps there. Far more powerful than any dragon has ever been. Far more powerful than Galbatorix.' Vladr said it in full seriousness, and he rarely spoke in words.
'Do you think we could fight it? Maybe if we had all the Eldunari from Galbatorix too?' Harry asked; he was sure that the White Walkers were real and still alive, just sleeping. But they were definitely waking. And he needed to fight them if he wanted to make this world his own.
'No.' Vladr replied, sending a memory of what he was feeling.
'Well Shit.' Harry tought. Vladr was far more experienced and perceptive than anyone he knew. He was the oldest dragon among the Eldunari. A wild one.
The things he was feeling weren't anything Harry had felt before. It was an absolute scary feeling; everything inside of him was screaming. But at the same time, it somehow felt familiar.
———
Eddard Stark POV
A knock on the door to his solar interrupted his reading of the current harvest report as he looked up and said, "Enter."
The wooden door opened, and Maester Luwin entered his solar a bit out of breath. "Excuse the interruption, Lord Stark! A Raven arrived; the message was marked with a red string."
"It's no problem, Luwin." Lord Stark replied as he took the message from the hands of the elder maester. It's parcel was sealed with plain black wax.
A Message from the Night's Watch.
Usually, any messages he got from them were pleas for resources and more men. The Night's Watch has been in decline for centuries. Their resources are stretching thinner and thinner, especially since the South pretty much forgot about it and often doesn't even send their criminals to them anymore.
But this letter was marked with a red string, a common symbol for a priority message. Eddard broke the seal and unrolled the parchment before he began to read through it.
"Sigh. What is he up to now?" The Lord of Winterfell sighed once he finished reading through the letter.
"What is going on, my Lord?" Luwin, who had waited for Lord Stark to finish reading the message, was questioned.
"Harry is up to something... I mean, Lord Potter. A fleet of smaller vessels has departed from Skagos, traveling by Eastwatch into the North beyond the Wall. But I have no idea what he wants to do there. All I know is that the night's watch has watched sail by." Lord Stark sighed.
"He didn't ask for permission." Maester Luwin frowned.
"No, he doesn't need to. He didn't use the wall. He would only need permission from me or the Lord Commander if he were using the wall. But he used his own boats." The Lord of Winterfell explained, "And I can't exactly forbid him to travel north." He is a lord and doesn't exactly do something against the law or the kingdoms. For all I know, he could just want to take a look beyond the wall. But what am I supposed to do?"
"Maybe there won't be any harm? Like you said, he just wants to take a look beyond the wall." Luwin pointed out.
"Sure, but what am I supposed to tell my other lords? Or the Night's Watch. I still need to know what is going on there, or my Lords will lose respect for me. A journey beyond the wall could affect the whole North." Eddard sighed. "On the other hand, neither can I offend him. Skagos is very defendable and hard to invade. If they become our enemies, it could become very troublesome and harmful for the North. I need to know what's going on without offending Lord Potter."
Maester Luwin thought about it for a moment before advising, "Well, he is a Lord of the North. He has sworn allegiance to you. Directly asking through a letter could be seen as an offense, or he could view it as House Stark being suspicious of House Potter. But he is still one of your bannermen. So couldn't you invite him for, let's say, Young Lord Robb's 13th nameday? This would be an opportunity for the other Northern Lords to meet your children too, and the new Lord of Skagos."
"That's a solid plan! I was already worrying about how I could strengthen the bond between my children and the other Northern Houses. Inviting all Northern Houses wouldn't look as strangely as if I had just invited Harry." Eddard thought about it.
It was about time for Robb to meet more of his future Bannermen.
And he could use the opportunity to question Harry discreetly. There was still the fact about Harry's magic to consider; there are many legends about things beyond the wall.
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