Categories > Books > Harry Potter > All Men must Serve
Chapter 20: going to Riverrun
TORMUND
We were all ready to board the ship when Ygrette announced: “I’m not goin’ with you.”
“What?” I asked. “Why?”
“Yara stole me fairly,” explained Ygrette. “I belong to her now. I’m goin’ with her back to her island. I’m going to be her Rock Wife. And I will go with her when she goes to the Bay of Ice to pick up Free Folk. Maybe me being along will persuade them that she’s not a slaver.”
“All right. Take care,” I said, as I gave her a hug goodbye. Toreg, Wun-wun and I watched her board the longship, while we went to a different ship that would be heading up the East coast.
JON
Rob and the Northern army had come to the King’s Landing to be honored along with all the other war heroes in the same ceremony where Bran and Edric got Knighted. So the Northern army was available to escort us to Riverrun. It would have been shorter to go by ship. But the direwolves would not have done well in a cage on the ship. It was good to see Ghost again. And I was enjoying seeing Rob again. Bran was on his way to become Lord Hoster’s heir. I would be his fencing teacher. Even though he was technically a knight, he still had much to learn about swordplay. I would also be teaching Edric, who was coming to be Bran’s sworn sword and magic teacher. A long road lay ahead of us. It was slow going on the back of a walking horse.
MARGEARY
Jon, Edric and Bran had left without me. I was still negotiating with Hoster Tully for a betrothal to Brandon Stark. There where several things complicating the process: The fact that my father supposedly ruled the Reach and all the letters had to be written by him with my grandmother standing over him to make sure he did it right, slowed things down. And I needed to see each letter personally before it was sent, so had to make frequent trips to Highgarden to do so. Fortunately, I had my birth blossoms to speed thing up. Whenever I needed to go there, I would allow the one in the Gods’ Wood in the Red Keep to swallow me, curl up and go to sleep. Then, I would awaken in an artificial body made of plant mater in the the birth blossom’s counterpart in High Garden. Usually, when I made the trip, I would engage in some gardening too. I had been able to move a few things to the Red Keep. But HighGarden was the home of my main botanical laboratory. I would have to plant another birth blossom when I moved to Riverrun . . . if I ever did. The Faith was being difficult about Bran and Edric being outed as wizards. On the other hand Lord Tully’s health was failing . . . encouraging him to speed the process up.
In the mean time, I still had my criminal empire to run here in King’s Landing. I already had gambling, prostitution and stolen goods. Enslaving Littlefinger had given me a monopoly on prostitution and had also added the Gold Cloaks, and their protection racket to my empire.
JOFFREY
The letter from Mycella arrived the same day as the first of the new recruits from the Westlands arrived. Like the Ironborn from last week, they were prisoners of war that had been forced to take the Black. My father was pleased to be reunited with his boyhood friend, Adam Marbrand. Mycella was now back in Winterfell, along with Lady Stark. Mycella mentioned how awful moon tea tasted. Knowing she had been abducted by the ironborn, it wasn’t hard for me to guess why she needed to be given moon tea. I cried a little for my sister before I began composing in my head the lullaby I would like to sing her to sleep with if I could be with her. Maybe if I sing it at the Mole Hole, it can make its’ way back to her?
EDRIC
Every time we stopped, as we made our way across the Riverlands, if there was a Weirwood stump, I would revive the tree. Ser Jon always made a point of being no where near when I did that. Now that I was openly a wizard, I could do magic in public. The Northmen, when they learned what I was doing would scout out weirwood stumps for me to do my magic on. They would gather around me as I cast the spell and cheer as the tree grew back to its’ old size.
TRYSTANE
Because of my aversion to sea travel, I had been taking the slow route, across the Reach to get back home. Since I was passing by anyway, I decided to check out Highgarden. I expected it to be a plain castle, like all the others I had passed. But instead of empty fields, there were orchards around the castle. I just before the moat there was a wall of thorny plants that you would have to get through in order to even approach the moat. The Castle, itself looked more like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon than a castle. Sure there was a wall. But on top of the wall I could see a thick growth of plants. There was an inner keep, and an inner, inner keep. And each of them had gardens on them too.
I shifted into the wereworld to take a closer look. Now it looked like a butte with dense forests of lodgepole pines on it. I climbed the butte and danced through the forrest where I came upon Margaery Tyrel in her guise as Plant Woman. Her skin was green and she wasn’t wearing much besides a skirt of leaves. She was tending her garden, kneeling, with her back turned to me. When I shifted into the real world to tap her on the shoulder, I saw that her skin and hair were more natural coloured and she was actually wearing a sleeveless mini-dress. Before I could even touch her, vines snaked out to entangle my arms and legs and suspended me in the air.
She casually stood up and turned around to face me.
“Oh! It’s you,” said Margaery, before stepping up to me and pulling me into a kiss.
As soon as our lips touched I could feel her effecting my mind. I desperately wanted her and was now prepared to give her anything she wanted. I probed her mouth with my tongue and felt her respond by rubbing mine with her own. Her hand began caressing my chest, before she broke off the kiss and asked me:
“Now what are you doing here in my garden?”
“I was passing by and wanted to check the place out,” I replied. “I didn’t expect to find you here. What brings you here? I thought I had left you in King’s Landing.”
“Oh, I just stopped by to do a little gardening,” she replied as the hand that was playing with my chest started working it’s way downward.
When the vines released me, I pulled her into another kiss, which I felt her respond to. Her hands continued to roam my body as my own began to explore hers. When I pulled up on the hem of her dress she raised her arms to aid me in taking it off her. She wasn’t wearing anything under it. After he helped me out of my breeches, she pulled me down so she could lay in the dirt with myself on top of her.
After we had both Relieved our Need and were cuddling, I asked her:
“I thought you were saving your maidenhead for your husband?”
“Oh, I am,” she replied with a giggle. “This is not my original body. This is a construct I made from plant matter.”
“So you’re like some remote control sex-doll?” I asked.
“I never thought of it that way,” she mused. “But essentially, yes.”
I went down on her and realized the taste wasn’t quite right for a woman. She had felt really close to a woman. Close enough to fool me. But her taste had bit of maple flavour to it. After I had pleased her a few times, I was ready for another round.
When we were finally finished and had gotten redressed, she pulled a seed off one of her plants. It was about the size of a peach pit.
“When you get home, could you plant this in your Gods’ Wood?” she asked. “I would like to be able to come see you so we could do this again.”
“What about your future husband?” I asked.
“My future betrothed is still a child,” she replied. “I don’t think I will be doing this with him anytime soon.”
TORMUND
It had taken weeks for the fleet to sail up to Hardhome, which was the closest thing there was to a port in the True North. Hardhome was further North than Toreg’s home village. We had brought with us all of the tree growing potion in glass spheres that there was. So as soon as we arrived, I organized parties to plant weirwood sprigs around the edge of the village. If the Others came for us, I wanted the village to be prepared. I explained the situation to the Free Folk who were at Hardhome and Toreg volunteered to go with those who would be the first to travel to the Stepstone Islands. I would not be going with them. I needed to get word to the rest of the Free Folk of the deal that had been made with the King of the Kneelers and that meant I need to meet with Mance Rayder.
JON
When we finally, arrived at Riverrun, a guard escorted us straight to Lord Hoster Tully. The Lord of the Riverlands did not look well. He was very thin, like he had been starving and was unable to rise from his sickbed.
“Go away, bastard,” weezed Lord Tully. “I want to speak with my grandsons.”
“SER Jon is my brother and SER Edric is my friend,” growled Bran.
“It’s all right, Ser Bran,” I placated. “Ser Edric and I will just get settled in.
I took Edric and left the room so Bran, Rob and Lord Tully could speak in private. We were shown to the barracks and got settled in before taking a bath with some cold water and a cloth. Once we had done that, Edric and I decided to go check out the Gods’ Wood. It had a medium sized oak as its’ Heart Tree, next to the stump of the weirwood tree that had been here before it had been felled by the septons. The place had a nice peaceful feel too it and was strong in the Light Side of the Force.
“You’re going to do that tree growing spell again aren’t you?” I complained.
“Yeah,” agreed Edric.
“Fine. Just left me get clear before you start doing your magic,” I groused.
I left to check out the practice yard until I could no longer feel the pain. Then I returned to find that the Weirwood Tree was fully re-grown. But not far off the ground, it split into three trunks with a flat place at the split that looked large enough for a man to sit between the three trunks, using one of them as a back rest.
“Bran likes to meditate sitting on the wierwood stumps. So I made him a place to sit on the re-grown tree,” Edric explained, as he climbed into the tree and sat.
I sat and the two of us began our daily meditation session, which we had needed to cut short when we had been traveling. It was more than an hour before Bran and Rob came to join us. They both had stormy expressions.
“Is everything all right?” I asked.
“Grandfather wanted Bran to send you two away,” explained Rob.
“But I told him that I need you two to teach me fighting and magic and if he didn’t like it, he could shove the Riverlands up his ass and give them to a Frey,” added Bran.
“Speaking of magic, could you show me some of that magic,” asked Rob, “besides tree growing, that is.”
“I’ll just go see to the training yard,” I said, as I moved to leave. “Come on, Ghost.”
EDRIC
Once we had settled into life at Riverrun, I began traveling the surrounding area, regrowing weirwood trees that had been felled. I would usually travel invisibly, on my broom. Often when I would return to a village that I had previously visited, I would find the weirwood tree that I had re-grown had been felled and I would have to fix it again. In one village, I found that the Sept had been burned and people were praying at the stump that had once been a weirwood. I regrew it in the triple form with a seat as I had done at Riverrun. As soon as the tree had started growing, a young woman began shouting praises to the Old Gods and once I was done, she sat in the tree and launched into a sermon about how the servant of the Old Gods had saved her from the Mountain and now their faith was being rewarded with a renewed Heart Tree!
MARGAERY
“God damned medieval backwards barbarians!” I grumbled, as I rode through the Riverlands, on my way to Riverrun. It had taken months to complete the negotiations. When I first came up with this idea of betrothing Brandon Stark, I thought I was locking him in, so that some day, years from now, when he was old enough, we could get married and I would be Lady of the Riverlands. But Lord Hoster Tully’s health was failing and his son had died without producing an heir. So he was insisting that the marriage go forward now. I had long been considered by the public to be a super-villain. But I had never considered myself to be evil. I was not evil. I was just an environmental activist. But in order to fund things, sometimes I had to commit crimes. I felt no guilt about taking over the criminal underworld of King’s Landing. In fact, I had much improved the working conditions of the people I employed. But there were some lines I had never crossed and now I was being forced to cross one.
I was being escorted by the Reachlander troupes I had brought with me when I traveled to Storms’ End and later, King’s Landing. Since Riverrun would be my new home, I was planning to set up a new botanical laboratory. To aid this, I was bringing seeds from the plants I had planted in the Red Keep’s Gods’ Wood and had arranged to have more sent to me from Highgarden. I wasn’t certain whether I would set up in Riverrun’s Gods’ Wood or somewhere else yet. I would have to see the lay of the land first. But before I had left, I had spruced up the Red Keep with a series of house plants in pots in strategic locations like the Throne room and the Small Council meeting room. These would allow me to keep an eye on events in King’s Landing.
SAM
In my researches into the Long Night, I had discovered references to the Children of the Forest using stone tools and weapons. I then embarked on a quest to obtain weapons, made from a variety of stone types, to ascertain which, if any, would be effective against the wight. My lodge brother Mott, who was a weapon smith was wholly inadequate to the task of knapping weapons of stone. However, his apprentice, brother Waters, had a talent for working stone and was able to produce for me a series of daggers made from flint, quartz, glass and obsidian. The quartz one was especially beautiful, as is had been made from a clear quartz crystal. I had also wanted to see the effects that electricity would have on the wight.
As it turned out, providence was with me, as a thunderstorm appeared over King’s Landing the night I received delivery of my stone daggers. And so, I traveled to the square in front of the Great Sept of Balor where the wight was being displayed to the public. Due do some unfortunate accidents involving bystanders who had strayed too close to the wight, Its’ hands had been removed. But it was still able to bite the incautious with it’s incisors. I had made a kite of silk, imported from Wi Ti and attached a bare copper wire to it as a tail. To fly the shield kite I had a long hempen string that was tied to the kite and I tied the other end to the cage containing the wight. After some effort on my part, I was able to get the kite to ascend high into the air where it might persuade the lightning of the heavens to descend upon the ground. Once the kite was fully aloft and the string had all been played out, I released the string. It would not do to be struck by the metaphorical bolts of Jove, myself. I was most fortunate, or unfortunate, depending on your point of view. Because moments after I released the string, I bolt of lighting traveled down it and electrified the cage containing the wight.
The creature in question was not at all pleased to receive heaven’s blessing even though it did not appear to be at all injured by the electricity. In fact, it seemed to be invigorated by the jolt from above. In spite of the lack of hands, the wight was able to place its’ forearms agains the bars and bend them open to its’ freedom. Once the wight had attained its’ liberty, it hit the cage with a mighty backhand with enough force to send the cage sailing the hundred foot distance to slam against the doors of the Sept. The creature then charged at me!
I stabbed it in the heart through one of the many holes previous bystanders had made with swords and spears with the flint dagger, with no visible affect on the wight, which barreled into me and knocked me to the ground! I reached for the quartz crystal dagger but it had been shattered by my fall! I tried the glass dagger, to no effect! It was choking the life from me with its’ forearm on my throat and my vision was going dark when, in desperation, my one last attempt to stab the creature was made with my sole remaining weapon, the obsidian dagger!
I suddenly felt the wight go limp on top of me. While still attempting to catch my breath, I rolled the corpse off of me. It was finally resting in peace. A flash drew my attention to the cage, resting against the bronze doors of the Great Sept, The string was still tied to the cage and on the other end the kite was sill high in the clouds. A lightning bolt was traveling down the string, through the cage and into the bronze doors. Suddenly there was a rumble beneath me, a flash of green, and the stones of the square began to lift up like a wave of water washing towards me! I felt a sudden heat and then . . . .
TORMUND
We were all ready to board the ship when Ygrette announced: “I’m not goin’ with you.”
“What?” I asked. “Why?”
“Yara stole me fairly,” explained Ygrette. “I belong to her now. I’m goin’ with her back to her island. I’m going to be her Rock Wife. And I will go with her when she goes to the Bay of Ice to pick up Free Folk. Maybe me being along will persuade them that she’s not a slaver.”
“All right. Take care,” I said, as I gave her a hug goodbye. Toreg, Wun-wun and I watched her board the longship, while we went to a different ship that would be heading up the East coast.
JON
Rob and the Northern army had come to the King’s Landing to be honored along with all the other war heroes in the same ceremony where Bran and Edric got Knighted. So the Northern army was available to escort us to Riverrun. It would have been shorter to go by ship. But the direwolves would not have done well in a cage on the ship. It was good to see Ghost again. And I was enjoying seeing Rob again. Bran was on his way to become Lord Hoster’s heir. I would be his fencing teacher. Even though he was technically a knight, he still had much to learn about swordplay. I would also be teaching Edric, who was coming to be Bran’s sworn sword and magic teacher. A long road lay ahead of us. It was slow going on the back of a walking horse.
MARGEARY
Jon, Edric and Bran had left without me. I was still negotiating with Hoster Tully for a betrothal to Brandon Stark. There where several things complicating the process: The fact that my father supposedly ruled the Reach and all the letters had to be written by him with my grandmother standing over him to make sure he did it right, slowed things down. And I needed to see each letter personally before it was sent, so had to make frequent trips to Highgarden to do so. Fortunately, I had my birth blossoms to speed thing up. Whenever I needed to go there, I would allow the one in the Gods’ Wood in the Red Keep to swallow me, curl up and go to sleep. Then, I would awaken in an artificial body made of plant mater in the the birth blossom’s counterpart in High Garden. Usually, when I made the trip, I would engage in some gardening too. I had been able to move a few things to the Red Keep. But HighGarden was the home of my main botanical laboratory. I would have to plant another birth blossom when I moved to Riverrun . . . if I ever did. The Faith was being difficult about Bran and Edric being outed as wizards. On the other hand Lord Tully’s health was failing . . . encouraging him to speed the process up.
In the mean time, I still had my criminal empire to run here in King’s Landing. I already had gambling, prostitution and stolen goods. Enslaving Littlefinger had given me a monopoly on prostitution and had also added the Gold Cloaks, and their protection racket to my empire.
JOFFREY
The letter from Mycella arrived the same day as the first of the new recruits from the Westlands arrived. Like the Ironborn from last week, they were prisoners of war that had been forced to take the Black. My father was pleased to be reunited with his boyhood friend, Adam Marbrand. Mycella was now back in Winterfell, along with Lady Stark. Mycella mentioned how awful moon tea tasted. Knowing she had been abducted by the ironborn, it wasn’t hard for me to guess why she needed to be given moon tea. I cried a little for my sister before I began composing in my head the lullaby I would like to sing her to sleep with if I could be with her. Maybe if I sing it at the Mole Hole, it can make its’ way back to her?
EDRIC
Every time we stopped, as we made our way across the Riverlands, if there was a Weirwood stump, I would revive the tree. Ser Jon always made a point of being no where near when I did that. Now that I was openly a wizard, I could do magic in public. The Northmen, when they learned what I was doing would scout out weirwood stumps for me to do my magic on. They would gather around me as I cast the spell and cheer as the tree grew back to its’ old size.
TRYSTANE
Because of my aversion to sea travel, I had been taking the slow route, across the Reach to get back home. Since I was passing by anyway, I decided to check out Highgarden. I expected it to be a plain castle, like all the others I had passed. But instead of empty fields, there were orchards around the castle. I just before the moat there was a wall of thorny plants that you would have to get through in order to even approach the moat. The Castle, itself looked more like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon than a castle. Sure there was a wall. But on top of the wall I could see a thick growth of plants. There was an inner keep, and an inner, inner keep. And each of them had gardens on them too.
I shifted into the wereworld to take a closer look. Now it looked like a butte with dense forests of lodgepole pines on it. I climbed the butte and danced through the forrest where I came upon Margaery Tyrel in her guise as Plant Woman. Her skin was green and she wasn’t wearing much besides a skirt of leaves. She was tending her garden, kneeling, with her back turned to me. When I shifted into the real world to tap her on the shoulder, I saw that her skin and hair were more natural coloured and she was actually wearing a sleeveless mini-dress. Before I could even touch her, vines snaked out to entangle my arms and legs and suspended me in the air.
She casually stood up and turned around to face me.
“Oh! It’s you,” said Margaery, before stepping up to me and pulling me into a kiss.
As soon as our lips touched I could feel her effecting my mind. I desperately wanted her and was now prepared to give her anything she wanted. I probed her mouth with my tongue and felt her respond by rubbing mine with her own. Her hand began caressing my chest, before she broke off the kiss and asked me:
“Now what are you doing here in my garden?”
“I was passing by and wanted to check the place out,” I replied. “I didn’t expect to find you here. What brings you here? I thought I had left you in King’s Landing.”
“Oh, I just stopped by to do a little gardening,” she replied as the hand that was playing with my chest started working it’s way downward.
When the vines released me, I pulled her into another kiss, which I felt her respond to. Her hands continued to roam my body as my own began to explore hers. When I pulled up on the hem of her dress she raised her arms to aid me in taking it off her. She wasn’t wearing anything under it. After he helped me out of my breeches, she pulled me down so she could lay in the dirt with myself on top of her.
After we had both Relieved our Need and were cuddling, I asked her:
“I thought you were saving your maidenhead for your husband?”
“Oh, I am,” she replied with a giggle. “This is not my original body. This is a construct I made from plant matter.”
“So you’re like some remote control sex-doll?” I asked.
“I never thought of it that way,” she mused. “But essentially, yes.”
I went down on her and realized the taste wasn’t quite right for a woman. She had felt really close to a woman. Close enough to fool me. But her taste had bit of maple flavour to it. After I had pleased her a few times, I was ready for another round.
When we were finally finished and had gotten redressed, she pulled a seed off one of her plants. It was about the size of a peach pit.
“When you get home, could you plant this in your Gods’ Wood?” she asked. “I would like to be able to come see you so we could do this again.”
“What about your future husband?” I asked.
“My future betrothed is still a child,” she replied. “I don’t think I will be doing this with him anytime soon.”
TORMUND
It had taken weeks for the fleet to sail up to Hardhome, which was the closest thing there was to a port in the True North. Hardhome was further North than Toreg’s home village. We had brought with us all of the tree growing potion in glass spheres that there was. So as soon as we arrived, I organized parties to plant weirwood sprigs around the edge of the village. If the Others came for us, I wanted the village to be prepared. I explained the situation to the Free Folk who were at Hardhome and Toreg volunteered to go with those who would be the first to travel to the Stepstone Islands. I would not be going with them. I needed to get word to the rest of the Free Folk of the deal that had been made with the King of the Kneelers and that meant I need to meet with Mance Rayder.
JON
When we finally, arrived at Riverrun, a guard escorted us straight to Lord Hoster Tully. The Lord of the Riverlands did not look well. He was very thin, like he had been starving and was unable to rise from his sickbed.
“Go away, bastard,” weezed Lord Tully. “I want to speak with my grandsons.”
“SER Jon is my brother and SER Edric is my friend,” growled Bran.
“It’s all right, Ser Bran,” I placated. “Ser Edric and I will just get settled in.
I took Edric and left the room so Bran, Rob and Lord Tully could speak in private. We were shown to the barracks and got settled in before taking a bath with some cold water and a cloth. Once we had done that, Edric and I decided to go check out the Gods’ Wood. It had a medium sized oak as its’ Heart Tree, next to the stump of the weirwood tree that had been here before it had been felled by the septons. The place had a nice peaceful feel too it and was strong in the Light Side of the Force.
“You’re going to do that tree growing spell again aren’t you?” I complained.
“Yeah,” agreed Edric.
“Fine. Just left me get clear before you start doing your magic,” I groused.
I left to check out the practice yard until I could no longer feel the pain. Then I returned to find that the Weirwood Tree was fully re-grown. But not far off the ground, it split into three trunks with a flat place at the split that looked large enough for a man to sit between the three trunks, using one of them as a back rest.
“Bran likes to meditate sitting on the wierwood stumps. So I made him a place to sit on the re-grown tree,” Edric explained, as he climbed into the tree and sat.
I sat and the two of us began our daily meditation session, which we had needed to cut short when we had been traveling. It was more than an hour before Bran and Rob came to join us. They both had stormy expressions.
“Is everything all right?” I asked.
“Grandfather wanted Bran to send you two away,” explained Rob.
“But I told him that I need you two to teach me fighting and magic and if he didn’t like it, he could shove the Riverlands up his ass and give them to a Frey,” added Bran.
“Speaking of magic, could you show me some of that magic,” asked Rob, “besides tree growing, that is.”
“I’ll just go see to the training yard,” I said, as I moved to leave. “Come on, Ghost.”
EDRIC
Once we had settled into life at Riverrun, I began traveling the surrounding area, regrowing weirwood trees that had been felled. I would usually travel invisibly, on my broom. Often when I would return to a village that I had previously visited, I would find the weirwood tree that I had re-grown had been felled and I would have to fix it again. In one village, I found that the Sept had been burned and people were praying at the stump that had once been a weirwood. I regrew it in the triple form with a seat as I had done at Riverrun. As soon as the tree had started growing, a young woman began shouting praises to the Old Gods and once I was done, she sat in the tree and launched into a sermon about how the servant of the Old Gods had saved her from the Mountain and now their faith was being rewarded with a renewed Heart Tree!
MARGAERY
“God damned medieval backwards barbarians!” I grumbled, as I rode through the Riverlands, on my way to Riverrun. It had taken months to complete the negotiations. When I first came up with this idea of betrothing Brandon Stark, I thought I was locking him in, so that some day, years from now, when he was old enough, we could get married and I would be Lady of the Riverlands. But Lord Hoster Tully’s health was failing and his son had died without producing an heir. So he was insisting that the marriage go forward now. I had long been considered by the public to be a super-villain. But I had never considered myself to be evil. I was not evil. I was just an environmental activist. But in order to fund things, sometimes I had to commit crimes. I felt no guilt about taking over the criminal underworld of King’s Landing. In fact, I had much improved the working conditions of the people I employed. But there were some lines I had never crossed and now I was being forced to cross one.
I was being escorted by the Reachlander troupes I had brought with me when I traveled to Storms’ End and later, King’s Landing. Since Riverrun would be my new home, I was planning to set up a new botanical laboratory. To aid this, I was bringing seeds from the plants I had planted in the Red Keep’s Gods’ Wood and had arranged to have more sent to me from Highgarden. I wasn’t certain whether I would set up in Riverrun’s Gods’ Wood or somewhere else yet. I would have to see the lay of the land first. But before I had left, I had spruced up the Red Keep with a series of house plants in pots in strategic locations like the Throne room and the Small Council meeting room. These would allow me to keep an eye on events in King’s Landing.
SAM
In my researches into the Long Night, I had discovered references to the Children of the Forest using stone tools and weapons. I then embarked on a quest to obtain weapons, made from a variety of stone types, to ascertain which, if any, would be effective against the wight. My lodge brother Mott, who was a weapon smith was wholly inadequate to the task of knapping weapons of stone. However, his apprentice, brother Waters, had a talent for working stone and was able to produce for me a series of daggers made from flint, quartz, glass and obsidian. The quartz one was especially beautiful, as is had been made from a clear quartz crystal. I had also wanted to see the effects that electricity would have on the wight.
As it turned out, providence was with me, as a thunderstorm appeared over King’s Landing the night I received delivery of my stone daggers. And so, I traveled to the square in front of the Great Sept of Balor where the wight was being displayed to the public. Due do some unfortunate accidents involving bystanders who had strayed too close to the wight, Its’ hands had been removed. But it was still able to bite the incautious with it’s incisors. I had made a kite of silk, imported from Wi Ti and attached a bare copper wire to it as a tail. To fly the shield kite I had a long hempen string that was tied to the kite and I tied the other end to the cage containing the wight. After some effort on my part, I was able to get the kite to ascend high into the air where it might persuade the lightning of the heavens to descend upon the ground. Once the kite was fully aloft and the string had all been played out, I released the string. It would not do to be struck by the metaphorical bolts of Jove, myself. I was most fortunate, or unfortunate, depending on your point of view. Because moments after I released the string, I bolt of lighting traveled down it and electrified the cage containing the wight.
The creature in question was not at all pleased to receive heaven’s blessing even though it did not appear to be at all injured by the electricity. In fact, it seemed to be invigorated by the jolt from above. In spite of the lack of hands, the wight was able to place its’ forearms agains the bars and bend them open to its’ freedom. Once the wight had attained its’ liberty, it hit the cage with a mighty backhand with enough force to send the cage sailing the hundred foot distance to slam against the doors of the Sept. The creature then charged at me!
I stabbed it in the heart through one of the many holes previous bystanders had made with swords and spears with the flint dagger, with no visible affect on the wight, which barreled into me and knocked me to the ground! I reached for the quartz crystal dagger but it had been shattered by my fall! I tried the glass dagger, to no effect! It was choking the life from me with its’ forearm on my throat and my vision was going dark when, in desperation, my one last attempt to stab the creature was made with my sole remaining weapon, the obsidian dagger!
I suddenly felt the wight go limp on top of me. While still attempting to catch my breath, I rolled the corpse off of me. It was finally resting in peace. A flash drew my attention to the cage, resting against the bronze doors of the Great Sept, The string was still tied to the cage and on the other end the kite was sill high in the clouds. A lightning bolt was traveling down the string, through the cage and into the bronze doors. Suddenly there was a rumble beneath me, a flash of green, and the stones of the square began to lift up like a wave of water washing towards me! I felt a sudden heat and then . . . .
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