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Chapter 41: The Wall falls?

JOFFREY

We caught them totally by surprise. I don’t think any of the living expected the elevator to come down with us in it. And seeing the King as one of us totally shocked them. Just the sight of the living gave me a burning hunger to kill them all. But I didn’t have time for that. When we started towards the controls of the tunnel doors, I think the living realised what we were about to do. Some of them began to attack us. I ignored them, as I began to turn the wheel to open the door on this side of the tunnel. Once I had done that, I started to work, turning the wheel that opens the outer door of the tunnel. I think one of the them got me before I was finished, because I went to the afterlife before I was called back again.

When I was brought back, it appeared that some time had passed. There was no longer anyone living in Castle Black to burn me with their presence. The tunnel doors were open and our army was streaming through it and out of the castle, an endless flow of wights.


TORMUND

The dead kept chasing us. We could outrun them, but they didn’t need to stop to rest or sleep. We weren’t able to get any sleep as we couldn’t stop long before they would start to catch up. This went on for days before we found a castle. By now, they were hot on our heels, thousands of them. When we ran through the castle gates, there were too many of them, too close, to risk closing the gate behind us. Looking around the courtyard, I spotted a door. We ran to it and opened the door. Inside there were a bunch of barrels and stairs leading up the inside of a tower. After Brienne was in, I slammed the door shut and grabbed the 4 x 6 thick beam with one hand and slid it into place to bar the door. Then we shoved the barrels agains the door, before running up the stairs. The next floor had two doors that led out to the top of the wall of the castle. We barred those shut too, then continued up the stairs. The top of the tower was covered in snow. We couldn’t see them, but we could hear them, thousands of them, all around the castle. We went back to the floor below and paused to catch our breath. We’d made it this far, but they’d probably kill us when we tried to leave. Or we’d starve up here. Either way we were dead. . . . But we weren’t dead yet! I gazed at her and saw she was looking back at me with an odd expression.

I grabbed her face and pulled her into a kiss. She flailed a bit like she couldn’t decide whether or not to push me away for a minute before she grabbed a hold of me and deepened the kiss.


After we were done, I held her in my arms as we laid on the floor.

“Ya know, by the ways of the Free Folk, we’re married now,” I told her.

“I’m not going to marry you!” shouted Brienne, as she pulled away from me.

“Why not?” I asked. “I stole you fair and square.”

“That’s not how it works here!” snarled Brienne.

“Then, why’d you let me fuck you?” I asked.

“I just . . . . Look! I just didn’t want to die a maiden, that’s all!” she retorted. “I don’t love you!”

“You’re still hung up on that pretty boy kneeler, Renley,” I observed.

“Renly was noble and kind!” defended Brienne. “And you are just a scruffy old Wildling!”

“It’s alright. I understand,” I said. “It took me decades to get over the death of my wife.”

“Hold old ARE you?” asked Brienne.

“In this body? About 30,” I replied. “I kind of lost track. But do you remember before you were born?”

“No one can remember before they were born,” scolded Brienne.

“I do,” I told her. “I remember a whole other life before this one. And in that life I lived more that a million years. Though to be fair, most of that time I was asleep, drifting between the stars.”

“Now, I know you’re lying!” accused Brienne.

“No, really! I lived this other life!” I told her. “I got married. We were together for 40 years before she was killed. After that, there was a girl I fought along side who wanted me, even dyed her hair red so she wouldn’t look so much like Delilah. But I wouldn’t give her a chance because I was still mourning. Even in this life, when I brought the wights down South, one of the people who helped me, Ygrette, wanted me to steal her, but I thought she looked too much like my old friend, Willow, who I should have given a chance but didn’t. But when I first saw you, it was love at first sight! I finally met someone who I could build a life with!”

“Look you might as well give up!” snarled Brienne. “I’m not going to marry some Wildling just because he’s good at telling fairy stories.”

“You call me: Wildling, and I guess that’s true, to some extent,” I admitted. “I WAS born in the True North, North of The Wall. And since I have been here, I have adapted to fit in with my new people. But in my past life, I lived in a world that was much more advanced than this one. As far as I am concerned, YOU are the one who is a Wildling.”

“I don’t know why you are even making any of this up!” snarled Brienne. “Why do you want me to marry you in the little time left? We’re both going to die, anyway, either from starvation in here or fighting them when we try to go back out.”

“Do you know where we are?” I asked.

“I’m not certain,” said Brienne. But I think we’re at the Dreadfort.”

“Is there somewhere we could go from here that might be safe if we could get there?” I inquired.

“Winterfell,” stated Brienne. “It should be West of here and if we could make it there, we could fight alongside the Starks.”

“Tell you what,” I proposed. “If I can get you safely to Winterfell, will you marry me there?”

“And how are you going to do that?” she demanded.

“I’m not sure yet,” I admitted. “I’m sure I’ll come up with something. But I think the first part of the plan should be to get some sleep. No matter what we do we’ll need to be well rested.”

“That sounds reasonable,” said Brienne, as she crawled over to the other side of the room. “You sleep over there, and I’ll sleep over here.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like to come cuddle me?” I asked. “It’d be a lot warmer.”

“Quite sure,” stated Brienne.

“Suit yourself,” I told her.


When I woke up, she was in front of me being spooned with my arms around her.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” she told me, as she got up. “I just needed to be warm.”

“Of course!” I snickered.


After looking around, I found that the barrels were full of flour. Each was about four feet high, standing on end. There were also some torches and matches, which I didn’t recognise, at first. They were too high tech for my current life and too low tech for my old life.

The barrels were so big that It was hard to maneuver them on the stairs. But I managed to get one up on top of the tower.

“What exactly are you going to do with this?” asked Brienne.

“You know how sometimes grain storage places explode because the dust?”

“Yes, that has been known to happen, “ admitted Brienne.

“Well that is what we are going to do,” I explained. “I’m going to throw this flour in the air and make a big cloud. When I do, you throw the torch into it and lay down on top of the tower.”

“You can’t possibly throw the flour hard enough to do that,” replied Brienne. “How did you even lift it up here?”

“I’m as strong as ten men,” I said, as I lifted the open barrel. “Now get ready, NOW!”

I slung the open barrel hard enough to throw all of the flour high into the air. The torch just fell on the ground and continued to burn down there. We both dived for the floor of the tower. There was a pause before the fine particles of flour reached the flame and the cloud of flour was ignited. After the ‘BOOM!’, I scrambled to my feet, picked up Brienne and jumped off the tower right into the middle of where the explosion had been.

The wights here had been blown apart or away or were burning, leaving us a clear spot to land. And I was strong enough to lift her, armor and all and jump down here without breaking a leg.

“You are insane!” yelled Brienne, as I set her down.

“Run!” I shouted back, as I called up the Sword and started cutting my way through the wights.

We managed to break through and they only chased us for a few hours before we were able to lose them.

TRYSTANE

It was constant night and without the snow, reflecting what little light there was, we would have been blind. Looking up, it looked dark. But the light on the snow had to be coming from somewhere. We went South down the road for several hours before deciding to rest.

“I’m surprised you came up here in your condition,” I told Ygrette.

“Aye, Yara didn’t want me to come with her. But I told her, we spear-wives can fight almost until the baby comes. Now, I wished I’d listened to her.” answered Ygrette.

“How far along are you?” I asked.

“Seven months,” replied Ygrette.

“If you were married to a woman, who is the father?” asked Arya. “The Imp?”

“No. Not this time,” replied Ygrette, as she rubbed her belly. “This one is Tomen’s.”

“Tomen who?” asked Arya. “ . . . . Oooooo!”

We needed to get some sleep, but none of us had brought tents or blankets.

At Ygrette’s suggestion, we built a circle of smaller fires instead of one big one and slept in the middle. And we shared cloaks to keep warmer. In my case, I slept spooning Arya who spooned her friend Lyanna. Already at her age, Lady Momont seemed like someone it would be fun to have a threesome with. But that would have to wait until she was older. For now, I only cuddled my wife. While we slept we’d posted guards, who woke us when they heard the Army of the dead approaching.

We quickly arose and fled further down the road before we even sighted them.


For the next two weeks we continued running and resting. There was no food unless an animal was sited as we traveled. Because once we lit the fires to sleep, our night vision was gone.

Finally, we reached Winterfell and reported what had happened. Arya’s family was very glad to see us and both Lyanna and Ygrette were given the hospitality of important Ladies.


MARGAERY

The weather had progressed to full blown Blizzard by the time Bran’s sister stumbled out of the storm, leading a small army. Maybe it’s my gay-dar giving me false readings, but it seems like there’s something going on between Arya and Lady Lyanna Mormont. We didn’t speak of it, out loud, but I got the impression Arya’s husband Trystane saw it too. Surely not. Little Lyanna is too young. The arrival of important people required us to shuffle around. Lyanna and Ygrette moved into the room with Robb and Lyanna’s sister, Dacy. While Arya and Trystane moved onto the floor in the room with Bran and I. It seems that Bran’s sister is not at all shy about who knows she’s a married woman and she’s a screamer. So I felt no need to hide what Bran and I did under the furs either. At first Bran would try to shush me. But when he heard the sounds his sister made, he let me be as loud as I wanted. When we were awake and out in the castle, Trystane would give me the occasional wink and grin. I could tell what he wanted to do to me.

The guards had been hesitant to let Arya and her people in. After that, Jon scolded them because as he put it. ‘everyone who is alive is on our side’. So when another couple of people appeared at the door they were let right in.

“Tormund! It’s good to see you again!” I greeted them as they tried to warm them selves by the fire in the Great Hall.

“You know Lady Margaery?” asked Brienne of Tarth, the big lady knight from the Stormlands.

“Sure! We met in that big kneeler city! What was that name? Kneeler’s Landing or King’s lift off or I forget,” said Tormund.

I could tell he was just teasing her.

“So, now that I got you here like I said, you’re my wife now, right?” asked Tormund.

“You can’t possibly hold me to- . . . I never agreed to- . . . You’re impossible!” she yelled as Tormund grinned at her and wiggled his eyebrows. “ . . . If I become your wife . . . are you going to try to stop me from fighting?”

“Are you kidding!?!” laughed Tormund. “I want to fight by your side!”

“All right . . . I’ll do it . . . “said Brienne.

“You will!?!” exclaimed Tormund.

“But I want a real wedding! not that Wilding thing we did while we were on the run!” exclaimed Brienne. “I’m not your wife yet!”

“Are you a maiden?” I asked.

“Not anymore!” said Tormund

“Tormund!” screeched Brienne.

“Are you on Moon Tea?” I asked.

“No, I don’t have any,” admitted Brienne.

“Bran!” I called over my husband and pointed at her belly. “Cast the charm.”

He pulled out his wand and waved it.

“I’m sorry,” said Bran. “You don’t have a baby.”

Brienne let got of the breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding.

“Come with me,” I told her. “I need to give you ‘the talk’”


TORMUND

What ever that plant lady said to Brienne, she came back enraged! I soon as she saw me, she stomped over and got right in my face and screamed at me:

“I am not having any Ladies-in-Waiting!”

“All right! All right! You don’t have to,” I told her, before turning to Margaery and asked: “Whats a Lady in- . . . a Lady in- . . . what ever she said.”


We got married like the Southerners do, by the Weirwood tree in front of the Old Gods. They had shoveled the snow in the area around it out, so we could all be there. It was interesting to have the Starks all there for it. I put my grey cloak on her. Afterwards, we went into their big room for a modest meal and some music and dancing. Those Southern dances were pretty interesting and Brienne didn’t seem to know them any better than I do. The room was full of people! Some of them were even Free Folk. Things were going well until someone called out:

“The Bedding!”

“Bedding? What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s a tradition where the women all rip the clothes off you, while the men do the same to me.” explained Brienne.

“Well fuck that!” I yelled. “I didn’t save your life three times and steal you just so another man can touch you!”

“Actually, that’s the Southern custom, explained Robb. Around here, the custom is the for the man to threaten to injure anyone who tries to do the bedding on his wife.”

“Well that sounds fine and dandy!” I growled, as I rose to my feet.

“I married a man from the South,” chipped in Arya. “So I kicked their asses myself.”

“That sounds like a fine tradition,” agreed Brienne, as she rose to her feet.

“I promised you we would fight side by side,” I told her. “So lets fight our first battle together as husband and wife!”


JON

First my sister, Arya came back, along with her husband and what was left of the Western/Ironborn forces. Then, a Wildling named Tormund showed up with a female warrior, but not-a-knight, named Brienne of Tarth and they reported that The Wall had been breached at the East end. I can only guess that the same thing happened on the West end too, based on what Lady Mormont reported. Finally, out of the storm wandered a man of the Night’s watch with a woman and small child. It was Jamie Lannnister, himself!

“Ser Jamie, I’m surprised to see you here” I said. “You haven’t abandoned Night’s Watch, have you? And who is she?”

“This is . . . if the Night’s watch were allowed to take wives, she would be my son, Joffrey’s widow. The child is my grandaughter.”

“And why have you brought them down here?” I asked. “What’s going on at The Wall?”

“There’s no easy way to say this,” replied Ser Jamie. “The Wall has been breached, Castle Black has fallen. King Robbert is dead and has become a wight. Lord Stark is dead. my son, Joffrey had become a wight. As far as I know, we are the only survivors. The Army of the dead moves freely through the North!”

“No!” cried Cat as Robb pulled her into a hug and they both started crying. Dacy went to hug them both.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” asked Margaery. “Robbert’s dead, Stanis is dead, Renley’s dead . . . and you are now King.”

She kneeled to me and people in the room started to follow suit.

“No! No! No!” I yelled. “I am not your King! At best, I am the betrothed of Queen Shireen and we’re not even married yet! But, for now, I am appointing myself her Regent, temporarily, for the purpose of commanding this war!”

I started giving orders:

“Send runners to every castle in the North that can be reached,” I ordered. “Everyone in the North who can make it here is to come. We will make our stand here! And tell the runners that if they see a castle under attack or an army of the wights, they are to turn back immediately and report it!”

“And I want all the commanders to come up with battle plans,” I commanded of them. “We’ll meet in the morning and go over the best ones.”

“Ser Jamie, you’re still a member of the Night’s watch,” I pointed out.

“Our vows are for all our days, until our last day,” agreed Ser Jamie.

“I’m making you Lord Commander of the Night’s watch,” I told him. “If we find any other Night’s Watchmen, you’re in charge of them.”

“Robb! Pull yourself together!,” I told him. “You’re now Warden of the North!”