[Chapter Size: 4100 Words.]
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Third Person POV
Arctic, 298 AC.
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Jin Sakai was certainly nervous at this moment.
He could have imagined many things when he had come to Arctic, anything from a magical kingdom he had heard so much about during the sea voyage, with ships loaded with liquid explosives and dragons, and even then, he was surely surprised.
The place had a large farm, dragons flying in the sky, a great sacred tree as the highest point of the city, a people who coexisted with four different races in the same place, forming an entire kingdom—it was impressive from the moment they passed the canal statue to enter the realm.
After experiencing so many things, he realized that he could still be surprised. Things that even shook the Ghost of Yi-Ti. Like now, keeping his hands on an iron bar using a belt so as not to lose balance. The same could be said of his other 30 men, while the only thing they could do was look out the window and try not to fall to the floor for the last 2 hours.
It was madness. Too much madness, all of it. They were inside a ship, but it was not safe to be outside or out of the belt. After all, it was not a ship that was on the water as it should be, but in a much more chaotic environment, while chains bound it to a dragon above them, flying through the sky of the North.
Jin Sakai was certain that if he told his uncle, Lord Shimura, that he had once flown in a ship through the sky, he would laugh at him and say that his age was already bringing such absurd imagination, or that Jin had smoked hemp weed.
But what he was living now was living proof that it was real. He was there, flying through the sky for the last hours, passing through the northern mountains without being able to see much of the landscape, since they had to remain balanced. The ship rocked a lot, especially when gusts of wind came, breaking most of the furniture, rolling from one side to the other. It was not safe to stay in the rooms or even in the cabins with tables and bunks.
So, they had isolated a large room with some supports to hold onto, directly bound to the wooden floor, so they would not be thrown against the walls as the ship rocked.
"Tell me we will be arriving soon, my lord..." An Arctican begged behind Jin Sakai, while he was also strapped to an iron bar nailed to the floor with a belt. "We have to arrive, I am already at my limit."
Like his other companions, he watched through the windows, trying to catch a glimpse of the sea, which would mean they had finally reached the coast, where that nightmare would end.
"I don't know..." was all Jin said to his man.
Most of the people there were all from Arctic, chosen by Jon in the army, as he observed their training and noticed certain skills or potential in the subtlety of moving silently.
There were also the Wargs, who were essential to use as spies. There was nothing better than a man with the ability to enter the mind of an animal, reaching places that no one else could.
Information had always been the greatest weapon in a war. Jon proved that in Yi-Ti. But he was not the only one who could obtain information. These people could do it on a large scale, with several men and women gifted with such abilities, who could be used as spies.
Having soldiers working to collect information would make you win any war. Before, Jin used to fight with honor, facing his battles head-on, but in Yi-Ti he learned that to win a war, only the honor of fighting directly would not be enough—you had to have strategy and surprise your enemies. That is why Jin Sakai recognized how dangerous Arctic was to any other kingdom or organization in the world: even if it did not have the military power it had today with dragons and more than 5,000 giants, it would still have the necessary information to win a war easily.
The ship suddenly shook, pulling Jin Sakai out of his thoughts, while everyone groaned a little startled. The ship swayed, and the noise of furniture banging against the wood in the other rooms made it clear how insane that journey was. Most likely they would have to spread mattresses on the floor, since all the bunks were broken.
The king had said that this was necessary because they needed to be on that side of the continent. By the other route, they would never reach the Western Territory in time—it would take far too long. It also meant that they would be taken back to Arctic when they returned to the North, in the same way they had arrived there. Somehow, they would have to bring the people to the kingdom.
After finally two hours since they had left the port of Arctic, in the middle of that day, the sea began to come into view. Jin Sakai only sighed, relieved that that journey was coming to an end, while the dragon slowed its speed and lowered its altitude, getting closer and closer to the line of the sea.
"Hold on tight!" said Jin Sakai, now that the ship seemed about to collide with the water. The dragon began to stop, making the chains swing forward a little due to the momentum of the previous speed, unsettling the men inside the ship, before beginning the descent.
The ship crashed into the water on the frozen coast of that side as the water churned in every direction, and the ship rocked a little with the screams of frightened men inside. There were several birds circling the ship since it had left Arctic, being the only ones on the deck of the ship flying in the sky, as they were the familiars of the wargs inside the ship.
Jon began to move his enormous metal rod beside his saddle to start loosening the chains. Now that he no longer felt the pressure of the ship's weight with it stopped in the water, he took advantage of the slackened chains and began removing the rings that held the saddle, one by one, until he finally released the ship completely, with Vezofēdrur flapping its wings in the air the entire time to stay suspended. It was only in the next moment that Vezofēdrur began to move away with Jon from atop the ship.
Jin Sakai, along with his men, exited through the deck door, seeing the king in the distance, beating his wings and moving a bit away.
"Now it's up to you!" Jon shouted, using magic so that his voice echoed loud enough for everyone to hear. They were somewhere in the North, surrounded by frozen mountains and dry forests.
Jin Sakai, unable to shout loudly enough to be heard back, only nodded to Jon. "Well... now it's up to you," he said to the sailors, since piloting the ship was not his forte.
He heard the men collecting the chains that had fallen into the sea after being released. They wrapped them in each corner of the ship, since they would be used on the return to Arctic. Meanwhile, Jon began urging his dragon to the side, turning back east, before pushing forward and vanishing into the horizon.
There was nothing else to say. His men would now be on their own, while he dealt with the final preparations to begin the war.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
In the midst of darkness, the light of a crystal illuminated the path ahead as men advanced through tunnels full of branches, with timbers supporting the walls to prevent them from collapsing. It was a tunnel created as a group of people moved forward.
"Well, let's check the situation," said a small man, walking ahead of others taller than him. He was a dwarf.
"This is madness..." muttered one of the men beside him, as his companion glared at him.
"If Jon believes this will be a good strategy, I see no reason not to trust his judgment," replied the companion.
"I know that your nephew, the king, already uses these weapons—we've heard about it, even on the Wall. But I saw this madness in King's Landing, and also the stories of them being used in the middle of the sea were not far from our ears. You yourself are proof of that. I know you trust your nephew, but I still think it's madness we are here... If this place explodes, there will be nothing left of us..." he murmured, being a companion of the Night's Watch who had been freed after Jeor Mormont's negotiation with the king.
Now, they were in Arctic along with Benjen, after having received permission to remain in the kingdom and fight. Lord Commander Jeor Mormont had granted them permission to participate in that battle.
"That is exactly why you must trust my nephew," replied Benjen Stark. "If Jon created these weapons and sailed the seas for more than two or three years living with these things beneath his ship, then you should believe they can be quite safe. After all, if one of those explosive liquids simply exploded, the entire fleet that Jon took across the seas would have been wiped out, for one explosion would trigger another, and thus the whole sea would witness five hundred ships exploding one after another."
"And you'd better not call the king mad..." The dwarf turned his head back with a fierce look. The man who had spoken swallowed hard.
"Sorry, I'm just a little nervous..." he said, while the dwarf, holding a light stone in front of him, clicked his tongue and returned his attention to the path.
"Can you all be quiet? Don't you see I'm concentrating here? I need to know where the eastern reserve is!" he grumbled, opening a map.
Several teams had been divided to check the tunnels. They were outside of Arctic, in the northern part, among the mountains. Even at night, they worked to create and reinforce the tunnels so they would not collapse.
They followed until they reached a more open area. Finally, they arrived at the place he wanted. From the entrance, they could already see several barrels with a viscous blue liquid—none other than Wildfire Level II, created by the king.
The place was full of them, and no one could see the end, even with the light ahead.
"Hold this." The dwarf walked back to Benjen and handed him the crystal to lift. The place became brighter after that, and they began approaching the barrels carefully, since the king's order was to check if the arsenal was active, this being the first stage of the war.
Benjen also approached with a crystal in hand. A torch would be far too dangerous there, which was why they used luminous crystals. And even now in Arctic, torches were already a thing of the past, and everyone used light crystals.
"Hahahaha!" the dwarf began to laugh beside Benjen, while touching the barrel, feeling the liquid lightly trickle between his fingers before smelling it. "Look at this beauty... this will be perfect to start a light show that will shake all the North, and even Dorne will feel its ground tremble!"
He laughed, while Benjen looked forward and his companion grimaced at the exaggerated comment, but it certainly would shake the North, even make the Wall tremble if all of this were detonated...
The dwarf took a new crystal from his pocket, lit it, and simply tossed it forward, illuminating the entire chamber ahead of them, since they could not enter it. The crystal traveled about fifty meters through the air, revealing barrels upon barrels—hundreds, perhaps thousands—spread throughout that underground chamber.
"I've heard that just a few of these barrels could bring down a castle... This is madness, I still say," muttered the same man from the Night's Watch.
"Hey, you'd better shut up, or you'll end up calling the king mad," said the dwarf, threatening him, staring at a taller man as if daring him to continue.
"It's not that... it's just that I didn't expect something like this," said the watchman, in the end, grumbling and cursing under his breath with exaggeration.
"Well, let's head back. The smell is still strong," said the dwarf at last, reminding them that they only needed to check the odor. As long as it was perceptible and strong, it meant the Wildfire was still active and ready to explode. The crystal remained on the other side of the chamber, lying on the ground. That posed no danger, for when its energy ran out, it ceased to function until recharged by the sun—something that would probably never be done, since everything in that chamber would eventually be obliterated once the barrels exploded.
They were at least 5 meters below ground, once again following the corridors. They encountered other teams checking different rooms and sides of the labyrinth of tunnels created beneath the region, since the place was immensely large, planned by Jon to spread this arsenal throughout the whole area.
They advanced to one of the exits, where their horses awaited them. As soon as they emerged, the cold wind hit them, forcing them to put on their cloaks, for the subterranean heat contrasted brutally with the ice dominating the outside, beyond Arctic's walls. They mounted and rode on, meeting another group of Arcticans in the middle of the area, looking at the sky for something.
Suddenly, an object was heard whistling through the air, fired from far away, crossing the sky and falling directly near them, burying itself in a specific spot in the ground with wood. The group there was hidden in several stone shelters.
When they saw the harpoon strike the marked spot, everyone waved, clapped their hands, and shouted in satisfaction.
The harpoon had not come from anywhere nearby. There was no one in that area who could have launched it. It had come from much farther away.
"Inform them," said one of the men, while Benjen, the dwarf, and the watchmen observed. At that moment, one of the wargs turned his eyes white, transmitting the message at a distance with the animal there, somehow warning: 'the target has been hit.' That was Arctic's form of instant communication through animals connected by their wargs, who sent word in real time without needing to move.
"Good, we have nothing more to do here. This is the right angle. Let's prepare our things and return to the kingdom," said some men, while Benjen watched them remove a huge wooden structure used as a test with the harpoon, so as not to damage the main structure of the land.
Jon's plan to detonate this entire area would come from an arrow launched directly from Arctic, in equipment that a giant would wield—much stronger than the harpoons fired from ships. This arsenal would be lifted and opened by the flaming arrow; inside it was another stockpile of barrels with Level 2 Wildfire.
What would come next was unimaginable: there were tons and tons of wildfire spread throughout the entire region; the place would simply be turned to ashes.
That was why Jon had taken enough care to run the final tests. Every day they tested to see if they hit the target, and now he had also given the order that they should inspect the wildfire in all areas daily, for Jon wanted to be certain they would be efficient when the right time came to eliminate most of their enemies.
It was said there would be hundreds of thousands of those creatures, and they would have to act to destroy them at any cost. Benjen and the group left the place with the men making sure to leave as well, advancing toward Arctic through the winding path without a road outside the walls, and soon they went around the walls ahead of them.
Men watched over the gate, recognizing them as part of the expedition—which was not difficult, since only three types of people were walking in the North at this moment: the Arcticans on missions of the kingdom doing maintenance, or working in the mines outside the walls; the free folk; and lastly, corpses wandering around.
The gate began to open as the giants inside turned the wheel enough for the group to pass.
"Finally home, even though we weren't away for long," said the dwarf, still laughing. His gaze went to the tree in the distance. "I'm thinking of going to the Lady of the Hill. Do you want to join me?" he asked.
The Lady of the Hill was a tavern exclusive to dwarves, but some humans joined them when invited. The dwarves often overindulged at the bar to the point of starting fights among themselves; there was never any serious crime, since they settled everything with their fists right there. That atmosphere drove most humans away—only those invited or acquainted drank with them.
The bar's owner did not mind the fights; he himself often used his fists when he disagreed with someone, even starting some of the brawls.
"Oh no, thanks. I'd rather get some rest," said Benjen as they entered the city after passing through the military area, with the army once again doing exercises and training formations.
"There's going to be a game today between the legions, and I was thinking of you. Don't you want to go watch?" asked his Night's Watch companion, looking at Benjen who, in turn, made a strange face, reflecting on how they had already adapted to the daily life of the kingdom his nephew had created.
The arenas were open for fights during the day and for performances and games at night, serving mainly as spectacles. Thus, the place was very frequented.
Benjen had grown accustomed to life in Arctic, even accompanying his nephew in some activities as king. The Night's Watch companions there had easily adapted to the kingdom's routine. They no longer seemed like those sworn men of the Night's Watch, living in Castle Black and trying to warm themselves against the biting cold of the North and the Wall, with hard and unpleasant faces.
"Ah, I'll pass," said Benjen.
"Alright. I got some platinum, you know that coin is quite rare. I intend to bet it on one of the teams," said the man.
"Your luck," replied Benjen, not hiding his surprise. Platinum was Arctic's unique currency, a material even rarer than gold.
Even the Iron Bank had recognized it as more valuable than gold. That was why the Minister of Coin had traveled so much to Braavos last year, before Arctic began to completely close itself off—they introduced the new currency called Arctic Platinum.
The dwarf kept talking with other companions, who dispersed as soon as they entered the city. Soon they began to separate, one by one, while Benjen went on alone toward the castle.
Before entering, he looked up at the sky upon hearing the sound of strong wings in the distance. People shouted and pointed upward near him, as they always did when sighting the great dragon, whose shadow already covered the whole area. Benjen blinked a few times, bothered by the sun behind the creature, until the silhouette stood out clearly: an enormous black dragon coming from the West, flying toward the Dragon Mountains.
Benjen let the sight go, knowing Jon was returning to the kingdom and might or might not come to the castle—after all, he was the king and surely had many things to do. He already imagined what Jon had done, and about the rescue of the Lannister girl, something personal to Jon that Benjen made no opinion about, for it was Jon's problem.
The royal guards stood at the castle entrance. Upon seeing him, they only nodded.
"Hello, everyone," greeted Benjen, entering the castle grounds.
Of all the Night's Watch brothers, he was the only one with permission to enter there, for obvious reasons. He went on, passing through the garden, where he saw one of Jon's wives with the children—it was Ygritte—watched from a distance by guards. The children, whose names were Starks, Lyanna, and Brandon, played cheerfully. The scene made Benjen remember Arya, who would soon come to Arctic, eager to see her niece.
In any case, he approached the stables, as a man from the castle came closer.
"Benjen Stark, it is good to see you again," said the middle-aged man, as Benjen dismounted and greeted him. The man took the animal along with the others, and Benjen continued toward the castle until he stopped midway. He saw a canopy of trees—there were many in the garden—and he could hear the sound of a child coming from there.
As he approached, he saw what was happening. Loki was there, standing, with large sticks in his hands, swinging them through the air. Benjen saw no royal guard, nor his mother, nor anyone else from the castle nearby, while the boy trained alone with his imaginary sword. Benjen stopped by the trees and watched the boy. He must have slipped away from everyone to practice.
The boy spent a good while training before realizing someone was watching him. He turned, startled, with cautious eyes, and recognized his father's uncle.
"Uncle Benjen!" he said. The boy had always called him that since Benjen had asked to be called uncle, just as his father did.
"I see you're eager to train. I remember your father saying it would take a few years as well," said Benjen, not failing to notice the size of the piece of wood. It was larger than what a three- or four-year-old child should be using, especially swinging it the way Loki was doing.
That made Loki immediately blush with embarrassment. "I-I didn't want to wait... Dad said we have to wait until our body gets strong to train. But I'm already strong!" said Loki.
Benjen raised an eyebrow and gave a playful smile.
"I imagine so. You are your father's son, and there is no man stronger that I know. Just like your mother," replied Benjen.
It was always fun dealing with children. Ever since Ned had children, Benjen made a point of visiting them from time to time, to watch them grow—and now he could do the same with Lyanna's grandchildren.
It was even a bit amusing that Jon had been the first father of that Stark generation. And he already had nine children, with the last one in Seryna's belly. Not that it was unusual—boys of fifteen often married and had children in Westeros.
"Grandma Lyanna," said Loki, breaking into a silly smile. He loved hearing Benjen tell stories about her in Winterfell. Jon also liked listening, since Lyanna was his mother and also the children's grandmother.
"Yes, she was rebellious, like your sister. But I've told you that many times already," said Benjen, while the boy smiled cheerfully.
"I know, but I wanted to know... was she very strong?" he asked, with expectation.
"Yes. No one could control her, not even our father," replied Benjen, still holding a smile.
"Was she strong like this too, Uncle Benjen?" asked the boy, as he went toward a stone.
Benjen kept the curious smile. However, his expression soon changed to astonishment. He looked in shock as Jon's eldest son simply began to lift a stone the size of half his body.
"Look at me, Uncle Benjen! I'm really strong! That's why I think I should start training already," said Loki proudly, holding the stone.
Benjen wondered if what he was seeing was real. He knew the children were being strengthened with the potions Jon had been giving them, but no one imagined they would reach the point of lifting something heavier than their own body when he was only 3 namedays old.
It was shocking to see Loki do that. Even more so because Benjen did not know the boy's mother was a giant—and surely that strength had been passed on to the firstborn.
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