WILOW-Ch.376: Till Her Last Breath
Outside of Casterly Rock, the Westerlands
POV of Domeric Bolton
"This is not pretty." Raksa said, pinching her nose, "And it smells."
"It's a sewer, Raksa. It's not meant to be pretty." Domeric said, but he cast bubble head charms on all of their heads anyway.
"It's slippery," Varko said.
He grimaced and nodded, "It is. You don't need to tell me that either."
"Is this the grand secret entrance that you planned to use to infiltrate the castle?" Bronn said, his eyes filled with mirth, and he reluctantly nodded.
"Yeah." He said, "But… I'll have to go inside and check if there's really an opening for us to use."
"Clean the sewers for us while you're at it, Domeric," Raksa said, and he grimaced.
Using his magic to clean sewers? Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
He nodded, "I'll see what I can do. You three remain here till then."
The three nodded, looking more than a little amused, and he looked at the sewer once again, knowing very well that he would probably not be able to eat anything for the next few days.
For an effective attack, they needed to know the route through the sewers by heart. Otherwise, no one could predict how long it would take them to reach the castle after entering from so far below.
And for Domeric to be both effective and to have a proper attack plan, he needed to find the shortest route to the castle and calculate how long it would take.
As the only one who could use magic and therefore move through the tunnels without getting lost, this task fell to him.
Well... he often said that although he was a lord, he didn't shy away from getting his hands dirty, but he never thought that would mean entering a sewer someday.
"Here goes nothing." He said and entered the sewer.
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Two days later.
Domeric looked at the fifty rafts that his men had made in the last two days and then at the thirty giants.
After inspecting the sewers, he realized there wasn't much space to walk through, and navigating through the sewage water would slow them down and demoralize his men.
Even he preferred using his hoverboard when mapping the sewers.
Therefore, he ordered his men to build rafts to cross the watery section of the sewers. They would travel on these rafts to reach the area where the stairs leading to the castle were located.
He looked at the horizon where the sun had fallen a few moments ago.
"You know what you need to do?" he asked in Old Tongue.
Mag the Mighty nodded his head, "Break iron doors. Kill red people." He replied in Old Tongue.
He nodded and turned to his personal guards.
"Only four on the raft at a time." He told his men, "Or two men and one direwolf. Send in the direwolves first before stepping in yourself."
His men had no responsibility for moving the rafts because he would do it himself with his magic.
His men nodded, and Domeric looked at the castle on top of the large mountain.
He did not doubt that their thighs would be sore from all the stairs they were about to climb in order to reach the Castle. But it was what it was.
He turned to Ygritte and kissed her forehead. "Do not take off your helmet. Even for a single moment. Magical amulets are only activated against lethal attacks." He whispered to her, "I don't want you harmed because you became careless."
"You be careful too," Ygritte told him, and he nodded.
They waited for a few more minutes before the last rays of the sun finally died down.
Then he turned to his men and put on his helmet.
"Take the rafts and start transporting the direwolves." He said and turned to Ygritte, "Wait for all of us to enter the sewers before telling the giants to attack. You can take down the soldiers on the gate from a distance, but don't let our other soldiers get close until the giants break the gate."
Ygritte nodded, and he told Mag the Mighty to listen to Ygritte before leaving.
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POV of Genna Frey
She was woken by frantic knocking on her door.
She opened her eyes and frowned. She clenched her fists to drive away the fear from her heart and wore some decent clothes before opening the door.
A young squire named Jacob Lannet looked at her in fear.
"Mm… my lady." He said, and she almost thought that the boy would pissed himself if she so much as frowned in his direction.
"What is it?" she asked.
"The… the…" he pointed in distance at something. "The Bolton forces have started attacking. It's… the giants. They're coming to eat us."
She went back to her room and came out with two letters.
"Go to Maester Creylen." She said and handed him the two letters, "Tell him to send these to my brother Tywin and my niece Queen Cersei."
The boy nodded, looking at the letters as if they were a lifeline, and ran away with them.
Once the boy was gone, she let the fear in her own heart bleed into her face.
Because as much as she didn't want to believe it, deep down in her heart, she knew that Casterly Rock would fall before the next morning.
If it had been someone else attacking the castle, Genna would have laughed at the news, saying that Casterly Rock had never fallen before and never would.
But this time, it was the Hungry Beast at their gates, and Genna didn't think it would leave without satisfying its appetite.
Aegon the Conqueror had conquered the Seven Kingdoms centuries ago thanks to his dragons.
Hungry Beast might not have dragons, but he had wyverns. And with the wildfire he rained down from them, he could create destruction comparable to dragons.
Genna thought the wyverns with wildfire were even worse than the dragons. Dragons had to descend to breathe fire, and in the process, they could be injured or even killed.
But these wyverns waited at a height beyond anyone's attack reach, raining wildfire from their peaks.
What had happened in Riverrun was now known to everyone thanks to Hungry Beast's newspaper.
She didn't know if the Hungry Beast could conquer Westeros with the help of the wyverns, but capturing Casterly Rock certainly wouldn't be difficult for him.
Still, she was a Lannister, and she wouldn't go down easily.
She wore the cloak of her house around her shoulder and left her room.
If the men were too cowardly to lead the fight, then she would pick up the sword herself and show them how to do it.
Till her last breath.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.377: Mines of Casterly Rock
Ch.378: Hostages
Ch.379: Lannister Army