The Golden Gallery of Casterly Rock was no longer golden.
It was bare stone.
For three days the Northern engineers had worked with pry bars and hammers. They stripped the gold leaf from the walls. They pried up the lion mosaics. They melted the statues.
It was the greatest heist in the history of Westeros.
Robb Stark stood by the window looking at the telegraph strip in his hand. The paper was long and curled like a white ribbon.
W-A-L-L.
U-N-D-E-R.
S-I-E-G-E.
G-I-A-N-T-S.
M-A-M-M-O-T-H-S.
"One hundred thousand wildlings," Robb whispered. "And we are three thousand miles away."
"We are not that far," Andar said. He was supervising the loading of the last chest of gold ingots onto the winch system that lowered cargo to the harbor.
"It will take us months to march back," Robb argued. "By the time we reach the Wall Castle Black will be a ruin."
"We are not marching," Andar said. "We are riding the iron spine."
He pointed to the map.
"The Dreadwolf takes us to Seagard in three days. The train takes us to Winterfell in two days. We can be at the Wall in a week."
"A week?" The Greatjon scoffed. "To move an army?"
"To move the Vanguard," Andar corrected. "We leave the main host here to hold the West. We take the gold. We take the Rifles. And we go North."
The Evacuation
The departure from Casterly Rock was somber.
They left a garrison of five thousand men under the Blackfish to hold the castle and the city. It was a risk but holding the Lannister purse strings was vital.
The Dreadwolf sat low in the water. Its hold was filled with tons of gold. The weight was so great the deck was awash with every wave.
"Full steam," Andar ordered.
The ironclad pushed North. It did not stop for storms. It punched through them.
Three days later they docked at Seagard.
The railway station at Seagard was new. It was the terminus of the River Line.
Andar's special train was waiting.
It was not the freight train of the past. It was the Royal Express.
The locomotive was a 4-4-0 "American" type. Larger. Faster. The driving wheels were six feet tall.
Behind it were ten passenger cars and five armored flatbeds carrying the Napoleon cannons.
"All aboard!" The conductor shouted blowing his whistle.
Robb Stark stepped onto the train. He sat in a velvet seat next to a glass window.
"It feels... smooth," Robb noted as the train pulled away.
"Suspension," Andar said closing his eyes. "Sleep Your Grace. You will need your strength."
The train accelerated. It reached forty miles per hour. It blurred past the villages of the Riverlands terrified peasants watching the iron snake fly North.
They crossed the Neck in hours instead of weeks. They passed the Twins without stopping.
By the second night they saw the lights of Winterfell.
Winterfell
The ancient seat of House Stark had changed.
It was no longer just a castle. It was a metropolis.
The refugee camps had been converted into organized housing blocks. Chimneys rose everywhere. The smell of coal smoke hung in the air. Streetlamps powered by gas flickered in the dark.
The train pulled into the new station outside the Hunter's Gate.
Bran Stark was waiting for them. He sat in a wheelchair of Andar's design with rubber tires and geared wheels.
"Robb!" Bran shouted.
"Bran!" Robb jumped off the train and hugged his brother. "You have grown."
"And you have a crown," Bran smiled. He looked at Andar. "The Wall is screaming Lord Andar. I can feel it. The ice is cracking."
"I know," Andar said.
He looked past the castle toward the Wolfswood.
There stood a massive wooden structure. A hangar. It was four hundred feet long and ten stories high.
"Is it ready?" Andar asked.
"Mott says yes," Bran nodded. "But he is terrified of it."
"Good," Andar said. "Fear keeps you sharp."
"Show me," Robb demanded.
The Hangar
They walked into the massive building.
The interior was lit by hundreds of electric arc lamps powered by a generator humming in the corner.
Floating in the center of the room was the Leviathan.
It was a rigid airship. A Zeppelin.
It was three hundred feet long. Its frame was made of treated spruce wood light and strong. Its skin was doped cotton painted a sky grey.
Underneath the massive gas bag hung a gondola made of aluminum and wood.
"By the Old Gods," the Greatjon whispered craning his neck. "It is a flying whale."
"Hydrogen," Andar explained. "We make it by passing steam over hot iron filings. It is lighter than air."
"And it flies?" Robb asked skeptical.
"It floats," Andar corrected. "The engines make it fly."
He pointed to the two pods mounted on the sides of the gondola.
"These are not steam engines. Steam is too heavy. These are Internal Combustion Engines. They run on refined oil. Kerosene."
Andar walked to the gondola ladder.
"The Night's Watch is fighting giants Robb. They are fighting mammoths. A wall of ice is strong but it is static."
He patted the hull of the airship.
"We need to drop fire from above. We need to be the dragon."
"How many men can it carry?" Robb asked.
"Fifty riflemen," Andar said. "And two tons of bombs."
"Bombs?"
Andar picked up a metal canister with fins on the back.
"Aerial bombs. Filled with dynamite. We fly over the wildling army. We drop these. We break their lines before they even touch the Wall."
He looked at the crew who were making final preparations. They wore leather flight jackets and goggles.
"Load the ship," Andar ordered. "We launch at dawn."
"To the Wall?" Robb asked.
"To the Wall," Andar said.
He looked at the gas bag above him. It was a fragile thing. A single spark could turn it into a fireball.
But desperation was the mother of invention.
"The King Beyond the Wall thinks he has numbers," Andar said. "He thinks he is fighting the Night's Watch."
Andar climbed the ladder.
"He is about to fight the Air Force."
[Quest Started: Death from Above]
[Objective: Save the Wall]
[Vehicle: The Leviathan (Airship)]
[Risk Factor: Extreme (Hydrogen is flammable)]
[Cargo: 500 High Explosive Bombs]
Outside the wind howled. But inside the hangar the giant stirred straining against its tether ropes eager to conquer the sky.
...
Author Note
Hi guys! Thank you for reading my fanfiction.
I wanted to let you know that I'm releasing bonus chapters for Power Stones. Here are the goals:
25 Power Stones: 1 Bonus Chapters
50 Power Stones: 1 Bonus Chapters
75 Power Stones: 2 Bonus Chapters
100 Power Stones: 2 Bonus Chapters
Thanks for the support!