Aegon Snow

-Chapter 165-

-13th day of the 8th moon of the year 300 AC-

-POV Mance Rayder-

"How many died this time?" I asked as I saw Tormund enter my tent.

"234 people," he said in a low and cold tone.

"It's getting worse. We lose a few more men with each outing, and without them, we soon won't be able to feed the camp," I said, sighing and holding my face in my hands.

"They hunt everything that lives north of the Wall," Tormund said, sitting next to me.

I sighed and then said, "They are surely planning to launch an invasion south once everything in the North is completely dead."

"You don't understand, do you? I've had enough, we've all had enough, Mance. It's time to open your eyes. It's been almost a year since we started the war against the kneelers' king, and look where we are. Altogether, we've lost tens of thousands of people. I've lost a son and four nephews," Tormund said, violently rising from his chair.

In his eyes, I could see a strong resentment, so powerful that I doubted he wouldn't draw his weapon to kill me.

I smiled and then said, "If you want to kill me, do it. I've already lost all reason to live anyway."

Tormund placed his hand on his axe and stared at me for several seconds before finally sighing. He eventually said in a disappointed tone, "I'm tired, and everyone who follows me thinks the same. You no longer have the stature you once had. You're not my king anymore. Since Dalla died in childbirth, you've been different…"

"Ship!" A cry outside the tent made me frown.

'Another fleet bringing weapons and supplies, hahaha. He's slowly wearing down the will and resistance of my people. I've finally lost what I wanted to keep the most: my wife and the allegiance of my people,' I thought.

'In the end, he's right. If we stay here, we will die no matter what, so we might as well surrender. And if it's not for me, then let it be for him,' I thought, looking at my son wrapped in furs to keep him warm.

---

-POV Tormund Giantsbane-

Seeing a great man like Mance end up in such a decadent state pained me deeply.

For many years, I thought we could bend the southern kingdoms by force.

That we could carry out our invasion and even take advantage of their quarrels to establish our territory on the lands of those fake Northerners, the Starks.

But unfortunately, it was only by seeing and experiencing the strength of the kneelers' king that I finally understood that no matter what, even if we put weapons in the hands of men, women, the elderly, and children, we could never invade the South by force.

Once the Horn of Winter was destroyed, this feeling intensified, and my only hope… No, our only hope was to succeed in defeating the White Walkers and their legions of the dead.

At one point, I even believed I could defeat the White Walkers. I still remember that moment as if it were yesterday, the moment I became the first and only man to kill a White Walker.

-Flashback Begin-

"Father, we should go back," said Torwynd, his cowardly tone annoying me to no end.

"You didn't have to come with us if you were going to whine," said Toregg, mocking his brother.

"I didn't come to whine, I came because I'm also a warrior of our tribe, and I won't be able to marry if everyone thinks I'm a coward. I have to bring back game so that everyone sees that I…"

"Shut up!" said Kragg, the Warg of our tribe.

He cried out before falling to his knees, clutching his head with both hands while screaming, "They're coming, they're coming, they're coming!"

"Who?" asked Torwynd stupidly.

"DEATH," he screamed before fainting.

'We have to run,' I thought, but just before I realized the air was cooling rapidly.

'Damn, they're way too close,' I thought.

"Form a circle, the walkers are coming, we have to hold them off, or we'll all die," I said.

We didn't have time to organize when a Direwolf, half its skull missing, lunged at me and knocked me to the ground.

In the heat of the moment, I plunged my dragonglass dagger into the wolf's eye, and it collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

I freed myself from the Direwolf's corpse and finally saw a tide of corpses rushing toward us.

Even though I was shocked by what was coming at us, I got up and struck the head of the first undead that came at me. It collapsed headless. Then, I joined my sons and my men. We formed a circle and, with little effort, managed to continuously cut down the corpses that threw themselves at us.

Nearly an hour passed, and we all became so focused on killing the undead that I didn't even notice their leader, sitting on a dead horse, charging toward me.

"Father!" It was Torwynd's voice that allowed me to avoid the horse's charge.

Torwynd seized the opportunity to shoot an arrow made of dragonglass, piercing the horse's heart just as I charged, thinking the White Walker would be defenseless and perhaps unseated by the fall. But to everyone's surprise, he jumped off his horse and lunged at Torwynd.

They rolled in the snow for several meters before he gained the upper hand and put his hands around my son's neck.

My heart raced, and I pushed my body to its maximum speed to save my son, whose face was turning more and more purple with each passing second.

I was about to reach him when Torwynd turned his gaze to me, and I could see all the determination he had before pulling out his small dragonglass knives and plunging them into the White Walker's eyes.

The latter let out a horrible scream before pulling the knives from his eyes and violently plunging them deep into my son's eyes, who didn't make a sound.

Seeing my son's lifeless body made me roar in rage, which caused the White Walker to turn in my direction.

The White Walker raised his hands to block my blow, but at the touch of my axe, his body shattered like glass.

-Flashback End-

'I wouldn't have been able to do it without the shipment of weapons the kneelers' king had specially sent for my tribe. Without it, I would have lost two of my sons and probably my own life,' I thought, running a finger over the dark axe I wore at my waist.

Once out of Mance's tent, I went straight to the ship flying the royal banner, a red three-headed dragon coiled in a circle on a black background.

"Stop," said one of the men guarding the ship's gangway.

"It's okay, rest soldier," said the captain before stepping forward and extending his hand for a handshake.

I extended mine and then asked, "So, what do you have for us this time, Aethan?"

Aethan said, "This time, we have a lot more weapons, enough to arm everyone at Hardhome."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, and then he said, "This is our last trip. After this, we won't be coming back unless something changes. So, we brought enough weapons for all your people to have a chance in the war that awaits you."

"The war that awaits us," said Mance.

I frowned as I saw him coming up behind me and then said, "What are you doing here?"

"We've lost enough people, Tormund, you're right about that, but we can't surrender just like that."

He then turned to Aethan and said, "Take back your weapons and tell your king that we are ready to negotiate with him as long as he agrees to open the gates of the Wall…"

"The gates have been sealed," said Aethan in a cold tone, changing his friendly and smiling expression to a colder and indifferent one.

The news hit me like a punch because without the Wall, we were all doomed. We couldn't escape this hell no matter what we did.

"Tell Aegon that if we die here, we'll only be adding to the undead armies of..."

"The Emperor is already aware of all this and has given me a second mission accordingly…"

Aethan stepped forward and addressed the crowd watching from the side:

"ANYONE WHO DOESN'T WANT TO END UP AS UNDEAD IN THE WHITE WALKERS' ARMY CAN DECIDE TO COME BACK WITH US. WE WILL SEND SHIPS TO SAVE ALL FREE PEOPLE WHO CHOOSE TO BECOME CITIZENS OF THE EMPIRE."

I saw Mance looking at me with a pleading look, but my decision was already made; I couldn't lose another son.

'Especially not Dryn and Dormund, who are not yet more than ten springs old,' I thought, feeling guilty about Torwynd's death.

'If I hadn't pushed him to come with us, maybe he'd still be alive.'

"We will go with you, Aethan," I said softly.

Aethan nodded, and then I left to announce the news to the rest of my tribe. Mance looked at the ground, and although I felt guilty for abandoning him, I couldn't follow him in his madness. I had to think about the future.

'For me, for my tribe, and for my sons,' I thought, crushing all the negative feelings I had and moving forward more determined than ever.

'It will also be an opportunity to repay the debt I owe him,' thinking of the king, no, the emperor of the kneelers, whatever that title means.

'He spared me once, me and my sons, and gave me weapons that allowed me to save many members of my tribe.'

---

-POV Brynden Rivers-

'In the end, he did not follow my advice and even sealed the gates of the Wall,' I thought, shaking my head as I left the consciousness of my ravens.

"This is not a good thing. If the Wall falls, then all the kingdoms of men will fall. Maybe with the magic he has displayed, we could manage to create beings similar to him," I said, looking at Leaf, questioning her with my gaze.

"I highly doubt we could achieve the same result as him. He has an unprecedented affinity with magic, no, I would say he has an unprecedented affinity with the energy around us, not just magic. That's what allows him to have such fine control over magic," Leaf said, shaking her head.

'That's not the only reason. I think she's afraid of creating another abomination,' I thought.

"I don't know why he doesn't take my advice to heart, but what we can be sure of is that he has assessed our adversary and is on our side," I said, seeing that she was worried.

This fear must come from the fact that he had finally understood what awaited him; otherwise, he wouldn't have sealed the gates of the Wall.

"But it's not enough," said Leaf.

"Hmm, I agree with you, it's not enough because even with all the preparations he's making, his attention is not sufficiently focused on the Wall when the upcoming war with death should be his first priority," I said.

"Should we bet on the Queen across the sea?" Leaf asked.

"No, she has no connection to us and the old gods, and she has already been too influenced by the High Priest of Light, Benerro," I said.

"If what you told me is correct, then Aegon is also influenced by Kinvara and Melisandre," Leaf said.

"Not to the same extent. Aegon is a man; he is weak and influenced by the outward disguise of the priestesses, not by their words," I said.

"You are also a man," Leaf remarked.

"There was a time when I was, but now I am no longer. All I am today is the Three-Eyed Crow, the memory of this world," I said before finally making my decision.

"Take Darksister and my dragon egg, bring them to Aegon, he will need them."

"And you?" Leaf asked.

"I am already dead," I said before plunging into the memory of the world, searching for a solution and a way to completely defeat the White Walkers.