Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 140 The Fugitive

Less than half a day later, the Crow's Nest in Castle Black received another raven message, the same one that Sam had taken with the team.

For the Rangers' expedition north, Maester Aemon had given Sam all the Wall ravens in training and already trained, seven in total, able to report back to the Wall at least five times - five at Castle Black and two at the Shadow Tower.

But this time, I received not one, but two, and both came back empty-handed, with no letter.

Maester Aemon quickly reported the news to Bowen Marsh, but even though he guessed that something might have happened to the rangers outside the Wall, there were only about forty old, weak and sick people left in Castle Black, and there was nothing they could do except worry.

The only thing that could be done was to write a letter to the garrison at Shadow Tower, hoping that the commander of Shadow Tower, Ser Denys Mallister, would be more prepared, because if the wildlings attacked, the most likely point of attack would be the Grand Canyon in the direction of Shadow Tower.

A glacial river, the Milk River, flows north of the Wall into the Frost Bay along the Grand Canyon. Wildling raiders from outside the Wall often sneak into the depths of the Grand Canyon, bypass the Shadow Tower, and then cross the Wall to enter the Seven Kingdoms. The defenders of the Wall did not know that the Rangers were attacked by the White Walkers and the Wights, and only thought that the Rangers were attacked by a large force of wildlings. But in fact, with the current defense of the Wall, it is difficult to defend it no matter which of the wildlings or the White Walkers come.

The only thing they should be thankful for is that the wildlings outside the Great Wall lack horses, and they are migrating as a whole tribe, with men, women, old and young in the marching column, and they also carry all their food and livestock. This large army can only march slowly on foot through the ice fields and haunted forests. Even if the wildling king Mance Rayder has enough appeal among the wildlings, he cannot organize the fighters of each tribe and divide their tribes into two parts, first attacking the Great Wall and then coming back to support.

The wildlings could only drag everyone along slowly, and at the same time they had to be on guard against the White Walkers and the Wights that might be following them. The wildlings outside the Wall had seen the horror of the White Walkers and the Wights, and it was precisely because of these two ghosts that they were forced to migrate south.

As the first group of rangers to see the White Walkers, they suffered heavy losses.

The ranger team from Castle Black and the Shadow Tower had a total of 300 people when they set out, but now there are only about 70 people left.

"Don't stop. Move!" Lord Commander Mormont shouted at his horseless brothers, letting his voice spread throughout the breakout group. Then he turned to the cavalry beside him. "Reserves, all in formation!" he shouted. "Wedge formation!"

He turned his horse's head towards the direction of the fighting behind him, where were Davin, who was in charge of logistics, and five pack horses, several hunting dogs, and several Night's Watch brothers who had no horses.

A dozen wights chased to the end of the team, and the logistics officer Dawen was calling for help. Commander Mormont could see from afar that a wight grabbed a horse's saddle with his left hand and tore the horse's belly with his right hand. A horse neighed and fell down. The corn, potatoes, and wheat on its back were scattered all over the ground, stained with blood.

Several Night Watch brothers put up a tenacious resistance, roaring wildly, but they could not hold on under the siege. Some even tried to grab the food bags on the packhorses and rob one of them.

"My lord, retreat quickly!"

"Fools!" Lord Commander Mormont yelled. "Those packhorses are loaded with food, oil, and torches. Without them, we will die if we run away!" The Lord Commander yelled, "Horsemen, line up! Follow me!"

The Lord Commander, in furs and armor, led the way, roaring on his horse, and both men and horses were already at a gallop. Lord Commander Mormont was tall and burly, with a fierce look behind his black iron mask. With him in the lead, the cavalrymen all rode to catch up.

Several archers, under the command of the archery commander Sir Soran, covered the cavalry who were charging back for a while: "Nock the arrow, draw the bow... and release."

As these arrows were fired, Sir Soran turned around and told his archers to continue running. They had no horses, and if they didn't run fast enough, they would probably die. Everyone was exhausted after breaking through the Fist of the First Men. Every time they took a short break, they would be caught up by the wights and lose manpower.

The Haunted Forest is full of zombies, and no one knows where they will appear from next.

The encounter between the First Men's Fist and these corpse ghosts frightened everyone.

In the cold and snow, they saw dead people with arrows on their faces and throats crawling over the rocks, some wearing mail, some almost naked... Most of them were wild men, some wearing faded black clothes, their skin was pale, and their eyes glowed with a faint blue light. There were even some pale giants among them, corpse giants about ten feet tall, huge corpse bears...

The cavalry rushed to the besieged logistics officer.

The wights were knocked over by horses, trampled by horses' hooves, and cut down by the brothers of the Night's Watch. But even when they fell, they still grabbed at the long swords, the men and the horses' legs.

"Burn it, you damn bastards, burn it!" The rescued Davin laughed loudly and waved the torch in his hand. The fallen zombies tried to pounce on him and were ignited by him. Several flames broke out there immediately.

"Get up!" the commander-in-chief shouted in a loud voice. "Go!"

The cavalry only charged once and scattered the dozen or so corpses, trampling them and scattering their bodies. But without fire, the bodies were still moving around. They had no time to deal with these corpses.

The barking of dogs, the neighing of horses, and the fighting among the Night Watch brothers farther behind the palace all seemed very far away and gradually faded away.

The commander-in-chief could only salute his brothers at the rear briefly, then turned his horse around and said, "Run!"

They can only run.

The number of zombies was unimaginable. They were tireless and always followed the team.

Even when fleeing, cavalrymen cannot ride their horses all the time, otherwise the horses will become tired and have to be abandoned on the spot, and then killed by the swarming zombies and become the enemy's mount.

Commander Mormont led the escape in the direction of Craster's Keep, which was dozens of leagues away from the Fist of the First Men. Only half of the Night's Watch brothers who broke out had horses, and the other half were on foot. The more the morale of the army was weakened, the more orderly the retreat had to be.

He is the commander, he must have rules.

Even when the whole team was running for their lives, they still needed to organize some capable personnel to take a short rest. The road in the Ghost Forest was dozens of miles long and was not like the King's Road. If the team was disconnected and the logistics personnel were caught up by the wights, as happened just now, once the logistics supplies were lost, there would be a risk of annihilation.

Now that the Rangers have suffered heavy losses, Commander Mormont must shoulder the responsibility and bring as many Night's Watch brothers as possible back to the Wall, and send the intelligence here to the kings and lords in the south to ask for help.

The White Walkers reappeared after thousands of years, and countless dead people were resurrected.

The Great Wall is in danger.

After several hours, the wights behind seemed to be pulled away again, and Commander Mormont began to organize the escape team to take a short rest.

The survivors were divided into several groups according to distance. The cavalrymen who were still able to move caught up with the black brothers in the front and asked them to gather together and prepare to rest and have meals on the spot.

Even those who could run faster were now exhausted, and the logistics food was with the commander-in-chief. Soon the survivors gathered together under the food and the commander-in-chief's call.

The situation is not optimistic. There were more than 70 Night Watchmen during the last break, but now there are only about 60. Many of them are still trembling and their eyes are confused and numb.

Commander Mormont was unable to give any inspiring speech at this time. He could only stand among the survivors, standing there steadily with his tall body, watching the logistics officer Davin distribute food to the survivors.

The logistics team had just lost another packhorse. After the survivors received food, Commander Mormont redistributed the cargo on the packhorses, distributing the food, torches, and fuel to all the horses, so that even if any packhorse was lost, it would not cause a catastrophic loss.

He also asked the healthy men to hand over their horses for the wounded to ride; he organized the foot soldiers and placed circles of torches in front, behind, left and right for defense.

During this short break, none of the Night Watch brothers had the energy to speak.

Everyone was very tired, but the situation did not allow them to rest for too long. After about an hour, Commander Mormont called everyone to set out again.

Even if the number of people is small, the march must be carried out according to the front and rear armies. There must be scouts on horseback in front to explore the way, so as not to run into zombies head-on; the supplies must be placed in the middle, these things are the most important things now; the wounded are at the end of the middle, they walk slowly, and
Finally, they are the bravest brothers of the Night's Watch.

But even so, after the team started to move, the phenomenon of falling behind could not be stopped. They had been running for several days, and could only take a short rest of one or several hours each time. Many people were on the verge of collapse and were exhausted.

But the team cannot stop, not because of anyone. The Night's Watch brothers who fell behind can only pray for good luck. The team's footprints pointed them in the direction, and they can only rely on their own will and luck.

Today, the wights seemed to have been thrown away by them. The team was not attacked by wights until nightfall. Commander Mormont could relax a little, but during the rest, he still carefully sent torchbearers to patrol the periphery and pick up the stragglers in the rear.

The old commander, who is nearly seventy years old, is extremely strong and resolute, but to be honest, he can't help but feel confused about the future.

He saw tens of thousands of zombies with his own eyes, including giants, bears, mammoths, dire wolves and even ice-pale riders sitting on the corpse horses in the zombie team.

White Walker, cold dead thing, evil existence that has not been reported for thousands of years. Commander Mormont was sure he saw it among the thousands of wights. It was tall and emaciated, with skin as pale as milk, riding on a tall dead horse, and its armor changed color as it moved, evil and cold.

They seemed to have intelligence. Commander Mormont felt that the White Walker he saw at the time was directing the wights to besiege the Ranger camp.
Commander Mormont clearly remembered that at the Fist of the First Men, tens of thousands of wights besieged their camp, and the Night's Watch brothers fired hundreds of rockets, but still could not stop the wights' attack. Some wights even climbed up the steep South Cliff to surround the Night's Watch's retreat route.

Are those all the zombies outside the Great Wall? Absolutely not!
The thought sent chills down the spine of the determined old commander.

Until this moment, he remembered the slogan passed down from generation to generation by the Night Watchmen. The primary duty of the Night Watchmen was to resist other aliens. Now the real enemy, they are back.
Mormont suddenly felt irritated.

The kings and princes in the south are still fighting each other, but the real crisis has already spread to the Great Wall, and the current defense force of the Great Wall is simply unable to stop it.

Mormont suddenly thought of his son Jorah for no reason. In order to give his position to his son Jorah, he chose to join the Night's Watch, but Jorah brought shame to his family and the North. Jorah should wear black clothes and come to the Wall. Only in this way can he wash away his sins, and only in this way can the old bear as a father forgive him.

The old commander had been running around for several days and was mentally exhausted. He finally fell asleep in the makeshift tent without knowing when.

He had a dream that his son actually came to him in black, begging for forgiveness, and he did the same. They fought side by side, guarding the Wall until they were overwhelmed by the army of the White Walkers, but they had done their duty and died a worthy death.

The next day, when Commander Mormont woke up, he heard people at the back of the team joking, mocking, and calling out a name sarcastically: "Killer."

Everyone laughed.

"Killer," he heard someone shout, with a tone of contempt and mockery, "Come here and show us how you kill a White Walker."

-

The thunder on the sea woke Jorah.

The autumn storm on the Narrow Sea delayed the journey, but fortunately the Dorne fleet's ships were large enough and the captain was experienced, so he insisted on sailing along the coastline. Sailing deep into the Narrow Sea at this time of year would be tantamount to suicide.

The captain said that they had passed the Island of Tasmania and had passed the most dangerous section of the sea route to the north of the Narrow Sea. As long as they continued along the coastline, they would reach Cape Marseilles and Fort Stoneyon, and then Dragonstone would be right in front of them.

Looking back on the past few months, Jorah felt as if it were a lifetime ago.

He went to Dorne alone as an envoy of King Viserys, and was imprisoned in Dorne prison for nearly two months. Although he was not tortured and the place was quite clean, the uneasiness of being isolated from the world still made him live in fear every day.

The jailer who was responsible for guarding him didn't say a single word to Jorah for dozens of days until he was released.

In prison, he could only stare at the ceiling in silence every day, at a loss as to the fate of life or death that was about to come.

It was not until half a month ago that the tall guard who had thrown him into prison took him out of prison.

The prince of Dorne received him again and gave him a feast, and his armor, horse, sword and Targaryen banner were returned to him.

No apology, just a calm notification.

The Prince of Dorne told him that Dorne would form an envoy to visit Dragonstone, and he would be sent back to King Targaryen safely.

It was not until then that Jorah learned that King Viserys, to whom he served, had captured Dragonstone and called himself the Dragon King of Dragonstone, and that there were also dragons.
Jorah knew nothing, and the princes of Dorne knew more about the king than he did.

But he was undoubtedly Viserys's envoy, and he received corresponding hospitality. Even the Prince of Dorne generously agreed to his request to write a letter and send it back to his hometown on Bear Island in the North.

He had a cabin on the Dornish embassy's ship, along with guards and servants.

At the beginning, the nobles in the Dornish delegation were eager to inquire from Jorah about the king of Dragonstone. Even Andra Dart, the confidant of Princess Arianne of Dorne, came to him to inquire about Viserys.

But as they communicated more and more, people discovered that Jorah actually knew nothing about Viserys.

What Jorah knew was either Viserys's experience of wandering in Essos, or Viserys's embarrassment when borrowing money everywhere, or his scheming and manipulating people's hearts on the merchant ship, and these experiences were not very presentable. The early experience of the Beggar King was equal to the dark history of the king Jorah was loyal to.

Viserys was the king Jorah swore allegiance to, and he knew some of the king's experiences that others might know, but he couldn't say them, at least not from his own mouth.

As for Long Qiao La, he is still extremely surprised by this explosive news.

Dragon? The Targaryen envoy who learned the news was even more surprised than the Dornishman who came to ask him about the dragon intelligence.

Gradually, no one came to the Targaryen Envoy to inquire about the Targaryen King, and even Jorah had to find ways to get information about the King he was loyal to from others.
But they actually had no idea what the situation on Dragonstone was like, so everyone could only hope to reach Dragonstone as soon as possible to find out.

Qiao La has gradually calmed down these days and started to think about his future.

He was lucky enough to serve the real king and get a pardon and a chance to return to the Seven Kingdoms, but he knew that he was not actually trusted by his king.

The king has a dragon, but what can he bring to the king?

Only death will work.

This was Jorah's only conclusion. Now that the king had a firm foothold on Dragonstone, there must have been countless nobles and knights who had pledged their allegiance to him. Only his life was still useful to the king.

Bear Island in the North. The North is too far away, the territory of Bear Island is too barren and poor, and Bear Island is loyal to the Northern Lord Stark.

Jorah knew that his life and his prowess were the only things he could use for the Targaryen king.

Jorah thought anxiously that he had made a great contribution by going to Dorne.
He had just had a dream about his father. His father glanced at him sternly, and then stopped looking at him with disgust.

In the dream, why did his father still refuse to forgive him? He did it, he was forgiven, and he came back.

He thought gloomily that he had lost his honor, but now he had gotten it back, didn't he?

The closer he got to Dragonstone, the more flustered the once exiled knight became, and he became increasingly anxious and worried.

(End of this chapter)