Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 270 Abnormality
The sounds of trumpets, drums, and whistles made earth-shaking sounds in the night.

Winterfell seemed as if a giant had awakened, roaring and clamoring.

The defenders on the city wall poured kerosene on the beacon fire, and the flames spiraled up, hot winds blew in their faces, and smoke and ashes stung their eyes.

Behind the high walls, fortresses and towers stood tall. The guards on the walls had solemn expressions, and the soldiers in the arrow slits and killing holes on the outer walls were ready to go.

The chase outside the city is still going on.

The black corpse is chasing the smell of blood and death.

The human cries came with the biting cold wind and reached the ears of the guards on the 80-foot-high outer city wall. They were hysterical howls of fear, indescribable wild calls, and sharp screams of extreme terror.

The sound reached the city walls, causing the dogs in the city kennels to bark and the crows roosting in the woods to make endless noises.

Under the majestic walls of Winterfell, a mad desperado who was getting closer and closer to the walls roared loudly, holding a child high in his hands. His roar was almost like the howl of a wild beast: "Rickon Stark is here! Rickon Stark!"

His voice was drowned out by the din of the city.

As the blizzard approached, a large army of zombies following these desperate people could be seen on the city walls. At this time, no commander defending the city would order the city gates to be opened for these twenty or so survivors.

Winterfell is protected by two huge granite walls and a moat in between. The outer gate is made of oak and steel, behind which is a drawbridge controlled by chains. Behind the drawbridge is an inner gate repaired with sharpened log spikes and iron bars.

Originally, the inner gate was also a solid gate made of oak and steel. However, during the War of the Six Kings, the inner city of Winterfell was invaded by the Ironborn and Ramsay Bolton recaptured Winterfell.

Ramsay once ordered the castle to be burned down, and all the residents in the castle were captured and brutally massacred. The inner gate and fortress of Winterfell were abandoned and dilapidated for a long time until Roose Bolton settled in Winterfell and renovated and partially restored.

It was a tit-for-tat situation, and it was precisely because the castle's inner city gate was in ruins and most of the inner city's fortresses were in ruins and needed to be repaired after being burned. So when Aegon opened the outer city gate, Ramsay found something wrong and quickly took control of the inner city's gate tower, rushed into the city and recaptured Winterfell.

The drawbridge and gates of the castle's inner city are now unable to defend against the attack of a large army.

You know, repairing a castle would take several years, even in summer.

The ruined Winterfell had been taken over by the Boltons for less than a year, and only a few months after the Stark Restoration. Only the main castle and towers could be repaired in a simple way to prevent the cold by moving bricks along the dilapidated and collapsed walls with sufficient manpower.

But things like the iron city gates and the water pipes on the inner walls of the inner city towers are technical jobs, and it is not easy to find the materials and technicians.

Therefore, even after Stark took over, even if the repairs were carried out from a purely military perspective without considering the manpower consumption, the key defense of Winterfell is now on the outer city walls that remained intact after the burning of the city.

Both the Boltons and the Starks made repairs, but it was still difficult to restore Winterfell to its pre-war state. Bolton actually spent more time in Winterfell, but they focused on repairing the collapsed main castle, considering building the facade first and then the interior. After the Starks recovered the city with the help of Aegon, most of the building materials prepared by Bolton were used to build the city walls.

Even now, if someone goes around to the godswood behind the first castle, they can easily see that one side of the first castle of Winterfell still has traces of charred collapse after being burned.

In Winterfell's famous three-acre godswood, there are still large areas of burnt tree trunks and scorched earth that turned into mud after the snow.

The outer wall of Winterfell was built by a northern king over a period of 20 years. At that time, Westeros was still the Seven Kingdoms. The northern king's rule was not stable and was often attacked by many parties. Among them, the wildlings, the iron people and the Bolton family attacked the most. In fact, the northern rulers have been fighting these three types of people for thousands of years, which can be regarded as a kind of historical heritage.

(Medieval castles usually looked like this. According to the book, Winterfell occupies a larger area and has a moat and outer walls.)
Back to the present, the zombies are following closely, and the risk of opening the city gate at this time is extremely terrible. Now no commander on the city wall dares to take this responsibility that may cause zombies to flood into the city.

"Rickon Stark!"

Seemingly seeing that the city gate did not respond, all the desperate people outside the city shouted loudly.

"Ricken!" Catelyn, who hurried from the castle to the city wall to check the situation, accurately caught Rickon's name from all the noisy voices.

She no longer cared about the fear of being feared, and walked straight to a battlement on the city wall and looked out. Outside the city, in front of the dark storm curtain, the fireflies in the hands of the pursued fugitives were getting dimmer, and a hundred steps away from the city wall, there were a few figures in the front, with only a weak torch that seemed to be swallowed by the darkness at any time.

Caitlin listened.

“Ricken!” she was sure she had heard correctly. “They’re calling Rickon’s name! It’s Rickon, it has to be him! Open the gates!”

The commander of the wall guards, who was called by the two guards beside Catelyn, Brienne and Harwin, could not understand Catelyn's hoarse voice at all.

"My lady said to open the gates!" Harwin shouted excitedly. "It's Rickon outside! They're calling Rickon Stark's name!"

"This, this..." The commander's face was already pale, and it turned even paler after hearing this.

"He's wearing a trout flag! Tell him who I am!" Catelyn heard the voice outside, and her heart could no longer calm down. She was still far away and the firelight was weak, so she couldn't see the appearance of those outlaws, but she was sure that she heard Rickon's name.

This made her heart tighten, and her chest felt like it was burning.

Harwin announced loudly: "Open the gates. Lady Catelyn of Winterfell commands you to do so!"

"Ah, this, ma'am, I--" The commander's face turned as white as sticky milk.

Caitlyn continued to order: "Open the door!" and pretended to take off her hood.

"Lady Catelyn Tully orders you to open the door!" Brienne stepped forward and said through gritted teeth, "Just open a small hole! They came from outside the city, and they must have the information that the adults need! We can't let them die in vain!"

In the end, it was Brienne's words that made a difference.

The group quickly came to the tower where the city gate was located, and strode towards the gate from the city wall.

"Soldiers, prepare torches!" the commander shouted, "Open the gates."

The soldiers in the city gate tower were stunned, and for a moment no one dared to obey orders.

At this point, Brienne discovered that the soldiers guarding the gate were from House Royce in the Valley, and they were not in the same command system as the defenders on the city walls.

The team commander at the city gate tower shouted, "Who are you? Who gave the order? Why do you want to open the gate?"

"Lady Catelyn ordered it!" Harwin replied.

"Do you have a warrant from the acting city lord? A flag?"

Caitlin was like a madman. She lifted her hood and tore off her scarf. She clasped her pale hands on her horribly cut neck and spoke word by word with a hideous face like a demon. "I said, open the city gate!"

"Sigh~"

In the torchlight of the tower room, Catelyn's appearance and voice could give anyone nightmares.

"Yes, it's Lady Catelyn." Most of Royce's men had seen Catelyn come back to life during the siege of the Twins. Seeing her again now, they were still frightened out of their wits. They didn't dare to ask any more questions and immediately gave the order, "Open the city gates!"

Brienne added hastily, "Have the archers in the tower ready!"

Upon receiving the order, the gatekeeper immediately stood up and ran to the gate, pushing the noose chain that controlled the huge castle bolt.

Two strong men walked up to the gate and pushed it open with all their strength.

A sharp creaking sound was heard in the doorway, and a cold wind immediately rushed in from the gap in the door.

"The door is open!" A loud cry of surprise came from outside.

But a loud cry came from the city wall: "Oh no! Shoot! Shoot!"

The trumpet sounds got louder.

And at this moment of chaos.

The first fugitive had already run in through the gap in the city gate. As soon as he entered the city, he fell to the ground and laughed out loud: "Saved - hahaha - saved!"

"Ricken?"

Caitlin came out of the tower door in the doorway and looked at the boy in the arms of the fallen man. The child was wrapped in faded wool, like a big ball, with his head hidden in the hood. Only a few strands of greasy and messy long hair could be seen, and his face could not be seen clearly.

Caitlin leaned forward.

The person lying on the ground saw her and cried out in surprise, holding the child and rubbing backwards to avoid her: "The corpse ghost is chasing us!"

Seeing that the other party was about to fight back, Brienne hurried forward.

The snowflakes thrown by the man were stopped by Brienne in the firelight: "It's not a ghost! Is that child Rickon Stark?"

A few more people ran in through the city gate and interrupted the conversation: "They're coming!"

The screams were getting closer.

But the roar was faster.

As soon as a man ran into the city gate, a pair of black hands grabbed the crack of the door.

Immediately afterwards, a sudden change occurred.

The owner of the black arm pounced on the gatekeeper like a vicious dog, biting him with his hands and mouth.

"Ah!" The soldier in charge of opening the door was thrown to the ground, screaming and pushing, "Help!"

These soldiers had never come into contact with zombies, yet they still had to step forward to pull people away.

No sooner said than done, more crazy people with blue eyes and black hands rushed in through the door.

Finally someone reacted: "It's a zombie! Close the door!"

There was a sudden chaos in the doorway.

Brienne immediately drew her sword and shouted to Harwin, "Protect the lady!" Then she strode forward and, with a precise and fierce sword move, chopped off the head of the wight that was biting the soldier at the city gate.

But what Brienne could not imagine was that the ghost's head was chopped off and rolled away, but its body was still tearing the soldier apart.

The torn wool flew everywhere, revealing the mail lining.

The soldier pushed, grabbed the wight and grabbed the mail, then instantly shifted and began to attack the cold black hand on his head.

"Help!"

Brienne was frightened by this horrifying scene for a moment, but fortunately her subconscious reaction was faster than her thinking. She swung her sword and chopped it hard on the headless corpse, and the sword made a grinding sound.

In her hand was the Valyrian steel sword Oathkeeper, so sharp that it actually split the body in half.

And the upper body was still moving!

Brienne was stunned for a moment.

At this moment, a figure rushed forward from behind Brienne, and pressed the burning torch against the upper body of the wight. Suddenly, flames burst out, and the hard black hands softened.

The panicked soldiers quickly fought back, stood up, and threw away the undead monsters on their bodies.

This soldier can be called a living propagandist for helmet and mail.

The wight first aimed at his abdomen and tried to rip open his stomach, but luckily he wore chain mail under his coat, which blocked the wight's sudden attack that caught him off guard. And then thanks to the steel helmet inside his windproof hood, he was able to block two heavy blows that were intended to split his head open at the wight's cold and powerful black hands.

"Close the city gate quickly!"

There was a deafening roar from the doorway.

Several ghosts with arrows stuck in their bodies crawled in through the crack in the door using their hands and feet and clung to the crack.

Brienne caught a glimpse behind her and saw more ghosts, covered in flames, running towards the doorway one after another.

After a round of attacks, the soldiers on the city wall finally realized that ordinary arrows and arrows with obsidian arrowheads could not harm these ghosts, so they switched to fire arrows. But more than a dozen ghosts were still let in and chased into the doorway.

They clung to the door edge with a clear goal in mind: to prevent the city gate from closing.

"Close the city gate!"

"Use fire!"

The doorway was now as chaotic as a vegetable market, bustling with people. The fugitives and soldiers who had escaped were all shouting and screaming heart-wrenchingly.

The doorway was very wide, but now there were so many people crowded together that it caused trampling.

Brienne couldn't tell what she stepped on. When she looked down, she saw the black head of a wight, its mouth wide open, biting her boot.

She kicked her feet to shake it off, but she couldn't get it off.

"fire!"

Someone threw a torch into the doorway, and the flame hit the corpse and caught fire.

Brienne finally kicked the monster's head off. She suppressed her nausea, and stepped on the head with fear and anger. Her iron-studded boots were like a hammer, crushing the leader with blue eyes into pieces.

The blue in those eyes went out, but Brienne continued to stomp on the broken skull in panic.

"Push those damn things out! Close the door!"

There was chaos in the doorway, and soldiers rushed out of the tower and pushed to the door, forming a human wall with the other two gatekeepers. The soldiers reacted quickly, holding up their shields and reaching the gap in the door where the ghosts were blocking, and set up a shield wall to push the bodies out.

Outside the shield wall, the wights attacked the shields like mad dogs. Some of them were on fire and they pounced and bit desperately, actually occupying a space as wide as half a step at the door entrance.

Brienne was tall and could see clearly that the soldiers holding shields were using ordinary weapons because of the emergency. Spears and swords pierced through the gaps in the shields, stringing the wights together like candied haws, but those ghosts just wouldn't die and continued to attack.

They were incredibly strong and were able to wrestle against the shield soldiers even though their bodies were pierced.

The torch extended from behind Brienne, and even Brienne's wool coat was caught in the sudden flame.

Suddenly someone rushed to her side: "Hey, big guy, you are tall, use this, quick!"

Brienne turned her head and saw an old soldier bringing out all the braziers from the tower room.

The situation was urgent, and there was no time to think about it. Brienne knew what the old soldier meant, so she put away her sword and took the brazier from him. She walked through the chaotic crowd in the doorway, and when she reached the wall of people that had already piled up in two rows and could no longer move forward, she shouted, "Lower your head!"

The soldiers in the front row lowered their heads subconsciously.

Brienne used both hands to swing the brazier in front of the shield wall.

For a moment, sparks and flames flew in front of the doorway.

Now that Brienne and her men were here, there was no reason for them to retreat. She simply placed her body behind the soldiers who formed the human wall, helping them push the shield wall forward.

Gradually, the panicked reaction of the humans finally paid off, and the soldiers took back the city gate, pushing the burning ghouls and several burning wooden shields out of the gate.

"Close the city gate quickly!"

Finally they regained control of the city gate. Without saying a word, the soldiers in the second row stepped on the people in the front row and flipped over the shield wall. Together they pulled the city gate back from the opening position.

After much effort, the city gate was finally closed again and the bolt was lowered.

Fortunately, the soldiers in the tower on the city wall used rockets and threw kerosene barrels to block the zombies behind them, otherwise if more zombies poured into the city gate, the consequences would be disastrous.

Seeing the city gate closed, everyone gasped and turned to look at Caitlin who gave the order to open the gate.

Even Brienne couldn't help but look over.

But Lady Catelyn ignored these glances. She was holding an unconscious boy and shedding tears of blood.

Harwin then announced loudly: "It's Rickon. The one you just saved is Rickon Stark of Winterfell!"

But only a few people responded to Harwin's loud declaration, and no one cheered.

The city gate became deserted, with only the noisy trumpets and shouts of killing from above the city wall ringing in the ears.

At this time, the commander shouted, "Madam, take the young master back to the castle!" Then he issued an order, "You guys, clean the city gate, collect these bodies and throw them out from the city wall!"

No one looked at Brienne, but she felt her face getting hot and she had a complex mixture of honor and guilt in her heart.

Judging from the results, it was a great thing that they opened the city gate and saved Rickon and a dozen lives.

But in the situation just now, if something unexpected happened, the lives of the entire city would be at risk.
It must be said that this is an extremely critical situation. Once the city gates are lost, the thousands of defenders in the castle will have to face tens of thousands of zombies. In close combat with them, Winterfell has no chance of winning.

Soon, Caitlin and her group and the rescued people were brought into the inner city.

But no one took them into the city lord's hall.

Only Maege Mormont met them outside.

After finding out that those who were rescued were Manderly Knights and some sailors, and even Ali Karstark, but finding no useful information, Maggie handed them over to the servants of the castle, and then said to Catelyn, "Madam, the White Walker army is besieging the city now. It is dangerous outside. I will take you back to your room."

As he spoke, he quietly arranged for a knight to pick Ali Karstark out of the crowd: "Miss Ali, please wait here for a moment. I will go in and inform the adults." The castle was now very lively, with messengers from various princes shuttling back and forth, and knights from various families hurriedly appearing in the hall from time to time, and then hurriedly leaving.

At this time, the city walls had already come into contact with the tide of zombies and the siege had already begun.

The corpse ghosts don't care about things like issuing a challenge, deploying troops, or surrounding but not attacking. When their army approaches the castle, they just say "attack" without saying anything.

The shouting and screaming outside was deafening and could be heard even in the main castle.

Catelyn couldn't even enter the city hall. Suddenly, she felt that her daughter Sansa was more unfamiliar than ever before. "Doesn't she even look at her brother, Sansa?"

Ms. Maggie saw Caitlin glaring at her fiercely and looked at Harwin blankly.

Harwin awkwardly translated for her.

Lady Maggie explained, "My lady, Lady Sansa, Lord Edmure, Lord Royce, and Ser Lynn are leading the battle and cannot be away."

Caitlin couldn't help but glance at the brightly lit hall: "I want to go in."

Harwin had no choice but to translate.

"Ma'am," Maggie looked at the child in her arms, "Ricken is unconscious. The most urgent thing is to find a maester to help him. Make sure he is not injured or sick."

"Isn't the maester in the hall?"

"There are no maesters in Winterfell right now, my lady, only maesters accompanying the army," Maggie explained. "I will take you back to your room and I will go and get a maester for Rickon right away."

At this time.

A messenger ran by breathlessly, "Report, East City, East City direction——"

Seeing that the messenger was about to fall, Maggie didn't care that Caitlin was in front of her and hurriedly reached out to help him. Judging from the other party's appearance, it was obvious that there was urgent military information: "What happened in Dongcheng?"

"The Greyjoy army..." The messenger gasped, which startled Maggie. "They asked the garrison of East City to go to Winter Town to help guard the town wall. They are willing to fight together, but they ask the Ironborn army to take over the defense of the east gate of the castle."

Maggie breathed a sigh of relief, then frowned again: "This is no small matter, go in and report it!" The East Gate is part of the main gate tower, located on the east side of the inner city wall, leading to the King's Gate and the King's Road on the outer wall, and extending outward to the winter town outside Winterfell.

It was Aegon who spoke on behalf of the royal family that the civilians in the winter towns must be protected, so the defense of Winterfell must take into account the townspeople outside the city.

Because there is no strong voice controlling the situation in Winterfell, the defending garrison can be said to be acting on its own. Asha is willing to obey the royal order to help defend the town, but she is worried that the garrison of Winterfell Castle will keep the troops and civilians outside the castle and close the east gate.

"Madam, you have seen it. Winterfell needs Lady Sansa to focus on defending the city now." Maggie spread her hands apologetically and said, "And with Lord Edmure and the others by her side, you can rest assured, madam."

Catelyn looked at the entrance to the busy hall and finally gave up asking to go in. "I'll take Rickon back to his room first and find him a maester."

Hearing this, Maggie breathed a sigh of relief: "Madam, I will go find it right away."

Catelyn and her companions then carried Rickon to the room in the main castle.

Brienne noticed a tall woman following her. "Who are you?"

"Osha. Bran Stark asked me to take care of Rickon and never leave his side unless I die." The tall woman's voice was strange, not like that of a Westeros person. "The boy's soul got into the body of the direwolf. His wolf may be dead, and his soul will be hurt because of it."

Seeing that Catelyn had walked away quickly, Brienne's eyes widened when she heard her words. She followed her and said, "You will explain it to the lady later."

"Yeah." The woman nodded and followed with big strides.

At this moment, a strange whistling sound suddenly came from the sky.

Brienne turned her head and saw a strange black sphere falling from the sky.

The White Walker army actually has something like a trebuchet, throwing huge rocks at the castle?
But when the sphere came closer, Brienne's face changed drastically.

That, that is not a huge rock, it is clearly a group of corpses.

This horrifying sight made Brienne draw her sword immediately and shout, "Be careful, my lady!"

Looking at the landing direction, it was in the direction where Caitlin was walking quickly.

With a loud bang, the ball landed in a courtyard near a tower of the castle, instantly causing a burst of screams and barking of dogs.

It looked like it had landed in a courtyard occupied by the military.

Shouts and screams suddenly broke out inside the castle.

Catelyn was startled by the noise and stopped in front of the courtyard holding Rickon, standing there in a daze for a moment.

Harwin acted quickly, pulling Catelyn up and heading towards another courtyard where they could go upstairs.

Brienne somehow caught up, heard the sounds of fighting in the courtyard, and looked in the direction of Catelyn. After all, she and the soldiers each had their own duties, so she gritted her teeth, turned around, and followed closely.

At this time, the tall woman Osha followed Brienne with two torches in her hands. She handed a torch to Brienne and said in a muffled voice, "This thing is better than a sword to deal with them."

Brienne subconsciously took the torch. Judging from its shape, it was hung inside the castle to illuminate the courtyards and corridors. She didn't know where the other party got it from.

The shouting and screaming in the courtyard were still going on, and there was another strange noise overhead.

Another huge group of wights was thrown over the castle of Winterfell.

Brienne realized that the enemy probably only had one trebuchet, and for a moment she didn't know whether she should be thankful.

When the second group of zombies fell, there were already soldiers in the castle who responded. They held torches high and ran towards the landing point of the zombies from the bridge between the corridor and the castle tower.

In the chaos, they somehow managed to rely on their familiarity with the castle to avoid the wights that came from the sky and find their way back to Catelyn's room.

As we rushed across the bridge, we could see flames rising from several courtyards and hear shouts and screams.

Although Brienne had been in the army, she had never actually been on the battlefield. She only knew from her personal education that the most important thing at this time was not to rush into the battlefield on impulse, but to do her own job well.

When they escorted Catelyn back to the room, a group of northern guards came from the direction of the city hall. The leader was a knight from the Glover family. "Miss Brienne, we have been ordered to protect Lady Catelyn and Master Rickon. How are the lady and the master?"

"Madam and Master are in the room. Please help me guard the door."

"it is good."

Here, the sounds of the walls and courtyards could still be heard. The soldiers, including Brienne, were so nervous that their palms were sweating.

From time to time, one could see soldiers holding torches walking around in the castle, shouting "Where are they?" "Kill them!" and so on.

The door creaked open and Harwin asked, "Where's the maester? Hasn't he arrived yet?"

"How is Rickon?" Osha asked.

Harwin looked at Brienne strangely: "Who is she?"

Brienne explained: "She is Osha, and Bran Stark asked her to protect Rickon."

A hoarse voice came from the room: "Bran?"

This confusing conversation left Brienne unable to react for a moment.

Harwin was also confused, but he still pulled Osha into the room.

The door closed again.

Brienne had sharp ears and heard Harwin ask, "My lady asks you, did you just say Bran?"

"Yes," Osha answered, "Bran Stark, Rickon's brother."

"where is he?"

"He went north, to the old gods."

"What did you say? What do you mean?"

"We are going to the north to find the old gods. Jojen, the boy who can predict the future, said he has some kind of talent."

"what?"

Brienne was halfway through asking a question she didn't understand when she suddenly stopped.

The boy's scream echoed through the room: "No!"

It sounded like Master Rickon had awakened.

But the sound was wrong.

There seemed to be a scuffle inside, and the boy's voice could be heard screaming, "Let me go!"

Brienne heard the sobs that came from Lady Catelyn's distinctive voice.

The room gradually fell silent.

When the door opened again, Lady Catelyn appeared with Osha and Harwin.

Brienne and the soldiers standing guard at the door straightened up for a moment.

Catelyn had no time to look at them, so she just said, "Tell her to come with me over there and continue talking about Bran."

The three of them then walked to the windward side of the bridge in front of the main castle, and only Harwin was allowed to listen in as an interpreter.

But things happened one after another, and this was definitely not a good time to whisper.

The noise coming from the city wall was not far away. The sound of trumpets and drums had never stopped since the beginning of the war. The flames on the city wall reflected the red sky in the east and south, which was covered by the blizzard. The cold wind was howling, the snow was flying, and the smoke was filled. The snow and smoke mixed with the smell of burning came into the castle from the direction of the city wall.

There were enough surprises today, but it wasn't over yet. A soldier passing by the courtyard chasing a zombie that fell from the sky suddenly shouted, "Who is it?"

"A child jumped out of the window!"

"People up there, hurry into the house and grab him!"

"Now is not the time for children to act up and act wildly!"

Brienne and Knight Glover at the door were shocked when they heard this. They didn't even have time to ask for instructions and just broke down the door.

But the windows of the room were wide open, and Rickon was sitting astride Lady Catelyn's window, with his back to Brienne and Knight Glover at the door.

"No!" Brienne screamed.

But the boy jumped without hesitation.

Brienne rushed forward, but saw through the window that the boy stood up in the courtyard downstairs and ran in a certain direction without looking back. Brienne couldn't believe that a six-year-old boy was as agile as a wolf.

Brienne thought he was frightened and shouted at his back, "Rickon, don't be afraid, we are Stark people!"

But these words failed to stop him.

Outside the window of the room, along the other side of the courtyard wall, three guards holding torches asked in panic, "What's going on, Rickon? Is that child Rickon Stark? Damn, there are wights in that direction!"

Brienne didn't bother to answer, but pointed anxiously and shouted, "He went in that direction, go and protect him!"

Brienne herself was about to lean out of the window and jump down to chase him.

But then they heard chaotic footsteps behind them. It was Lady Catelyn who heard the noise and came running towards them.

Seeing that ferocious face full of a mother's anxiety, Brienne's heart was beating fast. Without hesitation, she shouted, "I'll go chase him back." After that, she jumped out of the window.

There was a loud bang, and Brienne, who was wearing mail and steel armor underneath, fell down from a height that was only two and a half times her height, making her dizzy.

Fortunately, she had thick skin and was wearing thick clothes, so she was not hurt anywhere. She didn't bother to say anything more and chased in the direction she remembered Rickon running away.

Brienne was tall and strong, and she quickly caught up with the soldiers in front of her who were holding torches and noticed Rickon jumping out of the window, and then listened to her command: "Did you see anyone?"

Brienne noticed the trout badges on them and realized that they were soldiers of House Tully. No wonder they followed her orders without hesitation.

One of them asked, "Is that really a boy? He runs so fast!"

"He got into that yard."

Brienne was so anxious that she was furious: "Catch up!" She quickly passed the three people and was the first to turn around the blind spot blocked by the castle bridge pillars, and glanced at the other courtyard divided by the pillars.

She was anxiously looking for someone, but she didn't pay attention to the enemy attack. With a whoosh, a black shadow pounced on her and bit her.

It's a corpse ghost.

Brienne's heart sank, not because of the wights that pounced on her, but because she didn't see Rickon, nor did she hear the boy's screams, but there were wights here.

With a loud bang, Brienne's tall body collided with the rushing corpse.

The ghost was as hard as a rock. It pounced on the right side of Brienne's body and tore it apart. Brienne's wool coat was torn apart. Brienne was familiar with fighting. She grabbed the ghost with her left hand and tried to pull it off her body.

She grabbed the ghost with her hands, and the coldness came from her palms covered with gauntlets. For a moment, it was as if she had grabbed a piece of solid ice.

Brienne's panic-stricken strength enabled her to tear the ghost in half with just a tug.

The Tully guards who were holding torches and coming to support her were so frightened by her terrifying power that they stood there with their eyes wide open for a moment.

Brienne was also shocked by her own strength, but she quickly concluded that the ghost must have broken its spine when it fell from the sky, and its bones had been broken long ago, so she tore its body apart with force. But she didn't have time to explain, and she yelled, "Burn it to death!"

The guard reacted to the roar and quickly waved the torch to set fire to the severed upper body of the ghost in Brienne's hand.

Flames burst forth.

Brienne quickly threw the ghost thing away. The lower half of the ghost that was wrapped around her right body became weaker as the flames ignited, and was quickly pulled away by the guards.

"There!"

At this moment, someone shouted from the bridge above them, "Brienne, Master Rickon is over there, and there are wights chasing him! Go!" It was Harwin's voice.

Brienne didn't care about anything and ran in the direction of Harwin's finger.

Sure enough, as she crossed another bridge pillar, Brienne saw a thin figure running across the scorched earth at the edge of the castle's godswood, and behind him, a dark ghost was chasing the thin figure.

Brienne broke into a run.

Meteor in stride.

Suddenly I caught a glimpse of an unextinguished torch in front of a corpse.

Brienne reacted quickly, picked up the torch, felt its weight, and without hesitation, threw it at the wight chasing Rickon.

The torch drew a flaming meteor across the scorched earth of the sacred forest and landed precisely on the ghost.

Unfortunately, the torch only touched it and failed to light.

But the flying torch caught Rickon's attention.

He paused and turned to look in Brienne's direction.

Just one glance and Brienne's blood ran cold. Her strength to run weakened and she almost fell to the ground.

Brienne was chilled and had goosebumps all over her body.

It was because she saw, in the dim night at the edge of the sacred forest, a faint blue light emanating from the boy’s eyes.

But only for a moment.

The boy in front quickly turned around and continued to run away.

Brienne managed to steady herself from nearly falling, but she continued to run instinctively.

In a flash, Brienne looked in the direction the boy ran, shook her head, and continued to chase him.

At this moment, she refused to think.

(End of this chapter)