Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 200: Ringol's Expedition (End) Prelude to Ice Song

What virtue and ability do you have, a wild man, claiming arrogantly.

Do you want me to bow my head and submit to you?
Descendants of the ancestors, sons of the old gods.

Raise your swords to determine who is better.

The barbarians fought with the wolves,
The sword is merciless and draws blood.

Suddenly a real dragon appeared in the sky.

My son, do not forget this. My son, do not forget this.

Oh, he said this, he said this,
This is what the savages wandering outside the Great Wall said.

The dragon's flames spread across the land, leaving only ashes.

Ashes weep in the fields, and the giants no longer beat their drums.

The dragon's flames spread across the land, leaving only ashes.

Ashes weep in the wilderness, and the horns of the wild men are no longer heard.

Reagan hummed the tune that had just been composed. Commander Jason Lannister, who loved music, was inspired to compose this song called "Dragon Flame at the Wall" after the one-sided battle.

Lingol didn't like it very much. After all, unlike his fiancée Daniela who loved music, food and needlework, he had almost no interest in music, and musical instruments were his worst subject. But this did not prevent him from appreciating this song praising himself.

When Star Song appeared on the battlefield, victory was already inevitable. The wildlings lacked long-range weapons and could not threaten Star Song who was able to resist most long-range weapons. Its dragon flame ravaged the battlefield, burning thousands of wildlings to death or burnt. More importantly, Star Song almost overwhelmingly slaughtered the giants brought by the wildlings to the south of the Great Wall. The giant mammoth cavalry that "cruel" Silas and Sergon Magna had high hopes for did not even have a copper penny in their hands. Instead, the mammoths were frightened by the dragon flame and trampled on each other. The originally scattered formation could no longer be maintained.

The cavalry of the Black Army and the armored cavalry of the North took advantage of the situation to launch a charge, and the main infantry of the North followed up and completely crushed the large-scale gathering of wildlings. Fifty thousand wildlings who came across the Wall were either killed or captured. The captured wildlings were carefully identified by Lord Cregan, and all the leaders were executed. The remaining captives were thrown into mines and forests by Lord Cregan Stark.

“That’s where they belong.”

These are Lord Stark's exact words.

The Night's Watch took away the wildlings' skulls and piled them up into mountains outside the Great Wall to serve as a warning to the wildlings in the mountains.

Before leaving the North, Ringol traveled beyond the Great Wall.

Just like its predecessors, Star Song stubbornly refused to fly over the Great Wall, as if there was something outside the Great Wall that could threaten it. No, it cannot be said to be a threat, but it should be said that there was something that made Star Song uneasy or disgusting. In short, Ringol could only leave the Black Castle with Regen and his men, as well as thirty northern cavalry led by Duke Creggan and twenty armored rangers led by Commander-in-Chief Jason, and go deep into the haunted forest in the north.

It is the last forest in the entire continent where two ancient weirwoods can be seen in the same place at the same time. In the past, many wildling tribes gathered here, and the Night's Watch rangers patrolled here day and night. They sometimes fought with the wildlings, and sometimes they traded with them.

But with the end of the war, there are few people here.

"欻"

An arrow pierced steadily into the neck of a shadow mountain cat. The ferocious monster let out a terrifying scream and then became silent.

Lei Geng put down his hunting bow with satisfaction and couldn't help shivering: "If I remember correctly, it's summer now, why is it so cold?"

A brother in black rubbed his hands and dragged the shiny-furred creature back to the camp together with another Northern cavalryman.

"There is no summer in the North, Rhaegon Kaon." Lord Creggan said calmly. The Night's Watch was familiar with the structure of the Haunted Forest. The place where they were located once belonged to a tribe of wildlings with whom the Night's Watch had close relations. Before being annexed by "Cruel" Silas, this tribe of wildlings had developed quite well. They cut down oak trees and built simple longhouses in the open space in the forest. The female wildlings collected berries and fed livestock. There were even traces of burning and planting on the land in the forest.

Unfortunately, all of this is gone now.

"Wild men are still wild men." This was the first thing Duke Clegane said when he saw the camp. "They hate order, but they also reject civilization."

Lingol still agrees with this statement.

Commander Jason excitedly walked up to the shadow cat with a hunting knife in hand, and in no time, a complete shadow cat skin was peeled off.

"Your Highness Ringol, when I go back I will ask the master craftsman to tannin this skin and make it into a cloak for Prince Longzel." A trace of nostalgia flashed in Commander Jason's eyes. The severe winter in the north has completely changed this once ostentatious lion of the West. Today, Jason Lannister is much stronger than before. He wears a shadow cat cloak, beautiful chain mail and a black coat, and even his gloves are black. His once full head of golden hair is now shaved off, just to better wear a hat and helmet. His beard is left long, especially the golden hair hanging down from his temples, making Jason look more like a bald lion.

Winter and the failure of the war also left other things to this once proud guy, such as scars on his body, wrinkles on his face, and an increasingly calm temperament.

"Thank you, Commander Jason." Ringol said politely, "Father will thank you."

"I need to thank him." Commander Jason sighed, "If he hadn't sent supplies to Eastwatch in the winter, more people would have starved to death on the Wall."

"Okay, everyone." Duke Clegane interrupted their conversation and said, "It's getting late, Your Highness Lingol, where are you going?"

He still spoke in that calm tone. But everyone could hear the hidden meaning of Duke Creggan's words. The land north of the Wall was still cold even in midsummer. A heavy snowfall that could freeze people to death would fall before people knew it. So going beyond the Wall was a very risky move. Duke Creggan didn't want them to lose troops just because of Ringol's words "I want to go beyond the Wall to take a look".

After all, not everyone has Ringol's fiery blood.

Not everyone has good enough equipment to use.

"Lord Stark, Commander Jason." Ringol looked at Cregan Stark, then at Jason Lannister. Regen, who was standing by, looked left and right, and found that this place was not where he should be, so he ran out in a hurry, playing the tune of "Dragon Fire Under the Wall" with Alarion and Albin, and watching the cavalry brothers prepare food and dishes for the night.

"Do you know A Song of Ice and Fire?"

Duke Creggan's face changed drastically, and Commander-in-Chief Jason's face also darkened.

They both knew the prophecy, but they knew it in different order and content. The Stark family passed down the legend of the Long Night from generation to generation. The ancient kings of the North built huge and strange underground tombs and made many secret preparations that even their descendants did not know. Commander Jason inherited the ancient legend of the Night's Watch.
To be honest, Jason often read these yellowed and brittle old files as bedtime stories told by his old nanny beside his cradle, but the coming of the long winter changed his perception. He saw the legendary giants and mammoths with his own eyes, and also put on a cloak made of shadow cat skin.

So, what if the legend is true?

"Prince Longzel told you?" Duke Clegane said slowly after a long while. "That's right, he will definitely tell his heir."

"My father did tell me this legend, as well as the covenant with you." Ringol suppressed the passion that suddenly welled up in his heart as a teenager, but the rising tone of his voice still betrayed him: "The Vareses family came for the final chapter of A Song of Ice and Fire, and it is our duty to complete its movement." "It is also the duty of the Stark family." Cregan stood up and stroked his chest with his hand, as if repeating an ancient oath: "The ancestors of the Stark family made a big mistake in the ancient and unknown times, so we have been watching for the coming of winter from generation to generation. It was so eight thousand years ago, and it is still so eight thousand years later."

But a long sigh interrupted these words that sounded like a oath.

"Unfortunately, the Long Night has passed for too long, so that the Night King has forgotten the horror of the Long Night and picked up the ancient secrets again. People nowadays have also forgotten the foolish deeds of the Night King and the terror that roamed around the world during the Long Night."

Cregan slowly recounted what Longziel had not told Ringol and that Jason had been unable to obtain in the Night's Watch's library tower.

"When I was a child, I also thought these were just Old Nan's fairy tales, until I had a dream. I dreamed that the Great Wall collapsed, monsters with blue eyes rode ice spiders and dead horses, and lizard-like ice dragons marched south from the north, killing all the living people in front of them. I dreamed that Stark's ancestors opened their blue eyes. I dreamed that the fire was extinguished and ice froze everything."

He whispered, "My grandfather didn't believe it, my father didn't believe it, my uncle didn't believe it either, I believe my great-grandfather, and generations of Stark ancestors didn't believe in this legend either, but I did. So I found your father, Prince Longzel."

Ringol compared Creggan's words with the ancient legends his father told him and the family's prophecy. Finally, he could no longer suppress the impulse in his heart. He stood up and looked at the two elders.

Commander Jason grinned, "Duke Cregan, as the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, I agree with your caution about threats outside the Wall, but..." He lowered his head and looked at the black mail armor on his body. His smile gradually turned into a self-deprecating smile, "I am only the current Lord Commander of the Wall. I believe this, but it does not mean that my successor will believe this. Lord Cregan, you also know that in peacetime, the Night's Watch cannot replenish enough high-quality soldiers."

Commander Jason lowered his voice. Although the rangers he brought were all knights and nobles from the West, he was now the commander-in-chief. There were some things that should not be said, or even if they were to be said, they could not be said openly. "Your Highness defeated us, so the Great Wall welcomed thousands of well-trained knights, sergeants, soldiers and nobles, but what if there is no war in the future? We will eventually grow old and die. Who will be our successors? The few northern nobles and valley knights? And more thieves, poachers, male prostitutes, scum, scum and bastards? The Great Wall will eventually decline. This is inevitable."

"I understand, Lord Jason." How could Lingol not understand this? In fact, when he and Longzel were deducing the development of the territory, he saw many problems. Peace is precious, but war is also indispensable in the development of the family.

The same is true of the Great Wall.

However, peace is too precious now. The people need rest and the royal family does not want to start a war again.

"So, Lord Ringol, Lord Stark, you can talk about your own things and just pretend I don't exist." Lord Commander Jason spread his hands, but his golden eyes were full of determination: "But the Lannisters must repay their debts and repay their favors. If the legend is true, the Lannister family will not stand idly by in the future. I will write a secret letter to my son or my son's heir, and they will understand."

Commander Jason looked to the north, even though there was now a thick wall separating them.

“They have to understand.”

Commander Jason pounded his chest and said, "This is the responsibility of a lion, and also the pride of a lion."

"I hope so." Duke Creggan remained calm. It was not that he was not interested in the support of the Lannister family, but that he was unwilling to pin his hopes on others.

Even Prince Longzel is like this.

"Your Highness Ringol, I hope to continue the covenant of ice and fire in you."

Ringo nodded. He could probably deduce what his father wanted.

In the prophecy of A Song of Ice and Fire, the prince in the prophecy will complete the writing of A Song of Ice and Fire. If we start from the perspective of blood, the blood of Targaryen and Varese symbolizes fire, then the representation of ice is very obvious.

The bloodline of House Stark.

The prince in the prophecy will most likely be a combination of ice and fire.

this is very simple.

"My son, if you have an offspring of the right age, he will marry a wolf." Ringol repeated the covenant.

"The oath has been made, and the ancient gods are witnesses." Duke Creggan also raised his hand.

A new covenant was signed.

The descendants of Ringol will introduce the bloodline of Ice to verify the ancient legend.

Hopefully this is doable.

Night swallowed up the earth.

While sleeping, Ringol suddenly found himself in the middle of an endless ghost forest, with an enormous fish beam tree entangled among the trees.

He looked at the three-eyed crow in the tree.

"Quack, quack, why doesn't the prince come?"

"But you can come, quack, quack."

The Three-Eyed Raven let out a piercing scream.

Lingol's eyes suddenly lit up, and he saw roots extending infinitely to the far north.

I saw a curtain of light covering the sky and the sun.

I saw a pair of slightly closed blue eyes.

He saw the heart of winter glowing.

Ringo's eyes suddenly filled with tears.

"Quack, quack, remember the oath, quack, the successor of fire, quack, tell His Royal Highness the Prince that our reward will come in fifteen years, quack, I hope he will be satisfied."

"Cuck!"

A scream.

A dead silence.

(End of this chapter)