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

What virtue and ability do you have, wildlings claiming arrogantly.

Do you want me to bow down to you?

Descendants of the ancestors, sons of the old gods.

Let's raise our swords to see who is better.

Barbarians fight wolves,

Every sword is bloody and merciless.

Suddenly a real dragon appears in the sky.

Don't forget, don't forget, my son.

Oh, he said so, he said so,

The wildlings wandering outside the wall said so.

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

The ashes wept in the wilderness, and there were no more giants beating drums.

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

The ashes wept in the wilderness, and there were no more wildlings fighting with horns.

Regen hummed this song that had just been created not long ago. After the one-sided battle, Commander Jason Lannister, who loved music, was inspired to create this song called "Dragon's Flame Under the Great Wall".

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

When Starsong appeared on the battlefield, victory was already doomed. The wildlings lacked long-range weapons and could not threaten Starsong, which was already able to resist most long-range weapons. Its dragon flames ravaged the battlefield, and thousands of wildlings were burned to death or burned by dragon flames. More importantly, Starsong almost overwhelmingly slaughtered the giants brought to the south of the Great Wall by the wildlings. The giant mammoth cavalry that was highly expected by "cruel" Silas and Sergon Magna did not play a role in the copper penny. Instead, because the mammoths were frightened by the dragon flames, they trampled on each other, and 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 immediately, completely crushing the large-scale assembly of the wildlings. Fifty thousand wildlings who crossed the Great 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 is where they will end up."

These were Lord Stark's original words.

The Night's Watch took away the skulls of the wildlings and piled up mountains of skulls outside the Great Wall to warn the wildlings in the mountains and forests.

Before leaving the North, Ringol went outside the Great Wall.

Like its predecessors, Xingge stubbornly refused to fly over the Great Wall, as if there was something beyond 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 Xingge uneasy or disgusting. In short, Ringol could only take Regen and his men, as well as thirty northern cavalry led by Duke Creggan and twenty armored rangers led by Commander Jason, to leave the Black Castle and go deep into the haunted forest in the north.

It was the last forest in the continent where two ancient fish beams could be seen at the same time. In the past years, many wild tribes gathered here, and the rangers of the Night's Watch patrolled here day and night. Sometimes they fought with the wild people, and sometimes they would engage in trade.

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

"Swish"

An arrow pierced the neck of a shadow mountain cat steadily, and the ferocious monster let out a creepy scream, and then there was no movement.

Regen put down his bow with satisfaction and shuddered: "If I remember correctly, it's summer now, why is it so cold?"

A brother in black rubbed his hands and dragged the shiny guy back to the camp with another northern cavalryman.

"There is no summer in the North, Regen Kaon." Duke Cregan said calmly. The Night's Watch is familiar with the structure of the Haunted Forest. The place where they are once belonged to a tribe of wildlings who have close contacts with the Night's Watch. Before being annexed by the "cruel" Silas, this tribe of wildlings had developed quite well. They cut down oak trees and built simple long houses in the open space in the forest. 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.

"Wildlings are still wildlings." This was the first sentence Duke Cregan said when he saw this camp. "They hate order, but they also reject civilization."

Lingol still agrees with this sentence.

Commander Jason excitedly walked to the shadow mountain cat with a hunting knife, and in a few seconds, a complete shadow mountain cat skin was peeled off.

"Your Highness Lingol, I will ask the master craftsman to tannin this skin when I go back, and make it into a cloak for Prince Longzel." Commander Jason's eyes flashed with nostalgia. The severe winter in the north has completely changed this once-flamboyant lion in the west. Today, Jason Lannister is much stronger than before. He wears a shadow mountain cat cloak, beautiful mail and a black coat, and even his gloves are black. His once full 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.

The failure of winter and 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." Lingol said politely: "Father will thank you."

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

"Okay, everyone." Duke Cregan interrupted the conversation between the two: "It's getting late, Your Highness Ringol, where are you going?"

He still spoke in that calm tone. But everyone can hear the implication of Duke Cregan’s words. The land north of the Great Wall is still cold even in midsummer. A heavy snowfall that can freeze people to death will occur without anyone noticing. Therefore, heading outside the Great Wall is It was a very risky move, and Duke Cregan did not want them to lose their troops because of Ringor's words, "I want to go see beyond the Great Wall."

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

Not everyone has good enough equipment to use either.

"Lord Stark, Commander Jason." Ringol looked at Cregan Stark and then at Jason Lannister. Lei Geng looked left and right, and realized that this place was not the place he should stay. He hurriedly ran out, playing the tune of "Dragon Flame Under the Great Wall" with Alarion and Albin, and watched The cavalry brothers prepare things and dishes for the night today.

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

Duke Cregen's expression changed drastically, and Commander Jason's expression also suddenly darkened.

Both of them knew this prophecy, but the order and content of their knowledge were different. The Stark family has 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 also secretly made many preparations that even their descendants did not know. Commander Jason inherited the ancient legend of the Night's Watch.

To be honest, Jason often regarded these yellowed and brittle old files as bedtime stories told by the old nurse beside the cradle. However, the arrival of the long winter changed his understanding. He saw the legendary giant with his own eyes. And the woolly mammoth, or mammoth, himself wore a cloak made of shadow lynx skin.

So, what if the legend is true?

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

"Father did tell me this legend and the covenant with you." Ringor suppressed the passion of a young man that suddenly surged in his heart, but some rising voices still betrayed him: "Varezes The family has come for the final chapter of the Song of Ice and Fire, and it is our duty to complete its movement. "It is also the duty of the Stark family." Cregen stood up and put his hand on his chest, as if repeating an ancient saying. The oath: "The ancestors of the Stark family made great mistakes in ancient and unknown times, so we watch for the coming of winter from generation to generation. It was like this eight thousand years ago, and it will still be eight thousand years later."

But a long sigh interrupted these words that were like an oath.

"It's a pity that the Long Night has passed for so long that the Night King has forgotten the fear of the Long Night and picked up the ancient secrets again. And now people have also forgotten the Night King's folly and the terror that rampaged around the world in the Long Night. ”

Cregan slowly told him what Ronzel had not told Ringol and that Jason could not obtain in the Night Watch's library tower.

"When I was a child, I thought these were just Old Nan's fairy tales, until I had a dream. I dreamed of the Great Wall crumbling, monsters with blue eyes riding ice spiders and dead horses, and The lizard-like ice dragon came from the north in a mighty way, killing all the living people in front of it. I dreamed that Stark's ancestors opened their same blue eyes. I dreamed that the fire went out and the ice froze. everything."

He whispered: "My grandfather doesn't believe it, my father doesn't believe it, and my uncle doesn't believe it either. I believe that my great-grandfather, and generations of Stark ancestors don't believe in this legend, but I believe it. So I Found your father, Prince Ronzel."

Ringor matched Cregen's words with the ancient legends his father told him and the family's prophecies. Finally, he could no longer suppress his inner impulse. He stood up and looked at the two elders.

Commander Jason grinned: "Duke Cregan, as the commander-in-chief of the Night Watch, I agree with your caution about threats outside the Great Wall, but..." He lowered his head and looked at the black locks on his body. A, the smile gradually turned into a self-deprecating smile: "I am only the Commander-in-Chief of the Great Wall for this term. I believe this, but it does not mean that my successor will believe this. Duke Cregan, you also know that in peace, In the era, the Night Watch cannot replenish enough high-quality soldiers.”

Commander Jason lowered his voice. Although the rangers he brought out were all knights and nobles from the West, he was now the commander-in-chief. There were some things that he shouldn't say, or even if he wanted to say them, he couldn't. Say it openly. "His Royal 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? Very few A few northern nobles and knights of the valley? And more thieves, poachers, male prostitutes, scum, scum and bastards? The fall of the Wall is inevitable."

"I understand, Sir Jason." How could Ringol not understand this truth? In fact, he saw many problems when he and Long Zell deduced the development of the territory. Peace is valuable, but war is in the family. is also indispensable in its development.

The same is true for the Great Wall.

However, the current peace is too precious, the people need to rest, and the royal family is unwilling to fight again.

"So, Your Highness Ringol, Duke Stark, you can talk about your affairs as if I don't exist." Commander Jason spread his hands, but his golden eyes were full of determination: "But Lannister must pay debts. If the legend is true, the future Lannister family will not stay out of it. I will write a secret letter and give it to my son or my son's heir, and they will understand. "

Commander Jason looked to the north, even though that was now separated by a thick wall.

"They have to understand."

Commander-in-Chief Jason beat his chest: "This is the lion's responsibility and the lion's pride."

"I hope so." Duke Cregan was still very calm. It was not that he was not interested in the support of the Lannister family, but that he was unwilling to place his hopes on others.

Even Prince Longzell is like this.

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

Ringor nodded, he could probably deduce what his father wanted.

In the prophecy of the Song of Ice and Fire, the prince in the prophecy will complete the composition of the Song of Ice and Fire. From the perspective of blood, the blood of Targaryen and Varese symbolizes fire, then the representative of ice is It's obvious.

The blood of the Stark family.

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

It's very simple.

"My son, if you have offspring of suitable age, he will marry the blood of the wolf." Ringor said the covenant again.

"The oath has been made, witnessed by the ancient gods." Duke Cregen also raised his hand.

A new covenant was signed.

Ringol's descendants will introduce the bloodline of Bing to confirm that ancient legend.

Hope this works.

Night swallowed the earth.

Ringol, who was sleeping soundly, suddenly found himself in the middle of the endless ghost forest, with a huge weirwood tree knotted among the trees.

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

"Qua, gua, why doesn't the prince come?"

"But you can come, quack, quack."

The three-eyed crow let out a shrill scream.

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

I saw a curtain of light covering the sky.

I saw a pair of slightly closed blue eyes.

He saw the heart of winter shining brightly.

Ringol suddenly burst into tears.

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

"Quack!"

A scream.

There was dead silence.