"Fear is a good way to control people, but it's not the most effective." Aenar Targaryen.
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Letting out a cloud of white air through his mouth, Jon looked at his surroundings and saw only the whiteness of thin snow wherever he looked. Closer and closer to the Wall, the intense cold intensified.
If the low temperature was deadly for any human being, he really wanted to know how the Wild Ones survived beyond the Wall.
Jon looked around him and soon spotted a clearing not far away; from the stones placed there, it was a camp that everyone heading towards the Wall passed.
Getting off his horse, Jon gently stroked the neck of the beautiful animal that had carried him here. "Good boy."
Tying the horse's reins to a tree, Jon took his sword - Lady Lya - from the horse and put it at his waist. This place wasn't Winterfell, there could be Wildlings who, with luck, had crossed the Wall and entered the North. He couldn't just stay unarmed in a place like this.
Taking out his fire-starting tools, Jon expertly lit a fire and enjoyed the warmth of the orange flames with his horse.
Jon took out a sack containing dried meat and ate it without a second thought while helping his horse eat what was available, frozen leaves and grass.
It had been three days since he had left Winterfell and from his map, he should be about a few kilometers from the Long Lake. Honestly, the journey time was shorter than he had expected, but as the snow was low, the journey went surprisingly quickly.
It seemed that the weather wanted him to arrive at Castle Black as soon as possible. "I have to be careful to cover my face, some are soldiers who fought alongside my father in the war, they might recognize me." Jon muttered to himself as he looked up to see a light snow falling from the sky.
He didn't know how many of these men were still loyal, any whisper of his existence could alert a certain Eunuch in the Red Keep, something he didn't want for himself at the moment.
Leaning against a tree, Jon wrapped both arms around his sword and rested it on his shoulder, watching the flames burn along with the crackling embers.
Jon wanted to sleep, but he held back, he didn't want his sister invading his dream again. It had become a routine for both of them, especially on her part. If he fell asleep, he would go into a deep sleep and Rhaenys would enter his dream again for the thousandth time.
He didn't think it was a bad thing to talk to her, but this feeling of being treated like a younger brother was simply annoying, and the girl couldn't stop hugging him every time they saw each other in their dreams.
Always looking at him with a look of determination, as if the most important task in her life was to protect him.
Although worry warmed his heart, he was not a child. The moment he was chosen by the Omniscient and Omnipotent God, he was already destined to be king, and a king has no childhood, only responsibilities and duty.
To this end, even though he wanted to play like any normal child, something he had never done in his past life, Jon strove to train and study every moment he could, including in his dreams, where Queen Visenya and Queen Rhaenys taught him everything they could, from blood magic to etiquette.
You could say that of the 24 hours in the day, he was training 18h.
All so that he could survive in the future and raise his family to heights never seen before.
While Jon was thinking, he heard a twig break, before silence returned to his surroundings.
Without having to look around, Jon spoke in a calm tone: "If you want a fire for warmth, I can share it, but if you want a fight, I'll slit your throats."
No one answered Jon for long minutes, but a loud laugh was heard, along with quick, heavy footsteps.
"HAHAHAHAH!"
"The southern cub is brave!"
Hearing his words, Jon's lips twitched, it was the first time he had been called a southerner, even though it was in the North.
Jon raised his head and saw a tall, strong man, accompanied by a man and a woman. They were all dressed in animal skins. Their hair was messy and they obviously hadn't bathed for days or even weeks.
Savages, or as they wanted to call themselves, the Free Folk.
Jon remained indifferent despite being outnumbered and outgunned, he had a sword and the enemy had axes and spears as weapons. From anyone's point of view, he was in a dangerous situation, but he didn't think so himself.
When you can see your enemy's future blows, there are very few things that can really kill you and the three Savages were definitely not one of those people.
Seeing the boy looking at him without fear, Kraner couldn't help but cluck his tongue in admiration; at the boy's age, he would have been pissing himself with fear if he had come across three enemies alone in a forest.
"Since you shared your fire, how can I hurt you, Cub?" Kraner smiled, showing his rotten, yellowed teeth. He walked over and sat down opposite the boy, being able to see the boy's appearance without difficulty.
From the clothes and sword he was holding, Kraner assumed that the cub was from a Noble House of the North, perhaps even the heir to an important House.
His other two companions also approached and sat down next to their leader. They were both looking at the child before them.
The black-haired, blue-eyed woman called Grace couldn't help but be surprised by the boy's beauty; he was definitely the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life.
Seeing the look on Grace's face, Kraner and the other man burst into loud, boisterous laughter. "Look at Grace's face, she obviously wants to be stolen by the boy."
"HAHAHAHAAHHAHA!!!"
Her companion's taunts made the twenty-five-year-old woman snort coldly as she punched both men in the shoulder.
"Shut up, you idiot brothers!!!" She snarled angrily as she glared at her brothers with a cold, frightening look.
"Tsk. That look reminds me of the Ice Spiders." Kraner commented as she stroked his shoulder, feeling sore from her sister's punch.
"How adorable, a family of three on a journey to death." Jon commented, throwing some more sticks on the fire. His purple eyes shone with a faint phosphorescent glow.
Kraner felt a shiver run through his body at the sight of those purple eyes. An emotion he hadn't known for a long time welled up in his chest.
Fear.
This boy was strange, very strange!
As if reading his thoughts, the boy smiled and spoke with a tone that sent shivers through his body. "You're dead if you keep going towards Winterfell."
"How do you know we're heading for Winterfell?" Kraner forced himself to calm down and asked, the hand holding his axe tensing slightly.
"Because I saw their heads rolling on the ground after being decapitated by Ice, the ancestral sword of House Stark." Jon replied casually as he ate a piece of dried meat, his purple eyes staring at the three savages with an analyzing gaze.
If you think the people of Westeros and Essos were superstitious, you have no idea how superstitious the tree-worshipping Wildlings with strange faces were. Because they came into contact with magic more often than any other people on this planet.
They knew that there were gods and monsters more terrifying than gods in the depths of the frozen deserts.
"I want you to do something for me, if you do, I'll leave you somewhere safe." Jon asked as he tore off a piece of dried meat and chewed hard.
Kraner looked deeply at the boy and spoke in a lower tone, almost as if he was afraid of annoying him. "I'm listening."
Don't blame him for being a coward, but only those who live in hardship know how to survive in the face of death.
Jon's lips lifted in a smile, seeing that negotiations had begun.
"I want you to go back beyond the Wall and deliver a letter to Mance Rayder." Jon's words made the expressions of the three people change dramatically.
"I'm never going back to that place!" Grace shouted loudly as she stood up angrily. There was a deep horror hidden in her gaze
Although the other two didn't say anything, they both frowned deeply when they heard Jon's words. Only they know how difficult it was to climb the Wall and enter the North.
"You'll have a special guide. You won't get hurt." Jon said, pointing upwards.
The three savages raised their heads and saw a raven perched on a branch of a tree. The strangest thing was that the crow had three eyes, a huge eye in the middle of its forehead.
The Three-Eyed Crow.
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