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At the council in Winterfell, Robb had seen the dead beyond the Wall with his own eyes. So had most of the others.
With the forces they had now, standing against them alone would be nearly impossible, They needed more allies.
The knights of the Vale still officially served under Robin Arryn in the Eyrie. But without Littlefinger's sches shaping events, Robin's situation had not turned out especially well.
Rickon, Sansa, Catelyn, and the little Walnut Emperor himself were to ride for the Eyrie and ask for aid, then remain there to stabilize matters around Robin. The knights of the Vale would have to fight in this war.
But first, they needed to keep Cersei from trying anything reckless. Only if the rear remained secure could Jimmy and the others focus on killing the enemy.
"If we want them to stay quiet, we need to catch one of those things and send it to the Red Keep. Otherwise, Cersei will never believe creatures like the White Walkers even exist.
But even if we send one, we still need to stay on guard. Cersei has never been the type to play by the rules."
…
That year, winter seed to arrive earlier than usual.
Everyone who was not a fighter was relocated to the plains between the Dreadfort and White Harbor.
Winterfell would beco the final defensive line. If it held, then all was well. If it fell, then they would have no choice but to leave the rest to fate.
Jimmy, Jon, Daisy, Tormund, and the others ford a hunting party to capture one of the dead and headed north beyond the Wall.
And, of course, Sandor Clegane ca along as well. He claid the Lord of Light had called him north.
Once he heard that anyone joining the mission would be rewarded with a Valyrian steel weapon, he insisted on becoming part of the group.
If they managed to capture one of the dead, they would have to carry it out by sea and sail around the Wall. Enough of the Wall's old magic remained to keep the dead from crossing it directly.
Once beyond the Wall, the group trudged through brutal winds, bundled in heavy layers. The weather had grown so vicious that even the great elk struggled to survive out there, leaving them no choice but to press on foot.
"Horus, you should take to the sky and scout. We'll lose ti if we keep wandering blind."
"That won't happen. The Night King has already turned over everything north of the Wall. Every corpse he could find has been raised and is moving toward one place."
"A mountain shaped like an arrowhead?" Sandor asked.
"How do you know that?" Horus sounded genuinely surprised.
"I saw it in the flas," Sandor said.
"Is it that one?" Jimmy asked, pointing toward a distant peak.
"That's the one."
…
Even as they spoke, a faint rustling sound reached them from ahead.
A White Walker appeared in the distance, leading a pack of wights. There were only a little over a hundred.
"I think we can take one," Jon said.
"I'm more worried we'll take one and draw in a thousand," Tormund muttered, still uneasy whenever the dead were involved.
"They already are a thousand," Sigorn said. He showed no real fear, only tightening his grip on the axe in his hand as he looked toward Jimmy.
Jimmy just smiled.
"Doesn't matter. We take them first and sort the rest out later."
He fixed his eyes on the White Walker, drew Horse-Cutter, and charged.
The fight ended fast.
At Jimmy's speed, a hundred enemies were nowhere near enough to stop his advance, especially not a hundred mindless corpses.
He reached the White Walker, feinted once, and struck.
The result was imdiate.
The surrounding wights collapsed in a clattering heap, bones and frozen limbs dropping to the ground. Only seven or eight remained, still shrieking and thrashing.
Jimmy spun the blade once in his hand. There was no need for him to do more. The others were not carrying their weapons for decoration.
Before long, the last two wights had been bound up tight.
"Gods above. What is that?"
Everyone looked up.
Even Jimmy could only stare and think, what the hell.
They were everywhere.
Across the hills, over the ridges, in numbers so vast they seed to cover the world itself, the dead ca pouring forward in a tide without end.
Whoever had staged those battles in the old tales had clearly held back. That little frozen lake people always talked about. This many wights could have filled it over and over again, more tis than anyone would care to count.
Jimmy reacted instantly, throwing Horus into the air.
"Take them to Eastwatch. Grab as many as you can, then co back. After that, head for the ships waiting there."
Horus did not waste a second. He snatched up four people along with the captured wight and shot off toward Eastwatch.
"Fall back. Fall back now. I'll cover you. But don't expect to save everyone."
Jimmy locked his twin blades together, found a narrow choke point, and planted himself there, trying to buy as much ti as he could.
The dead crashed into him like a storm.
They ca from every direction. Hands, blades, frozen limbs, all reaching at once.
His two blades spun so fast sparks flashed from the steel, but even so, countless wights slipped past him and kept charging after the others.
That was only possible because it was Jimmy.
Anyone else would have been torn apart down to nothing. Even Jimmy could not stay still for more than a heartbeat or two. If he did, the dead would pile onto him from every side and wrap him up like a living mound.
Then he felt it.
A sudden tightening in his chest.
A spike of danger.
He twisted aside on instinct.
A blue ice spear flashed past, skimming so close across his chest he almost felt the cold bite of it.
The Night King's spear.
But Jimmy still could not see where he was.
That sneaky bastard had hurled one spear and vanished again, never even showing his face. Jimmy wanted to kill him, but the man refused to give him the chance.
No.
Too many wights had already gotten through. The others would never hold against that many.
He had to catch up.
Jimmy had spent all this ti locked in with the wights. He had not even touched a single White Walker, much less the Night King.
If he kept fighting here, it would be pointless.
So he broke through.
Once Jimmy decided to leave, the dead could not stop him. Wights could not. White Walkers could not. Even the Night King would not be able to hold him if he chose to run.
And if the Night King tried, Jimmy would not mind finishing one of his tasks early.
By the ti Jimmy ca tearing through the dead with his double-bladed weapon spinning like a steel fan, Jon and the others had already been caught.
Wights sward them from every side, throwing themselves forward in endless waves. Tormund had barely been snagged by a rope trailing behind him before he was yanked down beneath them.
Jimmy kicked and cut his way through the pile, then booted the big wildling clear.
"Tormund. Move."
"Jimmy?"
"Move. Now."
"We can't. There's a river ahead. The current's too strong, and it hasn't frozen."
"How wide?"
"There's a split in the river up ahead. Less than thirty yards. A little island in the middle."
"Get there."
Jimmy sprinted over and started throwing them across one by one.
They hit the ground hard, rolling through the snow like tossed sacks, but at least they lived. Their layers were thick enough, and Jimmy aid for the deepest drifts, so no one was lost in the crossing.
Then he turned back and went to work again.
His twin blades tore through the dead in wide arcs, dropping them in heaps. From the far bank, the others could only stare.
They had thought the battle against Ramsay was Jimmy at full strength.
Now they knew he had still been holding back then.
Another ice spear ca shrieking in.
Jimmy knocked it aside with Cloudsplitter. A tiny dent, almost too small to notice, appeared on the blade.
Greenseer.
Just wait until I get my hands on you.
When I do, I'll slice you thin enough to serve on a platter.
"Get behind the boulder," Jimmy shouted over his shoulder. "You won't survive one of those spears."
The others scrambled for cover.
More and more wights hurled themselves into the river, but the current was too violent to hold them. One after another, they were swept away downstream.
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