[Chapter Size: 3300 Words.]
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Third Person POV
Arctic, 298 AC.
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Two weeks had passed since the wild tribes had first discovered the canal. This small group had headed south far ahead of the main group of over 100,000 people.
Returning to camp, Mance was discussing this information as they gathered inside a large tent with more than 20 tribal leaders all around.
"So it seems they weren't lying. Actually, it's hard to lie when thousands of people come saying the same thing." Mance remarked as he looked at the two men in front of him, near the entrance, reporting what they had seen when going south.
"Mance, the southerners are in the true north, we saw great houses sailing on that wide river like they were canoes!" They spoke as they tried to describe the great vessels, since they had little idea how to describe something they'd never seen before—aside from rafts, they had never seen large ships.
"I know very well... we've heard a lot about this even before I sent you..." Mance confessed. He had sent those scouts south just to confirm what he'd been hearing.
"So you believe it, Mance, the southerners built a massive city on our land? Wasn't it enough that those kneelers put a wall between us and their kingdoms with stone houses?" A man wearing a bone mask said.
"I think it's more complicated than that... Rattleshirt." Mance replied.
"They have free folk among them... they're saying the city was built by the free folk themselves, but they have a king and the tribes refuse to kneel, that's why they haven't gone to them... That's what some told me when I had the chance to meet the southern tribes..." Harma Dogshead said.
"Don't forget that most of the southern tribes are with them, especially the giants... there are no more giants in the south, only those we managed to recruit in the north, and that's 56 giants and 8 mammoths." Della said beside Mance—she always knew how to help her husband lead the camp.
"Yes... it seems things have changed a lot, it's been 12 years since I left for the north hoping to recruit everyone and go to the wall uniting all the others." Mance commented, still thoughtful. He had been thinking a lot about this; it was no secret that rumors had been arriving of someone building a kingdom by people who came from the south to find him, but knowing that there was a great city built with walls and a great sacred tree as they reported—and as they could see, every night they could see the sky lighting up in a northern aurora.
"What do you think we should do, Mance?" Styr asked. He was the lord of the Thenns, and most of the giants came from their part. Controlling the largest tribe of all, but like the other leaders, he had yielded to Mance and declared him king beyond the wall without kneeling.
"We have two kings beyond the wall... what is this now... but surely if they have a city here, it's only a matter of time before they fall to the cold shadows, we should raid them." One of the other leaders said, interrupting Mance before he could respond, driven by the idea of stealing food and weapons—something they had been doing north of the wall since the beginning of their history, one tribe dominating another.
"Weren't they saying there are over 100,000 people in this tribe... what did they call them years ago..." Val said beside Della, looking at Mance, who was still deep in thought.
"Artica... I think that was the name, I remember those men saying they fought with them many years ago... However, I don't know what a city is... Mance?" Della said beside him while Mance nodded to her.
"Yes... you don't know what a city is, but if they built one beyond the Wall, I'm very skeptical about that..."
Mance knew the region, which was a frozen desert, enough to almost deny it—but he couldn't dismiss his men's words, nor the rumors from all the southern tribes who had refused to join them.
"I need someone who actually went to the city they built, I need more information."
Mance, seeing that his men hadn't gone to the city, needed someone who had.
"A group joined us last week... They claim they went to the gates of the city we're talking about," Sixskins said as Mance nodded to him.
"Very well, bring those men here, I want to hear this from them directly," Mance requested as the powerful Warg of the camp nodded and left the tent to fetch the people.
Moments later, they came in while Mance examined them, seeing bearded and disheveled men wearing the same fur clothes as them, while they looked at Mance with respect.
"I want to know everything you saw in the south, about this Artica—city or tribe, whatever it is..." Mance asked.
"They... we found their city many moons ago, more than a year if I'm not mistaken, Mance," the man began to speak. "They have a great tree and many people gather around it, from what we could see. They have stone houses! And a stone wall around where they live too. It's very big, there are mountains and there's no snow there... it's strange, the place is even warm. We tried to settle there, but we were driven out by men wearing shiny clothes!" he reported as Mance furrowed his brow.
"What do you mean there's no snow there?" Val couldn't help but comment, surprised by that.
"I'm saying there are strange forests there, they're green without snow, and the place is colorful. We wanted to go there, but some people said we'd be made to kneel and would be slaves to their king!" the man said.
"What do you mean by that, who said that?" Mance asked as everyone looked on with not-so-favorable eyes at the statement.
"We met many people who said they had lived inside that place but were expelled after refusing to kneel, and they said everyone is treated like slaves. The free folk are forced to follow their orders, and their king is a southerner too," he said, according to what he had heard.
The man had been influenced by this group he met along the way—people who had gone to Artica and, after some crimes, were expelled, while others had been executed for unforgivable crimes. He didn't have a good view of Artica, having lost his chance to live well, and so they didn't stop spreading those lies to others who were thinking of contacting the kingdom.
These men in front of Mance, besides hearing those who were expelled, wanted to wait for Mance in the region near Artica because it was very warm and snow was not abundant there. Obviously, they wanted to wait for Mance, believing those people wouldn't survive the dead and hoping to cross the Wall with Mance. However, the Articans didn't let anyone stay in their region and had threatened them—after all, that was a problem Artica didn't want to have, and they always had to stay alert to their surroundings. If the people didn't want to live under their laws, they couldn't benefit from Artica's region and its safety.
"I understand... These people who were expelled, is there anyone from them here in the camp today?" Mance then asked—after all, he wanted to know more about the kingdom.
"We don't know of anyone, Mance..." one of the leaders said as everyone nodded, knowing no one.
"Wait, Mance, this place where there's no snow... do you really believe that?" Val insisted on the earlier question.
"I swear, there is no snow there and it's warm, and there's also a great sacred tree, I swear!" the man swore.
"So this place is protected by the gods or something?" another asked, surprised.
"I believe so," the man from the report said.
"Even so, you didn't choose to stay there." Val narrowed her eyes.
"Not after what happened, so we chose to leave," he said.
"Mance, then this place must be protected by the gods, we should take it!" a man immediately said.
"Can we see it before trying anything?" another asked, then looked at the men who came to report what they saw. "What do you think?"
"I..." The man seemed thoughtful. "They use animals like horses and I saw some riding bears, they have shiny weapons and they're not made of bronze or bone..." he said.
"So they're turning into southerners!" another said.
"I'd rather fight with those kinds of weapons than ours..." another commented.
"Let's calm down, if they're using that, then we should be concerned..." Mance said at the end before looking at everyone. "But first we need more information before making any decision. We need to find someone who's been there and has information about this strange city."
Mance said, but there was still no one, as they had answered earlier.
"With the number of people joining us, even if it's much smaller than we expected, we'll soon find people who have lived in that place, don't you think?" Della said while Mance nodded to her.
"Yes... let's keep heading south... soon we'll find more of those people. You said that everyone in the south is gathering in Hardhome, right?" Mance turned back to Harma.
"Yes..." the wild woman said. "Everyone I talked to said that Hardhome is a large number of people who don't want to risk going south or joining that tribe or city, whatever it is."
"Mance, should we keep heading south then?" another asked Mance.
"If there's a canal and a city, traveling through the east doesn't seem like a good choice..." Mance said, looking at the map and the canal with the sign of where the lights in the sky were coming from, which they could see every night, indicating that this was Artica.
"Still, we'll keep heading south..." Val commented.
"Yes... we need to know more about this place. We're almost two moons away at the pace we're moving," he said—after all, even though the scouts had taken only two weeks to get there, such a large group took much longer due to all the types of people and supplies everyone had to carry, besides the fact that they always had to stop for half the day to camp—if there wasn't some weather inconvenience, which was always treacherous with sudden snowstorms.
It was no surprise that they had taken years to leave the regions north of there, while recruiting people and analyzing the region, as the temperature kept dropping more and more, indicating that winter was coming in the next few years.
"If we have to go around through the eastern area to reach Hardhome, it'll take about 6 moons to a year just to move," he said with a tired tone—after all, according to the report of the great river, it would be impossible for them to cross, and they would have to go around the other side.
"So we just need to know more about this Artica tribe and maybe conquer them and take their weapons," another suggested.
"It doesn't seem that easy... if they have armor and metal weapons, it'll be a problem—especially if there's cavalry. I'll say it again: we should first learn more about them before making a decision," Mance said once again, while everyone nodded this time.
And he was about to end the meeting when something passed through the tent's opening, gathering everyone's attention, as they saw a raven flying into the center of the place before circling above and landing near Mance.
Immediately, everyone went silent, watching it in surprise.
"A raven with a letter...?" Mance recognized the paper at its feet and couldn't help but furrow his brow.
"How is that possible... like those letters you said the kneelers used to communicate, Mance?" Val murmured.
Mance didn't answer her, as he carefully approached, extending his hand to the raven's feet, which didn't even seem bothered by his presence. Mance took the letter, with the raven lightly kicking its leg to help loosen the paper.
Everyone remained silent as Mance began to read, noticing that the letter was addressed directly to him.
"This..." Mance raised an eyebrow upon reading the first line.
"What is it, Mance?" one of the leaders murmured, confused—after all, that had never happened before, and everyone wanted to know what it was.
"It's a letter from someone who calls himself 'King of Artica'," Mance replied, reading what he could, and his gaze fell to Val and his wife. "It's written in the Old Tongue. As much as I understand it thanks to you, I don't fully master it... Can you read the whole thing?" he asked, handing over the letter.
"Val, can you read it?" Della asked, after all, their mother had taught them the Old Tongue when they were younger.
Val nodded, taking the paper and checking it. Then she began to read:
"To Mance, the man who is known by his people as King Beyond the Wall, the one sending this letter is known by my people directly as another king beyond the Wall: or rather, I am Jon Artica, King of Artica, which is the place you must be discussing at this very moment."
She furrowed her brow while reading aloud, as many around looked at each other, surprised by the words.
"He masters the Old Tongue so well I feel lost..." Val couldn't help but comment—she had never seen someone use the language in that way, but she pressed on, trying to keep the clarity of what the letter truly meant.
Then she continued:
"You're surprised by this—don't be too much, for I know because I have the power to do so. I can observe anything north of the Wall and I have thousands of eyes and ears to watch everything. That's why I waited for the right moment in your conversation to deliver this letter. I hope it is read by all, after all, my message is not only for Mance."
She paused, raising an eyebrow as she looked around—obviously, everyone was uncomfortable with that. Then, once again, she continued:
"I know very well that Cra and Korr went with the group to find our canal two weeks ago."
At that moment, the men who had reported what they saw in the south were shocked. The letter mentioned their names exactly.
"This is your first contact with us. While you lived for years in the far north, you're now heading south. You may not know much about us... But we have always known about you. After all, we had eyes on you as on the entire north, because we still don't know if you are enemies. We are even observing the true enemy, further north, who is marching south right now."
Val paused, looking toward the leader, but Mance gestured for her to continue.
"I send this letter precisely to declare my intentions with you. First, know that any action against us will be discovered before it is even executed. And, if it is carried out, you will be defeated. Artica has more than a hundred thousand men, all armed with armor and weapons far more powerful than yours. We have thousands of giants on our side, as well as dwarves and humans trained to protect these lands."
"If any attack is planned, we will consider you enemies. If any of our ships are attacked on the canal, we will consider you enemies. But I don't want you to think of Artica as an enemy yet.
We follow the same gods. And we want to protect the people of the North from the White Walkers. That is why I personally invite Mance to come to the gates of my kingdom, so that we may talk. I do not wish for war. On the contrary — I wish to save the people of the North.
However, know this: not all will be accepted into our kingdom. Not everyone from the North can live under our rules. I am not a kneeler. Nor do I ask that you kneel before me. But there are rules in Artica that must be followed. And we will not allow them to be broken.
Still, I want to give you a chance. If you accept these conditions, come to the gates of Artica. I will treat you as a friend, as long as you give me no reason to act otherwise."
She took a breath before continuing:
"To conclude, I reinforce again the fact that we know everything, because I want you to understand that I am watching you. I am hearing your conversation at this very moment. You cannot fight against us. Taking Artica is more impossible than any of you can imagine, and it would be easier to try the Wall — we also do not plan to flee, and we will stay to fight in these lands.
I am the most powerful warg in the world and I can control any animal — and thousands of them. In addition, Artica possesses thousands of other wargs, far more powerful than your most powerful warg, named Sixskins, who has six animals bonded to him.
And to prove my point, I also know..."
Val continued while beginning to recite all the names of the leaders Jon had listed in the letter, even speaking exact numbers and how the camp was structured. That left everyone in shock — it was the definitive proof that he truly knew everything about them.
The leaders were already cautious, but those who had previously felt confident they could seize valuable resources from a people in the south now began to show distrust and tension.
Meanwhile, Jon himself gave a faint smile where he was at that moment — he was in Artica, in the Senate, leading the meeting at the Council table with all the ministers of the kingdom, except for Brynden, who was arriving later from his trip to Meereen. He was in a meeting with them while listening to everything happening in Mance's tent — in real time — while also discussing with his own men.
"My king... the letter has begun being read, then..." Ducken noticed the smile and asked Jon, while the king nodded.
"Yes. Right now, they're discussing exactly what I wrote to them." He paused. "Either way... I'll write another letter to Mance after listening to all this. After all, it seems some members of his group are considering attacking Artica without consequence... listening to people who were expelled from the kingdom and now intend to rely on them — which will be a mistake... and a fatal one for them. But, either way, I'm not worried about that."
While his ministers continued discussing strategies to deal with them — many of them were, after all, members of the Freefolk before joining Artica and receiving their education to be prepared for their current responsibilities. They wanted to save as many people as possible.
Jon's gaze turned to the north again. He was observing a distant vision, following animals flying in the sky — birds, ravens, and other creatures — far beyond the map that covered his table.
Through the eyes of one of them, Jon saw a forest in the far north, mountains, frozen lakes... Everything passing rapidly as the creatures crossed thousands of kilometers to the north, until they reached a massive snowstorm.
She seemed to move slowly toward the south, covering mountains, forests, and everything in the region.
Jon knew, through the eyes in the sky, that inside all that storm, a great army of the dead was concentrated.
This was the true enemy moving within that snow, beyond Jon's sight, while in the midst of darkness and snow, bright blue eyes shone intensely, advancing toward the realms of men, with only one goal — to destroy them completely.
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Raccoon Here:
I'm considering making Val Jon's wife. I'm not thinking about this with the intention of expanding the harem, but rather to create a diplomatic alliance so that Mance's free folk will agree to join Artica. I did something similar with Hiyori—after all, it's complicated managing more wives—but at the same time, it's a political and military alliance that Jon needed, and it's his way of securing that with Yi-Ti, since that will be, in the future, a more political marriage, even though Jon treats all his wives equally.
-------------Nexts Chapters ----------------
Chapter 254 - An Offer to the Free Folk 01.
Chapter 259 - Negotiating with the Night's Watch.
Chapter 269 - Reunion.
Chapter 278 - The King Arrives in Winterfell.
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