Chapter 252: What Do You Want from Me?
Winterfell, Stark Lands
POV of Domeric Bolton
Domeric picked up the Ice Sword with the help of the Dragonglass holder, kept it at a distance from himself, and took it out of the box.
"Ser Meryn. Strike the Ice Sword with your own." Domeric said.
The man let out a grunt, unwilling to do any such thing.
"Do as the boy says." The King ordered, and the Kingsguard reluctantly took out his sword from its sheath and pointed it at the Ice Sword.
"Be sure to strike hard and accurately," Domeric said, and the Kingsguard grunted in response before hitting the Ice Sword with his full might.
There was a sound of shattering steel, and a moment later, Ser Meryn Trant was holding only the hilt of his blade, looking at the pieces of steel that once used to be his sword and then at the Ice Sword in terror.
"What sort of sorcery is this?" the man said as he backed away from the sword.
Domeric chuckled, "The sorcery of the White Walkers, I suppose. Something that our feeble human minds cannot even comprehend." He said and put the Ice Sword back in the wooden box before picking up one of the steel shards and giving it to the King.
Ser Barristan Selmy also picked up a shard, and both the King and the Kingsguard looked at it in silence for a long moment before Domeric said, "That is why it's useless to fight a White Walker without the proper weapon. Not only do the White Walkers have an advantage in weaponry, but they are also nearly as strong as Raksa, faster and as experienced as Varko, not to mention the thousands of wights they bring with them. Wights that would continue to try to kill you even if they only have a single hand remaining. You must kill them by either fire, Valyrian steel, or Dragonglass."
The King remained silent for a long moment before he sat down on a chair and pointed a hand at the Ice Sword. "Close it. I've seen enough."
Domeric nodded and closed the lid of the wooden box. They all took a collective sigh of relief as the cold in the room vanished at once. The ice coating the various surfaces remained, but it would melt before the end of the hour.
The King rubbed his forehead. "Bloody hell. So, the White Walkers are really back. Is that what you're telling me, Ned?"
Ned Stark's face remained stoic, and he nodded once, "Yes, your grace."
Robert slumped even further in the chair. "When your boys told me about fighting Wights in the North… I didn't believe them, even if my intuition told me otherwise. I should not have doubted your boys, Ned. It was my mistake."
"Anyone else would have thought the same, your grace." Lord Stark said.
They remained silent for a moment after that before the King finally got up from his chair and looked at his oldest friend.
"What do you want from me, Ned?" King asked.
"What can you give?" Lord Stark answered the King's question with another question.
Robert thought about it for a moment and said, "Well, the Crown definitely can't give you any money. I spent all of it in tourneys and whores." He laughed, but there was no joy in it.
"6 million gold dragons in debt, Ned. That's what Petyr Baelish told me. 3 million in debt to Tywin Fucking Lannister, who can shit gold even when his gold mines have run dry. Tell me what you want, Ned, because I'm frankly at a loss for words."
"6 million gold dragons in debt…" Before Lord Stark could recover from his bewilderment at the realm's debt or consider what he might request from the King, Domeric intervened.
"If I may, your grace?" Domeric said.
The King turned to look at Domeric and motioned him to go ahead.
Domeric unrolled a map of the North and laid it on the table. Then he pointed at a great mass of land below the Wall.
"When Bran the Builder built the Wall, he gave a large chunk of the North's land to the Night's Watch for their sustenance and support. When Good Queen Alysanne visited the Wall on her dragon, she held the Night's Watch in great esteem and convinced her husband to double their land, extending it further 140 kilometers to the south. The problem is that as the condition of the Night's Watch decreased, more and more wildling incursions started to occur. This led to the people in these Old Gift and New Gift abandoning their homes to go further south, where they could gain the protection of other Northern Lords."
"Now, despite being some of the most fertile lands in the North, the New Gift and Old Gift are mostly deserted." He then pointed at the New Gift. "The first thing your grace can do is return the Old Gift and the New Gift to the North. The lords who'll settle in these lands could give a percentage of their taxes to the Wall and also protect their small folk. A win-win situation. This will also cause wandering knights and people who're down on their luck to travel to new settlements and will increase the population of North."
"Also, as the White Walkers move south, the number of wildlings crossing this side of the wall will undoubtedly increase. The lords who will be based here could at least take precautions against the increasing wildling raids. The Night's Watch would be unable to deal with them at its current strength."
The King nodded his head. "It… can be done. If the Watch is in as bad a condition as you're telling me, then it would be better if these lands were given to the North. What do you say, Ned?"
"It would be a wise decision, your grace. The North needs every man it can get right now, and if we can get a harvest from these lands before Winter comes, we can be better prepared for the Winter." Lord Stark said, and the King banged the table with his meaty palms.
"Consider it done then." The King said. "What else?"
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.253: Great Migration Plan
Ch.254: Giving Some Warnings
Ch.255: Sansa and Domeric