CHAPTER 125

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CHAPTER 125

289 AC

POV NED STARK

When I said his mount was a giant shadowcat, Yohn Royce's eyes widened. Yohn Royce was a really tall man with a booming voice, but he was silent when he had nothing to say. He didn't like using empty words like most Reach nobles. The Valeman was here as the representative of Arryn, but the control of the Vale army was put directly under Robert since the Lord Hand was busy ruling the realm in our absent king's place. The last time I saw him, he was getting really old; he was as thin as a stick. Lord Royce said,

"My lord, did you say he rides a shadowcat? It surely is not a shadowcat. While shadowcats are deadly animals, they are never big enough for a grown man to ride them."

"Ooo, he is not a gown man yet; Ser Aermir Drasil is almost 16, name-day old, but he is as big as most grown men. I, myself never seen this shadowcat, but I have read many reports about its size from trusted sources. We have already sent a word to the gate, and he will be here shortly, and at that time, we will see if it is real or not."

At this moment, Mace Tyrell intervened.

"Is that the point here? Lord Stark, how could you declare someone a magic user and knight him? This is a heresy, and it is an insult to The Seven. The Seven clearly forbids the use of magic and declares it the power of demons, and such behavior is not appropriate for someone of your stature."

What the hell was this buffoon talking about?

"Lord Tyrell, you are talking about a Northern knight. We do not believe in your gods, and to us, wargs are a part of our history and heritage. Yes, with time, we Northmen lost a magical part of our heritage, and only Wildlings have wargs now, but it is still an undeniable fact that we, as First Men, come from the lineage of wargs and greenseers, and most importantly, why should we Northmen care what your gods think of magic. The ability to warg comes from Old Gods, and it is a great blessing."

Mace Tyrell's face went from shape to shape as he heard my words, and it looked like he wanted to say some other things a few times, but then he gave up. Upon seeing this, I continued my word,

"We do not care what you think of us, but what we care about is for you to respect our way of life as we respect yours. Keep your religious views to yourselves, The Seven has no hold in the North, and they never will."

Meanwhile, My Good Father intervened and began to ask me questions to soften the atmosphere.

"We all heard the word warg, but I, for myself, do not know what is so magical about them. I am sorry if I sound ignorant, but I really don't know anything about them. Aren't they just animal tamers?"

It was clear from his face and behavior that there was no malicious intent behind his reason for asking this question.

"The magical part about wargs does not come from taming the animals because they do not tame the animals. They are still wild animals; the wargs control them. A warg is able to connect and possess an animal's mind then control them like a puppet."

At this time, the old lion also asked a question,

"Is that how that raven found you in my solar?"

As expected of Lord Tywin, he is as sharp and observant as ever. The passing years had not yet dulled the Old Lion's intelligence, and he was as sharp as a Valyrian steel sword. All the other lords realized what had happened upon Lord Tywin's question. To them, receiving a message from a raven was perfectly normal, but they did not realize before that the raven didn't go to the Casterly Rock's rookery. It managed to find me in this vast castle.

"Exactly, he must have warged to find me inside the castle."

"Those that means they can control every animal?"

"I am not an expert on wargs. Until a few years ago, I thought them to be stories from the Age of Heroes, but as far as I know. No, they can't control all animals. From stories, those who could control more animals are seen as powerful wargs. The most powerful one was the Warg King. He was able to bond with thousands of animals, and as for Ser Drasil's case, he has five animals: The shadowcat, two ravens, a snake, and a dog."

Especially Robert had asked many questions about wargs. After trying to answer their questions as best as possible, I said,

"If you're that curious about it, let's go downstairs and look at the animal with our own eyes. Honestly, I wonder how big it is too."

Robert stood up quickly from his chair, drank everything in his giant goblet in one go, and then threw it on the floor.

"That is a good idea, Ned. Let's go and see your warg and his giant cat."

...

When we stepped out of the Great Keep, we were at the top of the high stairs in front of the keep's gate, and at the other end of the road from the castle gate's side, we could see Aermir and the giant animal he was riding on coming slowly up the cobblestone road. The black lines on the smoky gray fur occasionally turned into dark tawny colors with the setting sun's reflection, but the most impressive thing about the animal was its sheer size. We have seen bigger horses than it, but we have never seen an animal this size that could eat us. It was this fact that put people in shock and fear.

This animal coming towards us was not a domesticated mount. It was an apex predator. As it got closer to us, its body lines could be seen more clearly. Not even its thick fur could hide the strong muscles on its shoulders and legs. I could even guess what most of us were thinking as we saw this animal coming toward us: an average adult shadowcat could disembowel an adult man, and I don't even want to imagine what this thing could do.

It stopped about 5-6 meters from us, stretched, and yawned. At this moment, its mouth opened so wide that maybe a child could fit inside. We could see the sharp fangs inside its gaping maw. Every one of them looked like a small dagger. Aermir descended from the beast, placed his hand over his heart, and saluted with a bow first to the king and then to me.

"My King, my lord, I have carried out your orders, and all Ironborns who have attacked the North have been killed or cast into the sea. The North is free from wet rats."

"How many men did we lose?"

"Around 1000."

Lord Tywin asked,

"How big was the invading force?"

"Around 8 to 10 thousand men."

"How is it possible you only lost 1000 men against a ten-thousand-man army?"

"We would have lost many more if we were not ready for them before they even stepped foot in the North."

"What do you mean?"

Aermir raised his arm, and a raven came down from the skies and landed on his arm.

"I scouted them from the sky and, most of the time ambushed them, and in the major clashes, Druid Emrys' powerful magic helped us. After the fight, he healed almost all of our wounded, so our losses were minimal.