Chapter 10
The Magnars' hut in Skagos
Gorn is no longer young, but also not old. As a man from the Free Folk who came to power in his tribe through bloodshed—a common occurrence since his tribe has always been infamous for its bloodthirsty cannibalistic fighters—Gorn seized power not only in his own tribe but also in two neighboring tribes. Gorn decided that it was time to break through the Wall. However, he chose not the usual method of assaulting the Patrollers, but through his distant relatives in Skagos, as many suspect that the inhabitants of Skagos are almost as independent as the Free Folk. This suspicion had not been confirmed until today.
"Yes, they were once defeated and forced to kneel, but I, Gorn the Bugle, son of the North, the greatest King Beyond the Wall, will correct this misunderstanding and win a crushing victory over these crows!" Gorn thought.
"My brothers! For thousands of years, our people have suffered because some damned crows decided that they knew better! When our people suffered, starved, and died, they stayed in their homes, got fat, and enjoyed life! And who wants to build a friendship with them? Kneel down? Die for them?" Gorn, the leader of his clan, shouted.
"No!!" the crowd shouted.
"So will you follow me? To war against the Starks? Those who rule in the so-called 'North'?"
"Yes!!"
"WE ARE BRINGING DEATH!!!" Gorn shouted with a grin.
"WE ARE BRINGING DEATH!!!" the crowd supported him.
"IN THE NAME OF OUR GOD GRALL!"
If someone from the far north had seen this spectacle, they would have been horrified since the name of the god Grall, the god of blood and sacrifice, the god who favors cannibals and dark rituals, was known there.
After that, one of the people from the Forge dragged a captive to the slaughter. When he saw this, the Forge was absolutely delighted and said:
"HAhahahaha, today we will satisfy our god's wish! Bring the sacrifice to the center!" the laughing Bugle ordered.
It seemed the people only needed to hear this command and quickly carried the unconscious body to the center, where the crowd had already cleared a space. Laying the body on a table streaked with runes and red as if soaked in blood, they began one of the most important rituals of their cult.
"Bring him to his senses!" Gorn ordered, who was not only the head of the clan but also the main mediator between the god and the people of his clan.
"Fuaah....Haaaah....Where am I?!" shouted Traik, who was revived through pain, looking around, he saw that people had rallied around him, and he himself was so firmly positioned on the table that he could not even move his hand. Alas, Traik did not receive an answer, but when he saw the dagger made of dark bronze, he instantly understood everything. "Please don't! Please beg...KHAAaaaa"
Gorn was indifferent to the man's pleas and only stubbornly began to chop up Traik, all the while whispering prayers to his Bloody God. Unfortunately, Traik could not lose consciousness for one reason or another, but his mind finally broke under the pressure of such pain from the loss of four limbs. At the end of this terrible ceremony, Gorn plunged a dagger right into Traik's chest, took out his heart, and whispered:
"Accept this paltry gift, O Great God Grall!"
And a moment later, his heart slammed shut in his open hands, and Gorn himself heard:
"I accept it..."
At that moment, the whole crowd became indescribably delighted, and people began to celebrate because they saw the manifestation of their god, celebrated by eating the meat of Traik...
While Traik was being sacrificed, his older friend lay completely drunk. The next day when he woke up, he did not attach importance to the absence of his young ward. Who knows what could have happened? But there's nowhere for Traik to escape, but at least he'll rest.
"Heh, maybe I should go for a walk too?" the old watchman thought, and after a while, he walked around the neighborhood.
It was not his first time in these parts, but every time he was surprised by the views of these places, which were definitely not icons of civilization, but carried the beauty of wild nature. Sometimes he wanted to escape from everything in such places, from vows, duties, and rules for peace.
He was known in these parts as a very strange and eccentric man who liked to enjoy the beauty of places. However, he didn't care about all these views and thoughts; he enjoyed hunting and contemplation much more.
"These are the mountains where I once managed to meet unicorns, but what ugly creatures, hahaha, and how upset Yoren was!" thought the lookout on the Wall. Very quickly, he was attracted by the fact that many people were gathering at the local center. This clearly aroused interest, and desire led him there, standing out against their background with completely black robes. And he saw it...
"Oh my God! It's a Thenn's head! We must run!" he thought quickly, but it was too late... Since people noticed that this man in black robes began to retreat, and once or twice they restrained and caught him.
As the lookout understood, he was being led to the local chief's house, where he believed he would be killed. He tried to escape several times along the way, but now he had broken legs and arms... Inside the hut, he was greeted by a place where it looked like a bloody murder had taken place. Mentally, the man was already praying to all his gods, but he never heard the answer. A bugle also appeared in front of his eyes... A wildling who killed both his own and others... One of the most dangerous animals behind the Wall, the leader of the clan who engaged in cannibalism and made bloody sacrifices to his Demonic God. The Watchers learned all this from the torture of the wildlings. His close friend had personally told him how they had found out all this information, so he already knew what his future would be.
"Hohoho, today we will also appease our God! Prepare the ritual table!" Gorn ordered, laughing.
"It's done!" said someone from the crowd of these cannibals.
So they put him on the table, so the old patroller flew before the torture, "But I still couldn't propose to Lily...", and that's how the story of the patroller ended, who, like all people, had desires and dreams, but could not fulfill them.
The same scene with the manifestation of the God worshipped by the Horn did not pass without a furor.
"Hahahahah, brothers and sisters are coming soon! We will feed our God with the blood of our enemies! In order to bring the Eternal Scarlet Moon closer!" Bugle shouted, his men supporting their leader no less loudly.
"Soon, very soon we will be able to experience the pleasures of the Eternal Scarlet Moon! And it was brought by none other than me! Hahahahahaha!" Gorn thought to himself and heard confirmation of these thoughts in his head.
"Yes, my chosen one! Bring me more blood! Sprinkle all these lands with the blood of your enemies!" Grall said.
At that moment, several dozen birds cawed nearby.
Meanwhile in Winterfell
On behalf of Daeron
Our stay in Winterfell was extended because the Lords of the North wanted to discuss other issues. Overall, my stay at home was not bad, I tried to spend most of my time not only training but also having fun with Arya and Bran, Robb spent all his free time with Theon. Bran turned out to be no less curious than Arya; they both turned out to be a source of a huge number of problems not only for prisulga but also for the parents. However, peacetime is over...
After I was able to see the dialogue between my two uncles, my eyes were already on Skagos, for God is careful. And I didn't really like what I saw there... A bloodthirsty God who protects cannibals, this is not what I expected to see when I wanted to check out this island.
The World Assignment Has Been Received
Ascension or Overthrow?
Ascension: Help the "God" Grall
Overthrow: Kill the "God" Grall
"Overthrow"—I chose mentally, and I had information about how to kill this entity. For the most part, this is not a God, but an Evil Spirit, or even a demon. To kill him, you need to find an object where there is an anchor of this entity. In my opinion, this is either a ritual knife or a table, both objects have a huge amount of magic.
The World Assignment Has Been Received
Overthrow
Kill the "God" Grall 0/1
Reward: Increase In Stats 0/1
??? 0/1
After that, I was thinking about how to speed up the Lord Commander's receipt of information about the ogre clan and the uprising in Skagos in particular. I thought it would be much more difficult, but two weeks later, people from the Eastern Watch were sent to clarify the circumstances with the previous watchmen. As expected, they wanted to kill them, but when I saw them coming to these islands, I sent most of my crows to this area in order to somehow help the lookouts escape. I managed to save half of their squad, but after such tricks, the cannibals tried to kill a large cluster of crows, and all suspicious animals too. But thanks to the way I use the skin-changing skill, it wasn't so easy for them to detect my presence on this island. The most inaccessible place turned out to be a hut where negotiations were conducted; birds and other large animals were not allowed to enter there, so I watched through the eyes of rats.
From my observations, I found out that they planned to attack the Eastern Watch first, in order to try to prevent leaks of information about the upcoming uprising. However, they were too late, because a day after the arrival of the Skagos lookouts, all the lords knew about the upcoming uprising.
And a month later, the army of the North, numbering about 15,000 infantry, arrived in Novy Dar, and from there went to Skagos. I watched all this not only through my crows but also with the recent replenishment of my controlled animals, and surprisingly I had a strong connection with him.
Compared to other animals, I could feel all the emotions and impressions of Tun, yes, that's what I called this golden eagle. He has a generally playfully proud character who prefers to eat exclusively deer. Our acquaintance actually happened when I was hunting; this not-so-small pest wanted to steal a decent piece of venison from me that I had caught. After a short struggle, we were able to find a common language, as I could understand from his emotions, he arrived there thanks to the connection that arose between us. And besides, after this connection, I began to feel the outflow of magic, and the subsequent increase in Tun's intelligence.
Thanks to Tun's increased intelligence score, building a connection became easier each time. The peculiarity of moving into Tun differed from others in that I received much more information, and control was much easier since I was only required to imagine what I would like to do, but the execution lay with Tun.
Another bonus was the increased speed at times; the golden eagle flew four times faster than the crow in normal flight, and seven times faster when diving. Unfortunately, this proud eagle resolutely refused to deliver letters, according to his emotions it came out as 'I am not a postal bird!'"