Chapter 19 - Library

I spent the entire early morning in the library with Maester Aemon, as much as we met recently, we became very close for some reason, he told me his whole story, of how his grandfather Daeron ll Targaryen, I guess it was dangerous to have too many potential heirs and sent him to the Citadel, at the age of 19 he finished his studies, forging his chain.

Meistre Aemon then served in a nobleman's court, after succeeding to the Iron Throne, King Maekar I Targaryen summoned Aemon and his brothers to court, not wanting to sit on the small council, as, he thought it would replace the Grand Meistre, Aemon chose to serve in Dragon Stone, the seat of his older brother, Prince Daeron, until Daeron died of smallpox.

A Grand Council was convened in 233 AC, after Maekar's death in the Peake Revolt, As Prince Aegon was considered by some lords to be "half peasant, it was suggested that Aemon might be released from his sworn vows and thus succeed his late father, Aemon silently refused, however, ceding the government to his younger brother, who became Aegon V.

Aemon chose to go to the Wall and join the Night's Watch for fear of being used in a plot to usurp his brother, King Aegon V Targaryen, The king provided Aemon with an "honor guard" (emptying the dungeons) to take the Watch vows with him, among them were Brynden Rivers , who later became Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and many of the Raven's Teeth, Aegon's friend, Ser Duncan the Tall, accompanied the new recruits aboard the Golden Dragon on their way to Atalaialeste of the Sea.

And here he remained until today, in this place, full of ice, snow, cold, and criminals, Aemon is one of the wisest people I have ever had the privilege to meet, even in the Elysian fields.

One thing caught my attention, for Aemon's knowledge and wisdom, he could easily have been an Archmaester, and this intrigued me, so I questioned him, he told me that the Citadel was overjoyed when it learned that he had no interest in the throne, and so they sent him to the wall, to stay as far away as possible from the royal conflicts, I kept this information in mind, it is something to be investigated later.

In these hours here in the library I read several books, as I had a photographic memory, memorizing their contents were not a problem.

Some books caught my attention, one of them very old, probably as old as the wall, the most curious thing is how a book remains intact with such a long passage of time, and the only conclusion I could think of was magic.

One of the books told the story of the sons of the forest, giants and first men, but it was not the popularly known story, it had several elements that differentiate them, for example, Brandon the builder was not the son of Brandon of the Bloody Blade, as some claim, but the junction of a son of the forest with a first man, and this explains his magical prowess, his ability in the True Language.

All Starks descend from Brandon, this would explain his magical affinities, but the most interesting is his ability to absorb blood, after the long night, there was a monarch, his name is unknown, but he was known as King Warg.

Documents brought from the Night Fort, indicate that the Warg King ruled the Sea Dragon Point, He allied with the sons of the forest, but they were defeated by the Winter Kings of House Stark, the Starks killed their sons, beasts and green seers, but took their daughters as prizes, marrying them, and with that, their descendants acquired the Warg ability.

And you also had the Barrow Kings, they were a dynasty of kings of the highlands in what is now the north, they claimed to have been monarchs over all the First Men and called themselves Kings of the First Men, casting a curse on any of those who tried to usurp them, a curse that would feed on the vital essence of the person, making them "like a corpse", the Barrow Kings fought against the Winter Kings, the Starks of Winterfell, north of the grave lands, in the Thousand Years' War, but the runes of the First Men indicate that the conflict lasted about two hundred years, when the last Barrow King submitted to Winterfell, the Stark King received his daughter in marriage, thereby acquiring immunity to his curse, and probably some necromancy ability.

They say that the cadaverous woman that the Night King married was a descendant of the Barrows.

I asked Maester Aemon if he would allow me to take some books with me, he said that since the books belonged to the Patrol, he had no power to allow it, so I asked Commander Qorqyle if I could, and he allowed me, but said that once he finished reading, to return it to the Patrol, I accepted easily.

In the morning, I gathered the group together to prepare us for departure, and soon the three rangers that Qorqyle selected to accompany us arrived.

They wore all-black clothing, made of rough and ordinary wool, they wore black chain mail, coifs and half-elms, they all carried steel knives stuck in their chests, one of them carried a bow, and the rest swords.

"I am Kyle, I will lead the expedition, this one with the bow is Barry and this one without the ear is Paul." Spoke the man.

"Eae" spoke Sigurd.

"Hi, I'm Arthur, this is Perseus, Astrid, Rhoslyn, Sigurd and Kevin, I think we better enjoy the sunlight and go soon" I said.

"Correct, let's go" spoke Kyle, heading for the gate in the wall.

The gate guards the tunnel through the Wall, which is long, winding and narrow, three iron gates block the inner passage, each of these gates is locked and has a murder hole above it, The outer door to the tunnel is solid oak, about eight inches thick.

A large zigzag staircase rises from the Black Castle to the top of the Wall. It is made of wooden ladders, anchored by huge beams frozen into the Wall itself.

An iron cage attached to a winch is used to climb up and down the face of the Wall, the cage can hold ten men and is located near the Black Castle pit, Supplies and barrels of gravel can be transported to the top through the cage.

The facilities at the top of the Wall include a small warming shed for the service men located near the crane.

"Open the gates" spoke Kyle.

After a few minutes all the gates open, showing a narrow tunnel, lit by torches.

"Where are you guys planning to go?" Kyle asked, as he headed into the tunnel in slow steps.

"Whitetree" I spoke.