20 Hidden Grove

For a whole week, Kaelarys tried to connect with the Children of the Forest that his men brought with chains from inland. He got many reports saying that they were quite calm in the presence of some of his men, but showed aggression towards others.

After spending days looking into it, he gave up on trying to figure it out, at least for now. But one thing he knew is that these Children of the Forest didn't welcome his Valyrian bloodline, his more than any other to be specific.

'It seems that my dragon blood is hated by these creatures…'

The scouting parties also resumed their activity but this time he decided to send groups of thirty instead of groups of ten, it decreased their speed since he only had so many soldiers available at the moment, but at least their survivability increased by a lot. Kael was happy to know that he hadn't lost a single man during the whole week of scouting, even after they brought three more Children of the Forest in chains.

Right now, Kael was sitting inside his tent while reading reports that came with the latest three ships that arrived from Valyria, these were not reports from the Freehold, no one on this island was more up-to-date than he was when it came to the Freehold. But it was information about the Valyrian Daughters that the ships docked at, on their way north, and more importantly… Dragonstone...

'Aenar Targaryen… you are more dangerous than I thought' he thought as he put down the report of what his spies discovered.

"To think that you would start to strike deals with Westerosi Kings this fast… becoming a middleman to sell Valyrian Steel Swords to Westerosi Lords… how did you acquire them? Probably raiding some minor noble Valyrian ships and getting rid of the witnesses with your dragons, no Dragonlord would be stirred by the disappearance of regular Valyrian Nobles…"

Kael kept tapping his finger on his desk, a habit that he had since his previous life for when he was in deep thought 'And now you are amassing wealth… but for what end? I know that the Targaryens did nothing for a whole century after the Doom…' his eyes narrowed 'And now I have confirmed that they are the ones to spread at least some Valyrian Steel Swords across Westeros…'

He closed his eyes and muttered "… Brightroar… enough gold to buy an entire army…" he said words that he remembered from the original novel by George R R Martin. 'What did you do with that fortune, Aenar? What was the end of that accursed gold… Aenar?'

He was interrupted by Aren Tharn who approached the tent and called for him from outside, respectfully.

"My Lord! The latest scouting party returned with interesting news!"

"Come in, Commander Aren." He said while getting up and storing the pieces of parchment with the recorded information away.

The man entered his tent and knelt in front of him before removing his helmet, displaying his sandy blonde hair. "My Lord, our men discovered a hidden grove, it's hidden inside what looks to be a deep cave. The reports say that a big tree with pale bark and a face carved on its surface was spotted in that place, and we also found two more of those so-called 'Children of the Forest' in that hidden grove."

Kael raised one eyebrow "Did any of our men succeed in communicating with the Children of the Forest in our custody?"

Aren shook his head "No, my Lord, it seems that these creatures don't have the gift of speech."

Nodding his head, Kael stood up and started putting on his armor. "By the way…" he continued while attaching the metal plates to his torso "Did you notice if there are any males among the Children of the Forest we captured?"

Commander Aren looked confused "My Lord, with all due respect but… we can't possibly tell… they don't talk and they look… different… we have no idea how to differentiate male from female… unless you want to use more… extreme… methods." He concluded with an uncertain tone, which Kael instantly picked up.

Letting out a sigh, Kael shook his head "No need for that, try to find out information from the local savages if there's anyone knowledgeable enough about them, if it's a slave offer them Freedom in exchange for their services, if it's a local peasant offer the freedom of an enslaved relative, if they don't have any or don't care… just offer them gold." He had decided to not enslave every living human on this island, only those who raised arms against him. On top of that, he didn't have enough men to keep a vast amount of slaves in check, being here is not like being in the Free Cities, these men are savages that will jump at your jugular if you lower your guard for a second.

Aren nodded "We have a few men that know how to speak the local language. By the way my Lord, why are you wearing your armor?"

Kael gave him a grin while sheathing Dragonheart in the scabbard attached to his belt "Because we are going out, Commander Aren. Bring two hundred men, we are going to this so-called 'Hidden Grove' to take a look… also, bring some of the Maegi that came with the recent ships and tell them to bring Dragon blood for rituals, it might be useful."

Their entourage left the camp on horses while the higher ranks among the soldiers were riding the famous Skagosi Unicorns. They looked like large goat-like animals, with single long pale horns on their foreheads. They were way better than regular horses to tread in Skagos, they could move through snow and mountainous terrain with ease, not only that they were quite warm and comfortable to ride.

"To think I would ride a dragon and a unicorn in my lifetime," said Kael out loud while chuckling, enjoying the ride on top of his newest friend, a light grey unicorn with bright blue eyes and a long ivory horn that had a slight curve upwards.

"Aye my Lord" said Aren on top of his own unicorn, a brown one with green eyes and a dark horn that seemed like ebony "To think this savage land has these creatures that were long believed to be extinct… "

"Spread the word, I decree that harming the Unicorns of Skagos is a crime punishable by death! I want these creatures to be protected, any man that finds one and brings it to us will be rewarded." Said Kael while they enjoyed their long track under the snowy mountains northwest of their camp.

Aren nodded and went to the remaining men following them to spread his commands.

The first day of the journey was quite easy, it wasn't snowing too heavily so Kael could enjoy the vast white plains of snow, he felt like he was exploring Skyrim in real life. There was something calming and relaxing about the sight. The sky was clear and the wind felt welcoming.

They treaded past interesting rock formations that looked like archways, it really felt magical and otherworldly for many of them that never left Essos. It might be weird to think that a Valyrian would call this place magical after living in the Freehold where they had literal magic and dragons. But there was something about the nature of this place that gave that feeling.

They camped by the base of a mountain, and interestingly enough the Unicorns stood close to their riders like they were protecting them from the cold nights, precious creatures indeed.

The second day was more challenging, they started treading up a mountain, and they had slowed down due to the snow and ice, but the scouts already had an efficient path created towards their destination, they went through a gorgeous pine forest and Kael spotted another creature that he didn't think he would see in Westeros, a fox.

"Commander Aren!" he shouted.

"Yes, my Lord?" Aren came riding fast towards his side.

"Those creatures" he pointed to the red fluffy fox digging a small hole in the snow under a tree "Send some men later to find out their habitat, I want to know how many of those exist in this land, if there's too few under the risk of extinction, they will also be part of the protected species like the Unicorns"

Aren nodded but he was confused "As you will, my Lord. But if I may… why are you so insistent on keeping these animals alive?"

"Because I want to preserve the nature of this place, due to the existence of the fourteen flames we have no animals back in the Freehold, if you don't count Dragons and Firewyrms, the only other animals that we have are from outside that are brought in… so, for now, prevent the men from harming those little ones until we discover how many there are."

The journey continued for another day, after treading carefully at the edges of a long deep ravine they reached the entrance to the hidden grove.

Tying up the horses to nearby trees, fifty men stood behind by the entrance of the cave, which was big enough for a mammoth to enter, while the other fifty went ahead to check if there was anything dangerous, once confirmed that everything was clear the main host led by Kael and Aren went inside.

The tunnel was large and spacious enough for their numbers, no one felt squeezed against rock and ice. They walked for almost thirty minutes until the tunnel opened into a massive cavern.

The ground down here wasn't white of snow or grey and brown of rocks. It was green. A beautiful grove indeed, covered in piper's grass, plants and flowers everywhere, many trees with different shapes and colors, barks of ebony, sentinel trees (Pine-like trees such as the ones in the forest they went past a day ago) and Lemon trees.

There was a small pool of dark, cold water in the center, and right behind it was a huge tree with bone-white bark and long twisting branches with five-pointed blood-red leaves. Carved on the bark there was a face with blood-red eyes with red tears, as if crying blood.

Kael looked up and saw that there were many holes in the ceiling of the cave, which made the sunlight passthrough unimpeded, which added a mystical charm to this place.

"This is a Godswood" he said out loud.

"Godswood?" Asked Aren.

"It's related to the First Men, a religion of sorts, many castles in Westeros have a Godswood and they pray to the Old Gods, but it's more common in the North."

"I thought that the so-called Faith of the Seven was the Westerosi Religion," said one Soldier casually, not really talking back to Kael, just thinking out loud.

"Aye.." answered Kael anyway. "But different kingdoms have different gods, the Old Gods are the oldest religion in their land, and the main Northerner Religion… the North is not the only Kingdom in Westeros that have their own Religion, the Iron Islands for example follows the Drowned God."

They walked around the Godswood, the soldiers dispersed and started to form a perimeter around the area, leaving Kael, Aren and three Maegi alone, peacefully in the center of the place.

Kael approached the Weirwood Tree and stared at it with a frown, he honestly liked the Old Gods the most, different from the other Gods the Old Gods didn't seem to have an agenda. However, the Children of the Forest always made him feel… weird… they seemed peaceful, sad and melancholic. But that doesn't add up… as Bran thought during the books, if anyone else were driven to the point of near extinction by another… they would feel hatred, vengefulness... pure wrath…

'One could say that the Children of the Forest were peaceful folk and would just cry until their end, without fighting back… but they are living beings like any other, they should have survival instincts… even a tiny innocent pup will bite back when cornered…'

Kael proceeded to remove his right Valyrian steel vambrace, handing it to Aren, who caught it suspiciously, without a clue about what his Lord was doing. Then Kael removed his right leather glove and placed it under his left armpit

After rolling his dragonhide sleeves past his elbow he signaled to the Maegi to come closer and bring the ornate amphora that contained Dragon Blood.

"Do as I taught you during our trip" He commanded the three and extended his right arm to them.

They nodded and took a few brushes from their robes, dipped them in the dragon blood and started painting weird-looking runes all over Kael's forearm, it took them a whole hour to do it properly.

Then Kael went on one knee, to the shock of Aren. But before the Commander could complain, one of the Maegi came closer and painted another rune on Kael's forehead before bowing respectfully, closing the amphora and retreating.

After that Kael stood up and walked closer to the Weirwood tree "I don't know what will happen, so … be prepared..." to which Aren nodded nervously.

Kael slowly extended his hand towards the Heart Tree and started whispering inaudible words, no one could understand what he said, it was more like a chant. As his hand drew closer to the bark, the blood runes on his forearm started glowing one after the other.

He frowned having a weird feeling of impending doom, and once his hand touched the bark all the runes on his forearm evaporated instantly and the blood rune on his forehead lit up, forcing him to instantly take a step back, almost falling on the ground.

Panting, pale and with panic on his handsome face.

"…How?... " he mumbled.

"MY LORD!" Said Aren approaching him to help him.

"STOP!" Shouted Kael in return.

"Don't get close to this tree, don't let anyone close to this damn tree from now on! This is an order! If you disobey, I will behead you myself!" He said solemnly.

Everyone gulped. Aren nodded nervously and took a step back.

Kael took a long breath and recollected himself, unfolding his sleeve slowly while thinking of what he just discovered, with narrowed eyes.

He turned to walk away from the tree but he noticed something, something was not right... something was… odd… strange… out of place…

"Go ahead and leave this place… I will be done shortly…." He said trying to mask his nervousness and the urge to look around, pretending that everything was alright.

"But…" Aren couldn't even complete his words before Kael interrupted him.

"This is an order"

"… Yes, my Lord" Aren just sighed and shouted to his men "Let's move out, we will be in the tunnels waiting for the Lord to return!"

All soldiers looked at one another in confusion, but they had to follow their orders so they quickly left the place.

Now alone in the hidden grove, Kael slowly turned his gaze back to the Heart Tree, his left hand went behind his back and he pulled out his sharp rondel dagger, he slowly and subtly poked each one of his five fingertips of his right hand until they all started bleeding.

It looked like he was nervous about something and was poking his fingers to decrease his own stress with pain. He then started walking around the Grove, like he was just exploring the place, he spent over 10 minutes walking aimlessly around the place until he went to the one spot left for him to explore.

The moment he stepped on that spot he instantly extended his hand in a grasping motion, the blood in his fingertips ignited in flames that seemed to be swallowed by an invisible void, an invisible void right where he was grasping.

He spoke slowly with narrowed eyes "… So who is it? Bloodraven? Bran Stark? Or some other nameless rat that decided to come here to see what I did?" he said with a somber tone. ".. it doesn't matter, this will teach you to respect my privacy… just because you can go back in time and explore countless secrets, it doesn't mean that you are entitled to know MY secrets…"

There was no response, no sound, but the suction quickly stopped after a few seconds. His fingertips stopped burning, and his wounds closed and cauterized due to the flames. He sheathed his rondel dagger, put back on his black leather glove and walked out of the grove with a wicked grin on his face.