122 Chapter 122 – Black Walder

[300 AC]

It took only a few minutes to organize the men before Robb Stark set off with great haste on his steed, roughly seven thousand men following behind him.

The Twins were still a few miles away and the Young Wolf was anxious to get there to make sure that whoever had attacked the Crossing wouldn't be able to trap him and his men in the South.

The closer they got the stranger things seemed though, as people covered in dirt and ash fled in groups from the presumed place of the battle, which should not have been possible with an army besieging the Twins.

From dozens to hundreds, the Young Wolf saw them fleeing until he finally decided to halt his advance and question the people about what had happened to the Twins and from whom they were fleeing.

The answer to that question though was one that shocked the King in the North to the core.

A dragon.

A dragon had descended onto the Crossing and under the guidance of its rider had laid waste to the Twins with its fiery breath.

Disbelief followed by fear emerged in Robb's heart, as he knew very well that his forces were absolutely powerless in the face of a fully-grown dragon. More than that, they were the perfect targets out in the open fields like that.

Furthermore, there was only one force in the world that had dragons under its control and that was the Red Temple. Entering a conflict with them could only end in disaster, Robb knew that much from what his wife had been able to tell him of the temple's forces.

He remembered clearly the fearful look in Talisa's eyes as he had asked her about a way to win against them in the field, about a weakness of those seemingly invincible temple warriors.

"Promise me, Robb. Promise me to never fight against the temple. No matter how many men you have, no matter how many soldiers and elite warriors of the temple you may be able to kill or subdue, the moment the Red God sends one of his Feathers or High Priests, you will doom not only yourself but all those you care about, including me and our child. Mercy is not something you should expect from the temple after arousing its anger."

She had pleaded with him using those words and in the end, he had promised her that he would not seek conflict with them to give her some ease of mind during her especially vulnerable state.

Faced with the question of advance or retreat, Robb found himself hard pressed for an answer, though he finally decided to take a few dozen men and ride ahead still. This was mostly because of Black Walder Frey's insistence and urging, as the man was almost ready to take his men and abandon Robb and his army to see the situation of his House himself.

The rest of the knights and cavalrymen were going to be sent back to inform his men to advance slowly while keeping a defense perimeter around their supplies.

Just as he called out his orders and was about to set off, he saw two riders near his cavalry from behind, and seeing the fluttering fiery-red coat around one of them, he knew that it was Talisa that was approaching along with the guard that had been assigned to her.

Turning his steed and meeting her approach with a surprised and worried heart, the Young Wolf addressed her sternly: "Why have you come here Talisa? Do you have any idea about the da-"

"I heard his voice! The Red God has sent me a vision about the dragon and its rider!", Talisa called out in clear agitation, glancing over the men around her husband with a shadowed look in her eyes, before she continued, "He came to meet you."

The young King was visibly surprised by her words, as he tried to confirm that he had heard right, asking his wife to elaborate. Before he could do so though, a change occurred.

"You blasphemous witch!!", Black Walder roared as he drew his dagger and urged his horse towards the powerless priestess. He acted so suddenly and fast that before anybody could even react he was already by Talisa's side with his blade raised, ready to pounce on the young Queen.

…

Walder Frey, son of Ser Ryman Frey, grandson of Ser Stevron Frey, and great-grandson of Lord Walder Frey, who most simply called Black Walder Frey due to his wrathful temperament and not due to his black hair and beard, knew that his House was basically finished.

The fact that the Red Temple had sent a dragon to lay waste to the Twins, was nothing short of a death sentence and he knew that.

He may not have been the brightest out of his family or the most politically inclined, but even Black Walder was well aware of the terrible power the Red Temple wielded.

He did not know why they had sent one of their fabled dragonriders to turn the ancestral seat of his House into a molten ruin of stone and ashes, but the stories he had heard about the temple's conquests in Essos made it clear to him that those heretics and their dark sorcerer king knew absolutely nothing about mercy.

The best conclusion he could come to in this short period of time, while his mind was still in disarray, was that the Red Temple had somehow been in the known about the planned betrayal of his House, which would inevitably lead to that foreign, blasphemous whore dying.

Even the mere possibility of this option, along with the fact that most of his family had most likely died by being bathed in dragonfire, made the rage that always bubbled beneath his skin flare up into a wrathful inferno that devoured his rational mind at break-neck speed.

The red-clad Queen naturally became the target of his rage, as he urged his steed forwards and drew his dagger, being already able to picture the lifeblood leaving the witch responsible for the disaster that had befallen his House.

Seeing the delicious horror in the whore's eyes as he threw himself at her from atop his horse, his dagger aimed at her belly, which she had already protectively wrapped one of her hands around on instinct alone, Black Walder felt a hint of pleasure flicker in his rage-clouded mind.

Somewhere in the back of his head he knew that he would most certainly die for his actions, but couldn't care less at this moment, while also thinking that it might be worth it because he would take something from the Stark bastard that had dared to slight his family by marrying some heretic witch.

…

With fearful eyes Talisa watched the glinting blade approach her for a strike, while madness shined in its wielder's eyes.

She knew that she should try to evade or block the deadly blade somehow, but she was neither an adept rider nor did she even have time for any maneuver on her part.

Despair filled the young Queen's heart as she felt sure that her death was only a moment away, intense regret about her lack of magical talent resurfacing momentarily, as she felt so very vulnerable and helpless in the face of the maddened Frey's attack.

From the corner of her vision, she caught a glimpse of her husband's faithful companion Grey Wind pouncing forward, but the distance was simply too great for the direwolf to save her in time. As it was for anyone else present.

*SHING*

Suddenly a clear metallic sound rang in her ears, it reached her even with the shouts and screams of those present, before a strong arm wrapped itself around her waist and pulled her from the precipice of death at the very last moment.

"ARRGHH!!!"

Simultaneously a flaming arakh appeared in her vision and swung at Black Walder, causing a flaming storm to erupt from the weapon and consume the man in a matter of moments, as his sudden agonizing screams shocked those around.

Talisa felt her feet touch the ground, as her saviour sat her down on the ground while stepping in front of her in a protective manner. It was at this point that the young Queen finally managed to get a good look at the one that had just saved not only herself but also her unborn child.

Blood-red pieces of leather armor, along with tight-fitting dark chainmail around her upper body, stood a warrioress with a graceful and agile figure. Caramel skin and shoulder-length, dark, curly hair, giving her a sense of feminine beauty, even though her aura was fierce and overbearing, pressuring the army of knights before her, while a coat of fire flickered around her figure.

The most striking feature though was the feather-shaped mark on her cheek that flared with power and light, as the female warrior stood unconcerned before the thousands of knights and cavalrymen, as she declared with raspy coldness: "House Frey has no place in these lands anymore. Strike them down."

Figures appeared in a fiery blaze around Talisa suddenly, each one wearing a slightly different set of armor and wielding a different weapon, though their aura was just as blazing and the mark on their cheeks told her that these five warriors, male and female, were also Feathers.

They didn't hesitate for a second before they threw themselves forward, as fire ignited around their forms. Without fear or battlecries, the Feathers unleashed their wrath upon the hundreds of cavalrymen and knights of House Frey, while the warrioress that had saved her stayed by her side protectively.