Chapter Ninety: White Walkers?

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~~~Azrael Jaesyrian, Fifth Moon, 277 AC~~~

~~~Carcosa, Essos~~~

Having brought the subject of Tywin and Janna's betrothal to a close, Valka called for one of her sisters, who entered the room shortly thereafter. "My king, sister Valka," the witch greeted us, bowing as she referred to me.

"Angela, I need you to leave immediately for Xandar and deliver this to Valery, tell her to fly as quickly as possible to Westerland and deliver the letter to Lady Janna, she cannot be seen, neither she nor her wyvern," Valka ordered Angela, who nodded and left shortly after Valka handed her the letter she had written some time before.

After Angela left the room, I stared at Valka for a few seconds, until she noticed that I had gone static watching her, "What, do I have my face painted?" Valka asked me, making a disgusted face, which only made my smile widen even more.

"No, you're still completely beautiful," I told her, evidencing how she made a small snort, but I could see the corners of her eyes crinkle, showing that she had liked my comment, "you would make a great queen," I said suddenly, earning a serious look from her, "and before you turn me down, I have seen your strong drive to lead, the witches hold you in great respect for that, you are kind, strong and determined, the perfect union to lead Xandar by my side."

"We've talked about this before Azrael, of all people know that something like this is difficult for me, I... I love you," Valka answered me, but it was those last words of hers that made a lump form in my throat, to know that someone like her, so beautiful and determined was in love with me as I was with her was a completely stormy feeling, full of positive and negative aspects that stung in my chest like needles in my skin.

"But my conviction is stronger than my love, the duty I have to you, to my sisters, to Xandar, that is something far greater than my feelings, I will not be able to give you an heir, and if I go that way, the death of my duty will eat away at me, and likewise I cannot watch Xandar go into a state of paralysis without being able to have someone to carry on what you have built, because we both know you will not live forever."

"That's no excuse anymore, there's a reason we're in this godforsaken city," I stressed to her, unwilling to back out of my feelings, we had both been in a relationship for a long time now, a time in which we had both gotten close enough to know each other's status with just a look, and not being able to have her, as my wife, as my partner, but as a fling, was eating away at me.

"Isabella Farwan gave us an option to give you back what was taken from you years ago, not only from you, but from your sisters as well, we are very close to being together for life, and I don't plan to back out..." I spoke louder than I intended, but I couldn't help it, Valka had gained a place in my heart like no other woman had before, not in this life, not in the previous one, so what if I was being selfish with Xandar? With everyone? I could already find a solution to the issue of an heir, I was still very young and Xandar was strong, issues like inheritance of power were not necessary.

So getting up, I urged Valka to do the same, and taking her by the hands, I gave her a deep kiss, bringing our lips together as I thought only of what I was about to do, and what this would mean for me and Xandar as a whole.

Pulling apart after a few seconds, I looked Valka in the eyes, and those signature black eyes that had caught me since that day I saw them returned my gaze, and letting out a sigh, I took love over duty.

"Valka, the truth is I don't intend to go another day without being able to call you my queen, my wife, my mate, and what if you can't give me a child? That will be a worry for our future selves, now, all I want is to win your hand, and have you forever, at least until my bones collapse and my eyes close, so I ask you this question, will you marry me?"

Valka stared at me, and for a small moment I thought she would refuse, however, after three seconds that seemed eternal to me, she agreed; "yes Azrael, I agree to marry you." Excited, I approached her again kissed her on her forehead, and then gave her a huge hug, but at the same time thinking that my quest to find a method to return Valka's gift of childbearing had become my most important purpose.

"Knock, knock."

The moment was interrupted when loud knocking sounded on the other side of the door. Forcing Valka and I to set aside our business to attend to whoever needs me, so walking to the door, I opened it, to receive the sight of Essino, my Blood Rider, who wore his matching black armor, which flew the symbol of the Order of Blood Riders; a horse galloping on the breastplate.

"Essino, I didn't expect to find you here, I thought I ordered you to accompany the forces across the Bone Mountains," I said to Essino, who greeted me the moment I opened the door.

"Well brother, you've had better days than us," Essino commented, delighting me with his brisk and reckless speech, as he looked over me and saw Valka behind me, "I don't need your lack of decorum right now Essino, speak up already and explain why you are here and not doing what I tasked you to do."

Essino nodded, and hardening his gaze, he looked at me, and that was what filled me with anticipation at the thought of what this was all about, that look only meant serious trouble, I saw it when Xandar was besieged, and when that Shadowlands demon attacked me in Vaes Dothrak, so the topic Essino brought was critical.

"Undead, My Khal," Essino replied, and that was enough to bring a deathly chill into the room, with a dry wind blowing in through the door.

Had he said undead? The only ones with similar characteristics were the Others and the White Walkers, but that was still decades away, the Wall still stood, and we were thousands of miles away from Westeros enough for the White Walkers to have made it to Xandar without my having known first.

"It happened when the last forces of the Imperishable Horde were crossing the Stone Road, some horses got infected by a black flower they ate, it happened too fast, the horses got sick and their bodies turned green with parts of their flesh falling off," Essino began to explain, as his gaze became for a moment erratic, as if he was still in that moment he was detailing.

"The sick horses attacked their riders, and attacked their fellow Horde members moments later, by the time the witches managed to stop the spread, over six hundred had died," Essino finished saying, looking solemn.

I stepped out of the room I was in, seeing that the door led to a hallway that was at one end of the castle of what I assumed belonged to Menrico Farwan, the hallway overlooked the Hidden Sea in the distance, and the breeze was so strong that it blew my hair.

Placing my hands on the black stone railing, I began to think about what Essino had told me. What could have caused those horses to become...zombies? Because that was the term I would use to describe them, something like this had not been shown in the books, not even in the series, in which several liberties had been taken for the last few seasons, but... Zombies in Essos? In Westeros, those vermin were still legends, and now they are supposed to be in my realm?

"What do you know about what the horses ate in the first place? You told me they ate something that made them sick, surely that turned them into... That," I asked Essino, wanting to know more about what could have caused that accident in the first place, since the more I knew about it, the better I would know how to deal with it.

"Some soldiers say that they were black roses, that they came with the winds from the East, and that they got caught in bushes or thickets, that from there some horses ingested them," Essino explained, not knowing more about it.

A black rose, that meant nothing, it could well be a poison of some kind or some curse made by one of my enemies, I had made many, and several of them were still alive, it could have been the warlocks of the Eternal House, some surviving Faceless Man, and even another demon that had escaped from the Shadowlands.