[Chapter Size: 4000 Words.]
---------------------------------------
Third Person POV
Riverlands, 300 AC.
---------------------------------------
The screams soon died down, and the entire place fell silent once more. Blood still dripped from Jon's blade and from the corpses he had cut down directly with his sword.
He saw Sandor coming back down the stairs after leaving the upper level, since he could not jump from there the way Jon had.
At the same time, the hall doors opened. A few servant girls came to see what had happened. They could not help but widen their eyes at the sight of a man standing before twenty corpses.
One of them immediately covered her mouth with her hand, and Jon simply gestured for them to remain silent and not scream.
"It's over here. Now we need to deal with the other hundred scattered throughout the rest of the castle. We need to move faster before they notice the bodies," Jon said as he heard Sandor approaching.
"Where is my brother?" he asked.
"He's in the lord's chambers. But first, we're going somewhere else."
Jon began asking the servants a few questions and told them to remain hidden from that moment onward.
Without wasting any more time, the woman gathered all of them and led them to a remote room inside the kitchen storage area. Then she locked them inside.
After that, Jon and Sandor moved through the castle corridors, killing any guards they encountered along the way, some of whom were still standing night watch.
They eliminated five more men. That number brought the casualties they had inflicted to around fifty enemies.
Finally, they killed the two guards protecting the dungeon entrance.
Jon entered the place, and there were several people inside the cells.
Men, women, and a child. Some had been left to die after being tortured, and the condition of a few of them was horrifying.
But Jon walked down the main corridor, searching for only one person. At the same time, everyone looked at him in surprise as they saw him walking with a small flame floating beside him.
Jon passed by, examining each cell. His gaze found several weary faces, marked by the miserable conditions of that place.
Then he saw the boy, wearing the same exhausted expression. He was curled up in a corner. Thin, pale, and looking sick.
Jon stopped in front of the cell.
The boy slowly raised his head, his eyes clearly trying to adjust to the new light before he managed to see Jon.
His initially tired eyes began to widen.
"Prince Rhaegar..." he murmured.
Jon raised an eyebrow. "My hair isn't silver, and I don't have purple eyes to look like Prince Rhaegar, little lord," he replied in an amused tone.
It was quite obvious that the boy was delirious. "You look exactly like his portrait. The portrait in the main corridor," the boy insisted.
"Well, you wouldn't be the first to say I resemble my father." Jon said that while observing the boy.
The boy seemed to freeze upon hearing that information. As if he were trying to understand what he had just heard.
But Jon did not give him time to react. "I just wanted to know if you're alive. That's good."
He turned around. "Hold on for a few more hours. We'll return. I'll take care of all of you once everything is over."
Jon returned to Sandor, who remained guarding the dungeon entrance. He ignored the other prisoners calling out to him from the surrounding cells.
"Let's go. First we'll deal with the rest of the men. Then we'll come back here." Jon said to Sandor and closed the door behind him. Then he created a layer of ice over it and the wall, ensuring that no one would be able to open it.
He walked down the corridor, returning to the first floor before climbing the stairs to an area filled with rooms.
There were still around one hundred and fifty soldiers left to kill. Jon then devised his plan.
There would probably be screams from the women in those rooms, but he could not allow that to spread to the upper floors.
Jon would enter the chambers while Sandor remained outside. If any doors opened and soldiers came out to check what was happening, Sandor would kill them immediately.
Many probably would not even leave their rooms. After all, they were likely accustomed to hearing the screams of those women.
Once they reached that floor of the castle, Jon began.
He entered the first room. He found a man lying in bed with a woman, servant or peasant, beside him.
Without saying a word, he created an ice arrow and fired it. It pierced the man's head.
The mattress shifted slightly, and the woman did not even wake up.
Jon shrugged and closed the door. Then he moved on to the next room.
He approached the bed and fired another arrow. This time the woman woke up. As soon as she started screaming, Jon placed a hand over her mouth.
She tried to struggle. Jon gestured for silence before slowly loosening his grip.
"Stay here in the room. Don't make any noise." With those words, he left again.
He left behind a confused and trembling woman. He continued through the next six rooms in the same manner.
Kill, close the door, move to the next one.
Everything remained quiet until he reached the seventh room.
This time he heard moans coming from inside. When he entered, he found a man on top of a woman.
Jon simply created an ice arrow from the doorway when the man looked back after noticing someone entering. But before he could fully turn around, the attack cut through the air and struck him in the back.
The tip of ice pierced his skull. A few drops of blood splashed onto the woman before the man's body froze.
She saw it and screamed. The sound was so loud that it echoed throughout the entire corridor.
Jon sighed. Sandor was going to have problems.
Outside, Sandor was already prepared. He heard doors opening, and two men wanted to know what was happening.
The first opened the door wearing only a few clothes and was greeted by Sandor's sword.
The blade sliced through his neck, and the man died before he could even understand what was happening.
The woman inside the room saw it and screamed. Sandor closed the door as quickly as he could.
"Who are you?!" Another door opened.
The soldier saw Sandor standing over the corpse, and Sandor immediately charged.
The man tried to retreat back into the room, but he did not have time.
Sandor killed him, and another woman began screaming. Then more doors opened along the corridor.
Five, six, until ten soldiers emerged into the hallway. All of them stared at the corpses scattered throughout the area as Sandor stepped out of the last room.
Jon appeared right behind him. "Well, it seems we've already attracted attention."
He raised his hand. Several ice arrows began to form around him.
One, two, five, then ten. The weapons floated in the air like predators waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Then Jon pointed forward, and the arrows shot out. The soldiers, completely unprotected, barely had time to react.
They were slaughtered. Bodies dropped all along the corridor as ice spread through their veins and they became frozen corpses.
Jon had absolutely no intention of leaving any of them alive. At that point, the entire floor already knew of their presence.
Quickly, men came rushing out of the rooms with swords in hand, despite not wearing armor.
Sandor began massacring anyone who appeared in front of him, while Jon continued casting magic as fast as possible to eliminate the enemies before they could organize themselves.
Ice arrows constantly pierced through men. Until some of the soldiers who witnessed it began hiding.
"He's a demon!" one of them shouted.
The two moved through the corridors, smashing doors open with superhuman strength. And Jon killed the soldiers who tried to flee from him.
The women screamed, which only made everything even more terrifying.
"We're done. We eliminated around seventy men on this floor," Jon said after spending nearly half an hour clearing room after room.
Then they heard sounds coming from the floor above. It was obvious that the upper levels had also been alerted by the screams and the sounds of the slaughter.
Besides, all one had to do was look through the windows. No more torches were being carried by the guards on the walls.
The outer section of the castle was completely empty.
Even from a distance, it was possible to see bodies scattered across the battlements.
That made it clear that the castle's defenses had been breached. They had invaders. Or rather... Assassins.
The two headed to the upper floor, and this time they found a corridor filled with men armed with swords.
Still without armor. Jon decided to deal with them differently, even if it alerted the entire castle with his next move.
A sphere of fire appeared in his hand. He pointed forward and fired. There were around twelve men gathered in the corridor.
None of them had time to react. The fireball shot forward. The explosion struck them head-on. The fireball detonated among them, killing them all instantly.
The entire castle seemed to tremble.
Some men were blown apart, while others were burned by the flames and thrown backward by the blast.
The survivors, who had been arriving to help, began screaming as they watched men running while being consumed by the flames.
Jon controlled the fire, opening a path through the ruined corridor, and he and Sandor advanced.
Sandor was no longer surprised by anything he saw. That man was simply a monster. And he acted as if all of this were something ordinary.
They continued advancing through the next corridors. The upper floors of the castle were now completely awake.
Even Gregor had probably already left his chambers to find out what was happening. Shortly afterward, a group of archers appeared.
They approached quickly and began preparing to fire. Jon opened the door of a nearby room. He pulled Sandor inside.
The arrows immediately began striking the wood.
"Stay there. I'll handle them." As he spoke, Jon grabbed the door itself as a shield after simply tearing it from the wall.
Several arrows embedded themselves in it, and one pierced through the wood and struck his arm.
Jon looked at the wound. Blood began to run down it.
"How long has it been since I was injured?" he could not help but mutter, though he looked at it as if it were nothing. It had been several moons, since he had been badly wounded in the battle against the Night King.
It was only a superficial cut. Even so, he began channeling healing magic. The wound closed before his eyes, the flesh regenerating in real time.
Jon dismissed it from his mind and decided to put an end to this. He raised one hand toward the more than twenty archers gathered in the corridor.
A massive sphere of fire appeared, brighter, hotter than the last one. More destructive.
He moved the door aside and hurled it forward, catching the archers by surprise.
The explosion illuminated the entire corridor, and the enemies were struck head-on.
Most were killed instantly by the size of the blast, consumed by the flames. Others were torn apart by the shockwave.
Those farther from the center screamed as their bodies were swallowed by fire. And soon afterward, their screams disappeared as well.
There were no more than forty-eight men remaining now.
And most of them were already trying to flee, running through the corridors in search of somewhere to hide.
Sandor appeared beside Jon while he pointed toward different doors.
"There. There. There." Jon indicated the places where soldiers were hiding. "Kill them all."
"Alright." Sandor nodded.
Then a roar echoed from the floors above.
A man appeared on the stairs and began descending before they could climb them. Jon lifted his gaze, and there he was.
Gregor Clegane.
He held a sword in his left hand, clearly not his dominant hand. Even so, he seemed to have trained extensively over the years to compensate for the loss of his arm.
Even using the wrong hand, he still carried a heavy sword.
Then Gregor looked at Jon, and his eyes immediately widened. How could he ever forget those eyes?
"Hello, Gregor Clegane. It's been some time." Jon smiled. "I remember you screaming like an animal on the deck of my ship when you tried to attack us." He tilted his head.
"If I had known then what I know today, I probably would have killed you already." Jon paused. "But now that I think about it... I liked what I did."
His smile widened. "I turned your life into quite a miserable state over the past few years, didn't I?"
Gregor tried to shout something. But only strange sounds came out of his mouth due to the absence of his tongue.
Jon could not help but laugh.
"I really got you good, didn't I?" Gregor roared again upon hearing that green-eyed man.
Then Sandor stepped forward. "Let me fight him."
Jon shrugged. "Be my guest."
Meanwhile, he watched the men attempting to regroup behind Gregor.
A hoarse, distorted cry came from the Mountain's throat, and he charged.
Sandor ran to meet him. The two brothers collided in the middle of the corridor.
Steel met steel.
Jon watched everything in silence.
At the same time, he kept his attention on the soldiers positioned behind Gregor.
All of them were armed with swords, spears, and bows.
The fight between the brothers continued. By now, everyone could clearly see that Sandor had the advantage.
Gregor was still absurdly strong, but he was far from his prime.
He would never recover what he had lost. It was no wonder he had become a subject of ridicule throughout much of Westeros over the past few years.
At one point, Sandor broke through his brother's guard. His sword slipped past the defense and struck Gregor's thigh, piercing straight through, since the elder Clegane wore no armor.
The Mountain roared in pain and immediately tried to counterattack, but Sandor blocked the blow by grabbing the hand holding the sword.
Soon the two found themselves locked in a brutal contest of strength. Gregor grimaced, then released his sword.
Using his free hand, he tried to grab his brother's throat, and Sandor clearly struggled to resist.
Little by little, Gregor began gaining ground against him, while Sandor's sword remained buried deep in his older brother's thigh.
Then Gregor looked at his men and shouted something.
Or at least tried to. Even so, the soldiers understood the command.
Immediately, they began raising their bows. Jon saw it and acted.
A sphere of fire instantly appeared in his hand, and he hurled it down the corridor, even though a few arrows had already been fired.
The fireball exploded in the middle of the formation. Flames swallowed the soldiers.
Screams of terror filled the corridor for a brief moment before disappearing completely.
Those who had not been caught in the explosion tried to flee.
Around thirty soldiers were struck directly by the blast. The entire corridor was transformed into a hell of fire and burned body parts.
The earlier shots managed to hit Gregor. One arrow struck his shoulder, another pierced his stomach. A third embedded itself in his thigh.
Sandor, affected by the explosion and the wounds, felt his resolve against his brother falter as he was pushed backward, his strength diminishing from his injuries.
Gregor tried to close the distance to his brother immediately, caring about nothing else, consumed by uncontrollable rage. Even though everything happening before him was absurd and he had lost all his men to such magic.
Then an ice arrow struck his leg, and Gregor screamed in pain. Immediately, he felt the cold spreading through the limb as he watched the ice advance through his flesh.
He looked at his leg and then at Jon, who was approaching.
With one leg frozen and the other pinned by the sword buried in his thigh by Sandor, Gregor was unable to move.
Jon went to Sandor first. The Hound was lying on the ground with several arrows embedded in his body. Jon knelt beside him and removed the arrows one by one. Then he used healing magic to close the wounds.
Only then did he walk over to Gregor. The Mountain did not even have time to react.
Jon simply stepped forward and delivered a punch directly to his face. The impact instantly shattered his nose and teeth.
The force was even greater than Gregor's own. The giant fell backward and lost consciousness.
Jon removed the sword and the arrow lodged in his body. He picked up his sword and simply cut off the man's frozen leg, and Gregor did not even wake up. Jon healed the wounds just enough to prevent him from dying.
Gregor would never walk again, and Jon wanted Gregor alive, for now.
Jon was alone in the corridor now. He looked at the flames consuming parts of the castle. Women were crying in their rooms.
He decided to finish the job. There were still around twenty men left.
Jon began searching for them throughout the castle. Most were hiding, some inside rooms. Others behind tapestries, and some had locked themselves inside wardrobes.
All of them begged for their lives when they were found by a cold-eyed Jon. Jon showed no mercy and eliminated every single one of them.
Down to the last man.
Afterward, he returned to the kitchen and called for the woman who had helped earlier. He learned that her name was Elsa. He asked her to try to calm all the women trapped in the rooms.
Many were still in shock. Then he went to the dungeons. He began opening the cells and freeing all the prisoners.
The people were still confused about what was happening. But they followed Jon when he asked everyone to leave, and little by little they discovered that the castle had been reclaimed.
And that practically every soldier from the Westerlands had been killed by a single person. The looks he received were filled with pure astonishment.
"Sorcerer..." Some began to whisper.
Many of the women had witnessed his magic. They had seen ice arrows, they had seen fireballs. They had seen men die instantly.
Jon did not care. As long as those stories did not reach King's Landing ahead of time.
He still hoped to find Tywin in the Westerlands, and he did not want to ruin the surprise.
"So you're him, aren't you?" young Darry said in a tired voice. "You're Rhaegar's son." The boy looked at him with an expression full of hope.
"You're the heir to the Iron Throne. Aegon Targaryen!" he added. Jon had already said it before, but the boy seemed to be repeating it more lucidly.
Jon smiled faintly. "I'd rather you call me Jon Arctic. But it's a pleasure, Lord Lyman Darry."
The boy remained silent, seeming to absorb those words before nodding.
Then Jon returned to the previous subject. "You said there was an image of Rhaegar." He looked interested. "I'd like to see it."
Meanwhile, the freed prisoners were finally receiving food. The few surviving Darry soldiers who still had the strength to work began helping around the castle.
There was much to do. The bodies needed to be piled up. And then burned.
Jon let the boy eat for a while before heading to the upper wings of the castle. They passed by Sandor and Gregor, who were still lying on the floor.
Young Darry could not help but look at the Mountain with a certain amount of fear. He shuddered when he noticed that part of his legs was missing.
The two continued toward the family wing, a section of the castle that Jon had not yet entered. There he found several paintings depicting Targaryen kings.
That immediately caught his attention. Some were quite faithful to their real appearance. Others displayed slight differences from what he had seen through the Green Sight. Even so, all of them were easily recognizable.
Finally, he reached the portrait of his father. Jon could not help but study it with curiosity. It was the first time he had seen a representation of Rhaegar Targaryen outside of the green visions.
"You look a lot like him," the boy said excitedly.
"I have to agree. I don't know how they failed to notice the resemblance before..." Jon continued observing the large painting for a few more moments. Then he turned his attention back to young Darry. "Well, in any case, we have to leave."
"Where are we going?" the boy asked, surprised.
"Unfortunately, this place is no longer safe for you." Jon crossed his arms. "You'll come with me to the North. After that, you'll join the fleet. When I conquer King's Landing, we'll return, and you'll become the Lord of Darry, as you should be."
"This castle will be returned to you. You are the last Darry." The boy heard that and lowered his head.
He seemed deeply discouraged. "I had two bastard brothers, you know?" His voice grew quieter, and he swallowed hard before continuing. "They did everything they could to protect me."
His eyes became watery. "I heard the Mountain kill them right in front of me."
Jon placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss."
For a moment, silence hung between them.
"And the people of the castle?" the boy asked.
Jon thought for a few seconds. "Unfortunately, I can't take care of all of them." He looked out the window. "They can remain here and maintain the castle, or they can leave."
Then he turned his attention back to the boy. "I'll ask for a force to come assist them, but I can't do anything immediately."
It was the truth. Jon simply did not have the means to take care of everyone at once. At least he had freed those women.
"I understand," the boy said.
Even if someone tried to seize the castle again, it was unlikely to happen for very long.
The king would soon be ruling the Seven Kingdoms. And then he would be able to officially return the lands of House Darry to their rightful heir.
With that resolved, Jon headed outside. The women and men were not very pleased to learn that he would be leaving so soon, but they had no choice.
Jon went to settle the last matters with Darry and his people and then took an unconscious Sandor to an isolated room, where he kept him for about two hours while performing a minor surgery on him, as the survivors began reorganizing the castle.
When he came out, before leaving, Jon wrote a letter to Sandor with instructions and then handed it to Elsa. "When he wakes up, give this to him." The woman nodded.
Now everything was ready. He picked up Gregor's unconscious body and began carrying it outside the fortress. Meanwhile, the last men loyal to House Darry were saying their farewells to their young lord.
Jon landed Caraxes in the center of the courtyard. The enormous eagle immediately drew everyone's attention. He would take Gregor and the boy, but he could not take Sandor with him. Therefore, he could only leave instructions before departing.
The giant eagle astonished everyone.
Jon placed young Lyman Darry in front of him and told him to hold on tightly. The boy was quite nervous upon learning that he would be flying through the skies.
Meanwhile, Caraxes landed over Gregor Clegane's body. The enormous bird dug its talons into his body and easily lifted him from the ground.
Then it spread its wings. A powerful gust of wind swept across the courtyard.
The next moment, Caraxes soared into the sky.
Jon, young Darry, and Gregor's unconscious body left the castle behind as they disappeared into the horizon.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝
I deeply appreciate your support since the beginning of this exciting journey!
🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟
Visit our Patreon for more: https://www.patreon.com/RaccoonLeague
Extra Content Already Available:
🏴☠️ One Piece - I Am a Different Luffy!: 30 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: The Legend of Jon Arctic!: 30 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: DragonBorn! 30 extra chapters! [100%]
👑 HOTD: Jon Arctic! 30 extra chapters!
🌀 Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI!: 30 extra chapters!
🗡️ The Witcher - As Uchiha Madara! 30 extra chapters!
⚡HP - Jon Arctic as Severus Snape! 30 extra chapters!
⚡ Harry Potter - Shadow Monarch! Finished! [100%]
⚡Danmachi – The Alchemist! [Coming Soon.]
Visit our Patreon for more!!
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆