Game of Thrones: Roar of the Dragon

Chapter 161: Winter Tide
Winterfell, the main castle banquet hall.

Duke Creggan was sitting around a long banquet table with a group of northern earls, discussing something intensely.

Da da da!
There was a sound of footsteps coming from the gate, and everyone looked up.

The heroic Benilla was seen adjusting her dragon-taming gloves while walking towards them.

"Your Majesty!"

Upon seeing this, Duke Creggan and others immediately stood up and bowed their heads.

“You’re welcome, my lords.

Lord Creggan, I have helped you solve the trouble in Moat Cailin.

A small number of Ironborn took advantage of the chaos to flee to the northeast of Moat Cailin."

Benilla first waved to the people who were bowing, and then took a wine glass filled with wine from the servant.

While drinking wine, he talked about the results of his trip.

"Are there squids fleeing to the northeast of Moat Cailin?
Isn't that our White Harbor?

Queen Benilla, did you see how many squids there were?"

Before Duke Creggan could even open his mouth to speak, a northern noble with gray hair and a big belly suddenly spoke excitedly.

It’s no wonder he was excited, for this northern nobleman was Desmond Manderly of White Harbor.

Hundreds of years ago, the Manderly family was deeply indebted to the Stark family, so this time he brought almost all his troops to Winterfell to respond to the call.

If this group of escaped squids really go to attack White Harbor, something might really happen if they are caught off guard.

"Lord Desmond, don't worry.

I just received a letter from the Locke family in the old city today. They are not ready to set off yet because of various matters concerning the territory.

As we go north from the Old City, we pass through White Harbor. I sent a message today to ask them to station at White Harbor for defense until you return from Winterfell.

"My Lord, are you serious?
If that’s the case, that’s the best.”

With just one sentence, Cregan calmed Lord Desmond down.

Then he turned to Benilla and continued, “Your Majesty, you have worked hard.

Now please take a good rest with your dragon, as there will be a tough battle ahead."

"Hmm? Are those dead guys coming?"

When Benilla heard this, she immediately understood the subtext of Duke Creggan's words.

"Yes, after Last Hearth, Carhor, and the Dreadfort, Hornwood may have fallen as well.

The surviving female members of House Horwood are now resting in the keep.

Considering that they were riding in a carriage, it might take four or five days... no, at most three days.

The army of the White Walkers will appear near Winterfell."

"I see. When I was in King's Landing, I sent someone by ship to deliver a letter to His Majesty the King.

Judging from the time, he should have received the letter.

Don't worry, even though it's far away in Essos, it will only take His Majesty a day or two to reach Winterfell."

"Yes!"

After seeing Duke Creggan nod in response, Benilla returned to the main castle to rest.

Duke Creggan looked at her back, his eyes full of anxiety.

Communications between Westeros and Essos were basically carried out by manpower by boat across the Narrow Sea.

This type of communication is likely to be delayed by ocean currents, not to mention the possibility that it may never be delivered due to storms.

So it is not in the character of Lord Creggan to place the hopes of Winterfell on Jacaerys, who is far away on another continent.

Fortunately, after capturing the Last Hearth, the army of the wights headed towards Carhor instead of going directly south along the King's Road to attack Winterfell.

After successively capturing three cities, the number of the zombie army has indeed increased greatly.

But Winterfell was given more time to prepare, and all the nobles, soldiers, and civilians from several surrounding small cities had gathered here.

With so many people, Winterfell's defense system was strengthened several times, and a defense line was also built in the Winter Market.

But the fall of Hornwood was indeed a pity, because Earl Hornwood had originally planned to set out for Winterfell yesterday.

The North has now fallen to several cities of the White Walker army. In the end, Hearthstone and Kaho were captured before they had any time to react.

The Dreadfort deliberately ignored the conscription order from Duke Creggan because there was some secret rift between the Bolton family and the Stark family.

Closer to home!
As the battle approached, the atmosphere in Winterfell became visibly tense.

Thousands of civilian men were being trained to go into battle if necessary.

Female civilians were doing logistical support work, and even children were doing things within their abilities.

After all, this is a battle of life and death, and everyone should contribute their own strength.

As for the soldiers of the Northern Alliance, in addition to preparing for battle, they will also go to the Wolf Forest west of Winterfell to cut wood.

Before the obsidian of Dragonstone was developed, fire was the best way for humans to deal with the army of the dead.

Just as Lord Creggan had expected, at noon on the third day after Benilla returned to Winterfell.

The cavalry spies scattered around Winterfell sent back bad news one after another about the army of wights they had discovered.

So, Duke Creggan immediately ordered non-combatants to return to Winterfell and hide.

The soldiers of the Northern Alliance were each preparing for battle on their pre-designated defense lines.

Before facing the army of the dead, the entire Winterfell had already gathered its strongest fighting force to deal with it.

Rustling!

Waves of noise came from the east of Winterfell, and the first to see the army of wights were the Northern Alliance forces located at the easternmost part of the Winterfell Market.

Suddenly, a vast army of zombies as endless as the sea appeared in their sight.

The densely packed and crowded numbers made many experienced veterans look so gloomy that they seemed as if water could drip out of them.

Not to mention those who had never been on the battlefield or were newcomers who were temporarily recruited. They were all pale and trembling all over.

Woohoo! Woohoo!
Suddenly, a series of horn sounds rang out from the east wall of Winterfell.

The east gate of Winterfell, which had been tightly closed before, opened, and groups of cavalrymen with different family crests engraved on their armor rushed out on horseback.

After leaving the winter market, this group of Northern cavalry, numbering at least 3,000, began to accelerate and charge towards the army of zombies in front of them.

Rumble, rumble!

The sound of horse hooves rang out like thunder, and tens of thousands of Northern coalition soldiers stared at this group of brave men from the walls of Winterfell and the defense lines of the Winter Market.

After all, they were facing an endless army of zombies, yet they dared to abandon the sturdy castle and go out of the city to fight them in the field.

Isn't this equivalent to a death charge? In fact, it is not like that. Duke Creggan faced the army of wights in the Last Hearth.

So he knew what it would be like for ordinary people to see an army of zombies for the first time.

The more fear there is, the weaker the fighting power will be.

An important purpose of these Northern cavalrymen leaving the city is to tell everyone that the army of zombies is not as scary as it looks.

They can be easily destroyed and turned back into corpse fragments.

The army of zombies seemed unable to bear the Northern Cavalry Regiment that was marching out of the city so recklessly.

As thick clouds rapidly floated in from the sky, they changed from walking slowly to running at full speed.

Before approaching the army of zombies, the Northern Cavalry Regiment took out fist-sized pottery jars from their saddles.

After lighting the cloth strip on the mouth of the pottery jar with a fire starter, the Northern cavalry in the front row immediately threw it at the oncoming White Walkers.

Snap, wow!
Accompanied by a crisp shattering sound, the fuel in the pottery jar suddenly splashed everywhere, and then ignited one corpse ghost after another.

After doing all this, the first row of Northern cavalry immediately controlled their horses to turn to the left, leaving space for the next row of Northern cavalry.

Ho-la, ho-la!
These Northern cavalrymen had no intention of engaging in a head-on confrontation with the wights, so they did not even bring weapons, and only carried these homemade fuel pottery jars on their saddles.

In this round alone, at least four or five thousand zombies were set on fire.

But for the army of zombies that is as vast as the ocean, this loss can be completely ignored.

Moreover, a few zombies rushed out from the weak point of the flames and went straight towards the Northern cavalry.

Puff puff puff!
But the Northern Cavalry didn't need to pay any attention to these scattered zombies. With their riding speed, any zombie that dared to block their way would be knocked away.

After throwing three or four rounds, the Northern cavalry, running out of fuel pottery jars and their horses exhausted from running continuously, simply retreated.

It was just like Zhao Zilong in his previous life, strolling in front of the enemy's formation and then leaving easily.

But for both sides, the current battle is just an appetizer.

However, the Northern cavalry did play a role in boosting morale.

The soldiers of the Northern Alliance saw the zombies being easily burned to death by flames and being smashed to pieces by war horses.

A thought suddenly arose in my mind: "Ghost! That's it? That's it?"

When the thick cloud with snowflakes falling continuously drifted to the winter market, the originally small snowflakes gradually began to grow larger.

The army of the dead also began to approach Winterfell’s real first line of defense, the Winter Market.

A three-meter-high wooden wall has recently been built on the east side of the winter market.

The wall was covered with round holes just big enough for a spear to penetrate. There were also flat gaps more than two meters wide at the bottom layer of the wooden wall. It was completely unknown what they were used for.

"shooting!"

When the Northern archers on the defensive wall could clearly see the group of zombies covered in blood and scars, the commander's orders rang in their ears.

shhhhhh!
When the attack order was given, thousands of flaming arrows shot into the sky, drawing a perfect parabola and then falling among the army of zombies like raindrops.

This kind of coverage attack, when it reaches a certain number, is very effective.

A large number of the surging zombie army suddenly fell down, and it was very obvious.

But in the blink of an eye, the zombies behind covered the area again.

After three rounds of arrow attacks, the army of zombies was about to approach the wooden walls of the Winter Market.

prick!
The commander who saw the approaching corpse ghost through the round hole under the city wall gave the order.
Long flaming spears with cloth wrapped around their tips and lit on fire stabbed out fiercely from these pits.

At this moment, the wooden city wall suddenly turned into a fire hedgehog covered with spikes, making it impossible for the enemy to get close.

Wow!
Countless zombies approaching the defense wall were pierced into rag bags by the flaming spears and then set on fire.

As the flaming spears were retracted, the corpse ghosts that were close to the defense wall again were then ignited by the flaming spears that were stabbed out again.

Faced with a seemingly endless army of zombies, the Northern soldiers behind the wooden walls began to repeat this process over and over again.

In fact, the Northern soldiers behind the city wall do not have to retract their flaming spears. I believe that countless zombies will automatically crash into the flaming spears.

However, these zombie armies still have some memories of their previous lives and can use weapons.

If left outside, it is very likely that the flaming spear will be destroyed by them in a short time.

Soon, thousands of burning corpses were piled under the wooden city walls.

The flames from the corpses began to burn the wooden walls. If the wood used to build the walls had not been thick and moist enough, they would have been ignited directly.

But as the bones piled higher and higher, they were almost level with the three-meter-high wooden wall.

Boom boom boom!
Just at this moment, a heavy sound of footsteps came from a distance.

Three gigantic bear corpses rushed towards the wooden city wall on the slope made of bones like heavy chariots.

It would be a disaster if they were allowed to rush into the Winter Fair along the Stairs of Bones.

Woo!
The horn sounded, and steel sickle blades extended from the flat gap more than two meters long under the wooden wall.

Chi Chi Chi!
With the hard work of countless soldiers behind the city wall, the steel sickle blade began to rotate like an electric fan.

These sickle blades began to rotate at high speed and kept cutting the not-so-solid corpses and bones piled up under the city wall.

Clang, clang!
The slope made of bones suddenly collapsed, and the three giant bear zombies that were running on the bones stairs also fell among the bones.

Zizi!

After completing its mission, the steel sickle blade was retracted, and bamboo tubes as thick as wrists stretched out from the gap, spraying large amounts of fuel at the piled up bones.

Hoo ho ho!
A flaming spear pierced out from the wooden city wall and directly ignited the corpses and bones outside that were doused in fuel.

Using the corpses piled up under the city walls as fuel, it is believed that these flames can burn long enough to hold back these zombies.

However, under this continuous burning at close range, the wooden walls began to turn yellow and emit blue smoke.

It was obvious that the wooden wall was about to be ignited by the high temperature outside.

But that’s what it does!

When this wooden wall turns into a flaming wall, it can block the wights outside and allow the Northern coalition forces in the Winterfell Market to evacuate to Winterfell.

But the soldiers of the Northern Alliance did not pay any attention to these things at the moment, they just concentrated on fighting bravely.

After all, if we kill one more now, we will have one less corpse to face when defending Winterfell later.

Soon, the wooden walls began to burn, and the commanders of the Northern coalition forces began to order their soldiers to retreat back to Winterfell one by one.

After this battle, the Northern Alliance soldiers were no longer afraid of the terrifying-looking zombies.

It was also obvious that a large number of the zombie army that was as numerous as the tide had disappeared.

Lord Creggan stood on the walls of Winterfell, unlike the other northern earls who were cheering and celebrating around him.

He had a serious expression on his face, because the real battle was about to begin!
(End of this chapter)