Game of Thrones: The Wrath of the Sleeping Dragon

“I remember you told me about a dream you had.”

"Banyan".

The two brothers stared in silence for a long time at the Winterfell cellars, which were mostly collapsed, before Eddard Stark suddenly turned his weathered face and asked a question.

"Yes, that's right."

Meanwhile, the smile on Banyan's face had also disappeared, and he looked somewhat heavy-hearted.

He had told his brother about this dream after they reunited in King's Landing, during the most desperate time when he was trapped in this cellar.

Then he dreamed of his sister Lyanna Stark, who was crying out in bloody tears that she told Benjen to leave quickly.

After waking up, Benjen and the others mustered their courage and fought their way out, only to encounter the Night King returning to Winterfell.

Fortunately, the Night King disdained to personally pursue the few remaining human soldiers, which allowed Benjen and the others to escape.

"Benyan, do you think... Lyanna still has her own consciousness?"

Eddard Stark remained silent for a long time before suddenly uttering a startling statement.

"what?"

On the other side, his brother Banyan was also slightly taken aback, and then looked at his brother in disbelief.

It was common knowledge that the ancestors of the Stark family, including their relative Lyanna, had been controlled by the White Walkers and turned into corpses, but he was surprised by Eddard's words.

"impossible?"

Banyan pondered for a moment, then shook his head and spoke.

"If Lyanna still had her own consciousness, why would she shoot Robert with an arrow?"

"you..."

However, Banyan swallowed his words before he could finish.

He had also attended the public trial in King's Landing and heard the love story between his sister Lyanna and Rhaegar Targaryen.

Did Lyanna shoot Robert in revenge for Rhaegar?

Benjen looked somewhat surprised and doubtful, while Eddard Stark remained silent throughout, his expression complex. He was the one who knew this part of history best.

Chapter 643 Solo Journey Beyond the Great Wall

"This wooden bow was used by Lyanna when she was little, do you remember?"

In the dark crypts of Winterfell, the dim firelight flickered gently, illuminating the blue stone statue. Lyanna Stark still wore that compassionate expression, her hands raised, gazing up at the sky.

But in reality, this statue doesn't resemble Lyanna at all. Eddard wanted to create a statue of his sister drawing a bow and shooting an arrow, but in the end, he listened to Maester Luwin's advice and made Lyanna's statue look like this.

"remember."

“This is Lyanna’s practice bow. She used to compete with me using this bow.”

Banyan looked at the small wooden bow in his brother's hand, the part of it worn smooth from years of practice. It was the result of his sister's tireless practice, which showed no special talent, only diligent dedication.

Even when he was little, Banyan couldn't beat his older sister and cried, and was ridiculed for a long time.

"This bow was placed in the storeroom of Winterfell after Lyanna's death."

"Even I couldn't find where I put it later."

Ed's dark brown hair was streaked with gray, his neatly trimmed beard was also somewhat gray, and his gray eyes were surrounded by crow's feet.

He looked at the small wooden bow in his hand, then raised his head and asked in a low voice.

"Later it appeared in Carlin Bay, thousands of miles away."

"Benyan, do you think Lyanna put it there?"

Meanwhile, Banyan, who was holding a torch and whose thin face was half-illuminated by the flames, frowned slightly upon hearing this, pondering the possibilities contained in his brother's words.

"But is it possible that her mind was also controlled by the Night King?"

The White Walkers can control the other wights, while the Night King can control all the White Walkers, a scene he has witnessed many times in previous battles against them.

Humans are highly adept learners, and thus, in their battles against the White Walkers, they are constantly learning from experience, searching for any weaknesses the White Walkers might have, and then exploiting them.

Ultimately, they concluded that the entire army of the dead and the core power of the White Walkers were in the hands of the Night King, and that killing the Night King would defeat the entire army of the dead.

Unfortunately... to defeat the Night King, one must first defeat the endless army of the dead surrounding him...

So the problem has come full circle.

This is also why the White Walkers swept south with such force; humanity paid a heavy price but could not find a way to defeat the Night King.

Unless the Night King himself has lost his mind and abandoned the protection of the wights around him, charging out alone to lead the charge.

Meanwhile, another skilled assassin, wielding a Valyrian steel dagger, ambushed the human race and struck with deadly precision, becoming the hero who saved the world.

This possibility cannot be ruled out, but the difficulty lies in the fact that it requires the Night King's cooperation.

Based on the previous one-on-one duel between Viserys and the Night King, the latter was extremely afraid of death and would retreat at the slightest sign of trouble.

"But the significance of this wooden bow is something only Lyanna, I, and you know."

Eddard Stark was silent for a moment after hearing this, then suddenly spoke up.

“Father doesn’t know, Brandon doesn’t know, and Caitlin doesn’t know either.”

Ban Yang was slightly taken aback, then fell into deep thought.

The significance of this wooden bow was truly known only to the three Stark siblings; even their eldest brother, Brandon, wasn't entirely clear on it.

Because the eldest brother, Brandon, as the high-ranking heir to Winterfell, was always busy with other things, the three siblings would go out and play on their own.

So it's quite possible that Lyanna was responsible for bringing this small wooden bow all the way from Winterfell to Kalin Bay.

Although Lyanna's name is engraved on it, no one except Lyanna herself knows its meaning.

"Could it be true?"

"Is Lyanna still conscious?"

Having figured all this out, Benjen's expression suddenly became slightly excited. After all, he had stayed in Winterfell during the War of the Usurper and then went to serve at the Wall after the war ended. He hadn't had the chance to see his sister Lyanna one last time, which had always been his lifelong regret.

"Then does that mean Father and Elder Brother are..."

The cellars of Winterfell collapsed, and the successive Kings of Winter, Kings in the North, and Dukes of Winterfell awoke, including their father Rickard and elder brother Brandon. Lord Wyman Manderle, Earl of White Harbor, once claimed to have witnessed Rickard Stark, but at the time, the Allied high command dismissed it as nonsense.

However, if we look at it this way, wouldn't it be a good thing if becoming a White Walker allowed one to regain their consciousness?

"It cannot be confirmed at this time."

In contrast to Benjen's excitement, Ed remained calm and composed. Since obtaining the small wooden bow, Ed had been pondering the matter repeatedly, even losing sleep at night, and finally made a decision in his heart.

“I’m going to go to the border region myself, Banyan.”

"what?"

Benjen was slightly taken aback and hadn't reacted yet. Then Eddard Stark paused for a moment before suddenly saying something astonishing.

"I will track Lyanna down and find out what happened."

Ed had been thinking about the whole thing over and over again for the past few months, and finally made up his mind.

After reclaiming the Wall, he will fulfill the Night's Watch's mission, traveling alone with his horse and sword to the north of the Wall to track down the White Walkers and their lair, and to investigate Lyanna's situation.

This matter, if left unresolved, almost became a knot in his heart.

After all, this concerned his father, brother, and sister. Eddard Stark had spent his life upholding honor and protecting his family, but now that he had donned the black robes and entrusted Winterfell to Robb, he decided to live for himself.

Just as he and Robert had dreamed when they were young, the two brothers rode their warhorses along the Kings Road, traveling the world with their swords, never to return.

"No! Ed!"

However, Ed's decision was met with strong opposition from his brother, Benjen.

As the chief ranger, he had lived alone in the frontier for a period of time, a period during which he faced almost certain death.

During the day, they have to search for food, and at night they have to find a place to sleep so that they won't have their throats bitten off by wolves.

At the same time, regardless of day or night, we need to be wary of an enemy even more terrifying than wolves: savages.

However, although there are no more wild men in the borderlands now, there are even more terrifying White Walkers.

If his own brother Eddard wanted to track down the White Walkers alone, wouldn't that be suicide?

"If you insist on going to the borderlands, then I'll go instead!"

Chapter 644 Prince's Pass

Jon Snow's attack on Prince's Pass did not go very smoothly.

He personally led two thousand soldiers, plus two thousand private soldiers cobbled together by the Reach nobles, for a total of four thousand men, to surround Prince's Pass, blocking this main route through the Red Mountains in Dorne to the Reach and Stormlands.

Now, the shadow of war is looming over this land, and all caravans traveling between the two places must detour via the more treacherous Bone Road, or choose water transport.

Prince's Pass is the main road connecting Dorne to the outside world. Although the pass is not particularly formidable, it is still easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The crimson mountains on both sides of the pass also serve as a barrier for this formidable pass. Only small groups of troops can pass through the crimson mountains; large troops cannot proceed because the rugged mountain roads are unsuitable for supply vehicles.

Even though the main force crossed the Crimson Mountains, they had no food supplies. The enemy only needed to establish a scorched earth policy and clear out the surrounding villages, and these people would either starve to death or have to eat tree bark.

Although Jon Clinton had served as Hand of the King for several years, acting as a steward in the rear, he was, after all, a veteran of the battlefield and had a wealth of experience in commanding battles. He believed that his opponent would not show any mercy when the time came to strike.

Because the other party was well aware of His Majesty's capabilities, he should have considered the consequences when he acted rashly and targeted Count Cenford's relatives.

The worst-case scenario is that 'Old Falcon' Franklin Fuller is taken to King's Landing and then given a noose or draped in black.

The worst-case scenario could be the stripping of their title, the loss of their Earldom of Tianji, and the expulsion of the Fowler family from their homeland.

If such a thing were to happen, then Franklin Fuller would become the eternal sinner of the Fuller family.

Therefore, if Count Franklin Fowler doesn't want to die, nor does he want to become a sinner for all time, his only option now is to drag more people down with him.

After all, the honeymoon period between Dorne and the Iron Throne has ended, and the Dornish people's privilege of running rampant throughout the Seven Kingdoms has also come to an end.

Furthermore, other regions outside Dorne were implementing a different set of standards, attracting a large number of Dornish people to seek refuge there. The Dornish nobles were so dissatisfied that they could hardly find any tenant farmers to work on their fiefdoms.

Although the Dornish nobles didn't know how to express it, they felt that they had been tricked from the very beginning when they claimed to be demanding special privileges, and that they had walked into it themselves.

However, although the Dornish are not very good with words, they are very good at wielding their fists to demonstrate their power. When the Dornish are dissatisfied, they can rebel to express their discontent, and then the Iron Throne will send them a sweet treat. They are very skilled at this process.