"There are monsters ahead, don't push, don't push so hard! Fall back! No—!"The wildlings at the front struggled desperately, their cries filled with sorrow and despair, while the giants behind paid no heed and eagerly surged forward.
"Surrender and you'll be spared!" Barristan shouted through a tin horn.
The wildling's face twisted with hesitation.
"Hiss—crack!" Big Black thrust his head forward, his fierce dragon face filling the wildling's entire field of vision. Sparks burst from his goblet-sized nostrils.
"I surrender! I surrender!" The wildling abandoned all resistance, threw down his weapon, and dashed away from Big Black in a frenzy.
Edd, Grenn, and a few other Night's Watch brothers approached with crossbows raised, shouting, "Get on your knees!"
"Put on the chains." Edd tossed three sets of common iron shackles toward them.
Even though there were only four Night's Watchmen, the three wildlings, terrified by the dragon, didn't dare resist. They knelt obediently and hesitantly picked up the chains.
"Awooo—" A deafening, miserable howl erupted behind them. They turned to see King Mag the Mighty, nearly four meters tall, engulfed in flames, thick smoke billowing as he rolled frantically on the ground.
The savage white creature lashed him with its tail from time to time, the blows cracking Mag's bones and drawing wails of pain.
Shuddering violently, the three wildlings quickly and skillfully chained each other up.
When King Mag finally collapsed motionless in the mud, his charred flesh filling the air with a sickening aroma, Dany said to Jon, "Send the wildling prisoners to tie up the giant."
And so, the wildlings and giants lined up one after another, filing through the city gate, only to squeeze and jostle out the other side.The wildlings in front, fearless and desperate, charged straight at Big Black, only to be instantly turned into flaming candles by his dragonfire.Witnessing this, the wildlings behind them would immediately burst into tears and surrender, while those further back would still cling to their defiance, setting an example for those even further behind.
Thus, the cycle repeated, round after round.By dusk, the broad courtyard was littered with the remains of giants—forty-five in total!
Some had snapped tendons and broken bones; others were blackened and smoking, or simply dead.Regardless of their state, all had their hands and feet shackled by wildlings.
There were even more wildlings than expected; there weren't enough shackles for everyone, so they were herded into stone cells instead.
"Huh, no more of them?" After waiting a while without seeing any new wildlings come out, Dany grew suspicious."Someone go in and see what they're up to."
The wildling army certainly hadn't retreated—there was still fierce fighting on the walls!
"I'll go," volunteered Toad, stepping through the dirty, blood-soaked gate, wading knee-deep in the human sludge.Before long, he came running back, shouting, "There are still wildlings inside! Looks like they know it's dangerous out here, so they're just cowering in place!"
"They—huh?" Dany abruptly looked up, her violet eyes narrowing.Under the dim sky, a hawk circled among the swirling snowflakes, its form flickering in and out of view—unobtrusive yet strikingly conspicuous.
"Skinchanger!" she hissed with a cold smile.
"Big Black!"Dany called out, sprinting up the stone steps and leaping onto Big Black's moving back.
"Hiss—crack!"
"Whoosh, whoosh—" Big Black flapped his wings powerfully, stirring a wild gale through the courtyard as he launched into the sky with Dany on his back.
"Caw—" The hawk reacted immediately. The moment the black dragon took off, the hawk cried out sharply and flapped frantically upward.
Its speed increased rapidly—within ten seconds, it had accelerated to nearly 100 kilometers per hour.The heavy snowfall pelted Dany like tiny stones, forcing her to squint and cling low to Big Black's back.
"Woooo—" On the city wall, the Night's Watchmen watched a black shadow shoot into the sky, the air currents created by the dragon's ascent scattering the thin layer of snow atop the wall.
"A dragon! The Dragon Queen is flying!" one of the Night's Watchmen shouted.
"We still don't know where Mance Rayder is... She's going to—"The one-armed blacksmith's eyes narrowed. He had spotted the hawk struggling through the blizzard.
"A dragon chasing a hawk?" the Night's Watchmen murmured in confusion.
"Caw—"The hawk had climbed to over 3,000 meters in the sky, assuming that the swirling snow had hidden it from the dragon's sight—it couldn't even see the colossal Wall below anymore.But as it began to circle back, a terrifying sense of danger slammed into its mind like a physical storm.Without thinking, the skinchanger forced the hawk into a steep, rapid dive toward the wildling camp beyond the Wall.
"Hiss—crack!" The dragon's roar shook the heavens, far louder and more commanding than the giants' cries.On the battlefield, the shouting, the neighing horses, the lowing cattle, the trumpeting mammoths—all fell silent as if someone had pressed a pause button.Only the howling wind remained.
Everyone looked up, staring at the massive black beast soaring through the sky.
"This... this is the true terror of dragons!" said Donnel, the one-armed blacksmith, his face awestruck as he watched Big Black cutting effortlessly through the storm.
"Caw—"The hawk did not, as Dany had expected, dive toward its skinchanger master.Or rather, once the dragon slowed its pursuit, keeping a steady distance behind, the skinchanger seemed to realize Dany's plan.
The hawk abandoned any thought of dodging the dragon with agile maneuvers—Big Black was faster, more agile, and carried an overwhelming pressure that clouded the skinchanger's mind, tempting him to abandon his companion.
Yet the skinchanger knew one harsh truth:For a skinchanger, a bonded hawk was incredibly rare—perhaps the only flying companion he would ever have.
Thus, the hawk stopped circling and dropped straight down, like a wounded bird shot through the heart.
But the dragon was even more familiar with this maneuver and stayed close behind.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"Suddenly, huge arrows, each two meters long, sailed slowly past Dany.Their speed was so sluggish she could almost grab them out of the air; they posed no real threat.But Dany understood: they were already within range of the giants' archers.
"Hiss—crack!"With graceful movements, Big Black veered in a wide arc through the air, avoiding the barrage and heading toward the edge of the forest where the wildling camps stretched out.
Since the trump card was revealed, there was no reason to hold back anymore.
As they closed the distance, Dany hesitated, and her bloodthirst faded almost completely.
Charging out of the woods was a wildling army nearly 30,000 strong—There were knights riding horses and snow leopards, over a hundred mammoth-mounted warriors, three hundred giants swinging tree trunks like clubs, dozens of wolf spirits and other skinchangers.
There were mountain tribesmen, seafarers from the Salt Sea, cannibals from the great glacier, cave dwellers with painted faces, dog sled warriors from the frozen coast, and hardfoot people with feet tough as boiled leather...
Dany had no hesitation or compassion when killing the strangely dressed wildling troops. But when her dragon flew to the edge of the forest and she saw the children wrapped in animal skins having snowball fights around the yurts, and the women and elderly gathering firewood and making fires in the forest—a vast crowd of over a hundred thousand refugees—her heart wavered.
"Dracarys!" she commanded.
"Boom—"A twenty-meter-long torrent of dragonfire slashed across the wildling camp from east to west like a plow, sending mud and melting snow flying two meters into the air. Women and children screamed and fled deeper into the forest.
From the battlefield came the anguished, furious cries of giants and men. The attacking forces instantly collapsed; cavalry, infantry, and even giants abandoned the castle gates of the Wall, which they had defended for hours, and rushed toward the camp, running to their wives, children, and families.
"This..."
Watching the column of dragonfire, like a divine flaming sword, rampage through the camp and forest, causing thick smoke and roaring flames, the men of the Night's Watch stood on the Wall in stunned terror.
"This is a dragon... the legendary firestorms of the past couldn't have been any more terrifying," one Night's Watch brother murmured in awe.
Another wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said with a trembling voice, "Thank the gods the Dragon Queen is on our side. I can't even imagine what we would do if a dragon came to attack the Wall."
"It seems..."Donal the blacksmith narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and said, puzzled, "It seems Her Majesty avoided the wildling tents. The dragonfire was aimed only at the open spaces."
"That's right. The fire didn't even sweep in a straight line; Her Majesty precisely avoided all the tents and wildlings," an old man added.
Behind the battlements stood a beautifully decorated Myrish brass telescope, mounted on a tripod—it belonged to Maester Aemon, usually used for stargazing at night.
Now, the long tube was aimed downward. An old Night's Watch brother was using it to scout the enemy, hoping to find the wildling king, Mance Rayder, among the tents at the forest's edge.
Actually, Jon Snow wasn't very familiar with Mance Rayder; it was the older brothers of the Watch who recognized him. After all, Mance had grown up at Castle Black and only deserted the Watch ten years ago to become a wildling.
Donal and a few other brothers gathered around the telescope to look more closely. Sure enough, they found that only the forest behind the camp was burning. Through the smoke, they could see the tents still standing. There were no piles of corpses, not even a single dead body—just countless wildlings running and howling in the muddy, charred field.
"What is she planning?" the red-nosed old maester muttered in confusion.
"The wildlings are retreating,"Ze, the camp follower, laughed as she pointed at the fleeing wildlings below. "Whatever Her Majesty's real plan is, we've just beaten back a hundred thousand wildlings with only one unlucky casualty! We've won!"
As she spoke, she grabbed a nearby Night's Watch brother and kissed him passionately. The brother was more than happy to respond.
Many among them, after all, had once been Ze's "customers."
Every brother received one of her garlic-flavored kisses—even the red-nosed old maester was pulled onto a crate and smothered with a few loud smacks.
That night, at the great hall of Castle Black—
The fireplace roared, making the hall warm and cozy like spring. Under the chandelier, the long wooden tables were laden with steaming food: roasted bread, fried salted cod, grilled sausages, braised beef, sour cheese, and oatmeal mixed with diced carrots and turnips.
The Night's Watch brothers, the orphans from Mole's Town, Ze the camp follower, and a few farmers who had come to help out—about forty or fifty people—sat along the two long side tables.
At the head table, placed horizontally, Daenerys sat in the center. To her left and right were Maester Aemon and Ser Barristan Selmy. Sharing the table with them were Ser Wynton Stout and blacksmith Donal.
Donal, a master smith, was acting as temporary commander of the castle, while Ser Wynton Stout, though noble-born and once a ranger for eighty years, was now elderly and senile, about the same age as Maester Aemon but much less sharp.
Jon and Perestan sat among the "common ranks," much to Maester Aemon's confusion. The maester felt Daenerys was not giving her scholars the respect they deserved.
However, the red-nosed old man, aware of the situation, awkwardly but firmly refused Aemon's offer to switch seats.
Sensing there must be hidden reasons behind this, the old maester did not insist.
Donal was merely a temporary commander, but Ser Wynton Stout was the legitimate acting castellan of Castle Black.
Notes: In the original novel, the number of wildlings varies—sometimes it's said to be a hundred thousand, sometimes forty to fifty thousand. After Stannis defeated the wildlings, it was mentioned that five thousand remained in the Haunted Forest (and this was before they moved to Hardhome).
Stannis didn't actually kill many wildlings—it's explicitly stated that Mance Rayder only lost around a thousand elite warriors.
As for how vast the land beyond the Wall is—It's about the size of Canada, with similar geography. Wildlings aren't concentrated in one place but are scattered among many different tribes.
After considering this, I've decided to set the total number of wildlings at around a hundred thousand—including women, children, and the elderly. After all, the lands beyond the Wall are huge, but the population is too sparse to form a real civilization.
(End of Chapter)
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