31 chapter 31 : Departure to Hardhome
In the evening of the same day, Ramsay sat in his cell with bandages on his knees. He was recovering from a bad headache when Jon entered his cell whistling the Lannister anthem, "the rains of castamere" which some brothers of the night's watch had taught him.
Ramsay watched him approach with a slight smile as Jon sat on the ground right next to him with a tiny wooden jewelry box. He looked at Ramsay who was smiling and did the same.
Jon: Earthworms…
Ramsay: ??
Jon: Earthworms, certainly the living things at the lowest rungs of the Food Chain. We find them boring, disgusting and even useless, but it turns out that these vermin may have their importance in the animal kingdom or even on a global scale.
Ramsay: Did you take me captive to tell me about the vermin?
Jon: (pats his shoulder) Unfortunately for you, no. Ouch ! Rick really hit hard , he didn't miss you.
Ramsay: He is skilled and quick with a bow, much more than me and I am an excellent archer. Under other circumstances, he would be my target.
Jon: hum and you wouldn't have aimed for his legs. I heard about you Ramsay, a bad person, very bad. You tortured and flayed innocent people alive in your family's campaign of conquest.
Ramsay: We do what we can for our families.
Jon: Stop this charade, I have a lot of spies among your men and I have been told that you are a sadist who takes pleasure in torture. You even organized human hunts to feed your dogs.
Ramsay: (laughs) Unmasked. Everyone enjoys where they can.
Jon: See, I totally agree. For example, I take pleasure in everyone being rewarded according to their works. Coming back to our friends the worms, even the worst vermin in nature have a role and in the case of worms, they indicate that a fate is fertile or are food for other animals to survive. But you Ramsay, you are vermin who are useless and have done enough harm to people.
Ramsay: (laughs) Let's get this over with.
Jon: Do you know what insanity is ? For me, it's when someone does the same stupid thing over and over again, hoping for a different result, hoping that things will change. It's like you Ramsay.
Ramsay:…
Jon: Yes, you. There are two kinds of bastards, those who are considered mistakes by others but loved by their fathers and those who are considered mistakes by others but especially by their fathers, they don't even exist for them. (pinches his cheek) You belong to the second category Ramsay, you are a bastard that Roose didn't want and will never want, you do not exist for him or for anyone. That's why you like to hurt people because you're crazy. You repeat the same evil over and over again in the hope that doing it bad will make you exist in the eyes of your victims and even indirectly in the eyes of your father, but it's useless.
Ramsay: (Breathes nervously)
Jon: You...are...nothing at all.
He opened the wooden box where there were four Centipedes about 10 cm long, they resembled caterpillars in their movements.
Jon: I was told that you like dogs, they are really brave animals, very loyal. Do you like to feed them innocent people? I like to feed animals too . See, i brought these creatures back from Essos, they are carnivorous parasites that attack flocks of sheep. They enter the bodies of their victims to devour them from the inside little by little. The worst thing is that they lay eggs inside and their larva is very greedy, it takes three months for a sheep to die from these things, three months of horrible pain and I wonder what the effects will be on a human...
Ramsay's gaze turned serious as Jon tore a hole in his clothing before depositing the carnivorous centipedes inside.
"Did i ever tell you what the definition of insanity is…?!" Jon asked him smiling before getting up and leaving as groans of pain began to be heard behind him.
He felt dirty so he went to the hot Stark baths where he saw Lyra taking a bath even though it was getting late. He looked at the fit body of the pretty blue-eyed brunette and he even noticed some scars on his future wife's body.
"Can I join you ? I need a clean myself and we could rub each other's backs…" He said with slight amusement and Lyra abruptly turned around seeing that he was already there and hid her chest.
Lyra: Majesty!! I'm sorry, these baths are normally reserved for Starks...
Jon: You are my future bride, your place is in this bath. Can I join you there ? Don't worry, I won't do anything inappropriate.
Lyra: Taking your bath with me now is already inappropriate but...I don't see much of a problem with it.
He entered the bath and stood close to her as Lyra blushed.
Lyra: Earlier, were you serious ? Do you really like me?
Jon: Honestly? I like you a lot. I find you very beautiful and I admire the attitude of the women of Bear Island. I even wonder why Stark men didn't marry Mormont women more frequently. You represent both the beauty and bravery of the North.
Lyra: You represent all of this much better than I do. I never thought you would lay your eyes on me…never.
Jon: I may not have told you this yet but I am deeply sorry for your mother and your sisters.
Lyra: They died proudly doing their duty while I was wounded. I shouldn't even be here talking to you.
Jon: Do you regret that we shared this moment? Your sisters and your mother died bravely for an idiot who prioritized love over duty, Robb was not worthy of their deaths and I will never forgive him for sacrificing so many good children of the North .1I loved him, I loved my brother, but too many sacrifices were not honored by him.
Lyra: Forgive me, I don't regret being with you. You are handsome , you are strong, you are kind, you are intelligent and you are a king, I am very lucky. (walks towards him) I just can't believe it's true.1I've been thinking about what you said earlier about the Stark's sword, Ice.
Jon : Hum ?
Lyra : You should take it and carry your family's inheritance as well as Lord Eddard Stark's will. I don't know what happened between you, but he was a man of honor and if others couldn't honor him properly then you should do it while carrying his sword if you really loved him.
Jon :...
Lyra : You must leave the wounds of the past where they are, we have a kingdom to build, my king.
"And you will certainly be an exceptional queen, Lady Mormont..."Jon said smiling and came closer to kiss her, Lyra happily responded to his kiss but they didn't go any further .
He told her that he would like to know her more and they spent time talking, they talked a lot to learn as much about each other.
Jon wiped the towel on her, she did the same, he made her laugh with his humor and they greatly appreciated the moment shared between them. Somehow, Lyra wished it would never end.
The next morning, Jon saw Stannis but didn't say much to him, he then went to a meeting with the others to talk about their future plans and work out several other things.
The time of his departure came and he went to chat with Lyra in private, it took only one night of chatting with him for the girl to fall in love with him so this chat was more of an exchange of kisses than anything else.
They separated and Jon left with Bran's quest companions towards Nightfort. Jon had mutated all the resistance horses the day before, they weren't as powerful as Shadow but they were far superior to normal horses.
They arrived at their destination in a day and a half and Jon made sure to equip them properly with dragon steel weapons but also vials of wildfire which is more stable than normal wildfire as well as food.
They slept in Jon's fortress during the preparations and he had increased their physical improvements as well as their combat protocol to level 9, he left them in the company of Night his raven who if necessary would serve as their guide because he knew perfectly the upper North.
Dressed in black with the same clothes as the sworn brothers, clothes made from mutated elk and deer hides capable of stopping even arrows, Bran's company crossed the wall to begin their quest towards the great weirwood.
Jon wasted no time and immediately began arranging with the Lord Commander for their departure to Hardhome with their ships and the fleet they confiscated from Stannis.
They were also missing two ships because they had been sent on a mission to DragonStone by the Lord Commander.
When Jon asked to know more about this mission, he was told that the lack of Dragonglass was felt for the future war so Maester Aemon had remembered a large deposit of dragonglass in a cave in DragonStone so Jeor had sent men and equipment to begin the extraction of the precious ore as well as its transportation.
Jon praised this initiative and they began preparations, he spoke with Mance and the other leaders who agreed to accompany them to help convince their people especially Mag who now had great regard for Jon, the man who won his respect and wanted to save his people, a people in danger of disappearing.
Jon then went to the other side of the wall on Shadow with Ghost towards the haunted forest where Ghost smelled the trail of a certain pack of direwolves.
Apparently, they knew Ghost since they were quite calm when he arrived.
Jon had not come empty handed and had dragged the carcasses of two mutant deer loaded with nano robots and left them to the pack of direwolves who were quite docile with Ghost's presence, Jon looked at his wolf suspiciously, he didn't know what Ghost had done to them but it sure was terrible.
"Take their command and grow your pack, I'll grow mine at Hardhome. I'm going to come back after this to get you and your pack to take you through the wall, an army of direwolves would be terrible under the command of the Starks" Jon gave the instructions to Ghost who licked his face making sad sounds before leaving to join the pack of direwolves .
"I love you too brother, see you later..." Jon said as he left to return to the wall where he was brought in and left straight for Eastwatch-by-the-sea where the others were preparing the ships at the start for Hardhome, he had to save these people and reunite all the children of the North.
The plan was simple, the Halfhand was going to take the fleet towards Hardhome to take part of the population wishing to cross the wall while the others would go on foot, this would normally be faster but it was necessary to foresee a probability that the land route would no longer be practicable.
