New chapter! Thanks for all the support!
x
Thud, thud!
The heavy blade of Ice swept through a criminal's neck and easily took his head. The round skull fell onto the wooden floor of the temporary execution platform with a string of dull thumps.
The platform had been built outside the winter town. At this moment, thousands of northern and Westerlands smallfolk were watching in silence, not daring to make a sound. On one side of the platform, an enormous creature watched them silently.
A small portion of the criminals being beheaded on the platform had been caught for taking advantage of the chaos at the beginning of the war to steal, rob, and commit other crimes.
At that time, Robb had taken most of Winterfell's fighting strength away. Then bad news had come from nowhere, claiming Tywin's army had surrounded Robb's forces. These people had given in to wicked thoughts and tried to profit.
The North's soldiers and smallfolk were generally united, but there would always be a few rotten grains in any sack.
The majority of the remaining criminals had emerged because Winterfell's population had swelled sharply in recent days while patrols and guards were insufficient. Many gang-like groups had begun committing organized crimes.
Robb had already learned of these conditions on the way home through Sam's intelligence network, which now covered the entire North.
After returning to Winterfell, the first political matter he handled was restoring order to the winter town with thunderous severity.
Last night, two thousand Winterfell light cavalry suddenly moved out. First, they blocked every exit from the winter town. Then, following intelligence provided by Sam, they trapped the criminals inside and swept them up.
In the end, the cavalry arrested one hundred and thirty-two criminals that night and killed twelve armed criminals on the spot when they resisted.
Under Eddard's previous rules, these criminals would not have been executed. They would have been sent to Castle Black to serve as men of the Night's Watch.
Perhaps that had been part of what gave them the courage to commit crimes. At worst, they would become watchmen.
But because Robb had only one blood pact point left after adding points the day before, he urgently needed more to supply the wolf pups and strengthen Bloodwind's Magic attribute.
Therefore, Robb directly invoked the reason that wartime chaos required heavy punishment. He divided the one hundred and sixty-three criminals into two batches and had them executed before the winter town as a warning to others.
After finishing the execution of the eighty criminals in the morning, Robb handed the bloodstained Ice to Gendry beside him, then took the black cloak Gendry offered and draped it over his shoulders.
"Have them clean this up. We continue this afternoon. Dacey, Gendry, we will go to the kennels first, then to the godswood to see this miracle."
Robb gave Dacey, her face flushed, an order, then mounted Bloodwind, who lay nearby.
Dacey, once again performing her duties as captain of his personal guard, nodded and brought two warhorses over. After Gendry cleaned the blood from Ice and sheathed it again, the three of them rode away together.
Only after Bloodwind carried Robb away did all the watching smallfolk begin talking, venting the emotions in their hearts.
In recent days, these criminal gangs made up of both northerners and Westerlands men had constantly extorted and bullied them, leaving the winter town's smallfolk angry but afraid to speak.
Now Robb had personally acted to punish evil and root out criminals. The smallfolk of the winter town clapped and cheered before the pile of criminal heads and praised Robb's justice and wisdom.
Executing eighty criminals in the morning had earned a total of one hundred and sixty blood pact points.
During the executions, Robb had added two points to Bloodwind's Magic attribute. After arriving at the kennels, he evenly distributed the remaining sixty-one blood pact points, thirty each, to the blood-kin pups.
Nymeria and Lady lay listlessly in their dens, recovering from their wounds. The red mist from adding points had passed through them and benefited them more or less, and their injuries were already much better than the night before.
After playing for a while with the lively wolf pups, Robb and Bloodwind left the kennels and headed for the nearby godswood.
Crunch, crunch!
Robb stepped over the fallen leaves covering the ground of the godswood and arrived beside the clear, calm lake, its surface without a single ripple. The heart tree, thick enough that at least three men would be needed to embrace it, came into view. Its branches and leaves were lush green.
'It really came back to life. Does the Three-Eyed Crow truly possess such an ability?'
Before leaving for war, Robb had personally come to see the effect of the concentrated brine. At the time, the heart tree's leaves had all fallen, and its bare trunk had been mottled dead gray. No matter how one looked at it, the heart tree had absolutely withered and died.
He had not expected the Three-Eyed Crow to possess the ability to restore a plant to life. It forced Robb to seriously consider how to deal with this Three-Eyed Crow hidden in the shadows.
Just as Robb lowered his head in thought, he accidentally saw a strange footprint in the mud near the heart tree. It was identical to the one he had found by the kennel gate the day before.
One could have been a child's footprint accidentally overlapping with an animal's. But seeing such a print twice made Robb begin observing carefully.
After staring at the strange footprint in thought for a moment, Robb suddenly turned, drew Ice from Gendry's hand, and thrust it into the soil beside the print.
Ice met little resistance and easily sank more than halfway into the ground. Robb rocked it left and right, feeling the texture. Then he pulled Ice out, walked to the other side of the lake farther from the heart tree, and thrust it into the soil beneath his feet again.
This time, Ice clearly did not sink as deeply as before. Less than half the blade entered the earth. Robb then tried several more places with the sword.
"Clear all the fallen leaves around the heart tree to the side."
After once again rocking Ice left and right, Robb nodded to himself, pulled the sword free, and ordered Gendry and Dacey.
"Yes, Your Grace!"
The two of them had been quietly watching Robb's strange actions. After hearing the order, they answered and immediately began working.
Rustle, rustle!
Gendry and Dacey crouched down and swept the fallen leaves aside with their hands. Before long, the leaves around the heart tree had been cleared farther away.
"Whew. No miracle happened. This heart tree is not the one that withered and died before."
After carefully observing the soil around the heart tree, Robb let out a slightly relieved breath and told Gendry and Dacey his conclusion.
"Not a miracle? Your Grace, do you mean this heart tree was replaced? How did you see that? It looks exactly the same to me."
Gendry immediately reacted to Robb's words. He turned and examined the heart tree beside him as he spoke.
"I tested it with Ice just now. The soil near the heart tree is softer than the soil elsewhere.
"It was blocked by these leaves earlier, but now look. Is the color of the soil around the heart tree different from the surrounding earth?
"That means this large patch of earth was recently turned."
Hearing Gendry's words, Robb explained the meaning of thrusting his sword into the soil and having them clear the leaves.
Seeing both Gendry and Dacey look enlightened, Robb continued.
"Unless their growth is deliberately restricted, weirwoods actually look rather similar. If someone chose a similar one as a replacement, people like us, who are not familiar with them, truly could not tell the difference.
"But as long as this is not a miracle, then whoever did it must have left traces.
"If the withered heart tree had been burned, it would certainly have caused a great commotion and drawn attention. Therefore, it must be hidden somewhere in the godswood.
"But that no longer matters, because I am sure my judgment is correct."
"Right. When Lady Catelyn heard that a miracle had happened and the heart tree had revived, she asked me to accompany her here to pray.
"After the prayer, on the way back to the inner castle, she once said this heart tree seemed a little different. I did not pay much attention at the time, but after hearing Your Grace explain it, I remember now."
After hearing Robb's words, Dacey recalled the memory and immediately spoke.
"Mm. My mother often comes to the godswood. She should have sensed the difference in the heart tree."
"But even if no one usually pays attention to the godswood, a heart tree this large would require many people and equipment to replace.
"Winterfell has had no large-scale movement of people or equipment recently."
Dacey stated the key problem with Robb's claim that the heart tree had been replaced.
Gendry, who had been listening silently, saw Dacey analyze the matter clearly and looked at her with open admiration.
"Mm. That was what puzzled me at first as well. But look at this footprint."
Robb nodded and pointed to the strange footprint beside the heart tree.
"I saw one yesterday at the kennel gate. But perhaps because people often pass that way, that print was much shallower than this one."
"This... does not look like a human footprint."
"Mm. Right. It is certainly not human."
Looking at the strange print, Gendry's pupils widened as he hesitantly gave his judgment. Dacey immediately nodded in agreement.
"A wise man in my previous life once said, 'When you have ruled out all impossibilities, whatever remains, however unbelievable, must be the truth.'
"So although it is difficult for us to accept, the one who replaced the heart tree was not human."
After glancing at the shocked Gendry and Dacey, Robb turned his head toward the distant north and voiced the truth in his mind.
"Dacey, where did the rumors begin about miracles in the North, about withered heart trees reviving?"
Hearing Robb's question, Dacey lifted her head and looked at the tall heart tree. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Because I handled that matter in secret with my people, I paid close attention to the revived heart trees.
"Mm. The first rumors came from Last Hearth. The heart tree in their godswood was the last to wither and die. So after the miracle occurred, House Umber loudly proclaimed that they were the house most blessed by the old gods.
"Then came Karhold, the Dreadfort, Winterfell, and Castle Cerwyn, where the miracle was said to have happened just before you returned.
"Mm. I remember correctly. That was the order."
"As expected. The order of these heart trees reviving is their path from north to south."
Listening to Dacey's account, Robb drew a route across the map of the North in his mind and spoke with certainty.
"The castles close to Castle Cerwyn include Torrhen's Square, Hornwood, and Deepwood Motte. In terms of distance, Torrhen's Square is closer, but House Tallhart's godswood has always planted their house sigil, the sentinel tree.
"So... Gendry, go notify all the cavalry to assemble and prepare. Once I find people to prepare some things, we leave for Deepwood Motte at once."
"Yes, Your Grace!"
Gendry did not ask further. After receiving the order, he turned and ran toward the place outside the godswood where they had left the horses.
"Your Grace, why do you judge their next target to be Deepwood Motte?"
Watching Gendry run farther away, Dacey asked in confusion.
"Because compared with barren Hornwood, they will instinctively prefer Deepwood Motte, which lies deep within the vast Wolfswood."
Robb recalled some basic knowledge of them from his previous life and answered with confidence.
Once the target was confirmed in his mind, everything that had happened in Winterfell made sense. That was why Nymeria and Lady had suddenly grown aggressive, and why Brandon had disappeared from Winterfell with Osha and Hodor.
A few days later, in the Wolfswood outside Deepwood Motte.
Deepwood Motte sat on a hill north of Sea Dragon Point. Perhaps because it happened to stand within the Wolfswood and possessed abundant timber, the entire castle was made of wood, a true wooden fortress.
Because of the terrain, Deepwood Motte's godswood had not been built inside the castle. It lay in the nearby Wolfswood.
"Ned, are you certain this is the route from Castle Cerwyn to the godswood?"
Robb, lying quietly in ambush outside the godswood, asked the man beside him, who was wrapped in thick animal furs and had lost most of his nose.
"Yes, Your Grace. Other than the main road from Winterfell to Deepwood Motte, anyone coming from the south through the Wolfswood to this godswood would certainly come this way."
Noseless Ned gave a smile on his terrifying face and answered with absolute certainty.
Ned Woods was the best hunter and guide among the Woods clan living in the Wolfswood.
After Lord Glover of Deepwood Motte learned Robb's purpose, he not only offered Deepwood Motte's soldiers but also had this guide loyal to his house bring Robb and his men to the godswood.
In his words, Ned was the man who knew the Wolfswood best in all the world.
"Mm. I hope they do not disappoint me."
Robb looked at the dead heart tree in the distance and murmured.
The first day of ambush yielded nothing. On the second day, in order to keep the soldiers energetic, Robb divided them into two groups and had them take turns lying in wait.
But the second and third days still brought no result, making even Robb begin to doubt his judgment.
Only on the fourth day, under a full moon in the deep night, did movement finally come from the Wolfswood outside the godswood. Three small figures moved nimbly through the moonlit forest full of trees and thorns, drawing closer and closer to the godswood.
Robb, who had been drowsy, immediately came awake through Bloodwind's thought and began watching. However, human sight was too weak at night. Only through Bloodwind's repeated thoughts did he roughly know the movements of the three shadows.
Only when they came beside the withered heart tree could Robb, hidden nearby, roughly make out their outlines by the moonlight.
In the night, their exact appearance could not be seen. But from their shapes, they seemed like three small human children.
As Robb concentrated on watching, a magical sight appeared before his eyes. Two of the small figures walked to either side of the dead heart tree and crouched down.
Then those two small figures seemed to turn into two writhing lumps of soft clay, twisting and swelling continuously. In the end, they settled into the shapes of two woolly mammoths with thick, long tusks.
Bang, bang!
The moment the woolly mammoths took form, they lowered their heads and struck the base of the dead heart tree again and again with their long tusks, producing heavy dull impacts.
Crack!
After only a short time, the dead heart tree snapped at its roots and fell. The two mammoths, clearly practiced, worked together with their tusks to fork up the dead tree and move it to the side.
"Ned, do you see those three shadows?
"We are about to encircle and capture them. If any breaks through and escapes, follow immediately and leave marks for us. Do you understand?"
Looking at the destructive woolly mammoths, Robb's eyes filled with interest. He turned his head and ordered Ned beside him, then sent a thought to Bloodwind.
The capture begins.
Awhoo!
A penetrating wolf howl rang out, instantly spreading through the godswood and even to Deepwood Motte not far away.
After hearing the howl, the two woolly mammoths immediately stopped. The small figure who had remained in place heard it as well, ran at once toward the two mammoths, and shouted at them in a strange language.
The tones of that strange language were like song. Even though the small figure's voice was anxious, it still gave off a beautiful, pleasant feeling.
Tap, tap, tap!
Clatter, clatter, clatter!
After the wolf howl, countless torches suddenly lit around the godswood. They formed a circle enclosing the entire grove.
More than a thousand men, made up of Winterfell cavalry and Deepwood Motte infantry, tightened the encirclement. Some rode along the outside on horseback, while others advanced in formation, steadily shrinking the ring.
Mwooo!
One woolly mammoth shook its great head from side to side at the small figure. Then it opened its mouth, stretched its thick trunk, and let out a booming roar toward the countless torches suddenly lighting around them.
Thud, thud!
After roaring, the mammoth stepped heavily toward the direction they had come from, like a road-opening battering ram.
The other mammoth, after hearing the small figure's strange language, once again turned into a mass of twisting soft clay.
In the blink of an eye, the clay took form. It changed from a woolly mammoth into an adult gray direwolf.
The direwolf swiftly came to the small figure and let her climb onto its back, then followed close behind the mammoth breaking the path.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
From the darkness outside the godswood, arrows kept flying toward the obvious massive target.
The woolly mammoth's thick hide blocked many arrows. Even when a few broke through and pierced its hide, they were stopped by the dense layer of fat beneath and could not cause any real injury.
The arrows were little more than scratches.
The mammoth endured the rain of arrows and kept approaching the Deepwood Motte infantry advancing in formation. When it crashed into their ranks, it immediately stirred up a storm of blood and flesh.
Bang, bang!
The first few Deepwood Motte infantrymen to meet it forcibly suppressed their fear and stabbed at the mammoth with spears. But the moment the spearheads struck its thick hide, the men were sent flying by its enormous strength.
The soldiers screamed, spraying blood, and fell into the dark Wolfswood.
Using its momentum, the woolly mammoth knocked more than a dozen infantrymen away in succession before the others surrounded it and began stabbing at its body with spears.
Its hide was especially thick, but it could not withstand such punishment forever. In moments, the mammoth's thick legs and underside were covered in blood.
Awhoo!
A low wolf howl sounded. The direwolf carrying the small figure appeared before the Deepwood Motte infantry holding torches.
By the light of the many torches, they could now clearly see the small figure's appearance.
From a distance, she looked like a little girl. But her entire body was dressed in clothing woven from leaves and bark, making her look like a wildling.
Her next action, however, told everyone that she was absolutely no ordinary little girl.
She took a perfectly round black ball the size of a palm from her leaf clothing and threw it hard toward the group of Deepwood Motte infantry surrounding the mammoth.
Hiss, hiss!
The round black ball actually began burning by itself in midair. Then a soft blue light rose from its surface, growing brighter and brighter until it became like a meteor trailing a blue tail of flame as it fell among the infantry.
An orange-red fireball rose with the explosion. At least five or six Deepwood Motte infantrymen were swallowed by the blast and lost their lives.
Bang, bang, bang!
The little girl riding the direwolf took three more round black balls from her clothes and threw them toward the Deepwood Motte infantry.
Amid repeated violent explosions, the infantry kept retreating. The unknown black balls had nearly driven them to collapse.
Just as the flames from the fourth explosion rose beside the woolly mammoth, a great white shadow used the fire as cover and appeared behind it.
The little girl on the direwolf spotted the huge white shadow and immediately warned the mammoth in that strange language.
But in the end, she was too slow. The huge white shadow sprang up from behind the mammoth in a sudden ambush.
Rip!
Bloodwind's two sharp foreclaws stabbed fiercely into the mammoth's back and raked backward, instantly tearing two deep bloody wounds across it.
Not only that, but the ice breath Bloodwind had already prepared sprayed at close range onto the mammoth's back. White ice crystals instantly covered its broad back and spread outward at a visible speed.
The already blood-soaked mammoth suffered such a heavy blow that its mountain-like body toppled heavily to the right, crushing several Deepwood Motte infantry corpses into pulp.
Before it fell, Bloodwind used the momentum to flip nimbly away and land easily on the ground.
Robb, seated steadily on Bloodwind's back, looked at the direwolf opposite them, much smaller than Bloodwind, and at the child of the forest on its back.
He spoke loudly. "Leaf, yes? I know you can speak the Common Tongue of Westeros. Put down your weapon and have your companions return to their true forms.
"We can make some tea, prepare a few pastries, and sit down for a proper talk."
While Robb was speaking, the woolly mammoth, whether because its injuries were too severe or because the transformation time had ended, changed once again.
It became a mass of writhing soft clay and kept shrinking until it finally became a child of the forest who looked much like Leaf.
Her whole body was covered in wounds. Even after she transformed, the ice crystals formed by Bloodwind's breath still froze her back.
It was precisely because of that that the two deep wounds Bloodwind had torn into her back did not bleed heavily.
Leaf looked at her wounded clanswoman and sang a mournful song, like a bird keening blood from its throat.
Although Robb and the others could not understand the specific meaning, they were infected by the pure song and felt sorrow rise in their hearts, even the urge to weep.
The song stopped abruptly. Leaf once again took a round black ball from her clothes and threw it toward the badly wounded child of the forest, shouting in the Common Tongue, "Humans, you will never capture us!"
x
x
x
If you're enjoying the story so far, consider supporting me on Patreon ❤️
You'll get weekly early access to chapters, along with some exclusive content:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheDevotedReader