CHAPTER 114

289 AC

Now it was time to come to my senses; as sad as I was, wallowing in my own pain would not change anything. This war hit me in the face about something I already knew but forgot. I'm not invincible; I have to be more careful from now on. If an enchanted sword can ward against my spells, there may be many other things and people that I should be wary of.

There was one point where I was happy, for in my sadness. Now, I could turn into a bird and fly. I couldn't turn into a little bird yet, but I could turn into a big bird, like a golden eagle. So, I sent Poe and Erebus to scan all the mountainous areas in the North to find a golden eagle for me.

Meanwhile, I connected to the ravens I left in the great castles around the Westerlands and listened to what the lords in the castles were talking about. It seems our fat king got what he wanted... "a great war," but we lost all the battles at sea. The Lannister fleet was burned to the ground, and although Redwyne fought bravely, he had to retreat, losing half of his fleet. Losing all of those sea battles opened all the coastal regions of the Westerlands and Reach to raids.

Encouraged by his win over Redwyne, Euron Greyjoy even attacked Oldtown. I don't know much about the Hightowers, but I do know they're zealot followers of The Seven, and they're the second strongest and wealthiest families in Reach after the Tyrells. Euron was unable to break through Oldtown's walls but scorched the slums, which had not been protected by fortress walls, and retreated.

The only place that did not suffer great damage from this war was the North. I managed to protect almost the entire coastline of the North, but after I left, a second wave came and attacked Deepwood Motte thanks to the reinforcements from Winterfell, they managed to defend it without a problem. After that, some retreating forces attacked the coastal villages and towns of the North, but since these areas were evacuated, all they could do was burn the empty houses.

Our Porky King summoned all of his banners to Casterly Rock. Lord Stark has gathered 20,000 soldiers, left 5,000 to defend the North, and already set out with 15,000 soldiers. After turning into my Druid Emrys persona, I decided to go towards Deepwood Motte, and this time, I didn't need to go by ship because why would I use a ship when I can go over the sea at the speed of a race car? While on my way to the seashore, a black bear cub caught my eye, and I decided to bond with it. The cub hadn't even noticed our presence yet. I bent over the fast-running Sith and grabbed the cub by the nape of its neck.

Cub suddenly began to struggle and make weeping noises. To prevent this, I stunned her with the letagon (snare). The mother bear came out of the bushes furiously, trying to catch us, but there was no way she could keep up with the Sith's speed. I focused immediately and started to connect with the cub, maybe because I was level 4, maybe because my mana reached 300, and I was able to connect very quickly. Bonding took only 15 minutes and 100 mana. All that was left was naming it. It was a female, so I named it:

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"Your name from now on is Artio."

The bonding was over as soon as I gave the name, and I could feel my body getting stronger. The buff I got from my bond with Artio was a physical buff, I got +1 str, and my stamina was doubled. Now my base str was 7. Her mother was still chasing after us, so I used udrādȳñes ( command animal ).

"Stop!"

With this, mother bear stopped chasing us. I released Artio and said.

"Artio, go be with your mother. When you grow up, I will take you back."

It looked like she didn't want to go, so I said

"Go, don't worry, I will come back."

I used to watch a lot of documentaries, so I checked if I had any info about bears.

"Authenticate"

I had a lot of information about them; she needs to spend around 15-17 moons with her mother. In 4-5 years, it will become mature enough to mate, and in 8-10 years, it will be fully grown. Artio was bigger than a wolf, so it must be around 3 to 5 moons old.

"Berus, you stay here, protect Artio from a distance, and only get involved if it is deadly. If not, let her learn to fight."

The dog, which was bigger than a donkey, lied on the ground, took its head between its front paws, and said in a pleading tone:

"But master, I want to go to war with you too."

"Berus, this is important too. You will be responsible for raising one of your little siblings. When the war is finished, I will bring her to Wolfswood with her mother, and finally, when she learns to speak, talk to her a lot and have her practice."

"Yes, master."

I could almost swear he said yes with a grimace, like an older brother in charge of looking after his sister when the parents were out.

....

A WEEK AGO, MORMONT KEEP

POV MAEGE MORMONT

We had evacuated children, women, and the elderly because the ravens had announced a possible ironborn raid, but our women who knew how to fight decided to stay here and defend our home with us. We had about 350 soldiers, and 70 of them were women. We Bear Island people haven't become craven enough to leave our homes and run away when we see Ironborns, and we never will. We are a stubborn kind of people, and all of us will die before leaving this land. The only thing I want to be different is that I wish my brother were with us in these difficult times, but a few years ago, he left his seat to my nephew Jorah and took the black as their commander.

My nephew is a good man and a strong warrior but too green for this responsibility. He became a widow at such a young age that his Glover bride couldn't hold a child and died at her third miscarriage two years ago. He is a swarthy, hairy man with a thick black beard and a balding head. Mormont men have always gone bald at an early age. He is not particularly handsome, but he is not ugly either. As his aunt, I must find someone suitable and remarry him soon. While I was lost in my thought, we started hearing sounds of fighting and thunderous sounds coming one after another from the west side of the island. Jorah turned to me and said:

"Aunt, did we get reinforcement?"

"No, the reinforcement was at the very least four days away. It cannot be Lord Starks, men."

"Then we must go and check who is fighting."

"You cannot leave; you are the leader Jorah. I will go. I will take a small number of men and check it out."