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CHAPTER 289 An Assassin
297 AC
POV THIRD PERSON
This was a pleasant surprise for Ned, Rickon becoming a druid and Aermir deciding to teach his other children. Aermir said, "We need to have as many people with magical abilities as possible. The war for our future is coming, we might need every help we got."
Deep inside, Ned was really happy; his family would have a perfect foundation when all of his children become powerful druids, and with Aermir's support, no one could challenge them; at least for the next century, his house was safe. He got out of his thoughts and said, "I believe everything you said to be truth when I call; the North has to come, and most of them will come with all their forces, but Houses like Ryswells, Dustins, and Boltons will most likely hold back. As for the Southern lords, I know you told me they won't give us real support, but I think we should still try to get as much support as possible."
Aermir smiled sarcastically," I never expected them to give us real support, as I have told you before, but I never said we were not expecting them to support us. I need them to at least not act up until we beat the Night King and at least provide us with 20 or 30 percent of their forces, but things changed; it won't be enough."
Aermir told Ned about what he experienced and the cause of that pillar of verdant light. Aermir sighed and continued, "That is why we need more people and support from them. I don't think we can be enough. I have underestimated Night King and white walkers' power. I am not strong enough to face him, at least not right now, and no ordinary man can face a white walker. You can't even hurt them without magic. He had 20 white walkers in the dreamscape, and he could have more. Every one of them would be more powerful than thousands of men since they too can raise the dead."
Aermir sat in the chair and began tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table next to him. "We would need more magical weapons and soldiers than I had planned."
Ned looked confused, "I am confused. Didn't you say the normal soldiers couldn't hurt them? Can you provide magical weapons for a whole army?"
Aermir shook his head, "No, of course not. I can only prove enough for my army and maybe yours, but that fight wasn't a complete beatdown for me. I have learned something, too. Dragon glass—we need lots of it. We will be creating spears, daggers, and arrows from it. It is one of their weaknesses. Do you know anywhere we could mine it?"
Ned nodded vehemently after learning they had a ray of light, "Yes, Dragonstone is full of it, but it is under the control of Stannis. We need to establish a connection with him."
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Aermir wrote something on a paper and called for a raven. He had sent a message to Kegan to send some Ravenguard to Dragonstone to collect information. Aermir needed to learn what made Stannis tick.
....
The next day, as the Druid, Aermir walked among the Night's Watchmen. Jeor Mormont was accompanying him. They were talking about the Free Folks and how they wanted to make a pilgrimage to the Fist of the First Men since his magic caused a spectacle. After some mediating, Jeor accepted them to do it if they were going to be unarmed.
As they were talking, a watchman with a hood approached Aermir from behind and pulled out a dagger, stabbing it in his neck.
"For House Blackthorn!"
As the dagger made contact with his neck, an unnatural sound was heard. The blow caused Aermir to lose his balance and fall. Since he always had his two defensive buffs active all the time, Aermir's guard was lowered. He was angry himself for acting so loose and arrogant. What if the assassin was not this idiot but a real one with a magical weapon? He could have been seriously wounded or worse.
Jeor punched the young man and pulled his Valyrian steel sword. Started shouting orders" Catch him! " He pulled his hood and turned to his aide right next to him. "Is he one of us?"
One of the reasons the strike could affect him so much was because of this sword. Valyrian Steel was not strong enough to dispel Aermir's spells anymore, but it still weakened them a bit. The crack on his wooden neck mended itself and returned to normal.
Aermir got up and stood right in front of the young man; his eyes were full of hatred. If he could, he would rip Aermir apart with his teeth. "I am Alaric Blacktorn the son of Sir Reynard Blackthorn!"
"House Blackthorn... They were a zealot house in the Sisters. So you are one of those I sent here." The young man started to struggle while being held down by two men screaming profanities, "You pagan, tree fucker! I will kill you. I will kill all of you! What have you done to my father!"
"Your father?" At that moment, realization dawned on Aermir. "Oh... You mean that idiot who tried to kill me when Sistermen Lords surrendered." Aermir released a hearty laughter, "Like father like son. He had tried to pull something like this, too." When he heard how Aermir talked about his father, the young man started to rage more and acted like crazy while foaming from the mouth.
Joer slapped the man with a powerful backhand and busted his mouth; blood flew to the ground and mixed with the snow on the ground. "You are no Night's Watchman. You are an oathbreaker for trying to assassinate a protector of the realm. Take him away. He will pay for his crimes."
Just as the two men were about to drag him away, "Wait." Aermir raised his hand and said, "Commander Mormont, if it is acceptable for you, I would love to give his punishment myself."
Jear thought for a second and gave Aermir an approving nod, but he added, "He is a traitor to the Watch. His punishment needs to be death." Aermir gave a bow with his head, "That is my plan too, but I want to punish him the same way as his father, and for that, he needs to be taken to the Temple."
Joer said, "We will send him with the next criminal collection." Aermir approached Alaric's face and talked with a voice only he could hear, "Your father is still alive minus two legs since the mutation experiments caused him to lose them, and every day, he begs me to kill him."
Aermir was about to leave, but he wanted to make an example of him, so he imbued mana into his voice so everyone could hear him. "I let your family name continue when you are nothing but defeated dogs. You wouldn't have offered the same courtesy to the defeated side if you were the victorious. So, I will end House Blackthorn and create a new house based on the groom's surname. From today on, there will be no trace of your house on the Sisters. I am going to erase them from every record I get my hands on."
Upon hearing this, Alaric started to rage more as the man dragged him away. Aermir was still continuing his mutation experiments. He still was not successful in mutating others. They usually died in a few months or lost their limbs right away, but he knew failure was the mother of success.
As he kept trying, he would reach a breakthrough. He was still hopeful since he was able to achieve minor things like the ones he delivered to Kegan and Harlik, but real mutation was not possible for others, at least not yet.