“That's insane.” Sir Davos said when Tyrion was done. “You want to leave all of the support people and only a quarter of our fighting forces to travel from here to the Eyrie?”
“No, they don't have to travel all the way.” Tyrion said. “They only need to get to the first castle that's a few days away. Once there, thanks to the way the path is set up, if the dead army follows them, they can be easily dealt with.”
“You don't believe they will.” Jon said.
“No, because the remaining three quarters will lead them away from this route and continue on to King's Landing.” Tyrion explained. “We nearly stopped them at Winterfell. We can stop them at the Eyrie with a fraction of the force, if we keep them occupied and attacking.”
“Which we couldn't do, because only so many can come towards the Eyrie at a time.” Daenerys said. “You fully expect the rest of the army of the dead to continue on.”
“Yes, my Queen.” Tyrion said. “There won't be enough conflict to hold their interest, so they will seek out other living things to attack.” He said. “Once the army passes the entrance to the Eyrie, the force we leave behind will be in a perfect position to attack from behind.”
“Where the majority of the white walkers are.” Jorah Mormont said. “They are still protected by a mass of the dead.”
“Are they?” Tyrion asked and let another smile show on his face.
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
“We assumed they will continue to protect the white walkers to maintain the army, and yet at Riverrun, the army split and the white walkers came forward to freeze the water.”
“The white walkers don't need to be protected if there is no battle for them to be protected from.” Jon said. “They saw us from miles away at Winterfell and prepared a defense. They wouldn't need a defense anymore if all they are doing is chasing their prey.”
“You do realize that we are that prey.” Varys said.
“All we need to do is keep doing what we were doing.” Tyrion said. “They are following us. Where we go, they go.” He said. “We can trap them with a force in front and a force in behind.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” Samwell Tarly asked. “You just said there's not enough of us to stop them.”
“You plan to use the Golden Army to fight.” Varys said when he understood what Tyrion intended.
“That's right, my friend.” Tyrion said. “I doubt I can get the King's Guard or the Lannister army to engage as well, though.”
“Yes, that would be too much to ask.” Varys said and squinted his eyes for a few moments, then he nodded. “I need to send a message to the city.”
“Get a Maester over here.” Jorah barked and an unsullied ran to get one.
“There's no rush. We have three weeks yet to get to King's Landing.” Varys said.
“After travelling to the first castle, if the force we leave here is delayed a few days to a week while waiting for the army of the dead to pass by before they can follow, we will only be a week away from King's Landing.” Tyrion said. “We don't have a lot of time for anything else.”
“Not we.” Daenerys said. “You will stay here with the reserve force.”
“My Queen, I...”
“Only you can be an accurate judge of when to follow the army of the dead safely.” Daenerys said. “I'm sure you would be useful riding a horse at my side when we reach the capital; but, we are fighting a losing battle. I need you in the right position to give me the best advantage to win.”
“I will stay as well.” Jon said, to everyone's surprise, especially Dani's.
“Jon...” Daenerys wasn't sure what to say.
“I'm sure the unsullied don't need a leader, since they are the best trained army I have ever seen.” Jon said. “However, what they don't have, is this.” He said and popped his sword out of its scabbard. “You told me how the white walkers reacted to the dragon glass on the Dothraki weapons. It hurt and killed them as if they were normal and the weapons were normal.” He said. “Valerian steel destroys them.”
“Jorah...” Daenerys started to say.
“Is your personal knight.” Jon said. “He would be useless if he is worrying about you all the time.”
“Does that mean you don't?” Daenerys asked.
Jon slid the sword back into its scabbard and stepped close to her. “My Queen.” He said and put his arms around her. “Day and night I think of you. I do worry; but, you are as safe as you can possibly be right now. I know I can be more useful to you if I help you this way, than I would be by riding at your side and not doing anything except staring at you.”
Daenerys smiled at the admission, then she sighed. “I don't want you to go.”
“That's always going to be a problem.” Jon said and gave her a quick kiss, then he let her go and stepped back. “We should decide who you are leaving behind for this.”
“Greyworm.” Daenerys said. “This is going to be very dangerous.”
“My Queen. I will assign the best and most experienced unsullied to do this task.” Greyworm said.
“Not you.” Daenerys said.
“No, My Queen. You need me here and I will stay.” Greyworm said. “The army of the dead pursues us and I will slow them down as much as possible.”
Daenerys nodded.
“Have the men you choose gather with the caravans.” Tyrion said. “We will need to head off as soon as possible if we are to be ignored by the dead as they pass by.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“You should give packs of provisions to the soldiers as well as stock up the horses you take with you.” Varys said to Daenerys and Greyworm. “I'm sure you should have no trouble gathering enough food along the way to last until King's Landing. However, it is always better to plan for thin rations.”
“Make it so.” Daenerys said and everyone quickly left the vicinity to leave her and Jon alone.
“We don't have time for me to say goodbye properly.” Jon said to make her smile and hugged her again.
“Do your best.” Daenerys said and he nodded, then he kissed her. They both knew they wouldn't see each other for several weeks, and that was only if everything went right. Jon put as much feeling and emotion into the kiss as he could, and Dani did the same. She would be slightly less without him by her side; but, she would endure. She needed to reclaim the throne that was stolen from her family and Jon would do everything he could to help her do that.
They broke the kiss and stared into each other's eyes for several moments, then Jon gave her a bow and walked towards the caravans to join up with Tyrion. Missandei would be coming as well, since Daenerys wouldn't need her services while leading the army of the dead into a deadly trap. Varys would be staying with Tyrion and they would time their assault on the rear of the army of the dead to have the most impact. Too early and they would be wiped out before removing any of the white walkers. Too late and Daenerys and her army would be wiped out instead.
It took a surprisingly short time to divide the army and the caravans into two parts and the part they were leaving to guard the caravans moved off towards the Eyrie. Once that was done, the remaining three quarters of the army waited for the others to disappear from sight into the craggy valley and quickly made a trench and a berm behind it to cover a good portion of the entryway. They would leave a scout close by to observe and make sure that the army of the dead actually passed by and followed the others.
The others couldn't stick around and wait for the dead to show up, however. They had a good lead on them and they needed to keep it, in order to make defenses along the way to King's Landing. They hoped that anything they did to stem the flow of the army of the dead would be beneficial in the end. No one would know it if it was, though. Except Bran, and he hadn't said where he was retreating to.
With the berm completed, Daenerys led her slightly reduced army towards King's Landing with the two dragons flying overhead.
*
Qyburn, former Maester and current Hand of the Queen to Cersei Lannister, was surprised when a message was delivered to him. It was fairly large and he was curious as to what it contained. He opened it and read a very short message from an anonymous sender, then he unfolded the large piece of parchment and stared at the field traps it thoroughly described the construction of. It even had the best places to put them and their best uses.
Qyburn was shocked by this, then read the terse note again. 'The dead are coming. This was used at Winterfell and they almost won. Use more land.'
Should I tell the queen? Qyburn asked himself, thought about it for several moments, then shook his head. No, I am her Hand. I am responsible for the welfare of the citizens.
He quickly wrote out instructions to copy the plans and to have the Lannister army construct them as far away from the city as possible. The Golden Company would start near the city walls and work their way out. The two forces should meet in the middle and recruit the local militia to populate the trenches, then the two armies were to retreat back to the city.
With all of them working, they should have it all done by the time the army of the dead approach. Qyburn thought and left his little office to deliver the orders.
*
A week later, a heavily cloaked and concealed Jaime Lannister rode his horse into the city of King's Landing. Discreetly, of course. He couldn't be seen by the guards, or he could be captured and possibly killed for treason. He had left King's Landing and abandoned his duty to protect the queen, so he was sure they all would be on the lookout for him.
Jaime knew it would take some luck and some inside information to get safely through the streets, and he managed to find one of his old informants to help him with that task a day later. The man was not happy to have him as a visitor, not with the current state of things in the capital with the impending war with the upstart queen coming to claim the throne.
“You know I can pay.” Jaime said in a hushed whisper.
“Money's no good if you're dead, now leave me alone.” The man hissed back.
“I only need to cross the city unseen.” Jaime said. “It's not that difficult.”
“Then do it yourself.” The man responded. “Leave me out of it.”
“If I could have done it myself already, I would have.” Jaime said. “You don't have to get me into the Red Keep, just get me close and I'll take care of the rest.”
“I don't know why you think I can get you there better than you can.” The man said. “I've only...”
“I have trusted you with several things over the years.” Jaime said and put a handful of gold coins on the table. “Now, I'm trusting you...” He pushed the coins towards the man. “...with my life.”
The man eyed the coins for several moments, then his hand grabbed them. “I am such a fool.”
Jaime smiled crookedly and the man led him to the back of the room and out into what looked like a small barn. He went to a cart and lifted the straw and a heavy blanket in the back, then lifted the false bottom to reveal a very small crawl space.
“You'll need to leave the fancy armor.” The man warned him.
Jaime nodded and quickly took it off, then he climbed into the small space and laid down.
“Here.” The man said and tossed Jaime a small sack full of dry rations. “It's going to be a few hours before I can load up the back, then the trip across the city may take an hour or more, since I need to avoid the patrols.”
Jaime nodded again and the man closed the false bottom.
*
Arya and The Hound rode into the city wearing cloaks. They didn't have to be too discreet, mainly because most of the people that came looking for The Hound were now dead and no one else was stupid enough to try and challenge him when they did discover that it really was him.
Arya on the other hand, everyone had thought she had been killed when she was a child. Now that she was grown up, no one really recognized her. Of course, most of the people from King's Landing that would have recognized her on sight were also dead, so she wasn't too worried about being discovered.
That didn't mean they shouldn't be cautious, though.
“Girl, I think you should turn around and go home.” Sandor Clegane said.
Arya shook her head. “You've been saying that ever since you ran out of wine.”
“We could get more wine.” Sandor grumbled.
“If my guess is right, Winterfell is a smoking ruin right now.” Arya said. It hurt her heart a little to say that, then she smiled. “It's been burned out before, though. It's always rebuilt.”
“They better start with the winery first.” Sandor said, then he grunted. “I can't believe I came all the way back to this shit hole.”
“We both have unfinished business here.” Arya said. “We need a better way through the patrols than riding like this on horses.”
Sandor grunted agreement. “I know a guy.”
They made their way carefully around several streets until they came to a small place with a barn beside it. A man was loading the back of a cart with bushels of grains and a few sacks of vegetables. He looked up at the sound of horse hooves and then sighed as he cursed.
“Fuuuuck meee.” The man grumbled.
“Is that any way to greet an old friend, you slimy bastard?” The Hound asked and got off the horse.
“Friend! You damn near killed me the last time you saw me!”
The Hound glared down at the smaller man. “I told you before that I was aiming for the dick that was beside you. It's not my fault you were a pussy and ducked the wrong way.”
The man clenched his fists and thought about arguing more, then crossed his arms instead. No one fought The Hound and lived. “What do you want?”
“A quiet ride through the streets.” Arya said and the man blinked his eyes at the half-decently pretty girl beside The Hound. “With as little soldier patrol viewing as possible.”
The man glanced at his cart and then back at her. “My cart's full.”
“Stop being a pussy.” The Hound said and picked up two of the largest bundles of wheat and climbed in and sat down with the bundles on his lap. They mostly covered him, so Arya moved another bushel and covered him completely.
“I'm not going to do this for free.” The man said.
“You can keep your life, unless you keep pissing me off.” The Hound said from his hiding place.
“You can keep the horses.” Arya said. “I doubt we're going to need them again.”
The man quickly tied the horses next to the lone horse he had in the small barn, then he looked at her. “What about you?”
“I'll be your riding partner.” Arya said innocently.
The man gave her a smile and waved at the front of the cart, then they were off.