[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV.
North.
...
...
Asha wasn't having an easy time while she was in the middle of the Wolf Forest, fleeing from her pursuers for more than a week...
There were many thoughts in her mind in the past weeks, as she wondered how things had declined so badly.
Certainly, almost a year ago, everything was going well, catching the North off guard as they invaded its shores, without its army, while they had the entire kingdom to plunder — it was easy.
There were obstacles, which was quite common — but everything seemed to worsen due to the fact that her foolish brother started to become reckless when he conquered Winterfell.
He was blinded by his conquest. By some luck, he had captured the most important castle in the North, but, at the same time, she knew it was the most dangerous to hold. The Northerners would not let that happen for long.
And there was no way they could do it. Asha tried to warn him. He should have abandoned the castle.
However, Theon couldn't help but become too ambitious and too proud! Asha believed he was being a fool — after all, they didn't have enough men to hold a siege.
It would only delay them in a fortress that had already been taken.
But pride had blinded him in that regard.
She had to abandon him. That resulted in her capture later by the Boltons. He was tortured, from what she heard — though she didn't know how much at the time.
So, even though he was her reckless and foolish brother, she shouldn't interfere to try and rescue him.
She invaded Winterfell and lost several men in the process — men who were part of the main crew. And she got to where she wanted. But what did she find?
That was no longer her brother. He had been reduced to a fearful, hollow shell that Ramsay Snow liked to play with. It was a kind of being that even disgusted Asha.
A Bolton animal, just like he claimed to be this Reek.
When she found him, she was almost captured. She managed to flee alone, even though she had tried to ask Theon to come with her. That thing didn't follow her, for it was too afraid of Ramsay. She feared fleeing from Roose Snow.
That was frustrating for Asha. Her brother was an idiot, but that was too much.
Then, she managed to escape her pursuers sometime after entering the forest. She had lost more men than she would have liked. She cursed Theon for the next several hours nonstop, frustrated.
She managed to settle inside the Wolf Forest a few days later. She hadn't completely given up yet and kept her eyes on Winterfell, with scouts checking the castle by leaving the forest every day.
Ramsay seemed to be toying with her, sending men to hunt her, but they were all killed. Still, he hadn't sent more than a few dozen.
That lasted for at least a week. Until, then, she received a mysterious letter when a bird flew directly to her... which was very strange, and it was about a certain Daemon Targaryen.
A man she had been hearing a lot about over the past year.
They said he was a sorcerer, some kind of warlock. He could turn into a wolf. He killed the king and toyed with him before leaving him in a bed to die.
They said he intervened in Lord Stark's trial, killed everyone who tried to stop him, removed him from the city, and then went to the Riverlands, where he caused chaos, killing lords. Even the dreadful Mountain fell before him.
Asha didn't believe these stories, thinking they were all nonsense — especially when they started claiming he had a dragon. How could someone appear out of nowhere and say they possessed such a creature?
She merely scoffed when the letter said that all the ironborn would pay for invading the North. He had an army.
She found that quite unusual. Then she herself saw that bird staring at her the entire time, which deeply disturbed her.
When she realized it was about to fly away, she didn't think twice before killing it, believing, somehow, that this Daemon was watching through those eyes.
She thought everything was fine. It was just a strange bird. Although, at times, she felt like she was being watched, nothing ever really happened.
In the next few days, the Boltons suddenly left Winterfell with a large group and headed south with three thousand men. When she found out that Ramsay and Theon were among them, she felt frustrated.
She didn't know what to do for the time being and decided they would leave in the next few days — her brother was a lost cause.
It was then that, one night, while she was preparing to enjoy herself with a woman her men had captured from some village, something happened.
As she kissed her and began to remove the prisoner's clothes — who, even frightened, tried not to resist Asha's touches — something entered the tent. The sound of flapping wings caught her attention. She turned her head, and before she could react, claws lunged at her face.
She believed, in that moment, that she was having some nightmare, but the pain was very real. She screamed in fright as she fell backward with the bird on her face, the woman beneath her trying to move away and screaming as well.
The bird attacked her head directly with savagery. She felt the blood running down her face as her men rushed into the tent and quickly killed the animal, grabbing and skinning it right there.
Asha tried to recover, wiping the blood away immediately, staring at the dead owl's body on the ground with dazed eyes, unable to believe that the animal had attacked her like that.
'No owl should attack like that... especially enter my tent. And straight at me.' Just thinking about it sent a chill down her spine.
She didn't sleep that night. Her men were clearly concerned, watching the trees with unease. Nothing else happened, but the feeling of being watched never left her.
The next day, she didn't hesitate. She ordered them to rest a little while keeping the tents closed. They would leave in a few hours.
She had a mirror with her. She examined her raw wounds after they had been treated with some of the supplies they had... running her fingers carefully over them. Her face, once clean and even visibly attractive, had become grotesque. She would never be beautiful again.
She wasn't the most beautiful woman in the Seven Kingdoms, but she certainly managed to attract men who did her favors in hopes of winning her over. She slept with some to get favors when needed.
Now, she doubted she'd have the same power of manipulation. Those cuts would leave terrible scars.
That morning, she cried in silence, wondering why they had done that to her. The only thing she had done... was kill a bird. Of a man who had threatened her. She hadn't known it would lead to her being attacked in such a way.
It was in that moment she understood: she shouldn't remain in the North anymore!!
She believed that Daemon was still near the Wall, unaware that his army was already in Winterfell. But it didn't take long to find out, when the scouts began reporting that a group of five thousand wildlings had arrived at the fortress.
She shuddered. She quickened her pace, moving through the Wolf Forest with urgency.
She needed to reach the coast. She needed to know what was happening in the North.
But she no longer felt safe there. Not anymore.
It didn't take more than a few weeks for Asha to see that she was being hunted. She still hadn't left the forest.
Her scouts began disappearing, one by one, in the distance. The sounds of wolves howling were heard at night in the distance...
That was when they finally managed to leave the forest a few days later with only half a dozen, escaping after most of them managed to hold off whatever was hunting them. She got a horse and rushed toward the coast.
She finally lost her pursuers — and to think she once had more than fifty. They had been reduced to almost nothing.
She continued on and reunited with some of the ironborn. They said the western North was in chaos, while a massive group with thousands of men was advancing.
All the ironborn were retreating, and Asha could only grit her teeth between the reports and the questions about what had happened to her face, coming from the men as she met them again.
When she reached the coast and saw the ships, she questioned whether she should order everyone to retreat from the North — something her father would not take well — or leave them to fight, which would be a blind gamble, not knowing exactly what was happening in the North...
They only knew that their men were being attacked in the west and that five thousand were surrounding Winterfell. She had no idea of the true number of enemies, as Jon kept them hidden.
So, she made the decision to make them stay, so they could still maintain a foothold in the North. She would speak to her father personally to decide what to do.
Thus, she boarded one of the ships with men and women who had been captured to work in Pyke.
Until that moment, she still thought everything was fine, that things were still under control, and that the ironborn could still seize a great amount of resources from the North.
Her father planned for them to start extracting timber from the North to further increase the number of ships for the Greyjoy fleet, before heading south and dominating even the eastern coast on the other side of Westeros.
However, that was simply forgotten when roars in the distance began to be heard, while they were already at sea, heading for Pyke with a group of four ships.
Asha immediately went to the deck, wondering what was happening. In the distance, she could no longer see the continent, as they were in open waters.
The roars stopped for a moment, and when she noticed, there was a creature above them.
She would never forget the colossal bird with white scales, whose wings sounded like thunder exploding against the vacuum of the air with every movement.
It was what her deepest fears didn't want to believe: a giant dragon.
Completely over the ship, it advanced toward them.
She believed it would be the end. What more could they do? Where could they run, as the dragon already opened its mouth, seemingly about to spew its flames, like in the old tales?
But the only thing that came out was a massive roar, which made her cover her ears immediately, while her men ran in terror with the ship trembling under the pressure of the roar — they were screaming in fear, certain they were about to die.
The roar ended as the dragon beat its wings once more to stabilize itself in the air and fly past them, circling back around.
It came at the ship again, while Asha hid and looked directly up at the dragon, certain she needed to study it, despite the fear. She wanted to see something familiar. And so, she saw it. She saw someone mounted on its back.
The dragon roared once more, flying past the ships, but it didn't seem to attack them. The only thing Asha thought might be stopping it were the Northerners aboard the four ships heading for Pyke.
And as the dragon passed, it gave up on them, turning back to the east.
The men around her were still terrified, and she didn't hold back a sigh of relief. It seemed the one riding the dragon hadn't seen her. While she stayed hidden behind the mast, he hadn't paid attention to her. And he hadn't recognized her. Otherwise, she doubted that the same man who had hurt her before would let her escape.
Her sigh of relief was immediately cut short when she remembered all the ships still on the coast. Not all would have the same chance. Not just the ships, but the camps — and herself, for having asked the men to stay.
"I have to speak to my father immediately. If that letter is real and he attacks Pyke with that thing, we're screwed."
It was the only thing Asha could think in that moment.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝
I deeply appreciate your support since the beginning of this exciting journey!
I hope each chapter has provided incredible moments. If you like my work and would like to support the continuation of this fanfic, consider becoming a patron with plans starting at $2!. As a token of gratitude, I offer access to more than 210 extra chapters with 7 active fanfics at the same time, along with other exclusive benefits on my profile, such as images and significant decisions for the stories.
Even if you are not a patron, I am making chapters available a few hours earlier here, so become a free member on the platform!
🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟
Visit our Patreon for more: https://www.patreon.com/RaccoonLeague
Extra Content Already Available:
🏴☠️ One Piece - I Am a Different Luffy!: 30 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: The Legend of Jon Arctic!: 30 extra chapters!
🌀 Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI!: 30 extra chapters!
🗡️ The Witcher - As Uchiha Madara! 30 extra chapters!
⚡ Harry Potter - Shadow Monarch! 30 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: DragonBorn! 30 extra chapters!
Except for One Piece with daily chapters and DragonBorn once a week, all fanfics are updated 3 times a week, there's just a pause in updating in the week, only to create drafts for the week's chapters.
In addition to the extra chapters, daily chapters are posted and 25 chapters per week!
Your support is very important and makes all the difference in keeping these stories alive.
Thank you very much for being part of this journey! I hope you continue to enjoy the story and that it brings even more joy to your life!
Visit our Patreon for more!!
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆