Chapter 64: The Dragon Queen's Gambit, Winter's Hidden Hand, and the Secret of the Wolf
The arrival of Daenerys Targaryen in Westeros was not a ripple, but a tidal wave, its cresting fire and blood already reshaping the shores of the Seven Kingdoms. Her three dragons, Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion, were no longer the hatchlings of Qarth but formidable engines of war, their flames consuming her enemies in the Stormlands and Crownlands as she systematically dismantled the crumbling authority of King Tommen Baratheon's Lannister-Tyrell regime. Simultaneously, Aegon VI, "Young Griff," with his loyal Golden Company, pressed his own claim, creating a chaotic three-way struggle for the Iron Throne that left the realm reeling.
From their Northern bastion, now fully reclaimed and magically fortified under the public Wardenship of Artos Stark (Protector for young Lord Rickon), the immortal Starks observed this maelstrom with a mixture of grim fascination and calculated strategic interest. Their own "Cleansing" operations beyond the Wall, their proactive war against the Great Other's encroaching power, continued unabated, but the rise of a new, potent dragon dynasty in the South could not be ignored.
The hidden council of thirteen immortals convened for its most critical debate in centuries. Ben Stark's report from his clandestine meeting with Daenerys on Dragonstone had been clear: she was powerful, charismatic, driven by a messianic belief in her destiny, and advised by shrewd minds like Tyrion Lannister. She was also, potentially, open to reason regarding the true threat of the Long Night, though her immediate focus was undoubtedly the Iron Throne.
"We cannot allow the South to consume itself entirely, nor can we permit a new, unchecked Valyrian tyranny to arise that might one day turn its full fury upon an 'uncooperative' North," Jon Stark, the Shadow Lord, declared, his voice echoing from the depths of his Frostfangs sanctum. "Daenerys Targaryen, with her dragons, represents the greatest concentration of conventional power in Westeros since the Conquest. Aegon, if he is truly Rhaegar's son, possesses a potent claim that further divides our enemies. Our course must be one of subtle influence, careful positioning, and the potential leveraging of truths that could reshape the entire game."
The council agreed on a daring, multi-faceted strategy. First, Warden Artos Stark would publicly reaffirm the North's neutrality in the southern wars, citing their own exhaustive efforts to rebuild and defend against the "true winter," a statement that would resonate with the North's historical isolationism and its recent suffering under Bolton. This would allow them to conserve their strength and observe the unfolding chaos.
Second, Jon Stark authorized a more direct, if still deeply covert, diplomatic mission, not to Daenerys herself initially, but to her Hand, Tyrion Lannister. For this, he chose Edwyle Stark, rider of the psychic Umbra. Edwyle, with his keen intellect, his calm demeanor, and Umbra's ability to subtly sense intentions and project trustworthiness, was an ideal envoy. His mission was to travel to Daenerys's camp (wherever it might be established on the mainland) under a flag of parley from the "concerned Warden of the North," to assess Tyrion's pragmatism, and to subtly plant the seeds of an idea: that the North possessed ancient knowledge and unique resources vital for the survival of all Westeros against a common, existential threat, an enemy that cared nothing for southern thrones. He was to hint at the North's own formidable, if unseen, power, enough to command respect but not to provoke fear or reveal their dragons.
Third, and most controversially, Jon Stark finally decided the time had come to address the truth of Jon Snow's parentage. Jon Snow, resurrected and now the undisputed leader of a combined force of Night's Watch and Free Folk, was the realm's primary shield against the Others. His Stark blood and upbringing gave him Northern legitimacy; his hidden Targaryen heritage made him, unknowingly, Daenerys's nephew and a potential claimant to the Iron Throne in his own right, or a vital bridge between her fire and the North's ice.
"The boy deserves to know who he is," Beron the Elder, his voice filled with a rare emotion, stated. "And his true lineage, Rhaegar's son Aegon Targaryen, could be the key to forging an alliance with Daenerys that is built not on conquest, but on shared blood and a shared destiny against the Great Other."
Jon Stark tasked the immortal Arya, her connection to the weirwood network profound, to work with Bran Stark (whose Greensight was now a torrent of past, present, and future) to find a way to reveal this truth to Jon Snow, perhaps through a shared vision within the heart of the Castle Black weirwood, a revelation delivered by the Old Gods themselves, its source untraceable to the hidden Starks.
While these grand strategies were set in motion, the war in the South reached a new level of ferocity. Daenerys Targaryen, after securing a foothold in the Stormlands, unleashed her dragons upon the combined forces of Aegon VI and the remnants of the Lannister armies near King's Landing. The battle, later known as the Second Field of Fire, was a slaughter. Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion, though younger and smaller than the dragons of Aegon's Conquest, were still devastating. The Golden Company fought bravely but was broken. Aegon VI himself, after a valiant but futile stand, was captured by Daenerys's Unsullied. His fate hung in the balance. King Tommen Baratheon, witnessing the utter destruction from the Red Keep, and likely influenced by his despairing mother Cersei, took his own life, mirroring his brother Joffrey's end in a different way. The Iron Throne was effectively vacant, its seat now to be claimed by Daenerys.
Edwyle Stark, riding Umbra cloaked in powerful illusions that made them appear as a Northern lord and his griffin (a creature of Northern myth that would arouse curiosity but not immediate draconic alarm), arrived at Daenerys's war camp in the aftermath of this victory. He found a scene of grim triumph, the air thick with smoke and the scent of burnt flesh, Daenerys Targaryen surrounded by her victorious army and her three magnificent, terrifying dragons.
His audience was with Tyrion Lannister, in a quiet pavilion away from the main camp. Edwyle, presenting himself as a special envoy from Warden Artos Stark, spoke of the North's ancient wisdom, its long memory of the Long Night, and its unique understanding of the true enemy. He did not mention their own dragons, nor their immortality, but he spoke of "guardians who have kept the vigil for millennia," of "wards that hold back a darkness beyond mortal comprehension," and of "ancient powers within the North that stir in response to the Great Other's awakening." He offered Daenerys, through Tyrion, not fealty, but a pact: Northern autonomy in exchange for their full cooperation and unique resources in the war against the true Winter. He hinted that the North possessed knowledge that could aid her own dragons, perhaps even protect them from the Others' corrupting influence.
Tyrion, his mismatched eyes sharp with intellect and a lifetime of cynical observation, listened intently. He knew the Starks were no fools. He had seen Ned Stark's honor and its fatal consequences. He sensed in Edwyle a depth and an ancient authority that was unsettling. "Your North speaks of autonomy while my Queen seeks to unite the Seven Kingdoms under her rightful rule," Tyrion countered. "And you speak of ancient enemies when our immediate enemies are those who deny her claim. What proof do you offer of this 'Great Other,' and what resources, truly, can your isolated North provide that three living dragons cannot?"
Edwyle met his gaze. "Proof, Lord Tyrion, will come soon enough, whether you seek it or not. It is a winter that will consume all, regardless of who sits your Iron Throne. As for resources… the North has steel harder than any Valyrian forge could dream of, magic woven into the very bones of our land, and guardians who have fought this enemy since the dawn of days." He then allowed Umbra, from a safe distance but psychically linked to him, to project a fleeting, powerful image into Tyrion's mind: a glimpse of a White Walker, its eyes burning with blue fire, and then, a brief, overwhelming sensation of absolute, soul-crushing cold. Tyrion visibly recoiled, his face paling.
"What… what was that?" he stammered.
"A mere whisper of what awaits, Lord Hand," Edwyle said softly. "My Warden offers your Queen a choice: fight for a temporary crown and risk losing the world, or fight for the world and perhaps, in doing so, prove herself a queen worthy of ruling what remains." He left Tyrion with a Starksteel-bound scroll containing carefully curated excerpts from the Nightfort texts, detailing the Others' nature and ancient methods of combating them, and a promise that Warden Artos would await Daenerys's reply.
Meanwhile, at the Wall, Jon Snow, grappling with the burdens of leadership and the trauma of his resurrection, received a series of powerful, undeniable visions within the Castle Black Godswood. Bran's consciousness, guided by the immortal Arya and Jon Stark, reached out to him through the Heart Tree, showing him glimpses of his true parents – Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, their secret wedding, his birth at the Tower of Joy, Eddard Stark's solemn promise. The revelation was staggering, earth-shattering, yet it settled within him with a strange sense of inevitability, explaining so much of his own internal conflict, his sense of otherness. He was Aegon Targaryen, the trueborn son of the last Dragon Prince, a child of ice and fire. This knowledge did not fill him with ambition for the Iron Throne, but with a renewed, terrifying sense of destiny in the war against the Great Other.
Jon Stark's grand "Cleansing" operations beyond the Wall continued, now informed by Bran's increasingly precise Greensight and the knowledge from the Nightfort. The immortal dragonriders, led by Jon himself on Balerion the Elder when the threat was greatest, pushed deeper into the Lands of Always Winter, targeting not just Other outposts, but their "unholy sites" – ancient, corrupted weirwoods where they seemed to conduct their necromantic rituals, and vast, frozen caverns where they were rumored to forge their weapons of unnatural ice. These were no longer mere skirmishes; they were direct assaults on the Others' power base, provoking furious, desperate counter-attacks that tested the Starks' dragons and their riders to their limits. Starksteel armor, runic enchantments, and the unique abilities of the Pentoshi and Stark-bred dragons proved invaluable, Lumen's purifying light often turning the tide against shadowy horrors, Kratos's earthen power shattering ice constructs, and Umbra's psychic assaults breaking the Others' control over their wight legions.
Sansa Stark, with Littlefinger's aid (and her own growing cunning), had managed to secure the allegiance of several key Vale lords, her Stark name a potent symbol of defiance against the Lannister regime. She began to subtly reach out to loyalist Northern houses, preparing for the day she might play a role in her homeland's future. Mortal Arya, her vengeance largely sated, her skills as a Faceless Man honed to a terrifying degree, felt an undeniable pull northwards, towards the whispers of her family's resurgence and the ancient magic of Winterfell.
As Daenerys Targaryen, having captured Aegon VI (whose true identity as a Blackfyre, Jon Stark now suspected, would soon be revealed by Daenerys's own investigations or Tyrion's cunning), prepared for her final assault on King's Landing, the hidden council of immortal Starks convened once more. Ben Stark's mission had been a success in opening a dialogue. Jon Snow now knew his true heritage. The North was secure, its magical defenses at their peak. The war against the Others was being actively, aggressively waged.
"Daenerys will soon sit the Iron Throne, or die trying," Jon Stark stated. "Tyrion Lannister will likely counsel her to accept our offer of a conditional alliance, especially with the knowledge of Jon Snow's existence, should we choose to reveal it to her as proof of our… unique insights. Our next move must be to prepare for that parley, and to decide how much of our true strength, and our true purpose, we are willing to unveil to the last Targaryen."
His ancient eyes, which had witnessed the rise and fall of empires, held a glint of anticipation. The world was balanced on a knife's edge. The Long Night was coming. And the Starks, with their hidden dragons, their ancient magic, and their immortal resolve, were poised to step out of the deepest shadows of Winter and into the fiery dawn of a new, uncertain age.