Chapter 439

Worship of strength and the presence of double standards are deeply ingrained in human nature.

When people face opponents of similar strength, they often feel indignant and humiliated when forced to yield. But when utterly crushed by overwhelming power, the conquered may instead feel a strange sense of reverence, submitting wholeheartedly without resistance—sometimes even taking pride in their subjugation.

When the Night’s Watch first forced the Free Folk into submission, the "Free Men" howled in resentment. They believed the "Crows" had only won due to the tactical advantage of the Wall and were no stronger than themselves. Even during negotiations, they carried themselves with arrogance, insisting they would never kneel. To maintain peace and stability in the Gift, Lord Commander Mormont, at Aegor's suggestion, took an unprecedented step: he abolished kneeling customs entirely within the Gift, a gesture meant to soothe the pride of these fiercely independent people.

Ironically, it was Aegor himself—the proposer of that very decree—who first publicly broke it.
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When Aegor reluctantly knelt before Daenerys to swear fealty, he fully expected to face backlash and scorn from the Gift's fiercely independent inhabitants. But the reality was far better than he anticipated—no one seemed to think kneeling to a dragon-riding queen was humiliating. The Gift's people were thrilled to have dragons ensuring their safety; the more radical factions of the Night’s Watch celebrated finally taking a side in the larger conflict. Even the nobles who technically opposed Daenerys showed little resistance. Most of them were followers of R’hllor who had come north specifically to aid in the war against the Others. To them, Aegor’s pragmatic decision to ally with the dragons made perfect sense.

No one called him a “man who kneels.” No one accused him of abandoning the Night’s Watch’s neutrality. Instead, the only real issue came from Daenerys herself. Pleased with Aegor’s unwavering sincerity during his oath, the queen was eager to reciprocate and immediately suggested taking her dragons to wipe out the remaining Others. She wanted to eliminate the threat for good so Aegor could fulfill his promise to help her claim the Iron Throne.

While Aegor appreciated the queen’s goodwill, he could not accept her proposal.

It had taken a monumental effort to weaken the Others to a point where they could potentially be destroyed in a direct confrontation. If Daenerys recklessly flew off with her dragons and lost one to the Others—thus giving them a corpse to reanimate as an undead dragon—the war would reset to its most desperate phase. After some convincing, Aegor managed to dissuade Daenerys by suggesting that the Others might possess magic capable of turning her dragons into wights. He persuaded her to remain cautious and coordinate with the ground forces.
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For this campaign, Aegor ensured every precaution was taken. Most of the animal-controlling wargs in the Gift accompanied the army, and even Bran Stark, confined to a cart due to his immobility, was brought along. While Aegor trusted Bran wasn’t aligned with the Great Other, he wasn’t entirely convinced the boy had used his full abilities in previous battles. Bringing him along served two purposes: utilizing his power to control flocks of ravens for reconnaissance and, more subtly, tying his survival to the army’s success. If the army faced disaster, Bran would share its fate, forcing him to use all his power to avoid such an outcome.

With wargs, Bran’s greensight, and patrolling rangers, the possibility of ambush was nearly eliminated. Adding Daenerys’s dragons tipped the scales further, making the human forces unmatched against the Others. At last, Aegor’s vision of a nearly foolproof army had materialized: a force uniquely suited to counter the undead threat, advancing steadily southward.
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Feeding three dragons added strain to the army’s logistics, but the strategic advantage they provided far outweighed the costs. To conserve energy for herself and the dragons, Daenerys spent most of the march riding in a carriage alongside Bran rather than atop Drogon. With three massive, flame-spewing dragons circling overhead, the army’s morale soared, and even their march seemed to quicken.

Following Aegor’s orders, forces from Wall fortresses mobilized quickly after receiving the ravens and began catching up with the main army within a day of the pursuit. By the afternoon of the second day, just past the northern edge of the Wolfswood, the army neared the Last River and the fork leading to Last Hearth and Winterfell.

It was then that they caught up with the enemy—or so it seemed.

To most, it felt like they had finally closed the gap. But Aegor suspected otherwise. It felt as if the enemy had been waiting for them.
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“A warg scout reports that they’ve spotted the wight horde less than ten miles south,” a ranger reported. “Based on the tracks, they appear to have left Last Hearth only recently.”

Aegor nodded grimly. Last Hearth wasn’t directly on the Kingsroad but lay close enough that the horde’s passing suggested it had already fallen. House Umber was likely annihilated. There was no point in wasting time retaking an empty castle devoid of survivors. Confirming with Bran that all nine Others—one “strong” and eight “weaker” ones—remained within the horde, Aegor ordered the army to slow their pace but continue pursuing the main force. He also sent a small scouting party to investigate Last Hearth.

As night fell, the rangers returned with unsettling news. “The area around Last Hearth is littered with fresh corpses—thousands of them. But... they haven’t disappeared.”
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“Are you certain they’re corpses and not wights lying in ambush?” Aegor questioned the lead scout, his tone sharp. He had not forgotten the incident years earlier, when undead masqueraded as corpses to infiltrate Castle Black.

“The majority appear to be ordinary bodies,” the scout replied cautiously. “Around two thousand women and children, with few adult men or soldiers among them. We tested some with dragonglass—there were no signs of reanimation. But to be safe, I recommend sending a hundred men to burn the bodies and prevent any potential ambush.”

Before Aegor could reply, Daenerys spoke from beside him. She had dismounted from her carriage and now stood to the side, her face resolute. “There’s no need for that. I’ll summon Drogon and burn the entire horde from the air. We’ll wipe out the Others before nightfall, then deal with Last Hearth afterward.”

“No,” Aegor countered firmly. “Though the horde is only ten miles away, they’re still moving. Even if you flew ahead, it would take at least thirty minutes to reach them. If the Others have any means of injuring or grounding your dragons, we’d have no time to assist or recover you. We stick to the plan: your dragons will engage only once the ground forces are in position.”
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Aegor’s reasoning was sound, but his true motives were darker. While he didn’t wish harm upon the dragons, he secretly viewed them as expendable. Daenerys’s dragons were tools, and her title as “Mother of Dragons” was secondary to her value as the last Targaryen—his key to political legitimacy and the Iron Throne. If the dragons fell in battle, Daenerys would still remain a queen, but she would become far more reliant on the Night’s Watch and the firepower Aegor controlled. This dependence would bolster his own power and influence in her future reign.

For now, however, Aegor prioritized victory. Letting the dragons be turned into wights was a risk he couldn’t afford. To ensure they remained safe, he ordered the army to make camp, sentries posted, while he knelt over a map to finalize their approach.

“There’s something strange about all this,” Aegor murmured, marking their position. “The Others appearing right as the sun sets—it feels like they’re setting a trap.”