Chapter 413

As far as the eye could see, everything was draped in silver and white.

The hull, the deck, the masts, all were covered in a layer of frost; the sea surface, the people who had fallen into the water, and the debris blown by the wind… everything was frozen solid. Even the howling north wind seemed to have been drained of all its strength by the bizarre gale just now, turning into a gentle breeze.

The large chunk of ice they had been trying to tow away moments ago was now the only thing within sight that looked remotely normal – at least it was flat. Everywhere else, the ocean surface had been frozen into a rippled pattern by the intense yet swift storm – that's right, the surface of the sea was first blown into waves by the wind, then rapidly lost temperature and froze in the extreme cold, ultimately creating this bizarre and rare state.

Yohn felt like he was in the center of an enormous, wrinkled white blanket, but it was obvious: a blanket was far softer than ice, and could never trap a ship.

The flagship of the ice-clearing fleet – the Mermaid, where he himself was – had managed to avoid capsizing in this epic storm, probably because it had adjusted its heading early and was heavy enough. It was now stuck in the ice at a slight angle, like a snow-sculpted ship model embedded in a white marble table. But the remaining ships were not so lucky: the Blackbird was standing upright in the ice, its bow pointing upwards like a candle stuck diagonally in the snow, its lower half frozen solid; the Eel had flipped over and was upside down in the ice, with the upper third of its hull frozen within; as for the Claw and the Storm Crow, two small open row galleys, both had capsized with their crews and were frozen in the ice. There were probably no survivors, along with the soldiers who hadn't managed to escape onto the ships and into the cabins…

At least dozens of figures were scattered across a narrow strip of hundreds of meters to the north and south… some frozen in the ice, others blown away by the wind and smashed against it. None of them could move anymore, all becoming the first victims of this sudden disaster, the first sacrifices in this grand song of ice and fire.

In just a single gust of wind, the ice-clearing team of over a hundred men had lost half its strength. Only those who had hidden in the cabins and closed the doors when the wind struck had survived the storm and the cold surge that could freeze the sea in an instant!

Amidst the shock, there was a commotion behind him. The other survivors on the same ship emerged from the cabins one by one, clutching their heads and staring dumbfounded at the suddenly changed world.

"Don't just stand there!" Yohn came back to his senses at this point and roared, gathering the soldiers' attention: "This storm is strange, most likely the work of the Others. The enemy may already be walking on the ice, we don't have much time! Clear all the cabins immediately, drag out everyone, whether they're breathing or not!"

After a flurry of activity, nine bodies were found on the Mermaid. They had died from various bizarre causes, like being struck by falling furniture during the storm, or the cold surge freezing them because the door hadn't been closed tightly… Also, six seriously injured men who could no longer move, several missing persons whose whereabouts were unknown, and twenty-three lucky survivors who were basically unharmed.

After testing to make sure the ice was thick enough to move on freely without worrying about falling into the water, Yohn began to issue orders and assign tasks: the survivors who could move freely were divided into three groups – two people were responsible for dragging the unfrozen bodies together to be burned as much as possible, six lightly injured men were each responsible for using a makeshift sled to drag a seriously injured man back to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, and the remaining fifteen would follow their commander, carrying various tools, towards the other two sailing ships that might still have survivors, preparing to rescue their comrades.

The rescue of the Blackbird, stuck upright in the ice, went quite smoothly: most of the survivors could climb out on their own, and even in the stern cabin frozen in the ice, there were still survivors – they were lucky: the cold seawater froze so quickly under the influence of the cold surge that it didn't even have time to pour into the cabin through the cracks in the door and drown them. The rescuers outside only needed to break the ice and smash open the jammed door to get them out.

Each time a group of seriously injured men were brought out, Yohn would assign the same number of lightly injured men to send them back to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea first. After several tens of minutes of busy work, all the survivors on the Blackbird were rescued.

But the Eel, which was upside down in the ice, stumped everyone: the cabin openings were completely sealed under the ice, and the only way to save the people inside was to break through the hull. However, this brand-new warship, donated to the Wall by White Harbor, had a hull made of thick, sturdy, high-quality wood, and it was covered with a thin layer of ice, making it both cold and hard. How could it be so easily broken?

...

With the small amount of wildfire carried on board, the cremation of the bodies barely got underway, but the progress of the ship rescue was stuck on this overturned wooden coffin. The sky gradually turned dark, and the tension and fear continued to spread – every time they thought of the wights possibly walking on the ice towards them, the nerves of the exhausted men, who had been taking turns chiseling at the ship, slowly tightened, and this tension finally reached its limit and snapped completely when increasingly clear vibrations began to travel through the ice beneath their feet.

"Ser, in a little while, we'll be overwhelmed by the tide of corpses. The brothers in the ship are safe for now, let's go!"

"That's right, if we get caught and killed by the Others, the brothers at Eastwatch will have dozens more enemies. Even for the safety of the people of the Seven Kingdoms, we shouldn't continue to play the hero!"

"Give the tools to the brothers in the ship and let them fend for themselves. We can't afford to suffer any more losses, Ser. There's still time to get back to Eastwatch!"

"Damn it…" Looking at the hull, which had already been halfway chiseled, and seeing that a hole could be broken through in another ten minutes or so, Yohn gritted his teeth and thought for a moment – he had led troops into battle, and in this kind of life-or-death war, trapped comrades should either be rescued and taken away, or given a quick death, how could they be left here for the Others? He took a few deep breaths and finally steeled his heart: "No, hold on a little longer, there are more than a dozen brothers in the ship! The two of you with nothing to do – take the horns, go to the north and keep watch, blow the horn immediately if you see any dead, and then we'll retreat!"

The two men who were called out stood still, looked at each other, and neither of them took a step, unwilling to take such a great risk to save the dozen or so brothers still in the ship.

"Go! Just blow the horn, you don't have to block them!"

Yohn glared at the two disobedient soldiers and shouted loudly, gradually using the authority he'd cultivated from his long time as the Lord of Runestone to make them waver. But what happened next was something no one could have predicted – with a muffled "thud", the ice-clearing team commander fell headfirst, falling from the hull to the ice, the blood flowing from the back of his head instantly forming a pool on the ice that froze into red crystals.

Qyburn, who had killed Yohn with a single blow, threw away the bloodstained hammer in his hand, his face, covered in boils, seemed to have turned red with anger. He slid down the curve of the ship's bottom to the ice, spat at Yohn Royce lying on the ground, and said: "Old fool, he was exiled here because he offended the Lord Commander, and he still dares to lord it over his brothers? Remember, he slipped and fell to his death! Anyone who has a problem with that, come and fight me one-on-one. If you don't have a problem, then quickly throw away your things and run!"

The soldiers still trapped in the ship sensed the commotion outside and shouted desperately, banging on the hull… But the dozen or so remaining Night's Watch soldiers looked at each other with terrified eyes. The fear of the unknown and death ultimately overcame courage and righteousness – no one said a word. All the survivors obediently dropped their tools and ran towards Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, a few miles to the southwest, across the rippled ice.

…

The harbor fortress was also in chaos at the moment. With the Wall extending nearly a mile into the sea blocking it, the terrifying storm naturally didn't directly hit the fortress, but a sentry who was carelessly blown down from the top of the Wall and smashed into the middle of the fortress yard, splattering his brains… and the ocean surface that was instantly frozen as far as the eye could see… were enough for anyone to realize that something big was happening. After the trebuchets on the top of the Wall attempted to throw a hundred-pound boulder, but failed to break the ice, everyone realized: the decisive battle they had been… "longing for, day and night" for months had suddenly erupted in the most unexpected way.

Three horn blasts sounded, and the new Gift residents living around the fortress swarmed into the fortress. Cotter Pyke roared with his thunderous voice to direct them, and everyone was busy according to the pre-arranged plan, each performing their duties: anyone who had the strength to pick up a spear or swing an axe had to participate in the defense; wildfire and barrels of pitch were pulled out of the warehouses and transported to the city walls; dragonglass weapons were also dragged out to a conspicuous position in the middle of the drill ground and distributed to each warrior who had already been grouped; rows of obstacles were piled up in the fortress in a seemingly chaotic but actually ingenious manner under command – sawn firewood, hardened sharp stakes, and bags of grain…

With these arrangements, even if the enemy broke through the city walls, the Night's Watch would still have the opportunity to light a wall of fire and engage in a few rounds of desperate street fighting, in order to defend the huge zigzag wooden staircase leading up to the Wall, and buy time for the old and young to evacuate to the Wall and for the rearguard to destroy the stairs.

With the cooperation of the commanders at all levels, Eastwatch quickly switched to a final combat state, and in this chaotic situation, there was a group of people who felt at a loss – the book-fetching team that had come under Daenerys' orders and arrived at the Wall just that day.

They had originally planned to rest overnight at Eastwatch and head to Crown's Rest to meet their Queen the next morning. No one expected to "coincidentally" run into the Others' attack. The Unsullied and the soldiers of the Free Cities' military companies were naturally not included in the defense plan, and in this messy preparation situation, no one came to tell them what to do, so they had to gather together under the orders of their commander and stand in the courtyard waiting foolishly.

Among them, the red priest Moqorro was the most confused.

From the fire communication with Melisandre on the ship, he already knew that the plan had worked, that the Queen had been successfully tricked into coming to the Gift and being kept there. And the ship he was on had arrived at the Wall today – with both himself and Daenerys at the front lines, the prophecy was foolproof. But the enemy of the Lord of Light suddenly launched an attack ahead of time, forcing a final battle before his own strength had reached its peak. What was the point?

Either the entity had gone mad, knowing that it was impossible to win and giving up in despair; or something sudden and unknown had happened somewhere in this world, forcing the enemy to waste magical power and start the attack early.

He dismissed everyone and performed a spell in front of the brazier alone to contact Melisandre, and soon learned the devastating news from her – in the afternoon, the Queen, learning that his ship had arrived at Eastwatch, suddenly decided to return south, and after a brief conversation with the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, she left immediately. By the time she realized something was wrong, she had already taken off and flown away from Crown's Rest, and Melisandre didn't even have time to stop her!

R'hllor above! This little queen, how could she be so unreliable!

Moqorro immediately left the brazier, calmed his nerves and regained his composure, then left the room and found the raven keeper accompanying the team: "Attach a message to all the ravens saying 'The Others are attacking, we need dragon support', and release them all! Right now, immediately!"

Since the various letters had already been written, the ravens flying south quickly flapped their wings and flew out of the fortress – these carefully selected and well-trained little creatures were incredibly strong and had excellent eyesight. They could fly day and night, and only needed one day to fly back to the rookeries in the Crownlands and Dragonstone. And along with the sound of their wings flapping, a short horn blast sounded again from the eastern wall of the fortress: the last batch of surviving soldiers from the ice-clearing fleet had also walked back from the ice and were requesting entry.

Cotter Pyke led men to block this group of newcomers and quickly discovered that Royce was not present. But with everyone facing a threat, there was really no time to question the whereabouts of just one noble subordinate: "Anyone else behind you? Did you see anything?"

"Just us, dead men! Dead men are… are less than a mile behind us! Quickly… close the gate!"

The commander of Eastwatch waved and let go of this group of nearly exhausted surviving sailors, and turned to the chief steward of the fortress: "What about the dragonglass bombs? The round things that were delivered from Crown's Rest the other day, bring them over here! And… and those Valyrian steel arrows in my room, what kind of Lightbringer bullshit, bring them over too! Emmet? Ser Emmet! Pick three of your best archers and follow me all the way. If you spot any Others, shoot them!"

"Coming! Coming!"

"Oh Gods… Seven save us!"

While making the final arrangements, the soldiers on the eastern wall began to cry out in low voices, and the tense shouts and prayers with trembling voices suddenly merged into one – although the sky was completely dark, the tide of corpses was coming from the sea, and against the white ice, the dark mass of the wight sea was as conspicuous as could be, not to mention the rumbling sound made by the thousands of them walking!