WARS TO COME, game of thrones

𝟎. the fall

It had been months since the last message from Riverfall. Lord Jon Arryn rode with a small group of his knights through the valleys of the Riverlands. Riverfall was a fortress even older than the eyrie , perched in the jagged cliffs of the waterfall that lay north of the eyrie in the mountains of the moon. A viaduct led over the gorge where the water from the many falls collected in a raging river. Riverfall lay on the platform of a waterfall, fenced in by the raging stream. With its ornate facade of pitch-black stone, it resembled a cathedral with its irregular pointed spires, bay windows, and arches. Riverfall was similarly difficult to seize as the eyrie, and though it was not conspicuously large from the outside Lord Arryn knew that its cellars and crypts ran deep into the mountain; deeper than any human had ever gone. If it wished, it could swallow an entire army, and legend has it that this had already happened.

For many years the Riverfalls had been under the control of House Arryn and Jon had grown up with Lord Ayrik Riverfall, becoming uncle to his long awaited first born son four years ago. The Riverfalls were a small and weak house and each generation had fewer descendants. Still, each Arryn maintained fraternal contact.

Jon's horse came to a stop and snorted uneasily, the man squinting his eyes slightly against the spray of water that hit him from the waterfall. Riverfall perched in the wet cliffs like the skeleton of a monstrous beast, its bones black with water. Although the roar of the waterfall made any communication impossible for the travelers, it seemed deadly quiet to their leader. Jon Arryn gave a hand signal to his companions and dismounted from his horse. Alone, he walked across the ancient bridge over the gorge, and the closer he came to the waterfall the more deafening the noise became.

The gate was open as usual, and when Jon Arryn entered the interior of the fortress, the omnipresent noise enveloped him like a blanket. Water dripped gently down on him and the Lord of the eyrie looked around with a tense attitude. As if he knew something was wrong, even before he noticed the smell of decay.

On his way to the throne room, he spotted the first corpse; a maid. She was followed by a stable boy and another maid. Halfway to the throne lay Niade Riverfall, the lady's dark hair dull and matted, her flesh sunken. When Jon knelt to her and placed a finger on her cheek, the skin beneath his fingers gave way; maggots curled underneath. Jon then met his longtime friend on the throne. Ayrik was still impressively tall even in death, and his black cloak poured like water around his body. Jon approached him to within a few steps. The dead man's skin was covered with black boils and Jon could see that his skin was stretched over the bones like paper. Something was moving underneath.

The dead man's cloak rustled and Jon Arryn let no shame show as he backed away in alarm. Small, bony hands appeared and pushed the cloak aside. Beside the throne, nestled against his dead father's legs, sat Anrir Riverfall, his black curls matted and his fair skin dark with dirt.

Jon knelt down, lifting his godson onto his lap in a fatherly reflex. The boy was small and eerily scrawny in the grown man's arms. "I've got you, I'll get you to a safe place," Jon promised Anrir softly, reassuringly, as the roar of the waterfall seemed ominously loud around them and he held the little boy close. The boy was silent, clinging to him. Arryn stood up with his godson, carrying him outside. Riverfall he left behind without turning back.

The Riverfalls' bodies remained behind, and Jon would later order the fortress to be sealed. Whatever plague had taken the family and employees would be locked in the dark halls of the fortress and never get outside. Riverfall became a mausoleum.

Anrir became the last of his kind and the keeper of the secret of Riverfall.