Dream Of Winter | C. Stark & H. Targaryen

Dread

Cregan POV

"If this fails, just know you'll be the first person I kill when I come back as a wight." The Warden of the North whispered harshly beneath his breath.

"You're being awfully presumptuous cousin. You won't have nearly as much sense of self as a greenseer, so if anyone is going to consciously attempt to murder Waters, it's going to be me." Bran added to his warning.

"Duly Noted." Their black brother guide nonchalantly tsked his tongue in annoyance. It seems as if he shed his former skin here beyond the Wall. All it took was to break away from the limits of Targaryen sovereignty to get him there.

Cregan understands his frustration, but hopes the kid won't prove them wrong. He could've been hundreds of miles away, in the embrace of his sweet wife and children. But instead he's here, to win the support of the Wildings.

He isn't as prejudiced against them as other Houses in his kingdom or gods forbid the South. Even his uncle Uthred is uncertain about this maneuver. The hostilities between the Northernmost House and the self-proclaimed freefolk have gone for generations. So Bran did inherit some grudges. And Cregan isn't too enthusiastic about inviting them into his home and hearth.

But better on their side then more flesh soldiers for the undead army. Of course the Stark lord knows this rationally. However, with his hands tied behind his back and sitting in the middle of Wilding camp, freezing bloody cold - he's an expert on low temperatures so this is no exaggeration - and at the mercy of the convening clan elders to do with them as they see fit.

Beautiful.

"The freefolk will accept our terms. They care not for conquest nor random savagery as much as protecting their families. You will see." He almost forgot about the last member of their fellowship.

In his defense, Jon Snow is as silent as his ex bonded's namesake. The Targaryen prince turned Stark king volunteered himself to this little trip, and Cregan couldn't deny him. Jon did have one condition though. He didn't want to set one foot in Castle Black. It was perhaps a strange request - at least for someone who didn't see the scars on the northern bastard's body after he was pulled from the well, and Helaena explained just how he was spared permanent death in their aftermath - but the lord of Winterfell obliged without fuss and the group boarded the ship to Eastwatch by the sea.

It took them a sennight to find the trail of the runaway tribes. Their sheer magnitude, regardless of how poorly trained or organized the warriors are, is worrisome. A significant boon or terrible imminent danger depending on how the negotiations go.

Cregan made sure to disarm himself and had his party do the same to avoid being killed on sight for enemy vanguard. Not that they couldn't be identified as scouts and eliminated just for the risk of informing their crow superiors of the impending breach. But beggars can't be choosers.

Ragnar, Frost and Bran's Muninn and Huginn made themselves scarce to avoid detection. And if needs to be, the wolves can come to their aid whilst the ravens report the misfortune they encountered to the Night's Watch.

"We shall need assurances of their cooperation if our bannermen are to be brought to heel. And confining us isn't exactly reinforcing my faith in their trustworthiness."

"They're paranoid after weeks of being on the run from the Others. Being caught between the jaws of unnatural demons and apparently now, their mortal foes as well. We can excuse them their precautions."

Lucerys was too passionate about this, certainly. If Cregan didn't know better he'd suggest the former Velaryon was speaking from a place of love. A clandestine affair with a Wilding girl mayhaps. Cregan doesn't think the Night's Watchmen take too heartedly their vows of celibacy. He doesn't waste his time scrutinizing them when they fight and die for the good of the kingdom. But there are clear limits separating dalliances with the working women in Mole Town and infatuations directed at long-standing enemies.