Armies of Summer

Chapter One

Somewhere in the Narrow Sea, near Gull Town - Year 300

The waves were crashing against the hull of the ship in a steady rhythm, that Elia was sure she would fall asleep to if she wasn't as keyed up as she was. She was at the helm for the first time in this trip, and she was glad because it was providing a useful distraction from where she knew they were going.

Winterfell.

That blasted, snow infested, stone castle was where her future lay. Honestly, Elia was pissed. She was the General of Dorne's armies, and she was being sent off to marry a man like a prize. Thankfully, there was one saving grace. Her uncle, Oberyn, had decided to come with her as her escort. He would stay with her at Winterfell until she was married, and comfortable enough for him to leave again. She was so thankful he was coming with her, besides the fact that he could spar with her and keep her in shape, he was the person that knew her best. Even better than her father, and her siblings.

Oberyn treated Elia as his friend, not his niece, and not his general. She loves her father, but he treats her as his general. And her siblings treat her more like a mother than a sibling, since their mother died when they were young. But enough of that, Elia was upset enough without thinking of her siblings. She looked over to her right where the Captain was standing, looking out over the water as they sailed past Gull Town. In a few more days they would be docking at White Harbor, where Stark men were meant to be meeting them to escort them to Winterfell.

Elia brought with her thirty men, plus her uncle, and her new handmaidens that her father had forced her to bring, even though she had never had a handmaid before. She cleared her throat before looking back over the water, but she knew the captain was looking at her.

"Captain Pryor, would you take the wheel? I am feeling the need for a spar with my Uncle." It was a question, but it was more of a suggestion as he didn't really have a choice in the matter. But he nodded anyway, and moved to take the wheel from her while she flashed a quick smile at him and moved away, and down the steps before moving onto the deck. She let her eyes scan the area where her men were walking around doing different chores. When she finally saw her uncle her face split into a large grin before she moved over to him.

"Oberyn! I'm feeling a little antsy, so... would you like to spar with me?" She gave him a pretty cheesy grin while she waited. Oberyn looked over at her with a smirk on his face while he pretended to think about it. He let out a little chuckle before answering.

"I suppose dear Elia." She broke out into a huge grin before nodding and turning to lead him to the makeshift sparring ring that they had made on the deck their first day at sea. The men stopped to look at her as she stepped into the ring and pulled her spear off of her back where it was attached, it wasn't her favorite weapon, but it was her uncle's favorite, so she suffered through it. When her uncle stepped into the ring, the men around them stepped back, and as the spears met, bets started to be thrown around and the whirlwind started.

Beyond the Wall

Three Rangers rode through the tunnel leading out to 'beyond the wall' and into the woods. They rode together for almost eight hours before one of the Rangers rode off ahead of the others as he was the scout, until he found a campsite. The campsite was full of mangled bodies arranged in a weird pattern, that almost looked like a shield, and when he turned to go back to the other two men, he saw a child hanging from a tree.

Waymar Royce is the youngest son of a Lord who was sent to the wall as he had no possibility of ever being a Lord himself. And yet, as the leader of this group of Rangers, he felt more important than he ever had in his life. But he was a southerner, and when Will, the scout who was a thief before he became a Man of the Night's Watch, told him of the dead Wildlings, he found himself incredibly unconcerned. Wildlings were wild, it was not surprise that they would do something like this to their own people.

"What d'you expect? They're savages. One lot steals a goat from another lot and before you know it, they're ripping each other to pieces." Will and Gared, who was the oldest man in their group, and who had been a Ranger for longer than either had been alive, were unimpressed with his response. Gared doesn't talk much though, so Will decided to argue his point of view.

"I've never seen wildings do a thing like this. I've never seen a thing like this, not ever in my life."

"How close did you get?"

"Close as any man would." Gared was starting to get uncomfortable, and knew that anything that could do that to a group of wildlings was not something that three men could survive.

"We should head back to the wall." Gared said quietly, but with a hint of finality that Royce did not miss, and made his hair stand on end in defense of his role as leader.

"Do the dead frighten you?" Gared scowled at the green boy who probably could not remember the last winter.

"Our orders were to track the wildlings. We tracked them. They won't trouble us no more." While his reasoning made sense, Royce wanted to chase glory, and if they could kill whatever killed the wildlings, he could be promoted.

"You don't think he'll ask us how they died? Get back on your horse." Gared cursed under his breath but he did as he was told. As he had always done. But Will was a new Night's Watch member, and he was not used to orders.

"Whatever did it to them could do it to us. They even killed the children." Royce rolled his eyes at the man.

"It's a good thing we're not children. You want to run away south, run away. Of course, they will behead you as a deserter... If I don't catch you first. Get back on your horse. I won't say it again." Will let the glare overcome his face, but obeyed the little lord and led the two others back to the campsite. But when they arrived, all the bodies were gone.

"Your dead men seem to have moved camp." Royce snapped out in annoyance. Will looked from the campsite and then to Royce in confusion.

"They were here." Gared looked over at the boy, and as a man who has been stuck beyond the wall in winter, he suddenly felt concerned.

"See where they went." He told Will in a firm tone, and when Will nodded, Gared dismounted his horse and drew his sword as he began to search for the bodies. Royce huffed before dismounting as well and drew his sword that had never been swung. The wind was blowing eerily through the trees when Gared knelt down to look at a red mass in the snow.

"What is it?" Royce questioned quietly, even the idiot could tell that silence was necessary. It was a red cloth, and as Gared turned to show it to Royce, a creature with glowing blue eyes and skin the color of ice had appeared behind the little lord.

Will heard a scream, and then all three horses were running past him back to the wall. He turned in the direction they came from, and saw a figure standing very still in the distance, just far enough away that he could not see their face. The figure walked a few steps forward, as did Will, and when he was close enough, he saw that the figure was the child who had been hanging from the tree, only now, the child's eyes were glowing blue. Before he even realized what he was doing, Will turned and started to run off after the horses.

Gared was running too, and when he saw Will running almost perpendicular to him, he called out and they both slowed to a stop to catch their breath. Before they could talk to each other, Will watched as a adult male shaped creature with ice skin and glowing eyes appeared behind Gared and quickly removed his head with a sword that looked to be made of pure ice. Will sunk to his knees as the head was thrown in his direction, suddenly knowing he would not make it out alive.