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Chapter 273: Inertia and Change
🕑 Added 2025-04-17 10:55:27 +0000 UTCAfter Deltos reverted to his dragon egg form, Lynd left the dragon’s nest with the egg in his arms, setting off for the continent of Essos as originally planned.
Summerhall was not a suitable place to raise a dragon. There were too many eyes and ears around, and Deltos, still a young dragon, couldn’t yet control the oppressive aura of the ancient Dragonlords. Whenever he moved about in populated areas, it stirred up panic and chaos, leading to unnecessary trouble.
Essos, on the other hand, was much more open. Right next to Lorne lay the Golden Fields, and beyond that stretched the Dothraki Sea—more than enough space for Deltos to roam freely.
No one in the castle, not even Jon, knew the dragon egg had actually hatched. Everyone simply assumed Lynd had failed to incubate it and decided to take the egg to Ny Sar to continue the process. Only Glory knew that a terrifying creature had emerged from within.
Still, the sudden stirrings of the egg after ten years of silence drew considerable attention. The deaths of dozens of wyvern hatchlings couldn’t be hidden—anyone with even a little capability could sniff out what had happened at the mountaintop castle.
Before long, news of the event was passed to their superiors through various means by spies lurking in the Town of Redemption.
What those spies didn’t realize was that every move they made was being watched by the Blood Armored Men. If Lynd hadn’t given explicit instructions not to interfere with the spread of misleading information, they would have already been captured while poking around.
Once the news got out, most factions didn’t pay much attention to it. In their view, Lynd already possessed a sea dragon—an enormous adult dragon at that—so gaining another hatchling wasn’t a major development.
Only those with Targaryen blood entertained certain thoughts. But these were quickly suppressed. Over the years, many had coveted the dragon egg in Lynd’s possession, but none had succeeded in stealing it. Most ended up paying a heavy price, so now, even if someone had ambitions, they didn’t dare act on them.
To some, however, Lynd’s departure from Westeros mattered far more than the dragon egg’s unusual stirrings. When they heard he planned to stay in Ny Sar for a considerable time, they were overjoyed.
For years, Lynd had been like a mountain weighing down the elite of the Seven Kingdoms. Whenever they made decisions, they couldn’t help but consider how Summerhall might react—whether Lynd would intervene. His absence brought a sense of relief, both mentally and physically. Suppressed ambitions began to stir again. Power struggles, schemes, and conspiracies started bubbling to the surface, especially in King’s Landing—the heart of the Seven Kingdoms—which quickly turned into a vortex of political intrigue.
...
Far from the turmoil of Westeros, Lynd spent nearly a month at sea before arriving at Ny Sar. He would go on to spend the next six months there.
During those six months, he stayed with his wife and children. Nymeria gave birth on the very day he arrived—twins again, just like before. The boy was named Alexander, and the girl, Elizabeth.
Throughout that half-year, various pieces of news trickled in from Westeros.
For instance, Waymar Royce still met his end at the hands of the White Walkers. Even though the Night’s Watch had expanded its ranger numbers severalfold—Waymar’s party had forty or fifty men—they were still as fragile as children against the White Walkers.
The difference was that the Night’s Watch now treated the matter with grave seriousness. Old Bear Jeor Mormont promptly reported the incident to the Iron Throne and sent letters to all the great lords of the Seven Kingdoms. He even dispatched someone in person to Ny Sar to inform Lynd directly.
It was no surprise the Old Bear was so on edge—the attack on Waymar happened alarmingly close to the Wall. A single day’s travel could bring the White Walkers to its very base. With them advancing so far south, he feared it might only be a few days before a horde of wights appeared before his eyes.
Lynd told the Night’s Watch messenger to carry a letter back to the Old Bear. Its contents were simple: unite with the wildlings Beyond the Wall.
In fact, Lynd had already suggested this to the Old Bear at the end of his expedition Beyond the Wall. He believed that in the face of a common threat like the White Walkers—enemies of all living beings—the Night’s Watch and the wildling tribes should consider easing hostilities and joining forces.
But he had clearly underestimated the depth of hatred built over thousands of years between the two sides. Over time, not only had relations failed to improve, but they had worsened. As the Night’s Watch grew stronger, they had launched repeated raids on wildling settlements, deepening the animosity. The chance of any cooperation had all but vanished.
Just like in the previous life’s show, Jon’s plan to allow the wildlings to cross south of the Wall would never happen here. Back then, Jon was only able to convince the Night’s Watch because their numbers had dwindled to under a thousand—they needed the wildlings’ help to defend against the White Walkers.
However, with the renewed support from various territories—especially after Willas joined the Night's Watch—the Reach's backing increased severalfold. The Night's Watch had gradually regained its former strength. Every castle along The Wall had been reactivated, and they no longer needed any assistance from the Wildlings Beyond the Wall. As a result, any cooperation between the two sides had essentially dropped to zero.
Lynd was well aware of this, yet he still hoped the Night's Watch would allow the Wildlings to cross the Wall. In his view, even if cooperation wasn’t possible, the Wildlings shouldn't be left north of the Wall to be recruited by the White Walkers. Relocating them to the Gift south of the Wall could create a new line of defense—so that if anything went wrong at the Wall, the Wildlings could act as a temporary buffer against the White Walkers advancing south.
Still, judging by the attitude of the Night's Watch officer who had left on the Old Bear's behalf, Lynd could already tell his proposal would likely go nowhere.
So, after the Night's Watch messenger departed, Lynd sent out orders—one to Dacey on Bear Island, and another to the Three Kraken stationed permanently in the Iron Islands—instructing them to prepare ships, monitor activity Beyond the Wall, and be ready to transport any Wildlings who fled to Frozen Shore over to Bear Island, the Iron Islands, and the Greywater.
He also sent a letter to Howland Reed, Lord of the Marshes, asking him to prepare the Marshes to receive refugees from Beyond the Wall at any time.
Lynd had always maintained ties with the Marshes. Initially, this was to facilitate contact with the Children of the Forest living in the great swamps. Later, he and the Marshes began trading in mire, excavating large quantities of it to use as fertilizer on farmland. The resulting trade strengthened their relationship even further.
Eventually, Lynd discussed with Howland the idea of modifying part of the Marshes to create a temporary coastal settlement. If Bear Island and the Iron Islands couldn't house all the incoming Wildlings, they could be moved to this temporary site for a while, and from there, Lynd would arrange to gradually bring them to Summerhall.
Both Summerhall and the Kingdom of Lorne now had a growing demand for population. And while the Wildlings were known for being unruly, there was no denying that men, women, and even children among them were all capable laborers. As for whether the Wildlings would continue their old way of life, Lynd wasn’t concerned at all—once they crossed the Wall, they wouldn’t be making those decisions themselves. Besides, back at the Frozen Shore, Dacey and Asha would already be screening them, and only those open to the new system would be sent over in the end.
...
Aside from the situation Beyond the Wall and at the Wall, what concerned Lynd most was the unrest in King’s Landing.
Joffrey’s twelfth nameday tournament had gone ahead as scheduled. In the final match, Brienne the Perfect Knight defeated Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, to win the jousting championship. After the event, Brienne accepted Lord Renly’s invitation to become his captain of the guard.
Following the tournament, Hand of the King Jon Arryn had a sudden and heated argument with King Robert, reportedly over Joffrey’s betrothal.
Robert had apparently changed his mind about Joffrey marrying Margaery Tyrell and wanted to call off the engagement so that Joffrey could marry Sansa, the eldest daughter of Eddard Stark. Jon Arryn vehemently opposed this, claiming that such a move would deeply insult the Warden of the South and could cause a complete rift between the Reach and the Iron Throne.
The argument escalated quickly—Robert accused Jon Arryn of wanting to arrange a marriage between his own son and Sansa. At the height of the confrontation, Robert even drew his sword.
In the end, the quarrel was defused thanks to Ser Barristan’s intervention. But whether from the stress of the confrontation or an underlying condition, Jon Arryn collapsed after returning to the Tower of the Hand, falling into a coma and losing all consciousness. It looked like the end for him.
That very night, Lysa Tully left the Red Keep with her son and took a ship back to Gulltown. At the same time, troubling rumors began circulating in King’s Landing.
One rumor claimed that Robert wanted to cancel the engagement because he had taken a liking to Margaery and wished to make her his mistress.
Another claimed that Jon Arryn hadn’t fallen ill at all—he’d been poisoned, and the culprit was someone within the Red Keep.
The city was awash with gossip, making it nearly impossible to separate truth from fabrication.
All of these rumors, along with the intelligence from King’s Landing, made their way into Lynd’s hands. After reading through it all, he couldn’t help but reflect on the sheer force of historical inertia—how even small changes couldn’t shake its course.
The intelligence also reported that Robert had made a decision during the Small Council meeting to travel to Winterfell and invite Eddard Stark to become the Hand of the King. This infuriated Stannis, who had long coveted the position himself. That very night, he left King’s Landing and returned to Dragonstone.
Judging by the timing of the report, by the time Lynd received the intel, Jon Arryn was likely already dead, and Robert should have been on his way to Winterfell.
What caught Lynd’s attention even more, however, was another piece of news: the Doom cult had surfaced in King’s Landing and had been in close contact with Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish.
A few years back, the Great Spring Sickness had greatly boosted the reputation of the Faith of the Seven across the Seven Kingdoms. At the same time, a number of minor, disaster-themed cults began to emerge—one of them being the Doom Faith.
When Lynd first heard of it, he didn’t think much of it, brushing it off as just a twisted offshoot of the God of Calamity’s worship.
Due to Lynd’s directive, the God of Calamity’s faith had not used the plague to spread its teachings in Westeros. Instead, it had only been promoted across Essos. This left a void in Westeros—a lack of a faith centered around catastrophe. It was in this vacuum that the Doom Faith began to take root among the common folk of the Seven Kingdoms.
Driven by fear of the plague, the Doom Faith spread rapidly. Within a short span of time, it had infiltrated the lower classes and was beginning to creep into the upper echelons of society. The Faith of the Seven took notice and, sensing similarities between this cult and the God of Calamity's followers, sent emissaries to question Lynd about its origin.
That was when Lynd first realized that something was off. He cooperated with the Faith of the Seven to investigate the cult's preachers, only to discover that every single one of them was a fanatical zealot. Once captured, they would kill themselves immediately.
Even so, Lynd’s people managed to seize a few alive and administer truth serum, extracting some secret details about the Doom Faith.
The preachers turned out to be ordinary fishermen and sailors who had been captured by pirates during a raid. They were taken to a cave on an island, where they witnessed what they claimed were apocalyptic signs—visions so powerful they were instantly “enlightened” and converted on the spot.
But when questioned specifically about what they saw in that cave, it was as though a trigger had been flipped. Each of them went mad, raving nonsense that made no sense whatsoever.
Following the joint purge by the Faith of the Seven and Lynd’s forces, the Doom cultists vanished without a trace. Even the Faith of the Seven couldn’t find any sign of them.
The Faith eventually lost interest in the matter, instructing the Inquisition to merely keep an eye out for Doom followers while pursuing witches and other heretics. Lynd, on the other hand, remained deeply invested. He had Balin and Lothor set up a special department dedicated to tracking down the cult, and even allocated a large sum of funding for the effort.
Still, no new developments had emerged for a long time—until now. That the Doom cult had reappeared in King’s Landing, and at such a sensitive time, came as a complete surprise.
Lynd’s concern over the Doom cult stemmed from a specific detail: when he learned the preachers had been taken by pirates to a cave on a cold, remote island, he immediately sensed something was wrong. He suspected a connection to the Iron Islands and sent the interrogation records to Asha, asking her to determine whether any of the captors were from the Ironborn.
Sure enough, one of Asha’s subordinates recognized someone from the descriptions—an Ironborn boatswain from a longship in the Iron Fleet, who had already defected with Victarion to follow Euron.
That confirmation solidified Lynd’s belief that Euron was behind the rise of the Doom Faith.
So, upon receiving the report that Doom cultists had surfaced in King’s Landing, Lynd prepared to send orders immediately, instructing his people there to apprehend the cultists and hold them for his personal interrogation upon his return.
But before the order could be dispatched, another intelligence report arrived—this time sent directly from King’s Landing, bypassing Summerhall altogether.
It contained only a single, chilling message:
The Horn of Winter was missing.
