Chapter 289

The huge warhammer repeatedly struck the thick walls, sending out regular booming sounds in the distance, and when the huge stone blocks knocked down fell off the cliff, they caused tremendous tremors and muffled thuds on the ground. Whenever this happened, White Spirit's ears and neck would always twitch along.

Qiongen slightly bent down, stroking White Spirit's thick, soft fur, feeling the reassuring warmth.

At that moment, White Spirit turned its head, stuck out its tongue and licked him; he stroked the wolf's head, then smiled and dodged, and then continued to watch as the Horror Castle was being pushed down bit by bit.

The castle that had dominated the North for thousands of years would from today onward forever disappear from this land.

This was the first time the castle had been taken by a frontal assault; Stark's soldiers had countless times looked up at the castle in sighs, repeatedly reaching compromises with Bolton.

Yet this time, when facing the Stark army, it could not hold out to the end—not because Bolton's soldiers lacked courage, nor because Bolton's commanders were too careless, but because of the dragon.

The dragon precisely burned Bolton's sentries, arrow towers, and battlements, burst through layer after layer of iron doors, and caught all defending Bolton soldiers off guard.

Dragon participation in battle sounds like a myth, yet whenever he communicated with those he still knew, they all told him the same thing.

It could be seen that everyone took pride in having fought in this battle, and felt proud to witness this legendary battle.

Dragon. Such a creature either appears in books or in rumors from distant foreign city-states; being this close to a dragon was his first time.

Davos told him that, while the dragon wreaked havoc among the soldiers, his sister drew her passion and fought the dragon…

Fighting the dragon.

He knew Davos and all the participating soldiers were exaggerating the intensity of the battle as much as possible, yet everyone swore they had seen the she-wolf slash at the dragon with several blows, seen her agile posture under the dragon's attack, and also seen the dragon's blood, like molten lava, flowing from under her sword…

Some kept emphasizing that they had heard the clang of Valyrian steel striking the dragon's bones, exaggerating that it was the most beautiful sound they had ever heard.

He could not imagine what kind of warrior could fight a dragon face to face, but thinking that this was his sister, he felt it was quite natural.

She had always been formidable and rarely feared anything; a dragon before her might surprise her, but it would certainly not frighten or bewilder her.

She indeed did so, before tens of thousands of soldiers.

Everyone said so.

People described to him the dragon's appearance, told him its size—the dragon's head was taller than a person's height, its width comparable, and its gaping maw could snap a whole warhorse in one bite.

In fact, many wanted to show him a warhorse bitten in half by the dragon—just a lump of flesh and blood—but no matter how, he could not picture the dragon's appearance or size.

He knew that, out of admiration for the female lord, the soldiers had deliberately exaggerated a lot; he felt that if he had arrived a few days later, the soldiers' boasting of three dragons might have surpassed even the Conqueror's.

How large was the dragon ridden by the Conqueror? He knew.

As a child, he had seen in library records that the Conqueror's mount, Balerion, could swallow an entire mammoth in one bite, and he had indeed seen a mammoth.

If the rumors were correct, those three dragons were undoubtedly those of the overseas queen Daenerys; even if the three dragons were born together with the queen and are now only about ten years old, roughly his age, while Balerion was already several hundred years old then—dragons never stop growing.

Qiongen felt that those dragons could at most barely match the weight of a mammoth—in fact, he doubted whether his sister could withstand a single swing of a mammoth's trunk.

What a pity; he came too late to witness that marvel.

Most of the traces left by the dragon here have vanished; the remaining ghost rider corpses have been buried, the dead soldiers properly handled, and as for the dead warhorses, they have been skinned and cut up by the soldiers, smoked and salted, with the ultimate goal of storing them in the warehouse.

He also had not seen the lava formed from the dragon's spilled blood; someone pointed out to him a patch of scorched earth where dragon blood had dripped and burned, but it was no different from any campfire left by the Night's Watch.

The few dragon scales that could serve as proof, Davos said, had already been given by his sister to the families of Earl Glover and Earl Mormont, because the earls had died horribly in the final battle under Bolton's blood magic.

Besides the two fallen high officials, many of the youths and youths who had always followed her side also suffered losses; Qiongen simply dared not hear their names.

What a pity, Davos told him, almost every soldier understood that the youths or youths staying by his sister's side would achieve great things in the future; many of those youths were themselves viscounts, and the rest were at least knights personally ennobled by her.

He again looked at the Horror Castle, its top already destroyed.

The walls, battlements, and gate of Horror Castle still bore deep scorch marks, forming a stark contrast with the slightly reddish rock face beside it.

That was the clear evidence of the dragon's presence.

No one could make the fire burn that high; he could picture the dragon flame scorching the city gate, burning to death the garrison on the walls, and he could also picture Stark's soldiers charging toward the castle's high mound, rushing through the gate, and storming into the castle.

He could understand his sister's fury and determination to raze the castle completely.

This was indeed a castle perfect in every way, yet when she ordered its demolition, not a single person objected.

Roose Bolton disregarded the promises cherished by the North, treating the oaths sworn beneath the heart-tree as child's play.

His fickleness also caused her greatest losses since the campaign began—no count had ever died in battle before, nor had a large contingent of guard cavalry been killed or maimed.

Qiongen did not overly grieve these losses; various casualties in war are inevitable.

Rather, the death of the hound Maomao made him sigh endlessly. He heard that Maomao also died of blood magic.

Maomao was almost pure black, save for its green eyes, with no other color on its body, just as White Spirit was pure white, save for the blood-red of its eyes, with no other hue.

They were the purest direwolves. Maomao's death made him feel ever more distant from his elder sister.

Qiongen felt she might have acquired a pet completely unlike Maomao.

Others, seeing her clash with the dragon for several rounds, called her a Dragon War Knight, but none of them paid much attention to how the dragon fight ended. He had asked Dajiasi to elaborate in detail.

At a certain moment after dozens of breaths of combat, the dragon froze before her. Dajiasi believed the dragon was cowed by her gaze, then, resentful and roaring, it turned and fled, rushing toward the feeding golden and black dragons, scattering them, and only then leapt before the Bolton army, spewing dragon flame. Afterward, everyone knew the great dragon traced a splendid arc toward the castle that had never been taken.

It was then that the soldiers heard her shout the command, "Storm Terror Castle!"

Qiongen knew it was not because the dragon feared her and chose to help her, but because she herself was that dragon.

There was no need to voice this judgment to anyone; as long as he understood it himself, it was not far-fetched for people to think the dragon feared Mei Yi.

The dragon should indeed remain fearful in her presence.

She is a shapeshifter, perhaps the strongest in history. He had personally witnessed the abilities of the six-form being Walamier, seeing him control a massive snow bear and a mountain cat more agile than a direwolf, yet none of those compared to the great dragon.

He had no doubt that if Walamier focused a bit more, he could also control a ferocious mammoth or some even more wondrous creature, but his energy was scattered, his desire to control too strong and too vain, spreading his attention evenly among every creature he encountered.

He saw Walamier foolishly carrying his spoils of war all at once.

Walamier was strong, yet still far inferior to his sister.

If Walamier is a six-form being, then her sister has already transcended numbers… He even believed that, for any sentient creature, she could control or even replace it, even a human.

That thought filled him with fear.

Another huge stone fell from the wall, then rolled down the slope, leaving dust everywhere in its path.

He felt that at this pace, demolishing the castle would take at least two years; he could not imagine how much effort building such a castle would require… Yet, it was said she was already planning a new city closer to the eastern sea, to serve as the ruling center of the North.

This is utterly mad… yet, considering that all potential trading partners lie to the east of the sea, this choice is not wrong—only… only Winterfell's status would decline, and besides, they are still at war; where would they find spare resources to build a new city?

"You damned southerners… I've never seen such a fine castle, and you're going to destroy it!" Tormund glared at the Terror Castle ahead, saying, "When I was still a giant-slayer, I thought the best castle in the world was the Black Castle, and next came my wooden hut…"

What about you now?

Tuomengde muttered, "Now? It's still early even now. When I saw Hearthcity, I again felt that Blackcastle was my cabin. Damn it, when I saw Kahuo city again, shit, even if it's been burned down, I still felt Hearthcity was the cabin. I'm telling you, only now do I feel that Kahuo city is also the cabin! Qiongen, I advise you, it's best not to let me see Wintercity. If I knew Wintercity would one day be yours, I'd have to stay inside every day, not coming out, and drink all the wine you've hidden in the cellar."

You're wrong, Tuomengde. Wintercity is bigger than Terrorcastle, but it absolutely isn't more magnificent, towering, or stable than it. Besides Whiteharbor, you cannot see any better castle than this.

Damn it, where is Whiteharbor again? When are we going to attack? We've come here and haven't fought a single battle, and it's already over...

Whiteharbor doesn't need to be attacked. Whiteharbor is originally ours.

Are you sure?

Qiongen smiled helplessly, "Of course I'm sure."

That's too bad, I've always wanted my son and daughter to live in a castle like this. But if I put them in such a castle, it would be hard to find them to beat.

This is indeed a problem. When I was young, after I and Robb caused trouble, we liked to hide, and my father found it hard to find us. The longest time, we hid for two days... We dismantled the beams and columns of the stables, causing trouble.

What trouble?

Two warhorses were crushed to death, Old Pusa had his arm broken, although he later recovered, but he died a year later. I suspect it's related to that previous injury.

If I smashed my father's warhorse to death, he'd strip me naked, hang me on a tree to freeze to death, and give me to the White Walkers. Tuomengde laughed, "Compared to smashing a warhorse, I'd rather break my father's arm; maybe I could avoid being hung up, shit, that's a warhorse!"

Tuomengde's words made him unable to hold back laughter.

Although we weren't stripped naked, hiding in the trees, we almost froze to death at night. Afterwards, I was punished to tend the fire at Minkin's iron furnace for half a year, while Robb was punished to shovel dung at Hulun's horse farm, learning to care for horses. I suspect it was during that time that his horsemanship surpassed mine.

Your horsemanship is terrible. So many wildling girls throw flirtatious looks at you; just lift a finger, even if you let your wolf pull their pants, they'll pretend you snatched them…… And what about Wani? Don't you like her? If you don't make a move, she'll definitely pull out a dagger to force you.

Qiongen gave a bitter smile, thinking of Laila who had sneaked into his room that night. I wonder how she is now.

Tuomengde, you don't understand.

I don't understand? Qiongen looked at him glaring, his beard trembling, "What part of men and women's affairs do you think I don't understand? I'm not only skilled in horsemanship……"

My marriage. Qiongen sighed, "I, I have accepted fate, accepted my sister's arrangement for me, which means……"

Does this mean you can't be with Wani?

It means my marriage will be decided by my sister—she herself refuses to look for a suitable match, so if she truly wants to make me the heir, then it means I must marry whoever she deems most suitable.

Does this mean you can't be with Wani?

I…… I won't have any illegitimate child.

We southerners also have our own herbal tea we can drink…… but I think Wani wouldn't want to drink that…… He scratched his head, "Your older sister never causes trouble, right?"

Qiongen sighed.

She has always been steady, never letting her father down in the slightest, of course, except for that time she secretly ran south in her early teens—I mean south not just beyond the Wall, but beyond the Neck, even overseas.

Sounds far…… Has she not been punished?

She hid abroad for over two years, and when she returned, the people of Wintercity were proud of her, so naturally there was no punishment.

You're the heir, I heard, so she's been abroad for over two years…… didn't bring back a child? Tuomengde asked in surprise.

No! Qiongen almost laughed in anger.

So why did she run away? Or is it her child…… His hand gestured something.

Gods above, I truly hope that when you see her, you don't speak like that.

Is she very frightening?

She…… I don't know.

How can you not know anything at all?