Breaker, Broken | Jorah Mormont

Chapter 14

"You knew my mother?" said Sansa.

She nodded. "I knew King Robert, Stannis, Renly, your parents, aunts and uncles, I knew Cersei, Jamie, and Tyrion– I grew up with them. My father considered marrying me to Ned Stark, to your Uncle Edmure, to Stannis, to the Kingslayer. I feel quite old but according to my good friends, I look much younger than I am. I admired Catelyn a great deal; she was said to be a rare beauty, with that gorgeous Tully hair. She was an inspiring woman. I've also heard good things about your brother. The things your family has endured... it's awful. I offer you many, many condolences. Your parents and two brothers, I've heard. It's a vicious thing, to lose a loved one. But... alas, I did not come here to discuss that. I want to hear what you have to say, Jon Snow. The things you have seen."

He was glad to see she actually wanted to listen. "Well... you need my help as much as I need yours. You could storm King's Landing with the army you apparently already have, but you won't because you don't want to kill thousands of innocent people. But all those innocent lives may be lost regardless– everyone we know will die before winter's over if we don't defeat the enemy beyond the Wall. The dead are the enemy."

"The dead?" she repeated.

"The Army of the Dead is on the march. They are real. The White Walkers are real. The Night King is real– I've seen them. If they get past the Wall, and we're squabbling amongst ourselves, we're finished. Even if you take the Iron Throne, you'll be ruling over a graveyard if we don't defeat the Night King."

Saera was struggling to believe it. Those were supposed to be myths, legends. She didn't think it would be this bad. This, this was concerning to an entirely unprecedented degree.

"It sounds like nonsense," said Ser Daavos. "But if destiny has brought a Targaryen back to our shores, it has also made Jon Snow King in the North. All the hard sons-of-bitches outside of this hall chose him as their leader because they believe in him. All those things you may not believe in– he faced those things. He fought those things for the good of his people. He risked his life for his people. He took a knife in the heart for his people. He gave his own–"

Jon warned him to stop, but Saera was already curious. "There is no time for any of this," said Jon quickly. "While we stand here, the Night King continues to march on the Wall."

"Answer my one question," said Saera. "Did he mean it? That you took a knife in your heart and... I imagine the rest is that you gave your life for your beliefs?"

He hesitated. "My own men killed me at Castle Black for letting the wildlings past. The Red Priestess, Melisandre, brought me back."

She was quiet. "There are perhaps only two reasons why a man would die and be allowed to come back. Either he sold his soul to the darkest gods or... he wasn't wrong." She sighed. "I must speak about this with my advisors and therefore cannot yet make any promises, but... I brought a great deal of livestock and pounds upon pounds of all the crops we managed to produce in Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen. I would like to bring a significant amount of it here, to Winterfell, if this is where the armies who fight the Night King will stay until the battle. I will see who is willing to fight. The Dornish will follow me here without question. The Reach's army... less certain. I have barely a thousand men of my own who will come at my orders. I will need your help to convince others to follow. I intend to forge a temporary alliance with the Greyjoys, for the sake of using their strongest– yet worst-behaved– men."

"What do you need?" asked Jon.

"I need proof. Is there anything you can produce that will prove that what you say is true? That White Walkers and wights are real?"

He hesitated. "I will need to think a bit more on that. But that does bring me to the next thing I wished to discuss. Dragonglass. A weapon that can kill both White Walkers and wights. A friend of mine learned from records in Oldtown that it can be mined from the mountain under Dragonstone. I would need ships to retrieve it and bring it here."