Fandom A Song of Rivers and Frost

[Eliasdagood]

Minerva smiles. As it being the nature of her house, she holds great importance in such matters as well. Though, she wonders what a stronger Graxag will be like. She’s just glad the invasion of their mind never reached this far south. Her house would not have survived, and that she knows. “Thank you.” She says, dipping her head. “I am glad to help you.”

She turns to go, waving to him. “I will come back soon.” She has dinner with another trade partner tonight. One of the Lannister bannermen. So she is, of course, very paranoid about it.

 

[St. Boethius]

“ If need, will here.” Graxag stated as she left. With no further need to keep awake Graxag settled into a hibernation to conserve his power until such a time that he was either needed or food was being brought.
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

The meeting… does not go as planned. In the end, it boils down to her having very few soldiers. And they’re equipped to deal with bandits. And the Lannisters want to make use of the trade network she’s spent so long building. Her brother has already agreed to side with them, as long as he gets the house leadership. In short, if she doesn’t surrender and pledge loyalty, they’ll attack.

Minerva closes her eyes, taking a deep, slow brother. “I see. Adrian… please come here.” Her brother smirks, and walks to stand in front of her. He recognizes his mistake only as his throat is slit by her steak knife. Minerva turns and runs, the lord she was speaking to snarling, and calling for his guards.

She reaches to touch her upper sleeve, feeling the strange rod that her strange new guest gave her. She presses hard, and feels it snap, a jagged bit slicing into her skin. She would rather die than give up what she has worked so hard for. At least she has someone who might be more use than her soldiers.

 

[St. Boethius]

Graxag could hear it as plain as the snow falling in the land of always winter. The rod that he had given his savior had been broken, and Now that he had be roused from his hibernation to defend his benefactor there was no need for subtlety. Graxag barreled our of the room and let out a blood chilling scream as it reverberated through the grounds Adrian suddenly rose from the dead and pounced on one of the attackers. Then came the cold chill as Graxag made his way over to Minerva if there had been sunshine it would soon beckoaked by clouds and replaced with a gentle snow storm. Though he didn’t have to strength to do more like conjure a weapon he doubted he would need it. Graxag Dan in the direction of his wight in order to ensure minerva’s safety.
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

Minerva manages to run out into the courtyard before a crossbow bolt pierces her shoulder, and she falls to the ground. She can hear the cries of terror, her people trying to figure out what made the sound as they come running. She tries to push herself up off the ground, only to feel a boot press down against her back. The lord caught her.

She screams, struggling to get out from under him. “I suppose this works too.” He leers. “Killing you will be much easier.” He raises his blade, positioning it so it will land hard on the woman’s spine to end her quickly.

 

[St. Boethius]

The snow fall would begin to pick up rapidly and as Adrian killed more Men Graxag used what little power he could muster to raise those corpses as well. He was hoping that the fear would cause a retreat, but he had a much bigger issue to deal with at the moment. As he was running he found Minerva in the courtyard with a blade pointed at her.
Graxag let loose another wail and charged at the Lord shoulder checking him away from Minerva and launching him into the opposite wall with the force he had used. Graxag used his body to shield Minerva from anymore arrows and bolts and commanded his Wights to move to the courtyard.
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

Minerva looks up, knowing he’s coming a solid ten seconds before he gets there. The lord has no such advantage, and he slams into the wall with an audible crunch. His soldiers shy back at the sight of Graxag, and their fallen leader, and start trying to retreat.

Unfortunately, this is the point when Minerva’s own men get there, and see her downed, with Graxag standing over her. They start backing up, and one man grabs a torch, shaking in his boots as he holds it defensively.

He bares his teeth, and looks like he’s about to charge, when Minerva finally manages to get up, raising up a hand. “Hold.” She grits out through her teeth. “Do not…rrgh.” The man hesitates, but gives the torch back to the other. He still looks absolutely terrified, but she’s telling him not to attack. She doesn’t look good. That arrow went straight through. “Maester, now…” she mutters, doing her damnedest to stay strong with the amount of pain she’s in.
St. Boethius

 

[St. Boethius]

Graxag kneels down trying to help but knowing better than to touch her it was after Minerva men halted thier attack that Graxags wights can sprinting into the court yard, 5 in total, they formed a circle around Minerva as directed by Graxag. Then he heard Minerva said a word he knew all too well from his stay in the capital. “ MAESTER BRING!” Graxag shouted at the humans as the snow fall began to stop, but the clouds remained. The cold would keep bleeding to a minimum, but he didn’t want to freeze her.
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

That’s enough to send a few of the humans running, hopefully to get the maester. Minerva looks up at him, smiling weakly as she shivers. “Thank you.” She whispers, blinking a few times. She knows better than to close her eyes and rest right now.

Her maester comes running, carefully trying to make his way to Minerva without touching any of the wights. He kneels down, setting his bag of emergency supplies beside him. “It’s gone straight through… let’s just hope it missed your shoulder blade.” He mutters, as he starts getting ready for a field procedure.

 

[St. Boethius]

Graxag tells his wights in his native tongue to search the area and capture any stragglers. The wights move as a horde and sprint off in search of other intruders. Graxag simply sits down near Minerva , but keeps a fair distance between himself and the other humans. For now the other humans seemed to obey Minerva, but who knows what will happen in a few minutes.
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

The maester gets started, first making sure the bolt wasn’t poisoned. Thankfully it wasn’t. Then he takes a deep breath, starting to pack the fallen snow around both sides of the wound. Minerva hisses in pain. “I know, but it should numb it, and slow the blood flow for when I remove it.” The man mutters.

Then he takes a deep, slow breath, and reaches into his bag for some impressive looking blades. He cuts off the head of the bolt from where it’s come through, and carefully rolls Minerva onto her side, gripping the tail end. “This is going to hurt.” He mutters, praying she won’t go into shock, and pulls the bolt out with one swift motion. Minerva screams in pain, the snow packed around the wound slowly turning red with her blood.

 

[St. Boethius]

Graxag watched the human work and her screams brought the white walker pay to his very hospitable stay in the dungeons of the red keep. Where the measter there poked and prodded him to understand white walker physiology. Though nothing was really gleamed because the war left dragon glass and velarian steel in short supply. That didn’t stop the humans from torturing him.
Next his small horde of wights brought back an injured man who seemed to wear the same crest as the attackers, but neither he nor the wights could’ve certain until a human checked.
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

The maester looks up from his work, and sighs, looking back down at Minerva. “You just couldn’t wait to start this fight, could you?” He mutters, pressing gauze into the wound to try to keep it from filling up with anything unpleasant. Minerva is trying not to scream again. “They tried to take what I have fought for. Would you have had me back down?”

The maester sighs. “I’m just saying there was a more tactful way to get rid of your brother than right there, on the spot.” Minerva’s expression goes dark, her jaw tensing. “How much longer do you have to work?”
“I’m just about done-“ and then the severed head of the arrow is lodged in his throat. She stares up at him. “I never told you about Adrian.” She hisses. The maester falls to the ground, and Minerva pushes herself up, glaring at the man the wights brought. “What was the plan after this?” She growls, holding her shoulder. “How many soldiers are waiting to attack should I survive?”

 

[St. Boethius]

The man is scared beyond pissing himself at this point. He looks between Graxag and Minerva knowing that if he wasn’t careful he would end up like those things that took him down and brought him here.
“T-the plan was to expand the trade routes to help house Lannister recover from the war. Cersei needs funding and supply routes if she’s going to fight against the mother of dragons. A-and not that many. Just a handful. They likely ran after they saw me dragged by here by these things. Once news of the wights spread those all eyes will be on you.”
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

Minerva groans. “And of course now I have to search for traitors throughout my entire house.” She mutters. “Tell that bitch to stay away from my family if she knows what’s good for her.” She snarls. “Actually, no. I’ll just send her your lords head in a box.” Even her own soldiers look worried at this point. They knew she would defend her house, of course, but they didn’t realize she had the capacity to be this vicious. Or to side with something so unbelievably dangerous as a walker.

She looks at the soldier with cold, uncaring eyes. “There won’t be any negotiations for a foot soldier, and it seems you’ve given me all the information you can. If you have some reason I should keep you alive, I suggest you speak now.”

 

[St. Boethius]

The solider stammered about how they had a rally point to meet at once the deal at been made. Some tavern between the hold and the capital to celebrate. Though he doubted they would still show when the plan failed and the realization that the escaped walker was hiding here. After that the solider begs for his life saying that he’ll not tell anyone about what happened and that he would be her bannerman.
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

Minerva closes her eyes, taking in all of that information. “When I do take bannermen, and I will, it will not be because they groveled like cowards.” She is not a strong woman, but she knows enough to grab his hair in one hand, and his chin in the other, and yank hard to snap his neck.

It makes her shoulder burn like hellfire, but she has to fight against that pain for now. She turns to look at her men, her eyes burning with anger and determination they have not seen before. “Begin training. Any former soldiers belonging to this house will train more guards, and more soldiers. My brother and the other traitors foolishness has started a war, probably on many fronts. We will make preparations.”

 

[St. Boethius]

With the situation handled Graxag released it hold on the wights who fell to the ground as corpses once again. Standing from his place against the wall he walked over to the dead solider and took a large bite out of the mans neck. No blood spilled forth because of the cold bite, but the difference in power Graxag gained from eating an animal and a person was palatable. Graxag threw the corpse over his shoulder and made his way back to the pantry where he planned to finish his meal in peace.
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

Minerva watches him go, glad that he isn’t leaving. Without his support, she’s going to die. She decides to just move all of the bodies into a pile by the pantry door as a way to show thanks. She will need a new maester, but for now, she’s going to barricade herself in her room and try to get some sleep.

 

[St. Boethius]

Graxag would only eat the solider and keep the other corpses as wights if needed, though the one man was enough to leave Graxag fully invigorated. After all the walkers had been created by the children of the forest to destroy the humans. Graxag would release his hold on the weather and go back into hibernation until needed. He less power he used the better off he would be for what was coming.
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

Minerva letting so many into her house has it’s benefits. There are a few maesters here that were cast out for one reason or another. When she wakes, One is waiting for her to let him into her room so he can care for her. She insists on having a guard there to watch, and everything goes smoothly. The bolt didn’t hit anything important, thankfully. She should heal fully in a couple weeks.

She is up and moving that day, knowing she has to assure her house. Some are refugees from the wars, and they are afraid. It’s good that she managed to stop her people from attacking, or she’d never have gotten her house in order again.

 

[St. Boethius]

Graxag has his wights stand guard in the pantry should anyone come in while he sleeps. It affords him the ability to relax and actually enjoy his sleep for the first time in a very long time. He dreams of the icy fields of his home and as the last of his kind he is drift in this world without any sort of support structure. With the power granted to him by the previous night king he can now repopulate the white walkers in time, but for that to happen a pact must be made. It seems like his best bet is with this Minerva.
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

Minerva is an extremely persuasive woman. And everyone here knows that she is the only one who was willing to accept them into a house again. They will remain loyal to her as long as she continues to protect and support them. The training seems to be going well. And as much as she dislikes the thought, these soldiers will still serve their purpose dead.

Graxag is free to travel where he wants within the hold now. Now that he is formally under her protection, no one will challenge him. They will, however, be very nervous around him if he ever chooses to leave the pantry.

 

[St. Boethius]

After enjoying his sleep Graxag did decide to leave the pantry and wander the grounds. When his skin touched the sun he winced for a moment before using his magic to create some cloud cover for himself. Graxag kept his wights in the pantry as he had no need for them and searched the grounds looking for Minerva. Whenever the other humans saw him they shrieked away or hid from him. It was a reaction he was used to and paid it no mind. When he did find Minerva she was watching the training of her soldiers so he joined her. He only gave a nod at the soliders as he watched.
Eliasdagood

 

[Eliasdagood]

Some of the soldiers look nervous, but seeing Minerva watching, do their best to ignore him and continue training. She turns her head to look at him, and smiles. “It is good to see you.” She says, remembering to use simple words. She puts a hand to the bandages tight over her injured shoulder. “Thank you. You saved my life.”

It makes her happy to see that he’s out and about. It might mean he feels safe here. “Is there something you need?” She asks, wondering why he sought her out, other than perhaps rob check on her.