The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The day after, early in the morning, amidst the fluttering white snow, a fast horse galloped into the Winter Town.

Outside Winterfell, there was a village called Winter Town.

When winter arrived, the North was a land of ice and snow, with no crops in the fields. The Northmen needed to solve two problems: first, food; second, warmth.

Winter Town was where the impoverished Northmen gathered to live together during the harsh winter.

The houses here were uniformly built of heavy, solid granite, tall and sturdy, with rooms filled with wood. Each house had a fireplace and a basement dug for storing food, as well as a basement for keeping warm by the fire.

In the North, people generally slept in the warmer basements at night during the winter, with the exception of the Starks of Winterfell, who lived above a hot spring.

Winterfell also had cellars, or rather granaries, which were naturally used only for storing food and not for living or resting at night. Within the walls of Winterfell's main castle, hot spring water flowed through the walls, making Winterfell a comfortable and warm place in winter, unlike any other.

Rumor had it that a large number of dragon bones were buried beneath Winterfell, bones from dragons that died in the battles between humans and the Others during the Age of Heroes. It was said that this was the origin of the underground hot spring water. In the entire North, only Winterfell had an underground hot spring, unique and unparalleled.

This year, winter had not yet arrived, but Winter Town outside Winterfell was already crowded with people from the northern part of the North.

With the Others attacking, all the people from the northern part of the North who could come had gathered in Winter Town for refuge.

Several trenches were dug outside Winter Town, filled with wildfire, and a long line of antlers was set up. In the event of an attack by the Others, a wall of swords and shields would protect the outside of the antlers. These measures gave the Northmen the greatest sense of security. King Robb Stark told his people that House Stark would do everything in its power to ensure their safety.

*

"Are there any people who can build walls?" In the morning snow, a loud voice shouted on the streets of Winter Town, "His Majesty the King is recruiting workers to build walls, with hot, fresh bread and ham and carrot soup provided every day."

King Robb's steward did not mention wages.

Although the Starks were a ducal family, they were not wealthy compared to the southern dukes. In this turbulent and dark period, His Majesty needed the people to unite and dedicate themselves.

Doors and windows were opened, and people poured out of the rooms, with many voices saying—I can build walls, I can quarry stones, I have strength, I can do any work...

"Those with stonemason tools, bring your tools and report to the south gate of Winterfell as soon as possible. There is a maester at the gate responsible for registering personnel information, and the King's steward will arrange your specific work. The Others are about to attack in force, and the King has ordered that the walls of Winterfell need to be raised." The steward who came to recruit shouted on horseback.

In the turbulent situation, not to mention wages, it was not easy to find a job with fresh bread and meat in the soup.

The men rushed to the south gate of Winterfell.

"Sir, I can dig earth." A dirty little girl came to the steward's horse and said timidly.

The childish voice caused kind laughter from the old men and women.

"Little girl, what's your name?" The steward did not laugh, his face serious.

"My name is Wheat."

"Wheat, do you have a digging tool?"

"I have a shovel at home."

"Have you dug a cellar?"

"Yes, sir. I have helped my parents dig cellars, and I dig quickly and well."

"Little girl, you are hired. Go back and bring your shovel to the north gate of Winterfell. There is a steward there recruiting workers who can dig cellars."

"Yes, sir." The little girl with dirt on her face was full of excitement, her eyes filled with excited light.

"Citizens!" The steward shouted loudly, "Regardless of men, women, old, or young, those who can dig cellars, those who have dug cellars, those who do not want to be killed in Winter Town when the Others attack, all go to the north gate to register and listen to the unified arrangements of the stewards. His Majesty the King has a new order: the people of the North must all hide in the underground of Winterfell before the Others arrive, and Winter Town will be abandoned. Repeat, Winter Town will be abandoned."

The news spread, and Winter Town was in an uproar, with the voices of women, the elderly, men, and children rising everywhere.

…………

The day after the Mountain arrived at Winterfell, the entire Winterfell became bustling, and the people of Winter Town were almost all conscripted into workers to build walls and dig cellars.

Winterfell had two walls, with a deep moat between them. Hundreds of craftsmen appeared on the two walls, and they began to build the walls, making the already high walls even higher.

Winterfell had three gates for entry and exit. For the convenience of hunting, there was a northwest gate directly into and out of the Wolfswood, a south gate facing King's Landing, and a north gate facing the Wall.

Outside these three gates, on both sides of the gates, craftsmen came early in the morning to build high watchtowers.

Wooden watchtowers were of no practical use against the Others, and they were extremely inconvenient to go up and down. Once the Others attacked up close, the soldiers on the towers could only die. The tall wooden watchtowers could only be used for observation, but these buildings, which were useless in actual combat, were a sign of Winterfell's determination to defend to the death.

This was the Mountain deliberately doing it for the intelligent Others and the Night King to see!

Outside the first wall, the soldiers digging trenches continued to dig deeper. Behind the trenches, thousands of Northmen soldiers were driving dense wooden stakes with sharp points facing outwards, laying out a large field of antlers, with only a narrow road left in the middle to enter and exit the gate.

In just one day after the Mountain arrived, Winterfell had two huge changes: the first was the sound of raising the walls and building watchtowers; the second was thousands of people carrying tools to dig multiple large wineskin-style cellars under Winterfell.

In a corner of the training ground, carpenters were hammering together large wooden frames, half a person high and one meter wide. Outside Winterfell was the thousand-mile Wolfswood, which had no shortage of various kinds of wood.

The soil dug out from the ground was continuously carried to the walls, and the nailed wooden frames were also transported to the walls like flowing water, arranging the wooden frames neatly like soldiers, and then pouring the soil into the wooden frames, compacting it with stone hammers, and constantly adding some gravel and water. The water penetrated into the soil in the extremely cold weather and immediately solidified. Pieces of man-made soil and stone blocks, one meter wide and half a person high, were stacked up as hard as steel.

In just a few days, the walls were rising at a speed visible to the naked eye. This was simply a miracle. If they were to quarry stone from the distant stone quarry and then haul it back and hoist it onto the walls, the walls could not be raised quickly in just a few days without several months.

*

King Robb Stark of the North, Queen Mother Catelyn Tully, Queen Roslin Frey, Allied Commander the Mountain, Earl Rickard Karstark, Earl Galbart Glover, Countess Lysane Flint, and others walked on a newly built section of the south gate wall. They walked slowly, inspecting the military defense works of the soldiers and civilians inside and outside the city.

The eyes of the northern nobles looking at the Mountain had all changed. Even the most critical and wary Lady Catelyn Tully had become respectful to the Mountain, and the look in her eyes had become kind and polite, and she freely gave the Queen Mother a respectful smile.

The miracle that the walls could be built so quickly, with the four walls rising at a speed visible to the naked eye, came from the method proposed by the Mountain.

Filling the wooden frames with soil dug out from the ground, compacting it with water and gravel, this was not an idea that the construction workers came up with, but an idea that the Mountain came up with. This method increased the height of the walls at an amazing speed, and also solved the problem of the thousands of people digging underground piling up the soil. The soldiers only needed to pour the soil into the pre-arranged wooden frames, and the rest was left to the wall builders to compact.

This was a mature assembly line operation mode: the people underground dug the soil, the tall and strong porters carried the soil to the walls, the carpenters nailed the wooden frames and transported them to the walls, arranging them like bricks, and the wall builders only compacted the soil in the baskets... Everything operated freely like a machine, in an orderly manner, and without the clumsiness of giant stones, without the need for large machinery, and without having to quarry giant stones in distant stone quarries.

The morale of the northern soldiers was greatly boosted. Everyone witnessed the walls rising rapidly, and their confidence soared like the walls. The Mountain brought his dragon, and also brought good methods and hope for survival.

The military and civilians of the entire city were of one mind, and the military projects were carried out in full swing every day. The northern military and civilians, nobles and commoners, were all talking about one person in the gaps between work and rest—the Mountain of the Westerlands and his dragon, and his wall building method using soil. The new measure of emptying Winterfell and hiding the people of the North underground instead of Winter Town also came from the Mountain's suggestion.

With the Others attacking, Winter Town had no walls to block them and was very dangerous in itself. Relying on a few wildfire ditches and the sword and shield formations of the northern soldiers was indeed not as safe as hiding in the underground of Winterfell. And to allow all the people to enter Winterfell, it would not be possible to accommodate so many people without emptying the underground. The northern nobles had already occupied all the houses in Winterfell.

As the four walls became higher, the Mountain's prestige and honor also rose like the walls. Among the tens of thousands of soldiers in the North, only one person was not happy, and that was King Robb Stark of the North.

Everyone was looking forward to the solid defense of the higher walls and the safety of the underground tunnels, but only Robb knew that all of this was a false image deliberately designed by the Mountain. His purpose was to deceive the Other King—the Night King, to let him drive the wight army to attack Winterfell with confidence, and finally completely occupy Winterfell, and then, the big Mountain would burn Winterfell to a white wasteland with a fire.

The wights burned to ashes—the Night King could no longer be resurrected. The Mountain would first eliminate the Night King's wight army, and then eliminate the Night King. Robb Stark knew very well that this plan was good, but, but, Winterfell belonged to House Stark!

Robb Stark was depressed. In his eyes, no matter how high the walls were, they would eventually be ruins turned into ruins in the brilliance of wildfire and dragon flame.

Robb also had a trace of unease. The Mountain's military plan to exchange Winterfell for the victory of the decisive battle, he represented the power of the North, became the Mountain's only accomplice, and had to keep it secret for the Mountain.

This was the first time Robb had met and dealt with the Mountain in person. He had learned the taste of the Mountain. Watching the Mountain enjoy the flattery of his northern courtiers, and the respect of his mother and wife for the Mountain, Robb Stark looked up at the misty sky of the North and wanted to roar loudly... He—ma—de—!

*

The Vale Legion of nearly 30,000, the Westerlands Legion of 15,000, and the Riverlands Legion of 5,000, a total of more than 50,000, known as an army of 100,000, took all they needed from the three armies and gathered on the lands of House Frey in the Twins. When they were about to cross the Neck of the North, a large merchant ship from Braavos arrived at the Blackwater harbor of King's Landing. The merchant ship brought cloth, spices, nuts, silk, and flour, and also brought an envoy of revenge: the Faceless Arya Stark.

In the year 298 of Aegon's Conquest, Cersei ordered the Kingsguard Ser Meryn Trant to lead the gold cloaks to kill the entire team of the Hand of the King, who was merciful and wanted to let her go, and threw Eddard Stark into the underground black cells, and imprisoned Sansa Stark to command the North. At that time, except for Elin and other twenty northern guards who were ordered to go to the Westerlands to kill the Mountain, the rest of the people—Syrio Forel, the dancing teacher who taught Arya water dancing, the nun supervisor, the groom chef, the guards, and the servants, including the cattle and sheep in the livestock pen, were all killed, leaving no one alive.

Arya Stark, who witnessed the massacre, escaped through the underground secret passage of the Red Keep, and now she has returned. Standing on the bow of the ship, looking up at the high red rock walls of the Red Keep in King's Landing, Arya Stark, with the narrow sword 'Needle' hanging on her waist, had a calm face like water.

All men must die! She was alone and fearless!

*

Several days later. Late at night. Maegor's Holdfast.

Grand Master Oswell Kettleblack returned to his residence, holding a candle and walking into his bedroom, only to see a sharp-tempered girl sitting on the soft couch in the bedroom.

"Who are you? I have never seen you in the palace." Oswell Kettleblack asked kindly. In his heart, he was very vigilant.

The girl was young and thin, and although she had a sword on her waist, it was a child's toy sword. This did not panic Oswell.

"I am Arya Stark, a wolf from the North." Arya stood up and said calmly. She was as calm as water.

"Arya Stark? How did you get in?"

"How I escaped back then is how I came in now."

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to borrow something from you."

"What thing?"

"Your face, I want to borrow your face."

As she spoke, Arya Stark drew the Needle from her waist.

Thank you [Chau534] for the reward, Happy New Year! Shake hands!