Hearthfire Main Castle, the staircase leading to the second level of the basement.
The biting sounds of deviant ghosts, the battle cries of warriors, the clashing of weapons, and the desperate cries of humans came from the main hall above ground.
"Dear gods, we should listen to the Night Watchers and leave the north immediately. We should go to Winterfell, the valley, or even Braavos." Eide Amber closed his eyes and said in despair.
He did not even dare to turn his head because the basement of the second level was filled with children and women who were hugging their children's heads and crying softly.
He was ashamed and did not dare to look at them.
He was the second son of Jon the Elder. After his elder brother Junior Jon died in the Red Wedding and his father Elder Jon was rescued by King Aegon from Conch River City, the 14 year old Eide became the official successor of Hearthfire.
He was supposed to be the guardian of Hearthfire, protecting his subjects and family in the castle.
When deviant ghosts were rampaging in the town outside the castle, he went up the castle walls and fought with the enemy.
His swordsmanship was not high, but because he had the strong physique and tall stature of the Amber family, he slaughtered his way through the pile of corpses, waving his sword and sending limbs flying.
But those severed limbs slowly but steadily crawled towards him.
Severed hands grabbed his boots, heads opened their mouths to bite his cloak, and even dead people who were cut in half at the waist, even if they only had two long legs and half of their abdomen left, still had a "pot" of rancid intestines splashed on his face.
At that time, he slid to the ground and did not dodge, but used his face to receive that pot of feces and intestines. That taste … he fainted immediately.
Then he was dragged back to the main castle by the guards …
When he regained consciousness, his 12 year old sister Anna cried and told him: The town had fallen, the castle walls had fallen, the platform outside the main castle had fallen, the deviant ghosts had charged into the castle hall, and the next and final battle was on the basement level.
There were no warriors on the basement level, only women, the elderly and children.
"The main hall has fallen, retreat to the next level and guard the staircase – Ah! Direwolves, no – "
"Use fire, use fire, torches, quick –"
"Bastard, I'll kill you!"
Soon, B1 was also filled with suffocating black smoke, swaying red light, and thick cold fog.
Dead people could not scream. Only the roars and howls of humans could be heard echoing in every room of the basement.
"My lord, we must make a decision as soon as possible!" Hearthfire's guard captain found Count Eide and said sorrowfully.
"I am willing to live and die with Hearthfire." Eide gripped the hilt of his sword, his voice trembling. "But those women and children …"
The head of the guards had lost his helmet. His grayish-brown hair, which was wet with blood, sweat, and ice water, stuck to his dark and rough scalp. There were a few bite marks on his square face, and half of his cheek was almost bitten off.
Every time he spoke, air would pass through the teeth marks and form a string of tiny bubbles in the bloody wound.
There were three deep scratches on his chest armor, which had almost pierced through the steel plate.
These injuries were all caused by the Direwolf Ghouls.
If it were zombies, he would have joined the zombie army long ago.
Luckily, the ghouls were magical, and not sci-fi.
Ugh, alright, there are always losses. Zombies could headshot, so they had no need for weapons. Ghouls, on the other hand, were not afraid of headshots. Normal weapons could not deal damage to their vitals.
"Dying in the fire is better than becoming a monster." The head of the guards' words leaked out, revealing the despair and determination in his heart.
The so-called final struggle began from B2, using kerosene to ignite the entire castle, and perish together with the ghouls and other ghouls that had entered the castle.
"It's all my fault, I shouldn't have hesitated. When I received the messenger crow from Dark Castle, I should have left Hearthfire through the river." Eide hugged his head and said in pain.
"Leave through the ghouls' river, the river is already frozen." The head of the guards spat out a mouthful of blood and cursed.
"It's frozen? I remember that half a month ago, there were longboats transporting large amounts of food for us along the Mo River, "Ed Amber said doubtfully.
Amber was, after all, an old noble who had lived for thousands of years. He was used to the simple lifestyle of the Northerners, and he did not have a "Linise" daughter-in-law. He finally had some gold at home, which he used to buy food in Braavos. This was Jon's request, and he knew that the Eternal Night was real.
"Probably on the day the Great Wall collapsed, a thin layer of ice formed on the river." The head of the guards' face was ashen. He shook his head and sighed. "The Northern Territory is finished, and the river is frozen. Are the White Blade River (Winterfell), the Wailing River (Terrorhold), and the Shattering River (Horwood Castle) exceptions? Stark, Bolton, and the rest are all finished. They have nowhere to run. "
"Woo woo woo …" The women who overheard their conversation no longer suppressed their emotions. They burst into tears, and in a short while, the whole castle was filled with their cries.
"Sigh, Sir Cruz, go make the arrangements!" Eide Amber's eyes dimmed, and he waved his hand dispiritedly.
"Boom — — —"
A loud explosion came from above, and the whole basement shook violently. Mud slid down the wooden planks on the ceiling.
The violent and hot air rushed out from the stairway from basement one to basement one. The army of the dead on the stairs were like pieces of paper in the wind, and they were blown into the hall.
The people in the basement felt their ears ring for a moment.
"What's going on?" Eide patted his ears and looked at the ceiling in shock.
There was silence, and there was no second explosion.
The head of the guards avoided the ghoul fire and walked out of the stairway to basement two. He stuck his head out to look at the entrance to basement one.
When he saw the red flames floating in with the wind, he suddenly realized and shouted in joy, "Someone is here to save us, it's a kerosene bomb!"
"So fast? Our messenger crow was just sent away less than an hour ago. Winterfell and Dark Castle couldn't have arrived so quickly! "Eide Amber was puzzled.
No matter how puzzled they were, they accepted reality happily.
After the explosion, more than half of the ghouls in basement one collapsed. The soldiers of Hearthfire didn't know what was going on, but their morale was boosted. They charged forward bravely, and their swords burned the ghouls.
Ten minutes later, they cleared all the ghouls in basement one. Eide Amber, under the protection of three shield-bearers, carefully climbed out of basement one.
Just as he stuck his head out, Eide's body stiffened, and he was stunned.
"Did you see it clearly? What happened upstairs? Why did they only throw the kerosene bomb once? "The head of the guards behind him asked anxiously.
"I saw it. Fire, there's fire everywhere." Eide Amber said in a daze.
"There's no danger!" The shield-bearer said, and walked out of the stairway.
Then, a group of soldiers followed the young Earl out.
The head of the guards understood what Eide Amber meant.
Yes, fire, there were bonfires everywhere. It was as if the entire castle was raining fire. High platforms, stairs, courtyards, walls, roofs, there were bonfires everywhere. They were densely packed, and the smell of burning corpses filled the air.
They saw clearly that every bonfire was a burning corpse.
The number of ghouls was as dense as the number of ghouls.
The castle was silent, and only the crackling of the burning corpses could be heard. Black smoke and red flames filled the sky.
In this cold winter night, they felt a heat they hadn't felt in summer.
"Only these few people left?" Suddenly, a clear female voice came from the main hall of the castle.
"Who, who's there?" Eide Amber stood on his tiptoes, widened his eyes, and tried his best to look. But his vision was blocked by the red flames, and he couldn't see anything.
Well, the main hall of the castle was filled with ghouls, and even the roof was stacked. Now, they all turned into burning matches. The roof was blown away, and the corpses in the hall were piled up like a mountain. The red flames rose four to five meters high, and the thick smoke covered the sky.
"Hualala!" The reed-like flames in front of them came to life. They moved to the sides like soldiers in formation, and made a two-meter wide path.
At the end of the path, there was a tall throne carved from red iron ore. There were three steps, and including the back of the chair, it was two meters high.
But everyone's eyes were attracted by the young woman in blue and white armor who was sitting lazily on the steps with her hand on her forehead.
Her long sword was placed on the steps, and her mask was pulled up, revealing a face like the autumn moon. But her delicate facial features couldn't hide her valiant and valiant appearance, and her domineering temperament.
Uh, looking down on everything, it was all an illusion.
Dragon Queen only felt a little bored, and she was worried about the situation in the North. Then, she sat on the steps and thought, while absorbing a large amount of ghouls' spiritual essence.
She didn't have any intention of shaking her body and releasing the aura of a king.
The people of Fireplace Castle thought she was domineering, because in the blazing red flames in front of her, there was a ferocious black dragon with half-closed eyes lying on the ground.
Put a dog on the back of a Megalosaurus, and people would think it was the ruler of dogs.
In an instant, everyone understood the identity of the female ruler.
"Dragon Queen!" They were shocked and delighted.
With the Dragon Queen's arrival, they were finally saved. But in less than fifteen minutes, the Dragon Queen had wiped out the endless ghouls in Fireplace Castle. How did she do it?
Even though the flames made a path, Eide Amber and the castle guards couldn't walk over to thank the Dragon Queen.
Because the flames burned around her and the Megalosaurus, the bricks on the ground were boiling hot, and the iron swords and armor on the ground were even burning red. The dragon and the man didn't feel anything, and they were relaxed. But they couldn't stand it.
Even standing in the side hall, far away, they were sweating profusely, and their cheeks were red. They almost fainted from the heat.
.....
Blackie stayed outside, and the Dragon Queen was invited into the basement hall.
Under the light of the torch, Danny saw hundreds of sad and lost faces.
"These are the only ones left." Eide Amber said bitterly, "Fireplace Castle originally had more than fifteen thousand townsfolk … The town outside the castle fell immediately, and the castle walls couldn't stop the ghouls.
Normal swords and knives couldn't kill the ghouls.
In less than half an hour, only those of us hiding in the castle survived. "
More than fifty guards, more than four hundred old, weak, women, and children.
It was terrible.
"Tomorrow, a team of Pterosaurs will come and send you to Winterfell, or somewhere in the south." Danny sighed.
This was the Long Night.
Not everyone was as strong as her. Normal people didn't have the Megalosaurus, and didn't have magic. Facing the tide of ghouls, they were like people who didn't know how to swim in a tsunami. They struggled and splashed, and then were swept away by the waves.
"Your Majesty, you seem to have killed all the ghouls. Is Fireplace Castle safe?"
Hearing that the Dragon Queen wanted to send the Pterosaurs to take them away, Eide Amber was in a dilemma.
"Killed all?" Danny smiled bitterly and shook her head. "Take a guess, how many ghouls attacked Fireplace Castle?"
"Endless, at least forty thousand of them." The head of the guards, Sir Cruz, said confidently.
"Wrong." Danny held up two fingers. "Only two!"
"Two? That's impossible. How can there only be two of them among the densely packed dead? "
Dragon Queen's words caused an uproar in the hall. Everyone looked at her strangely. Could it be that the domineering Dragon Queen couldn't do math?
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
