Jon was jolted awake by the commotion going outside the tent. For a moment, he thought he was having a nightmare or something but the dreamcatcher hanging near his head made him feel safe. Last night his brother placed the dreamcatcher near his side of the bed. Harry said it'd catch the bad dreams. Jon was a bit sceptical but Harry had waved his magic wand around the dreamcatcher. Surely, Harry must have put some magic for the dreamcatcher to work properly because he had slept soundly last night.
After stretching out his limbs, Jon climbed out of the bed away from the warm comfort of the woollen bedding. Peeking out of the flaps of his room he was met with total chaos. People were running out in a hurry brandishing any weapon they could find.
"Hey! What's going on?"
Either people were ignoring him or his question went unheard in the commotion. He was not waiting to find out so he ran for the tent's entrance just like everyone else. The moment he came outside Jon's eyes widened in surprise to see his uncle barking out orders on one side like a madman while the men were prepping as if there was a major battle to be fought. He looked around curiously but he could not see Harry anywhere which was strange. Usually, Harry was in the thick of everything.
Jon ran straight toward his uncle while keeping an eye out for Harry.
"Uncle Benjen. Uncle Benjen. What's going on?" Jon asked, a little bit out of breath once he was close to his uncle.
"Nothing Jon. Nothing at all. You just go to the tent and stay safe alright."
"But…" Jon didn't get much of a chance to say anything else as he was promptly picked up by one of the men.
"Keep him inside the tent. Post two guards with him." Benjen ordered, picking up Jon and handing over his nephew to a nearby soldier despite Jon's protests.
"Wait! Where is Harry? Uncle Benjen!" Jon shouted and flailed around but no such luck.
However, everything came to a standstill when a white ball of light streaked across the morning sky.
"Look! Look at the sky!" Jon shouted, pointing to the blazing ball of light.
Thankfully, some men in the camp looked to the sky and they saw what he was pointing at. Soon, everyone was pointing at the sky and murmuring amongst themselves. Jon was even allowed to watch the ball of light as the man carrying him paused to watch. However, things became a bit more frenzied when the ball of light came straight towards their camp. Everyone panicked and he even saw Anya and Kyla aiming their magic arrows at the ball of light.
The white ball of light struck straight in the middle of the camp right before everyone's eyes. Jon was left shielded from the ball of light as everyone surrounded the light with shields and spears.
Frustrated by the impediment posed by his height, he decided to sneak through the ring the soldiers were making around the ball of light. He saw Fenris trying to sneak in so he was quick to follow mimicking his brother's pet wolf. Jon had to sneak in on his hands and knees but with some considerable effort, he managed to crawl his way in by following the footsteps of Fenris. Once he finally reached a vantage point inside the ring the men were making, his mouth fell open at what he saw.
There…right at the centre was a wolf made of silver flames. It was as if the stars of the night sky came down and gave their light to the wolf. Though, surrounded from all sides by many men with their weapons pointed at the wolf, it remained wholly unbothered. He didn't know who but someone threw a spear at the wolf. The spear passed through the silver wolf unimpeded and struck the ground.
Jon blinked a few times just to make sure he was not dreaming. The wolf turned its head to look at the spear and seemingly let out a sigh.
"Uncle Benjen."
Jon gasped at the sound that came out of the silver wolf. It was his brother's voice!
'Did Harrion turn into a wolf? Is that even possible?' Jon asked himself.
Fenris chose that moment to let out a grunt and run towards the silver wolf in a full sprint. Just like the spear Fenris also passed through the silver wolf like it was not physically there.
"Oh, Fenris. I'm not physically here. I'm merely projecting my voice through magic."
Jon blinked confusedly at the explanation coming from the silver wolf.
"Nephew. What happened to you? Where are you?" asked Benjen, stepping forward tentatively still holding onto his shield and sword.
"I'm alright. I'm just using magic to project my voice onto you. Anyway, just follow my spell and you'll find me. I have found a Unicorn herd." the silver wolf spoke in Harrion's voice.
"Now wait just a minute…" Benjen protested and began berating Harry for disappearing from the camp.
Jon shook his head and proceeded to claw his way out of his current position. He was not surprised to see Harry manage to find the Unicorn in his own unique way. However, he was quite interested in learning another matter.
Jon looked at the spot where the blue demon was supposed to be imprisoned. The huge icy prison was nowhere to be seen.
'Where did the demon go?' Jon wondered.
XXXXXXX
Harry opened his eyes as he came out of the deep meditation. The tip of the Elder Wand was still alight with the silver light of the modified Patronus Charm. The modified version used by the Order of Phoenix in the second war was surely a useful spell. But, that spell could only allow recorded messages to be conveyed over long distances. Harry was not satisfied with simply conveying recorded messages. At the height of the war with the muggles, he made some modifications to the spell to suit the needs of an ever-shifting battlefield.
The modified Patronus charm he created facilitates a form of astral projection which allows him to see, talk, hear and feel through the Patroni spirit. The battlefield use was such that it was a nifty little spell for recon and rescue missions. But, this would be the first time he'd be using the Patroni spirit to trace out a path the conventional way. For wizards, he'd only have to pass on the location as they could teleport into the spot using apparition or a portkey. But, Uncle Benjen was no wizard and even if he was portkeys and apparition was out of the question.
So, the Patroni spirit would have to physically guide his uncle towards the destination. Of course, Harry himself was not at the supposed destination. He was only halfway to the spot. The Patroni spirit should be able to track him as his magic would function as a beacon for the spirit to follow. It was also interesting to see a new Patroni spirit. He was expecting the usual stag but what came out was a wolf. He found that quite interesting but he was not exactly in a position to ponder about the reasons behind such a shift.
"We should really get a move on." Harry suggested to his compatriots on this unusual journey.
The Unicorns gave him no heed. They merely continued to focus on their activities. A few in the herd were grazing nearby enjoying some grass while others were lapping up water from a stream flowing down from between the rocks.
"Oh, come on. I can't waste any more time here when there are important matters to attend to." said Harry.
A pair of older Unicorns looked at him with their large brown eyes. Harry got the feeling his constant complaining was annoying them. He got the confirmation when the two adult Unicorns stomped with their golden hooves forcefully causing water and dirt to splash across his face and clothes.
For a moment, Harry just stood there drenched in dirt from head to toe.
'Oh, yeah. They're annoyed alright.'
An hour later, Harry was holding on to the silver mane of a Unicorn as the herd galloped towards an unknown location. He was not exactly sure why the ice dragon would want him to go to this mysterious place.
"What is in this place anyway?" Harry muttered.
Suddenly, he was bombarded with images and sounds alien to his senses. He saw a large brown dragon and a silver-scaled dragon battling with a black dragon in the sky. The battle was ferocious and bloody. The dragons were fighting for their lives and Harry saw the black dragon was slowly overpowering the other two dragons. Out of nowhere, a third dragon joined the fight. It was a familiar dragon with blue scales and icy breath. The result of the draconic bout was that the black dragon cut off its attack and escaped.
Harry was brought out of the vision to the present in a jiffy leaving him disoriented for a minute.
"What the hell? How did I...?" Harry trailed off while he felt the lingering magical signature.
"You!" he gasped, looking at the Unicorn who was carrying him.
The Unicorn neighed as if it was laughing in amusement.
"Of course, these Unicorns can read minds and implant memories." Harry muttered dejectedly.
At this point, he might as well assume every magical creature on this planet was an unparalleled powerhouse when it comes to mind magic.
Setting that aside for the time being, Harry wondered about what the vision showed him. The three dragons engaged in battle were clearly fire dragons. Now, their exact names were something that interested him as only Targaryen dragons remained in the world. The rest were all dead after Valyria's fall. There were only a few Targaryen dragons unaccounted for and survived after the Targaryen civil war.
'Perhaps, I ought to raid Winterfell's library and cross-reference the colours of the three dragons.'
His musings were cut short as the Unicorns came to a stop.
"This is the spot?"
A grunt from the Unicorn came which he assumed to be a 'yes'. Harry looked around the area after sliding off from the back of the Unicorn.
'So, this is why the ice dragon wanted me here huh?' Harry thought, looking at the large skeleton of a dragon covered in vines and huge pine trees.
A Unicorn nudged him towards the remains of the dragon. Harry moved along but whenever he tried to stop and observe the area the Unicorn would nudge him further towards the dragon's tomb. Finally, having enough of the pushy attitude of the Unicorn, he moved in and stood beneath the large ribcage of the dragon. He had to use several cutting charms and gouging charms to sneak his way in as sandstones and vines were blocking his path.
The bones of the late dragon were covered in dust and sand. So, he used a cleaning charm. The dirt enclosing the skeleton was swept away and Harry saw a dragon bone of the native fire dragon for the first time. The bones were black as night. He'd say the bones were akin to obsidian but with more structural integrity and hardness.
'Is this normal?' Harry wondered, feeling a high residue of magic echoing from the one on a cursory look.
Harry also noticed that this was just one dragon. He saw three dragons in the vision. One of them obviously flew away but there were still two fire dragons left.
'What happened to the other one?' Harry thought. 'Did the remaining two dragons roost on some other part of the island?'
Harry was once again bombarded with a series of images as his ride decided to touch him with its tail. He saw the brown dragon flying away from the island while the silver dragon stayed back. The vision quickly changed to show him the silver dragon's last moments. He could see the dragon was in pain. It was struggling to breathe properly for some reason. There were no wounds he could see except for the one near the wings but it was just a minor wound that looked like it healed long ago. Harry saw the silver dragon reach out its claws towards an egg which it gathered against its head before closing its eyes and breathing its last.
As he came out of the vision, the Unicorn rugged him by pushing him towards the head of the dragon.
"I understand. You can stop pushing me."
Knowing what the Unicorn wants him to do, Harry jabbed his wand and used a spell that he learned in his fourth year at Hogwarts.
"Accio Dragon egg."
An egg covered in dirt jumped out of the soil into Harry's waiting hand. A simple cleaning charm shook off the dirt clinging to the egg. The scales surrounding the egg were revealed to be silver in colour like its mother. He could feel a faint thrum of magical energy from the egg. So, he knew the race of fire dragons was also not extinct.
Now, the question was what should he do with the skeleton? More importantly, who was this dragon and what happened to the other two dragons? Valyrian dragons were supposed to be dead after the Dance of Dragons. Yet, he was standing on the tomb of a Valyrian dragon so far away from their home in Dragonstone or King's Landing.
"Damn that ice dragon and his aversion to names. He could have just told me about the dragons and their names." Harry muttered.
Shaking his head, Harry secured the dragon egg in his backpack. It was better for the eggs to remain anonymous for now. The last thing he wanted was for word to get out that Skane island has dragons and dragon eggs. It'd make his job to protect this island from human influence more difficult.
On that note, Harry directed his attention back to the gigantic skeleton of the dragon. Leaving the skeleton here was also a bad idea. He could feel his uncle was a few hours away from reaching this spot. That was more than enough time for Harry to clean up the place.
'I suppose dragon bones can be quite useful not to mention it might help a lot in finding the secrets sleeping inside Aemon Targaryen's blood.'
XXXXXXX
Eddard looked at the vast array of crates assembled inside the hall with an increasing sense of incredulity. The Clans of the Northern Mountains were sworn directly to Winterfell for thousands of years. As such, even after Torrhen Stark knelt before the dragons the clans continued to treat Winterfell as the true rulers of the North. Therefore, the Clans never went back on the traditions of old.
So, it was not a rare sight for the Clans to gift a portion of their produce from the Northern mountains. They have continued this tradition of sharing a fair share of their wealth after winter recedes. Usually, it was some honey, apples, corn, pelts or ale as the Mountain Clans were not exactly rich.
However, this time it was different.
The crates were filled to the brim with potatoes, cabbage, corn, tomatoes, apples and many more. There was enough food to throw three or four feasts with multiple servings fit for a king. Only one question remained in his mind as something like this has never happened before.
"How?"
"My Lord Stark. Lord Benjen asked me to provide escort for the Clans and deliver you this message." said Jory, holding out a piece of parchment.
Eddard took the piece of parchment and began to read the contents. The more he read the wider his eyes became.
"My lord. Is everything alright?" Maester Luwin asked in concern.
"Is this true? You saw everything that happened?" Eddard asked looking at Jory Cassel to confirm.
"Tis true, my lord. Lord Benjen wanted you to know as soon as possible before word of Harrion's deeds spreads afar. We were only delayed because of the rains and I didn't want to risk sending untrustworthy messengers." said Jory.
"It'd seem Harrion may yet earn another epitaph from his recent deeds." said Eddard, handing the parchment containing Benjen's message to Maester Luwin. "Harrion the Greenhand."
Maester Luwin quickly read the contents of the parchment and agreed with Eddard's assessment.
"This is good for the North, my lord. If Harrion has powers similar to Garth Greenhand then the North will never know hunger again." said Maester Luwin.
"You speak true Maester. But, once word gets out my son will have many enemies baying for his blood." said Eddard, frowning at the thought of the amount of trouble this development will unleash.
"My lord, I suggest we pick up the pace in completing the renovation plans. Winterfell must become impenetrable and the guards must be increased. It won't be long before word spreads once the lords arrive for dividing the Gift. Not to mention the Night's Watch contingent will also be arriving in a few days. The Gods alone know what sort of trouble Harrion has caused at the Wall."
Eddard nodded at the Maester's advice. The number of guards has to be increased and the castle was in serious need of repair. There was a great deal of work to be done but he was nonetheless happy to learn of his son's abilities. Clearly, the Old Gods have blessed his son with many gifts. Surely, if the Gods have blessed Harrion then the Gods were watching over his son even now. Saying a quick prayer to the Old Gods on behalf of his son, Eddard went about to deal with the aftermath of this revelation. There was work to be done as Winterfell was going to host the Night's Watch and the lords of the North. The boundaries of the lands of the Gift have to be demarcated so that the Night's Watch and the lords of the North may know which lands belong to them.