The Black Castle had a main passage leading to the outside of the Wall, along with a secret path known as the Black Gate. The main passage, carved through the solid ice, wound and twisted, with three iron-barred gates providing protection. Upon receiving the messenger's report, Commander Benjen, along with Eddard and the northern lords, arrived at the main passage.
A foul stench and thick smoke poured from the passage, accompanied by the muffled sounds of exploding spiders. A group of Night's Watchmen gathered at the gate, dragging their brothers, who had crawled out of the tunnel, to open spaces.
Benjen helped a fallen Night's Watchman to his feet. "What's the situation inside?"
"Cough, cough... We locked the iron doors. The smoke is toxic, and several brothers have been knocked out by it and haven't come out," the Night's Watchman removed the cloth from his face, his eyes bloodshot and his breathing rapid. "The poison spiders are self-destructing, and the Wall is melting!"
"How much longer can the passage hold?" Benjen asked, but before the question was answered, the Night's Watchman collapsed in his arms, dead.
Lord Roose Bolton stepped forward. "Commander Benjen, it's time to abandon the Wall. I believe our years of preparation won't go to waste."
"What?" Benjen asked, looking at him in disbelief.
"Abandon the Wall?" The Night's Watchmen murmured in confusion. After all, for thousands of years, the Night's Watch had never given up the Wall. To desert it was punishable by execution, and now they were hearing this from Lord Bolton. Seeing Benjen's expression, they realized he might have already been prepared for such an outcome.
Benjen laid the dead Night's Watchman flat on the ground, stood up, and turned to Eddard. "What do you think?"
Benjen, the Commander of the Night's Watch, and Eddard, as the Lord of Winterfell, needed to make this decision together.
Eddard gazed at the icy blue wall. "If killing the leader of the Others would solve the problem once and for all, then the Wall can be rebuilt."
The centuries-old legacy of their ancestors being destroyed by their own hands was no easy thing. Over the years, Wright and Renly had repeatedly urged Eddard to consider the bigger picture, and this had finally led him to make a compromise. Preparations were already underway in the Bay of Carlin. If the Wall fell, they would abandon Winterfell and move the entire northern army to the Bay of Carlin.
"Gather the soldiers at the training ground. We need to announce this as soon as possible. Prepare as many supplies as possible, and burn the bodies of the fallen brothers and knights," Eddard instructed.
Everyone gathered at the training grounds, and Robb felt relieved. He no longer had to persuade anyone.
Commander Benjen, in the name of the 998th Commander of the Night's Watch, announced the temporary abandonment of the Wall, and all the Night's Watchmen were to retreat south. Eddard, in the name of the Lord of the North and Protector of the North, declared that the North was now in a state of war, urging all lords to issue the highest mobilization orders within their territories. All able-bodied people and animals were to move south!
Everyone at Black Castle sprang into action. Boxes of weapons and food were loaded onto carts, and large quantities of unspent wildfire-filled ceramic jars were also taken along.
A huge bonfire was lit in the training ground, with piles of wood occupying most of the space, and the bodies of the fallen Night's Watchmen and knights laid upon it. There were no septons here, so a few Night's Watchmen said some prayers, while shape-shifters who believed in the Old Gods were temporarily called to deliver eulogies for the dead.
After the maester released the last batch of ravens, he called for a few Night's Watchmen to destroy the rookery. Without the rookery, the ravens wouldn't land, and the maester didn't want his ravens to become the playthings of the Others. He stared at the destroyed rookery. "When we win, I'll come back and build the largest rookery in all the Seven Kingdoms!"
To the south of the castle, a long line of fire appeared as the retreating forces held torches, creating a golden dragon in the night. Those who didn't have horses walked through the tunnel toward the mole village, where more horses and vehicles were available for their retreat.
In the distant sky, Sauron, riding his black dragon, spewed flames. The black dragon dived, creating a fire wall over a hundred meters long, melting the snow beneath it and clearing a path for the retreating forces.
Plans to defend the southern borders of the North had been in place for some time. The specifics were unknown to the common people, but only the lords and their heirs were aware. Still, when the order to abandon the Wall was given, many of the older northern lords couldn't understand and expressed their anger. Lord Rickard Karstark loudly cursed Eddard as a coward in front of everyone.
Eddard had already declared the North to be in a state of war. It was punishable by death for a subordinate to publicly insult the highest military commander, but Eddard did not pass judgment. He only instructed Rickard's son, Harrion, to take his father away and try to persuade him.
The morale of the army was shaken, as the Northmen abandoned the Wall, which their ancestors had guarded for generations. The soldiers marched in silence, and Eddard hoped that, in the future, the people of the North would understand his difficult decision. He just wanted to save as many lives as possible.
Several direwolves walked side by side, their green eyes glowing like floating ghostly flames in the night. The draft animals pulling the carts had never been trained for battle, and in order not to startle them, Robb and his siblings kept their distance.
Sansa, riding her direwolf Lady, turned to Robb and asked, "Aren't we waiting for Lord Wright?"
"This is an emergency during wartime, and we couldn't reach him. But I'm sure he'll understand when he sees the empty Black Castle." Robb didn't care about Wright; his thoughts were with another prophecy from the Three-eyed Raven.
He glanced back at Geralt, who was riding behind them. The Three-eyed Raven had told Sansa and Geralt to go to the Shadow Tower in the west, but Sansa had not followed, instead choosing to accompany Robb south to Winterfell.
"What happened ahead? Why are the skinchangers leaving the group and splitting up?" Arya shouted.
Robb and the others urged their direwolves to speed up and caught up to one of the skinchangers to ask.
"The North is evacuating, leaving no living creatures for the Others, but wild animals won't listen to human orders. The animals we had summoned died when we left the Wall. We decided to take this opportunity to find another suitable animal. Every one we save counts." The skinchanger covered the horse's eyes with his hand and, after speaking, sped off towards the southern forest.
"Sansa, maybe you should listen to Bran and go west," Robb finally said, unable to hold back.
Sansa sounded displeased, "Go rescue some unknown person? Just because the Three-eyed Raven told me to, does that mean I have to go?"
If the Three-eyed Raven were a stranger, Sansa might have already set off, but since it was Bran who spoke, she felt uncomfortable—after all, it wasn't right for a brother to command his sister.
"Right now, Bran is merely the vessel of the Three-eyed Raven. He's no longer our brother, and his prophecies have come true," Robb started lecturing her, completely forgetting how he had wanted to give Bran, as the Three-eyed Raven, a good beating earlier.
Robb kept on talking, and Sansa couldn't take it anymore. "Fine, I'll go with Geralt, but you two—Robb, Arya—make sure to take good care of Meredyth."
"I'll have her stay with Seran," Robb immediately made arrangements.
The Stark men weren't very articulate, but they treated their wives with the utmost care. Catelyn, a believer in the Seven, had a small church built in Winterfell, and because she came from a warm place, he also had a glasshouse built to grow flowers and plants for her.
It wasn't Robb's chivalrous way to let an unmarried, beautiful woman suffer in the wild. Whenever he had to travel, due to his training, he sometimes stayed in remote places, but his wife Seran always had the most luxurious carriage and stayed at the finest inns, eating the best food, so she wouldn't feel any discomfort.
Robb wasn't familiar with Meredyth, but she was King Renly's disciple, and since Robb was also a disciple of Wright, that alone made him feel the need to treat her well, especially considering Meredyth also held a position as the Mage at the Red Keep.
"Geralt, stay close to me!" Sansa shouted, riding her direwolf swiftly into the western woods, and Geralt quickly turned his horse to follow her.
Arya kept her direwolf close to Greywind: "Robb, are you deliberately creating an opportunity for them to be alone together? Geralt is your enemy! He's humiliated you repeatedly, pinning you to the ground!"
Robb: "Whenever it comes to anything involving Sansa, you love to stir trouble! I don't know what misunderstanding Geralt has with me, but he's sworn an oath to protect Sansa for life, and you can't just slander his relationship with her."
Arya raised an eyebrow. "You really are magnanimous. Doesn't Geralt still owe you for defeating you?"
"We fought in an honorable duel; there's no hatred between us." Robb turned his head to look at Arya. "Don't let Geralt's large frame fool you; his body has been magically altered. His real age is barely fourteen, six or seven years younger than you. I won't hold a grudge against a child."
"Are you calling me a child?" Arya heard the mockery in Robb's voice and began shouting in response.
Robb smiled faintly. "Why can't you grow taller? You're at this age and still look like a little girl; you should have found a husband by now."
"Robb!" Arya couldn't argue back, so she changed the topic. "Geralt's magic is the same as yours. Can you do that kind of transformation magic?"
"Master Wright has already taught me the magic of the trial of the grass. I've passed the optimal age, but maybe my son or grandson could undergo body transformation. Why do you ask?" Wright had given Robb the magic book in front of the Stark family, and Arya had been watching. Robb didn't understand why she was asking.
Arya lowered her head, and after a long pause, she whispered, "I want to undergo body transformation. I want to grow taller!"
Robb looked at his small and frail sister, who didn't seem like a woman approaching twenty, with no noticeable curves. He felt that Arya was indeed a perfect candidate for the Green Trial.
---
When the Others attacked Black Castle, the Wall was similarly under siege.
With the involvement of clever vampires and human traitors, the attack on Black Castle was meant to draw Wright out. The exposed metal towers outside the Wall were also intentional, pulling Wright further north, away from the Wall.
The Others had spent over twenty years meticulously planning this. It was a strategy to sacrifice some of their kind, as well as the vampires, to trap Wright at Black Castle in the middle of the Wall, regardless of whether he pursued them.
The true place the Others wanted to breach the Wall was at the easternmost point, Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, and the westernmost point, the Shadow Tower.
At Black Castle, the human forces on the Wall could still hold out, but the attacks on the east and west were overwhelming.
As soon as the Maester's signal raven flew into the sky, countless magical spells from beyond the Wall followed it into the air. Fireballs swept across the sky in a dense barrage, red blood magic twisted into various forms, tracking their targets. The ravens either turned into fireballs or exploded in a spray of blood, their bodies falling as dry corpses. Not a single raven managed to deliver the message.
After receiving Eddard's order to send reinforcements to the Wall, House Crowl from Deepdown, located on Skagos, launched an assault. The leader led warriors to assist the Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.
They suffered a fierce attack. If the enemies in the Black Castle were attacking in an organized manner, the enemies at Castle Black were connected in a chain, using the bodies of wights like madmen to pave the way. There were countless savages turning into vampires, and there were ice spiders of all forms.
The commander of Eastwatch, Cotter Pyke, was blown up by a fireball before he could even react. His replacement, the Night's Watch lieutenant, continued to command the defense, but still could not hold off the mad, relentless assault of the White Walkers. The Wall was breached, a massive hole opening in its defenses.
Above the Wall, it was pockmarked and filled with gaps. No one could throw wildfire pots from there anymore. Wights crawled out of the tunnels created by ice spiders and gathered at the openings. They stood motionless, and one of the leading wights stepped on the mud-covered corpses of spiders to enter the Wall's interior.
It followed the corrosive tunnel all the way to the other end of the Wall. Turning back, the blue soulfire in its eyes blazed furiously, nearly overflowing. The magical barrier at the bottom of this section of the Wall had already failed.
The wights stirred into motion, marching in a synchronized rhythm as they entered the tunnel.
Black Castle had been abandoned by humans, while Eastwatch was breached by the the White Walkers. The lieutenant, who had only been in charge for less than two hours, ordered the surviving warriors of House Crowl and the young Night's Watch members to retreat. He and several elderly members of the Night's Watch gathered in a meeting room.
When the wights surrounded the meeting room, an White Walker demon kicked open the door. The lieutenant and the elderly Night's Watch members made a throat-slashing motion toward the White Walker, then set fire to the wildfire pots in their hands.
The explosion was violent, and the brilliant green light lit up the sky and coastline. The flames shot higher than the Wall itself.
Eastwatch Castle, along with everything inside, was turned to ash. The water flowing from the melting Wall carried white ash down into Seal Bay.
However, more wights emerged from the tunnels, followed by high-ranking Others and vampires. They rode on snow-white ice spiders. These vampires had neat hairstyles and clothing, signaling a higher status compared to the ragged cannon fodder who had stormed the castle earlier.
The White Walker wore blue ice crystal armor, wielding ice crystal swords, their long white hair flowing over their shoulders. Their blue eyes gazed out across the endless northern land.
---
The same fate befell the Shadow Tower Castle at the far west of the Wall. The raven tower was hit by a high-flying fireball, and all the ravens were burned to ash.
House Glover from Deepwood Motte and House Mormont from Bear Island sent a large number of knights, but their efforts to defend against the White Walkers were in vain. The Wall quickly fell.
The fallen brothers were turned into wights and swung their battle axes at their own men. The remaining survivors set the castle on fire and were picked up by the Mormont family's fleet, headed back to Bear Island.
When Sansa and Geralt arrived, they stood on a mountain peak far in the distance, watching the burning Shadow Tower in silence.
Geralt: "The Three-eyed Raven's prophecy brought us here to find someone. There's no one alive inside now. Has our mission been completed?"
Sansa stroked the direwolf's head: "There were many who came to reinforce Shadow Tower. It's impossible for them all to be dead in such a short time. We need to find a ship and head to Bear Island!"