Game of Thrones: Knight’s Honor
Chapter 381: White Walker Studies

When Lynd left Castle Black, the instructors of the Night's Watch were busy training the tens of thousands of troops sent by the lords of the Seven Kingdoms. Even Brynden Tully, the Blackfish and commander of these forces, had to undergo training. After reviewing the battle reports Lynd had shown him, he realized their fighting style was completely unsuited to the northern battlefield—just as their bodies were ill-prepared for the harsh northern climate.

If these reinforcements were sent beyond the Wall without proper preparation, they likely wouldn’t last ten days before perishing in the wilderness.

In the end, Lynd brought in master-at-arms from other castles and selected several rangers from the current Night's Watch to serve as instructors. Their task was to teach the reinforcements how to fight in the extreme cold beyond the Wall.

However, combat beyond the Wall wasn’t the main focus. What truly mattered was how to defend using the Wall itself.

That was because Lynd never intended to send these reinforcements beyond the Wall. They would remain stationed at the Wall, filling the gaps in the Night's Watch's manpower. When the White Walker army attacked, these soldiers would serve as reserves to replenish the losses suffered by the various castles.

After departing Castle Black, Lynd continued his inspection westward, checking the defenses of each castle. Just like his eastern inspection, he traveled along the top of the Wall, inspecting the repaired catapults and rolling log shafts, making sure all battle supplies were in place. Any problems he found would be reported directly to the responsible Night's Watch captain.

Fortunately, whether it was Old Bear Mormont, acting commander Samwell, or Stannis, they all placed great importance on the repair of the Wall's defenses and the stockpiling of war materials.

From Castle Black to the Shadow Tower, everything was in order—except for a problem near the Shadow Tower: The Gorge.

The Gorge lay to the west of the Shadow Tower, a deep glacial canyon carved by the Milkwater River, which ran through the canyon bottom and extended all the way to the Bay of Ice. The severe cold had frozen the surface into a thick sheet of ice, turning the river into an underground flow. Steep cliffs and the deep canyon created a natural divide between the lands beyond the Wall and the North.

The terrain was treacherous, with sheer ice-covered cliffs on both sides. It was nearly impossible to bypass the Shadow Tower from this location—even skilled climbers would face near-certain death attempting it.

In the past, a Skull Bridge once spanned the canyon, connecting both sides. But it had long since been abandoned, the bridge broken into two segments. Along with it, the fortified outpost known as Westwatch-by-the-Bridge was also abandoned. That castle marked the westernmost stronghold of the Night's Watch.

Perhaps because of the natural barriers that made passage seem impossible, the castle was largely ignored when the Wall's other castles were fully garrisoned and assigned commanders. Only twenty Night’s Watch brothers were stationed there, and little attention was paid to the defense. The castle remained in ruins, and none of its defensive structures had been repaired.

But what others saw as an impenetrable natural defense, Lynd saw as riddled with flaws. Those steep, icy cliffs might be deadly to common folk, but to wights, such terrain was meaningless. Under the direction of a White Walker, the wights could easily construct a ladder to descend to the canyon floor, then build another to climb up the other side—circumventing the Wall and entering the southern lands.

Upon discovering this vulnerability, Lynd immediately sent a letter back to Castle Black via message falcon. He was confident it wouldn’t be long before Sam sent a thousand men to garrison Westwatch-by-the-Bridge. Once that happened, the fortress would be reactivated, and the necessary defensive works would be put in place immediately.

After completing his inspection of the Wall, Lynd didn’t return to Castle Black. Instead, he mounted Neltharion and flew directly over the Bay of Ice, bypassing the Wall entirely, heading toward the walrus tribe's base on the Frozen Shore.

Whether due to the extreme cold or some unknown, mysterious force, Neltharion only dared to fly low along the coastline, avoiding the deeper regions beyond the Wall.

Fortunately, the walrus tribe was situated along the coast near the Frozen River, making their location easy to find. After circling twice in the air, he landed in the snow just outside the tribe.

The moment Neltharion touched down, Lynd received a message from him: the ground beneath his feet was causing intense pain, as if blades were slicing into him.

Lynd immediately examined Neltharion’s condition and discovered that the molten core burning inside him had dimmed. An invisible force was gnawing away at his body.

“Return to the Valyrian Freehold! Bring Deltos in,” Lynd ordered immediately after dismounting, having sensed Neltharion’s condition.

At his command, Neltharion spread his wings without hesitation and soared into the sky, flying south along the coast toward the Valyrian Freehold.

Just then, Malora emerged from the tribe with his men. Seeing the lava dragon fly off, he asked in confusion, “Your Grace, weren’t you planning to test the dragon’s Dragonfire on the White Walkers? Why let it fly away?”

Lynd answered plainly, “There’s a force in this land that’s corroding Neltharion’s body.”

Malora blinked in surprise. “You noticed that already? I was just about to report it to you. This isn’t the place to talk—let’s go inside.”

Lynd motioned for Malora to lead the way, and the group entered the tribe. Warriors and sailors along the path all bowed respectfully to Lynd.

Long ago, under Lynd’s orders, Dacey had begun trading with the walrus tribe and gradually brought them under control by hiring their warriors. A thousand years earlier, she had relocated all the walrus people living along the Frozen Shore to Bear Island, leaving the tribe vacant. Since then, Lynd had sent people to take over, step by step bringing the Frozen Shore under his command.

Those agents dressed like walrus people and had studied the local language and customs. Unless someone had close, long-term contact with the tribe, they couldn’t tell the difference. As a result, even the Free Folk tribes east of the Frostfangs hadn’t realized the tribe had changed hands. When Mance Rayder gathered his Free Folk army, he had even sent messengers to invite Lynd’s “walrus tribe” to join.

The real reason Lynd invested so much manpower and resources into building this base was to take advantage of the unique environment to breed two special creatures: the great white dogs and war bears.

The war bear breeding program had already borne fruit—Dacey’s war bear unit was one such result. The main breeding base for war bears had since been relocated to Bear Island, and all of this base’s resources were now focused on the great white dogs.

These dogs, once raised by the walrus people, are massive, fierce, and fiercely loyal to their handlers. In the past, a single walrus warrior could lead three great white dogs alongside wild ice bears into battle—a testament to the dogs’ strength.

After learning of their potential, Lynd had wanted to cultivate the great white dogs as signature war beasts for his army. Equipping every soldier with one or more of them would exponentially increase overall combat power. They could also serve as trackers and scouts during the eventual migration to Sothoryos.

Though they originated on the Frozen Shore, the dogs were not limited to surviving only in the cold. In fact, half of the pups bred here had already been sent to the Kingdom of Lorne, where they quickly adapted to the warmer climate.

Now, most of the great white dogs at the base were used for sled pulling. It was thanks to these dog sleds that the Sisters of Redemption and the Silent Men could carry out skirmishes on the fringes of the wight army without being caught.

Wights, while tireless and capable of moving without rest until their bodies break down, were physically slow and simply couldn’t keep up with the speed of the sled dogs.

After each strike—successful or not—the sisters and monks would immediately retreat using the sleds, pulling away from the wight army before regrouping and launching another attack. In this way, they were able to wear down the enemy while sustaining almost no casualties—a strategy that had proven highly effective.

The breeding area for the great white dogs now took up two-thirds of the entire tribal base. Half of the remaining third had been turned into a temporary laboratory by Malora.

The lab was built mostly underground, carved into the permafrost much like Mole’s Town beneath the Wall. The surface structure was an ice hut, built with blocks cut from the frozen river nearby. Because the structure was made of ice, sunlight could pass through the walls and illuminate the lab below, keeping it bright throughout the day.

Inside the lab, the captured White Walkers were neatly arranged on tables. Their limbs had been severed, and magical metal muzzles had been fastened over their mouths to prevent them from biting the researchers.

Around nearly every table stood several Maesters and spellcasters, deeply engrossed in their study and discussions. So absorbed were they that none noticed Lynd’s arrival—until Malora coughed a few times. Only then did they look up, startled, and hurriedly bowed to him in fear.

“Has anyone made any progress?” Lynd gestured for everyone to relax and then asked.

The group exchanged glances, each seemingly waiting for someone else to speak up.

“You,” Lynd said, not wanting to waste time, and pointed to the Maester closest to him.

“Yes, Your Grace.” Maester Harmen took a deep breath, then pointed to a dissected White Walker beside him and said, “I've been focusing on their physiology. Although White Walker magic transforms humans, their internal organs remain intact.” He paused, then looked to Lynd and asked, “You once mentioned that White Walkers are made by turning children, who then slowly grow into adult White Walkers, correct?”

Lynd nodded. “That’s right, based on what I’ve observed.”

Maester Harmen continued, “What we’ve found suggests that even after the transformation, their organs continue to grow. Otherwise, we’d be seeing child-sized organs inside them—but we’re not. In fact, we’ve even found food inside the stomachs of adult White Walkers.”

“Food? Are you saying White Walkers eat?” Lynd asked, visibly surprised.

Maester Harmen used a wooden stick to carefully lift a crystalline, ice-like object from the White Walker’s stomach and set it on the table. “No, not regular food. This.”

Lynd studied the object closely. It looked vaguely familiar, and he instinctively reached out to examine it more carefully, but a nearby spellcaster quickly raised a hand to stop him.

“Be careful, Your Grace,” the spellcaster warned. “This thing carries powerful freezing magic. The moment it makes contact, the magic will invade your body and cause harm.”

Lynd gave a small nod to show he understood, but he ignored the warning. He picked up the object and held it in his hand, bringing it close to examine it.

Just as the spellcaster had said, a magical force surged into Lynd’s body the moment he touched it. But before he could consciously purge it, the invading magic was already dispersed—completely harmless to him.

“These are dragon scales. I’m sure of it—these are dragon scales,” Lynd said after carefully studying the object.

“A dragon? Scales?” Several people in the room paused in disbelief. Some looked down at the White Walkers on their own tables, clearly wondering whether they should open them up to see if there were dragon scales inside.

“What kind of dragon has scales that look like ice?” someone asked skeptically.

The room fell silent. Everyone turned and stared at the speaker like he was a fool.

Those who had studied the White Walkers or the lands Beyond the Wall were all familiar with certain legends—tales that spoke of Ice Dragons creating the White Walkers. So when Lynd identified the ice-like object as a dragon scale, the first thing that came to everyone’s mind was Ice Dragons.

For a long time, whether Ice Dragons even existed had been a matter of debate. Their range had always been limited to the Land of Always Winter, far from any known civilization.

But now, no one questioned it. Fishermen from Lorath sailing the Shivering Sea had already reported multiple sightings.

“Why would they eat dragon scales?” someone finally asked, frowning at the icy shard in Lynd’s hand.

Malora answered, “Probably to promote growth. Just like we eat food, Ice Dragon scales might be a food source for them—or at least a component of one.”

Lynd set the Ice Dragon scale back down on the table, turned to the others, and asked, “Any other findings?”

Prompted by his question, the other researchers began sharing their results as well. Most of them had been studying the White Walkers’ anatomy, testing their reactions to different forms of magical energy, and experimenting with how they responded to various metals and non-metal materials.

The most intriguing findings came from two groups who had been testing the White Walkers’ intelligence and whether communication with them was possible—and the results were quite surprising.