Chapter 445: The Siege and Defense of King’s Landing
A human face, webbed with white cracks, emerged from the icy, ck depths of the ckwater Rush. Blue-tinged eyes opened, their gaze meeting an explosive burst of light. The detonation was so powerful it carved meters off the fortress it struck, sending shockwaves that toppled the defenders manning the city walls.
For a fleeting moment, the st disrupted the relentless advance of the White Walkers.
That cracked visage belonged to none other than the Night King. Emerging behind him, a cluster of White Walkers with glowing blue eyes followed, their water-slicked hair clinging to their skulls, enhancing their sinister aura. The Night King, fully recovered from wounds inflicted months prior, had learned from his past misstep—underestimating Viserys’ reckless resolve. This time, his n was wless, seizing the perfect moment when many of Westeros’ elite were still far away in Valyria.
As the Night King''s army disembarked from the river, the waters of the ckwater Rush began to churn ominously. Towering structures of ice, the dreaded Icebone Towers, rose one by one from the depths. The river itself sumbed to the chill, freezing solid as the Towers emerged. This time, the Night King brought only a fraction of his forces—just over a hundred Icebone Towers—yet their mere presence exuded overwhelming menace.
A pale mist of ice spread across the battlefield, its glow eerily orange from the flickering light of nearby torches. The mist, undeterred by the heat, moved like a cold tide, spreading from the ckwater Rush to the city walls. Though the walls halted the creeping ice itself, the freezing fog rose higher, spilling over the ramparts and enveloping the gates. The defenders watched in dread as the white haze consumed everything in its path, bringing with it an unbearable chill.
“Hurry! Tell the soldiers in the outer fort to retreat!” Connington, sensing the growing threat, shouted orders.
A soldier, tasked with rying themand, stepped onto the battlements and fired a signal re. The red light streaked into the sky, drawing the attention of every corner of the battlefield. The drawbridge connecting the city’s main wall to the outer fortress began to lower—but only halfway. The section on the main city wall descended, yet the fortress-side mechanism remained unresponsive.
Connington, suspicious, raised his binocrs. What he saw froze his blood. The soldiers stationed in the outer fortress stood motionless. Some were poised to fire arrows, others mid-task, while a few injuredy still on the ground. They were statues—frozen solid where they stood.
Then came the Night King’s Spider Knights. Mounted on massive, frost-covered spiders, they scaled the outer fortress with ease. Within minutes, dozens of once-proud Topless Towers surrounding King’s Landing had fallen. The Spider Knights bypassed the city''s famed defenses, scaling the towering walls without the need fordders. On the battlements, the Kingsguard watched in stunned horror as morale—and temperature—plummeted.
Connington felt the icy grip of fear as even his cheeks quivered from the cold.
Amid the rising panic, a sudden roar broke through the chaos. Two dragons, one emerald-green and the other sapphire-blue, streaked across the sky: Hali and Hermine. Their zing mes tore through the fog and scorched the Spider Knights. The Night King’s forces crumbled under the onught of dragonfire, and the captured fortress, now aze, stood as a beacon of fiery defiance.
“Long live Princess Hermine! Long live Princess Hali!”
“Long live Princess Hermine! Long live Princess Hali!”
“Long live Princess Hermine! Long live Princess Hali!”
The chants echoed across the walls as the two princesses unleashed their magic, swiftly advancing toward the outer fortress. With coordinated precision, theymanded their dragons to unleash Dragon’s me, incinerating the White Walkers entrenched in the fortress below.
In the distance, the Night King stood motionless, his face an unreadable mask. He watched the fiery scene with neither fear nor fury. Air superiority granted the Dragon Knights a considerable advantage, their fiery wrath unmatched. Yet, the Night King’s forces—the White Walkers and their undead wights—feared neither fire nor death, dampening the decisive power of the dragons'' aerial supremacy.
Meanwhile, reinforcements from the inner city, conscripted from "within the first ring," swarmed the walls. These troops,posed of King''s Landing''s elite, had undergone regr warfare training, and their presence quickly tripled the number of defenders. Morale, briefly shaken, soared anew as the swelling ranks created a renewed sense of security.
Amid the chaos, defenders began to notice a strange warmth emanating from behind. Turning, they saw a massive structure rising—a temporary Dragonbone Tower constructed from the remains of dragons and other colossal skeletons. Under Sam’s direction, more Dragonbone Towers were erected with remarkable speed, their golden light piercing the gloom like a rising sun.
The radiant light repelled the ice fog, and to everyone’s astonishment, the frost nketing the ground began to recede. Even the Night King’s Spider Knights, who had been scaling the city walls, started slipping as their mounts lost their footing. Soldiers atop the battlements seized the opportunity, hurling obsidian orbs at the frozen White Walkers, shattering them into icy fragments.
From his distant perch atop a massive block of ice, the Night King observed the battle with slight unease. His attention shifted as a disturbance rippled through his ranks. Hundreds of giant wights, enormous and lumbering, had appeared behind his army. Each carried battering rams as thick as water tanks and hundreds of meters long. Divided into three groups, they marched in unison, their steps pounding the earth like a drumbeat, heading straight for the River Gate, Lion Gate, and Dragon Gate.
At the Dragon Gate, Dick felt the vibrations of their approach but remained calm, calcting their speed and distance with precision. As the giants closed in—500 meters, 300 meters, 100 meters—he barked hismand:
“Light them!”
Seven fuses sparked to life, shooting trails of fire in all directions. The ground beneath the advancing giants was riddled with hidden explosives. The distance narrowed further—50 meters, 30 meters, 10 meters—until the earth erupted with an ear-splitting roar.
The initial sound was not a violent st but a strange, disorienting rumble. The reinforced city walls trembled, and Dick briefly feared they might copse entirely. When he rose from the trembling ground, he saw a massive mushroom cloud rising before him. A deep crater had reced the battlefield in front of the Dragon Gate, and the once-mighty giants were obliterated, along with their colossal battering rams. Not a single White Walker or wight remained in the vicinity. The acrid stench of sulfur filled the air, stinging eyes and noses alike.
Simr explosions erupted at the River Gate and Lion Gate, leaving behind devastation. Years of preparation had culminated in a moment of unparalleled effectiveness.
High above, Dany hovered on dragonback, exhaling in relief as the defensive line stabilized. With more than thirty Dragonbone Towers now active, their golden radiance bathed King’s Landing in a protective aura, shielding it from the icy advance.
Below her, the Night King’s forces regrouped, their numbers still swelling to over half a million. The battlefield shimmered with the eerie glow of countless Icebone Towers amassing alongside the undead legions. The White Walkers’ glowing blue eyes flickered like distant stars beneath an ominous, frostbitten veil.
Dany’s heart sank as she surveyed the scene. Though their defenses had held for now, the sheer scale of the Night King’s army loomed overwhelming. The preparations, though valiant, had been rushed, and time had worked against them. She found herself grasping for solutions, her thoughts clouded with uncertainty.
Just then, a strange calm washed over her. Her body ckened, and she drifted into an unexinable sleep, slumping against her dragon’s neck.
In her final waking moment, a voice echoed in her mind:
“Dany, at all costs, hold off the Night King until I return!”