Game of Thrones: The Wolf of Deepwood Motte

"The old gods bless us…"

Sansa knelt before the heart tree with her eyes tightly shut, silently praying within her heart.

"Please bless Father, Arya, and Rickon so they arrive safely in King's Landing."

"Please let Bran awaken soon."

"Please protect Winterfell so Mother and Robb can rest at ease."

"And please bless Garon so that he may achieve all the desires within his heart…"

The young maiden continued making wish after wish before the heart tree as though the ancient weirwood were some kind of magical wishing fountain.

Meanwhile, Garon felt an extremely strange sensation.

Not because of Sansa's wishes themselves, but because he could actually hear every prayer within her heart.

His consciousness drifted within the heart tree.

Through the carved eyes upon the weirwood's face, he could clearly see Sansa kneeling silently with her mouth completely closed.

Yet her thoughts continuously flowed into his consciousness without interruption.

"So my ability while possessing a heart tree is to hear the thoughts of others?"

"What is this supposed to be? The gods listening to the prayers of believers?"

If he had not transmigrated into Garon's body, perhaps he could have used this ability to impersonate one of the old gods and deceive the descendants of the First Men throughout the North.

But right now, the only thing he cared about was returning to his own body.

Just as Garon continued attempting various methods, Sansa finally completed her prayers.

She slowly stood up and walked away along the black pond within Winterfell's godswood, never noticing anything unusual about the heart tree behind her.

At that moment, dawn gradually began brightening the sky.

Only then did Garon realize he had remained trapped within the weirwood for nearly an entire night.

"Damn it, how exactly do I get out of here?"

"I can't possibly spend the rest of my life trapped inside a tree!"

A trace of fear surged within his heart, and his consciousness instinctively began wavering violently.

The next moment, darkness swallowed his vision.

When Garon opened his eyes again, he was already back inside his own bedchamber at Deepwood Motte.

Whoosh!

Garon instantly sat upright on the bed while breathing heavily.

"I'm back?"

He stared blankly at his own hands before instinctively pinching his thigh.

A faint pain immediately spread through his leg.

"I really came back…"

Only then did he finally release a long sigh of relief.

Garon climbed out of bed and walked directly toward the window before pushing it open.

The godswood within the courtyard immediately entered his sight once more.

The red sap-painted eyes upon the heart tree seemed almost alive beneath the moonlight, and for a brief instant, it looked as though the branches were gently swaying toward him.

Garon's heart skipped violently before he finally realized it was merely the night wind blowing through the woods.

He turned around and walked to the table, grabbing a cup of cold water and drinking it in one gulp before finally calming himself slightly.

"Can skinchangers really possess plants?"

"And not just plants, but the sacred weirwoods themselves?"

Garon carefully searched through all the knowledge about skinchangers and greenseers from his previous life.

But after thinking for a long time, he still could not recall any case remotely similar to his own.

Even the strongest greenseers in Westeros could at most invade the minds of humans and beasts.

As for possessing plants, there were no related records whatsoever.

Garon was completely unique.

He slowly shook his head.

"It seems the root of everything still lies within whatever agreement House Glover made with the old gods."

"Once the new composite bow is completed, I'll have Maester Beckman continue searching through the family records."

"Though honestly, the chances of finding anything are probably very small."

Garon did not know why, but he possessed a vague feeling deep within his heart that he absolutely had to travel beyond the Wall someday.

He slowly rubbed the rim of the cup while pondering silently.

"No rush."

"For now, I should first study the exact abilities of this weirwood possession."

"And more importantly, how to safely return every time."

"I can't keep relying on luck like tonight."

After thinking for a while longer, Garon suddenly noticed the sky outside had already brightened completely.

Thus, he dressed himself and went out for his usual morning training.

And so, over the following days, Garon trained the Steel Fist Group during the day while occasionally entering the heart trees at night whenever his strange skinchanging ability activated.

After several days of experimentation, Garon finally concluded that his weirwood possession ability would only activate whenever his emotions became especially joyful or excited before sleep.

He also discovered the methods for returning.

Besides passively returning once his mind became exhausted, someone could also forcibly wake him simply by shaking his physical body.

After confirming that entering the weirwoods at night did not negatively affect his condition during the day, Garon began using the ability more frequently.

He wanted to determine the limits of his power.

But regardless of how many times he possessed the weirwoods, his current range remained limited to the Wolfswood and Winterfell.

Outside those regions, he could not sense the presence of any heart trees at all.

Furthermore, as the number of possessions increased, Garon gradually noticed that his spirit and perception were becoming increasingly active and sharp.

"Could I eventually learn magic like the Children of the Forest from ancient times?"

Garon felt deeply excited while eagerly anticipating such a day.

And thus, the matter regarding the weirwood possession temporarily settled down.

During the following days, Garon continued training the Steel Fist Group while simultaneously assisting Maester Beckman in developing the new composite bow.

As the fish glue process gradually matured, work on bonding the bow's belly and backing finally entered its crucial stage.

At last, shortly after Garon fully understood the basics of his weirwood possession ability, Maester Beckman finally sent someone to notify him that the new bow was ready for testing.

The new composite bow possessed a dark purplish-red color overall, and its height nearly matched that of a grown man.

Hawkeye Mihawk, the finest archer within the Steel Fist Group, only needed a few shots before immediately falling completely in love with the new bow.

Seeing this, Garon simply arranged for Mihawk and Maester Beckman to begin carefully recording and testing all the bow's performance data.

Within the training ground, Mihawk drew the massive bow and released an arrow that pierced cleanly through a chainmail-clad target more than a hundred meters away.

Its performance against scale armor, however, proved slightly weaker.

The issue did not lie with the bow itself.

The real weakness was the arrows.

Thus, Garon immediately instructed Maester Beckman to begin researching stronger armor-piercing arrowheads.

The successful testing of the new composite bow meant that a dedicated archer force equipped with the new weapons could finally begin taking shape.

Considering the heavy physical demands required to draw the bow consistently, Garon selected three hundred elite guards from Deepwood Motte's soldiers for specialized training.

At the same time, he ordered Mihawk to return to the Tree Branch Clan and recruit another two hundred skilled archers.

As for recruiting additional men, it was not impossible.

The real limitation was production.

Even with Maester Beckman working tirelessly day and night alongside Robert and several trusted craftsmen personally assisting him, only a few hundred new bows could realistically be completed within a short period of time.

Producing more simply wasn't feasible.

Moreover, Maester Beckman still had countless other responsibilities to manage.

"Still, five hundred men are more than enough for now."

"The next priority is training them into a force truly capable of battle."

"My time is running out."

While Garon busied himself drilling the Steel Fist Group and training the new archer corps, events elsewhere in the North were also continuing to unfold.

After more than ten days of travel, Newgate successfully led one hundred archers to Moat Cailin.

However, upon arriving there, he received unfortunate news.

The royal procession had already passed through Moat Cailin and departed southward a full day earlier.

Originally, Newgate had intended to ask Lord Ned personally how long the garrison at Moat Cailin should remain in place.

Now, unable to find Ned, he could only send riders to the nearest city and request that ravens be sent back to Deepwood Motte.

The nearest city to Moat Cailin happened to be White Harbor.

Because of this delay, nearly an entire month passed before Garon finally received Newgate's report.

At nearly the same time, news that Theon Greyjoy had murdered the son of the Warden of the North before being executed by a member of the Kingsguard was officially delivered to the Iron Islands by royal raven.

Naturally, Robert's letter also fiercely condemned Theon's actions while sternly warning Balon Greyjoy not to act rashly.

And thus, the storm everyone anticipated was finally beginning to gather.