The wights tore down large sections of the wooden palisade and began charging into the camp from all directions. The living were forced to retreat step by step, soon finding themselves in a desperate situation, relying only on the debris within the enclosure, bonfires, and the flesh and blood of their comrades for cover.
The situation was dire, but the continuous explosions and bursts of fire still boosted morale. A single barrel of oil could inflict more damage on the wights than a dozen Kingslayers, but even more powerful than the explosions was the psychological comfort provided by the support coming from the top of the Wall: those above hadn't abandoned them.
---
From atop the Wall, two hundred ters high, the Night's Watch sentries worked tirelessly to hurl oil barrels and provide covering fire with fire arrows. A wall of fire would provide ideal cover for the survivors below, but the enormous height difference made accurate strikes nearly impossible. It was difficult to ensure that the barrels didn't land too far away or explode among the survivors. Due to these concerns, many oil barrels landed outside the wooden palisade, igniting only scattered flas around the periter. The wights simply skirted around them, unable to form a complete barrier.
Just as the Night's Watch looked down helplessly at the battlefield below, wanting to help but unable to do more, a soft, slightly languid female voice rose behind them.
"My friends of the Night's Watch, I hear... you've run into so trouble?"
...
Unbeknownst to them, lisandre had arrived at the top via the cage lift.
"Thousands of lives are on the verge of being lost to the wights below." Upon seeing the Red Priestess, Aegor seed to grasp a ray of hope. He explained, "We're trying to use oil barrels to form a ring of fire around the wooden palisade, but we can't throw them accurately enough, and... the fire isn't strong enough."
"I understand." The Red Priestess didn't waste any ti discussing the fate of thousands of lives. She smiled and walked slowly and unhurriedly to the edge of the Wall, looking down.
The hastily built wooden palisade had already collapsed by nearly half under the wights' assault. The desperate defense held by courage alone had failed to make the undead and the wight-ified beasts retreat or even hesitate. The black-cloaked n and Wildlings who had taken shelter inside were being compressed into a semicircle by the enemy. The outermost warriors were constantly being wounded or killed, the formation shrinking like a ball of mud being washed away by the tide.
The situation was clear. lisandre quickly looked up. "It seems the people below do need help."
Jeor Mormont spoke in a low voice, his face full of displeasure. "Priestess, if you and your so-called Red God have any useful tricks, use them now. Don't waste ti with aningless words."
"Thank you for the welco. Since the Lord Commander has requested it, I shall, of course, offer assistance." lisandre nodded, raising her hands, which had been folded before her, and displayed them for all to see. "I shall ask R'hllor for aid, though whether he will intervene is beyond my control."
---
The so-called "asking R'hllor for aid" was, of course, just a facade. How could a true god respond to every prayer, let alone intervene personally?
lisandre had stayed at the Wall for so ti now, always seeking an opportunity to demonstrate her power and gain influence. However, the n of the Night's Watch were unlike the nobles and common folk of the South. They were used to strange occurrences, and ordinary tricks and illusions wouldn't impress or fool them.
Instead of wasting away her days, she might as well expend so precious magic to make them revere the Lord of Light. Even if it didn't make the Night's Watch obey her commands, it would make it easier to spread the faith among the Grey Area Citizens... After all, for so unknown reason, her magic seed to recover far more quickly here at the Wall than it ever did in the South.
...
The Red Priestess understood the stakes clearly. She lowered her head, gazing at the dying Wildlings and black-cloaked soldiers struggling below the Wall, and began to stir the magic within her.
There were already flas and combustibles on the ground below. lisandre sifted through her mory and selected an enhancent spell. It was a simple fire spell, one that any magician with talent could learn through training. But casting it from a height of two hundred ters, and intensifying the flas enough to block the wights' tide... with those added conditions, even the simplest spell beca a trendous challenge.
However, as one of the most powerful Red Priests in the world, lisandre was confident she could do it.
She focused, softly chanting an incantation. It had been too long since she'd cast a spell of this magnitude. The magic surging through her brought a sharp sting she hadn't felt in ages. She guided and shaped it, releasing invisible fire energy from her body, stretching like tendrils toward the battlefield below...
The officers of the Night's Watch watched her as if she were performing a play. So even began to show anger at her apparent theatrics. But the soldiers along the edge of the Wall, who had been firing rockets downward, suddenly cried out in shock.
Below, the flas ignited by the scattered oil barrels around the wooden palisade suddenly surged several ters high. Not only did they grow several tis brighter, but they also spread to the collapsed wooden walls and gate planks. The fire expanded rapidly, like a serpent slithering across the battlefield, igniting the entire wooden palisade and forming a ring of fire over two ters wide. It completely cut off the hundreds and thousands of wights outside from those in the inner circle, who were still fighting hand to hand with the living.
This was clearly no ordinary fire. Perhaps Wildfire could spread this quickly, but it certainly couldn't create such intense flas instantly...
Everyone turned to look at the Red Priestess in astonishnt. This witch... she truly had power!
The roaring fire instantly devoured dozens of wights that had been standing atop the wooden planks, dividing the army of the dead into two groups—those trapped inside, and those outside. Fewer than a hundred wights remained within the circle. Under the fierce counterattack of the reinvigorated defenders, they quickly turned to charred flesh, crumbling bones, or flaming wreckage. It seed the Wildlings might survive after all.
"Keep throwing oil barrels." lisandre was using all her strength to maintain the spell but made sure to speak in a relaxed, effortless tone, encouraging those around her to feel awe and reverence. "Even R'hllor cannot conjure such fire from nothing. There must be fuel for it to continue."
Faced with the truth before him, Jeor Mormont had no choice but to believe her. The Lord Commander turned and shouted to the surrounding soldiers, "What are you staring at? Keep throwing!"
Aegor felt the wave of heat radiating from lisandre and leaned out again to observe the situation below. The flas continued to blaze furiously, quickly engulfing the entire wooden wall. The sound of the palisade collapsing under the fire was clear and distinct. In terms of sheer intensity, not even dozens of jars of Wildfire could compare.
The wights had no minds of their own, but whatever controlled them clearly wasn't stupid. Seeing that none of their puppets could make it through the blaze, the wights at the edges of the battlefield all halted simultaneously. So even took two steps back, loosening their formation to lessen the damage from the fire arrows.
"My Lord, open the gate now! We can still save them!" soone called out.
"But there are so many of them... more than all the people we have in Castle Black and the Mountain Clans combined. What if—"
"Pass on my order. Castle Black is at highest alert. Raise the gate one man high." Jeor Mormont issued the command with a grim face. "Tell the brothers at the gate, the mont they hear the horn later, they are to lower it imdiately!"
...
The gate rose slightly—just over a ter. Excited shouts from below could be heard even at the top of the Wall. Though the Wildlings had suffered heavy casualties in the bloody battle, they were no longer the panicked, disorganized mob fleeing the Haunted Forest. Whether under the command of Jai and other Night's Watch mbers, or acting on their own initiative, the warriors and spearwives now guarded the periter, allowing the children and injured to pass through first.
The crisis seed to be easing with lisandre's intervention. But the Red Priestess, who was still maintaining the towering wall of fla, suddenly changed her expression. She raised her head and looked toward the edge of the Haunted Forest. "They're here."
Jeor Mormont followed her gaze but saw nothing. "Who? What is it?"
A familiar chill suddenly prickled across his skin. Aegor, having felt this before, imdiately understood what the witch ant. He turned his eyes toward the forest's edge and couldn't see the White Walkers, but he did catch a glint of pale, icy light at the edge of his vision. The fear returned instantly. And faced with that overwhelming danger, he didn't hesitate—he shoved the Red Priestess hard, using all his strength.
(To be continued.)
***
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