Chapter 519 The Awakening Giant

 Winterfell, godswood.

The snow has covered the ten thousand-year-old trees here with white clothes, and the lush and twisted branches have woven into a dense canopy above the head, blocking the already dim sunlight.

 In the deep and gloomy forest, each weirwood tree stared with its blood-red "eyes", watching vigilantly and sadly at the vicissitudes of the world.

There is a pool of dark and cold water in the middle of the forest. Even though winter has arrived and the weather is extremely cold, and all the rivers in the north are frozen into ice, this pool of water is strangely unfrozen.

 Lady Catelyn Tully was sitting on her knees by the pool, looking at her reflection in the water in a daze.

Her husband, Lord Eddard Stark, loved to sit in the same position, cleaning his sword in the pool water and praying to the weirwood.

Even though she has been married to Winterfell for so many years, she has never believed in these wooden gods as she comes from the south.

 But at this moment, Lady Catelyn still prayed devoutly to the faces on the weirwood, praying that they could protect her husband and children.

I don’t know if the gods heard her prayer, but a direwolf suddenly walked out from the depths of the forest, its blood-red eyes like glowing rubies.

Mrs. Catelyn's heart tightened subconsciously, but then she thought that the direwolf was the ancestral emblem of the Stark family, and wondered whether this was a revelation from the gods.

Moreover, the more she looked at the direwolf, the more familiar it seemed...

　　"Madam! Madam! We have found Lady Arya!"

A guard ran over quickly, followed by a bouncing girl, who turned out to be the second young lady of the Stark family.

 “Arya!” Lady Catelyn stood up suddenly, hurried forward to meet her, and held her daughter in her arms.

 But then, she pushed Arya away again and asked with a straight face:

 “Where have you been these days?”

Arya pointed to the direwolf by the pond and said:

 “I’m going to find Nymeria!”

"Nymeria?" Lady Catelyn then realized why she always felt that the direwolf looked familiar.

It turned out that it was the direwolf adopted by her youngest daughter. On the way south to King's Landing, it was driven away by Arya due to a conflict with Prince Joffrey.

 Unexpectedly, I found it again now.

"Yes." Arya said proudly, "A few nights ago, I was wandering around the city and heard a pack of wolves howling. Although I didn't see Nymeria, I still heard it right away. Its voice! Then I went out of the city to look for it. After several days of work, I finally found it in the wolf forest.

How about it? Am I awesome? "

Mrs. Catelyn suddenly became furious, grabbed her daughter's ears, and scolded:

"How dare you leave the city alone just for a few wolf howls? Do you know how dangerous it is in the north now? The Great Wall has fallen, and the White Walkers are coming!"

Arya was startled:

"The White Walkers are here? Where are they? I didn't see them. By the way, where is father? And where is Jon? Aren't they guarding the Great Wall?"

 Lady Catelyn sighed:

"The Great Wall has fallen. How can we defend it? They have all withdrawn. Your Majesty has decided to re-establish a defense line in the Neck and let all the Northerners move south. Sansa and Rickon have followed Your Majesty to King's Landing. I originally wanted to Let you go too. But you..."

“I want to be with you!” cried Arya. “And father, is he back?”

 “Not yet.” Lady Catelyn said sadly.

 But then, she calmed down and said to her daughter:

"I'm waiting for your father at Winterfell. You should go south immediately to find your sister in King's Landing!"

"But…"

 “No buts!” Lady Caitlin said forcefully, “This is a matter of life and death, and this is not the time for you to be naughty! Follow me, and I will arrange for someone to **** you south.”

As she said that, she took her daughter and walked out of the forest.

Arya saw that her mother was really angry and did not dare to resist. She just turned around and waved to the direwolf by the pool.

Nymeria did not follow, but looked up to the sky and let out a howl:

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Mrs. Caitlin turned around and wanted to reprimand her, but suddenly a shrill horn sounded.

 Woooooo—

"What's wrong? Mother? Is father back?" Arya asked confusedly.

Mrs. Caitlin’s expression has changed drastically:

 “No! The White Walkers are coming! Go quickly!”

Arya was dragged out of the forest by her mother, not forgetting to turn back to greet the direwolf.

Nymeria howled and followed.

By the time they walked out of the godswood, the horns had stopped, and the entire castle was filled with the sound of orders and the clash of steel.

 Fortunately, most of the people have been moved away, leaving only a few loyal soldiers behind, so although the atmosphere is tense, it is not chaotic.

 “Madam! The White Walkers are coming! Leave quickly!” Sir Roderick hurried over.

 “How many came?” Lady Catelyn asked, keeping her cool.

“Too many! I can’t even count them! Winterfell can’t be defended at all. If we don’t leave, it will be too late!”

Lady Catelyn's heart sank.

 Fortunately, she is not someone who cannot distinguish between priorities. Although she cares about her husband, she also knows that the only option at this time is to retreat south.

 “Okay! Gather everyone and retreat south!”

 “Yes, ma’am!”

“Mother, I also need to go back to the room to pack my luggage.” Arya said.

“No more packing!” Lady Caitlin said, “The dry food has been prepared a long time ago. Let’s leave now!”

 The two of them came to the stables, and sure enough there was already a group of cavalry ready to go.

 Lady Caitlin carried her daughter onto a war horse and ordered:

 “Open the south door, rush out, don’t get entangled with those ghosts...”

Before he finished speaking, Sir Roderick hurried over and shouted:

 “You can’t go through the south gate, madam! There are also ghosts in the south!”

 “What?” Lady Catelyn was shocked, “How could the White Walkers appear from the south?”

"They rushed out of the wolf forest! These guys are smart, maybe someone is commanding them... Anyway, they can't go to the south gate, nor the west gate nor the north gate, so they can only rush eastward!"

 “Then go east!” Lady Catelyn made a decisive decision.

With an order, a cavalry squad of several hundred people rushed out of the castle and headed east.

At this time, the wind and snow were in full swing, and the vast white sky and earth were filled with a sense of solemnity.

Lady Catelyn hugged her daughter tightly and was protected by the cavalry in the middle of the team. But before she had gone far, she heard the sound of horses neighing from the front and the frightened shouts of the soldiers.

 “There are White Walkers ahead too! We are really surrounded!”

 "Charge! Rush!" Sir Roderick's loud voice temporarily drowned out the noise in the ranks.

 The cavalry did not retreat but advanced and began to charge.

 “Close your eyes if you’re afraid.” Lady Catelyn said to her daughter in her arms.

 “I’m not afraid!” said Arya.

 She did not close her eyes, but looked back and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Nymeria following her.

 But when she thought that her weapon "Sewing Needle" was still lost in the castle, she felt a little depressed.

 “Give me a sword!” said Arya.

 But who could care about a girl's request at this time? Her words were blown away by the strong wind and disappeared without a trace.

She heard Sir Roderick commanding loudly, and saw groups of corpses appearing like ants in the north and south, like two turbulent tides, about to merge on their way forward.

 The smell of putridity and death hit our nostrils.

 "Attack on! Go on!" roared Ser Roderick at the top of his lungs.

　　Bang! Bang! Bang!

 The cavalry ran into an army of ghouls. The scene suddenly became extremely chaotic and bloody.

Arya, who was excited to help kill the White Walkers just now, was suddenly frightened.

Sometimes cavalrymen rolled and fell, sometimes corpses were smashed into pieces, and sometimes swords and axes struck at the dead flesh...

The wind and snow swirled in the air, and steel, war horses, and flying flesh and blood mixed together, creating a **** and strange picture on the white land.

Arya's mind went blank.

When she woke up, she found that her horse had fallen to the ground, and her mother was holding her face down and smashed it into the snow.

 A wight rushed over, but was bitten by the direwolf's throat.

"Madam! We can't get out!" Sir Roderick rushed over and handed the horse to the mother and daughter. "You ride my horse and go back to Winterfell!"

Lady Catelyn smiled sadly:

 “Isn’t it better to go back to Winterfell and wait for death?”

　　"Find a place to hide! There is always a chance of survival!" Roderick couldn't help but push Lady Catelyn onto the horse, and then carried Arya over, "Quickly go!"

He slapped the horse **** the buttocks, and then faced the rushing corpses without looking back.

 “No!” Arya kept struggling in her mother’s arms, crying until she almost lost her breath.

Lady Catelyn was also in tears, but she still rode forward and galloped forward, passing through countless black hands and the biting wind and snow.

Following the way they came, they returned to Winterfell again.

 Behind him were the corpses chasing after him, as well as the soldiers who had been submerged.

Lady Catelyn didn't know where to go, but before she knew it, the woods appeared in front of her.

The war horse crossed a bush and came to the sacred forest.

 Is this the guidance of the gods?

Lady Catelyn thought in confusion and despair.

 The war horse staggered and tripped over a tree root.

Mother and daughter rolled into the godswood.

The ground in the forest is covered with thick moss and fallen leaves. It is extremely soft and will not hurt you.

But the footsteps of the ghoul behind him were like a shadow, and the smell of fish and death lingered.

Lady Catelyn walked deep into the godswood with her daughter in her arms.

 “Mother, are we going to die?” Arya asked palely.

 Lady Catelyn didn't know how to answer this question, so she hugged her daughter tightly.

 The footsteps of the corpse are getting closer and closer, coming from all directions.

 Can't escape.

 Lady Catelyn came to the waterside in the middle of the godswood and put her daughter down.

“Fear not, Arya,” she said. “We will enter the temples of the gods and be protected by them forever.”

Arya looked at her mother in confusion, the panic on her face gradually fading away.

 “Will father also come to accompany us?”

 “One day, he will,” choked Lady Catelyn.

After saying that, she took her daughter and jumped into the pool before the corpse rushed up.

 Plop!

 The water in the pool is not cold, on the contrary, it is extremely warm.

 Old people always say that Winterfell is built on a natural hot spring, and presumably the water in this pool is also connected to the hot spring.

Lady Catelyn thought that at least drowning in warm water would be better than being torn apart by wights.

This warmth even made her forget the severe cold of winter, as if she had returned to the long-lost southern summer again.

As consciousness gradually faded, Lady Catelyn noticed that Arya was surrounded by a brilliant red light.

  She thought she was hallucinating, but the next second, the whole earth was shaking.

Boom! Boom!

 Cracks appeared on the ground, swallowing countless corpses like the maw of an abyss.

Winterfell began to shake and collapse, with rubble rolling down and the sky falling apart.

Boom! Boom!

The water in the godswood suddenly exploded, and Lady Catelyn was washed back to the ground.

"Ahem..." Mrs. Catelyn realized it was not an illusion, "Arya? Arya, where are you?"

 Before she found her daughter, she saw a shocking and terrifying scene.

The entire Winterfell collapsed like toy blocks. The once grand and tall buildings were now reduced to smoke and dust. And above the ruins and dust, a huge figure comparable to a castle slowly crawled out from the cracks in the ground!

It looked up to the sky and let out a huge roar, like thunder, deafening.

Mrs. Caitlin was stunned for a long time before she remembered to find her daughter.

But before she could look for it, she saw the giant suddenly leaning down, and on top of his huge head stood his daughter Arya!

"Arya? How did you...did you...summon the giant?"

"It seems so." Arya scratched her head, seeming a little confused about the situation.

 But she still waved to her mother and said eagerly:

 “Oh no matter, come up quickly! The corpse is coming!”

Lady Catelyn had a dreamy and unreal feeling, but she still followed the fingers handed over by the giant and climbed onto its palm.

 The giant then placed Lady Catelyn on top of him.

Arya hugged her mother and shouted:

 “Quick! Big guy! Kill those wights!”

The giant roared muffledly, as if he understood the girl's order. He stretched out his hand and swept the ground, and hundreds of corpses were smashed into pieces.

 But the number of corpses was too great, almost endless. Killing a hundred, another thousand rushed up.

They followed the giant's toes and calves, as if they were trying to climb up.

The giant had to stamp his feet to throw them off.

Lady Catelyn was frightened when she saw the giant's head. Seeing this, she couldn't help but persuade her:

 “Arya, stop getting entangled with these wights, let’s go quickly! Get rid of them!”

“Oh, okay.” Arya also saw that the giant was at risk of being overwhelmed by the army of zombies, and ordered, “Let’s go, big guy, let’s get out of here!”

 After a pause, she looked at her mother:

 “Where am I going? South?”

Lady Catelyn shook her head slowly:

 “No! Let’s go north! Find your father!”

Arya nodded immediately and said:

 “Okay! Let’s go find father!”

 “Aww—” a wolf howled at the giant’s feet.

Arya looked down and was pleasantly surprised:

 “Nymeria, you are here too! Follow me quickly!”

　　Bang! Bang! Bang!

The giant stepped forward, stood up from the ruins of Winterfell, took two people and a wolf, and headed north.

Soon, the wind and snow covered their figures, leaving only huge footprints on the snow.

 (End of this chapter)