The universe of A Song of Ice and Fire and its characters belong exclusively to George R.R. Martin. This is a work of fiction created by a fan for fans, made solely for entertainment and the development of creative writing.
Only the characters created by me, such as the protagonist and some other original characters, as well as the changes to the canonical plot resulting from their actions, are of my own intellectual authorship.
I wish everyone a good read!!
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Chapter 3
Three years later…
Year 95 AC
POV: Denovan
"Let's fight again, Novan! This time I'm going to beat you, I'm sure."
My older sister called me Novan, a somewhat affectionate nickname coming from someone obsessed with fights and swords like she was.
"That's not going to happen anytime soon, Sig," I said while taking the small wooden axe I had carved myself.
She loved fighting and wanted our father to give her his sword when she got older. He told her she would have to be the strongest among his children, and since then she had been challenging me and Ulfar constantly.
…sigh…
My thoughts were interrupted by a sword strike coming from the side.
The sword was the wooden one I had made for Sig. She loved the gift and showed it off everywhere.
"Focus on me… NOVANN!" she said, irritated by my lack of enthusiasm. She was two years older, but the same height as me. I trained every day; ever since I started walking, my body had been strong.
She swung the sword at me again with force, spinning her whole body very quickly.
The sword struck my small axe hard. I managed to block it—after all, this was just play, and she was just a child having fun.
I took a step back, and another strike followed. Since she expected me to defend again, I jumped to the opposite side of the swing. The blow missed completely, causing her to lose balance and fall to the ground.
"Bastard, you always do this," she said in an almost defeated voice. "It feels like you don't even take me seriously," she continued, even more quietly.
I hung the wooden axe on my belt and extended my hand to her.
"Don't be like that, Sig. You're strong—you just have to fight more with your head, and you know that," I said as I pulled her up.
"I know, I KNOW… but I always forget that when I'm fighting you. You annoy me and make me forget…" She said, ruffling her hair, half irritated. Then she continued, her voice full of determination—and just by her expression I already knew what she was going to say.
"Train me, Novan… I'm your older sister and you have to obey me… teach me how to use my head like you do," she said with clearly enthusiastic conviction, as if her words were irresistible. And to me, they kind of were—I wouldn't refuse a cute child like her.
"Hmmm… I don't know much, but you can train with me, do my routines. What do you think?" I asked, and before she could respond, I continued. "But if you give up halfway through, I'll never help you train again. And promise me you won't give up—after all, only kneelers break their word. We, the Free Folk, do not."
"I promise I won't give up… and don't compare me to kneelers," she said with conviction, ending with disdain.
"Hm."
"Okay, okay. You'll have to help me with a few things too…" I said, moving closer to her. When I was close enough, I leaned toward her ear as if I were sharing my greatest secret.
She went into full alert mode.
"You'll have to help me with something too… Siggg."
"What are you plotting, Denovan?" she whispered, already sounding excited.
"Help me find the beasts that hide around here. I want to see eagles, owls, all kinds of different animals. And when you see one, you have to come get me, okay?"
"Just that? I thought it'd be something more fun," she said, already sounding disappointed.
"You'll see… it'll be fun… animals like us, they'll let us get really close… and then… pet them. And if they like the petting… they'll start following you everywhere," I said, telling a half-truth, already trying to lure her in with cute animals—what child doesn't like animals?
And well… the First Men really could be skinchangers sometimes. Maybe she'd be lucky.
And honestly… I needed more eyes. Mine alone weren't enough to find the most worthy creatures.
So far, I hadn't managed to connect with anything—but I also hadn't tried very hard. I refused to enter the minds of goats, rats, and dogs. Since the bond would change me genetically, I wouldn't connect with just any being. That could go very wrong.
"You're not lying to me… are you?" she asked, clearly doubting me.
"Trust me… it'll be fun, and I don't lie!"
"Hmmm… I'll tell you if I find anything, but I want to pet them too!!" she said firmly.
"Okay, okay, dear little sister." That way, at least I'd have four eyes searching for potential bonds nearby.
Over these three years, I had been planning my future, and I tried to project the image that I was blessed and things like that.
I didn't hide my intelligence, nor my skinchanger abilities—and I even exaggerated them a bit. I wanted them to see me as someone blessed by the Old Gods, someone who could hear them and such.
That would give me freedom earlier, grant legitimacy. And since the First Men faithfully followed the Old Gods, if they believed I was someone blessed by them—someone meant to improve their lives—many would follow me and help me achieve my goals.
Aside from my mother, the others were still somewhat skeptical. I told my parents about dreams—about eagles, owls, wolves, and bears.
At first, my father said those were just childish dreams. But after some time, with me being very detailed about things someone my age shouldn't be, he told me it was possible I was a skinchanger.
The truth was, I hadn't actually dreamed of being animals or anything like that. I told my father mostly in the hope that he might capture some creature for me—but he said it would come naturally.
…sigh…
So for now, that hadn't worked out very well—at least until I bonded with my first animal.
So I decided to focus on strength. On this side of the Wall, strength brings things that even gold cannot in the south. I could form an army of LOYAL men—yes, LOYAL. A wildling would not betray his leader unless he had a very good reason. No one here wanted to lose their honor. A man's word, on this side of the Wall, was worth a lot.
So I trained relentlessly every day. Most of the time I trained alone, but sometimes Sig joined me—or more often, Ulfar.
Ulfar was a simple, kind-hearted child. His time was spent playing in the village with his friends or training with me and Sig.
But my greatest training partner was Halgar. According to my father, he was the best warrior in the village. And well—he helped me see my flaws. He was very loyal to my father, and apparently the man enjoyed training me and my siblings.
He took pride in his strength.
Halgar had praised me several times for my diligence. One thing I truly liked about the man was his brutal, simple honesty. He spoke the truth plainly and without filters, and that was something I wished everyone did.
And aside from my small lie about animal dreams, I had been mirroring that behavior I admired. I believed that in the future, with my strength, I wouldn't need to fear being honest and unfiltered.
The man used an axe, a weapon I personally liked very much. I liked its versatility—both for work and battle—and I especially liked its design.
In my opinion, the axe is the most masculine weapon a man can wield—completely aggressive. I liked it.
That's why I decided to adopt the axe as my main weapon. I just hadn't decided which type yet. I didn't know if I'd use hand axes, an axe like Kratos' from God of War, or a huge, heavy axe.
I think the last one isn't really my style. Maybe one of the first two—or maybe both… that would be really cool.
Two axes at my belt and a larger one on my back, Kratos-style.
It would radiate presence, I thought with an amused smile.
He didn't teach me techniques or anything like that. He just sparred with me and told me what I was bad at—and told me to improve.
That was my training. And when I stopped to rest, I kept an eye on my surroundings, trying to find something useful.
Since my parents didn't allow me to go beyond the village, it was very hard to see hawks, eagles, and owls nearby—and even rarer to find wolves and bears. I would even bond with an elk or a bison without hesitation, since they're imposing animals, but I hadn't found anything like that around here.
I needed to go at least some distance away from the village. I would probably start finding beasts then. The Valley of the Thenns was rich in creatures, and farther ahead lay the Haunted Forest. There were definitely shadowcats and direwolves there, and I would certainly bond with one of them in the future.
My brother was allowed to leave the village for the first time at age seven, accompanied by some men and my father. The same would probably happen to me.
He told me about some nearby forests and rivers. That was good—forests and rivers nearby meant a higher chance of creatures. And rivers reminded me of a metal extraction technique. It wasn't very efficient, but it didn't harm the environment and basically consisted of waiting.
It worked like this:
The Japanese lived isolated, and on their "island" there wasn't much metal. The way they decided to collect it was through small diversions and mini-dams, where iron sand—being heavier—would accumulate at these barriers while the water flowed past with other sediments. Then, once a year or so, they would collect this sand, and it was enough to make some weapons of excellent quality.
I'd probably do that. Even if it didn't yield much metallic sand, it should be enough to make a weapon or two over a year of accumulation. But to make steel, I'd need charcoal as well, and a place—a good forge—and capable smiths. After all, one person alone can't do much.
Just thinking about how I'd have to justify this to my father already gave me a headache.
I could start by forging good bronze weapons and then say the gods had been whispering their secrets to me.
The Magnar already had a semi-divine image among the Thenns. If I told him these things and started proving I had the gift of the forge, he would probably give me a chance. He might be stubborn, rough, and not very intelligent—but he wasn't an idiot with no brain.
Or maybe I wouldn't even need to tell him anything. I could gradually do everything myself, with the help of a few men loyal to me. I didn't need to depend on him for everything.
And in truth, once I finally became a skinchanger, things would move much faster—since wildlings cared deeply about them.
And in the end, whether in my past life, this one, or the ones to come, all that truly mattered was power—whatever form it took.
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Thank you for reading and for giving this fanfic a chance :)
These first chapters are very slow and full of explanations—it may be boring for some—but I promise that in the next chapters this will decrease.
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Release dates will be Sunday and Tuesday.
I hope you enjoy it, and see you tomorrow.