The timeline was moving forward.
Images from the original story flashed through Lynn's mind in an instant: Dany being forced to marry Khal Drogo, the early fear and pain, and finally the night she walked into the flames and hatched dragon eggs, becoming the Mother of Dragons. But now Robert had sent assassins after her—an attempt that really did happen in the original timeline.
Ned didn't notice the change in Lynn's expression and went on, "I don't approve of it. Children are innocent, especially girls… but Robert's hatred of the Targaryens runs too deep. He keeps saying 'dragons must be wiped out.'"
"When did they leave?" Lynn asked.
"Three days ago. They went by sea. Should reach Pentos in about a month."
Ned studied him. "Why do you want to know?"
Lynn came up with an excuse on the spot. "Just thinking… if the Targaryens really do come back with Dothraki horsemen, the North will be the first line of defense. It's always good to know where your enemies are."[2][7]
Ned nodded, satisfied, and didn't press further.
"When are you going back north? Robb's letter said the second wave of Free Folk heading south ran into trouble. Some clans don't trust Mance's promises and are still sitting on the fence."
"I'll head back soon," Lynn said. The plan was already forming in his mind. "But before that, I need to stop by Eastwatch. There's some intel about what's beyond the Wall I need to confirm with the Night's Watch."
It was a reasonable excuse.
Ned patted his shoulder. "Go, then."
It was drizzling the day Lynn left King's Landing.
He traveled light: one change of clothes, his rippled half‑sword, the knight's patent Robert had granted him, and a small pouch of gold dragons.
Lady Catelyn and Sansa walked with him to the Iron Gate. Arya tried to follow and was sharply pulled back by her mother.
"Take care of yourself," Catelyn said, genuine worry in her eyes. "And… keep an eye on Robb and Bran for me. As for Eddard… I have a bad feeling."
Sansa handed Lynn a small leather pouch. "New scent samples. I mixed them with what I could find here in King's Landing. I call it 'King's Landing Dusk'… maybe it'll sell well in Essos."
She didn't ask why he suddenly had to go to Eastwatch. She seemed to sense something, but wisely kept her questions to herself.
Lynn rode north, doing math in his head.
It took more than twenty days to get from King's Landing to Winterfell, and a few more from Winterfell to Eastwatch.
The assassins' ship, though, had left three days earlier and was sailing straight to Pentos by sea. It would be much faster.[3][4][5]
Five days later, when Harrenhal's blackened ruins came into view, Lynn changed his plan.
He didn't continue north to Winterfell. Instead, he veered northeast toward Last Hearth, the seat of House Umber.
There he found old Lord Hother Umber and, using King Robert's name plus a heavy pouch of gold, requisitioned a fast ship that had been preparing to trade along the eastern coast.
"Eastwatch?" Greatjon boomed, red beard twitching with suspicion. "What's so urgent at that miserable little rock?"
"King's orders, my lord," Lynn said, showing a document stamped with the Hand's seal—Ned's general pass for travel in the North, which Lynn had carefully "blurred" in terms of specifics.
Umber didn't dig deeper. He just grunted and waved him through.
Five days later, Lynn reached Eastwatch‑by‑the‑Sea. The Night's Watch port fortress was even more rundown than he remembered, but there were indeed several ships tied up at the small harbor—one of them a merchantman bound for Braavos, with a stop at Pentos.
Lynn didn't linger in Eastwatch.
He went straight back inland to find Mance Rayder—the King‑Beyond‑the‑Wall—who was now based south of the Wall at Oakenshield, arguing with Ser Rodrik over the details of the second migration.
"I need twenty people," Lynn said bluntly as he stepped into the tent. "Your best fighters. Good riders, good with blades, not afraid of the sea, and most importantly—they follow my orders alone."
Mance set down the map and gave him a long, searching look. "Where? And why?"
"Across the Narrow Sea. To save someone—or kill someone." Lynn didn't sugarcoat it. "Target is a Dothraki khal."
The tent went quiet.
From a corner, Tormund stopped gnawing on his mutton bone and looked up. "Fight the horse‑lords? Those crazy riders?" He grinned. "I like it already."
Mance was less amused. "Since when does the Night's Watch meddle in the affairs of Essos?"
"This isn't Watch business," Lynn said. "It's mine. But if it works, it'll help the Free Folk. I need to prove that even beyond the Wall, we can handle problems—that we're worth trusting. It'll shut up a lot of doubters in King's Landing."
That argument gave Mance pause. After a moment, he nodded. "You'll have your twenty. But Ygritte leads them. She knows your ways and she's not a fool. The rest, you pick yourself."
The selection went quickly.
From Mance's best, Lynn chose nineteen:
– Five expert trackers
– Eight seasoned fighters
– Three "speakers" who knew some Dothraki and the trade tongues of the Free Cities
– Three who had experience with boats and coastal waters—rare among the Free Folk, but some clans lived along the Shivering Sea
Ygritte was the twentieth.
When she heard "Essos," her eyes lit up. "Across the sea? My mother said she once saw Pentos. Said the people there live in white stone houses and the streets smell like a thousand different spices."
"It might smell like death, too," Lynn said seriously. "We're not going sightseeing. Some of us may not come back."
"When is that ever different?" Ygritte bared her teeth in a grin. "North of the Wall, every morning you wake up might be your last."
Three days later, a modest two‑masted ship called the Sea Gull slipped out of Eastwatch's harbor. The captain was a Braavosi who, for thirty gold dragons, agreed to swing south to Pentos and tell everyone he was hauling "Northern furs and specialty goods."
Twenty Free Folk warriors crammed into the narrow lower deck. For most of them, it was their first time at sea, and they spent days vomiting their guts out. Ygritte was one of the few who stayed steady; she loved standing at the bow, letting the sea wind whip her red hair around her face.
"Warmer than the wind on the snows," she said, inhaling deeply. "And saltier, too."
The voyage took twenty days. Lynn didn't let the time go to waste.
He ran drills on the cramped deck, training them with southern‑style weapons—because in Essos, bone spears and stone axes would stand out too much. At the harbor in Pentos, he planned to use the rest of his gold to buy decent curved blades and short spears.
Ygritte, meanwhile, taught them the basics of Free City manners.
"The most important thing is: don't stare," she said, demonstrating. "Looking strangers straight in the eye too long can be a challenge. And don't touch someone's weapon unless you're ready to kill or be killed."
When the Sea Gull finally docked in Pentos, Lynn received his first key piece of news:
Daenerys Targaryen and her brother Viserys had already left Pentos.
They were on their way to the Dothraki Sea.[