Arya gave Jon a quick tour of the city and got him up to speed with the fighting. Jon, Qotho, Thomas, and Tyrion sat at a table with Arya and ate. Tyrion chided Jon about his banishment, but added that Bran had been informed and was 'good' with him being here to help. Ming and Belaletrix came in and gave intel reports. Jon felt his hand go to his sword hilt when he saw Ming up close. Arya stifled a laugh and stayed Jon's hand. "Jon, we have good Zon help here, along with stone, sand, tree, swamp, and dragon kin." As if on cue, Lee and one of the stone-kin elders came in and sat down at another table deep in conversation. Then Arya's children came rushing in with several sand-kin children, followed by their nanny. The children were shrieking and yelling and making dragon noises; they had been on the wall watching Drogon. Arya smiled, saying, "Children, you two come and meet your uncle Jon, the dragon rider. And this is Qotho, his Dothraki friend."
The Dothraki got up and bowed low, saying, "San athchomari yeraan! Dothras chek!" Wicket and Melody had just walked in, and Wicket said, "You two, he honors you and wishes you would ride well. It is a very polite and auspicious Dothraki greeting." Young Bran and Catelyn looked at the two men with eyes as wide as saucers, and Jon laughed and hugged them both close. Qotho looked at Wicket, studying her visage, and said, "Excuse me, young ma'am, but how do you come by such excellent Dothraki translation? You do not appear to be Dothraki?" Wicket curtsied and introduced herself, "I'm Wicket, a swamp-kin telepath, and I have spent a good deal of time in Bravvos, where I studied Dothraki from books. Athchomar chomakaan!" Qotho smiled and bowed again deeply, saying, "It is good to hear my language from such a beautiful young woman's lips." Wicket blushed and giggled, and Melody started whispering in her ear. The two young women came and sat beside Qotho, looking shyly at the young man. Catelyn started questioning Jon on what it was like to ride a dragon, and Jon noticed the sand-kin children were standing beside their fathers and mothers who were on duty guarding the Great Hall. Those children were hanging on every word that was being spoken, too.
So Jon waved them all into a small circle on the floor and stood to begin describing how dangerous and exhilarating it was to ride a dragon. Qotho was making dragon sounds, and the sound of the wind as Jon described the flying experience. The children were enraptured. Just then, Tse ran into the hall and said, "Report just came in: the assault on Deepwood Motte is beginning!" The room went into motion as the intel people ran to their building and the others went to their places. Arya led the two men to an apartment on her floor, saying, "Sleep until you are rested, for tomorrow you go to war. But, Jon, we have had reports that two very powerful mages are in the company of the attacking Zonians. You must be extra careful about them because they might be able to kill you and the dragon."
The assault on Deepwood Motte began strangely. Two mages in blue could be seen moving around in the trees in front of the line where the slings were coming in. Then they could be seen and heard casting spells. The alarms were sounded in Fort #2 and the city itself. One man on the front wall pointed up in the sky, shouting, "Look!" A massive black cloud was forming high in the sky, and lightning began crackling with a supernatural power. A couple of guns fired from down the wall, where Jack was standing with his gun core. The shots went wide, splintering trees and killing a few enemies, but were ineffective, and he waved them off. Then rain started in a downpour, rain in an area about a mile wide in a circle centered on the storm. The Westerosi troops had some tarps ready for such an eventuality, but they fumbled at setting them up. The larger gun crews were also having trouble installing tarps so they could fire at will in this pouring rain. The two blue-robed Zonian mages walked confidently into the clearing. Jack knew they were in range now, so he ordered the front line of gunners to the wall. In the city itself, the giant slings were ready to fire their loads of wildfire, though they all knew pouring rain wasn't the best possible weather for it. As Jack was about to order the first barrage from his gun core, the two mages quickly cast terrific lightning spells.
One bolt struck next to Jack, and he and the front line of gunners were killed instantly. The second line was also hit by an arc, killing several and severely wounding some. Further down the wall, a gun exploded where an arc of the second bolt took the powder charge, with the shot welded to the inside of the gun. Those two lightning strikes killed half of the big-gun crews on the forward wall. A nasty cheer arose from the 20,000 Zonians in the woods. A young lieutenant from the second line of the gunners' crew dragged his burnt leg forward and took the signal flag from Jack's dead hand. The pain made him shriek with each step, but he leaned against the wall shouting, "Third line forward, kill those damn mages!" A volley of shots rang out, and the Zonian mage Long Chen looked at Hao incredulously. Three shots had struck him directly in the chest, and he crumpled to his death.