~ Maegor Stark POV ~
~ Castle Black, The Wall ~
Before the dawns light warmed-up the inhabitants of Castle Black, I was already in black leather training armor with a blunted iron sword in hand. Warming up for my spar against the Lord Commander while striking a dummy training post.
The master of arms of Night's Watch was already up and putting the fresh recruits of the Watch through their paces.
Seeing that Lord Commander Snow was not going to be up for some time, I decided to waste some time by joining the recruits training. Something that the master of arms took to mean that he would send an increasing number of the recruits to test my combat prowess against.
It started with back to back of one on one's. Where my sword took down all opponents within two to three moves at the minimum; block, parry and strike when I spotted an opening.
Unlike Jon Snow when he got to Castle Black in the show, I was not expecting much from these recruits planning to swear their vows to take the black. But oddly enough I also had some expectations for their commitment to the cause. Unlike the time after Aegons Conquest, where all recruits of the Night's Watch are the dreadges of societies; murderers, thieves, and rapist. The Watch before that was an honorable cause made up of ten thousand willing men. A preferred method, opposed to turning the Wall into a penal colony it was in the future, which weakened the Watch through time.
At the present time wildling raids are the biggest threat to the Wall, where in the future the Watch would have to worry about mutiny insued by southern knights and defeated lord's from from rebellious houses. For example the rebellion of 50 AC(After Aegons Conquest): one of the most significant early uprisings occurred during the reign of King Jaehaerys I. A group of former knights from the Faith Militant (specifically Poor Fellows and Warrior's Sons) who had been sent to the Wall staged a short-lived but bloody rebellion. They were led by two former Kingsguard knights who had been stripped of their white cloaks for treason. The rebellion was suppressed, but not before Lord Walton Stark of Winterfell was killed while helping the Night's Watch restore order.
As I pondered on the state of the Night's Watch of the future, two recruits swung their blunt iron at my front as a third circled behind me looking for any openings. Stepping back to give myself space, I parry a blow from one while stepping aside to dodge the second aimed at my side. As the blow passes me my free hand grabs the second recruits sword arm drag him behind me towards the recruit whose raised his sword high about to swing at my back. They collide and tumbled into the mud and snow as I parry another slash from the remaining recruit, step into his guard and raise my blade to his neck. He stands still as I step back with the tip of the dull blade just beneath his chin.
"Yield?" I asked after a moment. He nodded after I lowered the blade to his collarbone and then turned around to offer the two recruits still dazed in the mud a hand. The rest of the recruits watched on as the final group of recruits faced and lost to me as they've all had, quickly and efficiently.
That was the northern style; no fancy gimmicks, an economic use of power, and a quick finish to save up energy. For in a battlefield environment the faster you tire the sooner you die. Something that has been built into my training within Winterfell since my seventh year in the world when I was allowed and expected to begin training.
The Norths training focuses on broadswords, bows, axes/maces, spears, and two-handed swords. Also much like the Vikings of my old universe, the North training includes the importance of a shield wall-tight formations and cohesion in battle. The men-at-arms of Winterfell taught pain tolerance, terrain advantages, tracking and survival in the wilderness, and how to survive the worst of temperatures in snow and rain.
My grandfather, the King, even sent a letter to Lord Reed of Greywater Watch, to have one of his craggonman come and teach me some of their techniques. The crannogmen are a reclusive and uniquely adapted people who inhabit the swamps and bogs of the Neck, the southernmost region of the North. They are masters of guerrilla warfare, sabotage, and poisons.
A lot of the training, other than the weapons training, was just the basics of my training in the military of my past life. Including much of the experience on hand during my year's as a mercenary, where I traveled the world and trained in different environments for missions or to stay in peak condition for the next job.
As I helped the recruits out of the mud, the Lord Commanders steward approached me to let me know that my grand uncle was on his way for our spar.
Alaric Snow arrived a minute later with a training broadsword in hand.
~
A couple of hours later I'm in the lift headed to the top of the Wall with my parents and my grand uncle Alaric, pretending to nurse a bruised back, ribs and arms. Not that Alaric didn't actually hit the areas while battering me around the training yard, just that I automatically healed up right after.
Plus the acting was good practice for the future, if I'm ever in need of pretending to be human.
Alaric was an immovable block of ice with his shield and a freezing blizzard when he's battering you with his broadsword. Even when I took up a second sword to try and surprise him with my ambidextrous style he was unfazed. Surprised for a moment, but back to being an immovable block of ice the next.
Our first bout took two minutes and ended with me on my back after a kick to the sternum. The second and third lasted for five minutes and the last nearly fifteen minutes, which is when I switched to dual wielding.
By that point we had attracted attention from most of the Watch and my parents entourage.
When the Lord Commander called it, he was breathing heavily, but still grounded. I was able to get in some shallow hits in throughout the sparring, which earned me some approving nods from veteran brothers of the Watch. In the end of the fifteen minute bout, I had earned the title of 'prodigy of the sword'.
After cleaning myself up, I met with my parents and grand uncle who also got cleaned up after our spar, and broke our fast together. Where my father said that we would go up to the top of the Wall with my grand uncle as our guide.
The top of the Wall was a beautiful view, whether in the the light of day or the dark skies of night. The ice melting in the sun and freezing again soon after makes it seem like the Wall is leaking tears.
My mother was moved to tears when she finally got a glimpse of the North beyond the Wall. She commented that she was reminded of being taken for a flight on her grandmother's dragon and the amazing views she misses.
~
Later that night after being shown all the wonders of the Wall and Castle Black and a hearty supper of venison soup. We retired for the night.
As soon as I heard the sounds of sleep resounding to my immortal senses, I shapeshift into a raven and fly west of Castle Black along the Wall. Towards the Nightfort.
The Nightfort is the oldest and largest of the nineteen castles on the Wall with many stories from the books. In the canonical timeline its where Bran Stark crosses the Wall with Howland Reeds kids; Jojen and Meera Reed, Hodor, and Summer his direwolf with the help of Samwell Tarly and Gilly who came from the other side.
The Nightfort was also the home to the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch who fell in love with the "Corpse Queen" of the Others and ruled the Nightfort as the Night King for thirteen years before he was dethroned.
But that's not the legend that I was here for, I was here for the Black Gate. The Black Gate is a secret passage through the Wall, located directly at the bottom of the deep, central well in the Nightfort's kitchens, where a weirwood tree is growing through the kitchen floor. The gate is sentient and magical, serving as a literal barrier that only the Night's Watch can bypass. It is made of white weirwood and carved with a giant, ancient face that is "old and pale, wrinkled and shrunken." The face's mouth is closed when the gate is shut; when it opens, the lips part until the mouth is wide enough for a man to walk through. The eyes of the gate are blind, white, and sunken.
~