Dragon roars filled the vast sky, drawing closer and closer.
One dragon, two dragons, three dragons.
Black Dragon, Green Dragon, White Dragon.
The magic dragons swept over the northern lands. The land for fifty leagues south of the Wall also belonged to the brothers of the Night's Watch.
Brandon's Gift and the New Gift.
But these lands were far too dangerous. Wildlings and Free Folk frequently invaded the Gift to raid and steal, even carrying women off from the North.
With wildlings attacking day and night, many Indigenous People, unable to endure the harassment, had fled south into the mountains or east of the Kingsroad, into House Umber's lands, leaving countless abandoned villages and manors.
This is a desolate land, Gendry thought.
"Lord Stark once considered settling new lords in the Gift to guard against outside raids. Have those lords pay taxes to Castle Black rather than the Night's Watch, and the Commander-in-Chief would gladly accept, but it would have to wait until winter ended."
The magic dragons first arrived above Castle Black, and Balerion had already begun roaring.
As Gendry and Daenerys traveled farther north, the cold rapidly intensified. Though it was still autumn, the temperature around the Wall was already very low, and the magic dragons seemed somewhat restless.
It was the presence of winter, the Old Gods, and ice magic.
Ice and water shared an origin, but the cores of their kinetic energy differed.
Ice was a variant of water. Both freezing and snowfall required cold weather.
This was also the distinction between the water magic of the Rhoynar and the ice magic of the Cold God.
Water magic was gentle, representing vitality and vigor. Ice magic represented stillness and cold, a sharp drop in temperature.
Ice formed primarily through the crystallization of water at low temperatures.