Chapter Summaries

The narrator searched the northern wilderness for a Shadowcat and found an adult one feeding on a wolf. After capturing and knocking it unconscious, he placed his hand on its head to attempt a bond.

• The narrator used Promodynes (Find Animal) to locate a Shadowcat northeast of him.
• Bo found the Shadowcat and reported that it was an adult eating a wolf.
• The narrator reached the Shadowcat, which charged him and broke free of Letagon (Trap).
• The narrator blasted the Shadowcat into a tree with Jelmio indigo (Wind Blast) and restrained it with Inretio (Entangle).
• The narrator knocked the Shadowcat unconscious and placed his hand on its head.

Aermir failed to bond with an adult Shadowcat, killed it, and found a wolf cub in its den. He climbed the freezing mountain with the cub and eventually located a Shadowcat mother and cub, then prepared a hidden shelter so he could try to capture the cub without killing its mother.

• Aermir gave up trying to bond with the unconscious Shadowcat, killed it, and skinned it.
• Aermir discovered a wolf cub in a rocky den, had Berus retrieve it, and decided to keep it while searching for a Shadowcat cub.
• Aermir climbed the mountain with the wolf cub, using Promodynes (Find Animal) as the cold and his dwindling mana made the journey increasingly difficult.
• Aermir found a Shadowcat mother and cub, and Bo scouted them despite struggling against the wind.
• Aermir used Formotegon (Mold Earth) to build an underground hiding place for his group near the Shadowcats.

Aermir bonded with the Shadowcat cub Sith and traveled back toward the Wall, where a Warg warrior tried to control Erebus. Aermir sensed the Warg’s party following them and asked Erebus to deal with the eagle scouting him.

• Aermir trapped the Shadowcat cub, bonded with her, and named her Sith before escaping with Berus.
• After two days of travel, Aermir and his companions left the mountains and headed toward the Wall while he searched for Direwolves.
• Gornard Tresky lost his wolf in a failed raid and tried to control Erebus, but Erebus pushed him out of his mind.
• Aermir sensed the Warg party between him and the Wall, changed direction to evade them, and discovered an eagle following Erebus.
• Aermir asked Erebus whether he could kill the eagle safely and sensed magic flowing through Erebus’s blood vessels.

Erebus killed Gornard Tresky’s eagle, severing Gornard’s bond with it and prompting him to pursue the black bird’s master. As the Wildlings tracked the protagonist despite his attempts to evade them, he prepared an ambush with Bo, Erebus, Sith, and Berus.

• Erebus dived at the eagle, struck it with enhanced strength, and nearly tore its head off.
• Gornard Tresky lost his beast and, after recovering from the pain, vowed to hunt down the black bird and tame it by following its magical signature.
• Jorin the Wildling worried that Gornard’s impulsive pursuit could endanger the remaining band, but preferred rebuilding their group over joining another tribe.
• The protagonist realized that the twenty Wildlings were still tracking him despite his repeated changes of direction.
• The protagonist dug a concealed pit, assigned Bo and Erebus roles that kept them out of close combat, and spent magic points enhancing himself and his companions while preparing Warding Wind.

Aermir ambushed Gonard’s Wildling warband with earth magic and Erebus and Bo’s attacks, then captured Gonard to learn how they had tracked him. After Gonard explained that wargs could follow a beast by its traits, Aermir asked about Direwolves and killed him when his answer confirmed what Aermir suspected.

• Aermir spotted Gonard’s Wildlings approaching with a polar bear and used Earth Spike to impale several of them.
• Aermir ordered Bo to attack the bear, and Bo’s attacks crushed Wildlings while the bear survived long enough for Gonard to fall from it.
• Aermir emerged from underground, killed the wounded bear with lightning, and bound Gonard with roots.
• Gonard explained that a strong warg could track a beast by sensing its traits, revealing how the warband had followed Erebus.
• Aermir asked where to find Direwolves, heard that they wandered in rare pairs, and struck Gonard with lightning.

Aermir Drasil reached House Wull’s mountain settlement after traveling south from beyond the Wall, hoping to meet the mountain clans. He secured shelter with Hugo Woer and explained that Lord Stark had given him a pass because of his skill with a sword and bow.

• Aermir left the Warg’s remains behind and continued toward the Wall with Sith and the wolf cub, deciding not to pursue the Wildlings while Bo was exhausted.
• After a week’s journey, Aermir camped south of the Wall, named the wolf cub Lika, and joked with Berus and Yimu.
• Aermir arrived at House Wull’s settlement, showed Lord Stark’s pass to the guards, and was brought to Hugo Woer.
• Hugo offered Aermir lodging and questioned why Lord Stark had given him his sigil, and Aermir said it was a reward for his sword and bow skills.

The boy tested his archery against Chieftain Woer, easily keeping him at bay and winning the warm-up. When their serious fight began, the boy used a tree to mislead Woer and ended with an arrow at his throat.

• Chieftain Woer challenged the boy to spar, and the boy chose a shortbow for their first clash.
• The boy’s rapid arrows forced Woer to defend with his shield until shots struck his ankle and forehead.
• Woer agreed to fight seriously and charged as the boy dodged his attacks and ran toward the woods.
• The boy climbed a tree and shook snow from its branches, making Woer think he was hiding above him.
• The boy appeared beneath Woer’s shield and pressed an arrow to his throat, telling him he was not in the tree.

Emre outmaneuvered Chief Woer in an archery contest and promised to face him in melee when he turned fourteen. After learning the Woer Tribe was suffering from hunger and illness, Emre created a druid persona and returned to offer help in the name of the Old Gods.

• Emre used the trees and his feline grace to flank Chief Woer and shoot an arrow at his throat.
• Chief Woer praised Emre’s skill, recognized him as a potential hunter of Arthur Dayne, and arranged a melee when Emre reached his fourteenth Name Day.
• Emre learned that a poor harvest and dwindling supplies had left the Woer Tribe hungry and vulnerable to sickness.
• Emre decided to use ritual magic to help the people while concealing his identity behind a druid persona.
• Emre crafted a plant-covered outfit, mask, platform boots, and staff, then returned to the Woer Tribe and introduced himself as Druid Emre, priest of the Old Gods.

Emre used plant magic to convince Chief Woer and the guards to let him enter the settlement and treat House Wull’s sick. He prepared a ritual to heal up to fifty patients at a time, leaving the work unfinished as he began drawing its runes.

• Emre bent nearby trees into an alcove to demonstrate his power to the guards.
• Chief Woer arrived with soldiers, questioned Emre’s intentions, and eventually allowed him into the settlement after Emre offered to help the fever-stricken people.
• Emre explained the rules separating Druid ritual magic from dark magic and requested a sheep for the healing ritual.
• Emre learned that about 145 people were ill and that he would need three days to treat them in groups of up to fifty.
• Emre melted snow in a clearing with fire magic, drew a circle in the dirt, and began inscribing runes for healing and protection from death.

Emre completed a healing ritual that treated 50 of Chief Woer’s sick clansmen, then told the villagers he would return the next day to help the remaining patients. He burrowed underground to rest while Chief Woer considered how to secure his help.

• Emre raised a stone pillar, carved runes into it, and performed a ritual that sent green lights over the patients.
• The ritual treated 50 patients before its power faded, and Emre told Chief Woer he could perform it only once a day.
• Emre warned the villagers that some patients might still die, then asked to be left alone and said another sheep would be needed for the next ritual.
• Emre burrowed underground and spoke with Bo and Erebus, telling Erebus to listen to Bo until he returned in three days.
• Chief Woer reflected that Emre had helped the clansmen and decided it would be better to enlist his help than oppose him.

Chief Woer watched the Druid cure the settlement’s fever victims and learned that only thirteen people had died, but worried that the survivors would be difficult to feed. The protagonist offered a human sacrifice to speed crop growth, and after Woer agreed, the ritual produced a wheat harvest within ten hours.

• Woer observed the Druid for three days, saw bark moving like skin beneath his clothing, and agreed to spread the word that a true Druid never accepted payment or donations.
• Woer explained that the unexpectedly high number of survivors left the settlement short of food, and the protagonist proposed a human sacrifice to accelerate plant growth.
• The protagonist examined three prisoners awaiting execution and found that only one had knowingly killed an innocent person.
• Woer agreed to the ritual, and the protagonist carved runes into a stone pillar before the settlement scattered grain seeds over the snowy fields.
• The protagonist sacrificed the stained-soul prisoner, and green energy melted the snow and thawed the soil across a two-kilometer area.
• The fields produced golden wheat ears about ten hours after the ritual, while the sacrificed man’s body crumbled into dust.

Chief Woer learned that Emre’s ritual used the life energy of those who had knowingly murdered innocents, and Emre left the mountain tribes after helping them survive disease and famine. In 285 AC, Emre reached a town near Last Hearth and confronted a fraud posing as him, whose apparent healing and acceptance of payment put Emre’s warning to the test.

• Chief Woer thanked Emre for saving his people from starvation, and Emre explained the difference between order magic and dark magic and how druids reclaimed the life energy of those who knowingly killed innocents.
• Emre visited the other five mountain tribes, treating illness and performing a growth ritual for a tribe suffering food shortages; the journey lasted four months, and he turned eleven in 285 AC.
• Emre traveled east toward Last Hearth, where his bond with Lika gave him a powerful sense of smell, one point of speed, and fifteen points of mana.
• At a town inn, Emre heard people discussing the legend of Emre the Druid and learned that someone claiming to be him had arrived in the town square.
• Emre watched the impostor perform a supposed healing ritual and accept money, then called him a fake, citing the warning that the real druid never accepted payment.

Emre traveled through the North as a healer and rescuer, then used his magic to enter a fever-stricken town near the Dreadfort and treat its people. When Lord Bolton’s soldiers tried to take him away, Emre escaped, leaving Bolton furious and facing the townspeople’s anger.

• Emre left Last Hearth after sparring with Greatjon Umber and continued rescuing smallfolk as Aermir while healing them as Emre the Druid.
• Emre used Earth Impact and Burning Hands to drive away Bolton soldiers who barred him from entering a town suffering from a fever.
• Emre performed rituals for six days, healing three hundred people while twenty-seven died.
• Ser Clay arrived with a hundred soldiers to take Emre to Lord Bolton, but Emre refused and warned the townspeople that Bolton had blocked their path to healing.
• Emre transformed into a dog and escaped through the crowd and alleys before the soldiers could seize him.
• Lord Bolton blamed Ser Clay for provoking Emre and took him to the dungeons for a private talk.

After training his familiars near Hornwood, Aermir rushed to rescue a caravan attacked by bandits. He killed many of the attackers, drove the rest to flee, and ordered his familiars to hunt them down.

• Aermir and his familiars trained in the Training Space, where he learned that people were fighting about two kilometers away.
• Aermir used Promodynes (Find Animal) and discovered that bandits had attacked a caravan, so he hurried to the scene to improve Squire Aermir's reputation.
• Aermir found civilians defending themselves with farm tools and clubs, then killed ten bandits with arrows before joining the fight.
• Aermir used knives, sword strikes, Mold Earth (Formotegon), and Trap (Letagon) to kill more bandits while helping the villagers.
• Aermir killed the remaining bandits who attacked him, causing those fighting the villagers to flee; he ordered his familiars to kill the fugitives once they were out of sight of the villagers.

Aermir escorted the surviving villagers to Barrowton and met the twin brothers Harik and Caygan, who had been orphaned by the red fever. He offered them work as soldiers, then sent them ahead to Winterfell while he planned to return in a year.

• Aermir learned that the villagers had fled their homes after red fever killed most of their community, and he agreed to escort them to the nearest town.
• While helping bury the dead, Aermir discovered that the large man Harik was thirteen and Caygan was his twin brother.
• Aermir helped feed the refugees on the road and trained Harik and Caygan during their journey to Barrowton.
• At Barrowton, Aermir offered the twins work as soldiers, but told them to travel to Winterfell and wait for him.
• Aermir arranged for Harik and Caygan to join a merchant caravan and gave its leader Lord Stark's pass to help ensure their safe arrival.

After months traveling through The North, Aermir discovered Ironborn ships cutting down timber along the coast and suspected betrayal among House Ryswell's vassals. He abandoned his journey to return to Winterfell, dispatching familiars to watch the sea and search for new kin.

• Aermir sent Caygan and his twin to Winterfell with a letter for Ser Rodrik Cassel, telling them not to swear allegiance to House Stark.
• Aermir learned water-walking and earth-merging spells while traveling through Torrhen's Square and The Rills, healing locals and destroying bandit hideouts along the way.
• Bo spotted Ironborn from Houses Drumm, Blacktyde, and Orkwood cutting down timber and loading it onto ships along the coast.
• Aermir suspected the Ironborn were stealing timber and that a traitor among House Ryswell's vassals might be helping them, so he decided to return to Winterfell.
• Aermir ordered Bo and Erebus to expand their raven flocks and patrol the sea, sent Lika and Berus to find kin in the Wolfswood, and took Sith with him toward the northern mountains.

Aermir warned Eddard Stark that the Ironborn were secretly harvesting timber to build ships for a rebellion. He urged Eddard to prepare the North before alerting the crown, leaving Eddard to weigh his duty to the realm against protecting his people.

• Rodrik Cassel greeted Aermir at Winterfell and heard him dismiss his nickname and confirm that Emre the Druid had supernatural powers.
• Aermir warned Rodrik that he suspected a war was coming and hurried to tell Eddard Stark.
• Aermir told Eddard that the Ironborn had stolen timber along the northern coast, and he explained that villagers were watching for their ships.
• Eddard and Rodrik considered whether House Ryswell had betrayed the North, but Aermir argued that sending them a warning could alert the Ironborn.
• Aermir reasoned that the Ironborn needed timber to build ships for a rebellion and said the crown's weakness made the timing plausible.
• Aermir urged Eddard to prepare the North before informing the king, arguing that the North should put its own people first.

Aermir failed to persuade Eddard Stark to act before scouts confirmed his warning, then clashed with Catelyn after she insulted him and Jon for being a commoner and a bastard. As Catelyn ordered him whipped, Aermir appealed to Northern beliefs and customs, and Eddard and Rodrik arrived to find the yard in an uproar.

• Eddard ordered Rodrik to send scouts to investigate Blazewater Bay and the Stony Shore, choosing to wait for their report before taking action.
• Aermir sparred with Robb and Jon, then traded a joking insult with Robb before Catelyn confronted them.
• Catelyn insulted Jon and Aermir, ordered guards to seize Aermir, and accused his father of having impure blood.
• Aermir's mana-infused shout froze Catelyn and the guards, and he warned Catelyn not to dishonor his father.
• Catelyn authorized a whipping, but Aermir addressed the crowd and argued that the Old Gods did not condemn bastards or distinguish between highborn and lowborn.
• Rodrik and Eddard arrived in the training yard and demanded to know what was happening.

Aermir Drasil denounced Septa Mordane and the Seven before Winterfell’s gathered nobles and soldiers, turning them against the septa and winning Eddard Stark’s support. Eddard banished the septons from Winterfell, allowed Arya and Sansa to pursue martial skills, and refused to whip Aermir, leaving his punishment for later.

• Aermir reminded Sansa that Septa Mordane had insulted the Old Gods and the warrior women of the North, and Sansa confirmed she remembered the septa’s words.
• Aermir condemned the Seven and their servants, arguing that he had protected the North without asking for payment, while the crowd cheered for the Old Gods.
• Eddard asked Sansa whether Aermir’s claims were true, and she confirmed them and recounted more of Septa Mordane’s insults toward Northerners.
• Eddard ordered Septa Mordane lashed and banished to the South, banished every other septon in Winterfell, and assigned Lady Elara Cassel and Maester Luwin to educate the girls.
• Eddard agreed that Rodrik would oversee Arya’s training until winter ended and allowed Sansa to learn archery, then told Catelyn he would not whip Aermir.

After Aermir insisted on receiving the flogging he had promised to accept, he endured twenty lashes before rallying Winterfell’s soldiers and knights to cheer for the Old Gods and the North. He woke in the infirmary celebrated as a northern hero, then secretly healed his wounds with magic.

• Eddard Stark agreed to punish Aermir after Aermir insisted on keeping his word and asked to be flogged on the training ground.
• Aermir urged Ser Rodrik to strike him with full force and endured all twenty lashes.
• Despite nearing unconsciousness, Aermir raised his hands and led the crowd in shouting, “For the Old Gods and the North!” before passing out.
• Aermir woke in the infirmary, where Maester Luwin questioned his defiance of Lady Stark, while Aermir reflected on how the punishment had made him a champion of the Old Gods.
• After Aunt Brice left, Aermir blocked his door and used Abra Ruklo (Lifebloom) to close his wounds.