~~~~Moat Cailin, The Neck~~~~
~~~~First Moon, 278 AC~~~~
Moat Cailin, once one of the most iconic and amazing fortresses in the North, now a fragile memory of what it was, from what I remembered, Moat Cailin had eighteen or twenty massive towers, and a great wall the size of Winterfell.
"That's certainly the Drunkard's Tower," I said to Valka, glimpsing the mythical leaning tower, it bore a slight resemblance to the Tower of Pisa, only the Drunkard's Tower was taller and steeper, and I was surprised it could stand in that state, considering the not-so-solid, watery ground.
"Let me guess, why its leaning like it was about to fall over in any strong breeze," with a raucous laugh, Valka answered me, to which I simply nodded, besides the Drunkard's Tower, also distinguish the Children's Tower, a tall and slender tower, where the Children of the Forest are said to have invoked their gods to send The Hammer of the Waters and smash the Neck, just as they did with the Arm of Dorne.
Well, it didn't quite work, and instead, they just flooded it.
"Endoxes, let's land over there," I said to my faithful companion, as I guided him to a part of the causeway that was still out of the swamp mire and wide enough for Endoxes to land.
"BOOM!"
"Well, and there went the Drunkard's Tower," I said with a grimace, watching as the tower, which itself looked fragile, collapsed and was partially sunk into the muddy ground. It didn't withstand the slight shaking from Endoxes' landing.
"Pain!"
"Shit, a mosquito has already bitten me", I cursed, wiping my hand on my pants, "Come on, let's go, I have some houses saved, I'll summon one when I fix the ground first", I said to Valka, as we walked along the roadway that snaked between the surviving towers, the air felt heavy, and a heavy fog covered the ground, so much that we had to walk carefully to avoid falling with a block on the ground or a vine.
"Well, at least he's having a better time," Valka commented with a smile, watching Endoxes in the sky circling above us, behind, my Blood Riders managed to land on the roadway once Endoxes rose again, reaching us moments later.
As for his Wyverns, they took to the marshes to hunt Lion-lions; the Neck offered a similar environment to that found in Sothoryos, and they were no doubt enjoying it.
Without waiting any longer, I took to the air, observing the surroundings and looking for a location where I could place the two houses, and that's when I noticed it, an elevated part, with muddy ground but firmer than usual, so getting closer, I didn't think twice and started to summon blocks of stone, creating a surface wide and deep enough to prevent the two houses from being swallowed by the muddy ground of the swamp.
Once that was done, I summoned the structure block, which was not like the others, instead of feeling a small object in the shape of what I was about to summon, whether it was a block, something living like a tree or some animal... Or even a villager or some creature, this was different.
Instead of feeling it like that or even being able to see it in my palm, I simply felt I could use it, and I did. Closing my eyes to concentrate a bit, I felt it. No... Rather, I saw it, the shape of the house I wanted to summon using the structure block.
A modest house with a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and a spacious bedroom with a bathroom included. Made of polished stone, with large windows and even a porch. Once the house was laid out, I went back down to the ground where Valka was waiting for me.
She had a smile on her face, and eyes wide with wonder and excitement; "It's still just as amazing every time I see it, it's more than magic, it's something divine." Well, it certainly was, how fantastically was he able to create, build almost anything? Especially things that defied the laws of physics, because how would he explain a construction that didn't use beams, columns, or anything like that to stand upright.
Sure, he couldn't build in the air like in the game, but even without that, he could simply build a house on a single column and it would stay that way, stable, without movement or collapse, though if he had to plan the base well, or the construction could simply destabilize and fall, or in this case, be swallowed by the swamp.
"Well, what can I say? Maybe it is, but that's not important now, the important thing is that you can lie down now while I work, ah, by the way, take one of the messenger parrots and send a message to the fleet stationed at Hardhome, let Captain Valerius know to make contact with the Wildlings that are in the city, if they have been gathering in the city, it must be because they already know what awaits them, so they will have no problem getting on the ships and getting here, let Captain Valerius know to get the fleet to this specific location," I asked Valka to help me with that, while I took a map of Westeros and marked an X on a certain part of the map, south of White Harbor.
"Okay, but... How will the ships land on the beach? I don't think the bay is deep enough to allow the ships to get close enough, and that's not to mention the journey from the beach to here, as far as I know, that part is just swamp, not to mention the so called lion-lizards, it will be a slaughter, no doubt the atmosphere will kill them before they even get to the new Moat Cailin."
That was a good point, luckily, I already had the solution, mind you, that would create a lot of questions and maybe some inconveniences with Lords Reed and Manderly, but I was out of time, and I wanted to finish this quickly to get back to Xandar as soon as possible.
"I'll do the Canal myself, while I said at first I would let the builders and masons do it, now things have changed, we can't waste valuable time." I told her, and a slight surprise passed over her face, then back to normal, "Okay, then let's get to work". She told me, and I couldn't help but smile, "Okay," I commented, giving her a big kiss.
Without further ado, I took to the sky again, to then summon another house using the structure block, but this time, for my Blood Riders, this one had almost the same as the previous one, only it contained two additional living rooms, plus ten rooms.
That done, I went back to Valka's and my house, stood under the porch of the house and set about arranging a table or so, I placed six quartz ladders facing down, with their backs joined, which left me room below to tuck my legs in, likewise, I placed four ladders in a normal fashion on each side, which would act as chairs.
It wasn't the best, but it would help for the moment. "My love, look in your things, there must be a glass feather in one of your bags, pass it to me please", I asked Valka, while I summoned a book, the reason for this, was that I had to design the city, or at least the most important, the sewer system, the streets and important areas.
"Here you go, My Khal," Valka's voice brought me out of my musings, making me smile, "thank you, my Khaleesi." I thanked my queen, winking at her in the process.
Once I accepted the pen, I opened the book and began to think first of all, about the shape of the city, how the walls would be organized, the distribution of the zones, the area where the city would be and its defenses, everything had to be thought methodically, I did not want to build a King's Landing 2.0, this would be the first Xandarian city in Westeros, it had to be everything perfect, since this would be the face of Xandar.
Looking up, I looked at the environment around us, swamp, mud, big ditches, fast streams, and that's when I noticed something in particular. In one of the creeks, but what caught my attention was a stone that was in the middle of the creek, it was blunt, very blunt in fact, it was evident that the water had done its work, molding the stone for a long time, but even after that, the rock remained stable, firm, breaking the water that charged against it with an enigmatic force, considering its appearance and the possible time the rock had been in the creek.
And that's when I decided, the city, my city, was going to be in the middle of the channel, and I knew what city to base it on to create it; Tar Valon, the second most populated city in the Western Lands, and it certainly fit what I had in mind.
So without much thought, I took the pen and set to work, the design of the city would be shaped like a rhombus, with both ends pointing both East and West, the city would be surrounded by a forty meter high wall, with wide piers at each point end, leaving the North and South sides of the city free, where only the only two bridges connecting the city with land would be.
One bridge would connect the city with Winterfell, and another bridge would connect the city with the Royal Road, as well as the North bridge would be in the same way, the bridges I designed them in such a way, that they would only be twelve meters wide, but with a length of twenty meters.
At the same time, I drew two large towers that would be on either side of each bridge start, in case of siege or attack, nothing could pass over the bridge if it was sealed, plus the swampy terrain that would cause the men to be submerged up to their hips, as they struggled to evade the Lion-Lizards of the place, would cause them to only be able to reach from the causeway that was firm and out of the swamp, leaving only one passage to follow. Which I would use to my advantage.
As for the city, I stipulated it to be ten miles wide at its widest point, with thirteen miles long. It would not be the largest city in Xandar by a long shot. Port Royal was three times as large as this one would be, but it would certainly be the best city in all of Westeros.
I drew the two ports on both hemispheres, considering practicality and security. The ports would be protected by a curved C-shaped wall fifteen meters high and 2.5 miles in diameter, with enough space for at least thirty Xandarian warships to fit with room to spare.
And like the bridges, the harbors would be protected by two giant towers located at the end of the harbor walls. For this, he would have to order two chains from the smiths of Xandar, just like the one at the entrance to the Fjord. Which would be erected to prevent the passage of enemy ships.
With everything on paper ready, I got up from my temporary chair, stretched, and went outside, and then rose to the sky, now, came the hard work, I went to the center of what was left of Moat Cailin, and without delay, I began to demolish a large piece of space, removing debris, basalt blocks and even earth.
But it was not to build something in its place, instead, I started to create a deep well, and by deep I mean more than five kilometers deep, with three hundred meters in diameter, this would be the city's septic tank, at a time when it was not possible to make machines that would purify sewage to then be dumped into rivers or seas, I had to resort to the old.
Once the septic tank was built, I set about preparing the land well, leveling the downspouts, filling in certain parts with soil, drying out parts that were very submerged, and then starting to create the ditches, channels and culverts, so that all the water, waste or whatever it was that reached the sewers would end up in the septic tank.
Having finished with that part, I looked up and noticed that the sun had already passed its highest point, and taking my watch, I saw that it was 1:32 reason for the hunger that gnawed at me, so deciding for a moment, I went up to the house, where Valka was already in the dining room of the house, with food made on the table.
"1:30 p.m., your stomach is always on time," amid laughter, Valka began serving on a plate stew of what I assumed was rabbit, smoked salmon with steamed potatoes, carrot juice, and a rich tart. "Well, you know me very well," I said, giving her a soft kiss, then sitting beside her.
"The others, how are they? Do they have food?" I asked, referring to my Blood Riders, it was clear they didn't know how to cook, they were Dothrakis first and foremost, no matter how much they had changed or learned, some things would always be the same, and one of them was that a Dothraki man would never stoop to cooking anything. That's why I asked. Knowing they would rather let themselves starve than cook something.
"I took them four chickens that I cooked, plus potatoes and beet stew, along with watermelon juice," I smiled at her, no doubt, if the Westerosi knew that the Queen of Xandar cooked for her Guardsmen, there would be uproar, but in Xandar it was different, my Blood Riders were more than just Guardsmen, they were brothers, they were my family, just as they were now Valka's, who would take the place of my wife and Khaleesi.
"It's okay, I already created the foundations, all that's left now is to build upwards, I don't think it will take me more than three days," I explained, with Xandar it took me more than two months, but that was because Xandar is bigger than even all of Crownlands, plus it was my first time building something, and I wasn't that professional, but now, this is almost nothing compared to before.
Or so I hoped to believe, because the sooner I got this done, the sooner I'd be away from here, and the damn waders.
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