The Wandering Wolf.

Part 2.

"It's good to see you again, Erik." He says, and I give him a nod. "Wish I could say the same, but I guess I've seen worse faces during my travels." I say with my grin as we disconnect hands. 

"You've tamed that beast! It was ready to rip us all apart!" Theon says with wide eyes as Shadow walks over to me.

"He just needed a companion, isn't that right?" I say as my hand moves through his pitch black fur.

"Well, I'm staying far away from that thing." Theon says, and I roll my eyes . "That thing has a name, and it's Shadow." I state before walking over to my horse and grabbing my bow off of it.

"Let's go, Shadow!" I loudly say, and the dire wolf runs over to me as we both walk out of the gate while I see the hundreds of tents being built up. It's a good thing we bring our own food and supplies with us. Otherwise, I will probably would have gotten an earfull from Father that we were draining the supplies.

We give a lot of the coin back to the commoners, but we also keep enough to pay for our expenses and that the men have some coin.  The Robber Knights we've dealt with had alot of coin, and I've sended 750 men  to a shipbuilder close to White Harbor, we will need around 30 ships to carry, the men, horses and supplies to Essos so they've already started building.

I'm heading to Essos to probably start a war? Well I'm not sure if it would be a war, even if Essos is a diffrent land that doest give them the right to take people in put them in chains for their own pleasures, no person should ever live trough  that, and I'm gonna put a stop to that, one way or another.

I know Father wants me to become warden of the North but I feel every fiber in my body pulling me towards Essos right now, so I'm happily passing that title to Robb he would make a good Warden, he's young but smart and driven.  Let's just hope it will take many years before Father dies of old age and Robb will have to take his place.

As I've been walking through the forest with Shadow, I squad down as I see the fresh tracks of a large buck by the look of it.

Seeing Shadow also move closer to  the forest floor, I soflty follow the tracks for some time until I see a massive buck standing by a small creek. That thing must be over 400 lbs!

Grabbing an arrow from my quiver, I ready my shot as I aim for his eye, I wish it to die fast and not in pain.

Closing my eyes for a second as I take a heavy breath while the soft sound of the wind moving through the leaves fills my ears, I nap my eyes open again before letting my arrow go.

Seeing the buck get hit straight in his eye, he almost instantly falls to the floor while I get up.

"Shadow wait." I soflty say as he was ready to lunge forward for a meal. Seeing him back down, I walk over to the bucks  head before taking my arrow out of the massive buck.

"Great, now I've killed it. I need to drag it back," I mumble as I put the arrow back in my quiver with a shake of my head.

I find the biggest buck I've ever seen, and now I need to drag it back to WinterFell all alone.

Grabbing my knife, I shake my head before I  start doing a quick field dressing, better to leave the organs here than to drag them with me back to WinterFell.

......................

Walking back into WinterFell with the buck hanging over my shoulder, I think I broke my back just now.

"How did you kill that thing?" Corwyn says as he walks over and I roll my eyes. "With an arrow, it's not like I asked it nicely idiot." I say as I walk over

"I'll take it to the kitchen." Corwyn says, and I give him a nod before handing him the buck, and I think he didn't expect the wait as a groan leaves his lips.

"Ow, go all mighty, Corwyn. It's just a buck." I say with a teasingly grin, and he shakes his head before walking away.

"Look at your clothes, Erik!" Mother says, and I couldn't stop the chuckle that left my lips as I walk over to her.

"They are just clothes, mother." I say with a smile as I stand in front of her, but by the look on her face its well more them just clothes in her eyes.

"We've missed you. Are you staying long?" Mother asks, and I give her  shake of my head.  "We are still dealing with the bandits in the Riverlands. After that, my journey is taking me east." I say with a soft smile, and she takes a heavy breath.

"My beautiful son, my firstborn. I wish i could have kept you in my arms forever, but if East is where your heart is leading you them you should go."  She says as her hands grab my cheeks.

"I may go east, but I'll never forget where I'm from, where my loyalties lies  and that's here in the North." I say with, and she gives me a nod.

"Now go clean up. You can't come to the feast dresses in bloodied clothes." She says as her hands leave my cheeks.

"As you wish, mother." I say before walking away from her, making my way through the halls. I'm soon met with Arya running over to me.

"Did you ask her?!" She whisper yells with big eyes, and I couldn't stop the chuckle that left my lips.

"No, I have not yet. It needs to be the right moment, Arya." I state, and she releaes a whine at my words.

"But I wish to be like you, strong, a good fighter, and someone people wish to follow." She says, and I raise my brow as we come to a stop in front of my chambers.

"Thanks for the flattery little sister, but you should do it with mother and father. For now I'm going to freshen up, I'll see you at the feast." I say, and she runs away before I walk into my chambers with Shadow behind me.

Looking around the room, I let a smile appear on my face. Everything looks as how I've left it. Well, it takes the dire wolf about 20 seconds to jump on the bed as he lays on the furs.

"Of course, get comfortable." I say with a roll of my eyes before starting to undress out of the bloodied clothes.