Boy from Beyond the Wall

A Northern Welcome

A.N. At this point I'm just throwing stories at the wall and trying to find which ones stick. Trying to find a story which I can dedicate myself towards for a while. Yes, some of you expect the updates on the existing stories, but I just don't feel like doing them much. You tend to get burned out after reaching 150k word landmark. And sometimes even less. Also, what's your opinion on such covers?

There was little to be seen in the lands of furthest north, as the people separated from that place by a colossal wall would make you believe. There was nothing to see from icy barren wastes intermingling with only the toughest of trees that can endure the eternal winter that plagued those lands. The nights there grew longer and beasts grew hungrier the further you went from one of the greatest structures that had ever been erected on the continent of Westeros. It was a wild land that bred the most savage of people, as people further south would tell you. And in order to make sure that those savages never went past that gargantuan, yet unmanned structure, the Night Watch was standing on guard. And occasionally, they even ventured beyond their keeps to make sure that the wildlings, as they had taken to call those utmost northerners, did not have the resources, time or required unity.

One group was sent to investigate sightings of those people that had wandered the woods too close for comfort. A small group that was meant to do nothing more than to scout the area. Their journey was initially nothing out of the ordinary, simply for the fact that all of their hardships so far were to be expected. For one, there was skin-biting cold that they couldn't get rid off with a simple campfire, lest they got the unwanted attention. There's also the problem of not knowing exactly where to go, as the already treaded paths had been covered by a fresh layer of snow. Fortunately, at least one of them knew how to behave in those sorts of situations — to send a capable scout even further. The latter, a young man called Will, was quicker on his feet than a man in his fifties. Gared could not say the same about his other companion, who seldom paid attention to his surroundings. The arrogance of lord brats stayed with them even in the Watch, and Ser Royce was too young to outlive that trait. Nonetheless, they were equal before the world that lied beyond their castles, even if Royce, who for some gods damned reason was his superior, didn't want to admit it.

Eventually Will returned from his scouting, bearing disturbing news. Of corpses, mangled and twisted, and of heads on spikes arranged in what could only appear as a ritualistic shape. He had never seen anything like it before or after joining the Watch, which, admittedly, was a testament that stood to nothing, given his young age or time as a part of their brotherhood. But neither did Gared. He sensed that something was wrong, he urged Royce to return, but the lad would have none of it. The son of a small lord was confident that there was nothing unnatural transpiring and so he ordered to move to what appeared to be a sacrificial ground.

The winds blew harder, whistling among the tall black trees and hitting the rangers in their backs, covered in thick clothes, armours and furs. Gared did not survive decades of ranger duty for nothing, he knew when to trust his gut. And that very gut was telling him that something was watching them. Hells, he could swear that he could see someone hiding beneath some of the trees. Royce merely laughed it up and mocked the man's presumed paranoia. Other than that, they rode their horses in silence, deafening and oppressive, until they finally reached the point Will had been directing them towards. It was a small forest opening, one that needed to be carefully descended towards and slid down.

Only to find the ground stripped bare of all the remains of the ungodly ritual. Royce seemed more amused than anything, while Will could not believe his eyes, quickly looking around in search of a trace.

"Your corpses seem to have moved camp," Royce commented.

"This...this is the place," Will shakily commented. "No doubt about that."