Where Beauty Goes To Die | j. snow

CHAPTER 11 | THE DEAD MEN

Jon's gaze darted to Ser Alliser, and in his eyes held cold fury. Silence occurred for a few seconds. Then, suddenly Jon tried to strike Alliser, but Wren reached out to try and stop him, but he was too strong and threw her backwards into Sam. He was stopped by Pypar and Grenn.

Jon grabbed a knife and raised it, held back by Pyp and Grenn. Sam cried out, "Jon, no, stop! Put it down!"

"Blood will always tell. You'll hang for this, bastard," Ser Alliser threatened while backing off and walking away, while Jeor Mormont saw the incident and walked towards Jon with a scowl.

"I told you not to do anything stupid. You're confined to quarters. Go."

* * *

Wren woke up to pounding on her door during the night. Groaning, she rolled out of bed to throw on a pair of pants. Ripping the door open, Wren saw Jon panting with Ghost railing behind him. She took in his disheveled appearance and ushered him into her room, closing the door behind her.

"What happened?" She asked, forcing him to sit on the creaky bed.

Jon stared blankly at the wall across from him, his eyes not meeting Wren's intense light brown gaze. "The man, he wasn't dead, but he wasn't alive."

Wren furrowed her brow, "what do you mean?"

"One of the men we found in the woods was dead, but he just, wasn't. Do you understand?" He finally looked up at her.

"I do," Wren slowly nodded her head, trying to piece everything together. "And how do you know this?"

"He attacked the Lord Commander, I had to light the dead man on fire to kill him," Jon answered grimly.

Wren turned around, running a hand through her hair. She faced Jon again, "what if there's more like him out there?" She whispered.

Jon nodded, "that's what's on my mind."

Wren took a seat next to Jon on the bed, making sure to leave some distance between them. Jon noticed but didn't say anything. "Can't we just burn them?" She pondered aloud.

Jon shook his head, "it still fought back. It was strong and wild. And we don't know how many of them there are, or what caused it to happen." Jon sighed, "it's far more dangerous here than I thought it was going to be."

Wren shrugged, "dead men coming back to life, I expected it."

Jon rolled his eyes at her, "this is no time to be funny."

"I'm just stating the obvious," she quipped.

Jon stood, running a hand down his face. Ghost got up from his comfortable position on the floor. "I'm going to bed," he said stressfully.

Wren nodded understandingly. "You're going to need it for tomorrow."

"What's tomorrow?" Jon questioned.

"They have to burn the other body, of course."

* * *

Smoke filled her lungs as she watched them set the wood-covered body to flames. She embraced the warmth as it sparked a light in her eyes. The Night's Watch stood around the pyre as they watched their dead brother burn. Wren stood next to Sam and Jon, grimacing at the smell of burning flesh.

"They were touched by White Walkers. That's why the came back. That's why their eyes turned blue. Only fire will stop them," Sam muttered like an open book.

"How do you know that?" Jon asked.

"I read about it in a book. A very old book in Maester Aemon's library," Sam informed.

"What else did the book say?" Wren asked curiously.

"The White Walkers sleep beneath the ice for thousands of years, and when they wake up. . . ." Sam drifted off.

"And when they wake up?" Wren coaxed.

Sam didn't have to say anything. All he had to do was tilt his head up toward the giant wall that stood strong above their heads. "I hope the Wall is tall enough," he said.

Wren hoped so, too, for the sake of the living.

A/N: it's been awhile my loves! i've recently finished my finnick odair book so that was fun, now i'll be focusing on two series, this series and my marvel series. if you like marvel go check them out! i also have a new book which is the prequel to my finnick book that i'm so excited to write. thank you for reading, i'll be seeing you soon. xx