THE NORTH BEYOND | JON SNOW

CHAPTER NINE.

I tried to keep my breathing under control, these hounds could taste the fear rolling off of someone. Inhale, exhale. I kept the mantra up in my head, inhale, exhale.  Craster only lets them out once all the wives are safely inside the loft to avoid confrontation between the wives and the dogs. I tried to rack my brain for how many of them there where.

"One." She mouthed, fixing the arrow into her bow. Breathe, I told myself, a dog can't be the way you die.

At least the whole pack hadn't crept up behind me. "Good, the others don't know. If you kill it, the rest will fuck us before we can run." I can see Red considering what I said with a dawning understanding, dogs hunted in packs, if we killed the one behind me, it would make a noise and the others would flank us from every direction and pick us apart for supper. She took her bow out of the nook of the arrow and held it beside her instead. I slowly lowered myself to my knees.

"How close?" I fought urge to turn back. If it hadn't attacked now, that means it was still thinking, weighing, recognising the threat I posed. If I turned back to face it, it would be seen as an automatic threat and the dog will attack out of defence. At least that is what I had seen with my wolves and I hoped to apply the same logic here. When my wolves hunted, the smaller, submissive ones would attack from the back, and the dominant more aggressive ones would attack face first. I thought about why the dog came from behind me, and then I realised that this dog might have been the one Night bullied away my first night here. It was probably wondering where my wolf was, unsure to attack in case my wolf retaliated.

"About five steps away, its looking back and forth." I nodded in confirmation, it likely was the same wolf, it was indecisive, its prey drive wanted nothing more than to kill me but it also had remembered something about my smell, about a pain that came with it and was suddenly unsure again. I closed my hands into fists and felt the coolness of the metal on my dagger digging into my hip bone and everything in my body fought to grab the dagger, turn around and bury it so far into it's snout that it fucking swallows it.

"I need you to go away and howl like Night does." I whispered, looking down, even closed my hands shook.

"Are you touched?  Your wolf can't help us now, Blue." She shouted as loud as her whisper would allow and her light blue eyes widened.

"I know she can't but the dog doesn't." I explained, my heart was the only thing I could hear, its frantic pumping against my rib cage and I brought my closed fists around my neck as achingly slow as I could bear. My wolves rip out the throat of its prey, it was the quickest way to kill anything so protecting the neck was my first instinct. Even if it did sacrifice my hands to do so.

I could of swore that I could feel the hound's rancid breath against my neck but it could have just as easily been the wind that was picking up. I heard Red retreating but didn't bother to look up. My mouth felt painfully dry.

So this is what the moment before you die felt like. Such a stupid mistake, forgetting those stupid hounds. Their feral eyes had been burnt into my mind while I stayed here and the smell of the Keep when some of the intestines of the pig that had not been found started to rot was unbearable at the time, I thought I'd never forget it. How did I forget them?

Then over the wind and my own panicked heart, I heard the sound of Red howling, the sound was strangely authentic, it rung off the vast plain of Craster's neighbouring forest with a chilling realness.

There was no time to waste.

I stood up, hands locked at my neck, elbows drawn towards my chest and turned around  but kept my eyes tightly shut. I backed away once and listened. Nothing. I heard the sound of Red's faint howl again, and then a chorus of them, all interlocking. In any other situation the strangeness of that would have occurred to me but right now, I couldn't think besides not getting eaten. I took another step back. Then another.

But then, almost as if my own body wanted me dead, I felt an urge to open my eyes. So I did.

The first thing my gaze locked onto was the dog's black, bottomless eyes and then it's lip curled back, and unblemished teeth shining in the light of the moon. It's hackles fluffed allowing the dog to look taller than his already impossibly intimidating frame would allow and ears fully erect. Everything about the dog screamed on thing at me: attack.

Fuck. I knew...I fucking knew not to look a dog in the eyes.

I only had time to raise a leg to kick it wherever I could. The dog was jumping at me, teeth bared and paws forward before someone jumped on it, bringing it to the ground.

It was momentarily distracted, torn between its prey and defending its self against the attacker but tried to turn quickly to bite whatever it was holding it.

I grabbed my dagger out from my hip bone and slit the dog's throat, avoiding its snapping teeth and it whimpered as the blood drained from it. Some of the blood hit my face and body and I wiped it off with my furs. I would have to remember to wash myself in the nearest body of water we came across. I felt my stomach turn, as I watched the emotion drain from its black eyes and its body relax. I remembered the rest of the dogs and grabbed the girl sitting on the hound up, her hands hadn't relaxed since she jumped on the dog. Most likely the poor woman was in shock but we didn't have time to waste. Once the other dogs caught this scent, we couldn't out run them. Then I saw who it was who risked their life

Helga. Her delicate face was slack from shock, she couldn't keep her eyes off the dog who was bleeding out on the floor. I grabbed her arm and yanked her forwards.

"Helga. We have to go, now!" I told her, and I started running away from the dead hound on the floor, from Craster's fury and his stupid Keep and from the rest of the hell-hounds who were soon going to be on our trail.