CHAPTER 11 | THE DEAD MEN
And never could I have known the taste of heaven, had I not swallowed pieces of hell, first.
Wren's heart dropped. "Treason?" She whispered.
Jon's troubled face looked grim, his dark eyes pools of black as he bitterly said, "they say he conspired with Robert's brothers to deny the throne to Prince Joffrey."
Wren seethed with anger as she found herself by Jon's side. She had never felt such an anger before, it made her want to combust into flames yet the icy winds that blew through her hair kept her from doing so. "You sisters were in King's Landing," Wren said as she thought of the man who raised her and his family. "What are you going to do?" She asked.
"Nothing," Jon shook his head as he began walking toward the kitchens. Wren followed behind him in fury.
"Nothing," Wren repeated, "you're going to sit around and do nothing while your family sits on an execution block?"
Jon gripped her by the arm, pulling her between two large piles of wood where shadows lurked and concealed them. He glared at her while saying, "you think I don't want to do anything? I would love to go and save them, but I made a vow," Wren opened her mouth, "we made a vow to protect the realm, we have no family anymore, we are soldiers and nothing more."
Wren frowned at Jon. Her hazel eyes fell down to his lips, where images of the night she pushed him away flickered through her mind as if she was watching scenes from a play. Her heart clenched in pain. "I never want to speak to you again," she said in a shaky voice, "I never wish to hold your hand, kiss you, or feel your skin against mine in any way. I am not a puppet you can go to when you're feeling lonely, I am a human with feelings, and you've just ripped my heart out from my chest. I hope you're happy, Jon Snow."
She looked at Jon before her now, a wall of ice surrounding what was left of her heart. Deep down, she knew Jon had stolen some of her from herself and he still hadn't given it back.
Jon's lips parted, as though he was about to say something, his own obsidian eyes moving to her lips. Wren cut him off before he could say anything that would heighten her walls, "tell me if you hear anything else about Ned." With that, she walked into the kitchens to find Sam. She was unfortunately placed on kitchen duty with Sam and Jon.
She threw on an apron that had stains on it from most likely a thousand years ago and got to work. As they began to do so, Wren heard the clunking of boots against the wooden floor. See Alliser smirked at then snidely, remarking, "Now there's a rare sight. Not only a bastard, but a traitor's bastard."
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