62 Black hands
(Pov Clay)
"How long till we get there, Aston?"
Clay asked, pulling his scarf down over his mouth.
"We're very close, a few more hours."
He was answered by a small tribal warrior.
He had finished an expedition to the north-east of the main camp and on his way back he met Aston saying he had found something strange a day further north.
They had been scouting the area for almost two months now without finding anything, and Clay was getting tired of the constant scouting.
"Damn kid, we've scouted this place for days without finding anything."
Clay mumbled, pulling his scarf up until it covered his nose and tucking in his cloak better.
Clay didn't want to arrive along with Aston to break the news to the Magnar and have it turn out to be some rocks, so he wanted to see it with his eyes first.
They had lost much of the horses during the explorations, so they no longer rode them if not just used them as beasts of burden to make travel easier, something arduous as the air was so thin it made it very difficult to breathe.
"There, over that hill."
Aston pointed.
Clay looked up, there were only snow-covered boulders, but not far away was a small hill.
The sun was already setting for how short the days were in this place, so they both hurried the pace up the hill.
As he climbed, Clay didn't forget to curse for the tenth time that day at Blake.
Every morning he woke up with the fear that he had lost his ears during the night like several of his brothers due to the cold.
By the time he reached the top of the hill, he had doubled the number of curses.
"Well, where is that thing you saw."
Aston, or as he was called, Slow Aston, slowly saw up the entire hill until he pointed to the north side.
Clay followed with a raised eyebrow, tired and hungry.
Aston had been found in the middle of the Haunted forest some years ago, half-frozen and half-starved. They gave him food and left him by the fire, but after that, he was slow talking, they never knew if he was already that way or if the cold had frozen his brains.
Not long after, Clay squinted as he looked at several chunks of what appeared to be meat sticking out of the snow.
"Idiot, it's just the remains of food that some bear or a pack of wolves left behind."
Were the words out of Clay's mouth, but he immediately regretted uttering them, as a wolf pack doesn't usually leave such profitable meat behind in winter, and a bear would never leave its prey so badly buried as to be seen above the snow.
"There is much more."
Aston pronounced slowly, while with his hand he pointed to a circle around the two of them, made up of parts of different animals, there were wolves, bears, moose, and horses and Clay managed to see some human limbs.
"By the gods..."
A shiver went down Clay's back as he witnessed the macabre scene, remembering some of the words said by Blake, which at the time he considered as nonsense.
"We need to warn the Magnar as soon as possible, we've got something here."
Early in the morning, both men set out for the camp.
It took them 4 days to reach the edge of the Haunted Forest, where the base was located.
2 watchtowers had been built as well as a ditch and a wooden wall, with torches and campfires surrounding the entire area.
Clay had noticed that wherever Blake was, the places ended up expanding and improving, It was as if Blake couldn't sit still, always doing something, however, something was different now with the boy.
Blake's activity was even greater than before, he seemed to move all day and all night, driven by a supernatural force, several of the tribe's warriors could see his blue eyes moving through the night, like two torches in the dark.
"Magnar, we found something strange on a hill four days to the north!"
Clay shouted, still covered in snow, before explaining everything he had seen.
"Mmm, that's the first thing we've found besides rocks and snow in this place, what do you think?"
Asked Oswin to Blake, who was sitting sharpening his Claymore with a piece of leather.
"Looks like something, better go in person."
With Blake's words, 30 men prepared for the journey, leading the remaining horses with food and charcoal, as there were no trees outside the Haunted forest in the lands of eternal winter.
Clay would have liked to stay and rest and have Aston lead them to the remains, but the latter was almost 20 years his senior, so Oswin let him rest for a day and a night before setting out again.
With the preparations and carrying Blake along for the ride, it went much smoother, a couple of weeks ago one of the horses had injured its leg, and Blake, considering it would be a waste to put the animal down for a minor injury, had carried the horse on his back for 3 days to camp, this had been the greatest feat of strength Clay had ever seen during his life.
"Auntie Woh Bokgin Drunar Kor Doh juk Dru Nin Kok."
(If a storm hits us we can guide ourselves with those talking squirrel eyes).
"Hahahahaha."
"Hahahahaha."
Clay looked towards the head of the caravan, where the giants, Thenn's men, the Magnar, and Blake were standing, talking and laughing.
"Dru Juknor Tuk Nin Nel Tukai."
(With that sight of yours, my eyes won't be enough).
"Hahahahaha."
"Hahahahaha."
He heard him reply to Blake, earning a chuckle from the men, at least, from those who knew the ancient tongue, he understood a little after talking to Gerd for so long, but many words escaped him.
"There, behind that hill!"
Clay said, after 4 days of marching in the snow.
When they had the hill in sight, Clay pointed it out, but the sun was already setting, so they set up camp a couple of miles from their destination.
"Hey, Clay, want some wine?"
Clay was offered by 3 of his tribal brothers as they played chess, a board game that had become common within the tribe and that the warriors often played in their tents.
Clay was not very good at playing, but he accepted the wine and left the crowded tent, due to the extreme cold, the tents were now occupied by up to 5 people, making him feel suffocated at times.
Outside, he found Blake and the Magnar, chatting by a campfire.
When Blake's cold, glowing eyes met his, he could do nothing but look away and walk out of the boy's sight.
No matter how much time passed, the boy still made him uncomfortable.
According to the Magnar, there were two goals in his journey to the lands of eternal winter, one was to capture a dead man and the second was to find a cure for Blake, however, Clay found it more feasible to find the dead man as unreasonable as it may seem, than to be able to cure the boy of whatever it is he suffers from.
Clay returned shortly thereafter to his tent for the night.
First thing in the morning the group prepared to make the last leg of the journey.
"You need to come to the tribe, Gerd."
Clay said, placing an arm over Gerd's shoulder as he spoke.
"I have a wife and 3 kids, Clay, I can't just leave, besides, the Magnar would kill me."
Gerd answered him, nervously.
"Then bring them along too, though there are better women in the tribe, blondes, redheads, brunettes. Fierce spear women, or some submissive girl who works in the workshop or the kitchens, you are a good warrior and you will be able to have at least 3 wives without problem, believe me."
The smile on Clay's lips made Gerd slightly doubt, but he dared not confirm anything.
"Clay, leave Gerd alone and lead us to where you found those remains, I hope for your sake they haven't already been eaten by wolves!"
Oswin shouted angrily.
"Let's continue later."
Clay whispered to Gerd before moving forward toward Oswin.
"It's on this side of the hill, I don't think it's been eaten by a pack of wolves, they wouldn't be able to unless there were dozens of them."
Just as he said, down the north side of the hill still lay the remains of frozen flesh.
"What the hell is this..."
Oswin said, puzzled.
"This is something left by the others."
He heard Clay whisper from Blake's lips.
Seen from above, they were circles, fitted one on top of the other like the layers of an onion, only made of frozen scraps of flesh.
"I told you, this isn't something any animal could do, and from the state of the meat, it's fresh."
Clay folded his arms, saying.
"And what the fuck does that mean? We've come through the Haunted forest just for this!?"
Oswin walked impatiently around the circle, irritated.
Clay noticed the giants staring at the place with fear on their faces.
"This is..."
Were the words spoken by Blake, when suddenly, as he took a step inside the circle, the boy froze.
"Blake...?"
Oswin, who watched as Blake had frozen mid-word after taking a step inside the circle, asked, doubtful.
Clay's heart began to race in a strange premonition.
He was not the only one, as the giants also began to back away, followed by Thenn's men and some of the warriors of the tribe.
It was as if everyone knew something bad was about to happen.
"Boy, what's wrong with you!"
Oswin, unlike everyone else, walked over to Blake placing his hand on his shoulder.
"SSOOONNNN!"
"AAAAHHHHHHH!"
A strange sound was heard just as Oswin was about to place his hand on Blake, and everyone, terrified, saw the ground glow blue.
"BLAKE!!!"
The scream was long, loud, and piercing, as if they were slowly flaying his skin, and Clay swore, he had never heard a man scream like that.
A cloud of snow rose from the circle, causing Clay to back away covering his face with his hands, managing to see the figure of Oswin trying to get closer to Blake.
"BUMM!"
A loud crash was heard from the circle, as if lightning had struck from the sky, kicking up even more snow.
"Magnar!"
"MAGNAR!!!"
"Blake!"
Several of the tribe's warriors ran to the snow curtain to check on the Magnar and Blake.
Clay, still somewhat frightened, caught up with them shortly afterward walking slowly, followed by Thenn's men and the giants.
Clay didn't understand anything that had happened or how such things were possible, it was as if the sunlight had been concentrated on that place, but after seeing Oswin with Blake in his arms, he knew that the hunch he had that led him to walk away was the right decision.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Oswin coughed surrounded by several of his tribe brothers.
"Crack, cracker, ckrrr."
As Oswin moved, Clay could hear the sound of ice cracking and a layer of ice sloughing off his body.
As if he had been thrown into the water and then left in the middle of a storm to freeze.
"BLAKE! HOW IS MY SON?!"
One of the warriors had grabbed Blake from the Magnar's arms, and Clay's eyes widened in shock as he saw the state the boy was in.
Blake, who had only seconds ago had skin as pale and shiny as snow, was lying limply in the arms of one of his brothers.
The skin looked tight and darkened, the hair had dulled to grayish and even the boy's eyes had lost their luster, only showing what looked like embers about to go out.
A shudder invaded Clay's body looking at the pitiful state of the boy, who from one moment to the next looked like a corpse drying up.
"BOY, BLAKE, ANSWER ME!"
Gerd, seeing the boy, rushed forward, shouting at him and trying to move him to respond.
The boy's narrowed eyes opened after a few moments, and Clay's blood froze even more when their gazes met, it was something completely different from last time, as death was reflected in those eyes.
Blake tried to move his lips to gesture a word, but the sound didn't come out, it was as if whatever had happened in that place had sucked all the life out of the boy, leaving him completely dry and on the verge of death.
Clay, without looking away from Blake's lips, tried to understand the message the boy wanted to convey.
"Run?"
He repeated, were the words Clay understood.
Since the earlier impact, the snow that covered his view had largely dissipated.
Clay looked at Oswin, who was holding his hands up to his face, scrunching his eyes. He looked at the warriors of the tribe, who were surrounding Blake not knowing what to do, he looked at the giants, who were staying away from the circle, still frightened, but there was something else that caught his attention, the hill where they were was not very high, but around them there were no great obstacles to obstruct their view, and to the north, at the edge of what his vision could dazzle, Clay saw a white tide moving towards them.
At first, he thought it was an avalanche, but quickly dismissed the idea because of the steepness of the terrain that would not allow something like that to happen in this place, nor was it a storm, for, though the cold breeze buffeted them, the skies remained calm, and it was only when he looked more closely at the white tide that he understood why Blake's words were spoken.
"Run..."
Clay said, backing up two steps, and turning to the other warriors.
No one paid particular attention to him, as Oswin and Blake's situation seemed more important.
"GET THEM MOVING, RUN!!!"
Clay's second shout if heard, and they all watched with shrinking hearts as "something" moved towards them from the north, east, and west, as if the snow itself had come to life.
"WOH DOH WEGBOR!"
(Gotta get out of here!)
The gray giant grabbed Blake in his hands after looking at the avalanche coming at them from all directions and shouted at the top of his lungs, causing the bewildered warriors of the black axe tribe at the sudden inability of their leaders to start moving.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Oswin mounted one of the horses and Blake was carried into the arms of one of the giants, but seeing Oswin up close, Clay was sure he would die before long.
His eyes had reddened to the point where not a white part was visible, and his vision had become so blurred that Oswin was nearly blind, he was coughing up blood and the hand with which he held Blake had been practically incapacitated, if he survived, it would be the end of the mighty warrior Clay had known.
"What the hell was that..."
What happened on that hill made no sense to Clay no matter how many times he tried to remember, walking with a frown on his face relentlessly into the dusk.
"Nothing in sight, whatever was chasing us stopped, or we lost them."
Gerd said, looking at the horizon.
"How's Blake?"
Oswin asked, his voice sounding low and harsh, marking his pained face with every word.
"He's asleep... But he's still breathing."
Answered Clay, bringing his ear close to Blake's mouth.
"Set up camp, cough, cough, we'll camp here today, I want 3 man guards."
Following Oswin's orders, the tents were set up for the night, they had run all day and even the giants looked exhausted.
"We should not have come to this place!"
"Yes, the Magnar and Blake are wounded, I don't think they will survive the night."
"Blake is strong, he won't die from something like this!"
"You all saw him, he's barely breathing and seems to have lost all life from his body."
"SHUT UP AND SLEEP, WE HAVE TO GET TO THE BASE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!"
Hearing the whispers of his tribesmen, Clay shouted angrily making them shut up, he was as worried as they were about the state of the Magnar and Blake, both were important to the tribe, but he couldn't find the energy to argue now, he just wanted to sleep.
After hearing a few curses from his tribe brothers for yelling at them, he managed to fall asleep in a few minutes.
"WAKE UP, WE HAVE TO MOVE!!!"
"GET THE TENTS UP, WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!"
Desperate shouts were heard from outside, causing Clay and all the sleeping people to wake up startled.
"WHAT'S GOING ON!"
Due to the cold, all the men of the expedition were sleeping fully clothed, only missing to put on their armor and cloak so it didn't take long for the entire camp to come out of their tents.
"THE THINGS THAT WERE CHASING US ARE MUCH CLOSER, HURRY, WE HAVE TO RUN, LEAVE THE TENTS!!!"
Leaving the tents seemed extremely stupid to Clay, there were still 3 days left to reach the base, but when he looked at the terrain barely lit by the torches he understood the fear with which his brothers were shouting.
"EVERYBODY GET THE HORSES READY!"
Clay didn't hesitate, running to the Magnar's tent and watching as two of his tribesmen pulled Oswin and Blake out.
"Magnar, hundreds of shadows are coming toward the camp, maybe thousands, they were following us all the way!"
Clay's face reddened as he explained what he had seen.
"Cough, cough, how close are they?"
Oswin asked with difficulty, he could barely stand with the help of a warrior.
"Maybe 70 meters!"
Oswin's eyebrows furrowed.
"We must march, quickly, leave the tents!"
Oswin's orders were instantly followed, they loaded what supplies they could and continued the march in the middle of the night, lit by a dozen torches.
Clay noticed how Oswin's face looked even paler than before, but still, he remained on the horse leading the march.
"Ceol, get up, we must go on!"
One of his tribesmen fell to the ground and was helped up by Gerd.
He wasn't the first, the cold during the night was terribly worse than during the day, it was like walking in the middle of a storm without wearing any clothes while crows were picking at your skin.
Clay turned his head to see Blake being carried by one of the giants.
The boy was in a dying state, barely breathing and his image looked more like a skeleton than a man, and yet Clay would have traded places with him at any time.
"Damn..."
Clay pulled up his scarf and looked at the path, he led the way and it was hard to get their bearings, so they ran in the opposite direction of the things chasing them, be they dead, dark spirits, or something else, they didn't get close enough to find out.
"Torches down!"
Oswin raised his hand and the group stopped to take a few minutes' rest.
Clay nailed the torch to the ground and placed his wineskin hands near the fire to warm up a bit.
Clay knew he had little time to rest, so he took a sip of wine to cool off.
The anger and fear he felt was being numbed by the cold and exhaustion.
"BEWARE!"
He heard to his left, then, without giving him time to react, he saw something lunge toward the man standing next to him.
It was only a couple of feet away, but Clay didn't have time to respond because of how exhausted he was.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"
He quickly tried to bring his right hand towards his sword prompted by his tribesman's shout.
Others were quicker, thrusting their swords into the back of the creature and biting into the man's neck as he screamed.
"DIE YOU BASTARD!"
One of his tribesmen struck the creature's neck so hard that Clay swore he heard the sound of the neck snapping.
"AAGHhhh....!"
The man on the ground made muffled noises as he choked on his blood.
Clay finally managed to draw his sword, plunging it into the creature's back as well, which, finally, let go of the man's neck on the ground, rising and biting another of his tribesmen.
"By the gods, it's a Grumkin!"
Clay heard someone say as he fell to the ground losing his grip on his sword which remained stuck in the creature's back.
On its two legs, the beast was even bigger than a giant, white fur and huge claws, it was like a bear, but bigger than any bear Clay had ever seen.
One of his brothers cut the beast's paws with his sword, a useless action, since, undeterred, the beast lunged at the latter's neck, tearing it to pieces on the ground without them being able to do anything.
They tried to stab it and cut it to no avail, they used arrows, their knives, and obsidian arrows, but these things were useless.
"Fire! Use your torches!"
Oswin finally shouted, causing the nearest tribal warriors to use their torches to try to set the beast's fur on fire while it was still biting the man on the ground.
The fire spread immediately as if the beast's body was coated in oil.
Clay had to crawl out of the snow with difficulty to avoid being burned by the flames.
The beast rose again on two legs, moving towards Clay, but could only take a few steps before it fell back to the ground, burning like old logs.
Clay's heart pounded watching the flames, all around him, he saw the giants fighting more beasts, now wolves biting at the gray giant's legs as he swung a huge wooden mallet at them.
Thenn's men were also fighting, helping the giants from being surrounded.
He watched as one of Thenn's men drove his bronze sword into the neck of a wolf, up to the hilt, but the wolf undeterred bit the man's face in response.
It was something I had never seen before, it was not the ferocity of a beast being wounded, it was as if they felt no pain or fear, and moved with the sole purpose of murder.
"USE THE TORCHES, SET THESE DAMN BEASTS ON FIRE!!!"
Gerd shouted as he used his torch as a spear, igniting the bodies of several wolves.
"MORE ARE COMING, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE, RUN!"
Clay, noticing the blobs crawling towards them from all directions, stood up screaming at the top of his lungs as he ran in the opposite direction from where these creatures were coming from.
He had lost his sword, but he didn't care, his sword had turned out to be useless, so he used a piece of wood to make a torch and used it for guidance or as a weapon.
"HELP THE WOUNDED AND LET'S MOVE FORWARD, KEEP THE TORCHES ON THE OUTSIDE IN CASE MORE CREATURES ATTACK!"
Oswin's booming voice organized the group, who rallied and continued to advance.
The men who were tired or about to give up gathered their strength at the sight of the things chasing them.
Freezing to death was a far cry from being devoured by these strange beasts.
By the time dawn came 6 of their brethren had died from the creatures' attack.
It was difficult to navigate in the middle of the night, so they were attacked by bears, wolves, foxes, and even reindeer charging at them with their antlers.
What they saw during the day would forever remain etched in the minds of all of them.
Their initial thought in describing it as an avalanche was not incorrect, only this avalanche was not made of ice and snow, but of beasts, men, and giants, chasing them from the lands of eternal winter.
Hundreds? Thousands? Clay wasn't sure he could measure their numbers, there were simply too many.
A tide of things walking towards them as far as the eye could see.
The only reason they were still alive was because of the speed with which the creatures pursued them.
During the night, due to their unintentional detours, some of the beasts managed to catch up with them, but with the light of day, they managed to get far enough away to take a few breaks during the march.
They were not long rests, for at the slightest carelessness they were overtaken, but it allowed them to relax their legs for a short time.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
The Magnar's condition had rapidly worsened, he was hunched over the horse holding himself with difficulty, but, the only person who could cure him was Blake, and the boy had not awakened since the incident.
Clay prayed to the gods that he would not die, or that at least the Magnar would endure until Blake awoke, if he died, or if they both died, it would be the end not only for them but for the entire tribe as well.
"Who knew the boy's words were real... The dead are coming for us."
"We must take the Magnar and Blake to the tribe..."
"Wake up, the Magnar won't stand the trip, even Blake could die at any moment, We must take the ship and go to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea..."
A fight formed behind Clay's back, they were strong men but the cold and fatigue had taken their toll on them, besides, he had no strength to intervene, he was so tired that he would have taken off his armor but for the fact that the day was about to end, and they would surely have to fight again against those creatures during the night.
"Silence, your Magnar went as far as visiting these cursed lands just to get us to believe him, your duty is to bring him to the tribe at any cost!"
"NELNAR!"
(Silence!)
Gerd angrily intervened in the discussion, but it was the gray giant's words that stopped them.
"The sun is about to set again..."
Clay watched the sun go down as dozens of thoughts invaded his mind.
His wives, his children, and his brothers in the tribe, his Bow of Weirwood, his white owl and furs, his home, the young cook he had an eye on, and the stock of wine he had stashed under his bed for when he returned.
(Remember, it will be a dangerous journey, the worst that could happen is that we succeed in our task).
Clay remembered the arrogant words of the boy, who was now struggling for breath.
"THEY'RE COMING FROM THIS SIDE!"
"DON'T SPLIT UP!"
"THEY'RE GAINING ON US!"
"HELP!!!"
"AGGHHH!"
The march was even harder than the night before.
"FOLLOW THE HORNED LORD!"
They were guided by the stars, but sometimes they were attacked from the sides.
"Slasch, Slasch, Slasch!!!!"
Clay slashed, slashed, and slashed all the beasts that came at him.
It didn't matter if he decapitated them, if he cut off their limbs or stabbed their hearts, none of that worked to kill him, but at most, he could stop them a little, if they lost a leg they crawled toward them, if they lost their heads they kept moving.
Only fire was capable of killing these creatures, but even that was dangerous, one of the warriors of the tribe after setting fire to a large wolf, was knocked down by the beast, being torn as it burned.
The group trudged forward until Clay watched in horror as the Magnar fell from his horse.
"Magnar!"
Clay walked as best he could to where Oswin had fallen.
"Get up Magnar, you can't die in this place!"
Bloody foam dripped from Oswin's lips, so Clay, as he helped him up and saw that he was unresponsive assumed that he had finally died.
"MAGNAR, HE CAN'T DIE NOW, IF HE DOES WE'LL ALL BE DOOMED, THE TRIBE AND EVEN BLAKE AND YGRITTE!"
Oswin's closed eyes twitched at his words.
"I just slipped... Help me get on my horse..."
The silence that seemed like an eternity in Clay's mind was finally answered by the barely audible whisper from Oswin's bloodied mouth.
"As you say, Magnar!"
With Oswin leading the way again, the group survived the night, though the numbers had been halved.
"It's the Haunted forest..."
"We made it!"
It wasn't until dusk on the third day that they managed to see the edge of the Haunted forest.
"How's Blake?"
"Still breathing, Magnar!"
Oswin's hardened voice was barely audible, but he received an answer almost instantly.
"The Magnar's party has returned!"
In the little light that remained they walked to the shore and were met by tribal warriors who remained at the base.
"Light the oil and all the campfires, arm yourselves and prepare to fight, we have to hold out until the ship gets close enough to pick us up!"
Covered in snow, Clay began shouting orders to his tribesmen as they reached the base.
"What happened to the Magnar and Blake, and the other men on the expedition?"
Aston asked slowly as he saw them enter the base.
"The Magnar and Blake are wounded, all the other brothers are dead, Arm yourself, we can't stay here, we have to flee on the boat!"
Clay changed out of his frozen clothes into a new outfit, as fast as his shaking hands would allow, they had days without sleep, running through the frozen lands.
"Since 3 days we haven't seen the ship, many strange things happened in the sea, many creatures were moving day and night under the waters."
Aston said, thinking a little.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SHIP IN 3 DAYS?!!!"
Clay, temporarily dumbfounded, ran to Aston and held his clothes as he shouted.
"I don't know why, Three days ago there was a big flash on the horizon, and the sea started moving strangely, several brothers say they saw huge creatures in the sea, but we didn't see the ship after that!"
Aston replied as fast as he could.
Clay's mind went blank, as his hopes had been shattered by those words, It was completely impossible to escape from those things chasing them only by running, the boat was the only way.
"Set the forest on fire, if the ship is nearby and sees the smoke we'll have a way to go."
Without knowing how much time passed, Clay found himself listening to Oswin's words at the base, he was sitting in a chair, his face distorted and his mouth twisted as he spoke.
Blake, on the other hand, sat nearby still unawakened as his she-wolf, now as big as a coyote, chewed at his robes and cried trying to wake him up.
With his orders, the entire edge of the forest was set on fire.
The survivors of the expedition were laid to rest with hot food by a campfire so that they could recover as quickly as possible.
Oil was brought up to the watchtowers for the archers to shoot fire arrows and the palisade surrounding the base was set on fire as well.
All this was in the hope that seeing the fire, the monstrosities chasing them would desist in their attack, something useless since it didn't take long for them to approach without paying attention to the flames, it seemed they didn't care about walking to their death.
"What the hell is that..."
"May the gods help us..."
It was a shocking sight, for all that the torches illuminated was a sea of men, beasts, giants, and creatures they had never seen approaching them.
Many remembered Blake's words "We will go looking for the dead", only now it was the dead that were chasing them, and they seemed to be more horrible than they had thought.
Two of the mercenaries had survived the trip, and their mocking, angry faces for making them do such stupidity had been replaced by looks full of fear, exhaustion, and waterlogging.
The base had been reinforced during this time, and the men made a defensive formation at the entrance, being covered by the towers and the sea of fire from which they had made the edge of the forest.
The dead gave them no rest, and they began the attack immediately.
The 50 warriors of the remaining tribe put up a formidable resistance by forming in 4-man ranks.
They slashed, stabbed, and thrust at the dead with their shields, repeating over and over again without rest.
Sometimes the severed limbs held the ankles and legs of the warriors, disturbing them, but the main problem was the giants and bears who were soon knocking down the watchtowers and killing the men throwing arrows from them, taking away any support from the units.
"HOLD FORMATION, DO NOT FALL BACK OR WE WILL ALL DIE!!!"
Oswin made his final efforts commanding the phalanx, but the men were quickly wounded or exhausted as the wraiths came in like an endless tide, so the men who were resting from the long trek had to get up and fight after only a couple of hours.
Clay had joined the fight as well, using his spear to pierce the necks and heads of the dead relentlessly.
"Ahhh!!!"
One of the warriors at the front because of an oversight was stripped of his shield and pulled by the dead, being torn apart alive in front of everyone, making him look away for an instant.
Clay noticed that these specters attacking them were often naked and unarmored men and women, but there were some holding rusty axes and broken bronze swords, which they swung at them relentlessly.
"Clank!"
"Agh!!!"
Because of an oversight caused by fatigue Clay received a slash from a wraith with a sword on one of his arms, causing him to retreat to the center of the base as another warrior took his place.
Clay held his arm and made his way to the campfire, seeing several of his tribesmen lying on the ground bleeding or unconscious.
Clay's eyes then riveted on Blake, his chest filled with rage at the sight of the cause of all his afflictions still unconscious.
Guided by his fury, Clay walked over to where Blake lay, holding him by the robes and lifting him.
"WAKE UP, WAKE UP YOU DAMN BRAT, YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!!!"
Some men saw Clay but didn't stop him, some because they were too hurt to move, others because they were too tired, and still others who felt the same way he did.
"Roar!"
The she-wolf bit Clay's legs but was thrown away with a hard kick.
"Shhh..."
Clay watched as Blake's eyes twitched for a moment, opening slightly and looking up at him.
"WE'RE TRAPPED IN THE BASE, WHAT SHOULD WE DO NOW, THOSE THINGS ARE ABOUT TO OVERTAKE US!!!"
Clay began to shout at Blake, realizing that it wasn't him he was looking at, but looking towards the entrance of the base, where the noises of fighting had suddenly died down.
"They're coming..."
From the boy's pale lips, Clay managed to make out this word, and its meaning alone made him shudder.
Clay put Blake back in the chair, and walked, still wounded, toward the base entrance.
The men defending the entrance stared wide-eyed at the scene before them.
Momentarily the sea of corpses had stopped its onslaught.
In front of them all appeared a dozen figures, very different from the wraiths they had been fighting so far.
"They're like Blake..."
Clay managed to hear, nodding involuntarily.
They wore armor as dark as night, yet they shone just like polished silver in the moonlight.
Like Blake, they had snow-white hair and their skin was pale as a ghost, but the main feature that made them certain that these were the creatures they had come for were their eyes, blue eyes as bright as the stars.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, ARCHERS, SHOOT THEM DRAGONGLASS ARROWS!"
Oswin's angry roar caused the archers to quickly grab the prepared arrows and fire at the white walkers.
"FISS, FISS, FISS!"
A dozen arrows were fired instantly, unfortunately, the men firing them had been firing them for hours, so most of them missed the target.
One of the arrows managed to hit the shoulder of one of the white walkers, but the armor stopped the arrow dead in its tracks, and it fell to the ground.
"SHHHHH!"
The white walker who received the arrow glared angrily at the obsidian tip, raising his sword and giving a shout that sounded like ice-shattering.
Clay wasn't half prepared for what happened next.
They had been fighting for hours, so the mangled bodies of the wraiths were scattered around the entrance to the base.
And those bodies began to move more intensely as if responding to the anger of their Lord, who was calling out to them.
Hands and legs, headless torsos, and other severed body parts of the wraiths moved before the astonished eyes of the warriors, crawling and gathering at the feet of the white walker.
First, it was a shapeless lump that moved in spasms, but sooner rather than later a body formed at the white walker's feet, with legs that lifted off the ground causing the white walker to rise at least 10 feet.
"We can't fight that..."
"It's the others, riding hiele spiders... It's all true!"
"Run!!!!"
Through Clay's mind ran all the tales he heard the old women of the tribe tell, watching in disbelief as they came true, losing all hope of escaping alive from that place.
"DON'T RETREAT, RAISE YOUR SHIELDS!"
The frightened men had begun to slowly retreat, so Oswin, who had seen the scene in shock, raised his voice ordering the formation.
"WHY DO THEY THINK WE CAME HERE?! DO YOU THINK WE MADE THIS LONG JOURNEY ON A WHIM?!"
Oswin's voice choked for a second, and he had to cough loudly to catch his breath.
"WE CAME HERE TO MEET THEM, THE DEAD, THE OTHERS, THE WHITE WALKERS!"
One of the men who had lost his shield and was backing away was pushed forward again by Oswin.
"MY SON WAS THE ONE WHO WARNED US OF THEM, THAT THEY WOULD MARCH SOUTH!!!"
Through the minds of the warriors went the faces of their wives and children, imagining what would happen if these things went south.
"OUR WIVES WILL DIE, OUR CHILDREN WILL BE EATEN ALIVE, OUR HOME WILL BE TRAMPLED AND WE WILL ALL DIE TO BE PART OF THAT THING!"
Oswin raised his sword, pointing at the foul creature moving in front of them all.
"YOU GAVE YOUR LIVES TO ME WHEN YOU AGREED TO MARCH ON THIS EXPEDITION, AND IT IS TIME TO DIE!!!!"
Oswin's words were like a campfire in the midst of a blizzard, gathering the remaining men around him, and yet Clay, who had heard everything took a step back, horrified to fight the creature that had formed in front of his eyes.
It was like a thousand bodies gathered together, screaming in pain, with a million eyes staring back at him.
Oswin, staggering, walked straight towards Clay, grabbing him by the collar of his clothes and slapping him hard to get him to react.
"You want to die here?"
"Magnar...?"
Finally, Clay's eyes focused, looking at Oswin's face, he had dropped his spear and shield as he stepped back.
The Magnar was much different than Clay remembered, Oswin had dark circles under his eyes as dark as coal, reddish eyes, and blood stained his beard, wrinkles Clay didn't remember had marked his pale face, but his gaze was more serious and fiercer than ever.
"I know you don't want to die."
Oswin looked down at Clay from above, letting go of his collar and turning his gaze to where Blake stood.
"Take the horses and all the supplies you can, You have to get Blake to the tribe, we'll make it as long as we can."
Clay couldn't believe his ears, it was true he was scared, but to go back leaving the Magnar and all his brothers was such a heinous act that he never really considered it.
"Gerd!"
Oswin shouted again, and after a few seconds, Gerd showed himself, emerging from the formation with some difficulty.
"Take your men, tell Styr what you saw, you have to tell him!"
Oswin put a hand on Gerd's shoulder, his eyes looking as serious as Gerd had ever seen.
"I would have loved to die by your side, my good friend."
Gerd wearily put his hand on Oswin's shoulder as well.
"Live, help my son, they need him, he is our only hope, get him out of here!"
Oswin then turned to the gray giant, who had been bringing up the rear all this time, throwing rocks towards the wraiths, as his size would hinder the formation.
"Tuk Doh Bar!"
(It's time to return to your people)
The giant, who knew the situation was insurmountable, nodded slowly to him.
"WOH GRANGIN GRONOR!"
(The giants will keep their word)
Oswin, somewhat relieved, returned to the center of the formation, while Clay was led by Gerd to the base, using the exit to the Haunted forest.
They took all the horses and all the supplies, taking advantage of the fact that the edge of the forest was still burning, and escaped to the south, leaving behind them all the warriors they had made that journey with, plus the Magnar of the black axe tribe himself, who was struggling to give them time to escape.
They did not slacken their pace, walked until they no longer saw the flames at the edge of the forest, and kept on walking.
Fear drove them harder than they ever had before, they did not know how long the warriors would hold out holding them back, but it was certain that it would not be long.
"Father... Mother... Sister..."
He heard Clay say to Blake in whispers as he slept.
He wanted to scream at him that they were dead and that his sister would be too if they didn't manage to escape, but he was too tired to do such things.
They took breaks of a couple of hours and continued the march even into the night, and it took 3 days before they were so exhausted that they fell to the ground completely exhausted.
"Let's rest here, the horses will die if we go on and we will die too!"
Gerd found a good shelter on a ledge, setting up a small camp hidden among the rocks.
There was a pass next to a large gorge, just enough for the horses to advance in case of attack.
Gerd helped Clay set up his tent, as the wound he had suffered was not well treated so one of his arms was completely stiff, barely able to move his hand.
They lit a fire sufficient to warm them, while they cooked some food, mainly meat and dried fish they managed to bring from the base.
"Take it and get out, you stupid beast!"
Clay threw a piece of dried meat that the she-wolf caught in mid-air, walking next to the tent where Blake was and sitting down to eat.
The she-wolf had followed the group since they escaped, staying close to Blake at all times, Clay thought she would wander off if they didn't feed her, but the she-wolf had hunted some small forest animals of her own, such as hares and crows while following them.
Clay had tried to sharpen his sword, but his arm was barely responding, so he put the weapon away and pulled his cloak over himself as a blanket for warmth.
Looking at the dull and bruised faces of the group, Clay thought that this escape was pointless, they would freeze to death in the forest if they were not caught by the others.
His body shuddered as he remembered how that white walker had lifted the dead bodies to make that huge spider if it could be called that.
(BLAKE IS OUR ONLY HOPE!)
He remembered the Magnar's desperate words giving his last order and looked at the tent where Blake had been placed.
"You really were all the time trying to prepare us for this?"
He whispered, Clay was proud to belong to the black axe tribe, even though he hadn't been part of the tribe until a few years ago.
He watched with his eyes as Oswin and Blake turned just another village into something that could be called a city, with an army to protect it and enough food to feed them all.
He wondered on more than one occasion why the Magnar and his son worked so desperately to increase the tribe's might, and it was only now that he found the reason, a reason in the form of monstrosities beyond any man's imagination.
"Stupid boy, what's the use of your doing all that if we're going to die this way!"
"We haven't seen those creatures in several days, Don't talk about death so fast."
Clay's words were heard by Gerd off to the side, who was sharpening a long bronze knife.
"Do you really think we can escape, Gerd? We both escaped from that hill, and the Magnar couldn't hold them off for long, eventually, they'll catch up with us."
The group consisted of a handful of Thenn's surviving men, two giants, one of the mercenaries who managed to survive and escape along with them plus Clay and Blake himself.
"If we don't our homes will be finished, We have to try, it was your Magnar's orders."
Gerd shook his head and gave a cold response, as he didn't understand Clay's pessimism when his Magnar had given his life along with his brothers for them to escape.
Clay ignored him and went into his tent to sleep, he was tired, more tired than ever in his life, the journey since they started to escape from the others seemed as long as a lifetime, he just wanted to sleep, sleep, and sleep, if possible, sleep forever.
"WAKE UP, WE MUST FLEE!"
His prayers went unanswered, as in the middle of the night the shouts of the men were heard from outside the tent.
Clay held his head and scratched his ears and scalp until he bled, he didn't want to get up, he didn't want to keep running away.
(BLAKE IS OUR ONLY HOPE!)
Words he didn't want to remember came to his mind, so he stopped, to look to his side and see the boy causing his suffering lying down and wrapped in bearskins.
Clay looked at the knife lying to the side and felt the urge to murder the boy and end this, that would be so much easier.
"CLAY, GET UP AND GET BLAKE, WE NEED TO GET THE HORSES READY BEFORE THEY GET CLOSE!"
Gerd peeked out from the entrance of the tent, giving him a little scare and causing him to nod subconsciously.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
The she-wolf barked at him as she saw him come out of the tent as if she understood what he was about to do just moments ago.
"Get out!"
He yelled at her as he tried to kick her, but the wolf was quicker, dodging his kick and continuing to bark.
"COME ON, WE HAVE TO GET DOWN, THEY'RE TOO CLOSE!"
The group began to descend from the edge of the ledge, at their feet was a huge gorge whose bottom could not be seen, a fall would mean certain death.
Clay was the last to follow the group, as he had to prepare Blake and his injured arm was not helping him.
Before starting to descend, Clay looked back, looking for the figure of the white walkers or any creature, at first The darkness of the night did not let him see anything, so he led the horse where Blake was lying urging him to walk, but just at that moment thanks to a ray of moonlight he saw how the bodies began to be visible from the forest, walking towards it in a slow but steady way.
"They're too close!"
He shouted mournfully, hurrying the horse onward.
The path was dangerous, as the edge of the ledge was made of rocks and ice, there were parts where it was almost impossible to take a step.
"Move, they're right behind!"
Sooner rather than later the wraiths caught up with them, and their slow walking helped them to keep up even in that uncomfortable place, though some of them fell from the gorge.
One of Thenn's men drew his sword and began to slash at the approaching wraiths, with the narrow path it was easy to take care of half a dozen dead as the group advanced, unfortunately, this did not last long, his sword stuck deep into the shoulder of one of them, and he failed to pull it out before the wraith knocked him down by placing his black hands on his neck and choking him.
"DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!!!"
The wraith kept walking towards them, and Clay was close enough to see them clearly even in the middle of the night thanks to the torches.
"HIIIII!"
They reached out their hands towards Blake on the horse, and the horse managed to knock two of them into the gorge kicking them as it walked.
Clay watched as finally a wraith managed to get his hands on Blake's chest, pulling him down.
"NO!!!"
He quickly drew his sword, plunging it into the wraith's chest, but was stunned for a few seconds after that.
"Aston?"
The wraith he had thrust the sword into was his tribesman brother, looking at him with eyes as blue as stars.
"CLAY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
The impact was enough for Clay to stop moving the horse, being swept away by a sea of hands.
"CLAY!!!"
Gerd watched helplessly as the man, boy, and horse were dragged to the bottom of the gorge.
The remaining group would quickly be knocked down into the gorge as well, so Gerd had given up hope of escape as well.
"BORDOH!"
(Out of the way!)
The gray giant slapped Gerd away, slamming his sledgehammer into the ground behind the group, and causing the road to collapse.
Gerd thought that the blow would cause an avalanche, or that the whole path would collapse, but it only broke a part of it, preventing the wraiths from being able to continue chasing them.
Lucky or not, Gerd turned his gaze back to the bottom of the gorge, looking for any trace of Clay and Blake, or any hope of them surviving.
After a few seconds and seeing how the wraiths had stopped just at the edge of the path, looking at them with their blue eyes, Gerd looked away, regretful for not being able to keep his word with the Magnar of the black axe tribe.
"Let's keep going, we have to get out of here!"
With Gerd's shout, the group continued to move forward, even if they could not bring the boy it was imperative that they warn their people of the danger ahead.
The group continued to advance towards their destination, while at the bottom of the gorge, there was no movement for a long time...
"Aaaauuuuu!"
The first rays of dawn came, and a young she-wolf was walking in the snow.
She howled, sniffed, and dug, repeating these actions for a while.
After a couple of hours of doing the same thing she managed to catch a scent and began to dig in one place more intensely.
A few centimeters of snow later, he found clothes, so his actions intensified, managing to find a hand sticking out of the snow, licking it, nibbling it, and digging deeper.
Whether from the pain or the movement, the hand, already blackened, shuddered causing the she-wolf to recoil.
"Woof, woof, woof!"
The she-wolf began to bark as she watched something come out of the snow through the hole she had been digging.
"COUGH, COUGH COUGH!!!"
A clay desperate for air, covered in snow and coughing crawled from the hole, looking sideways.
He looked up to the top of the gorge and finally understood that he had fallen.
He tried to get up, but his legs did not respond, he had an embracing heat all over his body that did not let him breathe, and he tried to take off his clothes without success because of his unusable hands.
"Cough, cough cough..."
Clay gave up, lying down in the snow awaiting death.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
The she-wolf, however, began to bark and seeing he didn't respond bit at his robes as she dragged him away.
"Leave me in peace... Let me die."
Clay whispered barely audible.
"Woof, woof, woof!"
The she-wolf didn't give up, pulling him by his clothes and backing away when he tried to hit her.
"Damn it what do you want?!"
Clay swung his gaze back, catching the handle of a weapon with his eyes, only it wasn't just any weapon, but the handle of an axe he knew well.
Oswin had left it with Blake when they left the base, and the axe had been on the horse Blake carried during the trip.
"Gods..."
Wounded, frozen, and dying, Clay figured this must be some kind of sign from the gods.
Dragging his body, he reached for the axe handle, beginning to dig with the help of the she-wolf, quickly finding a horse.
The first thing he saw was the bandaged leg of the horse, the same horse Blake had saved months ago, and the one that had carried him on the run.
"Mmh!"
Clay kept digging until he found the boy's figure, barely pulling him out of the snow.
He didn't feel cold, a good thing at this point, so he pulled Blake out of the hole and tossed him aside, barely able to breathe after that.
Clay didn't know if the boy had died or not, but after seeing the slight movement of his chest, his doubts were cleared.
The snow fell softly on them, while Clay watched as the she-wolf licked Blake's face.
Without knowing how much time passed, Blake opened his eyes, shifting awkwardly and sitting up in the snow.
The boy's eyes were dull until he looked at Clay's body to the side and moved to his side.
"Damn... brat..."
The words came out unknowingly, as Clay looked at Blake's dull face.
"The Magnar...is dead...our brothers...are dead...all because of you...all because of coming to this place...".
Blake, kneeling beside Clay, listened to his words without responding.
"Go back to the tribe...may their deaths not be in vain...save my family!"
Clay managed to summon the strength to pull Blake's neck from his robes, looking him in the eye and demanding.
Blake's eyes were very different from the ones Clay remembered, dull and dull, like a torch about to be extinguished, that was the last thing he saw before he lost his last strength until even his breath was extinguished.
Blake looked at Clay's body for a long time, without moving.
The she-wolf tried to bite him and make him move without success, so she began to eat the body of the horse that was under the snow.
Hours passed where Blake did not move, did not say a word, or change his expression, just watching Clay's body being covered by the snow slowly.
The sun was at its highest point when Clay's body shuddered with a small jolt, before rising quickly, as if he wasn't hurt, tired, or frozen.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
The she-wolf, who had laid down to sleep at Blake's side, jumped up with a start and began barking at the man's reanimated body.
Blake finally made a move to follow the movement of Clay's body, looking him in the face, and standing in front of him.
His face looked tired, more tired than any man, almost hopeful as he looked at the man he once knew now as a specter.
Clay's eyes glowed blue, stretching his hands towards Blake's neck.
The she-wolf quickly lunged to bite the wraith's legs, in a futile attempt, as the wraith didn't give it the slightest bit of thought.
The wraith fell on top of Blake, knocking him down and squeezing his neck.
Blake narrowed his eyes as the little strength he had regained left his body.
For a second he couldn't remember anything, things he had forgotten, things he didn't want to remember, things that haunted him.
"Bang!"
A bang was heard, and the weight on his neck was released.
Blake didn't know what had happened, and he opened his eyes again, staring at the sun.
"I've been looking for you."
A black figure invaded his field of vision, and as his sight focused again Blake managed to see a man dressed in black, from head to toe, with a hood covering his face, and his black hands reaching towards him.
- End of Volume 1 -
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Hi guys! I hope you liked this final chapter, I've continued writing every day since I posted the last chapter, fixing things, deleting and adding scenes, In the end, let's just say the chapter got a little long, hahaha.
I think that for those who paid a little attention the things that happened in this chapter were pretty clear, but other things will be explained later.
In the series, we saw how the white walkers made those strange sculptures with body parts of both animals and men, and I wanted to give them some use on this occasion, more on what exactly happened at the top of the hill later.
I also hope you liked the "giant spiders", whenever I searched for descriptions of the white walkers I got the same thing, that they rode spiders as big as horses, and I came to the conclusion that I wanted to add them to the story, I just didn't know how, after all, they are fucking giant spiders, but the inspiration came to me playing Dark Soul, with the animation of mito, formed by mountains of body, and this in itself was possible, since the wraiths are much more resistant than what is seen in the series, where they die by sword scratches... in the books, the two wraiths that enter the black castle manage to kill half a dozen scouts and I think one gets beheaded and keeps fighting.
The next chapter will be the epilogue of volume 2, which I will upload soon, but after that, I will take some time to gather material, since this first volume is only the preview of the main story, Wait with expectations for volume 2.
You can follow me on my patreon: patreon.com/papudepapus
Where I will be uploading material during these days and you can ask me questions.
Thank you very much for following my story during all this time!
