Competition

"-And then the guy shit himself!!" Drox exclaimed, finishing a story he had been telling Will for the past hour.

"Fascinating..." Will said dryly, the sarcasm evident for all to hear. Well all except Drox. "I know, right!!" The excitable boy said, finally giving Will a moment of silence, which came few and far between since they set out together.

It had been two days already, but to Will it felt more like a month had passed, and there were a few times he contemplated drowning Drox, but thought better of it.

As Will now knew, Drox was only a few months younger than himself, he was just extremely malnourished. Will already got the boy's full life story, and though it wasn't the best, the boy made it sound like a great adventure.

Will had hoped that once Drox caught up to the present in his story that it would be the end of all the blabbering, but then he began talking about a few people he had met along the way.

Now that the talking had ended, Will would do almost anything to keep it that way. When it looked like Drox was going to start talking about something else, Will cut in. "Want to play a game?!" Will asked, causing Drox's to light up in joy.

"What game?!!" The excitable boy asked, making Will hold back a groan. "It's called the quiet game. The first one to speak or make a loud noise loses, while the last one to speak get's a plate of fruit!!" Will said, getting wide gleaming eyes in return.

In response, Drox simply nodded his head, thinking the game had already started. Will watched him almost freeze up, even going so far as to move his arms as slow as possible. 'Finally!!' Will thought mentally, wondering how much longer he could have held out for.

For the next 4 hours the only sound Will could hear was the crashing of the waves against the ship. Compared to the last two days, it was almost heavenly. Sadly that all came to an end when he felt some tapping on his shoulder. Turning an annoyed glance at Drox, Will saw him pointing out across the water Northwest of their position.

Looking to where he was pointing, Will saw 4 ships clustered together, sailing Eastward to cut him off. Pulling out a spyglass, Will tried to identify the ships, but they didn't have any sigils on them that would give any indication as to who they were affiliated to.

He was about to write them off as pirates or something when Drox said, "That's a slave ship!" For how sure he sounded, Will didn't doubt the boy for even a second. What was off about them was the fact that they were coming from North of Westeros, which was a death sentence to almost any slaver.

"They probably got a load of wildlings." Drox added, breaking Will out of his thoughts. "What?" He asked, almost in disbelief. If slaver's were going beyond the wall to take slaves, that would be the dumbest thing they could do.

Sure the free folk couldn't chase them because they didn't have the ships for it, but trying to control those stubborn fuckers was a lost cause, and if even one person reported the slavers to the rest of the clans, any person who docked beyond the wall would be killed on sight.

"A group of wildlings were sold about a month ago in Myr. They was all in chains, kicking and clawing at people. A few of them got free and killed a bunch of people, but they got filled full of arrows shortly after." Drox said, explaining himself a bit.

"Do you know how they caught them?" Will asked, still wondering how the fuck the free folk let that kind of thing happen. "I ain't sure, but I heard a story about how the slaver's told the wildlings they would give them passage to the other side of the wall, then captured them when they was out at sea!" Drox answered, causing Will to shake his head.

'That would totally work!' Will thought, already slowing the ship down a bit. If they really did have some of the Free Folk, Will was going to kill all of the slavers, but in a way that would be fitting.

He might not have been close with many of the Free Folk, Thenns especially, but there were a few he was somewhat friends with, though friends might have been too strong of a word for it.

Will shared many of the Free Folk's beliefs compared to that of the Seven Kingdoms. The fact that they refused to bow to anyone was way up there on his list, and how they wouldn't follow someone just because their daddy did something important a decade before was also pretty cool too.

'To let the slavers take them from beyond the Wall was just asking for problems.' Will thought darkly. It was true. The Free Folk would slaughter anyone they could find now, even going so far as to sail what little boats they did have and raid the settlements around Eastwatch. Sure they might have done that anyway, but now it would almost be a sure thing.

It was only a matter of minutes before the 4 ships were blocking the path forward, and Will could see about 40-50 men on each ship lined up and ready to attack.

As soon as they were in his range, Will used a magic sense on the area, seeing about 10-12 people on each ship in chains below deck. From the way they were dressed, Will had no doubt they were Free Folk. Most of them were women, but about a third of them were men, most likely on their way to the fighting pits in Mereen.

Closing his eyes, Will drowned out all sound and thoughts as his magic washed over the water around them, bringing it under his control, then all of the sudden his eyes snapped open as the water came alive!

The water rose up taking the body of a human, though it's head was like that of a true demon. A blue fire light shone where the eyes were supposed to be, and for it's mouth there were rows of pointed icy teeth. It had two powerful looking arms, but for hands it had two large cages made of ice.

Sound and movement stopped on all four ships, even Drox was frozen in place as he watched the scene before him unfold. While everyone was frozen, Will made a little over a hundred water tentacles shoot out of the demon's back, sending them towards the slavers on the ships.

As the first person was taken, panic ensued upon the ocean. People were being thrown around in the air, many landing in the water, while others were smashed against the wooden deck of the ship.

The tentacles pulled people into the ice cages where the hands were, steadily filling them up by the second. In a matter of minutes the cages were full of the slavers, while each tentacle held someone by their feet.

Finding everything just how he wanted it, Will used wind magic to jump to the first ship before he walked down below deck. Upon seeing him descend the stairs, there were a few people who shouted in recognition, having seen him at Hardhome.

"C-Castian!" One of the Wildling's shouted, drawing Will's attention to him. "I'm glad the Free Folk still remember me!" Will said, opening the chains with a small pulse of metal magic. The Free Folk cried out in joy, then followed Will outside, only to be left speechless at what they saw before them.

Will didn't bother to explain, simply going to the other three ships and letting the remaining Free Folk from their bonds. As soon as all the Free Folk were standing upon the deck's of the ships, Will lowered the slavers into the water, letting them spasm and suffer for a moment before he brought them back up for air.

"You've lied and taken the Free Folk from their homes!! You have committed the crime of slavery!! And worst of all, you have angered me!!" Will shouted, making the Free Folk watching the scene on the same ship as him take a few steps back from his position.

Looking at the very men and women who had just backed away from him, Will asked, "I leave their fate in your hands!! What will it be?!!"

For how quiet it was, his voice could be heard by all, and at his question people looked at each other, until finally one voice cried, "DEATH!!"

That was the trigger for everyone to begin chanting "DEATH!" over and over, leaving Will to smile wickedly at the people in the cages.

"The creatures of the deep will enjoy your flesh, savoring your souls as they keep them from passing on!!" Will roared, dropping the people into the water once more, only this time as they hit the water, spikes of ice rose up and impaled them to the point where blood sprayed out like a fountain, turning the Sea red.

The Free Folk would spread stories about the event known as the Blood Sea, and how the Old God's wrath was not to be tested.

With his little show over, Will made the water demon look at him then dip it's head in respect before it sunk back into the water. A little show of power would do wonders to the Free Folk, and to have an ally that could very well be one of the Old God's would forever bind their loyalty.

When the demon disappeared, Will saw how everyone was staring at him with widened eyes, wondering what they were supposed to do now.

"Free Folk!! You must listen to me!! If you try to cross the wall now, you will only be executed!! Go back to Hardhome and wait!! Things will change!!" Will shouted, getting a few people to gossip with each other.

Before everyone could start shouting things to him, Will used water magic to pull the ships close together, then put boards between them, gesturing for everyone to meet up on one of the ships.

"Thanks for the help, Castian, but we can't go back. The walkers..." The man who had recognized Will when he was removing the chains said, making Will understand why they would take the risk of going with the slavers to cross the wall.

"Just kill the fuckers! It's a lot easier than you'd think!!" Will said, pulling a piece of Dragonglass from his inventory and showing it to the people on the ship.

"This is Dragonglass!! You stab this into a walker, and it kills them permanently!! If you can find it and build weapons out of it, killing all of the walkers will be within your reach!! You are Free Folk!! WE don't bow or run from anyone or anything!!" Will shouted, getting cheers from everyone.

After all, if it was Will, a man who literally just showed them the impossible, was claiming it, then it should be possible.

"Are you coming with us?!" A woman asked hopefully, drawing everyone's attention to Will. Seeing them all stare at him expectantly, Will was debating how fast he could leave them. He didn't want to go back to the North just yet, he wanted to rob Braavos!!

The Iron Bank was the greatest score in the world, and to pass that up for some idiots who were on their way to get themselves killed...

'I mean, Braavos isn't going anywhere, and Mance should have at least started to band some of the Free Folk together...' Will thought, weighing the pros and cons of heading northward.

It would give him a chance to see what the undead fuckers were made of, and he could make a few connections with more of the Free Folk. Braavos would still be there when he was done in the North, and he did want to make sure the undead were really like they were in the show.

With that thought in mind, Will decided he would go with these people back beyond the Wall, but that didn't mean he wouldn't complain about it.

"You all suck!! I give you the means to kill the undead fuckers, and now you want me to go there and do it for you! Some fucking FREE FOLK!!" Will said, storing the three empty ships away in his inventory, then jumping back to his own ship.

With water and wind magic he began to push the ships northward, changing his destination from Braavos to Hardhome.

"You know the Wildlings?!" Drox asked, coming up from behind Will, almost scaring the shit out of him.

"I travelled beyond the wall for a few years when I was younger to have some fun." Will said, looking as grumpy as Drox had ever seen him. They both sat there in silence for a bit, then Drox asked, "Could you teach me?"

Will wasn't too thrilled about the question, but said, "I already told you I don't have your type of magic and you don't have mine."

Drox brushed off Will's words as he said, "Not that!! I mean how to read, write, talk proper, and how to fight!" Will wasn't expecting that, even going so far as to let out a groan of displeasure.

"Do I have a sign written on me somewhere that says 'I teach!'? Cause I don't!" Will said a little too loudly. Although he would still teach Drox, that didn't mean he had to like the idea.

"Fine! First lesson!" Will said, then threw a boot at Drox's head. "Learning how to dodge!!" If things continued like this, teaching might not be so bad.

--------------

A few days more at sea then he intended and they were docking at Hardhome. Will had given Drox a new set of clothes to keep himself warm from the North's harsh climates, and the boy cherished the furs as if they were his greatest treasures. They probably were considering they might be the only things Drox was ever given in his life.

When they all disembarked at Hardhome, they didn't receive the best of welcomes until the Free Folk on board the ships explained everything that happened, and who it was that had saved them.

News of Will's return spread like wildfire, and soon enough the Elders were gathering to meet him. "Welcome back, William Castian!" One of the elders said, and Will couldn't quite tell if he was one of the ones who wasn't a dick or not.

"I would say it was good to be back, but that would be a lie! I'm just here to go kill some of the undead fuckers, then I'll be on my way!" Will said, waving to the man as he unloaded Trojan from the ship.

Just like last time, Will made his ship disappear, as well as the one the Free Folk had been on. Will wasn't about to give them a ship, especially after he went through the trouble to kill the slavers, set them free, and now bring them all back to the north.

"You guys don't have any other horses here, do you?" Will asked the elder who had spoken to him before. "We do have a few of them around, but finding horses that can survive in this climate is rare, so there aren't too many of them. Trying to get a hold of one is even more rare." The elder answered as he followed Will from a few feet away.

"Just take me to someone with a horse. I'll work out a deal with whoever owns it!" Will said, brushing the situation off like it was already a sure thing. Which it probably was.

Because of their short lifespan, horses could be considered extra food rations, but if Will traded whoever owned one a good weapon or two and a sack of food, he figured everything should be fine.

About ten minutes later Will was leading a grey horse next to Trojan heading towards the cliffside where he had built his previous home.

"Are you going to want your old place back?" The elder asked sadly, thinking they were going to have to leave the magnificent structure.

"No! I'll build a different one!" Will said before he did just that. Walking over to the side of the cliff face, Will channeled his magic through the rock for a good ten minutes, changing the structure and arranging it to be a proper place to sleep.

It was almost identical to the one from before, only Will added a few small changes here and there. More support in certain areas, better lighting with a few smaller windows at a higher elevation. The windows had stone bars through them so a person couldn't fit through them, and with the number of windows he added it certainly lit the place up more.

"Alright! We'll be leaving tomorrow morning, but you can't have this one until we leave North. Should only be a few weeks!" Will said to the elder as he pushed Drox inside the place, then left without saying another word, closing the door behind himself.

Once the two large doors met each other in the middle, Will slid a large stone block from the wall across the doors to keep it from ever being opened. The first thing Will did after the doors were closed was walk over to the fireplace and light the fire with magic.

He didn't like the dreary fucking atmosphere the room had, being all dark and gloomy. It was too bad he couldn't change the color of the stone with his magic to white, but he wasn't too upset about it.

"I'm gonna go have a bath. Continue your letters until I'm done, then we'll have some food." Will said, not giving Drox a say on the matter. As he climbed the stairs to the higher floor, Will quickly turned and threw a boot at Drox, hitting him right in the stomach, almost knocking the wind out of the kid.

"You really gotta get better at dodging!" Will said as he continued on his way, slightly happier than before. Drox meanwhile gave Will the middle finger, a gesture he had come to learn over the last few days from Will.

No other words were exchanged between the two until Will came down about 20 minutes later. "I filled up the tub with some warm water and left some soap out for you. Hurry up, then we'll go over what you learned today over some food." Will said tiredly, his words causing Drox to bolt up the stairs.

In less than 10 minutes Drox was back downstairs seated at the table next to Will as they ate a chicken pot pie. "Pol-it-itions are cor-rupt assholes. People need to decide for them-selves what they be-lieve is the right thing to do." Drox said, sounding out the words from the book in front of him.

"Good. Now what did you learn from that?" Will asked, making Drox roll his eyes. "That you hate politicians!" Drox said, actually getting a laugh from Will. "You're not wrong!" Will said, actually happy for a change.

He was actually surprised to learn that Drox already had a little bit of an understanding of Westerosi letters and stuff that he learned from a slave he was friends with in Myr. Which was how he could speak better Westerosi than he could Myrish or Pentoshi.

Each of the Free cities had their own broken Valyrian speech, but Drox could only understand it, not read it. Sadly though, his friend had been traded to some guy heading for Lys.

They talked for a bit longer until finally they decided to go to sleep for the night, however rather than heading for one of the two rooms with a bed in it that Will had provided, Drox decided to sleep down by the fire, it being a bit warmer than his room.

He wasn't immune to the cold like someone else in the room was, and said someone had no intention of letting Drox share his room with him. Seeing his reasoning, Will placed a bed right there in front of the fire, then walked upstairs to his own room and passed out a few minutes later.

---------

Nothing of interest happened during the night, which Will was thankful for. He didn't want to start killing the Free Folk, especially after he had just travelled all this way to bring a few of them home.

It was probably those same people he had freed that made sure no one tried to fuck with him, and maybe the people who had been crippled for a day that had tried last time. Either way, Will was glad for the full night's sleep, which was probably why he was humming a little tune as he descended the stairs.

Getting down to the bottom, he saw the fire was still going strong, having been loaded a few times during the night if the lack of firewood was anything to go by, and Drox was passed out on his bed wrapped in a cocoon made out of blankets.

"Wake up!" Will shouted to the sleeping boy, yet it didn't so much as make him budge and inch. "You asked for it!" Will said as he pulled out his trusty boot, then threw it hard at Drox's head, instantly waking the boy up.

"OW! OW! OW!! That hurts!!" Drox exclaimed as he held his aching head. "I'm not saying this to be a dick, but you need to learn to sleep lighter! Anyone could kill you in your sleep as you are!" Will stated, causing Drox to frown.

"Usually I am pretty good at waking up when people come into the alley... must be the great sleep I had." Drox said as he climbed out of the blankets. It made a little bit of sense when Will thought about it.

Drox would of had to have been a light sleeper if he survived as long as he did out on the streets, and after spending a few days in relative assured safety, then the comfort he felt next to a warm fire on a comfy bed, it was understandable how his mind simply shut down everything around him to get a decent bit of sleep.

Will figured that to be exactly the case when he thought about how the innkeeper back in Pentos tried to break into his room and Drox was awake before he was.

"Just learn to wake up a bit better regardless of your comfort. When we're camped outside, anyone could sneak up on us, and I'd rather not have them kill me in my sleep." Will said, then began to do his morning workout.

Drox had also started doing Will's training regimen, though he had to be healed after each session to make sure he could continue on for the rest of the day. Turns out another great thing healing was good for. It helped Will get into shape a lot easier and faster than he originally thought, while still feeling rejuvenated to continue about his day.

Drox's malnourished form was slowly starting to fill out, but that most likely had more to do with the over abundance of food Will was feeding him rather than the workout. No longer could Will see the boy's ribcage, and his skin looked a bit healthier as well, but he still wasn't completely healed up. Will figured it would be awhile before he showed any muscle gains, but only time would tell.

After the workout, the both of them ate a large healthy breakfast, fed the horses, gathered up the beds and the remaining firewood from the place, then they left to go hunt the undead. This would be both of their first time killing the undead, and Will was honestly looking forward to it.

"Are we really going to see undead?!!" Drox asked, unsure if the White Walkers were actually a real thing.

"Yup! Right now the Giants are probably the only ones who can kill them considering I didn't give very many of the Dragonglass weapons out to these whiners, so there should be a few thousand of them roaming around the area somewhere." Will said nonchalantly, bringing up giants like they were no big deal.

"Giants?! They exist too?!" Drox asked excitedly. There was no doubt that Will might be lying to him, there honestly was zero reason for Will to lie, so Drox took him at his word.

"Yeah. I lived with them for a few years when I was here last time. Very honorable people, but they aren't to be fucked with. You mess with one giant, you mess with them all." Will explained, making Drox giddy with excitement.

When they walked outside the makeshift fortress, Will was a little surprised to see a group of 50 or so Free Folk all geared up and waiting outside his door for him.

"None of you have horses, do you?" Will asked dryly to the person standing closest to him. "We can keep up!" The man shouted, getting a few nods from the others around him.

"*Sigh!* Alright, but you all are going to need a bit of an upgrade." Will said, getting confused looks from everyone, Drox included.

"Line up! When I walk by you, state your preferred weapon of choice!" Will shouted, quickly prompting everyone to line up shoulder to shoulder.

Walking to the one side of the lineup, Will stood in front of the burly bearded man. Come to think of it, most of them were covered in beards. 'Probably to help fight the cold...' Will thought, brushing the thought away an instant later.

The women could survive without beards, the men could too. Some of them looked cool, but others looked like freaking humanoid balls of hair. On one guy all you could see was his eyes, but even then it was through a thick foliage of hair.

"Axe!" The man Will was standing in front of shouted, breaking him out of his train of thought as he held up his own battle-axe. It was a long wooden stick with an axe head made out of stone at the end.

The stone was connected to the stick with what looked to be leather and pitch, but Will couldn't be too sure. Regardless, Will brought out a similar build of axe, though it was far superior. The head of the axe was forged out of steel, but it also had a curved blade opposite the blade for penetration.

Connecting to the head of the axe, a thin length of steel came down, but was wrapped in wood and a rough leather, making so the head couldn't just be cut from the handle. Aside from the axe, Will pulled out a curved Dragonglass dagger with a bone handle.

"The dagger is for killing the undead, the axe is for killing everything else!" Will stated as he went down the line. He gave out spears, swords, more axes, a few bows, some maces, and some other weird looking weapons he didn't know the names of.

Each of the weapons he gave out were accompanied by a Dragonglass dagger. Will couldn't just give them all weapons forged out of Dragonglass, mostly because he didn't have that much Dragonglass to begin with, but also because it would take awhile to shape the weapons how he wanted them, and right now he really didn't want to do that.

"Alright, listen up!!" Will shouted, causing everyone to stop gawking over their new weapons and to pay attention to him. "I have no doubt we'll be attacked by people or animals who aren't undead! We'll kill them just as we will the undead!!" Will shouted, getting a roarous cheer in response.

"We'll head westward to the Fist of the First Men! Then We'll move northward for two days before we head straight back here to Hardhome!! Understand!!?" Will asked, getting another roar from the group.

"Good!!" He added as a smile broke out across his face. "We are also going to be holding a competition!! The ten people among you who kill the most undead will each be rewarded with one thing from my private stash!! So don't disappoint!!"

The cheering this time was a lot louder than the previous times, everyone looking forward to what they could possibly get. With his little speech over and done with, Will hoisted himself up onto Trojan's back, before he began to move onward out of Hardhome, Drox and the Free Folk in tow.

---------

They had only been travelling for a few hours when Will signaled everyone to halt. They were now in the Haunted Forest, surrounded by a thick foliage of trees for as far as the eye could see.

Scanning the area, Will felt an uneasy feeling in his gut, like there were eyes staring at him from somewhere in front of where they were heading.

"Weapons at the ready!" Will said, causing everyone to draw their weapons. Dismounting from Trojan, Will knelt to the ground and dug his hand through the snow and into the earth. Sending out a pulse of magic, Will was relieved and surprised by what he saw.

With a smile he got to his feet and walked forward a few steps before he cupped his hands to his mouth.

"QHORIN!! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE, YOU SNEAKY FOX!!" Will shouted out into the nothingness. There was nothing but silence for a few minutes before a silhouette of a tall man began to take shape out of the trees.

There were a few other silhouettes that followed, but Will only recognized Qhorin. As soon as the man in question got close enough, he stopped as he took in the people before him.

As soon as his eyes landed on Will, a big shit eating grin spread across his face as he shouted, "HA!! I KNEW I RECOGNIZED THAT VOICE!!"

Will's voice actually sounded a bit different since Qhorin had last met him, but the way he spoke was almost the exact same. Of course he would never mistake Will's appearance, especially how the boy travelled in simple pants and shirt rather than the furs a normal person beyond the Wall would wear.

Will marched over and shook the man's hand, only now it was missing 3 fingers. Seeing the look towards his hand, Qhorin let out a dry laugh as he answered, "Better losing them then dying. Lost'em when I stopped an axe meant for my face!"

Will only nodded in understanding. He was now the Qhorin Half-hand Will knew from the show. "What are you doing out here, Qhorin?" Will asked after a moment of silence.

"Just on a scouting party!" The man answered, letting his eyes roam around the Wildlings around him. "What are you doing out here? And don't say you're trying to get some privacy! That won't work with your company all here!" Qhorin asked, letting out a roarous belly laugh.

Will laughed with the man, knowing he had used that on more than one occasion with him. "We're actually going out on a competition! Want to come?!" Will asked, getting a raised eyebrow in response.

"What are you talking about?" Qhorin asked, not sure what kind of competition Will would be having with a group of fully armed Wildlings.

"You know of the Walkers, right?" Will asked, getting a frown in response. Even to this day Qhorin had yet to see a White Walker, and he was fairly sure they didn't exist.

"Okay, so maybe you don't!" Will interrupted, seeing the skeptical look on Qhorin's face. "Let me start over! Slaver's from Essos have been coming here and taking the Free Folk and selling them. I killed the slavers on their way southward with a new batch of slaves. I got reports from said slaves about the undead influence growing. I've actually seen the undead, so it wasn't too hard to believe them. Started a competition to see who could kill the most undead during this little trip. Goal is to weaken them, while showing the Free Folk that the undead can be killed."

Will's brief explanation over the whole situation left Qhorin almost completely dumbstruck, and he wondered if he heard right. The Free Folk being taken as slaves was new to him, and he wondered who in their right mind would be stupid enough to buy one of them for a slave.

If you wanted to get your throat cut in your sleep, then yeah, buying a Wildling was the perfect idea, but using them for servants was dumber than rocks, and as for putting them in the fighting pits, if you were stupid enough to give them a weapon to fight in a ring, that was your own fault.

They would rather die than be used for entertainment, and would also try to cause the most amount of violence that they could before they were killed.

"You're telling me people are actually stupid try and enslave Wildlings?" Qhorin asked, getting a tired nod from Will.

"I know! I thought the same thing too. The ones that were already sold are probably all dead already, but from what I heard, they sure killed a number of people before they went." Will said, making Qhorin shake his head at the stupidity of some people.

"Alright then, back to the undead. If they exist, and that's a pretty big IF... why would they follow you?" Qhorin asked. He still wasn't too sure on what to believe about Will killing the slavers, but the boy had survived out in the world for a few years, and Qhorin had never seen someone holding his hand along the way.

"Because out of everyone here, I'm probably the most likely to fight them and survive." Will answered as he rocked back and forth on his heels, acting very cryptically while sounding pretty sure of himself.

As the two of them talked, the 50 or so Free Folk with Will and the 6 Night's Watch with Qhorin were staring at each other with a fire in their eyes. Most Free Folk would kill the Night's Watch on sight, but that wasn't always the case. These members however, were not on the friendly scale.

"Hey, Castian! Why are you talking with a Crow?!" One member of the Free Folk asked, already having his weapon drawn and at his side. Will, who was still talking with Qhorin, turned to look at what was going on, and finally noticed the intense atmosphere.

"I said we'd kill anyone who attacked us, but none of these people have attacked us. If any of you attack them without provocation, I'll kill you without a second thought!" Will said, staring daggers at the Free Folk. Then as if to make things clear, Will turned to look at the Night's Watch.

"If any of you attack them, I'll kill you without a second thought, only I'll let them torture you first." That seemed to piss 3 of the Night's Watch members off, and a good 15 or so Free Folk off, but Will couldn't be sure if more of them would join in the against faction if things came to blows.

As for the Nights Watch, the three that were pissed off had their hands on their weapons, while three of them took a step away from the others with their hands out in front of them for all to see.

They weren't stupid. They could see how outnumbered they were, and the odds really weren't in their favor. Plus Qhorin wasn't taking any offense and seemed to know the kid in charge quite well, so they figured they would wait for him to act before they did anything.

Seeing that his words might have sparked the ire of some people, Will turned to Qhorin before saying, "Please excuse me for a moment. This will only take a few minutes."

Qhorin simply nodded his head as he stepped back towards his men, signaling them to stand down. Will meanwhile walked over to the band of Free Folk with a frown on his face.

"Alright then... Those of you who are angry and want to try their luck against me, step over here!" He said in a mocking tone, trying to get a few of them to actually take the bait and try and do something with him.

It was better to get rid of those who would rebel now then when they were facing the undead, otherwise they might get many more of the people here killed.

At his words, 17 members of the Free Folk stepped towards him with their weapons drawn and at their sides, while the others all backed away, some looking at him in terror having already seen him in action.

They were probably dreading Will's ire, and their expressions showed. 'Maybe these fools just haven't seen what I can do...' Will thought grimly as a dark smile spread across his face.

"Are you all sure about this? I'm going to kill all of you, so are you sure you want this to be the reason that you die?" Will asked, pulling two daggers from thin air, holding them out to his sides in a welcoming manner.

"You want us to fight with the Crow's! We thought you were one of us, but now we see that you're a crow lover!" One of the 17 men said, holding out the sword Will had given him.

The others all nodded at the man's words, and even a few who hadn't stepped forward nodded as well, though no one else stepped forward. None of the 17 men bothered to back away, making Will's smirk turn a little manic. "Then let's get started!"

Those words had scarcely left his lips when the snow around Will kicked up into the air as he shot off like an arrow from a bow. The man who had called Will a 'Crow Lover' didn't even see what hit him before the arm holding his sword fell to the ground.

He hadn't even registered that it was gone until he heard the arm fall to the ground beside him, at which point he let out an agonizing bellow of pain. This was simply the beginning however, because the next moment heads, legs, arms began to fall to the ground, screams following shortly after.

Will darted around the area at blinding speeds, stabbing people in the throat, spine, heart, lungs, or brains, killing a few people after he dismembered them. The battle, if it could even be called that, lasted less than five minutes, and by its end, everyone of the 17 men who banned against him were lying in a heap of their own blood and limbs with not a man alive.

In the middle of the bloodbath, Will stood without a drop of blood on his attire, breathing slightly more than before, almost like he just got back from doing a short jog around the block.

"Well... That was a bit longer than expected, but it all worked out in the end." Will said calmly as he surveyed the scene, then checked out the people around him. There were now only 35 Free Folk remaining, and everyone looked a bit paler than before, though none seemed angry or scared of him.

These were the ones who knew of his strength and brutality and still chose to follow him into the wilderness, and this was the outcome they expected when the others chose to stand against him.

Qhorin Half-hand and his bunch were a bit different though. Qhorin himself was looking at the scene in a mixture of awe and disbelief, while his six men were as white as snow, especially the three men who wanted to start something with him.

"Is there anyone else who's feeling lucky?!" Will shouted, making everyone take a step back away from him. "Good! Gather some wood! We'll burn the bodies before we set out!" Will said, getting a few nods from the others as they set out to do what he asked.

Walking over to the bodies, Will gathered up the weapons he had given them, as well as the Dragonglass daggers that each of them carried at their waists. Walking back to Qhorin, Will handed 7 of the Dragonglass daggers to him.

"You might not believe in the undead, but I assure you they are real. There are only three ways to kill them. Burn them with fire. Stab them in the heart with Dragonglass, or cut them with Valyrian Steel. Take these in case you ever run into them." Will said, getting a nod from Qhorin.

The Half-hand and his men helped gather wood after they accepted the daggers, then they stood around as the bodies burned. "I think we better be setting off." Qhorin said, telling Will that he wouldn't be joining him in his little competition he had going for him.

"That's fair. You have a safe journey. Maybe our next meeting will be a bit nicer." Will said, shaking the man's hand before he saw them off.

It wasn't until the Half-hand and his bunch were out of the area that Will used magic on the flames to increase the temperature, burning the bodies in a matter of minutes. Once that was done, Will extinguished the flames, before he walked back over to Trojan and mounted back up.

"We'll ride to those hills there before we make camp! The blood and burning corpses might attract wild animals, and I'd rather not stay here and find out!" Will said, getting a few nods from people in the group.

For the next few hours nothing of note happened until they got to the hills Will had pointed out, at which point they came across a small band of dead Free Folk, only they weren't killed by animals.

Their corpses were cut into pieces, and their parts were spread into a circular symbol with a line going down the middle.

"Oh fuck..." Will mumbled under his breath. This was exactly like the scene from the start of the series where you first learned about the White Walkers.

"Quickly stab the hearts!" Will shouted, making a few people look at him in surprise, while one or two of them rushed to do as he said. They had only been able to get two of the bodies before they began to come alive.

"To me!! Grab your daggers!!" Will roared as he dismounted Trojan. Drox and the others all ran to him, getting into a circular formation behind Will.

"Alright boys!! The competition begins now!!"