18 Victory in Silence #18

Gale clenched his jaw, drawing his sword with determination, and moved forward, taking the lead ahead of the group. While Benjen and Qhorin might have been more skilled swordsmen, and even Edd could have had an edge in some aspects, Gale possessed the priceless advantage of dragon glass weapons.

His immense physical strength also set him apart from the others.

As he planted his feet firmly on the forest floor, he gripped his sword, ready to confront the threat. In his mind, he began to craft a scenario where he would discreetly reveal the wights' vulnerability to dragon glass without raising any suspicion among the group.

However, he was momentarily stunned as the first wight rapidly closed the distance, sprinting past him with astonishing speed, followed by the horde of undead creatures in its wake.

Gale clenched his jaw in frustration but quickly regained his composure as the wights raced past him. He tightened his grip on his sword and sprang into action, charging at the nearest wight with a swift, determined strike, beheading it in one smooth motion.

The head flew off, landing on the ground, while the decapitated body continued its relentless sprint as if nothing had happened.

"These things aren't affected by our weapons," Gale exclaimed, pointing to the headless wight that soon tripped on a rock and started thrashing on the snowy ground.

"But if you take their heads, their senses will go with them," he continued, offering valuable insight as the rangers behind him shifted their attacks to target the wights' heads.

Nodding to himself, Gale lunged at the next approaching wight, his blade slicing cleanly through its neck.

The wights remained oblivious to his actions, and while a part of Gale was affronted by their lack of reaction, another, larger part was relieved. It meant he could dispatch the wights more efficiently, with a single blow to the head.

Gale continued his relentless onslaught, systematically beheading the wights with remarkable speed and strength. In a matter of minutes, he had dispatched over twenty of the undead creatures, each headless body collapsing in its wake.

His sole focus remained on the battle at hand, the urgency of the situation propelling him forward.

While Gale knew that he would sooner or later dispatch the undead horde if the wight continued to ignore him, he couldn't afford to be the sole protector of the entire group.

The battle raged on, and his companions, Benjen, Qhorin, and Edd, were also locked in combat, their lives hanging in the balance. The wights showed no intention of relenting, and it was likely that his comrades would fall before he could neutralize the entire army of undead.

Amid the chaos, Gale's sharp eyes caught a chilling sight – an undead creature charging toward Edd from behind. Recognizing this as the moment to reveal the wights' vulnerability to dragon glass, he swiftly reached into his cloak and retrieved one of his obsidian knives.

With unerring precision, he hurled the dagger. It sailed through the air, embedding itself into the wight's chest. Edd's eyes widened as he witnessed the blade whizzing past him. He turned around just in time to see the undead creature crumple lifelessly to the ground upon being struck by the dragon glass dagger.

Edd's eyes widened as he tried to process the revelation. With his sword, he deftly parried the skeletal wight's attack, its skin hanging in tatters on its bony frame. He turned to Gale in disbelief, a mix of awe and desperation in his voice.

"What the hell was that?!" Edd exclaimed, addressing Gale as he continued to fend off the relentless wight's strikes.

"What?" Gale played ignorant, his face a mask of innocence, as he moved closer to Edd, quickly beheading the assaulting wight with a precise swing of his sword.

"That thing you threw... it killed the damned wight!" Edd insisted, pointing to the lifeless undead creature with the obsidian dagger protruding from its chest.

"Dragon glass," Gale replied simply, his eyes gleaming with realization. "You don't think...?" he began, his voice trailing off as he produced another obsidian dagger from his cloak and hurled it toward a wight closing in on Qhorin, some distance away.

The dagger struck its target with deadly accuracy, and the wight crumbled to the ground, its undeath extinguished.

"The wights are vulnerable to dragon glass!" Gale exclaimed urgently.

He continued to hurl the dragon glass daggers at the stampeding undead, making sure to strike wights that were dangerously close to Benjen and Qhorin, so the two rangers could quickly retrieve the weapons and harness their newfound knowledge.

Gale continued to skillfully dispatch the wights with his obsidian daggers, moving gracefully through the fray to ensure none of his comrades were overwhelmed.

Qhorin and Benjen quickly caught on and retrieved the daggers, using them alongside their longswords to eliminate the undead threats. Edd, too, joined the battle with newfound confidence, his sword in one hand and a dragon glass dagger in the other, as Gale covered their backs with his throwing skills.

With the entire group now equipped to take down the wights effectively, the fight progressed at an accelerated pace. The wights fell one after another, their lifeless bodies littering the forest floor.

Finally, the last wight was vanquished, and the eerie silence that followed was almost deafening.

"There... there must have been at least 70 of the damned things..." Benjen wheezed, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he fell to his knees. He thrust his sword into the snowy ground and leaned on it for support.

"I'm... I'm so fucking exhausted! Someone, please kill me..." Edd, equally spent, lay flat on his back, staring at the wintry sky. "Kill me and burn my corpse..." he mumbled, his voice tinged with exhaustion and a touch of dark humor as he caught sight of a lifeless wight lying near him on the ground.

Gale, still brimming with some residual energy, couldn't resist a chuckle at Edd's words. "You sure? I think you'd look positively dashing with a pair of blue eyes, though," he teased, a mischievous glint in his eyes, eliciting a grimace from Edd.

"No thanks," Edd replied, his voice weary.

Qhorin, who had been catching his breath while leaning against a nearby tree, took a deep breath and collected himself. "If you're well enough to make jokes, you're well enough to walk," he declared, slowly sheathing his sword.

"There might be more of these things. We need to find somewhere safe to make camp," He added, his exhaustion showing, nearly causing him to stumble.

Edd, who was in no condition to argue, gave Qhorin an annoyed look. "The best I can do is crawl. Take it or leave it," he grumbled.

Qhorin, however, responded with a smile. "Get to crawling then," he said with a hint of amusement.

Gale chimed in, adding to the jest, "He got you there, Edd." He extended his hand toward his companion. "Come on. You can lean on me," he offered, helping Edd to his feet.

Benjen observed the trio with amusement, slowly rising to his feet and sheathing his sword. "Let's go," he announced, taking the lead alongside Qhorin. They began to move, albeit at a snail's pace, their exhaustion showing no signs of abating.

Unbeknownst to them, a distant presence observed from afar. Its eyes glowed with an eerie, chilling light, a blue radiance colder than ice, as it kept a watchful eye on the exhausted group.

...

While Craster's Keep blazed in searing flames, the wildling woman and Craster's former wives stood together, their eyes fixed on the conflagration that devoured their former prison and home, reducing it to a heap of smoldering ruins.

The wildling woman turned to Morag, her voice laced with delight. "Satisfied now?" she inquired.

Morag nodded, her gaze still locked on the fiery spectacle. "My only regret is that I couldn't stick that knife in the old bastard's gut myself," she admitted, her tone filled with calm resolution. "But I'll take whatever blessings the gods give me," she added.

The wildling woman offered a reassuring smile. "Come then," she urged, turning away from the burning ruins. "We have a long journey ahead of us and very little time."

...

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