Chapter 14: HUNTING

"HERE THEY COME!!" Will roared as more than a dozen White Walkers charged towards his group.

With him at the front of the charge, Will stomped his foot onto the ground, making an earth wall rise up from the ground around them, making so nothing could come from behind his group.

The opening to his group was big enough for 12 people to stand shoulder to shoulder, while the others stood in a line behind them, each of them ready to swap out when the need arose.

"Hack them apart with your normal weapon, then finish them off with the Dragonglass!" Will shouted as the undead were nearing them.

When they finally clashed, Will blocked a sword with one dagger while he swung his other one, decapitating the undead and killing it instantly, Valyrian steel having the glorious effect of not needing to go for the heart.

The men beside him blocked and held the undead at arms length, while the people behind them reached over their shoulders and stabbed them with their daggers, or straight up ripped them apart with their main weapons, leaving the undead in writhing pieces.

Two men each grabbed one undead by an arm and held it out while a third man punctured clean through the heart, killing it beautifully to the point Will almost applauded.

There were only 13 undead, and it was only a matter of minutes before they were all cut down and in pieces on the ground, the group having taken them all out without fatalities. There were of course 3 men who were bleeding, but it was nothing that was life threatening.

"Good job, boys!! You did great! However the fight isn't over yet! Whatever killed them is near, so we don't have much time before they show up! Swap out positions with those in the rear while I get us a fire going!!" Will said, breaking the victorious smirks everyone had.

Quickly doing as he instructed, they put the men who had been at the rear in the front, and the tired and wounded in their places.

Will, meanwhile tossed a large pile of wood to the ground before he used fire magic to set it ablaze in mere seconds, then he walked over to the three bleeding men who were resting against the wall next to the fire where Trojan and the grey horse he had bought Drox were standing.

"Hang on, you'll be back to slaying these creeps in a few minutes!!" Will said joyfully as he pulled the clothes away from the first injured man. The wound wasn't that bad, only being an inch or two deep and 6 inches long.

Pulling out a barrel of water and setting it beside the fire, Will made a small portion float up into his hands as he touched the bloody spot, pushing the blood back inside the man. The tissue knitted back together from the inside out until it looked the same as before, although it was missing a good patch of his hair.

"Take it slow for a minute and pass around these canteen's of water, then move to the rear!" Will instructed the man who was staring dumbly at his arm where he was bleeding only seconds before.

Will did the same for the other two men, getting them to pass around the water as well for a bit then move to the rear. With that done, Will grabbed a burning stick from the fire before he moved back to the front of the group, then he pulled out another barrel, only instead of water this one was filled with oil.

Will pulled the bodies to either side of the entrance to the make-shift structure, making two large piles of corpses. Next he poured a generous amount of oil onto each pile before he ignited them.

He wasn't all that sure the undead couldn't be brought back a second time, but just to be on the safe side he would burn them sooner rather than later. And with the fires on the sides, the undead would be forced to attack from the center, which was what Will preferred.

Everyone got a drink of water and a few bites of food before Will signaled them all to get ready again. With his magic sense, Will could see maybe 3 dozen White walkers running towards them, and the creepy thing was that one of them was on horseback.

"This is gonna be interesting..." Will mumbled as the first few crested the tiny hill. There was no formation or hesitation for the undead as they ran right into Will's band. Just like before they began to cut and slash, killing a few of the undead while disabling a few others.

Some of the creepy undead freaks tried jumping over the front liners, but the ones that did were stabbed more than once by a Dragonglass blade, then thrown directly into the fire behind them.

One man on the far right of the group was caught off guard, but rather than panic, the man kicked the undead into the fire beside him, causing the thing to let out an agonizing squealing sound.

Will was more glad than ever that he had built the fires now, knowing the man might have been overtaken if he hadn't done that. Will was still on the frontlines, ducking and diving around the undead as he cut their number down with every swing of blades.

Finally the majority of the undead were down for the count, leaving only about 5 or 6, and the really big scary looking one on horseback. That one looked particularly more intelligent than the others as it studied the battle before it.

There was a moment where everyone stood quiet as they waited to see what the remaining undead would do.

Will let out a little laugh as the remaining undead began to slowly walk down the hillside towards them, at which point he pulled out a few tiny jars of Wildfire he had stored away along with a few preloaded crossbows.

"Alright boys!! When I throw these, do everything in your power to hit them, but make sure to light the tips of the arrows first!" Will said, getting a few nods from those who were given the crossbows.

They weren't sure what Will was doing, but he hadn't led them wrong yet, and they all knew that trusting him was their best option. As soon as the thing riding the undead horse was in throwing distance, Will cocked his arm back before he threw with all his might, shattering the small clay jar of green liquid a foot or two in front of his target.

The undead stopped to stare at the green substance, and Will was waiting for a flaming arrow to strike it and blow him up, but unlike what he was expecting, no arrows came.

Turning his head to the side, Will saw everyone giving him a consoling look, and Will realized they thought he missed his target and now weren't sure if they should still fire.

"SHOOT THE GOD DAMNED ARROWS!!" Will shouted, causing a few people to panic and pull the trigger, only to miss the Wildfire by a few feet. Thankfully out of the bunch, there was one man who happened to not shoot right away and managed to aim properly.

When the flaming arrow made contact with the Wildfire, there was a *WHOOSH!!* followed by small *BOOM!*

The green flames were almost blinding, and everyone had to cover their eyes to shield them from the brightness. Will was the only exception, having expected it to be so bright, his eyes were closed the moment of the blast.

With magic sense still active, Will could see the 4 undead that escaped the blast, and rather than wait for them to rush in, Will took off towards them and cut them down like pigs to the slaughter.

When everything settled, the corpse of the undead rider and his horse were nothing but a puddle of greyish green mucus looking stuff. The undead that had been caught up in the blast were nothing but ash, and Will had to give credit where credit was due.

He did damn fine work!! So did the alchemists, but they weren't here to pat on the back, so he would revel in this moment himself. With everything settling down, Will scanned the area once more to make sure there were no undead in the area, then he turned to address the people around him.

"For your first real strike against the undead, you weren't half bad. You were brave, you fought hard, and you struck them down!"

Will paused to let them all have a little moment to cheer before he added, "However!! When I tell you to fire the God damned arrows, you fire them!!" Will shouted the last part to the men with the crossbows, making them hang their heads like children being disciplined by their parents.

"Let this be a valuable lesson! Though something might seem like a mistake, it could very well be the plan that wins the battle!" Will said, getting a few firm nods here and there.

Will went through a few mistakes some people made, like not swapping out right away when they were injured, and how one guy was injured trying to pull the injured man in front of him back to the fire.

They discussed the things everyone did really well and a few other topics before Will called it a night. "I'll be on the first watch!" One man said, getting a nod from Will. "So will you, you, and you!" Will said, pointing out three other people.

Before anyone could say anything Will said, "Here's an important lesson! Always do shit in pairs! As long as you can see each other and no one else out there, everything will be fine. However, if by some instance you can't find the other, wake everyone up! You got to go take a shit, you talk with each other constantly. If you can't hear them, wake everyone up! I want two groups watching either side of the entrance at all times. Understand?!"

Will made some very good points, and he actually inspired a few people to share this information with their comrades when they got back to Hardhome. Everyone gave Will a nod of understanding, and then they assigned what order they would be taking watch in.

With that, Will walked over to Drox who had yet to do very much during this whole expedition. He mostly sat in the back next to the horses or passed the food and water around.

It wasn't because he was too scared to do anything, it was because he had no experience in this sort of thing, nor any idea on how to fight or use battle tactics. He didn't have any cool weapon or anything that might stop the battle, but he figured he would know in due time.

Taking a seat on a nice comfy chair next to Drox, who was seated on the ground next to the fire, Will let out a tired sigh. "How was your first interaction with the Undead?" Will asked, causing Drox to look away from the fire and stare up at him.

"It wasn't like I thought it would be. I can't say I wasn't a bit scared, but I thought they would be a little more different. Like two heads or something..." Drox answered, getting a frown from Will.

"Do you know of anything with two heads?" Will asked, and Drox shook his head in the negative. "The White Walkers are just the living brought back from the dead. They won't have any extra limbs or crap like that." Will explained, getting a nod from Drox.

"I figured that part out already!" The boy said, making Will laugh a little. "Pass out the food and sleep gear while I feed the horses." Will said before he pulled a crate full of bowls, a few loaves of bread, and a cauldron full of stew out of his inventory and placed them in front of Drox.

Then men were probably hungry after the day they had, and a hot meal was a blessing. Next, Will then placed a crate full of blankets next to the makeshift wall before he walked over to Trojan.

"Hey, buddy! How are you doin?!" Will asked as he began to pat Trojan along his neck. Will didn't hesitate to toss a few flakes of hay to both horses, although he clearly favored the black stallion over the grey just by the amount he gave the animals.

Trojan also got brushed down, was given a few apples, and got his hooves checked to make sure they were all fine and dandy. At some point Drox also brushed down his horse, although it was obvious he was ignorant on how to take care of a horse, and Will was honestly expecting that.

This would have to be one of the many things Will had yet to impart to Drox, but it seemed that list was growing larger by the day.

There were no problems that night, and after everyone ate a generous helping of food, they set out once again on their trek to the Fist of the First Men. It would still be about two days before they arrived at their destination, and Will was hoping to run into another group of undead before they got there.

So far he was leading the score in undead, but the guy who fired the flaming arrow was actually pretty high second, and that was even after splitting the Wildfire kills 50/50. Only 28 people here got an undead kill, while the others helped out in their own way.

Everyone at least had some form of score on the board, but Will's was definitely higher than the others. Beginning their march, everyone was in a more lively spirit than they had been the previous day, probably from the first ever success they've had with the Walkers.

With the moral high, they continued through the forest, although everyone was keeping a far better watch on their surroundings than they had been the previous day.

Whether that was due to the Walkers or Qhorin's group, Will wasn't sure, but he didn't care either. The point was that they were doing far better, and that was after only one day.

Throughout the day nothing of interest really happened. When they stopped for the mid-day meal, there were wolf howls, but other than that it was relatively quiet.

Come nightfall, the group was only a few miles Northwest of Craster's Keep, and Will could feel the malice in the air. He couldn't explain it, but a part of him knew that something would happen tonight.

"We make camp here! Let's eat and sleep while we can! I get the feeling we're being watched!" Will said, making everyone look around them to try and find whoever it was that might be watching them.

Meanwhile, Will found a small clearing between 6 large pine trees, and just like before he made a wall surrounding him, leaving only a small opening. If it came to fighting the undead, he'd rather have them all coming at him from one side than have them trying to surround him.

Next he built some large stands next to each of the large pine trees, using them as makeshift watch towers. Just because there was the opening, Will wouldn't put it past the undead to still try and make it over the wall, so he had people positioned all around in each of the trees.

The two closest trees together were where the opening to the encampment was, and a few feet in front of each tree was a small bonfire. The light made it easy to see anything approaching the entrance, and from up in the air the scouts shouldn't be in much danger of being attacked.

Will gave everyone another bowl of stew, a piece of bread with a slice of cheese on it, and an apple with a glass of orange juice to wash it all down. There was talk of how fantastic the food was, which was understandable.

People up north had probably never had fruit or bread like this, nor have it all served together as one meal. Each person gave Will their thanks once they received their meals, and each person got a nod in response from Will.

Giving thanks was something Will was a firm believer of. If someone does something kind for him, he would make damn sure to return the favor if he could.

Soon everyone was wrapped in their blankets and trying to get at least a bit of sleep before the chaos unfolded tonight. They all had their weapons within arms reach, and each person slept fully geared so they could spring into action within a moment's notice.

Will slept atop a bundle of furs, his mind wandering about how long he would get to keep his eyes closed before the attack started.

*AAAAHHH!!*

"ATTACK!!"

Screaming woke Will, and faster than the eye could follow, Will was up and running towards the nearest screams. Spreading out his magic sense as he ran, Will was confused because he couldn't feel any undead nearby, but there was obviously a man in pain.

When he finally got to the man, Will saw two arrows sticking out of the man's gut, and he realized it wasn't an undead attack, but a Free Folk attack.

"GET DOWN FROM THE TOWERS!!" Will ordered, causing the remaining 5 men to jump down from their positions. Will lowered the tower he was on with the injured man back to the ground, then quickly pulled some water from thin air to his hands, Will touched near where the arrows were stuck.

One arrow was sticking out the other side, while the other had struck a rib. Will signaled four men and Drox to come over to him, before saying, "I need you four to hold him down! This is going to be painful, and he's gonna start kicking. Don't let him move!"

The four men nodded as they each grabbed a limb and held it tightly. Before anyone did anything else, Will broke the tip off the arrow sticking through the man. Trying to pull the arrow out without removing the tip would cause more things for him to fix, and Will just didn't want to do that.

With that done, Will then turned to Drox before saying, "When I say, pull the arrows out slowly!! Got it?!" Drox nodded rapidly in understanding as he wrapped his fist around the arrow that was sticking out the other side.

Will took a few deep breaths as the water disappeared into the man's body, pulling the blood in with it. "Now!" Will said, giving the signal for Drox to pull the arrow, making sure not to break the thing off inside the body.

As the arrow was pulled, Will was slowly knitting tissue and organs back together, using the lost blood to keep the man alive. The first arrow was pulled out without a hitch, and then Will moved onto the other.

"This one will take a bit longer! Only pull it out three inches at first, then wait for my signal to continue!" Will said, getting a nod from Drox. Healing bone took much longer to fix than tissue, but it wasn't too bad considering it was a clean break.

There were no tiny bone fragments broken off, so as long as he reconnected them back together it should be just fine.

The healing took a few minutes, but in the end the man would live. Everyone guarding the entrance to the camp was at the ready, their eyes scanning everywhere for potential attackers.

Will wasn't sure why they had yet to attack the camp, but for whatever reason he was thankful. Touching one of the walls, Will sent out a pulse of earth magic to try and find whoever it was that was attacking, but to his dismay he couldn't find anyone.

It was like whoever it was had run off. Will was just about to call off the attack when something caught his eye. A hawk was watching the camp from up on one of the 6 pine trees he had used for a makeshift tower, and the thing was watching everywhere around the camp, like it was studying it.

'Motherfucker!!' Will thought angrily. As fast as he could, Will pulled a crossbow from his inventory and shot the bird in the wing, causing it to fall to the ground and start squawking and flapping in pain.

Will ran over to the bird and with a raised boot, he stomped down hard on the bird's head, making a loud crunching sound echo over the camp.

There was a faint screaming off in the distance, but it was too far away to be able to see them, and nobody wanted to go out and try to find them in fear of running into a trap.

"Change formation! Spread out in the camp!" Will shouted, getting some confused looks, but everyone still complied with his order.

"It was another group of Free Folk! Their Warg was spying on us, and now they know our layout! They might try to hit us from anywhere, so keep an eye out!" Will explained, getting a few curses from those who understood why he was doing this, and what the bird was doing here.

Whether it had something to do with Will killing the Warg or their plans being foiled, the attackers never struck again during the night.

Will had let everyone get a few hours of sleep while he kept watch, mostly because he wouldn't need the sleep like they would as he had Trojan, but also because he could see better than any of them could.

Once morning came, they all moved as one around the area until they finally found where there would-be attackers had been waiting for them. There was also a place where it looked like someone was rolling around in the snow, and Will couldn't help the slight upward curve of the corner of his mouth.

'I hope it hurts!!' Will thought, letting out a cruel villainous laugh in his mind. "They're heading Northward, but that doesn't mean they won't try to cut around somewhere and ambush us. I want you all to continue onward to the Fist of the First Men, and I'll catch up with you in a few hours." Will said, getting a few scared glances from everyone else.

They didn't want him to go, but it wasn't because they were worried about him, it was themselves they were worried about. "Oh relax! You'll be fine until I get back!" Will said, showing a disappointed frown on his face.

These were grown ass men who had lived their whole lives here, and now they looked like they had become reliant on him for their survival.

"C-Can we take some food with us?" One man asked, then all at once everyone else nodded rapidly like it was their one and only wish. 'Oh... They just want my food.' Will thought, mentally face palming himself.

"Yeah, fine!" He said as he made a large crate appear in front of him. "You all are going to have to carry it!" He said, then signaled Drox to come towards him.

"I want you to go with them. It'll take a bit longer if I have other people with me, and I'd rather not be gone longer than I need to be." Will said, getting a nod from Drox. The boy had grown since they set out at sea together, and it wasn't just his height either.

He was thinking differently, spoke a tiny bit better, and his aversion to death was almost non-existent now. Will was actually coming to like the boy as somewhat of a friend, so he would try and make sure he lived through this whole mess.

After making sure everyone knew where they were going, and that they all had their provisions, Will set off on horseback. Trojan was more than accustomed to weather like this, and moved through the trees like he had been doing so his whole life.

Will figured if he kept up this speed, he should catch up to the attackers in just a few hours, and that was if they hadn't stopped to camp somewhere after leaving last night. Sure enough, Will sensed movement in front of him after only two hours of riding.

Slowing down to a walk, Will rode up to the camp like he was meeting up with some old friends, which might actually be the case once he saw who was in the camp. It was a Thenns raiding party, and his history with them wasn't exactly the best.

As he got closer, he could feel them scrambling to get their weapons ready to attack him. At least that was their plan, but that changed as soon as he entered the camp and they all saw who he was.

Over five years he had spent in the North, Will became somewhat of a Boogeyman for the Thenns, and it was well known among them that trying to attack him was akin to suicide. So you could only imagine their terror when they saw him only a few feet away from them.

"Well... isn't this a surprise! I always knew the Thenns were stupid, but to attack me again after all this time.... And here I thought we were friends!" Will said with a vicious smile on his face.

There was only silence as the 14 men looked from each other then back to him. Will's smile only grew when he noticed a man with a hand to his head, like he was in pain.

"Are you hungry? I had the most delicious thing last night. You might have tried it. It was a bird. A very big bird." Will said, provoking the Warg to get angry enough to attack. It worked.

The Warg's face turned hysterical, and if looks could kill, Will would no doubt have been dead a dozen times over. Seeing the mocking smile from Will, the Warg pulled a dagger from his side as he charged forward, hoping to kill Will. This was just the beginning of the dance, and Will was the DJ.

Jumping off Trojan's back, Will sent a blast of wind that knocked the Warg on his ass, then he turned to the man nearest his position. With a combined furry of wind, earth, water, and fire magic, Will ripped through the Thenns like a hot knife through butter.

Three men were dead within the first 10 seconds, while 5 more tried to rush Will all at once. The remaining six men decided to take their chances in running away, and one unfortunate soul thought it would be smart to take a horse.

He barely had the chance to touch Trojan before the brute of a horse reared up on his hind legs and crushed the man's skull with his hooves. Now riled up, Trojan stomped and kicked in a furry, pushing people to the ground before he did a little dance on their bodies.

Will had just driven one of his daggers home through one man's ear when he saw Trojan kill the first man, and he couldn't help but let out a cheer for the horse.

"THAT'S MY BOY!! YOU SHOW EM!!" Of course the horse didn't really care one way or the other over his praise, all it wanted was more apples, which it would most likely get.

The last of the men attacking Will was impaled by a large earth spike from the ground, then Will quickly took in the surroundings. Out of the 14 Thenns, 2 of them had managed to get away.

"Stay!" Will said, pointing to the ground in front of Trojan. The horse struck the ground with a hoof in answer, at which point Will shot off into the trees.

With wind magic it was only a matter of seconds before he caught up to the first man, but rather than stopping he simply drove a dagger into his skull from the back of his head as he ran by him.

Still going strong, Will caught up to the last guy, running right into his back, sending the man crashing to the ground on his face.

"You fuckers don't seem to understand the severity of the situation!! You tried to kill me! And that-!!" Will paused as he smashed the pointed ends of the brass knuckle guards of his dagger into the man's face, "-Is unforgivable!!" He finished as he drove the blade through the man's eye, killing him immediately.

Getting back to his feet, Will stored the corpse into his inventory before he began walking back towards Trojan. Along the way he grabbed the dagger still lodged into the back of the man's skull as he grabbed that corpse as well, then finally arrived back to the big horse, who hadn't moved from his position.

"Fine work!!" Will said as he moved towards the horse with an apple in hand.

Will gathered up the 14 corpses and placed them all into a pile, then he ignited them with fire magic. He had to use a bit more magic than usual to burn them until they were nothing but ash, but it was better than having to wait for a long time for them all to burn.

With that done, Will mounted his horse before he set out in a gallop towards where he was sure Drox and the others were. It took a few hours, but eventually he did catch up to them. They hadn't made it as far as he had thought they would have got, but that could be because they slowed down to wait for him.

It also could have been because they were out of food, and they would prefer to walk the extra distance tomorrow than miss out on more of Will's food.

There was a short briefing on what he had done to the attackers, and after finding out that it was the Thenns, most everyone simply shrugged nonchalantly. Apparently they weren't the biggest fans of the Thenns either.

The Cave people were brought up often that night in the same breath as the Thenns, and even Drox knew by now that nobody liked the Cave people.

Will set up camp just as the other nights, creating a barrier between them and everything else. "Do you think there will be any trouble tonight?" Drox asked as he took a seat next to Will by the fire.

Most people around them stopped to listen in to what Will had to say, as despite his age, he was the smartest and strongest of the bunch, and so far he had never been wrong.

"I can't say for certain, but I wouldn't doubt it. My luck is just too good!!" Will answered, getting a few chuckles around the fire, while some people, Drox included, looked confused.

Will didn't bother to explain it as he brought out a literal bed for himself. A few people looked envious of the bed, but not one of them would dare utter a word about it.

Will was already doing more for them then they could ever hope to repay, and he was feeding and giving them a safe place to sleep for the night. There was also the fact that he could probably kill every one of them in his sleep, but the other things were the main reasons.

That night, the only sound throughout the camp was the crackling of fire. Which was a good thing considering how it got quite cold that night. Drox had to crawl closer to Will to not freeze to death, but he also had to make sure he didn't get close enough that Will might kill him, then it wouldn't matter how cold it got.

Everyone was still sleeping as the sun rose over the horizon, and it was just light enough to make out the surroundings when a cry echoed throughout the forest.

*AAAAHHHH!!*

"HELP ME!!"

"NOOO!!"

ECT...

Unfamiliar voices rang out around them, and it was only seconds before everyone was on their feet with weapons in hand.

"Who is it?!" Will shouted as he looked to each of the scouts, finding it odd that all of them were unhurt and well. "It wasn't any of us!" One of the scouts stated, pointing out into the forest where the shouting was coming from.

"Did anyone leave the camp?!" Will asked as he began to count the people around him. "No one left!" One of the scouts answered, and after a quick count, Will knew he was telling the truth.

"This is just our lucky day! We got some unfortunate souls out there that need our help! What could possibly go wrong?!" Will said as he started for the exit to the camp.

"Wait!!" A scout shouted, making Will stop in his tracks. "What?!" He asked, quickly using earth magic to try and see any approach. "The screaming... it stopped." The scout answered, causing everyone to listen closely.

The man was right. It had all gone eerily quiet, and Will was wondering if they were going to be set upon by a group of White Walkers or Wildlings. Not knowing if it was safe or not, Will tossed a load of wood onto the fire before he marched to the entrance.

"You all stay here and get in formation! I'm going to scout it out, and if it's the Walkers I'll be leading them back here. If it was people from the other clans, we'd all come together and take them out!"

Everyone nodded in response to Will's words, each of them lining up shoulder to shoulder in rows. Will on the other hand, marched out of the encampment, moving in the direction the screams last came from.

Will moved slowly through the forest, his magic sense spread out around him, while occasionally touching the earth to get a further glimpse around him. It took about ten minutes, but eventually he arrived at a scene much like the group had encountered on the first day.

Limbs and torso were in pieces spread out in a circle with a line of legs running through it, and Will let out a sigh. It had only been a few minutes since the screams were last heard, but already the scene was laid out before him.

Deciding to make things a little easier, Will pulled out a small barrel full of oil before he walked along the disturbing image and poured the oil on each and every corpse in the circle. Scarcely had he finished pouring the oil and stopped to check the scene over did the eyes in the things begin to open.

"I'm right here you disgusting waste of flesh!!" Will shouted as he took off from the scene, moving towards his camp. He moved a bit slower than usual to give the things time to chase him, and it wasn't long before he heard footsteps running a short distance behind him.

Picking up his speed, Will was a good minute in front of the undead when the camp came into view. "IT'S THE WALKERS!!" Will shouted for his group to hear, getting most of them to get into the undead killing formation.

As Will came near the camp, the group opened a path to let him inside, then quickly got back into formation behind him. Not slowing down, Will pulled out 10 crossbows and a pouch of crossbow bolts for each of them.

"Some of them are covered in oil, so be sure to light the bastards up!!" Will shouted, getting nods as the backline group gathered up the ranged weapons.

Will then made a raised platform about 4 feet high with torches placed along the back of it. This was so the archers could shoot over the people in front of them without having to worry about friendly fire.

Shortly after Will's arrival back into camp, the first of the undead came into view. Although unlike what he was expecting, Will didn't just see a dozen or so undead that had been cut into pieces not that long ago, but a horde of almost a hundred of them were charging through the tree line.

"Oh fuck!" Will cursed under his breath, already pulling out a few small jars of Wildfire. "Aim for the jars as soon as the undead are near them!" Will shouted, already throwing a few of the jars far enough away that they wouldn't cause any damage to his own group.

When the first undead neared the broken jars of Wildfire, the archers fired the arrows, each arrow flying true to it's mark. Each jar of Wildfire killed maybe 2 or 3 undead each, but it wasn't enough to slow down the horde.

Seeing this, Will moved to the front of the line before he unleashed a wave of fire on the left side of the approaching group of undead, burning 15-20 of them in an instant. With that done, he quickly ducked back behind his group, who met the undead with a furious battle cry.

For minutes they held on, piling up the bodies of the undead at their feet before they swapped out for the man behind them to take their place. Any injured made their way back to Will before they were eventually sent back into the line.

After what felt like an eternity the last of the undead were dwindling down to nothing, and Will's group were able to kill them much easier without the risk of dying. When everyone stopped swapping out, Will made his way back to the front of the lineup to check how things were going.

Looking around the area, he was quite happy to see that everything seemed to go quite well, but then his eyes locked onto an all too familiar figure on horseback.

It looked almost identical to the one he had killed before, but there were a few tiny characteristics that let Will know that this was not the same one he had killed before.

With his eyes locked onto the undead before him, Will flipped it the middle finger regardless of the fact that it most likely didn't know what that meant, nor would it care about such a gesture.

Just like the other one, it simply walked it's horse towards Will's group, acting like it was an untouchable being.

'It wants to play, eh? I'll give him something to play with!' Will thought as he quickly handed out over a dozen jars of Wildfire to the men around him.

"On my mark, throw those at the bastard! Try to either hit him or land it near the front of him!" Will said, getting firm nods as each person with the jars got ready.

"Archers, get ready to fire!" Will added as he too held a jar of Wildfire in his hand, the only difference between this one and the others was this one had a makeshift fuse on it. Will let the thing get well within throwing distance before he finally gave the signal.

"NOW!!" He shouted, throwing the jar right at the feet of the undead horse.

The other jars followed shortly after, some hitting the horse, some hitting the rider, while 3 or 4 of the jars landed close to Will's own jar. The archers wasted no time in shooting their arrows, some hitting the Wildfire on the ground, while the majority of the others hit the horse and rider.

Once again there was a blinding flash of light created by a column of green flames. 'It might have been a bit much, but you know what they say. There's no kill like overkill!' Will thought after the flames died and there was nothing left of the remains.

"We got to get ourselves some of this stuff!" A few of the men around him said, laughing at the scene around them.

Only days before they were running for their lives from the undead, and now they were out hunting them for sport! They couldn't get over how much fun they were having either, and it was all thanks to Will.

Burning the bodies of the undead was priority, then they all sat around their own fire for some well deserved food. "So what's the score?!" Someone asked over the meal, prompting everyone to shout out their scores.

"8!!"

"13!!"

"9!!"

"4!!"

"12!!"

Etc...

People shouted, arguing over some of the kills, but for the most part it was all in good fun. There were most likely going to be a few more chances to get at the undead, and each man was looking forward to it.

Even Drox was, and he didn't do a damn thing during the fight. He just stayed back and studied the event, though again, that wasn't by choice. If it were up to him he would like to be out on the frontlines next to Will, but he was smart enough to know how he would fare out there. He still had yet to actually swing a weapon, but hoped that Will would teach him soon.

The group moved out after that, making good time once they left the confines of the forest. The Fist of the First Men came into view not long after the mid-day meal, and Will prodded everyone to move their asses.

He wanted to be there by nightfall, and at the pace they were going they wouldn't make it there until a little into the night. It was only when Will said they wouldn't be eating anything until they got there that the pace noticeably quickened. Apparently food was a good motivator to hurry the fuck up.

Making better time than he could have hoped for, Will and his group arrived at the base of the fist shaped mountain just before the sun set over the horizon.

The Fist was about 350 feet or so high, and it was almost a straight cliff on three sides. Rather than climb the damn thing, Will created a large platform connected to the fist before he loaded everyone on it.

With a bit of earth magic, Will began to raise the platform upwards, having to smooth out the cliff-face a bit on the ascension. Will did in minutes what would have taken the group hours in climbing, and he had to make sure they all knew that when he gave them the smuggest look any of them had ever seen.

Many of them laughed and joked about it, but everything was all in good fun. Once they got to the top, Will built a proper camp, though the main building with the fire was more like a lean-to than a house.

Still it was better than trying to fight the harsh cold, and every one the men here knew that. To also make things easier for the scouts and for combat, Will reshaped the pathway leading to the top of the fist.

For starters Will made it so it was shaped like a literal bottleneck, making a choke point to reduce the numbers they would have to fight all at once if it ever came down to fighting.

He also made it so you could hang torches along the walls of the bottleneck, lighting up the pathway for a good hundred yards away. There were two makeshift towers on each side of the bottleneck, but they were only big enough to seat 3 people each with a small window on each side so whoever was inside could still see on each side of them, while still being able to get away from the elements.

It wasn't long before the Fist was a literal fortress, and Will couldn't help but smile at his little creation. The men around him thought the place was pretty good too, because they couldn't think of anything else to add to it.

Finally the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived. Dinner. Will served up a small steak for everyone, potatoes with cheese melted on it with gravy, and buns.

If they had all died tomorrow each and every one of them would have been content to have that as their last meal, if the moans of pleasure were anything to go by. Will was actually a bit creeped out by a lot of it.

"Get some sleep boys!! We don't know when we'll get another night like tonight!" Will shouted as they all wrapped up in their blankets, though this was the first night that most of the people here could have made due without a blanket had they so chose to.

With how sealed off the large structure they were in was, the fireplace at each end, and Will in the room, the place was actually quite warm.

Everyone went to sleep with big smiles and dreams of more delicious food to come.