Chapter 200

"I found one! This fucker's still kicking." Walton shouted and everyone's eyes turned to look in the same direction.

Walton brought the Wight they had captured 2 months ago. Walton had wrapped the White with a cloak but it still showed it's nature by trying to bite in the direction of anyone it could see.

"How is it still alive." Dacey Mormont asked as she threw another dead wight in the great pile of bodies. "Didn't everyone else die."

"Don't know. Don't care." Walton shrugged "Found this one with it's leg trapped under a log. If you want to know how it's still moving around then you can ask the White Walkers the next time you meet them."

Dacey shut up after that while the others went back to pulling the bodies to the pile.

"At least we'll have something to show for this fucking expedition aside from that blasted ice sword." Smalljon said as he sat on the ground and clutched his hand which wrapped around with a cloth.

When he told the men about the defeated White Walker, they had asked for the body and he had shown them the Ice crystals which were still thrumming with cold and death magic to his senses but probably looked simple ice crystals to them.

They had not totally believed him until he showed them the Ice sword. At which point Smalljon tried to pick it up and got a 2 degree Frostbite within a moment before he jerked back in pain and fell on the floor, writing in pain and cursing the White Walker's mother and sister to high hell.

"You three. Create a cage for it. You four. Make a sledge. We'll have the wolves pull the sledge." He said and the men he'd ordered bowed and went about doing the job without any complaint even though they were not very happy about it.

He changed direction and went where Jon and Robb were looking coldly at the black colored cloak covering Benjen Stark's bisected body.

There was another two other bodies similarly covered lying beside that cloak and Meera Reed was crying beside one of them.

He moved toward one of the body and removed the cloak from it.

The totally crushed body of Galbart Glover came in front of his eyes.

He looked at the now deformed magical armor and found no magic coming from it.

It seems that Galbart was not able to get to his Dragonglass dagger in time. Or that he panicked and totally forgot about it.

Whatever occered back then no longer mattered anymore. What he was sure of was that Galbart Glover wasn't able to do anything and the Wights continued to attack him.

After a long while, the magic in the magical armor simple burned out and at that point, the collective weight of dozens upon dozens of wights on top of him crushed him to death.

He covered the body once again and looked at where Meera Reed was crying beside the third dead body.

Jojen Reed. Another death on his conscience. And he actually felt pretty bad this time. The boy was young and had a long life ahead of him. He was also a genuinely good person.

He went beside Meera Reed and put a hand on her shoulder.

She wiped her tears and looked up at him.

He gave her a sympathetic look and sat down beside her "I won't say that I understand your pain. I've never had any brothers or sisters of my own" Ramsey Snow didn't count. "But I do sympathize with you. I know it doesn't matter anymore. But I'm really sorry for what happened."

Meera simply nodded and went back to sobbing.

Looking at her, he was reminded of Dennis Creevy who had lost his older brother in the Battle of Hogwarts.

He could still remember the betrayed look Dennis gave him when he met him after the Battle. Asking him why he didn't save his older brother.

"Will you be alright?" he asked and she gave him a tentative nod.

He wondered if his presence was even helping her. He, who brought her and her brother up North and led them on this merry chase in the first place.

He patted her shoulder one last time before he got up and went toward the pile of bodies.

"She'll get over it." A voice said and he turned to find Qhorin half hand taking out the pieces of the girl who had been pinned to the tree. "I know I sound crass but brothers, husbands, fathers and sons die all the time in the North. The women can do nothing but get up and keep moving. As do everyone else."

He remained silent as Qhorin took out the head and threw it in the great pile as well. Then Qhorin let out a sigh and said "Benjen was a great man. Humble and down to earth despite his upbringing. A great ranger, swordsman and leader. His loss will be felt by us all."

He remained silent until his men stopped bringing any more bodies. Then he took out a ball filled with Wildfire and threw it at the great pile.

The pile started burning at once.

Qhorin stared at the green flame with an unreadable expression for a moment "You had something like this. Why didn't you use it against the White Walker." His tone barely a step below accusatory.

"I did." He replied "It didn't work. The bastard froze it before the ball could go anywhere near it."

"I see. I suppose that make sense." Qhorin nodded and bowed in apology. Then he stared at the great pile of bodies that was catching fire rapidly. "So. What now?"

"We have the wight. We have the Ice sword. We have the witnesses and the dead bodies of our friends. That's enough proof." He said and turned to look at Qhorin "We're heading back."