RoWE - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: A Narrow Encounter

The two miles were not far, but their progress through the forest was slow. The twilight deepened, and night fell quickly in the North. The cloudless sky soon turned a deep purple, like a bruise, and the stars and moon began to appear. Although their light was a fraction of the sun's, the reflection off the snow provided a barely adequate field of vision.

"It's just up ahead," Will whispered to Aeg, his voice tinged with tension.

"Be careful. If we encounter anything, just run," Aeg took a deep breath. Unlike Will, who feared the unknown in the darkness, Aeg felt a surge of adrenaline knowing what they were about to face, his body and mind were both aware that they needed to start adjusting their state for the imminent confrontation with humanity's natural enemy.

A wolf howled from the depths of the forest.

Will stopped his horse next to an old ironwood tree covered in burls and dismounted. Aeg did the same. The cold wind whistled through the trees, and Aeg felt the temperature drop. Whether it was an illusion caused by psychological reasons or the cold brought by the White Walkers, he couldn't be sure.

If the plot unfolded as it had before, they should already be surrounded by the enemy.

"Something's not right here," Gared muttered.

"Is it?" The young knight sneered at him.

"Can't you feel it?" Gared demanded. "Listen carefully to the sounds in the shadows."

"The wind, the rustling of leaves, and the howling of wolves. Gared, which one of those scared you out of your wits?" Royce dismounted gracefully, tying his horse to a low-hanging branch far from the other three, then drew his sword. "If you're afraid, stay here and watch the horses for us. Aeg and Will, come with me to see the dead."

Gared endured the insult with a frown and took out his tool bag. "I'll light a fire."

"Old man, there's a limit to stupidity. If there are enemies in this forest, do you want to light a fire to attract them?"

"Some things are afraid of fire," Gared held the flint. "Like bears, ice wolves, and... many other things."

"I said no, and I mean it."

Aeg watched the conversation between the two with a frown, wondering if the White Walkers might not discover them if they spoke more quietly, allowing them to leave with their new recruits.

But he had no authority or means to silence these men. He opened his mouth to speak but ultimately held back the urge, gripping his dagger tightly and hiding it within his sleeve.

Gared glared at the young knight for a moment before finally accepting the arrangement with a bowed head. Royce nodded in satisfaction and turned to Will and Aeg. "Let's go."

Will advanced cautiously, leading Aeg through the dense undergrowth and up the gentle slope. Both moved carefully and quietly, trying not to make any noise but the knight, who was walking behind them, had no intention of being equally "sneaky." He strode confidently behind the two, his body brushing against leaves, his chainmail clinking, and his sword or luxurious cloak getting caught on branches from time to time, causing him to curse under his breath.

Every little sound Royce made tightened Aeg's heart. The damned fool, Aeg cursed inwardly. He forbade them from speaking when there was no danger, but now that they needed to be quiet, he kept making noise, utterly hopeless. Aeg imagined pointing his sword at the boy and ordering him to be silent, but he knew that would only create more noise and, in a situation where his skills were inferior, could lead to a complete loss of control.

He could only take it one step at a time.

He was truly "taking it one step at a time." The short distance of a hundred meters felt like a year to Aeg. Finally, he followed Will to the top of the snow-covered mound.

Due to his high level of tension, Aeg clearly heard the sound of Will sucking in a breath beside him.

Below the mound, the bright moonlight illuminated the remnants of the wildling camp. The embers of the campfire still smoldered, emitting wisps of white smoke. Snow-covered rocks and a half-frozen stream were visible, with no signs of anything unusual except for the missing bodies of the wildlings that Will had mentioned.

"Gods be with us!" Behind them, Ser Waymar Royce swung his sword to cut away a branch in front of his face and reached the top of the mound, standing beside the two Night's Watch soldiers, sword in hand, his cloak flapping in the wind, the light of the stars and moon clearly outlining his noble figure.

"Damn it, get down!" Will pulled Aeg, causing him to crouch down. "Something strange is happening."

Royce didn't move. He looked down at the empty clearing and smiled. "Will, it seems your dead have changed their location."

Will fell silent, his chest heaving, trembling as he observed the deserted camp. Aeg also felt the cold seeping in from all directions, through the gaps in his clothing. He gripped his steel sword more tightly with his right hand and clutched the obsidian dagger in his left sleeve, straining his eyes to find any trace of the White Walkers. In the TV series, the White Walkers appeared inexplicably behind Royce, but Aeg had completely forgotten the description of their appearance in the original text. This time, where would these ghostly creatures emerge from?

"Will, get up," Ser Waymar ordered. "There's no one here. Hiding like this, what kind of posture is this!"

Will was full of suspicion and tension. He glanced at Aeg reluctantly and stood up.

"I don't want to return from my first patrol empty-handed. We must find these guys," Royce looked around. "Climb up a tree and take a look. Be quick and watch for any nearby fires."

The final moment was approaching. Aeg controlled his breathing and whispered a warning to Will: "Be careful of the dead."

"What?"

"What are you chatting about? Hurry up!"

Will was even more nervous because of Aeg's inexplicable words. He looked at him, then turned hesitantly to carry out the superior's order. The wind suddenly picked up. The poacher walked to a tall, straight, bluish-gray sentinel tree, drew his dagger and bit it, starting to climb. As the tree trunk shook and a small amount of snow fell, he quickly disappeared among the branches, leaving only Waymar and Aeg standing in the empty ruins of the camp.

Aeg's nerves were stretched to the limit. He finally understood why people used the phrase "prick up your ears" to describe listening carefully. If he could control the muscles around his ears, he would have pricked them up to the maximum.

To his relief and fear, he almost instantly heard an unusual sound.

Something was moving through the nearby trees, stepping on snow and leaves, making a faint noise that was barely audible after being filtered by the thin layer of loose snow on the ground. Aeg couldn't even be sure if it was his imagination.

He looked around, raising his sword in a defensive stance.

"What's wrong with you today," Ser Waymar frowned. "I remember you a bit. You're different from those robbers and rapists, but..."

"Don't talk!" The temperature began to drop sharply, and the extreme sense of crisis made Aeg no longer care about their difference in status. He interrupted Waymar without hesitation. "Listen!"

"Listen to what... it's just..." Waymar raised his eyebrows, about to mock as usual, but his expression changed. "Who's there?" After a good deal of skepticism, he finally noticed something was amiss. "Will, did you see anything?"

The poacher in the tree didn't respond, whether due to the cold, fear, or the dagger in his mouth.

The place where the wildlings had camped was in a depression in the forest, surrounded on three sides by mounds, which blocked the wind but also limited visibility. The two men under the tree, although they felt the invasion of cold and the faint sounds from nearby, could see nothing in the dim moonlight. Waymar raised his sword, which was different from the standard steel sword of the Night's Watch. This weapon, which he had brought from home, was of better quality and design than Aeg's. It shimmered in the moonlight.

The leaves rustled, the cold stream murmured, and the call of a snowy owl came from afar. The fear brought by the strange sounds did not torment them for long because their maker soon appeared. A White Walker emerged from behind a mound, circled a tree, and came before them.

Aeg, who was on high alert, spotted it the moment it appeared. The first white figure entered Aeg's field of vision. It was very tall, gaunt and stern like a skeleton, with a pale complexion like milk. Its armor seemed to change color with its movements, sometimes white as new snow, sometimes black as shadows, adorned with the deep, mysterious gray-green of the forest. With each step it took, the patterns on its armor shifted like moonlight on water.

Ser Waymar followed Aeg's gaze and quickly spotted the figure that had suddenly appeared from the darkness. He gasped and raised his sword at the intruder. "Who goes there? Halt!"

The warning was no longer filled with the arrogance and nonchalance he had used when giving orders to Aeg and the other two soldiers. The young noble flipped his long sable coat behind him to free up space for movement, holding his sword with both hands. Aeg noticed that his hands were shaking.

The wind had stopped, the cold was bone-chilling. Aeg's hands were also shaking, not purely out of fear, but also from the battle intent that filled his body. The adrenaline rush made him feel like his blood was boiling. The White Walker approached the two Night's Watchmen silently and slowly, holding a semi-transparent crystal sword that looked like a very thin shard of ice. Aeg knew that while Valyrian steel and obsidian daggers could kill White Walkers, only the former could clash with their weapons. The magical metal, which was already out of production, was something he had no means to obtain, not even a dagger's worth.

The obsidian dagger was essentially a piece of glass, too fragile. He might only have one chance to strike. Failure meant death. Two against one, as long as Waymar could hold the creature for a moment, he could...

"Since you won't stop," Waymar bravely stepped forward, raising his sword above his head, his voice regaining some composure and provocation. "Let's duel!"

Aeg took a deep breath, holding his sword in one hand and the dagger in the other, following closely behind the ranger captain. But the moment he took his first step, his heart, which had been beating violently, stopped in surprise, as an unexpected turn of events caught him off guard.