Chapter 192

Another week later.

"Footsteps. That's all I see." Benjen said, not even trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.

"No. There's… something about these footsteps." Qhorin half hand said as he studied the footsteps left by the wights on the ground.

"You found something?" Benjen asked as he took jumped down from his horse to study the footsteps on the snow. "Hmm… now that you point it out. There is something… strange about these footsteps. I just can't find out what it is."

"They look unnatural." Kalmyr, the greatest tracker in his army and one of the wargs he had brought with him in the expedition spoke as he knelt down and sniffed the ground and frowned. "There's no smell."

Qhorin nodded at Kalmyr's words "True. I noticed the same thing. But… there's something else we are missing here. Though the lack is smell is alarming enough as it is."

"Why is that?" Smalljon asked as he sat and looked at the tracks as well. But he was sure that just like him, Smalljon didn't knew how to read the tracks either and was just doing it to look impressive. "True, some of the wildlings we killed smell like high hell. But what makes is alarming."

"All living things have smell." Kalmyr said as he whistled and sat down on the ground, getting ready to warg into one of the wolves under his care.

They were simple Arctic wolves. Not the direwolves he was so fond of. But these wolves also had a great sense of smell and were great trackers. Both these traits made Kalmyr invaluable to him. Well, he would have been invaluable if he didn't use the Glass Candle to his way to the target by cheating.

But since the Glass Candle failed in the general vicinity of the White Walkers, he had to rely on Kalmyr this time.

"Even those who've just taken a bath have a smell." Kalmyr said as one of his wolf arrived in front of him and he looked in the wolf's eyes "Only those who've been dead and have been frozen for a long while don't have any."

Then Kalmyr's eyes went white and he slumped down on the floor.

He and Qhorin helped the man's body against a tree as the wolf bowed in thanks before it sniffed the target and darted forward.

"Be careful." He said and the wolf huffed before vanishing among the trees.