Chapter 55: He Saw It

He had seen a White Walker.

He had fled south directly from the Haunted Forest, only to be captured in the New Gift.

Gods be damned, he thought bitterly. Only one step away from the North proper!

They had not executed him immediately. His former brothers explained they would use his head as a reminder that deserters of the Night's Watch would meet no gentle fate.

This reprieve had granted him a few more days of life, but each breath had come with the dual torments of fear and anticipation.

Gods, he wondered, is waiting for death always so excruciating?

At times, he thought it would have been better to perish in the New Gift, or even to die a glorious death in the Haunted Forest. Yet sometimes hope would flare unbidden in his breast, a foolish notion that something—or someone—would intervene to spare him.

And now, Castle Black loomed before him, its black stone walls a promise of finality.

The time had come.

Rough hands dragged him from the back of a swaybacked garron. One end of the hemp rope binding his wrists was held by a sullen brother in black, while a strong hand clamped upon his shoulder from behind, forcing him forward into the yard.

He ceased his struggles and instead gazed blankly at the surroundings that had once been his home.

The towers and walls of Castle Black stood gray and black against the pale northern sky. No man of the Night's Watch would ever call them beautiful, yet now they seemed to him the finest castle in all the known world.

The ice and snow cut like knives, and the meager fires that burned in the courtyards were so frail they might expire at any moment. Nearly every year, brothers lost fingers, toes, or ears to the merciless cold—yet now he would gladly have dwelled here for a thousand years or ten thousand.

More and more black brothers emerged from their quarters. None bothered to speak to him; he saw only indifferent, mocking, vicious, or excited expressions on faces that had once been familiar to him.

Yet he longed for one last chance to break bread with these men, to endure another frigid night upon the Wall. He wished desperately to visit Mole's Town one final time, if only once. This time, he would plant his seed in the deepest place, regardless of whether the woman would raise the child that might result.

Thump.

Two gauntleted hands forced him to his knees. Pain shot through his legs, and the snow beneath him was bitingly cold against his worn breeches.

But none of these discomforts mattered anymore. They merely confirmed that he still lived, that he could still feel pain and temperature and the rough warmth of the gloved hands upon his shoulders.

"Simon."

He saw the Lord Commander's lips opening and closing, speaking words that seemed to come from a great distance. "The gods have granted you this right. Speak your final words, meet your judgment with dignity, and go to the gods as a man of honor."

His gaze fixed upon "Longclaw" in the Lord Commander's hand—a Valyrian steel sword that would make a clean stroke through neck and spine.

Some unnameable impulse drove him to struggle once more against his captors' grip. "Lord Commander, I saw a White Walker! The Others are real, not mere stories from wet nurses. They exist beyond the Wall!"

He attempted to rise, but the hands upon his shoulders forced him down with bruising strength.

"My lord, I fled only from terror! Grant me another chance, I beg you. I will venture beyond the Wall again! I can find the Others for the Night's Watch!"

The black brothers gathered to witness the execution exchanged uneasy glances.

This was not the first deserter this year to claim such things, and more than one ranging party had vanished without explanation. Wildlings lacked the strength to eliminate skilled rangers so completely.

Could something truly stir in the frozen wastes beyond the Wall?

The Lord Commander's gray-white beard trembled slightly as he regarded the condemned man. "Have you concluded your final words?"

At this, all strength fled the deserter's limbs.

The two brothers holding him forced his head down upon a thick wooden stump serving as a block. A large stain of dark, rust-colored blood filled his vision, and the smells of earth and old death filled his nostrils.

"In the name of Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm..."

As death approached, his thoughts turned to his distant home.

He remembered golden wheat dancing like waves in a summer breeze, the rich floral fragrances of meadows in bloom, his father who would ruffle his hair at every opportunity, his mother whose warm, soft embrace smelled of fresh-baked bread and whose clever hands crafted sweet honey cakes, and the village girl whose eyes spoke volumes that her shy lips could not.

"...I, Jeor of House Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, sentence you to die."

The long sword rose high, cutting through the air with a sound like a whispered prayer.

He closed his eyes.

The drumming of hoofbeats grew steadily louder, as if approaching from just ahead. Am I already dead?

He opened his eyes and craned his neck forward to look.

Black cloaks, gray furs, red and gold silks—and then he saw it: a small chestnut-colored creature unlike any he had ever beheld.

"A Child of the Forest," he heard the Lord Commander murmur in disbelief.

Hope surged within him once more. "It's true! What I told you is true! There stands a Child of the Forest! The Others lurk beyond the Wall..."

Clang.

He watched with detached fascination as bright blood spurted from his own neck. The Lord Commander's voice reached him as if through water: "Perhaps you spoke truly, but you should not have fled your post upon the Wall."

His head rolled several times upon the frozen ground. In the final instant before eternal darkness claimed him, his fading vision captured the delicate, spotted ankles of the Child of the Forest who had arrived too late to save him.

"Lord Commander, we have returned," Benjen Stark announced, his voice hollow with exhaustion.

The First Ranger glanced at the headless corpse, adding quietly, "Only us."

Jeor Mormont shifted his gaze from the diminutive figure of Leaf. "What transpired? Come, we shall speak in the hall."

Joffrey guided Leaf forward, stepping carefully around the spreading pool of blood.

"The secret passage proved real enough," he explained. "Who could have guessed that wildlings would be hunting these gentle creatures beyond the Wall? The savages were hardly willing to allow our departure. The outcome, Lord Commander, you see before you."

Joffrey exchanged a meaningful glance with Benjen, who maintained his silence.

"I see." The Lord Commander sighed heavily. "Now large sections of the Wall must remain unguarded once more."

He fixed Joffrey with a penetrating stare. "Your Highness, I implore you to impress upon the court the gravity of our situation. Mance Rayder, who styles himself 'King-Beyond-the-Wall,' gathers a wildling army even now. And it seems the Others may be more than nursery tales meant to frighten children."

Joffrey assumed an expression of solemn responsibility. "You have my word. I shall advocate vigorously on your behalf. The Night's Watch will receive no fewer than five hundred fresh recruits within half a year."

"You have my gratitude for your understanding, Your Highness."

The Lord Commander's gaze returned to Leaf with undisguised wonder. "This one is truly a Child of the Forest?"

Leaf executed a graceful bow. "Lord Commander, I speak your tongue. You may address me as Leaf."

Boom!

The assembled men of the Night's Watch could not suppress their astonishment, as though they had witnessed a beast of burden suddenly break into poetry.

Though all the ancient stories depicted the Children of the Forest as beings of wisdom and power, who among them could view such an alien creature as an equal when confronted with its strange appearance?

The Lord Commander swiftly signaled for the crowd to disperse and led the Crown Prince and his companions away from curious eyes.

The black brothers watched reluctantly as the Child of the Forest entered the Lord Commander's Tower, the heavy oaken door closing firmly behind them.

After a moment of stunned silence, their restraint shattered completely. They leapt about, shouting and embracing one another, venting the wild excitement that coursed through them, as though they had emerged victorious from some legendary battle.

To behold with their own eyes the Children of the Forest—beings they had believed existed only in Old Nan's tales—made all their hardships seem suddenly worthwhile.

"What are Your Highness's intentions going forward?" Lord Commander Jeor inquired, offering a steaming cup of honeyed mead to the Crown Prince. His tone carried a hint of wistful anticipation.

Joffrey accepted the drink with a smile. "Life upon the Wall has proven unforgettable, but my royal father has already traveled half the distance to Winterfell. I promised to rejoin the caravan before it reaches King's Landing, so I must depart with all haste."

The basilisk venom remains unutilized, he thought to himself. He would need to intercept the King in the Riverlands farther south, and before that, he must hasten to a location no more than two days' distant to resolve certain complications.

"I shall take my leave at first light tomorrow."

The Lord Commander's weathered face softened slightly. "I wish Your Highness a journey without incident."

Joffrey raised his cup in salute. "I thank you for your kind words, Lord Commander."

And the Red Keep, he thought, his mind turning southward. The time approaches.

Activating the Mirror Rune, Joffrey perceived Hanna, far away in the Red Keep, seated before her looking glass. Her face appeared drawn and tense in the polished silver surface.

He sent her the final signal through their mystical connection:

Action in seven days.

...

==============================================

Support me at p@treon.com/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.

=============================================