Chapter 11: Attack
"Crack."
"Cracker."
"Crack!"
The night had gotten long for Oswin and he couldn't sleep.
He was lying down trying to fall asleep and listened to the crackle of the knife against the wood as Blake whittled.
"That damn kid never sleeps."
Oswin thought as he cursed his son inwardly.
Worse than not being able to sleep, is having reasons not to. And what greater reason than to learn that an army of dark spirits would come out of the deepest, darkest recesses of the north to bring death to every living thing?
Blake had never lied to him until now, and today when he warned him of this, he seemed especially serious.
Oswin thought that perhaps Blake was like his mother, and could see visions of the past and future. Plus, of course of course of his closeness with dark spirits
All these things led him to think that possibly his son was telling him the truth, he was never wrong after all.
"Aaaaaaaahhhh!!!"
Oswin heard a faint scream and frowned from his bed.
He thought that perhaps some tribal brother had captured a woman and was bringing her towards his abode.
This was not particularly uncommon and sometimes happened.
But quickly the screams were increasing so he lifted his head and saw his son Blake standing in front of the door.
"Something's wrong!"
Blake shouted as he poked his head out from the cabin.
"What did you see!"
Oswin shouted to his son as he jumped out of bed and began to put on his armor.
"They're savages, they're attacking the tribe!"
Thanks to his exceptional night vision, Blake could tell quickly what was going on.
Some tribe had launched an attack, and he could see the women being dragged out of the huts as they fought with the warriors at various points within the tribe.
Oswin frowned at the news, the black axe tribe, though few in numbers, were among the strongest tribes north of the wall. Since they were fairly close to the wall, many of their tribesmen had fought and slain Night's Watch and carried steel weapons or pieces of armor.
Not just any tribe would dare to launch an attack against them, they should also be quite strong.
Oswin took his bow, arrows, a short and long sword along with a spear to equip himself, and was ready.
"Don't go out, kill anyone poking their head out from the entrance."
Oswin picked up his black axe and placed it in the hands of his son Blake, he also picked up a log from the campfire as a torch and pulled the skin away from the entrance of the hut to see what was going on outside.
"Well, look for Wymond and his sons, together they will be harder to subdue, I will stay to protect Ygritte."
Oswin took his son's advice and left the hut.
Since the hill where they lived was somewhat secluded, he preferred to take his hunting bow and shoot at the men in sight.
"Nooooo!!!"
"Let go of me!!!"
The first one he shot was a man pulling a woman dragged by her hair out of a hut.
Then another was fighting with two axes against a tribesman.
Arrow after arrow killed several attackers, and soon, he had no more arrows to shoot.
The attackers were also able to notice him thanks to the torch with which he shone, and they began to climb the hill.
Three fur-covered savages, and when Oswin saw them up close he knew instantly which tribe they were.
"Damned Thenn men!!!"
One of them carried a bronze short sword, another carried a bow and the last a wooden spear tipped with bronze as well. Only the Thenn were known to know how to forge bronze.
It would be dangerous to fight three men at once, but Oswin had the high ground and was fully armed.
Picking up the spear he had prepared beforehand, he hurled it hard at the bow-wielding savage, striking him in the chest, and sending him tumbling down the hill.
"I'll skin you!"
Thenn's men with the sword going to his head watched as his companion fell dead and lunged towards Oswin with rage etched on his face.
"AAAAAAAOOOOOHHH!"
Oswin said no words and answered the onslaught with a great roar charging towards the thenn man.
"Clank, Clank, Clank."
Three times they clashed weapons, and all three times Oswin managed to overpower his opponent with his strength knocking him to the ground.
"Thump!"
A spear slammed into Oswin's stomach causing him to stagger slightly. But it failed to penetrate either the breastplate or the chainmail.
"OH!"
With a roar, Oswin grabbed the spear with his left hand and slashed his sword toward the thenn man's neck with all his might.
The thenn man dropped the spear and held his neck with both hands as he fell with his throat slit.
"Fuuu, Fuuu, Fuuu!"
Gasping, Oswin threw down the spear of the thenn man he had just slain and held his longsword with both hands towards the last thenn man who had sat up and was looking at him in fear.
In the darkness of the night, the thenn man was hard to see, but now he knew that Oswin was not just any savage, he was armed in full armor and his strength was no joke. He wanted to run and find more of his brothers to attack him together, but Oswin didn't give him the chance.
"ROOOOARRRR!!!"
Just as the thenn man hesitated, Oswin charged again with his sword, and although the thenn man managed to raise his bronze sword to cover himself, the force behind this lunge brought the sword down and cut the thenn man's head right in half.
"Fuuu, Fuuu, Fuuu!"
Oswin looked at the dead and gasped to catch his breath.
The cold snowy air entered his lungs and he looked around for more thenn men to kill.
He saw in the distance Wymond and his sons fighting a group of thenn men and ran to help them.
***************************************
Blake listened to the screams, paying close attention. He had put out the campfire and the inside of the cabin was especially dark.
"Uuuuhhh!"
"Shhhh, hush Ygritte!"
His little sister had woken up and was now crying in her bed as she watched him.
Blake didn't move away from the side of the door or drop the axe to go comfort her.
If he did, they would both be in danger if a savage entered the cabin.
Seconds and minutes passed and Blake remained in his position without moving, alert for any noise from outside.
I felt no fear or urgency, I just waited with a serene heart, like the breeze that night.
"Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack."
After what Blake could measure as an hour, he heard footsteps from outside the cabin and held his axe tighter.
Whoever was outside circled the entire cabin checking to see that there was only one entrance.
Blake found it strange that he was so fearful of entering, as most of the savages would only charge the entrance as they screamed in search of women to abduct.
Blake watched as a spear showed from the entrance of the hut and pushed aside the skin that made the door.
"UUUuuuuuuuuuuhhhh!"
The savage had a full view of the bed where Ygritte lay, and Ygritte cried all the louder when she saw him peek out.
The savage, moved by Ygritte's crying and thinking there was no one else in the hut, tried to rush inside.
"Wish!"
Blake did not waste this opportunity and swung the axe with all the force he could muster as if chopping wood.
"Break!!!"
The black axe drove hard into the stomach of the savage who looked in horror at the boy hiding to the side.
The savage tried to grab Blake by the throat, but Blake was quicker and swung the axe hard causing the savage's guts to scatter on the floor of the cabin.
The savage fell to the ground in agony and the smell of blood filled the air.
"WOOOOOOHHH!!!"
Ygritte gasped at the scene, but Blake didn't stop, he didn't have time to comfort her either. He quickly dragged the body of the savage into the hut and stood in the same position as before.
As cold as ice, as efficient as a machine, and with his eyes on the cabin entrance, he waited for the next one to try to enter.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone