Bab 50: Neat #50
Gale reached the ruins of what was once Craster's Keep and couldn't help but halt his steps, his eyes widening in surprise at the scene before him. The entire keep was nothing more than ashes and charred remnants.
The log hall had only a few charred logs still standing, and the animal pens were in even worse shape. It was evident that a massive fire had consumed the entire place.
"What the hell happened here...?" Gale muttered, the question more of an astonished observation than a genuine inquiry.
Still, Threya took it upon herself to provide an explanation. "The old daughter-layer was a friend of yours, I take it?" she said, scoffing. "I stuck a knife in the old bastard's gut and burned his corpse alongside this filthy pigsty... at the request of his daughters," she added, a tone of finality in her words.
Gale couldn't help but chuckle at her matter-of-fact explanation. Craster had been a vile and loathsome man, and Gale had harbored the same wish to see him dead. It's why he chose this specific route toward the Wall.
In a way, this had been a bonus for seeking an alliance with the wildlings. If such an alliance could be formed, Craster's would no longer be of use, and the Night's Watch would no longer need to tolerate the existence of someone like him.
"A shame... I wanted to kill him myself," Gale muttered, his gaze fixed on the remnants of Craster's Keep.
Threya, however, couldn't hide her confusion at Gale's comment. It was well known that Craster was an ally of the Night watch, so Gale's words puzzled her.
Gale inquired, "What about his daughters?" He shifted his attention back to Threya, his curiosity evident.
Threya's confusion deepened, and she couldn't fathom why Gale was concerned about the fate of Craster's daughters. "What business is it of yours?" she replied, her frown clear.
Gale sighed, and with a tone of mild exasperation, he explained, "I had planned to take them with us.. to find them a safer place south of the Wall to start anew."
He looked at Threya, genuine frustration in his eyes. "You didn't simply dispose of Craster and leave his daughters to fend for themselves, did you?" His bemused expression conveyed his concern for the well-being of the daughters.
"Don't presume to know what's good for our people better than us..." Threya responded with a scowl. "I had someone take them to the camp after I killed Craster... they arrived there safely long before we did."
Hearing those words, Gale couldn't help but shoot an intrigued look at Threya. He had voiced his share of complaints about the wildling woman, but her actions showed she cared about her own people, if nothing else.
Threya, however, perceived Gale's peculiar gaze and couldn't let it slide. "What the hell are you looking at? You've got something to say?!" she demanded, her temper flaring.
Gale chuckled and shook his head. "I'm just surprised you were capable of doing something decent... maybe you're not entirely hopeless," he quipped.
This retort further darkened Threya's expression, and she unleashed a barrage of obscenities and threats at the young man, who appeared more exasperated than threatened.
Without waiting for any more of Threya's tirade, Gale turned to Tormund and declared, "I'll scout the area... We can make camp when Threya's finished running her mouth."
With that, he promptly walked away from the ruins of Craster's Keep, leaving Threya's obscenities and threats to fade into the distance.
A smirk danced on his lips as he ventured forward.
...
In the depths of the Haunted Forest, Styr led Gorak and a dozen Thenn Warriors across the snowy expanse. A captive from the Night's Watch stumbled along with them, bound, gagged, and blindfolded.
Styr, radiating calm authority, remarked, "The Weeper should be waiting for us just ahead."
Gorak, still harboring unease about the situation, couldn't suppress a frown. "Must we go through with this?" he voiced his concern. "At this point, I'd rather face the crow alone than bring this madman along," he added.
Styr, displaying impatience, scowled at Gorak. "Your cowardice is starting to grate on me," he said without slowing his stride. "You should be grateful I didn't cut you down when I discovered you reached out to Rattleshirt and Harma Dogshead," he added, shooting a cold glare at Gorak.
One of the Thenn warriors, finding the situation amusing, joined the conversation. "What's got you so frightened of the Weeper, Gorak? You even convinced Rattleshirt and Harma to work with us," he said with a chuckle. "Surely, the Weeper can't be any worse," he added, shaking his head.
"Harma and Rattleshirt, now they're a special kind of mad," Gorakremarked with a grimace. "But the Weeper? Sometimes I wonder if he's even human," he added, shaking his head. "The thing he does to a man... I've witnessed his brutality firsthand...." A shadow crossed his face as a vivid memory played in his mind.
"The weeper confines his raids to the mountain clans south of the Wall and sticks to killing crows, so most folk have no idea what he's capable of... but if they knew..." Gorak's voice trailed off, the unspoken horrors hanging in the air. "They'd loathe him more than they loathe us...."
The Thenn warrior shot Gorak a puzzled glance, intrigued by the untold atrocities that fueled Gorak's fear of the Weeper. Before he could probe further, Styr's authoritative voice intervened.
"Stop chattering and prepare the gift... we're almost there..."
The Thenn warrior and Gorak halted as Styr's words reached them. Following his gaze, their eyes widened, and a chilling hush enveloped them at the gruesome scene ahead. The once pristine snow and the gnarled trees now wore a macabre coat of red.
The corpses of Night's Watch rangers lay scattered-- none left unscathed. Some pieces dangled from twisted branches, while others lay strewn on the frigid ground. The heads, however, were treated with dreadful reverence—impaled on spears, eyes brutally excised.
Amidst the horror stood a towering figure, surveying the grim tableau with an air of satisfaction as if admiring his handiwork. Slowly, he turned to face them, and his eyes, both swollen and watery, bore into Gorak's soul, sending a shiver down his spine.
...
Unaware of the unfolding events in the frozen expanse, Gale pressed on with his scouting duties around the remnants of what was once Craster's Keep. He intended to secure the area before retiring for the night.
Boredom led him to hum a melody from his previous life, the lyrics escaping his lips in a soft undertone. "There will come a soldier, who carries a mighty sword... he will tear your city down, oh lei, oh lai, oh lord..." His vigilant eyes continued to sweep the surroundings.
"There will come a poet-- his weapon is his word--" He broke off mid-verse as his heightened senses caught the sound of approaching footsteps crunching through the snow.
Reacting swiftly, Gale drew the iceblade strapped to his back just in time to witness a colossal white-furred bear emerging from the thicket nearby. The bear, growling menacingly from a distance, seemed poised for an attack. Gale couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.
"The first time I ran into one of you buggers, it almost bit my head off..." he reminisced, recalling the confusion of waking up in this unfamiliar world only to have a bear charge at him out of nowhere.
"I don't reckon Benjen will magically appear and save my ass again this time around... I'll have to take care of you myself, I guess..." Gale remarked with a chuckle, brandishing the iceblade in his grasp.
As if understanding the challenge, the bear took it as a cue to charge, letting out a resounding roar. Gale's smile remained steadfast as he prepared for the impending confrontation.
The massive creature closed the distance rapidly, rearing up on its hind legs before swiping a powerful front paw at Gale. With agile grace, the young man evaded the attack, swiftly stepping back.
Seizing the opportunity, he thrust the iceblade into the bear's stomach with surprising speed, the freezing weapon's sharp tip finding its mark. A deft jerk of Gale's wrist to the side cut the bear's stomach open, and with a final anguished roar, the formidable creature crumpled to the snowy ground.
Gale sighed, looking down at the fallen bear. "Well... I don't know what I was expecting..." he mumbled, shaking his head as he turned to leave. However, a rustling sound halted him in his tracks after taking a few steps.
Bewildered, he turned around to witness the bear slowly rising again, its eyes now glowing an ominous shade of blue. He looked at the bear in confusion before realization suddenly dawned on him.
Gale glanced at the iceblade in his hand and couldn't help but chuckle. "Huh... neat..."
...
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