A 700 foot wall of ice stood before Samwell Tarly. It had been a long ride from Horn Hill, Sam had changed transport at King's Landing and Winterfell, but they had arrived at last and the sight of it was more majestic than anything Sam had ever imagined.
He couldn't take his eyes off it as he got off the cart, but was quickly brought back to reality by Rast's quip.
"It's like the horses prayers' have been answered" said Rast, making an obvious reference to Sam's oversized frame. His words were followed by a chorus of laughter all around.
"That's true" thought Sam to himself, "they don't have to put up with your yammering any more." But he kept his words to himself. He had judged Rast to be not incapable of violence. He hadn't had enough time to figure out what background Rast had come from yet, but was convinced that Rast would never grow to be his friend.
The group left the horse cart behind and proceeded towards the base of the wall. Yoren, chewing on his leaf, had once again heartily reminded them of what useless cunts they all were and sent them on their way.
Grenn, Pyp and Rast had become friends along the way. Apparently all that it took was for Grenn to remove a wineskin that he had stolen, and for Pyp to tell a dirty story about Charlotte the Harlot. Samwell however had stayed out of the entire conversation, not saying a single word the whole time. it usually was just a matter of time before they all started making fun of him for his habits and his size.
As the group reached the base of the wall, they began to wonder what they were supposed to do next. The wall was a majestic sight to look at from a distance, but from up close all you saw was ice and that wouldn't impress anyone.
The group looked in both directions trying to see if there was a doorway of some sort that they could perhaps take.
"Can't see no fucking doorway beneath all this ice" mumbled Grenn.
"Actually, we're looking for a lift" said Sam. Everyone froze as they turned to regard him carefully. Sam hadn't realized that he had spoken until they did so, it had been more of an involuntary gesture on his part.
"Its something I read in a book" Sam said and then shrugged, his head tilting slightly towards his left as if to say the credit really belonged somewhere else other than on his head.
"Fatso's right" said Pyp. He pointed at a particular outward bump along the wall. They hadn't spotted it earlier because they were looking for a door, expecting to see some kind of indication along the flat surface of the wall. But Sam's proposition that they might actually be looking for a lift meant that they would start looking for box shaped objects. Those would of course be easier to find since the protrusions would cause a greater amount of snow to fall on them.
Pyp had spotted it the fastest and soon they started making their way towards it.
As they drew closer, it became apparent that Pyp had spotted his target well. The lift was covered entirely by snow and there was a lever to the side of it (also covered in snow), which was probably to be used for sending the lift upwards towards Castle Black which stood atop one of the higher parts of the wall.
The group was startled when Yoren called out from behind.
"What're you sons of bitches doing here?" asked Yoren, wearing an expression that they had never seen on his face before. It was a mixture of incredulity and slight annoyance. "Didn't I tell you lot to find your way in?"
"Yeah, its why we decided to look for the lift you never told us about" spat Rast.
"Which one of you knew about the lift?" asked Yoren, the expression on his face changing. It was now an expression that Sam was however very familiar with – one where its wearer was concealing the fact that he was impressed.
No one ventured an answer, but a few heads turned towards Sam in unison before quickly turning away and that was all that Yoren needed to put the pieces in place.
Yoren quickly nodded his approval and they proceeded towards the lift whose wooden gates opened as if to welcome them to a new world.