Dolorous Edd looked over the wall to the army of undead that slowly shambled towards them. He had counted atleast 200,000 of them. Castle black had only 274 men and that was only after their ranks had been filled by what little was left of the Bolton army that Jon had sent to them. Jon knew how short of men they were first hand but he couldn't spare a single one of his own.
Edd looked at his men now. Some he had known for years as loyal brothers while many had taken the oath a few days earlier. All were loyal. The Bolton's when they had arrived were tired and scared. All their lives they'd been beaten and threatened; when they saw how many brothers would mock Edd even to his face they looked shocked. Soon they grew to love their freedom of tongue. Edd didn't care what his men said about him and his pessimism as long as they were loyal to the watch.
Now he stood with them as the nine hundred in ninety ninth lord commander atop The Wall.
"Men" he shouted to make sure they could hear him. They all looked to him with questioning eyes. "We can't out run them. We die here!"
The men looked afraid.
"A day will come", Edd continued, "when men will tell tales of brave men who defeated the whites. Of great heroes and brave knights. Of grand leaders and wise men... But they will not speak of us. No one will remember us. But that doesn't matter! We are the brothers of the night's watch, we die at our posts!"
"So we can either die on our knees or we can take as many of these bastards with us as we can!", Edd said. There were no cheers or hurrahs, they all looked at each other like they hadn't known what to expect. Each man eventually gave a nodded in agreement to his words as each knocked their arrows.
When the whites attacked they unleashed a hail of dragon glass tipped arrows killing thousands but they just keep coming. Edd led a group of men back down to hold the gate. They formed a phalanx with dragon glass tipped spears. They held off the dead for hours as they caught. For every brother that fell they took dozens with them. Men began to trickle down from the wall to help reinforce the spear wall.
Just when it seemed like they might hold out they heard a deafening screech from the top of the wall. Edd looked up to see the dead jump down and come crashing down to the ground before getting back up and charging them. They were spread thin now. Their phalanx only one rank deep as more and more of them fell.
Soon they were down to only a few dozen left. The men grew tired and scared as they caught on.
"Night gathers and now my watch begins", Edd shouted over the screeches of the dead.
"It shall not end until my death", he continued with another voice joining in.
"I shall take no wife. Hold no lands", more and more began to join," father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory!"
"I shall live and die at my post!", They all cried out now.
"We are the sword in the darkness!" They shouted in defiance.
"We are the watchers on the walls!", Men said the words even as they fell in battle.
"We are the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men!"
"We pledge our lives and honor to the night's watch for this night and all the night's to come!", The last of them finished before being overwhelmed by the dead.
Unfortunately Edd's words reigned all too true. The only people to show any care were Jon and Sansa after discovering the battle scene and after their passing people forgot of them all together. Still some legends and stories carried on to be told to some young children as they went to sleep at night.
The most honorable of houses, even more noble than the Starks. That it was made of lords, bastards, murderers rapists, and common thieves. The house of men who fault not for women or gold or even glory but as their duty to all of mankind.
The watchers on the walls. The light in the darkness. The shield that guards against all evil.