The ranger sitting on top of the snow covered oak branch was silently fidgeting around to get himself in a comfortable sitting position. He could hear a fox trudging its way in the thick layer of snow thirty feet from where he was crouching. The high elevation and cold forced him to lick his lips frequently. Tam wondered if he fell asleep on sentry duty he would die from being frozen to death. Maybe he just didn't have the endurance to survive in this cold. Or maybe, winter is coming, and maybe a terrible one.
He pulled out the ash crossbow and set his sights on a particular shadow approaching from the other side of the Gorge. The torches planted by his brothers from Westwatch-by-the-Bridge depicted a small figure making its way to the bridge connecting the tower to the Lands of Always Winter. The bridge itself was a vital and strategic location especially to Westwatch. Aside from Castle Black and the sister castle Eastwatch-by-the-Sea on the other side of the Wall, the Bridge of Skulls provide a constant alert in case of wilding raids. One notable example was the skirmish that happened a couple weeks back; Tam lost a hundred brothers in the fighting from the original four hundred. The wildings were paid back in kind with the castle's secret stash of wildfire barrels. Fifty men retreated from their warband, which the scouts counted were three hundred.
The figure was drawing closer to the bridge. Tam loaded a wooden bolt and quickly pulled out two stones to start up a small flame. He aimed directly again with a burning bolt and called out to the shadow.
"Halt!" He cried out as the wind howled with snowflakes. Tam could feel the branch supporting him quiver slowly. The figure was halfway on the bridge, and it stopped. "You've entered far enough stranger. I can't let you pass. We don't let wildings enter the realm." Tam was the ony scout awake as dawn began to emerge from the sky east from Westmarch. Besides his friend Porter, who was assigned to be on guard duty for the first watch and was probably sleeping at his post, he was the only defender standing between the lands beyond the Wall and the land of Westeros itself.
The cloaked figure made one more step, but Tam didn't fire. It looked up from its hood and the wind slowly parted it down, revealing a child's face. The sixteen year old ranger swore. What the fuck is a child out on the bridge at this time of the watch?! He extinguished the flame bolt and swung down from the tree, catching on other branches before executing a perfect light landing on his feet. Tam was skinny, and underneath his shaggy brown hair was a youth with freckles. He walked slowly to the stranger at the bridge. "Hello?" He asked. The child looked up and Tam got a closer look at the person he was facing. She had eyes wider than a small stone, and had frizzled dirty red hair. Her cloak was woven from vines and leaves, and she was barefoot.
The crows must end their feast.
Tam heard a woman's voice next to him and turned around, his crossbow locked and loaded, but there was no one behind him.
The walkers will come to rise and fufill their feat.
He turned back around. The child was the only one with him on the bridge, staring at him. "What the hell is going on here..." an annoyed Tam whispered.
Down here, crow.
He looked down and looked at the child. She drew a line from her finger over her neck. "Oh." Tam said blankly.
Do you know what I am? The girl eyed him with the woman's voice in Tam's head.
"You're not a wilding... Are you?" He sank to one knee.
We helped you and your brothers a long time ago. When there was no sky, only... night.
Tam was puzzled. He tried to remember when there was a conflict from what the child had told him, and his eyes grew wide.
The Long Night.
The children of the forest! Tam remarked. He remembered stories that Maester Aemon told to him before he was deployed from Castle Black about strange creatures who appear as children and aided the Night's Watch in defending the Wall in seasons past. They were magical, wise, and respected by the First Men before the Andals invasion.
Correct, the child told him. It is nice to see that we are still remembered by the young ones.
"What brings you here to this part of the Wall?" Tam asked as dawn emerged.
They are returning. The walkers of frost and death. The night is approaching quickly, and winter has begun. The realm must ready themselves if they wish to see spring return.
Tam gulped. He wished the Long Night would go away and come back later, probably when he was dead. "I... I am not sure how my commander will hear about this." He mumbled. The child's eyes twinkled and she gave a warm smile. She placed a hand on his face. Do not worry, Tam. We will side with man when the time comes. For now, help me give this to the crows. I will speak to whoever is in charge so we can spread the news.
The woodland child had a bulging sack behind her, and after Tam opened it black daggers and ingots spilled out. "These are... what you killed the white walkers with." said Tam quietly as he inspected a nearby blade. These were our weapons against the walkers. Obsedian metal is their weakness. As Tam and the child made their way back, the spring daylight switched back to the crack of dawn, where they first met. They approach the gate of Westwatch and Tam whistles loudly.
"Tam?" A tired voice pops out from the top of the tower. "Yes Porter, it's me. Dawn's here, let me in." He called.
A chain echoes and the big double oak doors of the tower of Westwatch open, and Tam and the child walk in. "I don't suppose you have a name, do you?" Tam asks the child as they enter the tower's training grounds. "I am known to my kin and friends as Autumn." replied Autumn, her lips this time moved as they marched across the mud.
Westwatch was carved from the mountain when it was founded. The tower itself from the top had a skywell that descended five tiers of floors and at the bottom was its training grounds and assembly area. Despite being the tiniest garrison in the Watch since Lord Snow's command to regarrison the many castles with wildings, the real Westwatch was within the mountain itself. "The tunnels and caverns haven't been used in a while until now." Tam told Autumn on their walk. "The Watch uses this to shelter the wildings' women and children while the men help us against invaders."
"Ah... So this is where the free folk have migrated to?" Autumn asks. Tam nodded. "Our Lord Commander has been filling up the garrisons and castles with them, though, not everyone is too keen on having wildings accepted into Westeros." They arrive at a newly-polished door inside the tunnel. Tam knocks three times. "Eugh, hello? What is it, what do you want?" A gruff voice calls out, shuffling to the door. The door opens and a tall man steps out in black leather and fur. He had a ponytail of sandy colored hair, and a face incredibly worn out from lack of sleep with a triple claw scar running down his right eye to his chin. "Oh, Tam. You are finished with your rounds, I assume?" He asked in a husky voice. "Yes, Ser Lothor." The boy nodded. "Ser, I would like to discuss an issue that must be directed to you. Privately."
Lothor Forrester snapped. He was steward turned commander of Westwatch, which didn't surprise him. Originally, he was head cook from the Shadow Tower until Denys Mallister and the Lord Commander Jon Snow discussed who to station at the westernmost outpost along the Wall. "Alright lad. Come in." He gave way and the boy entered, Autumn quietly following quickly in tow. "Did you find anything unusual?" asked Lothor in a wheezing tone to Tam. The bag that Tam carried was sliced and the obsidian daggers and metal spilled to the floor. "Obsedian. The metals used to kill the white walkers." Tam replied. Lothor picked a dagger up and inspected it. He rubs his eyes and is fully awake with awe. "Where did you find this?" Lothor asked, his gaze fixated on the pile of black. Tam steps back to reveal Autumn standing behind him. Lothor jumps up and points the knife at her. "You brought a wilding child into Westwatch?" He hissed.
Tam alarmingly waves his arms. "Ser Lothor it's not a wilding! It's one of the children of the forest!" He assured him with his best impression of acting normal. Lothor looks at him, Autumn, and the pile of daggers before releasing himself from his defensive stance. "But... The Watch hasn't seen one in years, why-"
"Because the attention to the Wall must be paid to more instead of kings fighting each other." Autumn spoke to him, breaking his inquiry. "The walkers are coming. Winter is coming faster, human. You must send word that the Night is returning again." Her eyes were a brilliant emerald, and looked dreamy.
Lothor was dumbfounded by the news. For a couple minutes, silence had filled the room, and then Lothor turned to Tam. "Tam, get me my wineskin quickly." He ordered. The boy quickly went to his table and gave it to him. The man took a swig a couple times and called it. "Do you know how much shit I'll get barked for when Jon hears about this?" He asks, staring at the small fireplace. "First we let wildings enter, and now suddenly magic children and the Others returning. Next thing you know Daenerys invades Westeros at the same time." He added with a snigger. "Alright. Tam. I am going to be sending you, and thankfully you didn't get assigned to a shittier commander because they would have killed the girl on sight, to King's Landing. I will begin preparations for letters that I will write for King Tommen and Lord Snow. Snow must be dealt with first for permitting you to enter the realm, otherwise you'll get your head chopped off for desertion without reason. Tommen from what I've heard is a good lad, better than Joffrey. He'll likely consider sending troops for the wall now that the War of the Five Kings is dying. This mission all falls in you, Tam. The walkers are coming. Westeros isn't ready. It needs a branding on the ass. Do you have the balls of a Night's Watch brother to protect the realm?"
Tam looked at Autumn. The rough language is what I don't like about your friend there, but he has a point. Her woman voice echoes in his head. Do you have what it takes to be a brother of the Night's Watch and protect the realms of men?
The ranger looked to Lothor. "Well, fuck. I made my vows. There is no turning back. I'll do it." He said firmly to the two. Lothor nodded and Autumn smiled again, more like a child's. "Good. You've earned a day's off. You'll need it for the long road ahead. Dismissed."