And so my watch has ended
Written by Durai
WARNING: If you haven't read all the books yet, this fan fiction might contain spoilers for you. If this is the case, please do not read any further unless you want spoilers. You have been warned!
Chapter 4 – Defenses
The following day, Grak showed me around his hut, where I could find everything I needed and such. The wood was behind the hut, the water next to it and the fire pit right in the front. The last side was used for defense. A small staircase led up from the house and went up to the roof, where a small watch post was built.
'If you see any Wildlings or White Walkers, you must use these arrows,' Grak said whilst pointing at a huge quiver. When I looked inside it and took an arrow out, I noticed that the arrowheads had an odd shape.
'Why do these arrows have barbs and a spade-shaped point?' I asked. Grak laughed. 'Well boy,' he said, 'That way the arrows can get stuck in one's body a lot easier. If you're going to use fire against a White Walker, the arrow has a chance to fall out of its body and douse. With these arrows, you'll be sure to kill everything. You'll have to hit them first, though.'
I nodded. The following days would mean marksmanship lessons for me. 'Can you teach me how to use that thing?' I said, and I pointed at the enormous bow next to the quiver. Grak followed where my finger was pointing at and said: 'Oh, that's a little invention of mine. There's a chain with arrows over here, see?'
He pulled out a chain and connected it to the bow. 'Now you just have to pull the chain, and this mechanism will allow you to keep firing without reloading,' he said. I nodded. 'Very ingenious,' I said. 'How did you make this?' But Grak just smiled and loaded the bow.
I heard a hard clicking sound. Just as I was about to try the weapon out, Grak grabbed me by the shoulder. 'There's one more thing you need to know!' he said. Then he pointed at the edges of the watch post. I looked closely and there seemed to be some kind of metal rings around the edge, with the pole of the bow in the middle.
'What is that good for?' I asked. Grak now laughed so hard, the snow literally started falling off the trees. 'Surely you jest, lad!' he said, 'That's used to reposition the weapon! You can put it anywhere around the edge you like!'
Without realizing it myself, my mouth dropped open in astonishment. If only this weapon was used in King's Landing… Stannis Baratheon's army would never even have landed on the beach of Blackwater Bay!
In awe, I asked Grak if I could try out the weapon and he nodded. 'Go ahead lad, you're going to need training with that thing anyway,' he said. So I grabbed the bow, held it still, aimed at a bow and pulled the trigger.
About five arrows were released in one second. When I let go of the trigger, I saw that one arrow pierced the other four and split them down their shafts. 'How the hell did you get this thing to be so accurate?' I asked. Grak sighed. 'I wasn't down here all the time, you know…'
I frowned. 'You indeed said that you have been living here for ages, but not for your entire life,' I said. 'Where were you before this, then?' Grak looked at me with a sad expression on his face and said: 'I'm a lost family member of the Targaryens!'
That was it for chapter 4. Please let me know what you think of the story thus far and please leave a review of this chapter, it'd be much appreciated. Thanks for reading!
