Beta'ed: MrsBates93


Past

The swords clashed against each other. We had scowls on our faces, although mine was less perceptible, because of the mask.

It started with a surprise on Jon's behalf. After two months of nothing but listen and repeat, he told us to spar with him.

Sam groaned as Jon told him he was first. He dragged himself to the courtyard and positioned himself, a wooden sparring sword in one hand.

Much to our surprise Sam fought with everything he had, putting into practice everything he had learned. Defend, attack, counter-attack. I found myself surrounded by my brothers, cheering for Sam. Shouts of 'go get him' and 'go Sam' filled the cold air. They fought bravely, but Jon saw the possibility of winning and took it. He pushed Sam backwards, making him trip and fall. His sword fell with him and slid away from his reach. Jon walked to his fallen comrade and pointed his sword at Sam's neck.

"Dead." He said simply as Sam looked down ashamed, until he was swarmed by everyone who had watched him fight Jon.

"Great job Sam," I said helping him up, while almost being pulled down.

"Really?" He asked dusting of his cloak.

"Are you kidding?" Another brother asked. "That was great!"

"I'm actually sorry I did punch you that time!" Another one added and everyone snickered.

"Bos!" I cringed when I heard my name being called out by Jon. "Your turn!"

"Go on Bos! If I can do it so can you," Sam urged and I nodded.

I turned to my friend and took a deep breath. Since that incident with the tree I hadn't really tried to jump him again. I was actually embarrassed about that event. If I never heard about it again, it would be too soon. When he had told us we were going to fight him, I was excited, but now that I'm standing in front of him, feet apart, sword in hand, looking at him, I'm not happy at all. The thing that creeped me out the most was the fact that he was actually grinning. He never grinned.

We both just stood there looking at each other. I was actually doing what he taught me. Observing my enemy and my surroundings. I was sure he was just taunting me. We were just watching, waiting for the other to make the first move. And then, all hell broke loose. Once we started, it was next to impossible for anyone to stop us.

I saw his feet move as he started to run towards me, and I got ready for him. Our swords crashed against one another, as we stood face to face. He kept grinning and I shoved him backwards, hoping he would fall. But nothing happened.

Every thrust of my sword was met by his, and every thrust of his was countered by mine. As Jon had carved everything that was important about fighting into my mind, the sword became part of my body, an extension. When I moved, it moved with me. My surroundings became clear when I needed them to be and clouded over when I didn't. The wooden poles helped me to defend a few of Jon's attacks. The rocks on the ground helped my attacks. I was jumping, ducking, kicking and punching, and so was he. We were relentless.

At some point, Jon had tried to make me fall; making it look like it was my own fault by moving out of range at the last minute. But I was ready for this, I saw the wooden pole behind him and put a foot up and as it hit the pole, it provided me with enough leverage to turn around and charge at him again.

We found each other without weapons some times, but that didn't stop us. We would dive, run, and slide until we got our swords.

After, what seemed like an eternity, I could feel my heart pumping so fast I thought it would break through my armour. The cold air hurt when I breathed and I knew was getting tired, but so was he. What I didn't know then was that he had something I didn't, focus. He had seen I was tired and waited, making miserable attempts at attacking, to which I would defend and therefore, tire myself out.

It took him a blink of my eyes to disarm me and throw me against a nearby support beam. He placed his arm on my throat, but kept his sword down. I struggled against him, I tried the eye trick again, but his hands found my wrist when he saw the move. I tried to head butt him but he saw that coming too and moved his head out of reach.

Now, with my back against the wooden pole, my wrists held down, my chest pinned against his, my heart beating as fast as it could go; I was as good as dead. I looked at his face and he was no longer grinning. His famous frown had made a reappearance. Although I thought he was enjoying this, I realized that I was going to lose a fight against Jon Snow yet again.

Until he moved. What he did was quite simple. His feet were probably becoming numb from the lack of movement and the coldness of the ground, so he moved his feet further apart, which placed one of my legs between his.

"Yield," he mumbled.

I looked down; hoping it would look like I was ashamed. It worked, when I felt his grip lessen and then I made my move. I thrusted my armoured chest against him which took him by surprise. I knew this wasn't going to make him fall, but it gave me enough space to push my knees up between his legs.

I felt guilty as he fell onto the snow but I ran away from him, grabbing both of our swords from the ground. I stuck them into the snow and leaned against mine, waiting for him to get up. The courtyard was silent, darkening; torches were being lit as I waited.

It took him a while to get up, so I started to assess the damage I had taken. Few bruises, no broken bones, my forehead was bleeding a little, but all in all, it wasn't bad. What was hurting me the most, were my hands, but what was worrying me the most was the fact that: one I was starting to lose the feeling in my feet because of the cold and two, Jon was taking too damn long to get up.

"Snow?" I shouted and he moved getting up, slowly. "It was a knee to the groin for heavens sake." The crowd cringed and groaned. "Not a bloody sword to the heart!"

"It hurts none the less," he replied trying to get up. Jon sat on the snow and I walked to him, holding both our swords.

"Truce?" I asked, standing in front of him.

"That wasn't very honourable," he stated as he placed his hand on the snow behind him and leant back.

"I thought you were teaching me how to fight, not how to be an honourable man!" I bit back a laugh and he grinned.

"Truce."

I put my sword in its sheath and showed him my free hand. He looked at it and then back at me.

"You just kneed me in the groin. And what was that you just told me about you don't care much about honour. I don't really think I should trust you by accepting your help right now," he said not moving. "Besides, the snow is helping the pain."

"Come on you Stark bastard, I may not have much honour, but I do help my friends. When they don't have me pinned against a wall," I said, pushing down my scarf so he could see my grin.

"Right!" He grabbed my hand and I pulled him up.

"That was…great!" We turned to see Sam running towards us, hands in the air. "Well, not that last part, but other than that it was brilliant!"

"Yeah, Bos! That last part was a bit too much." Some brother said from the crowd that had gathered to watch us fight.

"What? So you'd rather I die? If this was a real fight to the death that would have probably been my last chance to escape." I saw understanding on some faces and distrust on others. "Besides, if he was thinking about having kids, he wouldn't have joined the Night's Watch."

"That is not the only use for a dick, Bos!" An older man said from the group.

"What? I don't see any women here. Besides you lot are too ugly for this pretty face!" I had actually grabbed Jon's chin and ruffled his black curls as I said that, making the brothers laugh. "Look at him! He's prettier than some of the whores I know." I looked up at him and he was trying to stop himself from laughing. "I say we could actually make some profit out of you boy!"

"I think no one would want him, with that frown carved in his face!" Sam said and Jon looked at him in surprise.

"No, no!" Jon finally said. "If I'm being whored out, it's with the frown. Call it an extra!"

We all looked at each other and burst out laughing. It was something that didn't happen often on The Wall, but at that moment we weren't all outcasts. There were no thieves, rapists, murderers or orphans. The White Walkers and the Wildlings didn't exist. We were all just a bunch of brothers having a laugh.