the sword in the darkness
DISCLAIMER: Every character mentioned and anything in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire belongs to George R. R. Martin. I own nothing except the writing.
28. hunt
He pants, leaning heavily against the tree, holding the small torch near his face for warmth in futility, breathing in deep, the freezing cold air stinging the inside of his nose, and he can almost imagine the air going down to his lungs and freezing them up, suffocating him. Jon wants to think that maybe that would be a mercy instead of a bad thing, but he tells himself once again that he knows nothing, and the Night's Watch cannot afford to lose men now, now when the Others are invading.
His head snaps up when he hears the almost unnoticeable sound of crunching of snow under feet and his eyes go to Pyp's, who is behind the tree opposite to him, and he nods at Jon, his eyes wide with terror. Jon takes another breath and steadies himself before touching the top of the smaller torch to the other, bigger torch in his hand, letting the flame spread slowly and cake upwards before he throws at his tree's root, and running on the narrow pair between another two trees. He glances back to see Pyp following and sees the flame climbing up the tree, the fire gliding over the trunk and eating away at the wood, the fire spreading to the leaves and the extra twigs and spreading to the tree next to it, and after, and after. He runs, and does not look back once more.
