From here on out our lives would no longer be certain, when we were at the river, we all knew that the only thing we had to do, was stay away from the rest of the forest, now that was no longer the case.
I was about to step forward and begin to check out the ground in front of us, but William stopped me.
"We have men for that" was the only thing he said as men immediately ran in front of the group of men and began to explore the area in front of us.
Slowly we began to march deeper and deeper into the snow-covered forest, our only way back was a simple path made by the men's marching feet crushing the snow beneath them and small stones on the side.
It didn't take long before the forest let itself be known, at our left was a greate bear one whose fur was a deep brown and whose claws were as black as coal, its eyes were sunken inside its head considering that its snout made its face look somewhat stretched out.
The creature just looked at the army as we marched, however, it never bothered coming near us.
We continued to march until the sun began to set, it was then that we realized that the forest around us, wasn't a forest at all, the trees were moving.
Boom boom boom, the sound of their exploding footsteps reach our ears as the massive creatures wake up and began to move, it was getting dark and it would be nearly impossible to start a fire, especially considering that with every step the creatures gave, they picked up snow and made lots of wind.
The horses screamed as they tried to run away from the danger, unfortunately, if they managed to get away they wouldn't be alive for that much longer.
No one moved, we all just watched as the creatures moved around, we watched as the moon rose as our only companion for the night, luckily the combination of furs and skins amongst the men would keep them all warm.
Unfortunately, it was still incredibly cold.
We couldn't march, not at night it was too dangerous to even with the light of the moon accompanying us, so as the night went on, the men began to speak amongst themselves.
They passed around wine to keep themselves warm and spoke about their wives, mothers, lovers, and someone had said something about a goat somewhere along the line before we knew it night had passed and we were on our way once again.
We marched through a field where plants hummed t by themselves and changed color depending on which one was making the sound, a small clearing led us to a place where insects covered the ground, it was there that the hunters refused to set foot on.
For whatever reason they could, no they wouldn't go near the insect, as we circled the clearing, we found ourselves starting at cages filled with human remains.
The men immediately drew their swords, not because the cages had skeletons and rotting human flesh, no because the cages themselves looked as if they had been grown around the people inside them.
As we marched the hairs on my hands began to stand and I soon found myself looking at a thin man who was painted half white and half black, the man tried to let out a scream, but one of the hunters slight his neck in less than a blink of an eye.
"Thye are not letting the attack go" William said as he looked at the hunter who had just killed the man.
"See that knife, see how they handle has different colors, that means its poisoned, normally they don't use poison, but after the attack, they started carrying it around. No color, no poison, color poison" William said to me as we marched forward and we soon found ourselves standing in front of a village, it barely had a stick wall around it and the people were more bones than meat.
I didn't bother saying anything I just lifted my hand and the men did the rest, the screams of women and children filled the air, as men tried t defend them, even when they tried to escape into the forest, the hunters stopped them.
It wasn't even a fight, no one on our side died, when t was all said and done I stood in front of a giant black tree and without a word one of the men handed me an ax and I began to cut the tree down.
The people looked at me with horror, there's no point in just cutting down a tree, as long as the roots remain, it will always grow back, but for now, just for now this all I can do.
The men were divided into two groups slaves and fighters, those that would fight for us, even if they didn't want to, the slaves would be the older generation, everyone else was from ten on up.
It was something Tyrion told me about, the men won't fight for you, but they will fight for their lives and if they don't they die, nothing lost something gained.
The women were divided more or less the same, except they were divided into threes, those that were old, those that had kids and those that didn't.
Before we marched forward, the men found all of the food in the village was either some kind of lizard we hadn't seen before or the remains of other people, we didn't take anything from the village, instead of before we left the men made sure to burn everything.
[Tyrion]
It's a curious thing, seeing a boy turn into a man, one would think that for it to happen some sort of greate celebration or something had to happen, after all, if life had taught me one thing is that one doesn't become a man just because he grows up.
Yet in my short time in this world, I have had the pleasure of...well there's no easier way to say it, I have seen grown men act like infants and boys that aren't anywhere near grown yet are my size act like grown men.
Never before would I have believed that I would have participated in a battle, much less an invasion, no it's not an invasion, we aren't claiming anything, no land is being taken and no settlements are being left behind.
Still, to think that men that bare the Lannister sigil await my orders, these same men would have spoken about me in whispers and would have mocked my size and yet they march at my speed.
After last night the looks they once had are gone, all one has to do is look in their eyes and they would know that the men that follow me are scared and yet they choose to follow.
I wonder why that is?
"Hoooo!" a massive ape that's easily the size of a cow runs towards us and yet it doesn't pass through the path we walk on, its a peculiar thing, its arms are as thick as tree branches and I'm fairly certain that if it wanted to it could eat me with a single bite and yet for all its power, it can't or won't cross the line.
Even as we march forward I see both William and Jose looking around, the boy's inexperience shows its self more and more, especially considering he keeps moving his head in whatever direction a new sound comes from.
"Quickly we won't be safe if we're left behind" I hear the scribes say to each other as they draw the various trees and creatures we walk past.
If this was another time, I would love to see what they had drawn, but unless I keep up this pace, I'll be left behind.
It's strang marching through this forest, how is it that despite snow covering the lands, the trees are still green in certain places, I can hear the women whimpering alongside their sons and daughters.
Truth be told I would rather let Jose do his thing and kill them all, but doing so would mean that the men would have to deal with seeing that act and it could affect their already weakened spirits.
So caught up in my thoughts that I nearly didn't notice Jose and Willam had stopped walking and with them so had their men.
"The path s gone...what I mean is that there isn't any path anymore," William said to me as I walked up to him and Jose.
Suddenly a hunter dropped from one of the trees and he held a dead bird in one arm, at least I think its a bird, the thing has two clawed feet, two wings a beak and feathers, but I've never seen a bird with teeth.
"So it's true we're being watched," Jose said as he looked at the corps.
"Lord Tyrion, I have a request send half the men or whatever number you think is needed to get the slaves back to the village" jose said as he looked into the forest, however, he didn't move, it was like if he was staring directly at something.
"It's waiting for us to step out of the path" William said to Jose as he drew his sword.
Its a curious thing seeing a boy become a man, it doesn't require any sort of special event, no what it needs is for that boy to begin to see the bigger picture and learn to act on it.
I didn't bother saying anything to them, there was no point in doing so.
"Alright listen, I have good news and bad news"
"The good news is some of you get to go back to the village, the bad news is you have to take the slaves with you, so if anyone wants to go back all you have to do is step forward" I said to the men, but none of them did.
"Lord Tyrion, may I with your permission," William said to me.
"Of course" I answered him back.
"There's no point in lying to any of you, the path is gone, from here on out we will march without protection, those of you that do go back, help strengthen the defenses, you have already seen glimpses of what we'll find"
"That's one reason, the second is so that our hard work is lost," William said to them, yet still not a single man stepped forward.
"With all due respect my lords, we all knew that we weren't going back to Westeros, we knew that when we boarded the ships that it would most likely be the last time we would ever see home"
"So my lords please let us fulfill our duty," one of the knights said.
"Their coming" Jose said as he drew his hammer and the sound of snow being crushed reached my ears, the men immediately drew their swords and those with horses prepared their lances.
I couldn't believe my eyes as giant lizards that walked on two legs and had a mouth that was covered in teeth so sharp they could cut threw a sword.
I watched as the men took up their positions and without a word, they began to fire arrows at the lizards, one by one the lizards fell and yet they kept coming, they made it past the first second and fifth dead one and before I knew it I heard the sound of metal hitting scales as Jose drove his hammer into a lizards skull.
The men all screamed and charged with them those that had horses tried to fight the lizards it was only because we had the numbers on our side, but had we been slightly less we would have lost, thankfully we didn't.