Alys
The tall pines were a lush green under the frosting of fallen snow, the pine fur at their bottoms swallowed by a meter thick blanket. The cold was sharp as valyrian steel, it came in from the east – off the salt of the sea subdued – picking up loose flakes and making the snow wild in the air. It made Alys extremely grateful that their destination lied close ahead. The road their carriage train travelled along had been cleared as much as the men of Eastwatch could manage. Leading the train beside her was Sigron, who wore tunic, breeches and cloak. Her own clothes consisted of thick breeches, a quilted tunic with the Karstark sunburst embroidered on the breast, a heavy cloak and a scarf that covered the lower half of her face. Her long sword sat on her hip. Ser Edmund would have been with them had Alys not left him behind as Castellan of Karhold.
The trees grew sparse at the northern edge of the woods. Men in all black shoveled snow and swung axes, their metal heads biting bark. Alys heard a pine tree falling and turned her head quick enough to see it slump onto the ground, sending flakes up into the air. As they travelled further, snowed-over stumps littered the ground and men were cutting pine fur from trunks. With winter here, they need more fire wood.
Looking ahead, Eastwatch was a dismal place. It sat close to where the land stopped and the sea started. Wooden piers stretched out into the salt water of the Bay of Seals, holding workmen & sailors & ships. With the Wall just north of it, the fortress seemed tiny. Built from grey, mortared stone, it had clearly seen better days. A modest outer wall surrounded the several small keeps that served as the Night's Watch eastern most outpost, though many parts of the wall had crumbled and several of the keeps looked uninhabitable. Climbing the ice of the Wall was a sprawling collection of wooden staircases and ramps, even a few small huts. I wouldn't want to sleep in one of those. Clinging to the western side of the fortress, like a barnacle on a ship's hull, was the Free Folk camp, populated by hide tents and small cookfires producing smoke that danced in the wind. It looked much more alive than the fortress it sat beside.
"It seems your fellow Free Folk have made themselves at home," Alys quipped, her voice muffled by her scarf and turning to a white mist in the air.
Sigorn chuckled briefly. "They have a habit of doing that," he replied, voice hoarse.
The Gods had answered the prayer Alys gave them at her wedding: it had been very easy to get Sigorn to act like a proper lord, though he had an abrasive personality and pitch black sense of humour. Alys took a liking to him despite it and wanted him to help her rule the Karstark lands, spending plenty of her time teaching him how to rule. Sigorn could not read or write and spoke the Old Tongue better than the Common, so Alys had gotten Maester Garrett to teach how to write & read and he would grow to speak the Common Tongue better in time by using it to speak with her.
Sigorn's people were met with an initial resistance by Alys' subjects in Karhold, but after a week, relations began to improve. Most of them could not speak a word of the Common Tongue, so there was a natural separation between the thenns and the castle's other inhabitants. Alys was sure the separation would dissolve in time, slowly at first but more rapidly later on. She saw the beginnings of it before leaving Karhold: thenns were doing their best to speak with her other subjects in the baileys of Karhold. She also heard the usual reports of people being discovered in the middle of rutting, expect they involved thenn men & women on occasion now.
As the train of carriages was closing in on the Night's Watch fortress, Alys saw horses leave through the front gate that faced west. The passed in-between tents and Free Folk, four in number: three in black, one in grey with bright red hair. Alys smiled. Tormund. She lifted her arm up high, fingers clenched into a fist. The train of carriages came to a stop while they waited for the welcoming party to reach them.
"Karstark!" Tormund bellowed once he'd stopped. "It's fucking good to see you."
"The feeling's mutual, Giantsbane," Alys replied.
Tormund eyed Sigorn and grinned. "How good a wife has she been, Sigorn?"
"Like I'd tell you, Bear Fucker," Sigorn said.
That set Tormund off laughing. One of the sworn brothers urged his horse slightly forward. "It's an honour for you to visit, Lady Alys," he said. "My name is Ser Glendon Hewett, the Master-at-arms here at Eastwatch. Commander Pyke apologies for not being able to greet you here in person, he's currently in a meeting with the Maester."
"Very well, Ser Glendon. Lead on."
The man nodded and the four who'd ridden out turned their horses around, Tormund doing so after he'd gone to Alys' side. The train was moving again. "Reading that raven scroll was better than I'd thought it would be," Tormund told Alys. "I swear to the Old Gods that the White Walkers would have been scared off by my laughter had they been creeping close to this end of the Wall."
"Then it's a shame you didn't wait to read the scroll until the White Walkers attacked?"
"Har! You're too bloody right, Karstark, but I couldn't help myself. The thought of your husband here thinking you were going to gut him only to find out he'd been tricked was too funny to wait for."
Tormund bellowed a laugh and kept at it until they finally dismounted. They passed through the stone arch in the wall to enter a reasonably sized courtyard. When they came to a stop, Alys' men began moving the criminals out of the carriages. Each of the condemned men looked miserable and that was understandable. Tomorrow they would be carted away to Castle Black and put through training before being assigned to one of the three orders and saying their words. Ser Glendon approached her and bowed with his head.
"If you would follow me, My Lady," he said. "I will show you to the rooms we reserved for you and your husband."
Alys nodded, but caught Tormund before she went with the Master-at-arms. "Where will I find you if I want to speak?" she asked.
"Top of the Wall," Tormund answered. "I spend my days up there. Only reason why I rode out to see you is 'cause I saw your carriages coming out from the woods."
Ser Glendon led the way across the yard to the largest of the old, crumbling keeps while Tormund made his way to the Wall. The stone wall surrounding Eastwatch was connected to the ice wall. Entering the keep, she noticed that it was only marginally warmer than outside. Torches hung from the walls in iron sconces. They produced plenty of light but the heat didn't pierce the cold air that lingered in the stone corridors of the keep.
The chamber they were shown to was small. A single window let in cold, white light, but not as much as it could: a pile of snow had built up on the outside window sill. The light shaft landed at the foot of the double bed that consisted of a straw mattress and a wooden frame that looked newly made. I'll bet the bed was only made once they received my raven saying I'd be coming with my husband. The bed clothes looked old and tattered, but were at the very least thick. Otherwise, there was no furniture in the room besides a waist-high table with a water basin on it. The only colour in the room was the light brown of the wooden bed frame and the white ceramic of the water basin.
Ser Glendon left them. A steward brought their travel cases to the room. They had nothing to do beside opening the window to clear the piled snow and wait for Cotter Pyke to be finished in his meeting. Alys took off the scarf from around her face and a steward eventually came to take them to Cotter Pyke. Once again they walked through the cold, grey corridors of Eastwatch's main keep, climbing a set of stairs all the way to the top floor with Commander Pyke's chambers were.
Entering said chambers, Alys found the Commander of Eastwatch a hard, lean man. Pox scars covered his face, distracting her from a pair of close-set eyes and misshapen nose that had been broken a great number of times. Brown hair topped his head, pointing forward into a widow's peak. He wore all black, just like any other man of the Night's Watch: breeches, tunic, boots and leather jerkin. Maester Harmune was still in the room, dressed in a thick, black robe, his chain hanging heavy around his neck. Alys remembered his name from a raven scroll sent to Karhold. Harmune looked a typical old man: thin, grey hair, thick eyebrows, weary eyes and wrinkled skin.
When Pyke laid eyes on Alys, his face crunched up in disgust. "You've got a lot of fucking nerve, woman," he said. Alys simply tilted her head at the remark, already aware of Cotter Pyke's rough speech.
"And it is a wonderful to accept your hospitality, Commander Pyke," Alys replied, solid as stone and almost sarcastic. "Can I ask why you claim I have a lot of nerve?"
"You have brought men to Eastwatch and forced me to assign men to cart them off to Castle Black. Why didn't you just take them there yourself?"
"Because Eastwatch is closer to Karhold and I have to be back there as soon as I can. Don't say I should have stayed at Karhold and let someone else escort my prisoners. My King is doing the same, so I wanted to follow his example."
Cotter gave a grim chuckle. "Yes. Jon Stark, the new King in the North and my Lord Commander. Any other reason why you came?"
"I wanted to see the Wall and know whether or not the tunnel had been sealed properly. If the White Walkers get through the Wall and continue directly south, they will eventually be travelling over my lands and will be slaughtering my smallfolk."
"You'll be pleased to find that we've piled rocks and tree trucks into the far end of the tunnel and poured walk through our murder holes. It's going to be a slow process gathering the materials to fill the tunnel with, but we're getting there. Those trees you would have seen being cut down are being used for more than just firewood."
"Good. What have you sailors been reporting?"
Pyke's frown curled deeper. "Nothing, during the day," he replied ominously. "But at night..." There was fear in his eyes. "The night's are pitch black. The only light my sailors get is from torches and the... and further north up the coast," he turned to Harmune, "Maester, get that map of the lands beyond the Wall."
Maester Harmune rose, walked over to a shelf and pulled a large, rolled up parchment from it. He unrolled into on the table and Cotter moved a candle to weigh down one of the corners then dragged his finger over a straight line of coast that led north to the bottom of Storrold's Point. "Whenever my sailors are patrolling this stretch of coast during the night, they report seeing hundreds of cold blue lights moving through the trees," Pyke explained. "Strange thing is, they don't report the lights along the piece of coast just below it." He dragged his finger south along a humped piece of coast that curved toward Eastwatch. "Either those frozen cunts are travelling too far inland to be spotted from ships or they're travelling south-west to Castle Black or somewhere between there & Eastwatch. Either way, the Walkers and their army are making their way toward the Wall "
Alys stared at the map silently. "I was going to ask if the Free Folk are presenting any problem," she said slowly, "and if you wanted me to send you men to help man the castle."
"The wildlings have been acting fine. Some of them went off to the two nearest forts and I sent some of my builders to work on the keeps so they're better suited for habitation. I won't need anymore men while the wildlings are here."
"Very well. That is all the business that I needed to speak you about. Do you have anything else to discuss?" Pyke shook his head. "Then I'll take my leave." Pyke nodded.
The day was old already and Alys felt tired: the only things essential things left in the day would be to eat supper and sleep, but she would be leaving on the morrow and didn't know if she would ever be coming a back to the Wall. When she left Pyke's chamber, Alys stopped in the corridor to tell Sigorn to run their men through some drills in the training yard while she went to the top of the Wall.
The climb was slow and uncomfortable, the wooden platforms creaking as she went. Getting higher, the wind blew more strongly, its bite growing sharper. Cold coming off the ice made her regret not retrieving her scarf as her cheeks grew numb. Alys hugged herself tightly, flinching at even the slightest crack that vibrated through the Wall. It has stood for thousands of years. You' weigh less than the men that have manned it in all that time. You climbing the Wall is not going to be the thing to make it fall.
When Alys finally reached the top of the Wall, she asked one of the guards where Tormund was and the guard pointed west. Planks of timber had been laid down on the path every half meter with gravel scattered in-between them. Clearly their purpose was to provide feet better grip on the ice and Alys was thankful for it. Warming sheds and wooden shelters that housed braziers lined the path. She did not count the men she passed, but was confident they were half made of sworn brothers and half made of Free Folk. Tormund was standing on a platform that jutted out from the Wall a small bit, his bright red hair dancing in the wind. Alys' hair was braided and tucked under her cloak.
"A bit nippy, isn't it," she said, stopping beside him. Alys saw the land beyond the Wall for the first time in her twenty-one years. It was white from the Wall to the horizons save some green sprinkled in amoung the trees and the grey water crashing against the coast.
"More than a bit," Tormund replied.
"This is the first time that I've ever seen the land beyond the Wall."
"It's a sight to behold, but you wouldn't want to be that side of the Wall now."
"Pyke told me his sailors have seen blue lights along the coastline just south of Storrold's Point."
"That'll be the wights and the White Walkers."
"What was it like to fight them?"
"Near impossible, least not if you don't have the weapons. At Hardhome, they came at us with a swarm. Anyone who didn't get on the boats died." He turned to face her. "Let me tell you this Karstark, when you see those things for the first time, you'll be frozen with fear. The sight of those blue eyes in the distance will turn the bravest man craven and there wouldn't be any shame in admitting it." He spoke in quiet, serious tone that suggested fear. Alys had never thought to hear a man such as Tormund afraid.
The sky turned from dark grey to darker grey to black. The only light in the world were torches and fires and the light from the red comet bleeding through the clouds. Its light is brighter than the Sun's during the day. Alys, Sigron and the Karhold men ate in the common hall: a long, wooden building that could seat two hundred men, three hundred if they were packed tightly. Supper was a thin beef & barley stew that filled her stomach and warmed her body, washed down with an ale than tasted like dirt. She walked to her guest chamber beside Sigorn after supper, body aching from travel.
Lying on the bed dressed in a nightshift, Alys stared at the ceiling, willing herself to fall asleep. The room was dark, the wooden shutters closed in front of the window, but her eyes had adjusted to it. Sigorn was lying on his stomach beside her, breathing slowly and holding onto his pillow. She looked at his scarred face: it was not what one would call comely, but Alys had begun to find it very attractive. That's what I need. All the travel has wound me tight. I need to unwind. She rolled onto her side to get close to Sigorn, running a hand along her husband's body. The muscles underneath his nightshirt were firm but tense. He needs to unwind as well. Alys' hand stopped on Sigorn's backside. She squeezed and his eyes snapped open.
"What?" he asked gruffly, most of his mouth pressed into the pillow.
"I want to make love," Alys replied quietly. That made Sigorn grin.
In an instant he was above her, weight supported by his arms pressing into Alys pillow, either side of her head. Sigorn's eyes filled with lust and Alys grinned at the prospect. Husband & wife kissed once – long & passionate – before the pair of them sought out removing their night clothes. Sigorn knelt and Alys sat against the wall behind her as they removed the garments, chucking them on the floor. The chilled air made Alys' flesh prickled with gooseflesh and her dark pink nipples grew stiff.
Sigorn bent down and kissed her again, a breast in each hand, massaging them. Alys shuddered at his touch, returning the kiss and reaching for his cock. Taking it hand, it was already part way hard. Alys wrapped her legs around Sigorn's hips, forcing them toward her own, guiding his cock to her cunny which was already sopping wet. Sigorn pushed his hips forward the rest of the way, entering his wife as they moaned in unison. Alys felt complete once he was all the way in, wrapping her arms around his torso to pull him close whilst his hips did their work.
She could not help but remember their first time together. Alys had heard that the first time for any woman was painful, but she'd felt what could be best described as a sharp ache after her maidenhead had been broken. The ache grew duller each time they made love and was gone by their fifth time. Ever since, Alys had only felt intense pleasure as Sigorn moved in & out of her. He had strong hips and she sometimes worried that he would send both their heads crashing into the headboard, in this case, the stone wall.
Very soon she felt her lower belly begin to knot. It wasn't the knot of an upset stomach or incredible fear, it was a knot that sent lightning pleasure through her body when pulled undone, making her shake and white stars flash behind her eyes. Alys would dig her nails into the skin on Sigorn's back, leaving red, crescent shaped marks. He never complained; Alys was half convinced that he loved it when she dug her nails into his back since he would only thrust harder into her.
The knot grew tighter & tighter. The room filled with her moans, Sigorn's moans and the slapping of wet flesh. Every time he drew back, a worry creeped into the back of Alys' mind that Sigorn would withdraw completely, but he never did and she loved him for it. During their time as man & wife, Alys had grown to love the feeling of Sigorn inside her: it made her feel as if she & her husband were one person. The knot grew as tight as it could and one more thrust of Sigorn's hips sent Alys over the edge.
She screamed blissfully, her body shaking and hot; a layer of sweat had formed on top of her skin. The walls of her cunny convulsed around Sigorn. He let a groan and quickly withdrew completely only to send a stream of hot seed onto Alys' belly, moaning so deeply she could feel it with legs since they were still wrapped around Sigorn's hips. Her mind was cloudy as she came down from her peak and it almost felt like his seed was burning her skin. Sigorn knelt as he breathed, drawing in heavy breath after heavy breath. The softest smile Alys had ever seen perked his lips. She was sure that it could bring her to a second peak by itself.
Once their breathing slowed Alys sat up and cupped Sigorn's face. "Thank you for remembering to spill on my belly," she said before kissing him. Never had Alys let Sigorn spill his seed inside her: she didn't want to get with child while the White Walkers remained a threat. To be doubly careful, every morning after love making, she had Maester Garrett brew her some Moon tea.
"It's no problem, only we now have to wash ourselves before heading off to sleep," Sigorn replied.
The pair of them stood and walked over to the table with the water basin. Alys poured it full and soaked a cloth before wiping Sigorn's seed from her belly and then Sigorn's manhood. She let out a brief laugh as he pulled her close to kiss her again. They held the kiss for a long time, feet upon the cold stone floor and Alys still cupping his manhood. They would of held it for much longer had the horn made her jump.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-aaaaaaaaa-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Alys' head snapped toward the window. The snow had piled on the window sill higher than when she cleared it earlier.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-aaaaaaaaa-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
The first note was low & long, the second higher & shorter, the third identical to the first. Each rang against the walls of the room and made Alys' belly knotted all over again; only this time the knot was fear, not pleasure.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-aaaaaaaaa-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Alys dropped the wash cloth and went to pull on her clothes. Sigorn did the same. They strapped on swords and threw cloaks over their shoulders before rushing out of the room, then the keep. Many others had gotten the same idea as Alys, making for the staircases climbing the Wall. Her legs carried her as fast they could up the great wooden structure built into the ice. She did not care about cold, she didn't even feel it in her haste. At the top of the Wall she searched for Tormund and found him closer to the stairs than she had earlier. He was looking out over the Haunted Forest, eyes locked on the three pairs of cold, blue light lingering at the edge of the trees.
Alys finally felt the cold. It was so intense that it hurt ot breathe and she almost forgot her fear.
"Is that them?" she asked, stupidly.
Tormund only grunted a confirmation. "Only those three have reared their heads. There would be more if they mean to attack, I have no doubt. They'd have wights as well." Alys fingered her sword hilt. Tormund noticed. "That steel will do you fuck all good, Karstark. It'll shatter like glass the moment it meets one of their blades." Alys fingered the hilt all the same.
"Is this the first time they've shown up?"
"Aye. It is. But I'll expect that they'll be peeping in on us in the nights to come. If they're this close to the Wall, they'll be wanting to judge our defenses." For some strange reason, Alys felt an ugre to look up at the sky and find the light of the red comet. The colour of blood, she thought grimly. Cotter Pyke eventually appeared at the top of the Wall and Tormund filled him in on what the Walkers had done since appearing. "Nothing," he said. And that's all they did for what felt like forever.
Eventually, the blue eyes moved.
The White Walkers turned their backs on the Wall and returned to the trees of the Haunted Forest. Alys took her hand off her sword hilt. Cotter turned round to one of his men. "Wake Maester Harmune if he isn't already awake," he ordered. "Tell him to send a raven to Castle Black and another to Winterfell informing them that three White Walkers have been seen at the edge of the Haunted Forest."
"Yes, Commander Pyke," the man said, before walking away.
Alys kept her eyes locked on the trees, afraid that if she looked way, an army of wights would emerge and attack. I pray to Old Gods and the New that this wall never falls.
