272 AC

Rowan Umber

Sleep never came. Along with it came hunger pangs strong enough to make sure I never got a glimpse of shut-eye. Fortunately, my temporary relaxation position in the corner of the dirty room helped to alleviate some of the pain I had been feeling.

Despite the cloudy silence, my mood rapidly rebounded back from the constant attempts of communication from Inner. It was times like this that reminded me about all the times she had been there for me. Crazy as it might sound, Inner had her moments of insightfulness but had a preference of acting crass and insensitive.

'Because no one else can hear me other than you' Helpfully reminded the Inner voice

"whatev.." The ragged cover over the door was flung open and in stepped a Wilding. His wild and unkempt hair hung down to his neck, dark, loathing-filled brown eyes, crooked nose and cut upper lip, he cut quite the intimidating figure. That is if you forgot his height. The Wilding was probably the shortest out everyone about this ship - except me of course.

He was probably also the youngest on this ship. His age ranged between 13 and 14 with a height of around 160 centimetres. The books at the Last Hearth never mentioned anything about how young Wildings start at raiding.

If I wasn't so hungry and tired, I might've been more scared of the uncontrollable situation, and I was. The way his lips curled into a cruel smirk was unsettling and how his eyes seemed to shine seemed to heighten that fear.

My stomach had decided it was time to alert the world of its presence and rumbled loud enough for the Wilding to hear.

I watched him warily as he approached my weakened figure.

Caution rising with each step as he got closer.

My hands discreetly ghosted above my hip, where I had hidden my dagger. He stopped moving eyeing my hand before lowering himself to my eye level, his hands resting on his knees. There was an urge to stab the bitch right between the eye was there; I would've gladly indulged that urge. But I did not want my chances of surviving changing from its already low levels to nil.

"What do you want?" Purposely keeping my voice meek and subdued, I made sure to look him in the eyes but to look in his general direction. Even If he can't understand what I am saying, I hoped it would convey my meaning from the tone.

He opened his lips; however, the words that followed were incomprehensible. The confusion must've shown through my eyes because he started to do hand movements as if I would understand what he was trying to convey. He finally stopped, shook his head and pulled a water skin from his waist and held it out to me.

I hadn't even noticed how parched my throat was until the option of quenching my thirst was there. I reached over cautiously when I wasn't stopped, grabbed it from it and gulped down the water fiercely. I released a sign from the cold liquid entering my system. At least, now I know I won't be dying from dehydration.

A faint sound of someone chuckling brought my attention back to the Wilding before me, his gaze holding a familiar warmth from before. Now that I pay attention, he was the same one that told me to go back in the side.

"Jonos." I looked at him, fear slowly ebbing away from his gentle gaze, before doing the same.

"Rowan."

"Roran?" He repeated to himself.

Shaking my head, I repeated it once more clearly.

He chuckled to himself before a smile wide enough to split his face emerged on his face. "Rowan."

'Look at this cutie.' I thought.

His warm smile and gentleness helped to alleviate the boredom and pass the time. He pushed his palm forward, and I handed his waterskin back. Jonos shook it, nodded and then proceeded to look around for something.

I watched in confusion as he pushed the loot around and picked up a cloth from the pile and poured water on it. I almost reached over to snatch it from him for wasting the water. Nodding to himself, he walked back to me and raised the wet rag to my face.

"Oh," I understood what he was trying to do, and I let him continue. I cut a sorry figure to his eyes with dried blood on my face and clothing. I looked at him and saw his face screwed with a concentrated look.

He looked down at me and smiled before continuing to wipe dried blood from my face. His hand movements were tender as if he would aggravate my head wound.

He finished a minute later and threw the cloth away before settling in front of me with his legs crossed. We stared at each other for a moment then he starting pointing at stuff and naming them aloud.

I'm ashamed to say it took me a while to realise what he was trying to do, but he was patient. I realised that he was trying to teach me his language, Old tongue.

With him here, hours had passed, and he gave me a crash course into how to speak Old tongue. Luckily, I had Inner in my head or else I would forget everything. Having someone who can see my memories is a cheat.

Noise from outside alerted both of us to activity. I watched as panic rose from his face, and his face would dart back to me and the door. His panic caused me to worry because something that would alarm him would be detrimental to me.

I could see the troubled look in his eye as he looked at me as if something terrible was going to happen to me. Over the time spent together, I could see how he liked spending time teaching me and the genuine care he had for me, which was confusing.

I was 100% sure that I had no relatives across the wall and I know I had never met a Wilding before. Inner suggested Jonos lost a little sister. I might've reminded him of a younger sibling who passed away or murdered. It would explain his gentle and warm gestures; like he was taking of me. It was reassuring to know I had someone looking out for me even if he was weaker than everyone else out there.

He got up quickly and raise both hands to show a placating sort of hand gesture before rushing out the room, leaving behind his water skin. I'm sure he was telling me 'don't worry, everything will be alright.'

I strained my ears to listen for anything but could only hear the noise level raising and shouts exchanged. I could discern Jonos' voice among the arguers. What was being said was something my new taught proficiency in the Old tongue was something I was unable to follow, so I continued to sit there and not move.

I had a high suspicion that I was the topic of the argument. It was a logical observation other than him being told off for slacking off.

The noise quietened enough for me to hear the loud impact of something hitting the ground. Abruptly, the noise level rose once more, but there was an edge to most of the voices as if they had just seen something shocking. I wouldn't be able to tell because Old tongue sounded so different from Common speech.

My breath hitched in my throat when I saw the cover to the door ripped down from the door, and in walked Jonos. Blood running down his arm from a gash that cut into clothing. The other hand clutched a steel sword that I saw previously attached to his hip. However, despite the pain, there was a happy smile on his face. As if he had accomplished something astounding.

He looked at the pile and picked up a tunic and helped me put it on. Jonos' fast movements worried me a bit, but I followed everything he did. My chances of surviving without him were lower. I just prayed that he would be okay for whatever he did.

He turned around and crouched with both hands resting on the ground.

'Get on his back, you idiot?'

"Is it you or me that is hungry? Blood isn't rushing to my head fast enough." I complained while crawling to him and lifting my self onto his back.

I hissed in pain when his hands accidentally brushed against my ankle. He heard from me being directly next to his ear and lifted the hem of my dress to see the swollen ankle. The black bruise stood out amongst my pale skin. He made a gasping sound before looking back at me doing hand movements.

"Why didn't you tell me," He motioned with a frown. I noticed that the expression made him look more intimidating, which is something because of his short stature.

I shrugged and he carefully lifted himself off the ground doing his best not to touch the ankle again. When he walked out of the room, I noticed that everyone was looking at Jonos weirdly.

The Wildlings were all standing with shock on their faces. On the ground, I saw the pool of blood from the corpse of the bald raider from before. The leader was standing at the side with an unreadable look in his eye as he watched Jonos carrying me across the ship.

The air was tense and most were looking at the Wilding leader for directions. I lowered my head in an attempt to draw less attention to myself, which was useless considering why the bald bitch was killed anyway.

'Damn right!'

The leader was standing in front of the gangplank - lowered onto earth - and stared down at both of us.

'What is it with people killing each other for you?' Asked Inner.

'You're asking the wrong person.'

'I told you being cute has its benefits. Shame you weren't cute or pretty in your other life, maybe you would've been able to go to prom with that hot..'

'Shut up!' I interrupted Inner from carrying on with that thought.

They had exchanged tense words, while I wasn't paying attention. Sometimes, others would speak as well. But I could see that the leader wasn't upset with what Jonos did. He looked quite happy with him dead instead, but what was causing problems for both of them was me. However, I could see the pity and sadness in the eyes of everyone on the ship. It led credence to Inner's theory.

It also explained why I was even alive and aboard the ship. I owed my life to Jonos for whatever he did to convince everyone to allow me on board. The leader glanced towards me before looking back at Jonos and nodded.

Jonos walked across the wooden gangplank onto dry land. The ship stopped at a long river with towering trees dotting the landscape as far as she could see. The snow on the ground was thick and so compact as to be a solid surface. I watched on with trepidation as he walked across the snow with familiar ease and comfort.

Everything looked untouched and beautiful like the woods surrounding the last hearth. It was familiar and comforting to me, which allowed me to unwind the tension I never realised I had.

We walked in silence. The crunch of the snow from his boots echoed through the silent woods. Birds flew to and fro from the large trees crying out occasionally. The snowy arboreal forest biome looked peaceful and I liked it. But I knew it hid creatures like Dire wolves and Shadow cats.

I would've even enjoyed the view if it wasn't so hot. I felt like I was burning. Sweat pouring down my foreheads and my clothes stuck unforgettably against my petite body. Jonos noticed my distress and pressed the back of his palm against my forehead. His face grew alarmed and his pace quickened.

The trees parted to reveal a village. Wooden houses covered the large space around the middle leaving enough an even larger area between the centre and treeline. There was a small training yard where I could see both boys and girls taught how to fight with swords, spears or whatever other weapons could be mustered.

Their approach must've been spotted because people Wildlings began to gather at the front. Jonos walked passed the people standing, only saying a word or two to people who spoke to him. Walking through, I saw the indifferent looks from passerby's. People from south of the wall were a common occurrence after a raid. It made sense because of the women being taken.

I remember father and Uncle Beron speaking about it. Some village near the gift got raided, and women were taken. Jonos walking speed increased as he approached a wooden house. He pushed open the door with a lot of force and shouted into the house.

"Lehna!" He shouted. An old woman who had been sitting on a wooden chair at a table jumped from the sudden noise. She looked at Jonos with an angry look before it softened when she saw me. She signed before pointing at the bed.

The words coming out of both their mouths were too quick for me to follow. But it looked like he was telling her to heal me or something and with how frantic he's being, you would think I was dying. I was placed down onto a straw bed and a bowl of something was poured down my throat. It tasted like shit and I was seconds away from spitting it back in Lehna's face.

But I, with much difficulty, managed to swallow it all down. Soon after taking it, I felt tired as if all my energy was sapped from my small body. I fell asleep to Lehna fussing over Jonos' arm wound.

Jonos

"Lehna, can you watch over her while I go see the chief?" The words came out of my mouth more confident than I was feeling.

I looked up at the women who had taken care of me when both mother and father passed. Who had taught me everything I needed to know to survive and how to be a true man.

But this was something I had to do. She, out of everyone in the village, would know best why I am doing what I am doing.

"She wasn't supposed to have survived. Rufus boasted as if he had fought against 100 free folks about how he caved her skull in. When she was still breathing, some of the men whispered about the Old gods blessing her. It was enough for superstitious Tobin to support me when I asked to take her."

I hissed from pain when the old healer rubbed healing paste on the wound before tightening a cloth around it. " When I was a child, you told me that the Old gods would reward those who valour and bravery stood out amongst men. You said that Robyn had enough courage for the entire north. Could she..."

I didn't finish that sentence. Just looking at Rowan was enough to remind me of Robyn. The same big and bright eyes, same brown locks, same small button nose and same pink lips. I would never forget how my sister looks and the resemblance between them is uncanny.

"Jonos, look at me." Lehna looked me in the eyes with her warm and understanding eyes. "I will take care of your little girl, but first you are going to rest."

"But I must speak with the chief, I have to pay for the consequences of both my actions." While feeling that both my saving of Rowan and killing of Rufus were perfectly justifiable, I broke rules today and I will pay for them.

"Let me deal with them." Lehna patted my cheek before pushing me towards another bed laying down on the other side of the room. "When you wake up tomorrow, everything will be back to normal, except we will have an extra family member."

I stared at the women and saw the genuine honesty and kindness behind her eyes. There was a reason she was even more well-liked in the village than the chieftain.

"Sleep well, my darling."

A/N: Here is another chapter. As mentioned before, any criticism and highlights on mistakes would be appreciated. I would love to improve my work even further and hopefully when I do, it shows in the quality of my work.

Anyways, it will be start to pick up from here or I hope it does. Haven't really planned much, so besides a general idea of what I want, I got nothing. Thanks for reading and enjoy!