It had begun to snow again, and everyone had begun to slow down. Emmelyne's stomach kept twisting painfully, and she leaned heavily against Sandor, trying to keep her breathing normal. He held her tightly around the waist, and his grip was nearly the only thing keeping her standing. They all were ducked low, trying to see through the haze of white. The wind slapped against Emmelyne's face, stinging her skin and turning her cheeks a bright red. Everyone was clustered together, trying to maintain at least some warmth. Even Emmelyne's core heat had started to wear away, leaving her shaking madly beneath her furs.
Tormund pointed at something in the distance, something near hidden by the snow. Jon looked at Tormund, shaking his head. "Look!" the wildlings urged, still pointing.
Jon raised his hand against the snow, staring out at the shape. Emmelyne looked as well, vaguely able to make out that it was a bear. "A bear," she said, though her voice was barely audible.
Sandor repeated this for everyone to hear.
One of their wildling companions stopped, looking back at them all. "Big fucker," Sandor said.
It stopped walking, and Emmelyne could see that it was turning to face the group. It's eyes glowed bright blue. "Do bears have blue eyes?" Gendry asked hesitantly.
The bear let out a grunt, leaping forward towards them. The wildling ahead turned, breaking into a run back for the group. The men drew their swords, and Emmelyne started to nock an arrow.
The wildling was almost to the group, when the giant bear leaped onto him, it's jaws closing around his middle. A horrible scream echoed around them. Jon lurched into action, hurrying forward. There was no body, however. Only spattered blood and the wildlings spear. The wight bear continued to roar, but no one could label exactly where the sound was coming from.
The group formed into a circle, trying to see from all around. They held their weapons tightly, waiting for an attack. Emmelyne squinted, trying to find the shape of the bear.
There was a sudden roar, and another wilding was ripped away from the group, screaming horribly as the bear thrashed him back and forth. Jon ran forward, trying to distract the bear. This only angered it, and the beast threw Jon back. Sandor quickly helped him back to his feet. Beside Emmelyne, Thoros and Beric's swords ignited. They ran ahead, coming right in front of the bear. It towered over them on it's hind legs, letting out another roar before knocking Thoros to the ground. It dropped on top of him, clawing at his back. "Thoros!" Emmelyne screamed.
Beric charged the bear, which threw Thoros into the air. He hit the ground hard, and it advanced on him once more, Beric following. The bear lit up with fire as Beric managed a hit, and it stepped toward Emmelyne and Sandor. But Sandor was frozen. He stared at the flaming animal, his dark eyes wide and horrified. It lumbered toward them, leaping forward. Thoros jumped into it's path, falling once more to the ground. He held his sword with both hands between the bear's jaws, shouting as it fought against the metal.
Tormund was next to attempt a fight with the bear. He charged forward, hitting it hard in the side with his axe. But the bear knocked him away just as quickly. It continued it's fight with Thoros, managing to throw his sword aside. There was a tearing of flesh and a loud scream as it tore into Thoros's chest. It thrashed him side to side, Thoros screaming all the while. Sandor's shock finally seemed to wear away, but before he could do anything, Emmelyne fired an arrow into it's eye. It let out a final roar before falling dead. Gendry and Beric hurried up, pulling Thoros away from the burning carcass. Emmelyne slowly stepped forward, freeing her arrow from the eye socket. She looked back, searching for Sandor. But he had left his place, moving to look at Thoros. Beric and Gendry pulled away his layers of clothes, revealing long, deep claw marks in his chest. With each breath more blood dripped from the wound. "We have to get him back to Eastwatch," Jorah said.
Thoros shook his head. "Flask," he stated.
Beric found the flask in Thoros's furs, opening it up. The Red Priest drank heavily, pulling it roughly when Beric tried to take the flask away. When he was finished, he let out a cough. "Go on," he said.
Beric did as told, lowering his flaming sword in an attempt to cauterize the wound. Emmelyne closed her eyes when Thoros cried out.
Sandor turned away, and she followed him, taking his arm gently. "It's okay," she whispered. "It's going to be okay."
He shook himself free of her grip, shaking his head.
It took three men to help Thoros back onto his feet. Beric allowed his flaming sword to wear off. Jon and Tormund stared at the bear's tracks.
The walking was slower now that Thoros was injured. Emmelyne had sped up the best she could, trying to keep pace with Sandor. Suddenly, Tormund stopped, raising his hand. Everyone else went still as well.
The sound of clanging metal was coming from nearby. Tormund kept walking, leaving the rest of them behind. He climbed up onto the rocks, looking down into a valley. Jon followed, peering down as well. Only they could see, but it was a line of wights, led by a singular white walker. Jon lowered, speaking quietly. "Where's the rest of them?" he asked.
"If we wait long enough, we'll find out," Tormund said.
They stepped back from the rock, returning to the main group. "What is it?" Emmelyne asked.
"Wights. And a walker," Jon answered.
They decided to set up a distraction, lighting a fire in the path of a wights. Sure enough, it worked. The walker circled the fire, looking at it with confusion. It stepped forward, looking around.
That was when the living attacked. Jon launched into a sword fight with the walker, as everyone else began dealing with the wights. Jorah was caught suddenly, the wight he was fighting grabbing him tightly by the throat. Emmelyne fired an arrow into the nape of it's neck, and in seconds it was tumbling. She hurried forward, retrieving her arrow. That was when Jon killed the walker. It exploded in a burst of what looked like blue and white glass. The wights surrounding it exploded as well. All except for one.
It snarled and growled, spinning around, trying to find a way to escape. They all stared at it with wide eyes. A wildling ran forward, knocking it toward Sandor, who he figured would be able to wrangle the creature. It stepped away, charging at Tormund, who threw his axe aside and punched it in the face. It hit the ground, and Sandor dived forward, holding it firmly in place. Jorah, Emmelyne, and Beric ran over to help, and the others followed quickly.
It let out a high-pitched shriek that made Emmelyne want to cover her ears. Sandor pressed his hand to it's mouth, silencing it. It fought him, however, biting his hand. He pulled his hand away quickly, tearing some of the skin that surrounded the wight's mouth. "Fuck!" he snapped, shaking his hand before quieting the creature once more.
The ground began to rumble around them. Jon turned, looking around. There were thundering footsteps. Everyone froze, looking out in the distance. Jorah dug into his furs, pulling out a sack and stuffing it over the wight's head. Sandor tied the sack around it's neck as fast as he could.
Jon moved to Gendry, speaking quickly. "Run back to Eastwatch," he stated. "Get a raven to Daenerys, tell her what's happened."
"I'm not leaving you," Gendry said.
"You're the fastest. Go, now."
Gendry started to run, only to be grabbed by Tormund. "You're faster without the hammer," Tormund said. "Give it. Give it!"
He reluctantly handed the hammer over before breaking into a run in the other direction. The others continued on, trying to keep a fast pace. "Come on!" Tormund shouted.
"Run!" Jorah added.
"Come on!"
They ran onto a frozen lake, stopping when the ice began to break beneath their feet. "Stop!" Jorah cried.
Sandor tried to move his foot as ice spider webbed out all around him. Emmelyne tested her weight, flinching at the sound of crunching ice. The footsteps became louder. Everyone turned. There was a swarm of wights. Thousands of them, if not hundreds of thousands. They were running, snarling and growling. "Go!" Jon shouted.
The group broke into a run for the rock at the center of the lake. They were almost there. The wights surrounded them, keeping pace. One of the wildlings fell. He stumbled to his feet, trying to catch up. Jon and the others reached the rock, leaving the wildling, who was quickly killed. Emmelyne was behind, tripping over her cloak. She was almost at the rock when she felt the ice break beneath her. Before she could even react, she was in the water.