4 Months before the death of Jon Arryn

Cenn

Cenn had moved warily the last four days, always keeping a tight grip on his spear. He had been following the path the Old One had sent him on, but Cenn did not trust the Old One, and so he kept himself alert, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

However, Cenn had been forced to move quickly, as well as warily. There was a patrol of men from the Night's Watch coming up from the Wall. They had stayed, as best Cenn could tell, directly on course for the keep the Old One had sent Cenn to retrieve the boy from. They were mounted on horses, creatures known only to Cenn through the visons the Old Ones had given him, but they moved slowly. Cenn knew, through the suspect magic of this Three-Eyed Raven, men on horses should be able to move faster than he could on foot, but for some reason he had managed to outpace them. Maybe they were even more wary than he was about traversing the Haunted Forest, as he had learned to call it from his visions of fighting the Others. Or perhaps this was another way the magic of the Three-Eyed Raven was at work at the world. Whatever the reason was, Cenn was thankful for it. The Old One said Cenn would need this boy to kill the Night King. Even though Cenn did not trust the Old One, he would gamble everything for a chance to kill that monster.

Smoke from a cooking fire rose a little way to the north, bringing Cenn's mind back to a different monster. Cenn desperately wished he had more information to go on than the Old One's word, but if the man who was doing the cooking was really doing what it was claimed he did, Cenn would put him down with a knife in his gut.

It was not long before Cenn could see beyond the forest, through the sparse trees at its edge, and into the home of this Craster. He could not yet see the man, but upon seeing the keep Cenn instantly had a twofold recollection of the visions he had been tormented with. He noticed the women, bustling around the camp cooking, cleaning, and tending to the animals. They were the women Cenn had seen in his vison, the ones who all looked eerily similar to the man he had seen. And in the middle of the compound, the boy in black, whom Cenn had seen drape his cloak around the shoulders of a flower in plant nursery in the sky, was tied to a post. Dried blood stained his coat and his face, and one side of his chest looked to have caved in; the boy was in desperate need of a healer.

Cenn advanced to the last tree thick enough to hide behind, and he waited until he saw the ugliest man he had ever seen come wandering out of the big house in the center of the compound, dragging a scantily clad girl Cenn would have guessed to be no more than fifteen out of the house.

The man grabbed her by the throat and began to squeeze, and the girl face began to turn colors. He screamed something at her, but Cenn could not make out what it was over the sound of his own blood beginning to boil. This girl was of wide girth, mousy brown hair, and of large bust; in short, she looked nothing like Alyse. Yet all Cenn could think of was his daughter, and the image before transformed before him from a man choking some strange young woman, to the Other coming for Alyse.

Eventually, the ugly old man let go of the girl, and backhanded her with a might slap, but Cenn had already burst from cover of the tree line with one goal in mind.

Craster didn't see Cenn until he was less than twenty feet from him, but the man still reacted more quickly than Cenn would have guessed he'd be able to. Still, Craster was both old and built to hit hard, not fast, and so Cenn slipped right under the fist the man had thrown at his head.

Slipping inside, Cenn struck Craster twice in the ribs, before leaping backwards out of range of Craster's fist. The old man overcommitted to the swing, and Cenn drove his knee into the old man's side and brought both fists down as hard as he could on Craster's head.

Craster was big enough to absorb the blows, and he caught Cenn in the side of the head with a flailing fist. Spinning around, Cenn drew his obsidian knives. Craster also had gotten a knife from somewhere, and the two circled each other.

"Who are you?" demanded Craster, "And what do you want?"

Cenn did not answer, but continued to move around Craster.

"Who are you!?" Craster bellowed. Again Cenn made no answer.

The women in the keep were beginning to flock gather around the two, and Cenn did not want to take the chance these women would join in and assist Craster. He would have to finish this quickly.

"I'm the one who slays the White Walkers" he said, "and it has come to my attention that you assist them. Is it true?"

"You've never killed a Walker" Craster snorted derisively. "You'd piss your pants if you ever saw one."

Craster charged with his knife, and Cenn easily moved out of the way, making no attempt to counterattack.

"I am going to kill you, Craster."

Craster attacked again, and again missed Cenn spectacularly when Cenn darted to the side. But Cenn was done playing with him. Craster spun around, and was met by a thrown dagger that buried itself in his shoulder. Cenn's second knife buried itself in Craster's knee. He fell to his good knee, and screamed in agony when Cenn impaled him with his spear. Cenn pulled his spear out of the screaming lump of flesh beneath him, and drove it into the flesh of Craster's thigh, careful to avoid the artery. Cenn stabbed Craster a third time, burying the obsidian tip into Craster's opposite calf.

"For some reason, the Old Ones call me Dealmaker" Cenn said. "I don't know why they call me that, but I may as well live up to the name. So I'll make you a deal, Craster. You see, I don't think it would be enough a punishment to kill you right now. So here's what I propose: I will let you live another few months if you release the boy to me. If you accept my proposal, I will take the boy, and leave you here like this. But I will back some day, less than a year from now, and I will kill you. You are no condition to terrorize these women any more. You have nothing. But I think you are enough of a coward to take the deal.

"If you do not accept, I'll kill you now and take the boy anyway. But you will not have to live in fear every single day that today will be the day I come back for you.

"What do you say?"

"Take the boy" Craster gurgled.

"What was that?" Cenn asked

"Take the boy" Craster tried to say more clearly.

"I knew you were a coward."

Cenn kicked Craster in the chin, leaving him stunned so Cenn could safely retrieve his knives without being caught in the stronger man's grip.

"He can't hurt you anymore" Cenn said to the women, who by now had surrounded him and the monster. "The muscles in his legs are severed, and his one arm is immobilized. Do what you want with him, but leave him alive. I will be back for him soon."

The women parted to let Cenn through as he moved toward the boy, but they did not treat him like one who had saved them from a monster like Craster. But Cenn did not care. He didn't do this for them; he did it to strike a blow against the Others.

"Come on boy" he said, cutting the young lad loose from the post Craster had tied him to. "You are coming with me."

"Where are you taking me" the boy asked.

"To Mance."