Castle Black

Ser Barristan Selmy heard the horn blast and mounted his horse. The Others and their army of wights, were back again for another round of fighting. Barristan tried not to despair at the thought of having to march out again not knowing whether or not he would live to see another day. True he had been in many battles, but that had been when he knew how to defeat his opponent, now he remained unsure and nervous.

As Ser Barristan surveyed his surroundings at Castle Black he saw that his King and Queen were already mounted on their dragons, as was Jon Whitewolf and all three were in the sky waiting for the signal. Barristan turned round and looked at his own men, he was leading a troop of 10,000 men and he prayed to the seven for the strength to see this night through.

As the horn was blown once again, Ser Barristan raised his hand and pointed forward and shouted "Charge!" And as one his troop and that of the rest of the forces of Westeros marched forward.

The first blow that Ser Barristan was to a wight that seemed to have been a giant before, Ser Barristan hacked the wight's legs of with his dragonsteel sword, and watched as the wight disintegrated. This process was repeated numerous times as Ser Barristan cut a bloody bath through the wights, all the while keeping an eye and an ear out for signs of how the rest of the men and his King and Queen were doing.

Ser Barristan heard a deafening howl from his right and turned to see a pale blue shape about eight feet tall wielding a great sword and riding a dead bear heading towards him, whilst cutting a bloody bath through the troop that Ser Barristan was leading.

He watched with morbid curiosity as the Other cut its way through toward him and watched with horror as the men within his troop fell down dead from the Other's touch as if they were nothing more than simple rag dolls.

The Other finally made it toward him and greeted him with a huge swipe which Ser Barristan just about managed to block with his sword. He then responded to the Other's swipe with one of his own which he noted with some satisfaction managed to dent the creature's armour causing it to cry out in pain.

However, his satisfaction was cut short when the creature mounted a furious assault on him, swinging its' sword furiously and so quickly that Barristan was beginning to struggle to bring his own sword up in time to block the creature's attacks.

They continued to exchange blows for what felt like hours, both managed to create dents in the other's armour, but neither seemed to be able to create any serious damage. Barristan noted with some surprise that this Other was not like the previous few that he had fought, it seemed that this one was more used to sword fighting and not for the first time Barristan wondered what exactly these creatures were and where they came from.

Barristan was knocked off his horse by the sheer force of the creature's next blow, and watched with fear as the creature proceeded to butcher his horse, and then eat it whole!

Barristan was rooted to the spot as he watched the creature swallow what had moments before been his horse whole and in one go, then was shaken back to reality when the creature's mount swiped a paw at him which he managed to deflect and cut off with a block from his sword, and noted that the beast almost instantly disintegrated once his sword came into contact with it.

Now Barristan and the Other were on level footing, Barristan blocked out the sound of men and wights and others fighting, dying and screaming, tried to slow his heart rate down and focus on the thing in front of him. Looking at the creature, Barristan guessed that it was one of the more senior figures in the Others' army; it certainly seemed to carry itself as such. Barristan guessed that if he could perhaps defeat this creature then perhaps they could try and learn more about it and its race, if not then he'd just have to kill it or die trying.

As with their first fight, the creature made the first move swinging its sword in a massive arc, which Barristan just managed to block. He replied by going for a series of quick jabs to the creature's stomach and chest, some of which connected with the thing's armour further denting it, some of which were blocked by the creature's sword. This process continued for much longer than Barristan expected and he began to feel his strength leaving him, he needed to end this now before he was killed and brought back as some mindless creature.

Mounting a furious thrust and parry on the creature, Barristan noted happily that the creature too seemed to be tiring, as more and more of Barristan's blows connected with its armour and he saw cracks beginning to appear in the armour, and the pale blue skin was starting to show through. Taking heart from this Barristan picked up the speed of his assault and managed to land a few cuts and nicks on the Other's skin, causing the thing to let out a gut-renching howl. Though not all went according to plan for Barristan, the Other still managed to land a few of its own hits on his armour and skin, Barristan was truly beginning to feel tired and weighed down by the armour and blood that was beginning to leave his body.

He continued to fight however, he couldn't fail his King and Queen in this, most definitely not he had to live so that he could prevent the Ser Mormont from corrupting Danaerys and dividing her and King Aegon, the realm had bled enough. Barristan knew he needed to live so that he could prevent another war from happening, something that would surely happen if Ser Jorah continued to have his way with the Queen and whisper in her ear.

He was brought back to reality by a sharp stinging sensation coming from his stomach, he looked down to see the Other had managed to cut through his armour and into his skin, a trail of blood was now seeping out his armour. Barristan staggered toward the Other and began what he realised would not be his last stand, his last fight. As he heard steel on steel, he put as much of his strength into his sword hits and heard rather than saw the Other's pain and lessening strength, all whilst his vision was becoming darker and darker.

As he went for the final swing, he saw the Other do the same, and as he felt his sword connect and plunge into the Other's stomach, he felt the Other's sword strike his arm. As the Other fell down and began to steam and dissolve, Ser Barristan felt his world spinning, felt himself go weak at the knees, smelt the blood coming off of him, felt the snow on the ground as his head hit it, and then Ser Barristan Selmy, The Bold, Lord Commander of King Aegon VI's Kingsguard felt no more.