(300 power stones for a bonus chapter)
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𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 105: đť•đť–”𝖗𝖗𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖉 đť•żđť–Žđť–’đť–Š
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The wind swept loose snow between the corpses of the wights scattered in every direction across the tundra. Beyond them there was nothing but snow, ice, and the constant clash of steel. Edward deflected another slash aimed at his neck and answered with a thrust that forced the walker to retreat several steps.
Now that he knew the creature's heart was beating, he was no longer fighting blindly; if it had a heart, it was alive, and if it was alive, it could be killed.
Anna recovered from the blow she had taken moments earlier and threw herself back into the fight as a blur of speed, launching a slash that the walker intercepted by twisting its torso.
—The heart —Edward growled as he deflected another thrust aimed directly at his eye.— Don't waste time on the head or the neck. Aim for the heart.
Anna answered by attacking from the flank with a rapid succession of strikes, though she lowered her guard several times and the creature exploited every opening to counterattack, leaving shallow wounds across her arms and abdomen.
Edward waited until the walker focused its attention on Anna and launched a direct thrust at its chest, aiming for the exact spot where he had heard the heartbeat, but the creature intercepted the blade with a mechanical movement and knocked the attack aside before it could reach its target.
The walker never broke its rhythm and continued moving in the same manner, using direct, repetitive attacks that did not seem to tire it in the slightest.
—Don't overextend yourself —Edward growled as he drove a kick into its torso.
But Anna ignored the warning and plunged back into the melee, accepting several cuts while trying to find an opening that would allow her to reach the creature's heart.
The exchange continued for several seconds as the three of them moved at a speed difficult to follow, trading strikes aimed at the neck, chest, and head without any of them managing to land a decisive blow.
Then the walker tilted its head back and released a long howl toward the open tundra. The sound was neither human nor animal, but rather a multitude of overlapping voices screaming at the same time.
In the distance, the wights that were still fighting began thrashing with greater violence and pushing harder against the group, making Edward suspect that this was not a simple battle cry but a summons.
He exchanged several more blows with the creature before quickly moving closer to Anna.
—I'll hold it in place —he said without taking his eyes off the walker.— You'll have to land the killing blow.
Anna nodded and threw herself into the fight again with even greater aggression than before, forcing the walker to focus all its attention on her.
Edward seized the opening and moved like a blur. He accepted a slash to his side in order to drive his Valyrian steel sword through the creature's leg and pin it to the ground.
The walker reacted immediately and buried its ice blade into his shoulder.
The pain was intense, but Edward pushed forward before the creature could recover its balance, wrapped both arms around its torso, and used all his weight to immobilize it and prevent it from breaking free.
—NOW! —Edward shouted through gritted teeth as he used every ounce of strength he had to keep the walker restrained.
Anna came in from behind and launched herself onto its back, locking her legs around it as she raised her sword to drive it directly into its chest. The blade descended, but at the last instant the walker twisted enough to make her miss.
Anna cursed under her breath. She did not retreat or try to find another angle. Still clinging to the creature's back, she lowered her head and sank her fangs into its neck.
The walker let out an abrupt scream and its entire body tensed at once. Edward felt the change in the pressure of its muscles and did not hesitate. He shoved with all his weight, slammed the creature down into the snow, and immediately drove his sword into the center of its chest. The blade pierced flesh and ice before sinking to the hilt, straight through its heart.
The creature shuddered beneath him and its eyes, which until then had been empty and lifeless, regained clarity. They could almost have been described as human. They fixed directly upon him and, for a brief instant, Edward had the strange sensation that the creature knew exactly what had just happened, and in that gaze he saw something he never would have expected to find there: gratitude.
The tension left its body almost immediately. Its fingers loosened around the ice sword and the figure began to lose cohesion beneath his hands, slowly dissolving like snow carried away by the wind until nothing remained except the ice blade embedded in the tundra.
Edward released the breath he had been holding for several seconds and rose to his feet. He had barely begun to feel relief when he turned toward Anna and saw her taking several steps backward while staring at her own hands with a deep frown, as though she did not understand what she was seeing.
—Anna —Edward called urgently.
She did not answer.
A dark line began spreading from the corner of her lips and ran down her neck. Edward watched it advance beneath her skin with the naked eye, branching toward her collarbones and spreading through her arms as her veins darkened more and more.
The relief vanished as quickly as it had come. He moved toward her without taking his eyes off the marks. Anna's skin began to lose both color and firmness, tightening over her bones and taking on a dull, rough appearance that had not been there seconds before.
Anna looked down at her arms, then at her chest, and finally back at him.
—What...? —she managed to say.
The word died before it could fully leave her mouth. Her legs suddenly gave way and she tried to catch herself out of pure reflex, but her body stopped responding. Edward reached her before she hit the ground and caught her by the shoulders, preventing her from collapsing into the snow.
Aelia and the others arrived quickly. Their battle had ended when the White Walker was destroyed, as all of the wights had fallen immediately after their master.
Aelia stepped forward and pointed at one of the wildlings.
—Give her blood —she ordered.
—No —Anna said before anyone could move.
Edward looked at her in disbelief. Anna was still leaning against him and the black veins already covered much of her neck as they spread upward across her face, tracing her temples and the contours of her eyes. She tried to move one hand, but her body no longer responded.
—You're an idiot —Edward muttered, his voice hoarse.
Anna let out a brief laugh that broke almost immediately.
—Don't make that face —she replied as she looked up at him.— We both knew this wasn't going to last.
Edward did not answer.
—These years were borrowed time —she continued after taking a breath.— Everything had already ended for me that night, you just let me stay a little longer.
Her voice faltered.
—The day my family died... —Anna pressed her lips together.— I died with them.
Anna lowered her gaze and pressed her lips together for several seconds before looking up again.
Edward held her gaze without saying anything. Even with the black marks spreading across her face, there was something in that expression that reminded him of his sister, and he had to look away before meeting her eyes again.
—Thank you for not leaving me alone —Anna whispered as she tried to smile.— Thank you for letting me live a little longer.
The first cracks appeared shortly afterward along her arms and began spreading beneath the blackened skin. They climbed her neck and eventually reached her face while a thin layer of ash gathered around the fissures.
Edward tightened his grip when he felt the tremor run through her body. Anna shuddered several times in his arms and her muscles tensed before gradually beginning to give way.
—Anna —he called as he tried to raise her slightly.
She did not answer.
The skin finally split apart completely and a reddish glow appeared between the cracks. An instant later flames burst from within her body and raced through the fissures, consuming her from the inside as Anna began to come apart in his arms.
Edward did not let go and watched as the fire spread across her arms, torso, and face until flesh became ash and the ash scattered with the wind. When it was over, nothing remained of her except a dark stain upon the snow.
Edward remained motionless for several more seconds with his hands still outstretched before him, while Aelia stared at the place where Anna had been and the wildlings stood in silence around them both. The wind once again carried loose snow between the corpses scattered across the tundra.
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Several days passed before the landscape began to show clear signs of human settlement. The tundra still stretched white and open in every direction, but tracks began to appear in the snow, along with the remains of extinguished campfires and small structures built to shelter against the wind.
The group moved faster than they had on the journey north. They barely spoke. Jon walked at the front beside Tormund, both of them watching the terrain, while the wildlings kept close to one another. Ygritte scarcely opened her mouth and, when she did, it was only to point out a direction or warn them about uneven ground.
Aelia kept the same pace as the others, though from time to time she glanced toward Edward. He continued walking at the front, taking part in no conversation and never looking away from the horizon.
On the fourth day they spotted smoke in the distance.
As they advanced, more signs of activity began to appear. Trails, palisades, and groups of hunters. When the first tents of the camp became visible through the frozen mist, Edward stopped.
He watched the movement in the distance, studying the improvised defenses and the number of people he could make out before turning back toward Aelia.
—You go on ahead —he said as he pointed toward the camp.— Meet with Mance and make sure the wildlings start moving toward the Wall. I'm going to retrieve what we came here for.
Aelia frowned immediately.
—Don't do anything stupid —she warned as she crossed her arms.— I'm serious.
Edward shook his head slightly.
—I'll be fine —he replied as he adjusted the sword at his waist.
Aelia did not look particularly convinced, but Edward simply took a step back and turned his gaze northward once more.
—I'll see you at the Wall —he added as he began walking away.
The group continued down the slope and Aelia watched him disappear into the distance one last time before resuming the march.
Their arrival at the camp was not especially warm.
Several heads turned toward them, some wildlings stopped what they were doing to watch the group while others merely followed them with their eyes as they made their way toward the center of the settlement.
Tormund led Aelia directly toward the main tent, Jon, Ygritte, and the others remained outside.
The discussion lasted longer than expected. Aelia explained what they had found beyond the Wall and recounted the attack by the wights, but Mance Rayder refused to take orders from someone he considered an outsider. The conversation grew increasingly heated as the minutes passed.
Ygritte left the tent before it was over.
She scanned the camp until she spotted Jon beside a wooden structure. He was leaning against one of the posts, waiting for news and watching the activity around the camp.
Ygritte walked straight toward him.
Jon barely had time to realize what was happening before she grabbed him by the cloak and pulled him after her.
—What...? —he asked, not understanding.
He did not get to finish the question.
Ygritte dragged him toward a tent set apart from the rest and pushed aside the flap to enter. Jon followed her inside and had barely taken a step when she shoved him against one of the support poles.
—You're an idiot —she snapped before punching him.
The blow split his lip, and Jon immediately brought a hand to his mouth and looked at her in surprise, but he did not respond.
Ygritte continued gripping him by his clothes for several seconds, breathing heavily. Then she pulled him toward her and kissed him with the same intensity with which she had struck him, while the tent flap fell behind them and the camp continued its usual activity on the other side.
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Thank you all for being here once again this week. I hope you enjoy the chapter.
First of all, I wanted to apologize a little because, honestly, I don't think this chapter has the level of quality I would have liked to give it.
As I've mentioned before, for quite a while I was writing with very little free time, barely sleeping, and relying on a lot of shortcuts just to keep up with my release schedule. And sometimes something quite strange happens: I come back to a chapter weeks later and feel like it was written by a completely different person.
That's exactly what happened with this one.
I corrected everything I could and tried to make it feel dynamic rather than just a chain of action scenes with little substance behind them, but I'm still not entirely satisfied with the result. So I wanted to apologize for that.
The good news is that, now that I have more free time, I'm making much better progress. This week alone I've already written two complete chapters, which is a huge improvement considering that before I could barely finish one chapter per week.
With a bit of luck, I'm hoping to write another two or three before next week.
As you've probably noticed, I've also added a Power Stone goal to unlock an extra chapter. If we reach it, even better.
As for the story itself, this chapter essentially marks the end of the Beyond the Wall arc. I needed it to establish certain things about the White Walkers, the wildlings, and the expedition as a whole in order to prepare for what comes next.
From this point onward, we'll be focusing much more on Vlad, the organization of his government, his projects, and several of the things he's been quietly building behind the scenes for quite some time.
As always, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I'll be happy to read any comments or suggestions you might have.
See you next week.