Chapter 53: A Demonstration Before All
Early the next morning, Saelen rose before dawn and went straight to the dungeon. Othell stood guard there with a dozen soldiers.
"Well?" Saelen asked.
"My lord," Othell replied, "the corpse rose just before midnight."
"Take me to it."
They descended into the cell. A low, guttural growl echoed through the stone corridor. The body they had recovered the day before now stood upright, jerking violently against its restraints. The moment it sensed living flesh nearby, it lunged toward Saelen in a frenzy—only to be yanked back by the heavy chains binding it in place. A wad of cloth had been stuffed into its mouth.
"It wouldn't stop howling through the night," Othell explained. "Set everyone on edge. So I gagged it."
Saelen nodded. "Well done. Bring it to the training yard."
Othell signaled the guards behind him. "Careful," he warned.
Soon, under heavy chains and close watch, the wight was dragged into the training grounds. Many men were already there drilling—most of them new recruits of the Night's Watch. One by one they stopped mid-swing, staring in open curiosity at the grim procession.
Ser Alliser Thorne barked at them immediately.
"What are you gawking at? Keep training, you witless swine! Or do you think staring will make you warriors?"
Ser Alliser Thorne turned just as Saelen approached with a group of men behind him. For a split second, he thought they had come to challenge him. His hand moved instinctively to the hilt of his sword.
"Ser Saelen," he demanded coldly, "what is the meaning of this?"
Saelen stopped before him, tone almost playful. "Easy, Ser. Your training sessions looked rather dull. I've brought you a sparring partner."
He gestured over his shoulder. "Othell—show the black brothers their partner."
"With pleasure, my lord," Othell replied theatrically.
He dragged the iron chains forward and hauled the wight before the recruits. With a wicked grin, he kicked it a few steps ahead and tore off the cloak covering it.
The thing stood revealed—ice-blue eyes blazing with madness, mottled corpse-flesh marred by decay. The instant it saw living men, it lunged with feral violence, a guttural snarl rumbling from its throat. Othell yanked the chain tight, barely halting its forward surge.
The recruits exploded into panic.
"Gods above! What is that?"
"Seven save us—that's a corpse!"
"It's a White Walker—no, a wight!"
"I recognize him! That's the body we found yesterday!" cried Jeremy, the recruit who had discovered the corpse. "Gods, he really came back!"
Men scattered. One stumbled and fell, scrambling backward on hands and heels. Even seasoned brothers drifted closer in stunned disbelief.
Ser Alliser himself drew his sword and stepped back before he caught himself. His face flushed dark with humiliation. He knew this was Saelen's doing—an intentional display. Anger warred with the fear he could not quite suppress.
Saelen, however, ignored the reactions. His grim satisfaction faded as he stepped forward.
"Hold it," he ordered.
The guards restrained the wight. Saelen pulled the gag from its mouth.
A piercing shriek tore through the yard.
The sound was like steel grinding against steel—long, rising, metallic. It stabbed into ears and marrow alike, raising gooseflesh and sending a chill racing down every spine.
Saelen grimaced but pressed on. Drawing his dagger, he addressed the men.
"Look carefully. Ordinary steel does nothing to them."
He stabbed the creature in the heart. In the throat. In other mortal points.
The wight felt nothing.
Its jaws snapped at him, teeth clacking together—tak, tak, tak—as if eager to tear flesh. Despite wounds that would have slain any man ten times over, it fought on without hesitation.
Murmurs of horror rippled through the gathered brothers. Doubt and skepticism evaporated in an instant.
At the edge of the yard stood Eddard Stark and Jeor Mormont, along with other officers. They had arrived midway through the spectacle, faces grave as stone.
Saelen nodded to them, then continued, "This one still has a purpose. I won't waste dragonglass on it."
He drove the dagger into the wight's temple.
The creature convulsed violently. Its scream rose higher—shriller, more jagged. The sound clawed at the mind. The men restraining it struggled; the chains rattled wildly.
Something was wrong.
Saelen sensed it too late.
With a sudden surge of strength, the wight flung two guards aside. Its free arm shot out and seized another by the throat, lifting him clear off the ground with one hand.
The guard's boots kicked uselessly in the air. His eyes bulged; his fingers clawed desperately at the dead thing's grip.
Saelen reacted instantly. Dropping his dagger, he snatched up the fallen man's sword and swung in a clean arc.
The wight's arm fell away.
The guard collapsed, gasping, clutching his bruised neck.
Othell and the others rushed forward, throwing chains around the creature again, binding it tighter and tighter until it resembled a writhing bundle of iron and corpse-flesh.
Still it shrieked.
The cry echoed across the yard, a dreadful sound that seeped into the bones. Unease thickened in the air.
"Gag it," Saelen ordered, forcing calm into his voice.
Othell shoved cloth back into its mouth. The shrieking ceased at once.
Only the faint ringing in Saelen's ears remained.
He shook his head irritably. What triggered that frenzy?
No time to dwell on it.
"Lock it away," he commanded. "Guard it well."
Then he turned to the shaken men.
"Now you understand what we are truly facing."
---
Beyond the Wall
Far to the north, in the Land of Always Winter, a circle of White Walkers stood around a frozen altar.
At its center stood a tall, elegant inhuman figure crowned in ice. In its pale arms rested a human infant.
A frost-white hand touched the child's cheek.
Slowly, the baby's eyes shifted—turning ice-blue. Its skin blanched to the color of winter.
The crowned being lifted its gaze.
Across impossible distance, its crystalline eyes seemed to pierce through snow, stone, and sky—toward Castle Black.
Toward the training yard.
Toward the bound wight.
Its skeletal visage tilted slightly, and from its mouth came the sound of shattering ice.