𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 | Jon Snow - A 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 Fanfiction

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛

           ISABELLE OBSERVED from her seat beside Gilly and Craster's daughters as Bran examined the dragonglass knives that Sam had presented to him. She recalled Jon mentioning his crippled brother on several occasions but she never thought that she would get to meet him.

"What is this?" Bran inquired, his face showing confusion.

"Dragonglass," Jojen explained.

"We found them at the Fist," Sam added. "Someone buried them a long time ago. Someone wanted us to find them."

Jojen also took one of the dragonglass knives from Sam and examined it.

"But why? What are they for?" Bran questioned.

"Killing White Walkers," Sam revealed.

"How do you know that?" Meera inquired.

"The Walker came for my baby. And Sam—" Gilly began but was interrupted.

"But no one has killed a White Walker in thousands of years," Meera noted.

"Well, I suppose someone had to be the first," Sam stated.

Isabelle was still trying to comprehend how Sam had come up with the idea to use one of those knives against a White Walker.

Sam then offered a dragonglass knife to Hodor, who initially refused it, but Bran urged him to take it.

Isabelle handed some dragonglass arrowheads to Meera. If she was going to lead them beyond the wall again, they all needed to be prepared and well equipped.

"And for the archer," Sam said, exchanging a glance with Isabelle. "We were fortunate with one of them. There are more. Many more. And for every one of them, the dead outnumber them. I wish you'd come with us."

"I wish I could," Bran replied sadly. "I really do."

"What if Jasmine is already at Castle Black?" Sam turned to Isabelle. "What should I tell her?"

"I'll return," Isabelle assured him, then followed Bran and his group toward the northern exit of the tunnel as Sam, Gilly, and the four women watched them go.

Weeks passed without any word from Jon, Jasmine, or Isabelle, and Sam's worry grew. Isabelle had been correct; there was no sign that Jasmine, Edd, or Grenn had managed to escape that keep, and Jon's fate remained uncertain.

With Isabelle gone, Sam carried the responsibility of looking after Gilly, the baby, and the four women they had helped escape. However, he knew he couldn't adequately care for them without Isabelle's support. It was a difficult decision, but Sam chose to send them all to Mole's Town, away from the watchful eyes of the men at Castle Black. Unlike Isabelle and Jasmine, they were unable to defend themselves, and with Lord Mormont gone, the burden fell heavily on Sam.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief when Jon arrived at the inner gate of Castle Black on horseback. Jon was severely injured, grazed by three arrows, but he had survived and returned. He had been through harrowing experiences—encountering the king beyond the Wall, facing off with Qhorin Halfhand, scaling the Wall with the Wildlings he was with, falling in love with a Wildling Ginger girl, and breaking his vows. He had been playing a role, pretending to assist Mance's army in attacking Castle Black, but when he had the opportunity, he managed to escape the deadly arrows of his Wildling lover.

One day, a young boy came running toward Castle Black, claiming that a group of Wildlings had attacked his village and killed his family. The rangers gathered in the hall as Yarwyck spoke. Traumatized, the boy named Olly stood next to Jon, his eyes vacant.

"We need to teach them a lesson about the way we deal with their kind," Yarwyck said.

"Aye! Aye!"

"Three dozen bodies with slit throats tossed off the top of the Wall. Seems like that would be a good lesson."

"Aye!"

Ser Alliser Thorne intervened. "If we go after them, we'll be giving them what they want. They want to draw us out, pick us off a few at a time."

"We have just over a hundred men," Maester Aemon said. "And that's including stewards and builders. And me. We can't afford to lose a single man. We must remember our first responsibility. We are the watchers on the Wall."

"There's got to be a way to protect them," Pyp said.

"You're a champion of the common people, Lord Snow," Ser Alliser said, turning to Jon Snow. "What do you say to Brother Pyp's proposition?"

"Mance Rayder is coming," Jon said. "If the Wildlings breach the Wall, they'll roll over everything and everyone for one thousand miles before they reach an army that can stop them."

"We need to shore up Castle Black and defend the Wall," Ser Alliser said. "That is our job."

Before Jon could argue any further, a horn was blown, causing everyone to go silent. Their hearts seemed to skip a few beats as they stood there, anticipating one more blast, but it never came.

"Rangers returning!" Pyp announced as the men rushed toward the wall. The heavy gate was raised, revealing the winter beyond along with the frail, freezing forms of Jasmine, Edd, and Grenn. Jon rushed directly toward the young woman, assisting Grenn to help her stand, while Pyp reached for Edd as they walked inside the courtyard.

"Thought you'd have blue eyes by now," Edd told Jon.

Alliser Thorne and Janos Slynt walked up to them as they helped the three walk. "What took you so long?" Ser Alliser asked the two men.

"We were held up," Grenn said, as he sat beside Jasmine, both catching their breaths.

"By what?" Ser Alliser asked.

"Chains," Gren told him, pointing at his bruised wrists. Jon watched Jasmine—she was paler than usual, with bruises all over her face and wrists.

"We were guests of the mutineers at Craster's Keep," Edd finally spoke.

"And the mutineers stayed?" Jon asked them.

"They're not going anywhere," Edd said. "They've got Craster's food and his wives. Poor girls. Never thought they'd miss their daddy. Karl's running things now. He's the one who put a knife through Craster's mouth."

Jon's concern was evident on his face, his eyes back on the silent Otherys twin. "We need to ride north and kill them all," he announced.

"We just went over this, boy," Ser Alliser told him. "Justice can wait."

"It's not about justice," Jon argued. "I told the Wildlings we had over one thousand men at Castle Black alone. Karl and the others know the truth as well as we do. How long do you think they'll keep that information to themselves when the Wildlings are peeling their fingernails off?"

"Mance has all he needs to crush us, he just doesn't know it yet," Jon continued. "As soon as he gets his hands on them, he will. Then he'll throw his full strength at us. And even if every one of us kills one hundred Wildlings, there's still not a thing we can do to stop them."

"I don't think I can kill one hundred Wildlings," Pyp admitted.

In fact, nobody could.