The Bastard in the North

The Journey

The Journey.

It was time, it was finally time for Reeve to start his journey to the Night’s Watch. It would not be easy, there would be many dangerous predators and raiders along the way, but Reeve did not care, all he cared for was getting to the Night’s watch.

Seeing as how long of a journey it is, Reeve looked for any who would transport him for whatever amount of Gold, but none would dare go North, Winter was coming, the dead would raise and the thousand year long night was on its way.

Reeve then bought a horse, a White male horse with smooth hair and majestic Blue eyes.

He gathered supplies and went on his way. As he left his town, and into the wilderness, he met a man… a figure, a hooded figure who he could not see, he was tall and his voice was more of a shadow’s, not a human’s, this figure only said “Do not dare go North, he is coming for you, Reeve Snow, son of D----“ as he was interrupted by 2 young children who were playing, it seemed as he did not want to be seen by any other than Reeve himself, Reeve looked at the children, and back to the hooded figure, yet it was not there, it had disappeared in the blink of an eye, Reeve sent Scarlett to look for him, but she could not find anyone.

Reeve continued on his journey, wondering how that figure knew his name, and possibly who his father was, how that figure miraculously disappeared at the blink of an eye.

It had become night, it was time for Reeve to settle for the night, he started a campfire and began to sleep. That night he had a disturbing dream, he had visions of his mother being slaughtered, however, this time he heard his mother whisper some words before she died.

Night 2

He woke up, put out the fire, got on the back of his horse, called Scarlett and they continued to journey the cold, endless wilderness.

It was a quiet day, not much happened, he sent Scarlett to get food of her own, she has grown to be quite the hunter, and he went on his own to hunt whatever he could for himself and his horse.

Scarlett hunted down a wild deer, Reeve found a rabbit and a squirrel who he hunted down, cooked, and fed to himself and the horse.

Night 7

So far, his week was okay, much better than his expectations, however this day would not be the same.

Just after sundown, as Reeve was walking to a nearby lake to refill his water canteen, raiders came out from behind the trees on foot, they had swords, shields, bows, arrows, food, water, everything, obviously they raided all of it. They came to take Reeve’s horse and wolf, Scarlett. Reeve did not care for the horse, but he would NOT give up Scarlett by any means. “Give us the horse and wolf and we let you walk” they said, he replied “Move out of my way, and I let YOU walk”.

They thought he was stupid, however, he was battle trained, so was Scarlett, and they were ready for a fight.

Reeve unsheathed his sword, and readied his shield. Scarlett readied to charge. 3 raiders took out their swords and a shield each, 1 raider had a sword in his left hand and an axe in his right, the last raider had a bow.

“Last chance, move or die” Reeve said, their reply was their archer firing an arrow at Scarlett, Reeve quickly blocked it with his shield and charged at the raiders, his opponents were better than he had expected, they would swiftly block his attacks and return strikes, while Scarlett had desecrated the archer and quickly re-joined Reeve to help with his opponents, they had good composition, one of the raiders distracted Reeve by a strong, yet easy to block strike with his axe, Reeve raised his shield and blocked the attack, while another raider from behind struck Reeve with his sword, luckily Scarlett jumped at the raider causing him to miss his target however he still managed to land a hit on Reeve’s left shoulder, Scarlett quickly bit the raider’s neck, killing him instantly, however a raider managed to swiftly injure her, cutting her at the back-right leg, Reeve quickly turning his attention to her attacker, he stabs his heart from his back. At this point they are both injured, however Reeve does not need his left arm at all in fighting as he is talented at one-handed swordsmanship, and Scarlett was a tough wolf, she could continue fighting even with the injury, they then both charged at a raider each, Reeve swiftly attempted to strike the raider with a shield countless times, but his defense was just too good, Reeve’s offense couldn’t compete, se he decided to switch to passive-offensive fighting style, waiting for his opponent to attack, blocking his attack then quickly returning swift blows, and so he waited for the right chance, the raider jumping on the chance to get on the offensive, quickly throwing tough blows against Reeve, the first chance Reeve got, he blocked the attack and swiftly countered his opponent, leaving his sword and grabbing a knife for more speed in his fight, and quickly stabbed the raider’s right thigh to disable him, then he grabbed his sword and cut off his head in one blow. While Scarlett easily killed the dual-wielding raider, as he is no match for a battle-trained wolf.

Reeve then grabbed as many supplies as he can from the raiders’ stash, including medicine and bandages for their injuries, soon after Reeve found out his horse was struck badly in the battle, and died soon after. Reeve decided to call it for the night, lit a fire, and bandaged himself and Scarlett up in a quiet area, then began to sleep.

                                                             

Night 22

It has been quiet since the attack, nothing too unusual, however Scarlett was getting sick, Reeve healed her up with the few remaining medicine he had gathered from the raiders and they went on their way, night came, they lit a fire, and settled for the night.

Night 29

Reeve woke up to the same dream he had on his first night, this time clearer, he could hear his mother’s last words more loudly and clearer, yet still a bit scrambled, some of “--- my dear, -------“, she said a name, yet he could not make it out. Being very disturbed he decided to rest for the day, night came and he went back to sleep, hoping he would dream the same again, only more and more clear.

Night 41

Reeve is close, he’s so close, only a day or two more, his long and hard journey would finally come to an end, however he has no food, no water, and there is not a single animal or any source of water in sight. Scarlett is tired, starving, they have both not had anything to eat for around 3 days, and very little to drink. They must survive, only hopefully a day more. They must.

Night 43

It’s over, it’s finally over, Castle Black is in sight, starving and freezing in the cold, Reeve is barely crawling to Castle Black, Scarlett pushing him much as she can, they’re almost there. A few guards of Castle Black see them, they run over in a defensive stance to investigate. They see Reeve almost passed out and Scarlett next to him, “What is your business here” they ask, he replies “I.. must… Night’s watch”. Light fades away and his eyes close. Lying passed out in the wintery cold, they decide to carry him inside and Scarlett follows, they lock her up and feed her while inside, the maester of Castle Black treats Reeve and feeds him. Reeve asks for a meet with the Lord Commander of the Night’s watch, however the maester declines and tells him to rest the night, after all Reeve is injured and dehydrated.

Night 44

This is it. This is finally it, it’s over, the journey, it’s over. “I must speak with the Lord Commander”, he asks the maester again. He accepts, and they walk over to the Lord Commander’s chambers. There it is. The chamber doors, he stands outside them, and the maester wishes him luck and leaves. Reeve still lurking outside the doors, thinking nervously, wondering, what shall he say? A little while after and Reeve finally pushes the door open. And gazes at the door opening, everything that’s happened in his life has led to this moment, everything he encountered, it’s as if fate.. destiny, has led him here. He walks in. “Welcome to Castle Black, Reeve Snow. I’ve been expecting you.”.

To be continued...