CARPE NOCTEM, jon snow

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀three

three. the imp

loc. castle black, the wall. 298AC

⠀⠀"Do you think Ned Stark's bastard bleeds like the rest of us?"

⠀⠀⠀Alliser Thorne's voice was harsh and cold, much like the rest of him. His features seemed too small for his square-jawed face, though his eyes shone through, like chips of flint buried under folds of lined, hardened skin. Ceria watched from the sidelines as Pyp, a thin boy with dark hair, adjusted the grip on his sparring sword and faced the bastard in the gravel clearing.

⠀⠀⠀The bastard—or, as Alliser Thorne deigned to call him, Lord Snow—hadn't said a word to Ceria since her arrival. In fact, save for the occasional jeers and yells of "oi, sparrow boy, are you really a man at all? Show us your cock!" across the dormitory at her, none of them had. Snow kept to his pallet in their free time, sharpening his sword with flat rocks.

⠀⠀⠀Snow and Pyp faced each the other. Ceria noticed that the bastard, as he had done with all his other opponents, waited for Pyp to move first. When he did, Snow dodged enough to work out their weaknesses and, as soon as a blind spot opened, he lunged, delivered one staggering blow, and it was over.

⠀⠀⠀And so it was with Pyp.

⠀⠀⠀The boy yelled as he charged for Snow, who swiftly sidestepped him and drove the hilt of his sword into the small of Pyp's back. The boy groaned as he fell hard against the ground, and Ceria wouldn't be surprised if he was winded. She took a sidelong glance at the defeated collection of men and boys to left, and winced. Bruised skin and bloody noses and breaks in chainmail were all her eyes seemed to stick to.

⠀⠀⠀"Sparrow!" Alliser called, and Ceria hesitated before picking up her sword. The steel thing was as almost long as her leg and three times as heavy. It was an effort to hold it up in one hand as she faced Snow in the frost-covered canopy. She could feel his grey eyes like burning stones, scanning her, waiting for a weakness to betray her. Ceria could only hope that he saw so many weaknesses he didn't know where to begin.

⠀⠀⠀But she didn't move, and neither did Jon Snow. They circled each other jerkily for at least half a minute, before Alliser promptly yelled "stop playing with each other! You think your enemies are going to prance around you in a real battle? You think the wildlings will wait until you're nice and ready? You'd have a blade in the gut before you could cry for your mother!"

⠀⠀⠀Snow lunged; Ceria scarcely had time to duck as his blade whistled over her head and, as Snow was reeling the heavy sword back in, she struck out - sending the flat of her blade hard into the bastard's legs. There was a collective intake of breath as the bastard staggered, kicking up gravel in his wake—but her effort had not been enough to topple him.