CARPE NOCTEM, jon snow

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀twenty eight

twenty-eight. the lord of bones

loc. mance rayder's camp, beyond the wall. 299AC

⠀⠀⠀THE WIND FELT like cold ghosts as it pressed down against Carsen's body.

⠀⠀⠀They walked on ice now. Carsen was unpleasantly reminded of her dream as every step she took sent nervous jitters up her legs. The lake was frozen with ice so dense she couldn't see the water churning below, and yet a feeling of rampant disquiet had settled like a shadow in Carsen's stomach.

⠀⠀⠀She could see the camp, set up on the edge of the lake. Campfires sent streaks of smoke trailing languidly into a sky the colour of the winter sea, and Carsen glimpsed log huts and roasting carcasses and white flashes of steel weapons in the silver sun, all through a revolving column of the hides and furs the wildlings wore over limbs strong as iron.

⠀⠀⠀The man Ygritte greeted loudly was made from bones.

⠀⠀⠀A human skull covered half his face, snapped at the mouth to allow his lips to move free. He wore a collar of finger bones around his neck, and even his spear was topped with the head of some animal—a rodent, Carsen supposed, slightly nauseated.

⠀⠀⠀An image flashed suddenly through her mind, so violent it sent her reeling for a moment - it was a picture she hadn't found herself thinking of for a while, weeks even. A face, a face she thought of so little now the features had blurred, as if the skin was made from wax and a fire burned in his bones. Rogon. Even his name tasted odd in her thoughts. Will he be bone now? Will his flesh have crumbled, his blood turned to ash, his eyes rotted and his teeth fallen and the wound in his neck sloughed away to nothing?

⠀⠀⠀She was jarred sharply back to the present by a nauseating rattling sound. She realised with a lurch of sickness if was merely the wildling man walking, and the bones he wore on his outside clicked together softly as he moved. It sounded like a thousand spiders' pincers snapping together.

⠀⠀⠀"Brought you a present, Lord o' Bones," Ygritte said proudly, giving both Jon and Carsen a shove; the rope around her ankles caused her to stumble and fall to her knees. A rough hand, too big to be Ygritte's, grabbed her by the elbow and yanked her to her feet.

⠀⠀⠀The Lord of Bones looked at her, then Jon, dismissively. "Already have one crow," he said gruffly. "Why do I want two more?"

⠀⠀⠀"Mance will want to question these," the wildling girl answered. "They know where the crows are and what they're planning."