Game of Thrones Iron Stark

Castle Black was in emergency session.

"A whole squad left the Wall last night," one brother reported. "New recruits. Took their vows yesterday and already gone."

"Victor's pirates?" someone asked.

"Exactly. Those sea scum we let take the black. They're probably chasing treasure north of the Wall. Only thing they'll find out there is death."

Wildlings and Others didn't give a damn about gold or jewels. They wanted meat. Or a warm body. Or a fresh corpse.

"Where's Victor now?" Lord Commander Mormont demanded.

"He and Benjen Stark took a small party to drag them back. Doesn't look good."

"The cold's getting worse," another brother muttered. "Benjen might run straight into the Others. We can't keep being this careless. Men slipping past the gates without anyone noticing? The guards on duty are getting sent to Mole's Town. They'll raise horses and grow crops for the rest of their lives."

The gate guards were shoved forward. They accepted the punishment with relief. The rest of the Watch spat on them as they left.

"Cowards." "Bastards." "Useless."

Beyond the Wall, Benjen and Victor hadn't even reached Craster's Keep when they saw a line of women running through the snow in perfect formation.

"Wildlings?" Victor asked.

"No," Benjen said, eyes narrowing. "Those are Craster's wives and daughters. Something's very wrong."

He rode forward and blocked their path.

"Stop! I'm Benjen Stark, First Ranger of the Night's Watch!"

The women clustered around their oldest member—an ancient woman who had once been Craster's wife and mother to all his daughters.

"Benjen Stark," she said flatly. "Your black brothers brought the white demons. Craster is dead. We're running for our lives."

"All of them?" Benjen asked. The other rangers closed in—only a dozen men.

"Every last one. Craster fed the Night King his sons for years. That's how he stayed alive out here. The Others are his own blood."

Benjen felt the words like a hammer.

One of the younger women suddenly clutched her belly and screamed.

"She's in labor!"

In this cold, both mother and child would die.

Benjen made the call.

"Come to the Wall. We have a maester and herbs at Castle Black."

The old woman gave him a hard look. "Women know how to birth babies better than any maester. But the other wildling tribes won't take Craster's women. And your brothers…" She glanced at the rangers. "They'd rape and kill us inside three days. We'll go with you."

They turned south together.

At Castle Black, Mormont stared at the group of wildling women.

"Benjen, what in seven hells is this?"

"Craster's wives and daughters. Craster and Edward's pirate squad are both dead. I brought them in."

Mormont sighed. "After the children are born, send them all to Mole's Town. The Wall isn't safe for women right now. Most of these brothers are criminals. They'd do worse than the Others."

Far north, a wildling warg sat with his eagle circling high above the snow.

He saw the bodies at Craster's Keep. He saw Benjen leading the women south.

When he opened his eyes he spoke quickly.

"The Others are moving again. Craster's dead. His women are heading to the Wall with the black brothers."

"Is the area clear?"

"Clear enough."

"Good. We need to find the Children of the Forest. Mance wants an alliance before winter finishes us all."

"Hard to find them. They hide too well. Look for weirwood groves instead. They're often near the oldest trees."

The warg sent his eagle skyward again.

In the Haunted Forest, the Three-Eyed Crow sat merged with the great weirwood, eyes closed, mind spread through the roots.

Crows wheeled above the places where death was coming.

Deeper in the woods, the Children of the Forest moved like shadows—small, leaf-skinned, faces like delicate women. Snow stayed on the branches as they passed. No leaf fell.

"The Others have killed again," one said. "We must move. The Three-Eyed Crow is still hidden. Bran Stark hasn't come yet."

"His time is coming," another answered. "Destiny doesn't make mistakes. Bran will arrive when he must. And when he does, we will die protecting him. That is our fate."

Born of the forest. Died in the forest.

It was the only life they had ever known.