Chapter 21 - Brynden Rivers

"What? Brynden? Brynden Rivers? Bastard son of Aegon IV? The famous Lord Bloodraven?" I asked.

"The very one, in the flesh, well, more bone than flesh" Brynden spoke.

"You still alive? You must be what, 104 years old?" I asked.

"Still alive, and will live for a few more years" Brynden spoke.

"How did I get here?" I asked in doubt.

"Your consciousness was transported here" Brynden spoke.

"And where is 'here? "I asked.

"Here, is where I currently live, a cave beyond the wall, within the haunted forest, east of the Fist of the First Men and southwest of the Antler River, the entrance is a crevice in a wooded hillside, halfway between some Weirwood." Brynden spoke up.

"Why don't you go back to the Watch, everyone thinks you're dead," I said.

"I am here because of fate, when I was the Lord Commander of the Watch, I had the thought that we were the shield that protected the realm of men against the Savages, but all those thoughts were but a simple illusion, the reality is something deeper and more macabre, the Watch and the wall was not created to separate these two peoples, but to protect, the living from the dead, and here they are again, rising from their icy graves." Spoke Brynden, with tirsteza, anger, and a little fear in his weak voice, which sounded more like the sound of two timbers scraping each other.

"While everyone wants to play king, the dead rise up, bringing with them the annihilation of life" Brynden spoke.

"I thought all the chance the living had was slim, but you came along and changed the whole game, I see in you the opportunity to prevail this catastrophe" spoke Bynden, trying to make a smile.

"Me?, If all that you said is true, which I assume is the return of the Wights, How would my presence change the plot?" I asked.

"Precisely, the Wights are coming back, and the only ones who are aware of it are us two, some Savages and very few members of the patrol, although they believe it is only a hallucination, it is as they say, The Worst blind of all, is the one who does not want to see" Brynden spoke.

"And about you, your existence is a paradox, boy, you should not be alive, your presence changed the courses of history to be traveled, nothing escaped or escapes my sight, I am known to have a thousand eyes and one, eleven years ago fate began to alternate, I could not know why or who was causing it, whenever I tried to visualize, all I could see was a battlefield, on one side a torrential blizzard, and on the other, a raging fire, but amazingly enough, the two divergent sides never clashed, it was as if instead of a battlefield, it was more like a dance, as if the two sides danced to a song of ice and fire. " Spoke Brynden, showing a smile on his wrinkled face.

"Until, a few hours ago, I felt some figures with magic in their bodies going beyond the wall, that's when I started watching you, a group of children venturing beyond the wall, it's not something we see much of, even more so when all these children have magic around them, albeit, to some weaker degree, compared to you." Brynden spoke.

"Their magic is somewhat subtle, yours is thick and aggressive, the magic in your blood is something I have never seen before, no matter how cloudy it is, I can see a trace of greenseers in you, it is not as strong as mine, but it is still there. " Brynden spoke, his voice slow and dry.

"Me a greenseers? Old Nan used to tell me story about them, that they were the wise leaders of the children of the forest who had magical abilities, including power over nature and green vision, but just like the children, aren't they extinct?" I asked.

"Besides the two of us, there are no other greenseers, well, at least not yet, until eleven years ago I predicted the birth of a child, who in order to fly, lost his legs." Brynden Spoke.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not understanding what Brynden spoke.

"Nothing, that is a matter for later, I believe we are running out of time, there is something I want to give you, I have hidden it in the Lichyard (a kind of cemetery in Westeros) of Castle Black, it is on the east road below the Wall, near ancient tombs, its tomb is white in color, with a blood red raven drawn on its headstone, its epitaph is written in high Valyrian, "A thousand eyes and one", I know you will make good use of the items it contains there" Brynden spoke.

"Now it is time for you to return, we will see each other another day, and next time, it will be in person." Spoke Brynden.

"Wait!!!" I spoke.

I had no time, the next thing I knew, I was back in the old, huge Weirwood, taking my hands off the tree, I noticed a few seconds had passed.

'I still had questions about the Wights, leave it for next time then, I'd better get back to the group'

Sneaking away without anyone seeing me, I went back to where the guys were gathered.

"I'm back" I said.

"That was fast" Kyle said.

"Yeah, I thought it would take longer, but I've accomplished my purpose for coming, time to get back" I said.

"Already? I haven't even fought any wildlings yet" said Sigurd, sadly.

"Thank the gods, my balls are freezing" Kevin said, while holding his testicles.

"Vocabulary Kevin" said Perseus.

"Shut up knight" replied Kevin.

"Idiots" Spoke Astrid, with annoyance.

"Hahaha" Rhoslyn laughed with her hands in front of her mouth.

As the group discussed, Barry came down from the tree with his bow in hand.

"We better go, in a few hours it will be dark" Barry spoke.

"Come on, get up off the ground Paul" spoke Kyle.

Paul continued sitting on the ground leaning against a pine tree.

"Damn, I forgot he doesn't have one ear, and to help, the other one is lousy." Spoke Kyle, addressing Paul and kicking his legs.

"Follow me," Kyle said, walking towards the wall.

After a few minutes of walking, I heard some sort of crying from some distance away.

"Wait" I said.

"I hear something" I said, as everyone stopped their steps and drew their weapons.

"I don't hear anything," Paul said.

"Of course you don't, idiot, you're deaf." Said Kevin.

"Hahahahahahahaha" laughed Sigurd.

"Stay here, I'll see what it is." I spoke, heading towards the sound.

After a few minutes of walking, I got even closer to the sound, after a while I was able to figure out the crying sound.

It was two puppies, one a small wolf, completely white in color, with red eyes.

The other was a small cat, completely black with small white stripes.

The two were playing, one trying to climb on top of the other, while giving little bites.

'A wolf and Shadowcat puppy' I thought.

As I approached the pups, I knelt on one leg and pulled some strips of beef jerky from my pocket.

"Come on, you must be hungry" I spoke with a smile.

Upon hearing my voice, the two stopped fighting and slowly approached me.

The two started sniffing the piece of jerky in my hand, and after a few seconds they ate.

"Hahaha, what cute little creatures" I said as I stroked the wolf's little head and the cat's ear.

After eating the meat, the wolf started licking my hand, and the cat rubbed itself against my legs.

"I've decided, I'm taking them with me."

Taking the wolf with one hand, I spoke:

"You will be called Fenrir" I said after checking the gender of the wolf, which I found to be male.

Taking the cat with the other hand, I said:

"And you will be Hela" I said, after checking that it was female.