10 To the west

The year was coming to an end as the brothers continued to train in the thick snow.

Lothor with his axes at hand rushed through dummies which had been set up all around him. Letting out shouts as he moved between them as agile and fierce as a shadow cat.

His axe was quick chop at the lower half of the dummies which were built to be as big as adult Skagossi, before slicing at their heads once they were brought to his level.

Lothor continued with his training completely engrossed in each swing.

A tad further away from Lothor, Ronell sat upon a tree branch eyes completely white and devoid of pupils, above him were four Ravens which continued to circle around the air.

A month into his training Ronell was finally able to warg whilst awake and reveal his talent to his family who were over the moon with joy by the fact that they had a warg in the family.

Arthor's joy soon turned to shock however when the amount of Ravens Ronell could control had risen to six, and even more shocking was the fact the boy was now attempting to be able to shoot whilst warging.

He had yet to make any progress in that regard but Arthor believed it was only a matter of time till he did something which Arthor thought was impossible.

Arthor and Benjen on the other hand were engaged in a brutal sparring session. The sound of steel clashing as they charged in at one another, Arthor had spent the year making up for his glaring deficiencies namely strength.

Now to a normal man Arthor had no doubt he was strong but compared to a Skagossi man he was certain of one thing, he strength was a joke.

So he trained until he was bloodied and bruised, and based on the fact he wasn't on his arse just yet in his spar against Benjen. He would say he was making progress.

His opponent was also making visible improvements, unlike before where he would just charge in relying on his bullish strength and durability. He had began to implement thoughtful strategies as well as flexibility into his actions making him truly one to contend with.

With their weapons at each others, throat with their entire bodies drenched in sweat. Arthor spoke within panted breaths, "let's call it a draw shall we."

"Sure" Benjen spoke as both of the fell to tired to continue standing. "Still can't believe how far we've come in just a year" Benjen turned to look at the two youngest who were still training at their hardest.

"Aye, sometimes I can't believe it either, but it seems we will have more time to get even stronger" Benjen looked to the sky after hearing his brother.

It had been a whole year but the cold had not began to receed rather the snow seemed to get even heavier. It was starting to get hard to find game this days, and they were only able to do so thanks to Ronell's Ravens which continued to scout the lands.

"Arthor I've been thinking but I think we should move"

"Hm?"

"It's getting harder to find food, with what we have and rationing we can survive for two more months at most. Ronell's Ravens haven't found anything around us in a week it's time we moved" Benjen spoke now turning to look at Arthor.

"I know, we head West from here. We will move towards the water, we should be able to get some fish and hopefully more than just fish" Arthor responded gaining a deep look in his eyes.

"West... if we do that we will probably meet more people. Not to mention the tribes that will no doubt populate the path but there will also be other survivors who are heading towards the same place with the same idea. It will be a blood bath." Benjen now had a frown when he thought of what would await them on this journey.

"We need to do this Benjen, no matter how much we push ourselves in training and sparring we won't be ready for our revenge if we've never experienced battle." Holding his brothers shoulder he continued, "we are the sons of Harwood Benjen, we should not fear blood or battle. Rather it those who would meet us that should pray to their ancestors and the old gods."

Benjen looked to Arthor before turning to his younger brothers and then back to Arthor not yet convinced. "Trust me we can do this, we are ready for this, nothing will happen to us you have my word".

"You better be right about this Arthor, you better be", Saying so Benjen made it to his feet and walked away leaving Arthor alone to look up at the cloudy skies.