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TWL Chapter - 58
🕑 Added 2024-10-23 17:28:19 +0000 UTCThe gate creaked open slowly, revealing the vast field of snow beyond. Benjen and I sat atop our horses, ready to embark on our quest to catch ourselves an ice-type Pokémon. Well, a White Walker, but same difference, right?
As soon as the gate was fully raised, we set off in the general direction towards Craster's Keep.
I'd given both our horses some upgrades, including a few new tricks I'd figured out to help them adapt to the cold. They ate up the miles with ease, unfazed by the biting wind and uneven terrain.
My thoughts wandered during the journey. I wasn't exactly looking forward to what we'd find at Craster's Keep.
If my memory served me right, Craster was a sick son of a bitch who had some sort of deal with the Others, trading his newborn sons in exchange for being left alone.
The thought made me quite queasy.
We rode in silence for hours, the landscape unchanging - just an endless sea of white.
Eventually, even the enhanced horses needed a break, and so did Benjen. We stopped to set up a small fire and rest for the night
As we sat around the flames, I decided to break the silence. "Hey, I just realized I'm pretty clueless about the wildling tribes up here. Mind giving me a rundown?"
Benjen nodded, taking a swig from his waterskin before launching into an explanation. He told me about Mance Rayder, a former brother of the Night's Watch who was slowly becoming the next King-Beyond-the-Wall, uniting more and more wildlings under his banner.
"I've been surprised at how quickly he's growing in numbers, considering that wildlings don't really trust people who come from south of the wall," Benjen admitted. "But I guess it makes sense now. Nothing brings proud people together like a common enemy."
"What about the other groups?" I pressed.
Benjen continued his explanation - Rattleshirt, the Lord of Bones; the cannibals; Alfyn Crowkiller; and even the giants. It was a colorful cast of characters, to say the least.
"You know, it might not be a bad idea to talk to Mance Rayder," I mused. "Did you know him before he deserted?"
Benjen shrugged. "Briefly. Not enough to be an accurate judge of character, at least."
I grinned. "Sometimes a familiar face is all you need for a polite conversation."
Benjen snorted at that. "You're mad if you think this journey of yours can be coupled with polite conversation."
I couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, Benjen, you misunderstand. I'm totally fine with a little bit of violence. In fact, I'm kind of looking forward to it."
He raised one of his eyebrows at that, and I continued, "I'm pretty sure all problems in this world need at least a little bit of violence to be solved smoothly."
Benjen shook his head, a mix of amusement and concern on his face.
Seeing how tired he was, I offered to take the first watch while he slept; it's not like I needed sleep anyway.
Benjen had started a small fire and explained to me not to let it go out or, more importantly, not let it get too high as it would attract unwanted attention.
As bored as I was, I knew that all attention would be wanted.
So after making sure that he was fast asleep, I slowly started adding more and more wood into the fire.
The fire started to get pretty big, and I didn't have to wait long after that to feel like I was being watched.
But no matter how hard I looked around, I couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary.
'I'm an idiot,' I thought for a second before I stopped using my eyes to find what I was looking for.
I had quite a list to choose from based on all the animals I had studied so far, and thermal vision seemed like a good option to go for now.
Which was smart, but I was not ready for the flashbang effect that the fire in front of me created. After a few seconds of minor adjustments, I finally found my target.
It was some sort of four-legged animal, and based on the fact that I still couldn't spot anything in the exact spot with my normal vision, I knew it was something unusual.
I didn't make any actions that made it seem like I had noticed its presence, even as it slowly approached and got into position to pounce right behind me.
Even as I felt it try to clamp down on my jugular, I heard not a single sound.
I could feel its sharp teeth and jaw try to pierce my flesh and fail.
I paralyzed whatever it was and got my first look at what had attacked me.
A white tiger!
'There are tigers in Westeros? How am I just learning this now?' I thought, bewildered.
On second glance, it wasn't exactly a white tiger. It looked more like it had white stripes on black instead of the pattern I normally expected.
Wait, was this what a shadowcat was?
Some sort of tiger-like creature? I had heard of them, of course, but I hadn't really seen one before.
Huh.
It looked absolutely adorable, well, if you forgot the fact that it was bigger than me.
I picked up the giant cat and gently, I placed it down in front of me.
As I studied the magnificent creature, I couldn't help but marvel at its beauty. The contrast between its dark fur and bright white stripes was striking, even in the flickering firelight. Its muscles, though relaxed now, spoke of raw power and deadly grace.
"Well, aren't you a pretty kitty," I murmured, running a hand through its thick fur.
His eyes could still move, and I saw the panic in them, along with a hint of curiosity.
I conjured up some biomass and transformed it into a rather juicy piece of steak, placing it in front of him. I let him move his head.
He hissed at me when he realized he could move his face but not run, but also stared quite suspiciously at the piece of meat in front of him.
I just went back to playing with the fire.
It didn't take long before he devoured the piece of meat and looked at me expectantly.
But I pretended to ignore him.
He slowly changed tactics and actually fucking purred to get my attention.
That was just too much for me, so I created another piece twice as big as the last one. He ate this one slowly in silence.
Vaylara's ghostly form manifested next to me. "So this is how you go around collecting pets?"
"Well, I wouldn't really call them pets," I replied. "They're friends I can't normally talk to who often do things for me if I ask nicely enough."
"How is that not a pet?" she asked, skeptical.
"Meh, I don't know what to tell you," I shrugged.
I glanced back at the shadowcat. It had finished the food in front of it and now had a content but alert look on its face.
"See? We're developing an understanding here," I grinned at Vaylara. "It's all about mutual respect... and maybe a bit of bribery with food."
"You know what? I have the perfect name for him," I mused. "Hobbes. Yes, Hobbes."
What kid didn't want to have a pet tiger named hobbes.
"Onto important matters," I continued, my tone growing serious. "I can feel it already now that I am on the other side. The magic that you have taught me is going to be a challenge to cast."
“I did warn you, what about your fleshcrafting?”
“Works as fine as anywhere else as far as I can tell.”
“That is some good news I guess”
Vaylara and I discussed some other things and continued my lessons on magic.
I turned my attention back to our campsite, once I could tell that Benjen was waking up.. The fire had died down to embers, casting a soft glow over our surroundings.
"Morning, sunshine," I called out cheerfully as Benjen sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"Sleep well? Oh, and don't mind our new friend here. He's just joined us for breakfast."
Benjen froze, his hand instinctively going to his sword as he spotted Hobbes, but I waved him off. "Relax, he's harmless. Well, to us at least. I think we've come to an understanding."
Hobbes, as I'd now dubbed him, looked at me with those piercing eyes, and I felt a pang of guilt about paralyzing him earlier.
Let's see if that understanding was true. I hadn't really made any changes to his body, just studied it so far and paralyzed its limbs temporarily.
Even though the 200-pound murder machine had tried to rip my throat out, I still started feeling bad for leaving him stuck like that.
So I fixed his paralysis and watched as he jumped back the moment he realized he could move again.
His eyes were completely fixed on me while he seemed to ignore Benjen, who had now fully drawn his sword.
I didn't make any sudden movements, but after what felt like a minute of eye contact, he turned tail and ran away into the darkness.
"Aww," I pouted, feeling disappointed. "Well," I said, breaking the tension, "that was interesting."
'It seems like your plan didn't play out as you wanted it to,' Vaylara teased.
I was about to respond when I noticed something interesting - Hobbes hadn't run away completely. Through my thermal vision, I could still see him nearby, watching quietly from his hiding spot.
'Aww, he's just a little tsundere,' I thought, amused.
"Mind letting me know what that was all about?" Benjen finally asked, relaxing slightly now that Hobbes wasn't visible.
"Oh, that was nothing," I waved dismissively. "We just had a little company during the night, and I got a bit bored so I started playing with it."
He looked like he had a lot to say on the matter, so I just smiled at him innocently until he finally sighed. "It won't be a problem?"
"Nope," I assured him cheerfully. "Even if it does, I promise to take care of it." No need to let him worry needlessly about the shy shadowcat currently stalking us.
I could still sense Hobbes watching us intently from the shadows, his curiosity apparently outweighing his caution. It seemed I might have made a new friend after all, even if he wasn't ready to admit it yet.
After we finished packing up and started to set off, it became clear that Benjen wasn't going to trust me with keeping watch anymore.
About half a day into our journey, Vaylara spoke in my head. "Just so you know, you're being watched, and I'm not referring to that new pet of yours."
I groaned at that. None of my senses had alerted me to anything nearby other than some birds, and Vaylara refused to elaborate.
Even after a few minutes of searching, I wasn't able to find anything more than a few birds in our vicinity.
Wait. One of those birds was actually following us. Oh - there was a warg keeping an eye on us.
The only wargs around here would be someone working for one of the big tribes.
‘It shouldn't be much of an issue,’ I replied to Vaylara in my head. ‘I'm pretty sure it's someone I'm hoping to run into anyway.’
I couldn't help but smile to myself. Things were falling into place nicely.
Comments
travis btmb
he cant if its only 200 pounds its young and adult male Siberian tiger can get up to around 900 ponds a female 370 now granted with his ability he could change that
omzy8484
he needs to ride it like he-man on battle cat.
Rachel N
🤣❤️❤️❤️❤️ What an adorable little murder kitty!
