"Bodies?"
"Beyond the Wall?"
"Wildlings?"
Upon hearing the report, both Tywin Lannister and his younger brother, Kevan Lannister, exchanged puzzled looks.
The news immediately brought back an old memory.
When the criminal soldiers of the Lannister army had first arrived at Castle Black, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont had been preparing an expedition beyond the Wall. The purpose of the mission had been to investigate the disappearance of Ser Waymar Royce and several other rangers.
The expedition's leader was none other than Benjen Stark, First Ranger of the Night's Watch and younger brother of Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell.
At the time, Commander Mormont had suspected that the growing activity of the wildlings was responsible for the disappearances. Reports concerning Mance Rayder—the self-proclaimed King-Beyond-the-Wall—had already spread throughout the North.
The Night's Watch was painfully aware of the threat.
For years, rumors of wildling gatherings and strange movements beyond the Wall had continued to increase.
As Lord Commander, Jeor Mormont had no choice but to remain vigilant.
Unfortunately, events had unfolded differently than expected.
The sudden war in the south and the arrival of thousands of criminal recruits had forced Mormont to postpone his plans indefinitely.
Because of that, when the report mentioned bodies discovered beyond the Wall, both Tywin and Kevan instinctively assumed they belonged to wildlings.
However, the soldier delivering the report hesitated.
His face had turned pale.
His hands trembled slightly.
"My lords..." he said nervously. "They aren't wildlings."
The brothers frowned.
"They are our men."
"Our men?"
Tywin's eyes narrowed.
The answer only deepened the mystery.
How could their own men have died beyond the Wall?
In the current situation, any unexpected development demanded attention.
"How did they die?" Tywin immediately asked.
"Have the bodies been recovered?"
The soldier swallowed.
"Yes, my lord."
"The bodies have been brought back."
"When they were first discovered, the men who found them left everything untouched and returned to Castle Black for assistance."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"When we returned to recover the bodies, we found something strange."
"What?"
The soldier lowered his voice.
"It looked as though they had killed one another."
Tywin's expression hardened.
"Killed each other?"
The soldier nodded.
"Their axes, knives, and swords were covered in blood."
"The wounds on their bodies match those weapons."
"It looked like they slaughtered one another."
Even now, the memory seemed to terrify him.
The strange scene had clearly left a deep impression.
Tywin remained silent.
His mind worked rapidly.
Only a few days earlier, he had ordered several groups of men beyond the Wall to gather firewood and survey the surrounding terrain.
It had been an insignificant order.
Nothing more than routine work.
Yet now six men were dead.
Not only dead—but apparently victims of some bizarre massacre.
The situation made little sense.
After a moment of thought, Tywin stood up.
He grabbed his cloak and draped it over his shoulders.
"Take me to the bodies."
Then he turned toward another officer.
"Bring me everyone involved."
"The men who discovered the bodies."
"The men who recovered them."
"I want answers."
"As you command, my lord."
A short time later, they arrived at Castle Black's training yard.
The cold northern wind howled through the ancient fortress.
Six corpses lay on the frozen ground.
Even Tywin paused slightly upon seeing them.
The sight was disturbing.
Taking a sword from one of the nearby guards, he approached the bodies.
At first glance, he recognized none of the dead.
But the wounds immediately caught his attention.
Each corpse was covered in cuts, slashes, and puncture wounds.
Several injuries were clearly fatal.
One man's throat had nearly been severed.
Another's chest had been split open.
A third appeared to have suffered multiple axe wounds.
The bloodstained tools recovered from the scene lay nearby.
Everything seemed to support the theory that they had attacked one another.
Yet something felt wrong.
Tywin crouched beside the nearest corpse.
Using the sword, he carefully rolled the body over.
The corpse moved stiffly.
Like a frozen log.
The body had clearly been dead for some time.
Tywin studied it closely.
The skin was unnaturally pale.
Almost white.
Yet the hands were black.
Not stained.
Black.
As if frozen solid.
More strangely, despite the horrific wounds, there was remarkably little blood on the clothing.
That detail immediately bothered him.
The more he looked, the less natural the deaths appeared.
"It doesn't look like an ordinary attack," Kevan suddenly said.
Tywin glanced toward his brother.
Kevan was examining another corpse nearby.
He reached down and grabbed the dead man's head.
The moment he touched it, clumps of hair fell away.
The strands were brittle and dry.
Like old straw.
Kevan frowned and brushed them from his glove.
"Interesting."
He pushed the corpse onto its side.
"Most of these wounds are fatal."
"But they don't appear to have been inflicted during a desperate struggle."
He pointed toward something hanging from the corpse's belt.
A hunting horn.
The implication was obvious.
"If enemies attacked them, why wasn't the horn sounded?"
Tywin followed his gaze.
The hunting horn remained untouched.
"No warning."
"No signal."
"No sign of resistance."
Kevan continued.
"Even if enemies somehow approached unnoticed, the sentries on the Wall should have seen something."
"The distance isn't great."
"Unless the attackers were invisible."
Tywin's eyes narrowed.
The possibility seemed absurd.
Yet none of the evidence fit conventional explanations.
He turned toward the foreman responsible for the work parties.
"How long were they gone before they were reported missing?"
The man nearly jumped.
"My lord, they left yesterday morning."
"There were three other work teams nearby."
"We only noticed they were missing after everyone returned in the evening."
"When they didn't come back, we organized a search."
"And found them today."
Tywin nodded slowly.
"What was the distance?"
The foreman looked uncomfortable.
"Not far beyond the Wall."
"Near the edge of the forest."
"We chose that location because transporting wood back would be easier."
An uncomfortable silence followed.
The location should have been relatively safe.
Especially with the Wall towering nearby.
Kevan spoke again.
"If enemies attacked them there, someone should have noticed."
The foreman suddenly remembered something.
"There was a snowstorm."
Both Lannisters looked at him.
"A snowstorm?"
"It lasted about an hour yesterday afternoon."
"We sheltered until it passed."
"When we resumed work and later returned, we discovered they were gone."
Then he hesitated.
"There was something else."
"What?"
"The horses."
"The dogs."
"When we recovered the bodies, neither wanted to go near them."
Tywin and Kevan exchanged another glance.
The answer raised more questions than it solved.
Animals often sensed danger before humans did.
What had frightened them?
No one knew.
At last, Tywin stood.
"Separate everyone involved."
The order came immediately.
"The workers."
"The search party."
"The sentries on duty."
"Question them individually."
"If someone knows something, I want to hear it."
The officers hurried away.
Kevan folded his arms.
"If this involves wildlings, we should close the gate."
"The supplies are nearly gathered anyway."
Tywin nodded.
The suggestion was reasonable.
Regardless of what happened here, the coming war demanded their full attention.
They couldn't afford distractions.
His gaze returned to the corpses.
Their pale faces seemed almost unnatural beneath the fading daylight.
Particularly their eyes.
Though closed, something about them unsettled him.
Tywin wasn't a superstitious man.
He didn't believe in ghosts.
He didn't believe in ancient legends.
Yet he couldn't shake a feeling of unease.
Something wasn't right.
Something about these deaths felt profoundly wrong.
An old veteran of the Night's Watch suddenly stepped forward.
"My lord."
Tywin looked at him.
The old man swallowed nervously.
"We should burn them."
"Burn them?"
The veteran nodded.
"That is our custom."
Tywin studied him.
The man's fear appeared genuine.
Not grief.
Fear.
As if he was worried about something worse than death.
After a moment, Tywin shook his head.
"Not yet."
The old watchman looked horrified.
Tywin continued.
"The maesters will examine them first."
"I want to know exactly what happened."
The veteran opened his mouth as if to argue.
But one look from Tywin silenced him.
The Lion of Lannister had spoken.
The matter was settled.
Soon afterward, the crowd dispersed.
Most of the soldiers quickly forgot about the strange incident.
Six dead men meant little.
Men died every day.
More importantly, rumors suggested they would soon leave this frozen wasteland.
That thought brought smiles to many faces.
No one cared much about six corpses.
Night gradually descended upon Castle Black.
The temperature dropped sharply.
Wind whistled through broken stone and abandoned towers.
Of the six corpses, two had been taken to the maester's tower for examination.
The remaining four were placed inside a partially collapsed storage building.
The arrangement was considered temporary.
The bodies would either be examined later or burned.
No one gave them another thought.
As darkness deepened, the castle slowly fell asleep.
Men gathered around fires.
Others crawled beneath blankets.
Exhausted soldiers drifted into dreams.
The fortress became quiet.
Then something changed.
Inside the ruined building, four corpses lay motionless.
For hours, nothing happened.
Then—
Their eyes opened.
Four pairs of glowing blue eyes stared into the darkness.
The dead had awakened.
No breath escaped their lips.
No heartbeat stirred within their chests.
Yet they moved.
Slowly.
Unnaturally.
One by one, the corpses pushed themselves upright.
Bones creaked.
Frozen joints twisted.
Broken flesh stretched.
The dead stood.
In the darkness, illuminated only by distant firelight, they resembled figures from a nightmare.
For a moment they remained still.
Then they began to walk.
Instinct guided them.
They avoided fire.
Avoided light.
Avoided warmth.
Instead, they moved through shadows.
Toward the living.
Toward the beating hearts scattered throughout Castle Black.
The scent of warm flesh drew them forward.
Like starving predators.
Like hunting wolves.
At the same time, the animals sensed them.
Inside the stables, horses suddenly reared in panic.
Their frightened screams shattered the silence.
In the kennels, hounds awoke barking furiously.
The entire castle seemed to tremble.
The peaceful night vanished instantly.
Elsewhere, inside the maester's tower, two young maesters prepared for bed.
The small room felt cramped.
Castle Black had never been designed to house so many people in its current condition.
Most of the fortress had fallen into disrepair long ago.
Only constant repairs allowed it to function at all.
Unfortunately, after Tywin's orders earlier that day, two additional occupants had joined the room.
The corpses awaiting examination rested nearby beneath rough blankets.
The younger maester sat on his bed.
He kicked off his boots and sighed.
"Did you notice something strange?"
Receiving no answer, he continued.
"The blood."
"It wasn't normal."
He frowned.
"It had thickened."
"Almost like jelly."
He shivered.
"The skin was strange too."
"Hard."
"Dry."
"Brittle."
"When I cut into it, it felt less like flesh and more like stale bread."
Still, no answer came.
The young man looked up.
"Haven't you thought about what we're going to tell Lord Tywin tomorrow?"
Silence.
Slowly, confusion replaced annoyance.
He turned his head toward his companion.
Then his blood froze.
Because standing behind the older maester were two figures.
Their eyes glowed an icy blue in the darkness.
The corpses had disappeared.
Advance Chapters avilable on patreon (Obito_uchiha)