House of the wolf

My legs carry me, running so fast that even in the thick forest, the wind is brushing against my face, and the trees I´m running past turn into a blur. My vision is focused on the little white rabbit fleeing away with all its might.

 

But it is no use, I caught its scent, no living being in these woods can outrun me or outlast me so I continue chasing it, feeling glee at seeing the prey putting up a useless struggle.

 

The game is put to an end when my jaws snap on the bottom half of the white rabbit, ripping it in two, the blood pouring into my mouth tastes like divine nectar.

 

In two bites I swallow both halves relishing in the taste until I snap out of it when a scent reaches my nose… humans.

 

I whisper to my companion to approach silently without being seen to where the scent is the strongest.

 

He already knows what to do and how to move without being noticed. But strangely it feels like I´m the one doing it. 

 

Then we reach the scent and look at the scene from behind the bushes in the forest. 

 

Outside the shelter of the forest, you can see the weather is getting worse and worse. 

 

Tents, rows, and rows of tents create a shield from the wind for those further in the middle.

 

Normally my companion would keep his distance from humans but I´m in the driving seat and make him start walking around the camp until we spot the largest tents in the camp.

 

This is where the commander's tents are. I hide properly in the bushes and wait to see all the people who leave and enter these tents.

 

As I lie in wait, the things I see almost make me growl but stop myself from revealing my location.

 

In some of these tents are people being raped or tortured I can smell it in the air. 

 

And not just any people, I recognize some of these scents, they are people from the winter town, not all managed to get into Winterfell and escape Roose Bolton's grasp. 

 

Leaving the tent with the strongest smell of blood is a man.

 

He seems rather unremarkable, he is of average height, and physically he is neither plump nor thin, nor is he muscular. His face is very pale but plain, with not a single bit of facial hair on his face. 

 

His only noticeable feature is his long hair and his grey murky eyes like dirty ice.

 

But despite his unremarkable stature, my hairs stand up on my neck looking at him, the way he carries himself is so unnatural. He carries himself with an eerie kind of grace like nothing in this world could bother him or put him out of balance.

 

I memorize his scent and the men that seem close to him, after tracking him and the commanders for a while I begin to wonder where Wyman Mandrely is. 

 

He should be with this army unless he was sent ahead to scout or face Stannis and his army.  

 

It seems their battle is close at hand, if nothing changes then it seems as soon as the weather lets up they will clash.

 

Having seen enough I start to leave the camp but as I retreat further into the trees I pick up a new scent of blood.

 

I approach the scent a couple of kilometers away from the camp and what I see makes me frown internally.

 

Stragglers from the army we defeated in the siege, their wounds have been tended to. They must have circled back and somehow snuck past our patrols to let Roose Bolton know about the attack.

 

If I let them reach him Roose Bolton will no doubt abandon his attack on Stannis and focus on his safety. I can´t let that happen.

 

My position will weaken considerably more if there are two unchecked armies in the North. 

 

Even if it is only a matter of time before Roose or Stannis are defeated, that is not really what I want. 

 

They are both the heads of two armies whose main forces are Northmen. It is not a question of being merciful to my enemies but devastation being brought to these armies is simply a price the North can´t pay.

 

Whatever happens from here on out, if Roose escapes and turns his wrath toward the lands around our castles I won´t be able to rule in the aftermath nor will I be able to rule if these armies destroy each other.

 

Two things must happen for me to be able to gain anything in the aftermath.

 

The first thing is those armies must face each other and the victor must be decided while both armies are somewhat intact.

 

The second is that the leader of one of those armies, Roose Bolton must be out of the picture before I face Stannis. 

 

With the Bolton´s out of the picture, the Northmen supporting Stannis will find it much harder to dismiss my claim, and as most of them supported Stannis mostly to help lift the siege on Winterfell, Stannis will not be able to use that army against me.

 

So I must not let these stragglers reach the camp and take away my chance to pull the rug from under both these armies.