From the darkest part of the forest, a pair of glowing eyes fixed on him.
Harry stared back without fear as Nyx spread her wings and screeched threateningly.
Suddenly, dozens of pairs of eyes lit up in the darkness around him.
Calmly patting his clothes, he noticed that he didn't even have a dagger, so he shrugged and watched curiously to see what they intended to do.
Why would they ambush him like this? They were carefully surrounding him. Could they somehow sense that he was a wizard?
He didn't think they did this with everyone; normally, he would have expected them to attack directly.
Paying attention to their gazes, he realized that they weren't actually looking at him, but at Nyx.
An undead dragon? That sounded quite terrifying. Harry looked around and wondered if they had some kind of hive mind.
Or was there someone somewhere giving them orders?
It didn't seem like his questions were going to be answered, because they suddenly lunged at him with surprising speed.
They weren't as clumsy and slow as the one he had seen before. Seeing them pass briefly beneath the moonlight, he noticed that their bodies weren't decomposed.
There were no exposed bones or rotting flesh; if it weren't for their pale skin and blue eyes, he could barely tell they were wights.
"Come on, girl, give it your best shot," Harry said, stroking Nyx's little head as he saw the wights almost upon him.
Nyx opened her mouth and released a small stream of flames toward the wights.
They immediately caught fire, as if they were made of dry straw.
The six wights forming an arc in front of Harry were completely consumed by the flames.
There were no screams of pain or fear, only cold indifference as the flames reduced them to ashes.
Turning around, he saw the other six practically on top of him. Amused, Harry skillfully dodged their attacks as he slipped out of the encirclement.
With some curiosity, Harry extended a hand toward one of them.
"Reducto," Harry muttered before a beam of light struck the wight at incredible speed.
A blue light enveloped it before its body disintegrated in an instant.
Looking at the other five, he used Diffindo, making a small but deep cut across each one's neck.
Their bodies continued moving even as their heads suddenly fell to the ground.
It seemed they weren't like the zombies from Muggle culture.
The curious thing was that, even without heads, they seemed to know where he was, as if something continued guiding them.
Pointing his hand toward them, their bodies suddenly burst into flames that briefly illuminated the forest.
As he watched them burn, Harry looked around. The forest was incredibly silent.
He couldn't even hear the movement of the small animals he had heard just a few minutes earlier.
The feeling of being watched remained, but when he cast a detection spell, he found no one.
Frowning, he looked around and hesitated for a moment before pulling the wand from his chest and casting the detection spell again.
Magic stirred intensely around him, sending the snow flying.
He couldn't help thinking that it was a waste to use so much magic for something as simple as locating nearby creatures.
That was when he felt it. Looking north, he smiled broadly; he had found it.
Harry moved through the forest at incredible speed, his footsteps crushing the snow in his path as branches broke against his body.
Nyx could barely hold on to him as she kept her head down.
Suddenly, he felt the creature begin to flee. It was quite fast, much faster than a normal human, but not fast enough to escape him.
A pale blue figure zigzagged between the trees; its head was somewhat elongated, and it wore armor that barely reflected the moonlight.
The distance between them was shrinking when Harry felt the temperature drop drastically.
As he breathed, he felt as though his lungs were going to freeze before a warm current instantly covered him.
He knew it was his magic instinctively protecting him; even so, he was truly amazed. A few dozen breaths in that cold and a normal human would surely be half dead.
With the target in sight, Harry extended a hand and cast Petrificus Totalus.
A beam of light struck the creature squarely in the back.
But, to his surprise, the creature only froze for an instant, stumbling a couple of steps before continuing to run.
Just as he was about to pull out his wand to increase the power of the spell, several wights emerged from the forest and lunged toward him.
Annoyed, Harry quickly transfigured the surroundings, creating dozens of roots that coiled around the wights as he continued pursuing the creature.
Unfortunately, the figure had already disappeared among the trees. Harry ran several hundred meters farther without finding anything.
Clicking his tongue, he thought those guys were really elusive.
He didn't want to venture too deep into the forest either; he didn't dare underestimate what might happen if dozens of those things surrounded him.
Going back the way he had come, he saw the wights still struggling to free themselves from the roots.
These weren't in as good condition as the previous ones; they were missing several pieces of flesh.
Nyx screeched before spitting a small burst of fire toward the wights, incinerating them in an instant.
"Just wait. When you grow up, we'll go burn their nest," Harry said with a smile as he rubbed the horns on her little head.
Nyx screeched proudly as she enjoyed Harry's caresses.
Beyond the Wall really was a good place; he felt like he was a real wizard again whenever he was there.
Smiling slightly, Harry made some snow levitate above his hand, changing its shape until it formed a number.
29.9
It was even higher than in Essos and had almost tripled compared to the first time he crossed the Wall.
Maybe that had also caused an increase in the Others' activity?
"Your birth caused quite a stir," Harry said, running his fingers over Nyx's small horns.
This time he was able to return without any trouble, organizing what he had learned about the Others in his mind: a freezing aura, superhuman physical abilities, resistance to magic, and a good level of stealth.
While chasing it, he had noticed that its footsteps made no sound and left no tracks, which was quite curious.
When he returned, he simply said that he had gone to gather plants and didn't mention what he had found.
In any case, as long as they remained beyond the Wall, he didn't think the Others could do much.
He would cancel all expeditions and have them limit themselves to guarding the Wall. It was a way to prolong the conflict without giving the enemy more troops.
But there really wasn't much he could do; he believed that no normal human could survive for long facing an Other one-on-one.
Nor would he be arrogant enough to think he could face them all.
Back at Castle Black, Harry had dinner with his family while listening to the endless stories about the Wall, the cold, and the pups playing together in the snow.
"Harry, when are we going back?" Sansa asked, looking at him.
It was very cold, the rooms were old, the beds were hard, and the food was bland. It was only the first day, but Sansa already wanted to leave.
"I'll be staying for several days because I have things to do, but you can go back whenever you want," Harry said, looking at Sansa before turning toward his mother.
She didn't exactly seem comfortable being there either, and Harry could understand it. While Winterfell wasn't exactly a luxurious castle, it was a very comfortable place to live.
And he didn't even want to look at Barbrey, whose room in Barrowton was filled with luxuries.
So, after dinner and making sure Barbrey was warm and safe, Harry went to rest.
….
On the morning of the third day since their arrival at the Wall, everyone except Arya and Val returned to Winterfell.
His father had to return to attend to matters in Winterfell, so as much as he wanted to stay and accompany Harry, he could only go back.
Dacey wanted to stay, but Harry asked her to take care of Barbrey; in exchange, he had to take her on a long walk through the forest.
Daenerys hesitated, but in the end she also decided to return; she told him that she had already seen everything and preferred to go back to reading in the library.
His mother and Sansa were also tired of the cold and the simple facilities at the Wall.
So almost everyone left. Harry stood watching the train as it pulled away with a whistle; because of the cold, an enormous plume of steam poured from the chimney, much more visible than usual.
With almost everyone gone, he finally focused on the matter of the Free Folk.
Although he had said in the heat of the moment that he would leave tens of thousands of wildlings outside the Wall, now that the time had come to actually do it, he hesitated.
He felt that he would be condemning all those people to die; he had seen the Others and no longer had any doubt that they were real.
"What's wrong?" Arya asked as she held his hand; she had come with her brother to see the others off.
Harry turned to look at her; her small face full of curiosity immediately softened his expression.
"It's nothing, I'm just not sure about something I'm going to do," Harry said with a smile as he squeezed her small hand.
Arya stared at her brother. She could tell that he wasn't in a good mood.
"When I'm not sure whether to skip lessons, I think about whether it's worth doing," Arya said with a serious expression.
Harry let out a small laugh as he crouched down and stroked her cheek.
"That's right, you just have to see if it's worth it," Harry said with a smile.
Arya imitated him, and a smile appeared on her lips.
"Take care of them for me, I have to do something," Harry said, looking at the direwolf pups playing in the snow.
"I'll take care of them," Arya said, nodding with a smile.
After pinching her little nose, Harry walked toward the tunnel through the Wall, which was open but guarded by several members of the Night's Watch.
On the other side, the camp was quite active, since they would soon begin crossing the Wall.
But Harry still hadn't given the order. Casting a Disillusionment Charm on himself, he silently passed through the tunnel until he reached the camp.
His gaze swept over the place; it was clearly less lively than the first time he had seen it, when there had been more than a hundred thousand people.
There were no longer children running or playing, and only faint voices could be heard coming from the tents.
The chaos and deaths seemed to have dampened the people's spirits.
Harry moved through the camp, searching for the tribes whose chiefs he had killed.
Somehow, he felt that he had to see them again before making a decision.
After walking for a few minutes, he finally recognized the distinctive clothing of one of the tribes along with their symbols.
Moving toward their camp, he noticed that they weren't as calm as the rest of the camp.
His brow furrowed slightly when he noticed that some of them seemed to be sharpening their weapons; the sound of stone scraping against metal created an atmosphere of tension.
They couldn't be thinking of rebelling... could they?
"I wonder what the women from the south taste like," a voice suddenly said, followed by a low laugh.
Harry couldn't help stopping and looking at them. He would have liked to think it was something sexual, but considering the circumstances, he wasn't sure.
"That's if they let us through. Remember how our leader died," an older man said with a frown.
"Isn't that why we're sharpening our weapons?" a young man said with a disturbing smile.
"If they don't let us through, we'll force our way through," the man said with a broad smile as he tossed aside the stone he had been using to sharpen his weapon.
"Don't forget the sorcerer. It's not like we don't have another option," the older man said when he noticed the others' enthusiasm for fighting.
His gaze was somewhat complicated; reaching his age in that tribe hadn't been easy, unlike many of his people, who rarely thought about the consequences.
He understood that many of the things they did were to survive.
And now he couldn't help feeling somewhat uneasy, with a sense that death might be approaching.
"He can't kill us all," one of the members of his tribe said with a wild smile.
"Yeah, if he tries anything, we'll cut off his head," another man said, bursting into laughter.
The others burst into laughter as they quickly began saying all kinds of horrible things.
Harry watched and listened to all of this with a calm expression before turning away.
In another camp, Harry saw a man putting away his weapons while a young boy helped him pack their few belongings.
"Does that mean you won't have to leave to fight anymore?" the boy asked.
The man paused before ruffling his hair.
"Not as often, I hope."
Harry couldn't help but sigh. The entire camp seemed like a vast mosaic of countless colors.
This made him hesitate. He felt conflicted, and at the same time, he didn't think there was a clear right or wrong answer.
He really couldn't condemn entire tribes. There were simply too many different kinds of people among them.
Leaving the camp, he went back through the tunnel until he reached Castle Black.
He casually greeted the members of the Night's Watch before heading to his room.
There he found Val reclining with a book while Nyx stretched lazily across her legs.
Hearing the door, Val looked away from the book and toward him, her blonde eyebrows rising with interest.
"Are they going to start crossing now?" Val asked.
"No," Harry said, shaking his head as he approached the bed and sat down, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.
"I went for a walk through the camp," Harry said without looking at Val.
"You're having doubts," Val said as she watched Harry's somewhat troubled profile.
"You know me well," Harry said, giving her a small smile.
"If you want advice, I'm not the most objective person to ask; most of the people I care about have already crossed the Wall," Val said as she scratched Nyx's neck, drawing small purrs from her.
"I'd be condemning tens of thousands of people," Harry said, lowering his gaze.
"That's one way of looking at it, but the truth is that you're exaggerating a little. Even if you stop them from crossing, that doesn't mean they're all going to die," Val said, shaking her head.
Harry looked up in surprise; in his mind, leaving them with the Others was practically the same as condemning them to death.
"You know that in times of famine they've sailed south in primitive boats. If you don't let them through, they'll probably do it again when they're cornered. Besides, you're forgetting the island of Skagos; it's nearby and could be another escape route."
"What I'm saying is that you don't have to feel so bad about what you're doing. The people who die because you didn't let them through won't be your fault, but those who die inside the Wall because of the people you let through will be your responsibility," Val said, looking at him seriously.
Harry remained silent as he looked at her before letting out a tired chuckle.
"How motivating," Harry said with an ironic smile.
"It's the truth," Val said with a sigh before carefully setting Nyx down on the bed. The little dragon immediately let out an annoyed screech before beginning to sniff noisily.
Opening her slitted eyes, Nyx saw Harry and remained still for a moment before running toward him and rubbing her head against his body.
"Hey, girl," Harry said with a smile as he petted her.
"Whatever decision you make and whatever the outcome, we'll face it. So come on, let's not keep them waiting any longer," Val said, crouching beside Harry and looking at him.
"You're right," Harry said, nodding before giving her a smile.
Harry hid Nyx inside his cloak again, much to the little dragon's annoyance, and left the room with Val.
The two of them walked through the corridors until they reached the courtyard. There he saw Mance talking with Jeor, both of them looking uneasy.
"Is something wrong?" Val asked when she saw them.
Both of them looked toward her before turning their gazes toward Harry in surprise.
"Boy, where were you? We searched the whole castle for you," Jeor said, letting out a sigh of relief.
The people were starting to grow impatient, and Jeor truly feared that they would end up attacking them.
"I was in my room," Harry said, not wanting to explain anything.
"Oh, right, they went looking for you, but you hadn't arrived yet at the time," Val said with a mischievous smile.
Mance stared wordlessly at his sister-in-law; apparently, she hadn't changed at all.
"Gather the Night's Watch and have them prepare for anything unexpected. This probably isn't going to end peacefully," Harry said, looking at Jeor.
Mance immediately took on a grim expression, wondering what Harry was going to do. When he looked at Val, he noticed that she was staring at the Wall as if it had suddenly become the most interesting thing in the world.
Pursing his lips, Mance promised himself that he would have Dalla scold her.
"You do know there are more than 40,000 people, right?" Jeor asked incredulously.
If things didn't end peacefully, the situation could quickly turn into a massacre.
"Just get everyone ready. I'll handle the rest," Harry said, looking at Jeor before walking toward the tunnel.
Val looked at Harry with interest and followed him with a satisfied smile; that was the Harry she knew.
Mance sighed before following them. He only hoped they wouldn't end up dead when they were one step away from making it.
----
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