ã€ŠA Skin-Changer&#x27;s Taleã€‹


 My name is Sneak

    The tale of a boy, and the man he becomes. Wildling child to something... Greater? Raider, Herder, Trader, King-Beyond-The-Wall, Invader, Reaper, Pirate, Explorer, Husband, Father. 100% more wicked and cruel than Game of Thrones.

    First off, thank you to my patrons who share their sustenance to give me time to devote to my stories. It means a lot to me.

    A Skin-Changer¡¯s Tale.

    The son of destiny. A tale of a boy and the man he becomes, in a world of ice and fire.

    Chapter One: My name is sneak.

    Sneak was my name. I lived up to it. There wasn¡¯t nothing I couldn¡¯t get away with. My hands were quick as lightning, and my tongue as smooth as ice. When I wanted something, I did what all Free-folk did.

    I took it.

    I crawled along the bank of the Milkwater. My legs were submerged in the icy river as I hugged the sheer rock cliff the river had carved over the eons. The water numbed my legs, but I was used to the cold. The cold wouldn''t stop me today.

    I was going to get it. Today was the day. I peeked around the edge of the cliff. There they were. The young sons of Tormund the Bear''s Husband. They too were too young to have names. What they did have were fishing poles, with real iron fishing hooks.

    Their father is a famous raider, known to all Free-folk, and gifted his sons with many things. four fish lay on the rocky shore next to them as I peeked over the side of a large river rock. They had so much food.

    A smart man would steal the fish... It was enough food to live on for almost a fortnight.

    My stomach rumbled with hunger. Momma didn''t feed me often. She had herself and my twin sisters to feed from her breasts. Mother''s milk and fish were what I lived on. I had once tasted deer, after sneaking into a hunter''s camp. I was beaten so hard, I puked the deer out before the hunter let me go.

    I was not a smart man though... I was sneaky.

    That was my name.

    That was my way of life.

    Gauging where the current would take me was simple. I ducked into the frigid water, with my stone knife in hand. The frigid water was home to me. I was used to the cold. I lived and breathed the cold. It was the holding my breath that was the problem.

    I let the current carry me until I saw the hook floating with a wriggling minnow as bait. I held the flint knife in the right position and let the weight of my body and the river slice the thin fishing line. The iron hook was clenched in my hand as the minnow squirmed in my palm.

    My lungs were burning, but I carried on swimming underwater as fast as I could. The short minute felt like an eternity before I surfaced, gasping for air. I scrambled to the shore, my triumph over the raider''s sons spreading warmth into my cold body.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    I quickly dove into the bushes as I heard Toregg begin to cry out as he realized he had lost his prize southern fish-hook. I slipped into my furs after I wiped away the water with dry dirt in the bushes. I chuckled to myself at my own cleverness.

    As my stomach rumbled with hunger, I suddenly wished I had thought of a way to steal the fish too. I gripped the fishing hook. But this would get me food just as well.

    Scrambling from the bushes, I headed to the nearby river clan, the Milk Sons'', a mile further down-river. There was no stopping me now. Toregg had no idea that I had stolen his fish-hook, and there was nothing I owned that he could steal in return, even if he did know.

    My mouth watered as I sprinted to the clan''s summer longhouse on the Milkwater''s shore. I practically skipped with happiness as I waved to the grizzled old man, Scarface I called him, who was one of their sentries on watch for the clansmen. They were always on guard for raiders coming to take their fish. Or worse... Direwolves. Shadowcats. Snowbears. Everything...

    "Slow down, or the dogs il'' bite ya" The old man slurred. Half his face was scarred in three angry long red lines. The scars and tales of the snowbear used to frighten me, but I wasn''t scared of a snow bear anymore. Or scarred old men. I was sneaky. I''d find a way to sneak right passed it.

    "Make me you old drunk." I cried out, slipping from his reach with a scramble of my thin legs. I took his advice anyway. The Milk Sons had massive hounds that loved to chased down anything willing to run away. I''d heard they''d brought down a direwolf just last year.

    "Donny!" I called out for the chief''s son as I neared the longhouse. "I''ve got it!" I cried out "I''ve got it!" I was so excited. The fish I''d eat soon.

    The teenager''s face peeked out of the fur flap that kept the heat in the longhouse from escaping. He was short for his age, but strong from many years of pulling in nets, and using the paddles on a canoe. His face was dirty with soot, and had blond fuzz curling around his chin and cheeks. He stepped out of the longhouse with a grin, and his two younger brothers followed.

    "Lets see it then." Donny grinned as he walked over. "Did you have any trouble getting it?" He asked.

    I shook my head, grinning and held up the prize between my thumb and forefinger. The thin iron hook glinted in the summer sun. Donny''s face was one of awe. "I never thought I''d see the like." He whispered. "Its so shiny." He held out his hand. I dropped it into his palm.

    "And my reward?" I prompted with a grin.

    "I have to show father what I got." He mumbled to himself as he stared at the iron in wonder. "They use iron for fish hooks down south. I never imagined it was real."

    Denny tugged on my sleeve. "Its that one." He pointed to the shore where a row of canoes rested on the riverbank. "We finished it yesterday. The smoked fish is in it already. I put it there like you said, so Donny can''t double-cross you." Denny whispered. "You need to go before he changes his mind, or father finds out."

    Good old Denny. Honest to a fault.

    Gullible to a fault too.

    "I''ll have one for you tomorrow, to pay for the canoe. I could only get the first one today." I whispered to him as we walked away from Donny and his youngest brother Danny as they marveled at the iron hook. "I promise, I''ll be back tomorrow with another to pay you for the canoe." I smiled a friendly grin at Denny.

    He smiled back.

    I could see old Scarface glaring from upriver as he watched me slip into a small hide hulled canoe. I had drug it into the water as Denny grinned like a big goofy smile, imagining all the adoration he would receive as the owner of an iron fish-hook.

    Denny gave me a good shove away from the shore, and waved as I started paddling back upriver. It was a long trip, and I ate a good quarter of the smoked fish Donny had promised as a reward for the iron fish-hook before night fell. I was half way home to Momma''s hut in my village. By noon, I''d be back home, feeding my family, as a man ought to.

    I was 6. Soon to be a man. Life was short for us northerners. I''d heard raiders tell that southern kneelers are still considered boys until they have hair on their chins. Us northerners become men as soon as we can provide for ourselves. I was sure to prove it with this feat of sneakiness.

    Momma would give me a man''s name for sure when I got back. Then I may take Momma as my spear''s wife and feed her and the twins. No other man in the village seemed willing. no man rutted with her, and few were willing to even give her scraps to eat. She hunted snow-hares and rats to keep her milk flowing. She ate tubers sometimes, when there were no rats in the village, but they caused the runny shits. Tubers were more for animals than for humans.

    Pulling the canoe into the bushes, I hid and waited for the sun to rise before leaving the bushes I drug the canoe out of the bushes next to my bush and started towards the water.

    I noticed a shadow on the riverbank as I paddled. The shadow was moving with me. At the same pace. Following me. I kept paddling, but started paying more attention to the shadow. I felt a sense of dread as the shadow moved along the shore. I knew it was watching me.

    I caught glimpses of it as I paddled upriver. It had black fur. I noticed at first. Or it was a man wearing black fur.

    A Crow?

    Why would a crow follow me? I wasn''t a raider... yet.

 Chapter 2

    <blockquote class="messageText SelectQuoteContainer ugc baseHtml">Chapter 2: My father is a what?

    The glimpses of black fur became all too common as I began to row faster. I could feel my heart in my throat as I was followed upriver. One thing soon became clear as my attention was focused on the black shadow. The black fur moved on all fours.

    There were few animals to hunt in the north during the day that had black fur. The only ones that sprang to mind were the cave bears and direwolves. Both of which could swim and I would already be dead.

    There was one other creature that could be this creature''s size and still not come into the water to eat me. Only one problem. They hunted at night. As the shadow slipped from one bush to another, I got a better look at the fur. It confirmed my suspicions.

    It was the black and gray striped bur of a shadowcat...

    There was no escaping now. Shadowcats were not known for toying with their prey. "Why hasn''t it killed me?" I asked aloud as the village came into view. The shadow didn''t leap into the river and take me for its meal to my great relief.

    Thank the Old Gods...

    I was on the opposite shore of the river and dragging the little skin canoe full of smoked fish behind me as fast as I could. A dog started gnawing on my bone and skin watercraft as I drug it. I kicked at it, and heard a shout from it''s owner.

    I let the mutt be and hurried along faster. I wasn''t well liked in the village. I was known for mischief, theft, and lies. I had unwittingly practiced my trade too close to home in my younger age, and made a reputation for myself as a lying, thieving, scoundrel, that was quite well earned.

    Men and women alike stared at me suspiciously as I drug my canoe towards the far end of the village where my mother''s hut was leaning against a sturdy tree. All the huts in the village were made of logs leaned against trees, with mud caked between the logs. wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, it was shaped like a cone. A small hole at the top of the hut let out the smoke from the little fire that always burned at the base of the pine tree in the center of Momma''s hut.

    Momma''s hut was just next to the small forest on the far east side of the village. I could see the three year old twin girls playing chase as they ran around the hut. Their tufts of blond hair swayed in the wind behind the giggling girls as they ran in circles. I stopped and smiled.

    There was nothing I loved more in the world than little Laughs, the elder, and little Giggles, the younger. They too had yet to receive a real adult name. They were too young. It was no use naming what wouldn''t survive. It was well known that if you name someone too young, they have a tendency to die young.

    Yet most free-folk die young.

    I wanted Laughs and Giggles to live for a very long time. They were my precious things. My sisters. My own hair was brown., and dull, while theirs shined brightly in the sunlight. I walked slowly towards them. They hadn''t noticed me yet. I smiled again. I decided to surprise them.

    Yet I was the one surprised.

    A heavily muscled feline form stalked slowly from the woods behind the hut. It had a falcon perched on it''s back. I was too panicked to notice the absurdity and utterly abnormal behavior. It''s eyes were fixed on mine. My little sisters were laughing and had yet to notice. I acted as everyone in the village should when we were faced with animals that treated humans as prey.

    I screamed.

    "SHADOWCAT!!!" Bellowing at the top of my lungs, I drew my flint knife and charged at the shadowcat. Maybe I could distract it from my sisters long enough for the villagers to kill it before it turned on my sisters.

    The cry of shadowcat was picked up by the three dozen villagers behind me. The shadowcat just stayed in the edge of the trees and waited for me as my sisters heard the cries of shadowcat and ran inside the hut without noticing me. They were as scared as I was.

    I turned around mid-step, as soon as they were in the hut, and ran back towards the villagers. I had no wish to die with my sisters out of harms way. The shadowcat was focused on me anyway. I looked over my shoulder to see it passing Momma''s hut at a slow pace, as if it had not a care in the world.

    The villagers were dropping their spears to the ground, and standing still as I ran to them. I ran passed a hut before a hand reached out and gripped my arm. I jerked to a stop as I looked at the gnarled and liver-spotted hand gripping my wrist. It was the medicine woman.

    "He wants you." She croaked out in her throaty voice. "Go to him, and he will spare the rest of us." She said, a heat in her eyes as she glanced at her grandson, the village chief, Drall, who I noticed dropped his spear too. I jerked my head back over my shoulder to see the shadowcat had paused just a few meters from me. The village stood in silence as the stood still as a weirwood.

    "He''s yours, Lord." Drall said, in a shaking voice. Drall was young, tall, and looked every bit the natural hunter. "We will send him with the next tribute tomorrow. We will gather the tribute today."

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    The shadowcat gave a very human nod, to my astonishment. I could not understand what I was seeing. THe shadowcat understood Chief Drall? The black furred predator turned around and slowly stalked back towards the forest. Momma exited her hut in a rush, and noticed the shadowcat with a falcon on it''s back immediately.

    Dropping her spear, she fell to her knees, an expression of anguish on her face. "I have served you twice already, I have bore you three children." She sobbed out, tears filling her eyes. "Please, not again, Lord." She begged. "Not again."

    The beast turned back it''s head to look at me, as I held still in the crone''s grasp. The falcon on it''s back took to the air as I studied the beast. All I felt was confusion. Complete and utter confusion. My father was a shadowcat? Is this the sire of my sisters?

    A beast?

    The shadowcat stood on all fours as tall as Drall''s chest. It had legs as thick as trees, and claws the size of my a man''s fingers. It''s muscles rippled under the summer fur as the shadowcat ignored my mother and sped away into the forest in a flash of black.

    Mother had her face down in the dirt as she sobbed. I yanked out of the crone''s grip and hurried to my mother. "Momma." I prodded her. "Is my father a shadowcat?" I felt sadness at seeing her tears as she looked up at me. This was all my fault, I was sure.

    "It was the boy the Lord wanted, Kal." Drall spoke up. "Not you, again."

    My mother looked at me with sadness. "I haven''t even named you yet." She murmured to herself as she touched my face. "It is for the best. for where you are going..." She trailed off. Going? I was going where?

    "You are not likely to live long." She whispered. "The things a man can do to little boys." Tears ran freely down her cheeks. "Better that you don''t have a name for me to mourn over." Her voice caught in her throat.

    I asked the one thing I could understand out of all of this. "Is my father a shadowcat?" I asked again.

    "No." Momma shook her head. Tears left trails in the dirt that coated her skin. "Your sire is a skin-changer."

    ___---___---___

    At dawn, I was handed a sled''s rope and told to follow the shadowcat. The sled was piled with smoked meat and fish. I squinted in the dawn''s gloom and tried to make out the shape of the Shadowcat as it emerged from the forest. I began tugging the sled. A question rang through my head constantly. A question no one would answer for me last night.

    What was a skin-changer?

    I followed the shadowcat into the forest as the morning star rose behind the forest.

    ___---___---___

    6 years later: Age 12

    My name was Veranyr, and I was very annoyed.

    Fang and Claw were fighting again. the snow bear cubs were small things, barely bigger than a decent sized dog, but they were noisy. They continued to fight one another. All I wanted to do was listen as father rutted with the pretty girl from the western most village father lorded over. Varamyr Four-skins was the Lord of 4 different villages who paid tribute with meat and women.

    This woman sounded like she enjoyed father''s brutal attention, and I wanted to hear every bit of it I could. But first, I had to make the cubs shut up. I warged into Fang, to stop him from fighting and Claw attacked viciously. I warged into Claw, to calm her down, and Fang attacked again.

    I grew frustrated as the girl''s shrieks of ecstasy echoed from the cave behind me as I sat outside with the snowbear cubs.

    I''d missed the best part!

    A fury swept through me. I glared down at the fighting and yowling cubs. They were only 4 weeks old, an dI wanted to kill them already. Instead of doing as father taught me on merging with the animal, I dominated them utterly. I squashed that spark of freedom and animal instinct inside of them. Their minds were gone.

    I was suddenly seeing through 6 eyes at once. This wasn''t warging.

    Warging is bonding and merging with an animal''s spirit. That is what Father taught. Yet I turned the cub''s eyes into the cave, I could see through the darkness as the little snowbears could.

    This was skin-changing... Forbidden, according to my father. It was a sin against the Old Gods.

    My father had her on her knees on his sleeping furs as he took her from behind. I heard him grunt and saw him shudder in release before he backed away. He laid down, on the furs and he stiffened as he warged into Night, his shadowcat. The cat pounced and mounted the young girl before she realized what was happening.

    This was my favorite part. And for the first time in weeks, I got to watch it in silence, with the bear''s spirits crushed and their bodies under my complete control.

    </blockquote>

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 3

    <blockquote class="messageText SelectQuoteContainer ugc baseHtml">Chapter 3: Rats in the woods

    (Age 13)

    Father had forgiven me after what I did to the bears, but he forbid me from trying to bond with any other animals for the foreseeable future. "Two snow bears is enough for any warg." He''d said. I hadn''t argued the point to his face.

    "I''m a skin-changer, not a warg." I wanted to tell him. "Fuck the so called sins against the Old Gods. I''ve never cared for the guest right either. What have the Old Gods done for the free-folk in the last 8,000 years. To hell with the Gods."

    Saying that, however, would lead to being kicked out from the cave, and comfort of fresh food delivered by pretty girls who father let me have a go with after he was done. I found it more stimulating to be in the mind of rats while they rut instead of a human.

    I could control 20 rats and have them breed constantly. I felt the sensations in my human body. It was far better than human mating. It was exquisite. I was inside 20 rats at this moment. I had plenty of newborns in the cave to replace the loses I would face scouting the forest for easy prey for Fang and Claw.

    Fang and Claw had grown tremendously over the last year. They were not full grown, yet they towered over cave bears and men both. They would be utterly massive, and I fed them far more than their wild counterparts. It showed in their physique. Both snow bears were packed with both muscle and a thick protective layer of fat.

    Claw, though not full grown, was pregnant by Fang. Her belly was starting to swell, and I knew I would have another snow bear to add to my pack once it did. Two was not enough for me. I wanted to live in the south, where the people are weak and stupid. I could live like a king in the green lands if I had a few more snowbears. No one would be able to touch me.

    I lay on Claw''s back, nestled into her warm fur, as the chill of winter set in. The snow falling was negligible in the thick fur that surrounded me and the warm fat under me. I even sweated a little at times.

    The snow bears followed the rat''s trails as I led them all after a particularly large moose I''d spotted. Easy prey for two snow bears.

    I heard men talking through one of my rat bodies and focused. It was difficult to control 23 bodies at once, but I was getting better. I had managed to keep a conscious mind on the skins I''d wiped the minds from, day or night. I never slept anymore. Like now, in the middle of the night. My body rested on Claw, whilst I was awake, and alert, using 22 extra bodies.

    I listened in on the men''s voices, and started my skins in their direction. Man was easier meat than moose. "One abomination making us all into kneelers is bad enough, But two of them..." The voice stopped as another cut in. "Aye. We have to kill them both lest we become kneelers to generation after generation of abominations."

    A loud cacophony of agreement sounded. Dozens of men. At least four dozen. I stopped the bears and had them turn around. "We attack just before dawn. The shadowcat will be sleeping off a full stomach and the three wolves should be easy enough to kill." The first continued. "The real problems are going to be the abomination''s bears. The father has a big one, and the son has two little ones."

    "That''s going to cost us some lives." A voice spoke up. "Many of us will die."

    "That''s why I thought of the solution." The first voice continued laying out the plan of attack. "We cut extra long spears for the bigger men, and shorter throwing spears for the smaller men." They continued to plan their attack as they fire hardened the tips of their wooden spears.

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    I''d heard enough.

    I might think that I owed it to my father for siring, feeding, and teaching me, to fight along his side to the death. To face the onslaught of men and kill them all or force them to flee alongside my sire. Maybe I should warn him about the humans. but my smarter, sneakier side took those ideas and ripped them apart.

    I''d learned everything the sick bastard had left to teach, and I''d already broken all three of his rules.

    1. Do not eat human flesh. (I did it all the time)

    2. Do not mate with an animal as an animal. (I did it constantly)

    3. Do not warg into a human. (I had experimented on a 7 year old girl father had selected as tribute)

    I''d broken all his rules. I''d learned everything he could teach me. I knew it was just a matter of time before he kicked me out or tried to kill me. I had no real possessions. so I wouldn''t miss anything from the cave. There was one thing I needed to do first, before leaving this land behind.

    The rats scurried through the forest to find the cave of hibernating snow bears. I had half the rats stop breathing, so that I could concentrate on what came next. I focused on the cubs inside the cave. I had to do this without the cubs waking up and making noise. Making a noise meant waking up the mommies which I''m not sure I''d survive.

    They were too young to survive a winter, at their age anyway. Only a month old, they barely had enough fat to stay warm. They would be dead if I didn''t take them. The minds of three more snowbear cubs were crushed into oblivion, and I became the owner of three more snowbear cubs.

    ---___---___---

    Going south, I took the long way down the Milkwater. Along the riverbank. Game was plentiful, even in winter. And people were impressed enough by my five snowbears that I was often treated to free food. Wargs weren''t common. But a warg with five snow bears was another thing entirely.

    I kept up a charming facade and was kind to all I shared food with. I had learned from the little village of my birth, that reputations matter a great deal. I was without one, no matter how impressive 5 snowbears were. They weren''t fully grown, and weren''t as impressive as they would be in another year.

    I had to make a name for myself. Like Tormund, I needed tales to be sung about me. Not for any particular reason. I had no wish to be king beyond the wall or the like. I just wanted an easier life. Living in a cave, intimidating villages, and demanding tribute to survive was hard work. I wanted the easy life.

    I had the easy life in sight, and I wasn''t going to let it go.

    The Milkwater ran all the way from the northern Frostfangs down to the gorge and the bridge of skulls. I followed it all the way south. Meeting everyone on the Milkwater on my way down. I told them all that I was heading south of the wall to raid with my snowbears.

    I got many a horn of mead when I told them how I planned to cross the wall. It utterly mystified some people that something like it could work.

    It took the better part of a year to make it to the bridge of skulls. It was time to be...

    Sneaky.

    </blockquote>

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 4

    <blockquote class="messageText SelectQuoteContainer ugc baseHtml">Chapter 4: More... I want More!

    (Age 14)

    I lay atop Claw as her two little cubs followed us at a run. A white snowbear fur cloak covered my body as I lay flat across her massive back. My pack of Snow bears had grown to 9, with all three of my females having given birth during the winter, against their natural instincts.

    The white bears almost flew across the bridge of skulls, they moved so fast. The crows scrambled to get out of the way, and up into their defensive positions. They knew as well as I, that shooting a bow, or even a crossbow at a snowbear would only serve to piss it off.

    They put up no resistance as I crossed into the lands of the southern kneelers. I breathed in the air. It smelt the same. though, it was quite a bite warmer here, than on the other side of the wall. Even in the middle of winter as it was. I led the bears into the white expanse of gently drifting snow. It was the most peaceful thing I had ever seen.

    After a day and a night of traveling, the bears were exhausted and hungry. They had massive fat stores for long marches like these, yet I felt their hunger as acutely as they would have. an hour of searching the sky, via owl, I came upon a stone tower with stables and a barn. I could smell human meat and horse flesh. Both dead and alive.

    Fang reared up onto his hind legs, and stood a good 15 feet tall. One swipe of his claw shattered the tower-house''s heavy oak door like dry kindling. The screams of panic that emanated from within would wake the dead as they lay eyes on Fang. His roar shook the tower to it''s very foundation. I crushed the minds of rats and quickly knew where everyone in this house was.

    Two females in the midst of moon''s blood, and another too young stood creaming at Fang as Rip and Tear, the son and daughter of Claw and Fang made short work of the door to the second floor of the tower. They barged into the dark room, where an aging man was gripping a long knife in his hands and standing protectively in front of another older female.

    A small flame in a fireplace in the corner of the room kept the temperature comfortable, but, the broken doors let the chill pervade the tower. This weather was nothing to me. These southerners called this winter? It was a regular snowstorm up north.

    "Be-begone foul beast." The man waved the long knife menacingly before Rip swatted at his hand with a paw as fast as lightning. I brought the other claw across the old man''s neck as blood began to flow. The old woman began to screech a high keening wail as he spouse died in her arms, choking on his own blood.

    When she came to awareness, she found herself tied to a the back of a snow bear. I watched as she was frozen near stiff, before I made her lay on her back and cover herself in the snow bear''s thick fur. I rode behind her, constantly talking to her. I was breaking her in, as father taught me. She would make a fine spear''s wife, and had proven herself fertile with her first two delicious morsels of meat.

    I shook my head.

    The snowbears were starting to creep in on my thoughts. Their consciousnesses were far too weak to fight back, but, they could influence my thoughts at times, just by there being so many parts of me cave bear as there was human. Yet I did as only a skin-changer may, and, kept my human mind by destroying the spirits of lesser beings.

    Alyse was the woman''s name. She was 20 and 1 years old, and knew quite a bit more about the kneelers than I did. I studied the things I had discovered in her house. A ratty old bit of leather held the greatest treasure I had ever seen. Alyse called it a map of the known world.

    Lands so great in size, that the north was only a speck. The kneelers had so much empty land, and so much of it was empty. I could travel days across the ''New Gift'' and encounter no one, and nothing but wild game. The kneelers were so greedy to keep the rest of the world from us.

    I wondered how many free-folk had a map like this.

    I also took a few other things from the tower castle. A good longbow, a steel long-knife, a few quivers of fresh arrows, and most importantly, clothes. Alyse was good at doing what she was told to avoid pain, and had hemmed her old husband''s clothes for her new husband.

    I did not sleep, so I had no fear of her slitting my throat in my sleep. I''d caught her trying to sneak off. I''d had Fang''s body deliver my message. After pushing her over a log, I''d used the monstrous claws to raise her dress to her waist, and punished her severely. She bled from the snow bear''s size, but she withstood the onslaught with her usual weeping and begging.

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    What a weak spear''s wife she made. Later that night, I was spending myself inside of her, when something caught my attention. Claw scented men in the air.

    Crushing the mind of a nearby snow-hare, I had it race in the direction of the scent. It was a camp of some dozen men. 3/4ths were sleeping on the ground, wrapped in furs. The rest passed around a skin of some drink. There were a dozen thick and sturdy boar spears leaned against a tree. I had the hare come closer to the humans, and use its large ears to listen in.

    "Them bears killed the Tar family. We gots'' ta kill em''" one spouted before burping. I could make out their clothing. They were all men of the night''s watch.

    Crows.

    "We are meant to guard the realm from whatever lies north of the wall," a gruff voice replied, "be it wildlings or snow bears. or even giants."

    Another snorted. "Giants?" He drawled in an accent that reminded me of a rich and lazy kneeler. "What will you have us fighting next? Grumpkins and snarks?"

    Three of the four men laughed heartily as the fourth took a swig of the skin.

    My 9 bears moved into position. The snowy white landscape coupled with the gloom of pre-dawn gave me an excellent opportunity to be...

    Sneaky.

    The bears slowly crawled through the snow. The men had no fear of this. Snowbears did not crawl and ambush in the night to their knowledge. As Rip and Tear stood guard over the spears, I made the other 7 snow bears rush straight for the four crows sitting around a camp fire.

    There were a few short strangled screams as men tried to rise from their furs, only to have their heads bitten off or crushed under-paw. This was not so much a fight as a massacre. The bears feasted on the men. Muscle, organ, and bones were devoured. I took a steel sword and a chainmail long-shirt from the corpses.

    A few of them had strange metal disks they used for trade. Three ''silver stags'' and a ''gold dragon'' Alyse told me as she nervously picked through the shredded remains of the dozen men''s clothes and possessions. "A myrish far eye" she said, lifting a bronze tube out of one of the men''s packs. "I''ve only seen them once before, when we..." she choked up as she thought of her husband and children.

    I slapped her roughly across the face. "Where did you see one?" I questioned taking it from her hand and looking through the tube at a hill in the distance. It was very effective, I admitted to myself. For a kneeler toy.

    "Eastwatch-by-the-Sea''s market day had a trader from Tyrosh that brought many things." She steeled herself as she spoke. "including the glass-works of Myr and the wines and textiles from The Arbor and Volantis."

    I dug through another pack and found a strange red bit of produce. It was round, and shining red in the morning sun. "Whats this?" I asked Alyse, holding up the red berry-like thing.

    "That is an apple." she blinked. "I wonder where he got that."

    I slapped her again across the face, only harder this time. She flinched back at the harsh cracking sound of my hand on her cheek. "What is an apple?"

    Her eyes dripped silent tears as she looked at the ground and replied. "It is a sweet fruit, that is from one of the southern kingdoms."

    I offered it to her. "Take a bite, And we will see if you are lying" She could be trying to poison me. I kept a close watch on her. She took the apple with a glimmer of a smile and took a big bite.

    I snatched the apple away and took a bite myself. I felt myself melt to the floor. I had never tasted it before. I had never known that such a flavor existed. Fruit. It was divine. I reached out and took up the skin the crows had shared a little while ago.

    I took a drink of the skin and wanted to swoon once more. It was utterly sweet, and tasted of fermentation. The only fermented drinks I had had had been bear''s milk and honey mead. This was a thousand times better. "What is this?" I thrust the skin out to her.

    She sniffed it and took a swig, before coughing at the strength. "That''s strong-wine, made from grapes."

    "Wine." I tasted the word on my lips. "Apple."

    Kneelers...

    They not only hoard the good land, they hoard the good foods too.

    I was hating the kneelers more and more, the more I got to know them.

    I took a boar spear to go with my sword and chainmail coat. Alyse and I set out southwest, toward what she called Deepwood Motte.

    </blockquote>

    </article>

 5

    <blockquote class="messageText SelectQuoteContainer ugc baseHtml">AN/ I''ve worked 7 days a week for the last month. That is why this is slowly updated. Fun fact... I''ve decided to use a hit of acid to rewrite the ending of the plot of my story... A rare treat for you guys. LSD fueled plotlines... Ah, I love American freedoms.

    _-_=_-_

    Chapter 5: I''m a mummer! Not a wildling! I swear!

    _=-=_=-=_

    (Age 14)

    _+_+_+_+_

    Little fishing villages along the coast were overjoyed to see the ''tamed'' snowbears. Snowbears were the fiercest and most feared of all predators in the land. Massive beasts of fang, claw, bone, and muscle. My bears were larger than ones raised in the wild. The four full-grown snowbears stood up and towered over twice the height of any man in the villages.

    I asked for my weight in fish, both fresh and salted to show off my bear taming skills. a larger village payed me to make two showings. The real trick was to end my shows with a surprise.

    I whistled sharply and snapped my fingers.

    Claw, Fang, Rip, and Tear roared so loud the ground shook. There was nothing separating my audience from the bellowing and crazed looking snowbears as they began to go seemingly berserk. Ripping up the ground with their stamping hind legs that caused the earth to tremble. Standing upright, they had their arms open wide as they bellowed and showed off razor sharp claws bigger than a man''s fingers.

    Tales of my mummer''s beast taming show spread before me. Alyse and I were greeted warmly by all four of the villages between the Shadow Tower and the edge of the Wolf''s Wood. We continued to hug the coast as we made our way into the Wolf''s Wood. I longed to see the ladies clothed in silk and the men in shining steel in their glittering castles I had heard so many stories of since early childhood.

    As the first real southern fort I had ever seen(barring the wall) came into view over the distant hill, I was disappointed. The log keep on top of the hill looked like any old petty warlord in the north''s stronghold. the wooden wall made of thick tree-trunks was a new adaption. Usually thinner logs were used for walls in the north.

    Halfway to the motte and bailey, the thundering of hooves alerted me to the riders just before the bears got a whiff of them. I counted as many men as I had fingers and toes. I had the bears stop and await the riders. The riders stopped at the base of a hill, and stared at us in stunned silence.

    "You that beasty mummer?" A man braver than the others called out. "Didn''t believe it til I saw this pack o snowbears, with my own eyes." The horseman rode closer as he yelled across the field.

    My bears stood motionless as I waved from the back of Fang. "I am the Beast Tamer of the North." I declared loudly. "Don''t come too close now, My bears don''t like it when men get too close to my wife." I waved an arm at Alyse.

    The horseman stopped 30 yards away. "Lord Glover has heard of your beasts and wishes to see them for himself." The horseman cracked a joke. "Its said that you are the father of bears and 10 feet tall." He crowed. "I''d like to know how you mount a she-bear myself, but, I lack the balls to climb atop a woman as big as that."

    "A big woman is nothing to fear, Ser." I embellished the kneeler title of a knight as I nodded down to the rider from atop Fang''s back. "A big girl will keep you warm in the winter." I informed sagely. "If you know how to deal with the claws and temper. Nothing I can do about that bet though. Unless you want to tame your own bears and make the see how many men are willing to bet against you after that."

    The man laughed. With my quick wit, I found it simple to bring smiles and laughs to the faces of southern kneelers. The southerners were eased from the fear my snowbear skins by my easy smile and witty words. I despised them, the more I got to know them.

    "My names'' Ser Horess Hore. I''m A knight, and the Captain of Lord Galbert Glover''s Guard." The man tilted his head in the way that a noble gives to a kneeler commoner without lowering himself. Respect, but not supplication. "I''d like you and your wife to accompany my men and I to Deepwood Motte. The Lord would like to see your show for himself. You have been the talk of the keep for the last two weeks."

    I felt excited to be the center of attention. I delighted in attention. Sneaky, the boy, had so little of his peer''s acceptance and Veranyr, the man, craved nothing less than the adoration of the kneelers and Free-folk both, and to hear the lamentations of their widows after I killed the men.

    At 14, most of my thoughts were of women, and the things I could do with them. I glanced at Alyse. She was looking at me apprehensively. Her head ducked down as she noticed me looking at her. I felt my loins tighten in my furs as I thought about what I wanted to do with her at this very moment.

    The knight''s words woke me from my erotic daydream. "Of course he is willing to pay you double the demanded weight in fish." All the bear''s ears perked up along with my own as I swung my attention back to the kneeler. Enough food to feed my bears for two weeks.

    It was illegal to hunt in the Wolf''s Wood. Feeding my bears would see me hung as a poacher. Such a custom in the north would have had every man hanging by a rope. There was just no way to feed yourself and your family in any way other than fishing or hunting.

    "Double?" I asked. "That sounds like a deal to me." I grinned. "Lord Glover is a generous man." I lied.

    Fucking kneeler Lord taking his own kin''s hard-won food and spending it watching a handful of bears dance. Idiots like these would starve come winter. Food to watch bears dance.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Fools, the lot of them.

    _=_=_

    Lord Glover was not what I imagined a kneeler Lord to be. Wearing the dsame furs as his men, my shadowcat cloak and snowbear furs were far finer than the Lord''s own. Galbert Glover''s feet stomped with his men''s in the great hall of his keep. Alyse had a pretty enough voice and sang ''The Bear and the Maiden Fair'' as Rip and Tear stood on their back legs with their claws entwined as if they were dancing hand in hand like a pair of humans. If there were actually any snowbear left in their skulls, they would be killing each-other for getting so close to the 5 black-bear sized cubs that were bobbing their heads and clapping in tune with Alyse''s singing.

    Fang and Claw were stomping their back paws and clapping their front paws together in tune with the sweet voice of my young wife. They had very human-like smiles on their faces that showed plenty of teeth.

    Glover was laughing and sloshing his horn of wine as much as the knight next to him. The front of his brown leather tunic was stained with the deep red hue of the rich southern wine. He was boisterous, generous, and apparently prone to drink too much.

    I stood in the middle of the madness, whistling, making hand gestures, and snapping my fingers like I was directing the bears with anything other than my mind. They were empty skins, and slipping inside of them was like slipping on the thick woolen socks that were my prized possessions.

    Can''t find warm woolen socks north of the wall, for damn sure.

    Alyse soon finished her song, and backed away for me to conduct the finale of my performance. I whistled sharply, and the bears stopped dancing. I whistled again and they all stood on their hind legs, with toothy smiles on all their faces. Another sharp whistle had them lined up shoulder to shoulder, facing Lord Glover.

    The lord laughed and spilled some wine on himself. "What are you going to have them do next, Beast Tamer?" He asked after the bears all stood at my sides like giants. They were the size of giants, in all reality. Far stronger than a giant by my guess, too. Though these southerners had never seen a giant, and didn''t believe they were real.

    I snapped my fingers.

    Lord Galbert Glover paled dramatically as the bears roared in fury and ripped up parts of the cobble-stone floor in their facade of rage. The audience of kneeler nobles in the great hall gasped or screamed in fear almost as loud as the roars of my skins.

    As the bears settled back down, as docile as could be, Lord Glover looked at me.

    "Have you considered using your beasts for war?" Glover''s voice was hoarse as his skin looked decidedly pale. "I''ll give you a tower-house and a title if you can make these beasts fight on a battlefield."

    I tilted my head, as if confused. "War, Mi''lord?"

    I had heard that there would be a southern war soon. Something about a mad king killing the kneeler overlord that ruled these lands. A famous Stark. The ancient line of descendants Kings of the First Men. The gray direwolf on a white field was known even in the ''True North.''

    "I am riding for war in the south in a fortnight. I received the call to gather my banners from Lord Eddard Stark a week ago." The Lord was regaining color from the fright I''d given him. The guests were clearing from the great log hall''s feast. "I''ll need every man I can get to join us in battle."

    Greed warred with excitement. Of course I wanted to go to war with the southerners. I was a 14 year old man. It was only right that I took place in a war at my age. The riches and fame I could earn in a big enough war could make me immortal. Like Mag the Mighty Giant King, or Styr the Elder, the Magnar-King of the Thenn. War could make men immortal.

    "They can fight, but I''ll need something if you want me to fight for you, Mi''Lord." I lowered my head. "I''ll have to stand by this request."

    "For your snowbears next to me on a battlefield, I''d give much. Name your price." The young Lord Glover, who was hardly older than me, seemed to grimace as he realized this would be a harder sell than he thought.

    I gave a sly grin. "Some steel armor for these four." I waved my hand at Fang, Claw, Rip, and Tear. "I want bladed gauntlets, chest-plates, greaves, and helmets for them."

    Glover tilted his head. "You want armor?" He asked. "Nothing more?" He sounded tired at the cost of the armor I wanted forged.

    "And two more things." I added. Greed glinted in my eyes.

    "What else?" Glover gritted his teeth and shut huis eyes awaiting the price. He really wanted these animals next to him as the southerners tried to kill them.

    "A noble''s hunting rights, so that I can feed my Bears, for one." I grinned "And for the other¡­" I trailed off. There was a chance that he may not be willing to give up something as valuable as what I wanted.

    "And...?" Lord Glover prompted. "What is your last demand? Gold?"

    "A map of the world. as detailed as possible."

    Glover laughed "Done." He raised his horn. "I''ll have Maester Kale copy you a map tonight, the smiths of Deepwood Motte will have your armors ready before we leave for war, and of course you shall have hunting rights. We can''t let these beasts starve on the way to a battlefield, can we?"

    -_-_-_-

    </blockquote>

    </article>

 6

    AN/ Sorry for the slow updates. Work sucks, and I like to party on my days off. Drug binges take up so much free time.

    -=-=-=-=-

    Chapter 6: I Totally Did That

    -=-=-=-=-

    The wind howled as it blew over the smoke hole in the roof of my tent. Lord Glover had offered me lodging inside of Deepwood Motte, but I preferred to stay with my bears on the edge of the forest. The sun was lowering on the horizon. Several hundred men were camped outsid3e the walls of the Motte. their fires glowed in the twilight.

    I lay back exhausted onto my furs. I''d spent the day growing used to moving around in my bear''s skins armored in steel. It was strangely exhausting. I was as unused to the steel plate I''d been gifted as my skins were. Fang, Claw, Rip, and Tear were utterly massive in their shining steel. Alyse, I had told to wear my old chainmail shirt and get used to it''s weight. I wouldn''t be going even to battle without her warm vice to ease my cock''s strain at night.

    I rolled over, exhausted, and reached for my wife. She wasn''t next to me. I sat up quickly. "Alyse?" I called out into the twilight.

    My bears stirred from slumber outside the tent as I woke them from their exhausted sleep. I felt panic rising. Where was she? Why wasn''t she here? I threw the breastplate of my armor and buckled it. I watched through my bear''s eyes as the fires of the kneeler warriors flickered in the distance.

    I listened through their ears as a shout was taken up among them. "Wildling!" Alyse''s voice called out. "He''s a wildling raider! Not a mummer!"

    Shit...

    Didn''t she know I loved her? I would have put many a babe in that soft cunt of hers and made her a happy mother. I would have let her be the lady of a southern castle, once I''d taken one. I''d have bought her all the pretty things a greedy southerner could want.

    "He''s a murderer. He killed my husband and children!" She continued to shout into the camp of kneelers.

    Curse you old gods. You always find a way to fuck a northerner over, don''t you?

    I pulled the rest of my armor on and began piling my belongings onto the sled I''d had built to carry my things on the march to battle. A few of the kneelers were in a rush to attack me. a dozen men ran down the snow covered hill that the castle sat on. I had the unarmored and unnamed young cub skins head their way in the dark.

    Five white furred snowbear cubs blended into the snow under the starlight as I put the sled''s harness onto Claw''s armored and pregnant form. She lumbered into the forest, dragging the sled behind her. My male, Fang, and the other two pregnant females, Rip and Tear, headed to the kneeler camp to slow down the pursuit that was sure to come.

    I hopped onto the sled and closed my eyes, giving my full awareness to the chaos my skins were about to make. The dozen men who had charged my camp were dead before they knew what hit them. Snow makes men slow. I doubt they would have put up much of a fight against 2 snowbear cubs. All 5 came out of the darkness with claws out and teeth bared.

    Rip, Tear, and Fang clanked and clanged in the darkness. There would be no surprise to be had against the men in the camp. The kneelers were still resting around the fires for the most part. Rip and tear were heading to one part, while Fang headed for another.

    I was filled with mirth as the horses panicked. Fang burst into the fence that made the make-shift stables for the horsemen of the party. Claws flashing left and right, I made aimed to break legs more than kill the horses. but when more than 1,500 lbs of muscle hits you with claws the size of knives, you tend to have more death than not.

    A few frenzied arrows came Fang''s way as he smashed the horses of the camped kneelers, but more were headed towards Rip and Tear. They were all three coated with a massive chainmail undercoat and heavy steel plates, so the arrows did nothing but annoy me.

    As Rip and Tear charged through the center of their camp, I had only one target in mind. Men howled with agony like mad dogs as my massive skins ran them over. There was no mercy for the men who stood together in a makeshift shield wall in an attempt to halt the charging snowbears. The target of my ire came in sight.

    Alyse was running toward the castle''s walls at full sprint, screeching like a banshee. Faster than I had ever seen a human run before. The gates slammed shut behind her as she ran to safety. My bears howled like demons as the camp of half-drunk kneelers got their armor on and weapons in hand.

    My bears ran into the darkness before the line of men with boar-spears could be brought to bare. The camp was left in utter disarray. I could hear the lamentations of weeping camp followers from miles away as my cubs finally caught up with the clanking and clanging adult snowbears and I on the forest trail as I headed back north.

    You broke my heart Alyse. You destroyed my nice and easy life as a kneeler knight in the south. Now all of the south would be after my head. What a horrible wife you made.

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    I''ll be damned if I ever take another wife again. I looked behind me as Claw made her way through the forest. Her fur parted a little under her tail to show her hairy animal sex. I frowned and looked down between my legs.

    It''d be slack as a leather sack, but better than being betrayed.

    Guess I''d be Veranyr, Husband of Bears, now. Because I''ll be damned if I stick my cock in another traitorous human female again.

    Dammit...

    -=-=-=-=-

    The trip back north was made far faster than the trip south. I knew the way, and I knew where the villages were. The birds I took as skins showed 100 men on horse trailing after me, a day and a half behind, and falling ever further behind as I fled.

    I sent rats into their supplies, forcing them to forage. I sacked every little town on the way, crippling or killing everyone, and burning all the houses to cinders. They would stop to bury the bodies, buying me a few hours each time.

    I knew the kneelers communicated with ravens now, and kept a few hawks in the air, to keep them away from my target. I couldn''t let them know about me, or all was lost. My destination was plain to see in my flight. I didn''t have time to cover my tracks with the horsemen on my trail.

    Two cubs became weak with the pace I set, so I left them to hide in a destroyed village and feast on the bodies to strengthen a little before they were going to ambush the riders chasing me. They managed to kill 4 men before they were poked full of spears.

    The sensation of dying, of spear stabbing, was new to me. It spurred me into greater speed. I fled for the Shadowtower with all haste. The armored bears were nearly all muscle and bone. The week and a half of running had sapped the fat right off of them.

    It made them fiercer and faster than ever. I would make sure to keep all my bears heavy with muscle and not fat from now on. They didn''t need the fat for the winters anyway. I didn''t plan to hibernate for the winter, and neither would they.

    -=-=-=-=-=-

    The bridge of skulls was not defended by a wall of spears when I came in sight of it. Only the usual crows with bows perched in their nests above the bridge. "Make way!" I shouted as I rode passed the Shadowtower. "Make way for the royal bears of Lord Stark!" I shouted as heavy paws ran across the bridge.

    Crows gave a wide berth to the bears traveling across the bridge. There was nothing in their vows about stopping those who wished to travel north, and they weren''t about to take those vows now with 7 snowbears running north like the hounds of hell were chasing them.

    I saw through a raven''s eye as another raven finally made it to the Shadowtower.

    I''d beat the news of my coming. I''d made it into the north. I was safe. And now I''d be free to...

    Die here, trapped in the north, with all the world left to see. OI had nothing but some steel and a sled to show for my trip south. No glorious raids or battles to my name. Just Veranyr the Sneak, and a few bears, alone in the world.

    I laid back on the sled with a sigh. I felt tears sting my eyes as I looked at the kneeler''s map as I held it in my hands. My fingers traced the shorelines of the lands I''d never see. I imagined the apples I''d never taste again, and the wine I''d never drink. Was this all there was for me? A frozen land of hardship and struggle? While the kneelers got to live fat and easy in the warm south?

    No...

    I''ll not let it end like this.

    A sneaky thought entered my sneaky head. A sneaky plan formed by a sneaky man. As I looked at the map, I knew it was utter madness. But I am 14, and a man on my own. Without a wife or children to protect, I had nothing else to do.

    I had to do what no man had done in 100 years. and after that, I had to do what no man had done in the 8,000 years before that. There was only one way I would get the life of ease I wanted. Gazing at the map, Sneaky thoughts formed into a sneaky plan.

    Step one. Gain fame like no other free-folk had done before me.

    Step two. Use that fame to create an unstoppable army.

    Step three. Destroy the wall once and for all.

    Step four. Kill all the kneeler lords.

    Step five. Live the easy life in the south.

    But how do I go about getting that fame? How do I do what Tormund can''t? What Mance can''t? What the Weeper and Lord of Bones can''t do...

    I traced my finger along the shore of the north into the lands of always winter. I smiled. It was sneaky beyond all reason. I''d explore the lands of always winter.

    That would need an awful lot of sneaky.

    I sniffed back the un-manlike tears that had threatened to overwhelm me. I had something to live for now. A dream. All I had to do was sneak. Sneak bigger and better than any sneak before me. I smiled wide.

    I could be sneaky.

 7

    AN/ Remember, my plots never quite take you where you were expecting to go. Where they take you is where you wanted to go all along, but didn''t know it.

    -=-=-=-

    Chapter 7: I Really Want That... So I''ll Take It.

    -=-=-=-

    (Age 15)

    I had been tracking the herd for weeks. Up from The Fist of the First Men, Across Skirling Pass, through the Frostfangs, and into the vast grassland north of the Frozen Shore. At least 50 beasts. Big beasts. Rare and delicious beasts.

    I had caught a few of the wondering and herd-less bulls over the last year as I wondered. It took everything my skins had to bring one of the massive beasts down. They were power given flesh.

    Legs as thick as steers, with tusks the size of a snowbear. Thick layers of fat coated in thick skin and whither wool. Looking through Fang''s eyes at the herd, I spotted something even more uncommon than the mammoths themselves.

    Giants.

    I pulled Fang back, immediately, before the Giants caught his scent.

    Giants come in three types.

    Cave giants. Live in caves. Eat raw meat. No language or other method of communication. They are avoided when they can be, and slaughtered when they get too near a village. They are only twice the size of a man.

    Forest giants. Live in log huts. They eat tubers and pine-nuts. They avoid people and keep to themselves in the depths of the Haunted Forest. I heard they spoke the Old Tongue from a few travelers that had heard the tale of a few brave hunters. I wasn''t sure they existed. Supposedly they were 2-3 times the size of a man.

    The Mammoth-riders. The mythic kings of the Giants herded the massive mammoths and rode them into battle. They wore furs and worked metals like men. They wielded bows of untold size and strength. They were the kings of the north in the times of old. Mythic and ancient, I''d never seen a mammoth-rider. They were said to be 4 times the size of a man, on the small side. Some, even larger.

    Sneaky thoughts formed a shaky plan.

    -=-=-=-

    A snow-hare found it''s mind crushed and it''s body used as an extension of my will. I watched through it''s eyes as the Giants went about their evening camping routine as the Mammoths stopped for the night.

    It was tough to keep up with the pace the mammoths set as they trudged through the snowy grassland at a speed that was comfortable for the long legged beasts. The giants had sleds similar to the one I had of my own. The rabbit''s eyes and nose told me there were 7 giants. I could not tell which were male, but I could tell that one was female, as she had a swaddled babe nestled to her breast.

    You couldn''t tell by looking at her. Giants all looked the same. Like a wrinkled old man, with a full beard of gray hair and more warts than a wood''s witch could ever dream of. Who could tell it was a female, when her beard fell down to her waist. They could all be females from what I could tell.

    One of them pulled their furs down to take a piss. The stream of yellow barely missed the snow-hare as it hopped away. That one was definitely a male. A male with more wart than cock, it seemed.

    I started to put the armor on my biggest bears while the cubs ate. I was up to 12 Snowbears. Fang, Claw, Rip, Tear, Scar, Tooth, and Moon were all adults. I''d bred Fang to Claw, Rip, and Tear to produce Scar, Tooth, and Moon. Scar, Tooth, and Moon were only cubs when I''d gone south, but they were adults now. All of my females were pregnant again. not counting the cubs. I had 4 female, and 1 male cub.

    The male had been born even bigger than Fang, and I wanted to start breeding him like I did his father. I would have an army of snowbears one day. And mammoths too, if I did well tonight.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    The armor was loud, so I''d have to move them slowly. Giants were known for their sense of smell, not their hearing. The steel was covered in fur, to dampen the noise, and the other 3 snowbears were clad in the chainmail undercoats.

    As much protection as I could afford.

    As the giants settled down for the night, the bears moved in. I kept them upwind and moved slowly.

    The giants had 4 tents. One tent held 3 heavily pregnant cows that appeared close to birth. Two others contained what appeared to be the tents of two mated couples. The last contained the mother and babe.

    One giant kept watch next to the fire in the center of the tents. He appeared to be asleep, but the way he jerked his head at every sound, and sniffed deeply gave that hope very little credence.

    It was well nearing dawn, with the bears only 100 yards away, and slinking slowly closer when the wind shifted suddenly. As quick as lightning, the giant rose to his feet, roaring. he shouted something in a hoarse and guttural tongue.

    I had the bears begin to sprint. The giant reached down and lifted a bow from the ground. made of a single tree, it stood 20 feet tall. a bow only a giant could wield. Drawing back an arrow with a shout, he let fly into the darkness.

    It struck one of my sprinting cubs.

    Hissing in anger, I rushed the Snowbears forward.

    There was movement in the tents as the giants were roused by the commotion. They had a damn good sense of smell to be alerted that quickly with a wind change. It was worth the risk for a herd of mammoths.

    Another arrow flew into the darkness, missing my bears completely.

    Fang sprinted at the archer. steel armor flashing in the fire''s light. All muscle and bone, Fang was as fast as a shadowcat. Teeth ripped out the giant''s throat in a spray of blood in the freshly fallen snow. There were no stars for the giant to look up to as the light left it''s eyes. It could see only gently drifting snow, and hear the screams of it''s kinsmen as they were ripped apart by a pack of steel-clad snowbears.

    -=-=-=-

    I walked slowly into the camp as the bears feasted on the abundant meat. There was one giant survivor I meant to deal with personally. I pushed aside the ripped mammoth-skin tent-flap and took in the sight before me.

    A little giant lay in a bundle of blood spattered furs, wriggling as fang crushed it''s mothers femur and lacked the marrow like honey from a hive. It tasted delicious. Giant was delectable to a bear''s tastes. Better than man-flesh.

    The bundle wailed as I unrolled the furs from it. exposing its young flesh for my eyes to gaze on. It was plump and round like a baby. Yet its face was ugly, hairy, and wart covered. Its body was the size of a 10 year old child''s while it''s skin felt as soft as snow to my touch.

    There was no sign of intelligence in her eyes. Only primal fear and hunger. A very young female.

    I grabbed her facial hair and drug her over to her mother''s steaming corpse. I used my sword to cut away the fur from the giantess''s chest and pushed the infant close for a final meal from the massive teats that spilled out into the cold air.

    The wailing stopped as she suckled from her mother for the last time. I claimed the other nipple as my own and drank the sweet mother''s milk deeply. It was the sweetest and thickest milk I''d ever had. I looked across the massive breast at the suckling giant babe as I drank.

    The nipple fell from her lips as my mind forced it''s way into her own. Ripping, tearing, and crushing, I made it my own. The screams cut off as the giantess''s eyes opened and I looked at my dirty human face. I went back to drinking.

    In both bodies, this time.

    -=-=-=-

 8

    <blockquote class="messageText SelectQuoteContainer ugc baseHtml">AN/ Reviews are what make this story get updated faster. Want faster updates? Give me funnier reviews, so I can get high and giggle at them. Also, Mammoths are bigger than earth mammoths.

    01010

    Chapter 8: Veranyr The Huh? I''m What? Really?

    01010

    (Age 16)

    It took me an entire year of following the herd before I could direct them with the bears and Giant to where I wanted to go. The beasts were too big to use force on. They were too big to be intimidated.

    If I tried to attack one, they''d kill us all in a stampede of massive feet and wicked tusks. I''d lost a Snowbear cub trying to herd them like a dog herds goats. They went where they wanted to go.

    Until the matriarch of the herd started to follow me. I fed her sweet tubers she couldn''t find on her own and gave her trunk long soothing rubs as I made cooing sounds to her. By me, I mean Vera, my Giantess skin.

    Over the last year, she had grown from 4 feet to around 8 or 9. It was hard to keep track of something that big. Her muscles rippled and bulged through her furs. I''m not sure Giants are used to working, walking, hauling, and fighting all day like she is. Her kin seemed so fat compared to how she is developing.

    Maybe her diet of smoked meat and bear milk was having an effect?

    She ate mostly human meat, as the mammoths led us into dangerous territory. The cave cannibals of the frozen shore had no sense of tactic as they attacked the herd in waves of human bodies every few days. They were starving to death, and half-crazed by their diet of human flesh and cave fish. But as dozens died every time to no effect, I couldn''t help feel sorry for the starving skinny wretches.

    Until they managed to gouge out one of Fang''s eyes with a lucky bone tipped arrow.

    Then I sent the snowbears hunting through the surrounding caves in pairs, day and night. Dirty little fuckers even tried hiding at one point. As if the nose of a bear can''t smell their shit and fish-gut reeking bodies from miles away. I knew the taste of human, just as well, if not better, than they did.

    I eventually managed to lead the mammoths out of the cannibal lands and Back through Skirling Pass. We started a steady trek north along the Milkwater. I delighted in every mammoth birth along the way. There had been 12 surviving calfs over the last year, and I had dominated them all. They were nowhere near adulthood yet, but when they were... I would rule the north with their strength alone.

    Yet I yearned to explore. I wanted to see places no man had ever seen before. I wanted to explore the lands of always winter for more than fame. I wanted to brave the cold like no man ever had before. I was adamant.

    A few pretty river-girls tried to dissuade me with their cunts once I hit the Milkwater river with my herd and my fame began to spread once more. I would have none of it, however. A giant''s cunt was better than a woman''s any day. Vera was like a hand I used to relive myself. She was shaped vaguely human, though 10 feet tall, and tighter than the bears. Good enough for the occasional moment where a village girl drove me too nuts. Or when I got to thinking about what I was going to do with Alyse when I got my hands on her...

    Shivers...

    Vera''s mind was a simple thing to control. All of my commands were understood without constant supervision. Unlike the bears. I could see that controlling many more bears would be impossible, but I could do with a few more like Vera.

    Her face looked like a bit of wet skin folded over with a few bundled patches of gray hair, but it was the only companion of mental ability I had. The only person I could be honest to. She could understand speech and even count. Her words were hard for someone else to understand, so I did all of the talking to villagers.

    I put the word out everywhere I went. Giant infants were worth 2 mammoths to me. Anyone with a giant infant could take their pick out of 60 mammoths. They were the ones I found to young to warg into without a struggle.

    I had a map of the known world, and I wanted to add to it. To leave a legacy that could not be denied, even if all my other goals failed. I would explore the lands of always winter or die trying.

    01010

    I practiced warging almost all the time I wasn''t dressing an animal skin''s injury or fighting. The warbands that wanted to test the famous Veranyr Spearsgiant, Son of Varamyr Five-skins. I left countless hundreds dead and half eaten in the snowy woods.

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    I stopped through little villages of huts along the Milwater or passed small nomadic clans and tribes as I made my way north. I had a king''s hoard of steel and a whole herd of mammoths, everyone knew. I was protected by 20 snowbears, some of which were cubs, everyone was told. Some didn''t believe one part.

    For long...

    I was building fame just by existing. There was no hiding who I was or what I could do. Not with my herd. Everyone wanted to hear my story. Everyone wanted to know me. Everyone wanted a piece of what I''d earned.

    I felt alone.

    I was surrounded by all the people whenever I was near them. The children especially were mystified by me and my herd. I was legendary like Tormund Giantsbane and The Weeper. But I was growing weary. I truly could provide for my sisters at least, with my new wealth.

    It had been a long time since I''d seen Laughs and Giggles, but I could afford to see them now. I could buy them a Rich husband at least. Or take them from starvation. I had less fond memories of my mother, due to her words at our parting. I tried, often, to not think of her cruel goodbye.

    I was a grown man. I don''t miss my mother. I let Vera''s arms wrap more securely around my waist. I leaned back into her soft furred embrace and let myself slip into the Bears to scout, hunt, herd, and practice warging. I was 100 bees, 20 snowbears, 4 crows, 14 mammoths, 3 snow-hares, and 50 mice at once. The bees were my newest challenge.

    They were simple minds, but it was hard to split myself so many ways and come back in one piece. I knew if I stayed with the bees long enough, I would become more hive than Veranyr. I reveled in the danger of walking the edge of oblivion and pushing my ability to it''s limits. I bet no other warg practiced as I did.

    To become more than yourself, you had to become greater than yourself. You had to know who you were at your core. You had to be more... More!

    Still, my skins were unmatched.

    Vera was greatly feared for her spear''s strength already, and she was only half grown. I acknowledged her as my second wife and only spearswife. I told everyone the truth. She was a half-grown giant and I''d stolen her through combat with her kin.

    My 14 baby mammoths were not all that impressive yet, but they were promising. Most stood higher at the shoulders than a man''s head. They had little tusks and thick wool fur.

    My bears were far fiercer however. 16 were near adult size females with 2 young males and 2 adult males. One of the males was Fang. The younger males were born larger. The youngest male was born half again the size of Fang. I''d been breeding the biggest male to the biggest females for 3 years. I ate the young I found not up to snuff. I would start replacing my current stock of skins with better newborns soon, in preparation of my trip north.

    Far superior to a wild snowbear, mine had replaced fat for muscle. They were fast, moved with a human intelligence, and were armored. 4 in light chainmail armor for attacking swiftly, and 4 in plate armor for utter annihilation. No free-folk force had ever gotten near defeating Fang, Claw, Rip, and Tear alone, much less their children.

    It was only a matter of 6 months after gaining control of the mammoths before I made it to the little village on the Milkwater where my mother''s hut lay.

    01010

    The village lay in ruins.

    There were bones left various huts, picked at by scavengers and beasts. My mother''s hut was empty of body-parts. I did not know to feel horror at their disappearance or relief. Had they escaped the fate of the other villagers?

    I went down to the river clans and found out what happened from Donny. I Gave a mammoth for the information. The Weeper''s warband had passed trough, while hunting a crow deserter, and had spent a night of ''fun'' with the villagers before continuing their hunt.

    Donny had no idea what happened to my sisters. So I killed all of Donny''s one by one to make sure he was telling the truth, before killing the rest of his kin to keep the silence of my actions. I practiced warging on a few of them before ending it. It still brought me great and terrible pain to attempt.

    I wondered if I would ever be able to warg into an adult.

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 9

    <blockquote class="messageText SelectQuoteContainer ugc baseHtml">AN/ I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. Much more to go. On our earth, the days are irregular in the polar regions. That is not mentioned in ASOIAF. Do I assume it doesn''t happen, and that their world is round? Or do I go with the flow, and let the sun rise and set like it does in the books and show?

    01010

    Chapter 9: Thenns.

    01010

    (Age 17)

    01010

    Some of the free-folk looked at me and my passing herd with fear. Others looked at me with awe. It was the children that watched me with utter adoration. Here I was, with a sparse beard, and in control of 22 of the biggest and fiercest beasts in the north.

    Direwolf packs ran from my clan with their tails between their legs.

    If you were a betting man, you would bet that a giant, who was 20 feet tall, would be stronger than one of my snowbears, who averaged 15 feet tall. You would be betting wrong, however. Wild Snowbears did not eat like my bears did. They weren''t constantly moving like my bears, either.

    I lost Fang as I chased down the Weeper''s warband like a pack of rats. They ambushed me, and filled Fang full of spears. If I''d been on his back like I usually was, I''d be dead. But I''d taken to riding on a mammoth calf in recent months.

    I say calf, because he was 2 years old, but he was still massive.

    Fang''s grandson was my new breeding sire for the snowbears. He took the name Fang in my mind as he reached his grand-sire''s bulky size and surpassed it. 18 feet tall on his hind legs, with claws as sharp as razors. He was as quick as an oiled river-snake and twice as strong.

    My biggest problem with him, was fitting Fang''s well-worn steel armor to his frame. My constant repairs to sleds, equipment, and armor lent itself well to my burgeoning leather-working and metal-smithing skills.

    My mammoth skins pulled 8 sleds laden with smoked tubers I''d gathered so far for my trip north. I had no idea how long the trip would take, and kept preparing for it as I sought to slake my thirst for vengeance upon the Weeper.

    His warband of 1,000 contained at least 400 warriors, and I sought to kill them all. Usually a tough proposition, but the crows kept watch on their hunting and scouting parties, and I made sure they met the snowbears whenever they strayed out of sight of the main warband.

    I wanted none to escape.

    They were slowly starving as they raided village after village in their flight from my wrath. They tired themselves on small village warriors and stole their food stores while I nipped at their heels to keep them moving. I wanted to make the Weeper suffer. As he made my sisters suffer, surely, before he killed them.

    Some free-folk began to flee from the thundering of my mammoth herd as I kept to the warband''s trail. I was growing a reputation to be feared now. Veranyr Spearsgiant was a name of a known warrior now. None dared to challenge me for my herd of mammoths. None dared to refuse me anymore.

    The free-folk take what is theirs by force. I had the greatest force in the north. Enough to bully even the largest warbands. As the Weeper had learned. 1,000 people is no protection against 26 snowbears that never stopped, and moved with the intelligence and cunning of a sneaky man.

    The Weeper fled north, into the lands of the Thenn.

    I stopped at the border of the Thenn lands and let the warband flee. I wasn''t strong enough to face the Thenn yet. I needed even more skins. The Thenn numbered in the thousands, and all were armed with bronze weapons. Some even had bronze plate armor. I would lose that fight if it came to it.

    I turned back to the Antler River.

    01010

    It was a short, year long, winter. All I could do was prepare for my journey, and get used to the cold I would face in the Lands of Always Winter.

    To my great disappointment, no one ever took me up on the trade of 2 mammoths for 1 Giant infant. I ran into a couple of Cave Giants on my travels across the north, but I never managed to find an infant among their corpses.

    The Antler River clans were new to me. A great many spoke the old tongue, like the Thenns did. I made an effort to learn a few words of the ancient language. The people were as excited to meet me as the people along the Milkwater were.

    My legend spread.

    There were rumors that Mance had declared himself the King-Beyond-The-Wall, and was raising an army in hopes of crushing the wall. I knew how prone the free-folk were to fight, and knew it would take him a lifetime to gather even half the north under him.

    It was no real threat to my ambitions.

    I had a goal I need to accomplish sooner, rather than later.

    I spent a year on the Antler River, gathering strength, breeding my skins, and smoking tubers and meat for provisions for my trip north. I traded with the Antler River clans, tribes, and villages. They wanted what I had, and I wanted what they had.

    Nimble fingers, able to hunt the woods for tubers, and smoke them. I was only willing to trade for smoked tubers and pemmican smoked meat.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Pemmican was made with meat smoked dry, and then crushed into meat powder. It was then mixed with berries and dried until it was as hard as a rock. I traded 20 mammoths for 10 mammoth loads of pemmican meat and smoked tubers.

    I gathered another 10 mammoth loads of smoked tubers by myself over a year''s time. The snowbears were good at sniffing the tubers out from beneath the snow. I traded a mammoth for a massive copper pot and practiced boiling snow into water with frozen mammoth dung as my only fuel.

    I practiced moving through thick snow, and digging a shelter into the snow quickly at night. I think I was the only free-folk that really roamed the wilds in the depth of winter. I took to the cold as a long lost friend, and didn''t so much as lose an ear.

    When the winter ended, I knew it was time to head north once more.

    My skins were as powerful as they were going to get. 25 almost full-grown mammoths, 25 adult snowbears, and a mostly grown Giantess. Vera pushed 20 feet of muscle and bone. No one doubted she was a giant any longer.

    I kept 40 of the adult mammoths I couldn''t warg into as food for the snowbears, once the sleds of pemmican ran low.

    I traveled up into the Thenn lands for the first time.

    01010

    (Age 18)

    01010

    There are two ways into the Lands of Always Winter. To head north from the east of the Frostfangs, or from the west. As I was already on the east side, and at the northern tip pf the Antler River, I decided to go from the east and follow the coast of the Shivering Sea as far as it goes.

    I Needed to pass through the lands of the Thenn on my way North. And if I happened upon the Weeper''s men on the way...

    I had a dozen crows scouting for the lost warband that had fled this way more than a year ago. I didn''t see the Weepers men for the day''s distance I had the birds scout out every morning.

    I stopped every night for the first week, well before the sun set, and collected enough frozen dung to warm up a pot of snow. Vera hauled buckets of snow into the massive copper pot, while I dug into the snow and made a shelter for the night.

    When you dug a little burrow in the snow, and filled in the entrance, it trapped the heat in. Digging the ceiling into a dome shape trapped the heat even better. making a small fire, to melt the ceiling into ice, trapped the heat completely.

    I looked up into the glittering ice ceiling of my shelter, with my head resting upon Fang I''s pelt as I looked through the eyes of the crow scouts. 4,000 or so bronze armored spearmen were a day''s march away. This was the Thenn army. Not every fighting man they had, by a long shot.

    It was there standing army. The warriors that did nothing but fight, and train to fight. They had no ears, as they had all lost theirs to either the cold or a knife. Some missed fingers, toes, and noses to the cold. They rarely left the sheltered valleys they lived in, but it was the coldest place in the world when they did.

    I chuckled.

    So this was it.

    The army sent to kill me.

    4,000 men coated in plate bronze, marching in lockstep, with massive spears leaned on their shoulders. Not much I could do but run, if I wanted to keep my life. Any sane man would have run. Any smart man would have a plan.

    But I was a sneak. I had plans within plans within plans. I made a few more burrows and let the snowbears and mammoths rest and eat well to recover from the last week''s grueling pace.

    When the sun came up, I dressed the Fang II and the other biggest 7 snowbears in their steel armor, and the others in their leather armor. Good luck trying to thrust a spear through 8 thick layers of leather.

    The mammoths were not all warrior-trained beasts of war, but, 25 of them were mentally controlled. 40 could be made to stampede in a devastating charge, with 25 of the worlds most viscous and intelligent snowbears. Then the 25 mammoths would turn around and come back either alone, or with the 40 other enraged beasts.

    I really wasn''t afraid of 4,000 men. Their formations would shatter, and I could chase them down at my leisure. Mammoths and armored snowbears would be very vulnerable in low numbers. But with the 50 beasts at my control, I could have them support each other.

    It wasn''t like the 4 snowbear vs 100 horsemen from years ago. 40 snowbears would crush 1,000 horsemen. 65 mammoths and 25 snowbears would crush 4,000 bronze armored Thenns. That''s 45 Thenns for every beast to kill.

    That was not counting my copper armored Giantess. She wielded a 20 foot spear carved from a single oak tree, tipped with a steel sword. Woe be to her husband''s enemies.

    But that was only if my plans failed.

    I waited for the Thenns in a large plain of snow along the coast of the Shivering Sea. Their outriders rode reindeer and I allowed them to catch sight of my herd and return to tell the tale. The crows showed they would be here soon.

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    </article>

 10

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