Black soil, white wood. That was all there was in the cave.
It lay far beyond the Wall.
Beneath the nameless frozen hills, countless caves connected and stretched deep underground. No one had ever explored all their dark passages.
"There are more and more dead."
A sweet, high voice seemed to sing in sorrow.
She looked like a little girl, with large eyes of mingled gold and emerald green. Twigs and flowers threaded through her tousled, many-colored hair.
She wore a cloak of leaves, and her dark brown skin bore spots like a doe's.
An elf.
She was one of the Children of the Forest.
But in their own tongue, they called themselves "Those Who Sing of the Earth."
From his weirwood throne, the Three-Eyed Crow whispered hoarsely, "The Great Other's servants have awakened. But we still have hope. The dead they control cannot cross the magic at the cave entrance."
A single Other could turn thousands, even tens of thousands, of dead into wights under its command.
The Child of the Forest looked anxiously at the old man, so ancient he was nearly decayed. He had become one with the weirwood; most of his flesh had turned to pale bark and wood.
Apart from one bright red eye and long white hair that hung to his waist, the old man was little more than a talking face on the weirwood.
He was the "last Greenseer."
The gift of the greenseers had once belonged to the Children of the Forest. But now, on the brink of extinction, they had no choice but to rely on a wise man from among the humans.
Brynden Rivers.
For a time, this old man had given them hope. Now, though, it seemed their people's end still could not be avoided.
"Greenseer, perhaps we will all return to the earth with you."
She knew.
The old man had long outlived the span allotted to mortals. Sheer conviction had kept him lingering in this world, but at last he had reached his limit.
In a few months, perhaps a year or two, the old man would meet his final end.
Brynden "Bloodraven" had not given up.
"No. I've found you a new Greenseer. He will do far better than I have. He will help the world thwart the Great Other's plot."
She knew who his successor was.
Brandon Stark had been gifted with the talent of a greenseer. The old man had watched over him from the day he was born.
Unfortunately...
"Hasn't the boy gone farther south, to the plains where forests once flourished?"
Bloodraven hated what had happened, and regretted it.
It wasn't supposed to happen this way. I watched him for so many years. How could it end like this?
He refused to accept it.
He was Brynden Rivers, the famed Lord Bloodraven, of noble Dragon Bloodline. His deeds of old had become legend.
People said he had a thousand and one eyes and was an evil sorcerer.
So what?
The slander and fear of ignorant people only proved that he could not be dismissed.
Even after he was exiled to the Wall and lost everything he once had, he became Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
He grew old.
The Gods blessed him. In his seventies, he met the Children of the Forest beyond the Wall.
Fate had favored him.
He became the Greenseer of the Haunted Forest, the Three-Eyed Crow, and had lived until now.
Though he could no longer walk the earth, he could fly. He had ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million pairs of eyes. He could see the whole world.
He did not want to die yet.
Bran was his best chance.
Through Bran, he could begin anew, draw on the power of the Seven Kingdoms to resist the Others, and reclaim the dragon throne.
"The course of fate was disrupted by someone who should never have appeared. Once we set it right, the boy will understand the mission he bears."
She looked at the old man with eyes both clear and ancient. "How do we set it right?"
"That man has powers that do not belong in this world. Flames, steel, eyes... Perhaps he is the trial we must face."
Brynden recalled what he had seen.
"You're the only one of your people who knows the Common Tongue. I need you to go in person. Take a few of your strongest people and bring that man back."
After a moment's hesitation, Brynden decided to reveal another card he had kept in reserve.
"Take my raven. It will find the human skinchangers in the forest. They can help you."
She saw the anticipation in the old man's eye.
For years, they had done nothing but hide from humans. Now they were to attack them?
Someone who should never have appeared. She tried to imagine what he looked like.
She was a little afraid, but she knew she should heed the Greenseer's instructions. The Greenseer could see everything.
"I understand, Greenseer."
May this journey go well. She turned and walked out of the cave, step by step.
Another whisper came from behind her. "Take this sword. Those humans may have a use for it."
She turned back and saw a slender black longsword.
She had wandered the human world for two hundred years.
She knew its name. "Dark Sister."
A black raven flew out of the cave.
The Children of the Forest followed close behind with their companions.
Many dead lay buried in the deep snow outside the cave. The presence of life soon awakened them, and they opened their eyes.
A great horde of wights rose from the snow and surged toward the Children of the Forest.
Are the Great Other's servants watching? she wondered.
Her own companion was a fox. The other six members of her people rode fierce beasts.
A shadowcat's claws shredded a dead man in a few swipes. A boar charged through on the strength of its powerful body, plowing a path for them.
Above, the raven circled unhurriedly, entirely unaffected.
They soon broke through the encirclement.
She breathed a sigh of relief. They were only mindless dead.
Wights under an Other's direct control were much cleverer. With their numbers, they would have been far more trouble.
The raven flew southwest.
Her companions looked to her, their eyes bright with eagerness but troubled by the dangers ahead.
She sang to them in their own tongue: "May the earth protect us, may the forest protect us. The last Greenseer has a successor. We will set fate back on its course, and our people will flourish as they once did."
Trusting in the Greenseer, the Children of the Forest left their last home.
"Ahem! Listen up. Since that lord has given his orders, everyone must obey. No one acts on their own!"
A tall human shouted from atop a mammoth.
The Free Folk erupted into a clamor. Everyone fought to have their say, and no one would yield to anyone else.
The Children of the Forest stared at the scene in bewilderment.
She was not particularly surprised. Years of wandering had taught her much about the strange ways humans behaved.
Humans beyond the Wall were less united than those within it, but they would not suddenly come to serious blows. She knew they would settle down with time.
All the helpers the raven had found had gathered. Soon, they would set out for the Wall.
She felt much more confident now.
More than five hundred strong humans and over thirty skinchangers.
Boars, snow bears, shadowcats, mammoths, direwolves, grey wolves, foxes, hawks, ravens, wild dogs...
No matter how frightening the man who should never have appeared was, surely he could not stand against them.
She smiled with delight.
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