Mance and Tormund both knew the White Walkers followed them like shadows, hiding by day and emerging at night. They did not appear when the ancient, warm sun shone, but they were never far away.
Light and shadow were a balance; shadows were always there. Perhaps they could not see them for the moment, but the White Walkers might always be beneath their feet.
"Heave, ho. Heave, ho." On the other side, the wildlings directed their giant friends as they helped. Giants generally had poor eyesight and needed wildlings to identify things and guide them.
"Be very careful. Our tall friends may not see well. Don't let them step on you like rats," the wildlings reminded one another.
The towering giants swung logs to help the wildlings smash the ice and search for tombs. Giants could reach ten to twelve feet in height.
Giants were humanoid, but unlike ordinary men. Their bulging chests were much like humans', their long arms hung down, and their lower bodies were half again as broad as their upper bodies.
Their legs were shorter than their arms and very thick. They wore no shoes at all, and their broad feet were black, hard, and covered in calluses.
The wildlings had very long hair. Shaggy hair covered their bodies, thick below the waist and sparser above it.
With no necks, the giants' heavy heads thrust forward from between their shoulder blades. Their faces were flat and savage, their little ratlike eyes no larger than beads, almost invisible within their leathery skin. Yet their noses were keen, and they sniffed as they walked.
"We found it! We found it!" A sudden commotion rose from the party searching for tombs.
Mance and Thorede immediately hurried over. It was an enormous tomb beneath a glacier, belonging to the Giants