ASOIAF: King of Winter

[Author's Note: New PC, who dis?

No, but seriously, the hardware issues I've been mentioning just got worse and worse, and at some point, my pc just shutdown.

Took me a while to scrounge up enough to get another, but here I am, ready to write.

So, look forward to getting more chapters, and I'm very sorry for the delay.]

5 Chapters further in all my stories here:

patreon.com/NiflheimA

Chapter 26

Arya Stark

She barged into the smithy with reckless abandon, ignoring the shouts and grumbles of other bothered by her pushing.

"Gendry! Gendry!" She shouts.

A calloused hand holds her shoulder suddenly, turning her around.

She makes for a hidden dirk beneath her blouse, only to stop when she notices a familiar face.

"Ary- Weasel?! What are you doing here!" Gendry whispers gravely, almost giving out her true name.

Arya roughly shoves off his hand. "Saving your hide." She says. "Come on, we have to leave."

"Leave?! Leave where?"

Once he notices her lack of response, Gendry huffs and follows her out of the smithy.

As they walk across the gigantic halls of the castle, Gendry asks. "Where are we going?!"

"To get Hot Pie." She answers.

"Hot Pie?! Hot Pie's in the kitchens! He has duties to attend to!" Gendry exclaims. "As did I! for that matter, I'm going to be chewed up by the master smith once we get back!"

"Don't worry, we're not going back."

"What?! Not going ba--"

At this point his comments grated on her nerves, so she stretched her hand to pull him to the side by the scruff of his neck.

She proves to be much too small and weak to do so, yet Gendry lets her drag him aside once he notices her expression.

"We don't have much time." She says. "Tywin Lannister will leave, and he ordered his men to kill all who remain as examples."

Gendry gasps. "How- how do you know that?"

"Jaqen told me."

"That Lorathi prisoner? With the names?"

Arya nods.

"I have managed to convince him to help us escape." She says. "If we do that, we can finally go to Robb!"

Just the idea of being back and safe with her family brought joy to her.

"Alright." Gendry answers, giving her a solemn nod. "Lead the way."

*-*-*

With Hot Pie on their tail, now very much perturbed, they finally made their way back to the Godswood.

On their way however, they sighted organized men marching out the gates, at their head an opulent carriage followed by banners of a gold lion in a red field.

"He's leaving!" Arya exclaims. "We need to hurry, we don't have much time!"

Hot Pie gasps, but is quickly pulled along by Gendry.

Once they reach the Godswood, they find him with two other familiar men, and eight bowls of steaming soup.

"Why are they here?!" Gendry exclaims, recognizing him.

They were Biter and Rorge, Jaqen's fellow prisoners during their way to the Wall.

"A man can easily escape alone." Jaqen answers. "But to lead three children out safely, a man needed help."

Arya glances at the two other men, they were silent and meek, probably from whatever torture was inflicted on them by the Lannisters.

She noticed that whenever Genry made eye contact with them, they would cower, but when herself or Hot Pie did, they would puff their chests out and glare back.

Hot Pie simply stayed quiet, attempting to hide behind Gendry's back, and failing.

"I see you have brought dinner." Gendry says, eyeing the bowls.

A smile makes its way to Jaqen face. "A man did prepare dinner, indeed." He says. "But not for you."

*-*-*

They were led toward the east gate, Harrenhall has two gates, a main gate, with walls so thick there are no less than a dozen murder holes before one could reach the yard on the other side, and an eastern gate, smaller than the main one, located by the Tower of Ghosts.

"The main gate has many layers of guards covering it." Jaqen explains. "A man can deal with the first layer, but it would warn the others, and a man cannot face so many without surprise."

What went unsaid, was that in exchange, the Tower of Ghosts was guarrisoned with more men, with eight more guarding the gate itself.

The bowls, it would turn out, were their way in.

While Jaqen was in patrolman garb, the other's shabby clothing made them out to be servants.

"What's the reason for your entrance?" A man at the tower's entrance asked.

"Escorting servants to bring food to the guards." Jaqen replies, pointing with his head to the bowls at their hands.

It seems the men here were familiar with his identity, as they were led in quite easily.

They slowly made their way in, the Tower of Ghosts is the most ruined out of Harrenhall's five melted towers, and so it was mostly used as a defensive point for the gate and nothing else, making it an especially dreary and depressing place.

Once they reached the gate, however, Arya's face went stiff.

She sighted the sword at the side of one of the men, it was a thin thing of castle forged steel, a sword that she remembered holding dear to her.

'Needle.' She thought.

Polliver, it seems, has been made a guard in this castle. The man who almost killed Gendry and stole her sword, and a name on her List.

Her face was dirty with grime, her hair grown further, and her attire different, so it is unlikely that the man would recognize her. Gendry and Hot Pie, however, are another matter entirely.

Thankfully, it isn't him but one of his companions that turns toward them.

"Who goes there?!" The man exclaims.

"Food." Jaqen answers. "To fill your belly and staunch your hunger."

The man finally notices their still hot bowls, and with a smile on his face he turns to his friends, Polliver included.

"Dinner's here, boys!" The man shouts, turning back at them and looking at Arya, specifically. "And maybe something sweeter yet."

His slimy voice brings a shudder to her back, but she hardens her heart and forces out a smile.

The men turn toward them, walking forward to get their food. There were 8 in total, as expected, and they each were armed, as opposed to their one.

The first guard grabs a bowl from Jaqen, but before the others could, Polliver finaly notices them, or more specifically, Gendry.

His face turns predatory, turning back to Hot Pie, and then finally, her.

It seems that he unfortunately recognized her, perhaps due to her companions.

"Would you look at that!" He exclaims. "I thought you were too pretty for a boy!" He japes cruelly. "I forgot to thank you for your sword!" He taps Needle at his side. "It served me well, never seen castle forged steel gutting men so well, especially northern whores!"

His laughs was cruel, and it reminded her of that day where he had her at his feet, taunting her with again with his stupid face.

She would have done something, did Jaqen not beat her to the punch.

He unsheathes his sword quickly, and in the same movement cuts down the first man's throat. The others, Polliver included, had their hands full, and so before they could reliably react Jaqen killed the second.

2 were dead, 6 left to go.

Biter and Rorge seemingly expected this, as they threw the scalding hot liquid from their bowls, each into a man's face, and swiftly bent down and grabbed the dead men's swords.

Polliver cowers back, pulling out a sword, not needle, but a larger blade more fit against armor. Jaqen faces off against another guard, and out of the two burned men, one is killed by Biter, while the other clashes swords with Rorge, who wielded his awkwardly, and was losing.

It was then that Arya finally acts, she swiftly follows along the others as she spills water on another man who tried to slash Jaqen's back, saving his life, just in time for the Assassin to finally finish his opponent.

4 guards were left, Jaqen turns toward the one burned by her water and starts fighting him, Rorge was slowly losing against his, while Biter –seemingly more skilled- was fighting another. Polliver, cowardly man that he was, walks toward her, Gendry, and Hot Pie, a sinister smile on his face.

"Once this is over, I'll do to your corpses what I'd never do to something alive!" Arya simply laughs and runs away, causing him to scream and start chasing her. "Get here you b$tch!"

Gendry tries to throw his own bowl's contents at Polliver, but the man expected that and dodged. Walking further toward them.

Once he gets dangerously close, Arya exclaims. "Damn it!" She takes the bowl out of her frozen friend, throwing its contents, again, at Polliver.

Polliver laughs, dodging out of the way, but before he could say one of his taunts, he finds a sword going straight through his stomach.

It seems that Jaqen and the others had made quick work of the rest, Arya noticed that only Biter and Jaqen were left standing, as she saw Rorge's corpse amidst the rest.

Hot Pie lets out a sound dangerously close to puking, but he barely manages to stop himself.

"Hurry." Jaqen warns. "Someone must have heard us."

Sure enough, they soon noticed the echoes of boots getting closer, and not a split second after, the bells were tolled.

Arya simply stands over Polliver's corpse, spitting on its face as she pulled her prized sword from her side.

'Another name off the list.' She thought.

Once Jaqen found the keys and opened the way out, they quickly found the men's horses, and mounted them.

Only Arya, Gendry, and Jaqen had any idea of how to ride, so Biter was stuck with Jaqen, and Hot Pie and Gendry made for a funny sight.

They pushed their horses as hard as they could, using the cover of the night to sneak away, but even so, neither Arya nor Gendry could handle their horses well, and they soon found themselves caught up by others.

'This never ends!' She inwardly complains.

They push their horses even further, and they slowly start to outrun their chasers. But it wasn't enough.

They were getting herded, she noticed. Whenever they outrun a group, another finds itself finding them, and on and on it went.

"We're screwed!" Gendry exclaims. "The horses are getting exhausted!"

Jaqen meanwhile remains calm. "A man sees trees in the distance, up north." He says. "We must head there, find a place to take cover."

Hot Pie shudders. "But I heard there were beasts there! Bears and wolves and whatever else!"

Arya recognized the place, they passed by here on their way to Kingslanding.

'Thinking about it, isn't that the forest where I left Nym?' She thinks.

"Wolves, you said?" Arya exclaims. "Then we must go there!"

She doesn't await a reply, urging her horse to gallop toward the trees.

"Girl, wait!" She hears Jaqen before her, but she ignores him.

'If Nymeria is there…' She thinks. 'If my direwolf is there!'

The moment she enters the forest, she hears a *thwip* sound.

She makes a sudden turn, and an arrow grazes her cheek.

"Damn!" She hears a voice in the distance. "I missed!"

Her eyes go large from shock, flight of fight instincts kick off, and something within her pushes her toward fleeing.

She whips her horse, and sensing her trepidation, it mindlessly begins to charge through the forest, away from the voice.

She could hear voices and sounds getting closer, her horse was tired, and moving through the forest cannot be fast, so bit by bit she felt them creeping up on them.

She hears another whooshing sound, an arrow sticking itself on a stray tree, and another, and another, all the way until one finally lands, and hits the back of her horse.

She falls roughly on shrubbery, its branches nipping at her arms and legs, and a ripping sound meant that her clothes were shredded also.

The fall makes her breath go away, and she feels some of ribs crack.

Arya screams from the pain, feeling tears flowing down her eyes.

She stands roughly, slowly. Her left arm holding her bleeding side, while her other unsheathes needle.

Her vision blurs, and in her delirium she thinks she recognizes her surroundings from one of her wolf dreams.

Arya feels fear. 'Is this the day?' She thinks. 'Is this the day I die? After all what she went through to escape?!'

And when her death was so final, Arya chose to do so standing, fighting as she always did.

She held up her thin sword, her face hardened in resolve toward the approaching silhouette.

She hears sounds from it, what she thought were jeers and mockeries, but her head was ringing too loud for her to hear.

"Come… Come at me!" Her voice turns into a shriek at the end. "I'll kill you all!"

Laughs is all she hears, and she can no longer see as blood covers her eyes.

Arya sways standing, her legs barely holding on. And as she feels footsteps –her doom- getting closer, she cries.

But it's all interrupted, as a deafening howl makes its way to her impaired ears.

What she hears next is the sound of shrieking men and crushed throats.

She couldn't see what is happening, but she is pretty sure that her pursuers are getting slaughtered, by wolves.

And before she finally loses consciousness, she feels a wet snout gently touching her side, much like Nymeria once did with her.

"Ha… HaHahahahaha!!" Her laugh is hysterical, and her sword falls to the ground.

But she didn't care, Nymeria was here! She was finally safe!

"I… can… finally… go… home…" She whispers, the strength leaving her body as she could no longer stay awake.

That was the best nap of her life.