A/N: Finally! I've gotten to pt. 2 of the Black Wolf! Now, we are still where we last left off. James, Arya, and Sansa are still escaping on the Kingsroad with Yoren. Also since I'm also writing my other story along with this one don't expect me to update that often or the chapters to be as long either. I just don't have the time. I still want to see my other story to finish, so I'll spend most of my time on that one. Don't worry, though, I won't forget about this one. The only issue is that I have to sacrifice chapter length so I can see it done. If you know I like being descriptive so this is hard for me. Maybe when the other one is finally done they can be a little longer, but for now they won't be.

Now, my writing style is going to change from her on out. If you read my epilogue story you saw that each chapter was from only a certain characters POV. That is going to change. Also be as long either. I just don't have the time.

I don't want to be strictly limited to one POV, so each chapter could contain multiples. Not all of them will be from James's POV (like in the first part), and most will be from somebody else's. This story follows the timespan of A Clash of King's.

Each time a POV changes I'll put one of these

XXXXXX

And I'll put a heading of whose it will be from so you do not get confused.

Anyway, enough of my blabbering and let's get to it.

XXXXXX

Cersei

"The raven arrived from the citadel this morning, Your Grace," said the Grand Maester, as they presented Cersei with a white raven from the citadel. "The conclave has met, considered reports from maester's all over the Seven Kingdoms, and considered this great summer, done."

Cersei Lannister, the queen regent, merely sighed heavily to herself and looked at the white raven, its black eyes staring back at her. This small council of hers was drawing into the early afternoon and things in the realm have not been as she wished. They were at war, she knew. The Starks, under Robb Stark were fighting the Lannisters, her family. The young boy was coming south with the whole of the North behind him, coming for revenge for the death of Ned Stark. Her father had lost every battle he had fought against the Stark boy, and what was worse was that they had Jaime, her Jaime. Yet Cersei could take solace in the fact that they still had Sansa.

"The longest summer in living memory," Pycelle finished.

"The peasants say a long summer means an even longer winter," added Varys.

"A common superstition," Pycelle spat.

"We have enough wheat for a five-year winter," said Baelish. "If it lasts any longer…we'll have fewer peasants."

"The capitol is overflowing with smallfolk, Your Grace," Janos Slynt, the newly appointed Lord Commander of the Gold Cloaks told her. If it weren't for his treachery, Cersei could perhaps be sitting in a cell with Joffrey. Yet Janos was bought easily, and Ned Stark had been so foolish to confront her. "With winter coming it will only get worse."

"You command the city watch do you not, Lord Slynt?" Cersei asked him. The raven had constantly been cawing and she waived a servant to come over and take it away.

He nodded. "I do, Your Grace."

"Then do your job. Shut the gates to the peasants. They belong in the fields, not in our capitol."

"Yes, Your Grace."

Suddenly she heard the clanking of boots and armor coming into the small council room, clanging and clanking away. Cersei turned to her right to see the Hound coming through with five red cloaks and Ser Meryn Trant of the Kingsguard. They approached the council table and Cersei could tell something had happened. He would never be anywhere beside Joffrey.

Cersei shot from her chair and asked, "What has happened?"

The Hound stood straight like the dog he was as he neared the table with the red cloaks and Trant. He then explained, "We ran into an issue, Your Grace." His voice was rough.

Cersei narrowed her eyes at him. "Out with it then."

He cleared his throat. "It seems that we have run into a problem with the Stark girl. The little bird has flown from her cage."

Cersei was left confused. "What do you mean? Speak plainly."

"She escaped. Sansa Stark is gone."

Cersei's heart constricted into a vice, her breath shallowed. She felt the anger rise in her. How could this have happened? Sansa Stark had been under lock-and-key since her father's execution. Cersei had made sure that she was looked after, that there were guards outside her chamber at all times. It was imperative that they had her as a hostage. Without Sansa they had no leverage against the Starks. Without Sansa Robb Stark had no reason to keep Jaime alive…Cersei had to find her.

"How?!" Cersei snapped at him. She saw the eyes grow wide across the small council. "Speak!"

The Hound stood up straight again. "We are not sure, Your Grace. We heard rumbling on the other side and the shifting of furniture. When we opened the door, she was gone. It was as if she disappeared."

Cersei scoffed. "Nonsense. She escaped, and we must find her. Take me to her chambers."

The Hound gave a curt nod and escorted Cersei towards the Stark girls chambers in Maegor's Holdfast. Sansa had been giving a chamber there after her father's execution, at Cersei's own behest. As she followed Sandor Clegane with the guards around her she thought about how the Stark girl could have escaped. Surely, she couldn't have done it alone? Sansa Stark wasn't smart enough for that. She had help, Cersei deduced. But who could have helped her? Sansa had no friends in the Red Keep. Mayhaps it was Arya, the little animal. None of my spies have been able to find her. No, not Arya. Who…

Finally they arrived and Cersei found that they had left her chambers untouched. The door was splintered open - clearly she had locked the door on the other side. Cersei's blood boiled as she stepped through the chambers and looked at it. The trunk at the foot of her bed had been throw open violently, clothes spilling out of it like a river of water. On her bed were some more clothes and on the floor was a pooled dress where she had changed. Cersei stepped forward and noticed the table had been thrown over. Yet what intrigued her the most was the map on her bed.

Cersei reached over and took this map in her hands, she did not know what it revealed. It was a map of King's Landing, she realized, yet this map was different. It had red lines going across it, connecting to each other as if they were some sort of system. Cersei did not know. She knew it meant something, perhaps a map of the tunnels that ran through these very walls? Yes, that is it. Sansa had help, but from whom? Cersei sat on the bed and looked at the map even more. Who would have had this in their possession? She did not know.

Suddenly she looked up from the map and saw the Hound standing before her. It looked like he had something to say.

"Have something you want to say, Sandor?" she asked him. "Perhaps you know who helped Sansa Stark escape Maegor's Holdfast."

He gave a curt nod. "We found this on the floor, Your Grace. And we also found this." The Hound walked over and threw over another night table to expose a hole in the wall. Cersei could tell it was large enough for someone to fit through.

"Yes, that is how she escaped," said Cersei. "But who helped her?"

This time Meryn Trant stepped forward and extended something out to her. "We found this, Your Grace." Cersei saw a silver bracelet in the palm of his hand. It was made out of sinew, by the looks of it.

Cersei stood up and snatched it, examining it with intricacy. She had seen it before. It looked all too familiar. Suddenly she remembered, it hit her like a storm. This bracelet had belong to James Stark. Cersei had seen him wearing it in Winterfell, when she took him to bed in King's Landing. He wore it everywhere. Now she knew who helped her…it was James. Nobody had heard from the eldest Stark boy since he had fled from King's Landing when his father was attacked in the streets by Jaime. Word was he had died of his wounds, that he went to Riverrun, that he went back to Winterfell. But, no…that did not happen. He clearly stayed in the capitol and took Sansa with him, using this map as a guid. And there was only one place they could go: north. But by what route, Cersei did not know. They could go by ship or up the kingsroad under a disguise. All she knew was that she had to find Sansa Stark again before it was too late.

"And why did you not go after them?" she asked the Hound.

"We did not know where to find them, Your Grace," he answered. "There was nothing we could do."

"Nothing you could do…" she mocked. "You could have sent someone in those tunnels after them, done something! Now we have neither Stark girls. Do you know what situation this puts us in?"

"Yes, Your Grace."

"No matter. We must find Sansa Stark and Arya as well."

"Do you know who helped them?"

Cersei nodded. "Yes. It was James Stark."

XXXX

Tyrion

"I want to know how you tricked Father into making you hand?" Cersei said when they were alone. Tyrion had just come into the council chamber fresh from the battlefield. How he had so many adventures. Going to the Wall and pissing off the edge of the world. Captured by Catelyn Stark, given a trial by Lysa Arryn in the Eyrie. He fought with the hill tribes and won them to his side. Yes, Tyrion had so many adventures.

"I didn't convince him to do anything, and if I could I would be king of Westeros by now. So, no, I did not convince him of anything."

"Why are you here?" she pressed again. "I wanted Father, not you. I am regent, Joffrey is king, and I sent him a royal command!"

"And he's ignored you," Tyrion pointed out. "He has quite the large army and can do that. He wouldn't be the first, nor will he be the last."

"I could just crumple up this parchment, name it false and throw you in a dungeon. No one would ignore that!"

Tyrion had to tread carefully. "No, no one wouldn't. But why would you want me in a dungeon when I've come here to help you?"

"I do not require your help, but our father's. It was his presence I commanded."

"Yes but it is Jaime's you want."

Cersei had always thought herself as subtle, but Tyrion thought otherwise. On her face he saw a myriad of emotions. And what he saw was rage, fear, and despair. "Jaime-"

"-is my brother, too," Tyrion interrupted. "Support me, Cersei, and I can have him freed and back to us."

"How?" Cersei demanded. "Robb Stark and his mother are not likely to forget that we took Lord Eddard's head."

"We have his daughter's, don't we? That has to count for something."

Again he saw her face contort into fear. Cersei for once looked abashed and almost dare he say lost? Tyrion could sense something. "You don't have them?" he questioned. He could feel the surmounting frustration.

"No," she said quietly, "we don't. Both Sansa and Arya escaped. We don't know how."

Tyrion felt his blood boil but kept his composure somewhat. Yet he couldn't let a hiss seethe between his teeth. "What?!" he almost yelled. "How could you have lost them? They were our only bargaining chips, Cersei, and you've lost them. Father would be furious!"

"It is not my fault," she said now. "Sansa escaped through the tunnels of Maegor's."

"And how did she do that? Did a ghost take her?"

Cersei scoffed. "Not a ghost, you little worm, but her brother. This was James Starks doing!"

"James Stark?" Tyrion was taken aback. "How…he hasn't been seen since the Wall."

"He came to King's Landing on a recruiting mission. He was wounded when Jaime attacked Lord Stark in the streets outside Littlefinger's brothel and fled the city. Jaime wouldn't have had to had you not let yourself be captured."

"That was Catelyn Stark's doing." Tyrion sighed. "We cannot let this word get out. Know one need ever know about the disappearance of the Stark children. All they know is that we have them. And that is all that matters. If Robb Stark were to find out that we don't have his sister's…"

"Then Jaime is as good as dead!" Cersei spat. "This is all your fault!"

"My fault?" Tyrion was taken aback. "How could this possibly be my fault?!"

"If you hadn't lead Father into that trap at the Whispering Wood."

"That was not my own doing!" Tyrion corrected. "That was false information from scouts." He groaned in anger. "No matter, Cersei, we must find the Stark children. Just help me with this."

"Fine," she conceded, although Tyrion could see the pain in her face. "We will have Varys send out his little birds. We can have the Gold Cloaks look far and wide in the city. We can put a price for their discovery."

Tyrion disapproved. "That won't get us anywhere. We need to send men after them. James Stark took them, you say?"

She nodded. "I'm sure."

"And how are you so sure?"

He saw her grow nervous, but as usual Cersei regained her composure. "Ser Meryn found an article of clothing that did not belong to Sansa Stark on the floor of her chambers." She tossed what looked like a bracelet onto the council table. Tyrion reached over and picked it up, looking at it. A silver direwolf bracelet made out of sinew, he noticed. Yes, he had seen James Stark wearing this back in Winterfell. It contrasted against the black clothing he was wearing from head-to-toe. Yet he is not a black brother until the end. James never took his vows too seriously.

"And this belongs to him?" Tyrion asked.

"It does. I've seen him wearing it many a time."

"And are you sure, Cersei?" he pressed again.

"Yes, I'm sure!" she snapped. "Many a time he wore it at Winterfell and when he was in King's Landing."

Tyrion smelled something odd in the air, as if something else had happened between the Stark lad and Cersei. I shall have to find out what that is about as well. He could read his sister like a book since he was a boy, and he could tell that she was perturbed by the mentioning of his name. Had Cersei done something which could not be undone? Tyrion wasn't sure. All he knew was that he had to find the Stark children or else Jaime was doomed along with the Lannisters.

"We must find them, Cersei."

"Yes, and how do you propose we do that? Where could they have gone?"

"I'm not sure…" Tyrion rubbed his chin. "North, most likely. They cannot know about Robb Stark's whereabouts."

"North is an already obvious answer. How could they have escaped the city?"

"Moving past the Gold Cloaks is not too hard. James Stark is more than capable, I suppose. All he would need to do is guise them."

Cersei tapped her fingers on the table and said, "Yes, a guise. Arya, the little animal could pass as a boy. James could pass as any man. But, Sansa…she cannot pass as anything but a girl. She'll be easy to find."

"Yes, yes." Tyrion waived his hand. "We will speak of this later, Cersei. For now we have done all we can."

"You're not doing enough!" she snapped once more, flaring. "If we don't find them then we can't get Jaime back. We need to help him."

"I can do all that is within my power. But for now tell me about what happened with Lord Eddard…"

Cersei went on and told him that Ned Stark was supposed to take the black, but Joffrey had sought to give the mob a better show. Tyrion knew that the boy had been strong-willed, but had also always been a fool. This time his foolishness plunged them into a chaos of a war, a war they were losing. Robb Stark had won every victory on the field. Cersei then went on about how Janos Slynt was the one who betrayed Lord Stark in the Throne Room when he was about to arrest both her and Joffrey. Tyrion knew that man could not be trusted and had to have him removed from his position. She filled him in on what else happened in the capitol while he was Catelyn Stark's prisoner, too. He kept assuring her he was here to help, but she would never believe him. Cersei was too blind with hatred to ever do that.

Once the assurances were out of the way he went out to survey the city. Bronn went with him and he filled him in on the Stark children. The sellsword told Tyrion all of his suspicions and he already thought of them. After that he went back to his chambers in the Tower of the Hand where he was told that Cersei ordered the death of Robert's bastards. In that horrible ordeal there was a silver lining however, Gendry, another of his bastards was going north with Yoren of the Night's Watch.

Cersei came to him and sat with him in his solar. "What do you want?" she snapped as they sat. "Why did you summon me?"

"I know where the Stark children went," Tyrion told her.

"How?" she asked. "Did Varys tell you?"

"No." He tapped his temple. "I figured it out. You say this bastard, Gendry, went with Yoren a recruiter. Happens I know that man and so did James. If you say James was the one who took them, then why wouldn't he leave the city with someone he knew he could trust? Yoren is that man. James must be with him."

Cersei nodded. "Yes, yes, that makes sense. How will we get them back?"

"I've already sent Gold Cloaks after them. If they come back empty handed then Amory Loch can go after them. Either way we will get them back."

It was all Tyrion could do to win this war for his house and to get Jaime back.

XXXXX

Arya

The sun beat down on her neck as Arya Stark made her way down the kingsroad with her brother, sister, and thirty recruits bound for the Night's Watch. I'm Arry now, Arya reminded herself. James said I must be called Arry, Sansa must be called Samwell and he is Brandon, Brandon Snow. Their lives depended on Arya remembering their false names. It was the only way they could safely cross back north without anyone recognizing them. James…Brandon, said that we must either go to Riverrun or Winterfell. Robb might be in Riverrun…Mother, too. How Arya just wished to get a hug from her mother, or see Robb's face again. She bit down on her lip to rid the thought.

Arya rode in the back of the wagon beside Gendry, a bastard boy that James had entrusted to look over her. Gendry did not know she was girl. He, Lommy, Hot Pie and the others just refer to her as Arry. The sun beat down on Arry right now and she raised her arm over her eyes to glare out the sun. Behind her she could hear the muttering of complaints about the heat, the war, anything. Arya could not stand to hear it. It grew on her nervous.

"Be quiet," Arry heard James, Brandon, whisper from the horse he was leading. Arya looked in front of her to see James leading Sansa on a horse. Her sister's hair was shorter than she had ever seen it. It looked as if a tot had hacked at her hair with a blunt knife it was so bad. Arya knew how much she must hate it. Beside her was James in his sellsword outfit. His brown-black hair was down to his shoulders, his face had stubble and mud upon it. His chain mail had begun to weigh him down so he discarded it down the road, instead wearing a simple tunic with boiled leather over it.

"I didn't say anything!" Arry snarled. "It is just this heat…"

Arya saw her brother look up at the sky and he nodded in agreement. "Yes, this heat will be the death of us all. So bloody hot…"

"Not used to the South, my- I mean Brandon?" the bull asked.

James sighed. "Not really. Back in the North it is not too hot. I fear I have grown used to the cold."

"I can't wait to be home," Sansa whispered. "Brandon, where will we go?"

"I'm not sure," he whispered. "Winterfell, maybe. Gods only know where Robb and Mother are."

"Winterfell is the only place we could go," Sansa whispered. "That is home, James."

"It's Brandon," he snapped. "You must remember that, Sansa."

Arya's sister looked abashed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." James sighed. "With all that is going on all I can think about is getting us back home."

"But where is home?" Arya asked.

"Anywhere but King's Landing," he told her. "We don't know where Mother is or Robb. Winterfell is our only bet. We just mind ourselves, keep quiet, and move north with Yoren." James glanced about. "And keep close to me and Yoren. This lot is nothing but trouble."

Arya could agree to that. Yoren had taken grown men from the dungeons as well, thieves and poachers and rapers and the like. The worst were the three he'd found in the black cells who must have scared even him, because he kept them fettered hand and foot in the back of a wagon, and vowed they'd stay in irons all the way to the Wall. One had no nose, only the hole in his face where it had been cut off, and the gross fat bald one with the pointed teeth and weeping sores on his cheeks had eyes like nothing human.

They took five wagons out of King's Landing, laden with supplies for the Wall: hides and bolts of cloth, bars of pig iron, a cage of ravens, books and paper and ink, a bale of sourleaf which Yoren liked to chew, jars of oil, and chests of medicine and spices. Teams of plow horses pulled the wagons, and Yoren had brought two coursers and a half-dozen donkeys for the boys and Sansa. Arya would have preferred a real horse, but the wagon was just fine.

The men paid her no mind, but she was not so lucky with the boys. She was two years younger than the youngest orphan, not to mention smaller and skinner, and Lommy and Hot Pie took her silken to men she was scared, or stupid, or deaf. They had been harassing her since they left, but James was there to scare them off. Hot Pie was scared of her brother and Gendry, too. He and Lommy would say nothing against them.

They had tried to take Needle from her one morning and Arya knocked Hot Pie off his donkey. The bakers boy had come at her but she danced around him as Syrio had taught her. She hit him in the head with her wooden sword, his cheek and knees as well. The fat boy stumbled and fell but Arya kept hitting him. James could do nothing but watch, not wanting to show that she meant something to him, so Yoren intervened.

James had to watch as she was slapped across the thighs by Yoren and there was nothing he could do. Arya glanced and saw him as he could only watch. She saw him clench his hands, grind his teeth, and just stand by Sansa's side. There was nothing he could do, both of them had to play their part. It had worked for a little, but Arya didn't know how long it would last. It would be just a matter of time before Sansa's hair began to grow back and they would see she was a girl. James would have to fight the whole group then. Arya would help him, of course, and fight as Syrio would have of her.

After the spanking she chewed on some sour leaf and it helped some. The taste of it was foul and it made her spit look like blood. Even so, she walked for the rest of that day, and the day after, and the day after that, too raw to even sit a donkey or the wagon. James was sort of distant and near Sansa, but Arya had Gendry by her side to watch over her. He knew who she really was. Hot Pie was worse off; Yoren had to shift some barrels around so he could lie in the back of the wagon on some sacks of barley, and he whimpered every time the wheels hit a rock. Lommy Greenhands wasn't hurt, yet he stayed as far away from Arya as he could get. Gendry told her that he twitched whenever he saw her.

That night she lay upon her thin blanket on the hard ground, staring up at the great red comet. The comet was splendid and scary all at once. "The Red Sword," Gendry had called it. He claimed it looked like a sword, the blade still red-hot from the forge. When Arya squinted the right way she could see the sword too, only it wasn't a new sword, it was Ice, her father's great sword, all ripely Valyrian steel, and the red was Lord Eddard's blood on the blade after Ser Illyn had cut off his head. James had made her look away when it happened, yet it seemed to her that the comet looked like Ice must have, after. Yet James saw it, Arya remembered. She knew that her older brother had been hurting since that day. One night she heard him whimpering in his sleep, but Arya pretended not to notice. James would never admit his weakness, even though she had heard him. He had changed since then, too. Ever serious, prone to anger when he never really had been. James was always happy before he left for the Wall…and then he changed forever.

That night he and Sansa slept beside her. Usually they did not since James was always worried about someone discovering who she was. He crawled beside her slowly, Sansa with him, and they laid there in silence for some time. Soon he began to speak and they spoke of happier times in nothing but whispers. They spoke of Winterfell and their family. They laughed and cried as well.

"Will we see them again?" Arya asked her brother.

"Yes," he whispered, filled with hope. "Bran will ride out and meet with us when we arrive. Won't that be such a surprise, Arya? Bran to see all three of us safely home…"

"But it won't be the same," whispered Sansa. "Mother will be gone, as will Father as well…"

"If only I could have saved him," James said.

"And you would be dead with him, stupid," Arya told him. "Who knows where me and Sansa would be."

"I'm not sure." James sighed. "And what does it matter anymore? We can't do anything about this. All we can do is survive."

"Will Cersei send people after us?" Sansa asked now.

"More than likely. Cersei knows we are important."

"But how will she know you took us?" asked Arya. "There is no way."

James turned over to face her on his blanket. His hair was short now and his beard full and dirty. "Cersei has her ways. That woman is nothing but bad."

"I wanted to be like her," Sansa admitted. "But not now. Never now."

"Damn the Lannisters," whispered Arya, "and damn Joffrey."

"Aye," was all James could say.

"I don't know how I could have liked him," Sansa told them. Her auburn hair was short now to her ears. She sort of looked like a boy, Arya mused.

"All girls like the idea of being a queen." James coughed slightly.

"Yes, that was it," Sansa said now. "And he was a monster."

"A monster…" Arya echoed. She knew that monsters had to be killed and she would have done it herself. If only…

"We just have to keep quiet and we'll be back home soon," James whispered now. His silver eyes flickered in the moonlight. "It will be some time, but we will get back there one day. One day…" He drifted off to sleep.

When at last she slept, she dreamed of home. The kingsroad wound its way past Winterfell on its way to the Wall, and Yoren had promised he'd leave her there with no one any wiser about who she'd been. She yearned to see her mother again, and Robb and Bran and Rickon…but it was Jon she thought of the most. She wished she could see him before going back to Winterfell. Arya could imagine him mussing her hair and telling her he missed her. She would have liked that. She would have liked that better than anything.

A/N: This story won't really focus on Robb's or Catelyn's or anyone elses storyline really. I don't think James's existence will change anything regarding Daenerys or Jon, which is why we never see them. Will we see them in the future of this series...yeah, but not for some time. This story will focus mostly on James, Sansa, Arya, Tyrion and King's Landing. It will stay sort of canon to a point.