Tyrion Lannister stood stony-faced at the window, dreading what was to occur. What had to occur if he was to keep is beloved Shae safe. The damning words of the spider had not fallen on deaf ears, and he knew that lord Varys had not lied. The spiteful gaze of his sister, following Shae around the gardens, spurred him to action. He would not allow Cercei another victory, especially not with Shae's life at the prize. He steeled himself as he heard her enter the chamber, his back to the door.
Shae shut the door behind her, and began to prowl across the room towards him. "Don't." He couldn't let her touch him. It would make this so much harder, he'd never had much self-control. He heard her stop halfway across the room and half turned to face her.
"Do you want me on the desk?" she suggested playfully sitting down. With a fixed expression he walked past her. "What's wrong my lion?"
"Don't call me that." If she called him that he would crumble.
"What should I call you?" she pouted.
He cut her off before she could continue. Be brisk Tyrion. Treat it like business. "I'm afraid our friendship can't continue," he nodded decisively.
"Our friendship," Shae scoffed sceptically.
Again he ignored her. "There is a ship waiting in the harbour bound for Pentos."
"What?" Shae's voice was calm, but tense with rising emotion.
"You will have your own cabin of course, and across the narrow sea, a house. Servants."
Shae shook her head slightly, as did her voice. "What is this?"
Tyrion swallowed. "Married man. My wife has suffered a great deal, as you well know. I don't want her to suffer any more on my account. I need to uphold my vows." The lie was hard and he had to force it past his calm exterior.
Shae stepped forward, seeing through his lie, with a sad smile on her face. "She doesn't want you. You don't want her!"
Tyrion began talking over her. He knew if he stopped and let her she would win. Gods I'm going to have to hurt her. "I need to do right by her, by our children." He quickly glanced up at her and then resolutely back at his feet.
Her stare was condescending. "What are you afraid of?"
"I'm not afraid." I'm so afraid.
"You are! You're afraid of your father and your sister. Are you going to run from the all your life?"
"I need you to leave." He cut across her sharply. Run Shae. I need you to run from them.
"I'm not afraid of them," she announced defiantly, and then as if reading his mind… "I'm not going to run from them."
"Shae…" He wanted to beg her to understand. She was walking closer.
"We'll fight them together, it's like you said I am yours and you are mine." She leaned in towards him.
He was going to break. His defences were going to crumble and he was going to submit to her. She was so close to him, welcoming him, wanting to love him. Shae being dragged to the hands tower. Cercei's gloating sickening smile of triumph. That pink dress and dark hair swinging in the breeze as they pushed her of a scaffold. No! He had to hurt her. He opened his mouth to unleash the killer blow. "You're a –"
The door burst open and Sansa ran in, Bronn hot on her heels. Tyrion and Shae looked up at them. Sansa was panting, tears in her eyes, and Bronn was shrugging, as if to say that he had tried to stop her entering.
"Lord Tyrion I beg your help. And if not your help then your discretion. I have to leave kings landing. I cannot stay in this Gods forsaken place for a moment longer. If you won't help me them I beseech that you do not hinder me and allow me to make my own way. If you can offer me any way out of here unnoticed then I will be forever grateful." Sansa knelt before him, eyes wild.
Shae knelt down next to her and started stoking her hair, while Tyrion held her jaw gently and looked into her eyes. "Who has threatened you Lady Sansa?" he inquired softly.
"Only myself. I have been so foolish. I was offered an escape by a man who would not hurt me, and like a little coward I stayed. Oh I regret that moment. If only I could take it back." Sansa wrung her hands as she remembered the night of the battle of the blackwater, the inebriated hound waiting in her chambers. "If I hear another snide comment from our esteemed king Joffrey about any of my family I will kill him, and Sandor Clegane is no longer here to stop me," she threatened.
Bronn let out a low whistle at her audacious explosion of tears and death threats. Shae pulled Sansa's head to her chest and was making soothing noises. "Shush Lady Sansa. We have nothing to fear. We need not run from cowards. What can they do?"
"Shae the question is what can they do to me that they have not already? Lord Tyrion please help me leave. You're a clever man. I have faith you could help me without being held responsible." Sansa had turned back to the man, but he was looking out the window apparently blankly, but under the surface his brain whirred.
Escape. Such a tempting prospect, never so tempting to him as right at this moment. Sansa becoming unstable, he didn't love her, but a sweet girl who deserved so much better, and tethered to him by marriage. Shae, under threat from his own family, a woman he loved and the only to ever love him in return. And himself, humiliated and ordered around, reduced to the title of master of coin, mopping up little finger's monetary mess and scraping the financial barrel to make the capitals ends meet. We could sail for Pentos. He shook his head at the ridiculous thought. No, too simple, they would know. They'd follow. Tempting as it was the ship was to easy a plan to smuggle a prize such as Sansa from under Joffrey's nose.
Tyrion began to pace about the room, strategies and ideas chasing each other round his head. The other three forgotten as he disappeared deep into his thoughts. Shae, Bronn and Sansa watched on in worry and confusion as he continued to pace, and mutter obscenities and negations under his breath. "My Lion?" Shae interrupted him gently.
"Bronn I want you to fetch Pod and return her with him. Shae, Sansa, can you ride?" Tyrion demanded.
"I can my Lord," Sansa answered him meekly.
"What in the seven hells is this about Tyrion?" Shae ignore his question. "Are you out of your mind? My lion are you ill? You're speaking nonsense."
"We're leaving. I'm going to get Bronn to make it look like we left for Pentos on that ship I told you about. We will ride North."
"I beg your pardon Lord Tyrion?" gaped Sansa, expecting her plea to be strongly rejected.
"What?!" shrieked Shae startling them both. "You tell me I have to leave because of some danger I fail to see, and now you suggest we up sticks and escape the capital! Are you drunk? Tell me the truth, why do I have to leave here? Why do we have to leave here?"
"Because my father told me he would hang the next whore he found me with! And Cercei has noticed you, and she has told him," Tyrion shouted at her breathing heavily. "Only this morning my father said he would have you brought to the tower of the hand. I don't want to see you dead Shae!" He turned to look at Sansa who was waiting silently whilst the couple argued, and started as if he had only just realised she was there. "Sansa I apologise. It must be upsetting but you should know the truth. Shae and I –"
"I know about you and shae. You are more obvious than you believe yourselves to be," Sansa smiled at them softly.
"You know? You know and you do not mind?" asked Tyrion, eyes wide. He had not expected this at all, he had expected disappointment. Disgust even.
"No. I understand that Shae was your lover first. Neither of us wanted our marriage, and it isn't even a real marriage, is it my lord. I might be bothered if the marriage was consummated, but as we are not an intimate couple, I feel myself as detached from the matter. I am merely glad that you make Shae happy. She is a dear friend to me," Sansa explained with a smile to Shae, who smiled in return, gratitude and relief in her dark eyes.
"You are not as predictable as all around you believe you to be Lady Sansa," he answered with a relived sigh. At that moment, Bronn returned with pod in tow. Tyrion snapped into action. He threw a pouch of gold at Bronn who caught it and weighed it in his hand. Bronn I nedd five horses all packed with essentials for an escape North, grab any items of yours that you wish to take with you. Podrick. I need you to buy five passages to Pentos, on the boat bound to sail there have my clothes and Lady Sansa's clothes packed and sent onto the ship. Make it vaguely obvious yet appear sneaky. Lord Varys's spies will do the rest. Sansa, go with him to your room and pack a bag of essentials you can ride with, pack only your warm plain dresses, the less highborn you look the better. Shae pack your things, change into something more suitable for riding. Cloaked hoods for all of us. I must see my Father, so he believes nothing is wrong until we are gone." The other just stared at him. "Go!"
Pod was the first to move, hurrying of to make shipping arrangements, Sansa hurrying after him to retrieve her belongings. Bronn shrugged and followed them through the doorway to find horses. Tyrion opened his wardrobe and filled a bag with clothes and some gold before strapping a dagger to his waist. Shae just stood there staring at him. "My lion, you're scaring my. This is not planned, we will be caught. We don't need to run we just need to stay together –"
Shae was cut off when Tyrion pulled her down and kissed her. "We're not running Shae. We're freeing ourselves. We're all prisoners in this rat trap. Sandor Clegane had it right, fuck kings landing and fuck the king. Let's go. We'll leave this terrible place behind us. Be mine Shae, come with me. We can't be together here."
"Tyrion a matter of minutes ago you were trying to end us, now you are begging me to stay with you. I don't know what way is up anymore!"
"We are up. Us. We can't be us if we stay here, but if we go, I don't have to send you away. Do you trust me Shae?"
"I do my lion."
"Then pack yourself a bag, and meet us at the flea bottom gate."
…
Sansa packed a bag with the essentials, lavender soap, her hairbrush, cloths for her moonblood, plain woollen dresses, underwear, ribbons to tie her memorably red hair up, candles, two pouches of coin, her jewelry and the doll her father had given to her shortly before Joffrey had murdered him. Pod was stuffing the rest of her fineries into a large traveling chest, before writing a label on the chest, Lady Sansa Lannister.
She covered her hair with the wide hood and pulled it low over her face, winding her way down the servants' stairway and out into the hot kings landing sun. Milling around the market she slowly wandered through flea bottom. She tied to keep her breathing steady, trying not to remember what happened last time she was alone in the poorer parts of town. "Have you ever been fucked little girl?" She shuddered at the memory. She should have been disgusted by the way the hound had killed those repulsive despicable men, but thinking back on it, after the nightmares she had had, and the sleep she had lost, she felt a guilty swell of satisfaction, especially at the way the man holding her ankles was gutted like an animal. She should have been terrified of the hound after the violence she had seen him commit, but his deep voiced reassurances and solid muscular arms had made her feel so safe and secure.
As she walked she stayed out of the shadows, where she knew those unsavoury types were prone to lurk. She had not expected Tyrion to aid her in her escape, and was extremely surprised by his impulsive response to her proposition, however not one to look a gift horse in the moth, Sansa was seizing the opportunity to leave her 'cage', and hopefully for trepidation, at a brisk walk she detoured down an alleyway, taking a shortcut towards where she knew the flea bottom gate out of the city was. Lost in her thoughts and trying to walk through the alleyway as fast as she could, she didn't notice the man in front of her until she crashed into him.
Strong arms grasped her and she attempted to scream. A hand covered her mouth and her hood fell back to reveal her recognisable red hair. "Please don't scream. I'm sorry I wasn't looking where I was going, and I was trying to make sure I didn't knock you down and… I know how this must look, but I'm not... I'm gonna let go of you, but please don't scream, the guards will find me, and I'm trying to keep a low profile. Promise you won't scream?" he asked, his voice gentle. Sansa nodded. And he carefully set her back on her feet. Noticing her fine clothes he looked at his feet blushing, and he began to stutter. "I'm sorry milady, and thank you again, for not screaming."
Sansa noticed that he was only a young man, who could not be many namedays above twenty. He was well muscled and had a small amount of facial hair dusting his chin and upper lip. The innocent and mortified expression on his face settled her decision. "Not at all. I am certain that I overreacted. It is only that I have had a bad experience with alleyways before. What is your name?"
"My name? My name, oh, it's Gendry. Gendry Waters of flea bottom. And you? If I may ask of course milady?" Gendry smiled at her.
"Lady Sansa of house Stark." She knew as she said it that it was a mistake. They were trying to escape from this city unnoticed and she was telling people who she was? Oh Sansa, you stupid little bird. "But now I must go." She turned to leave but the boy was following her.
"Sansa Stark? Of the house Stark. The Sansa stark, with Tully blue eyes and red hair, and a highborn. How didn't I notice?" Gendry laughed.
Sansa turned to him. "Look Gendry, Gendry Waters of flea bottom, you don't want to be found and neither do I, and if you have designs to give away my position, I will just scream her and now and we will both be caught, so advise you not to tell a soul who or where I am." She tucked her plait back into her hood and looked at him inquiringly.
"No my lady, of course not. I am only surprised because I know so much about you. You see I knew your sister. Your father's friend Yoren cut her hair and was taking her with us who were being sent to join the knight's watch. She talked about you a lot. You and the rest of your house. He was going to leave her at Winterfell on the way up there, but some king's guard who were looking for me killed him and many of the men being taken North. We got away and began to make our own way. The last time I saw her she was alive and well, and as far as I know she is still out there," Gendry explained hurriedly.
"My sister is still alive!" laughed Sansa, before realising where she was. "Why did they send the king's guard after you?"
"Same reason I'm a wanted man. I'm Gendry Waters, and if I was legitimate, I would be Gendry Baratheon. I'm the bastard son of the late king Robert Baratheon and a tavern wench, and in the eyes of some, if they knew who I was, I have more right to the throne than that Joffrey cock. Sorry for my language milady," he added, remembering who he was talking to.
"Can I trust you Gendry?" Sansa breathed, holding his eyes.
"You can milady," he smiled sincerely.
"Tell me something you would only know if you had talked to Arya. Give me details on my family. I don't mean names, I mean stories," she demanded.
"You all had pet direwolves. Jon snow called his ghost, bran's is summer, Rickon named his shaggydog, Robb's was called Greywind, your's was called lady, but the king made your father kill it, and Arya's wolf was called Nymeria, but she had to let her go because otherwise she would be killed for biting prince Joffrey." Gendry took a breather, but before she could interrupt, "After careful consideration she has come to the conclusion that she does not wish to be a boy, but wishes to be allowed to behave like one without being looked down on. She thinks all males are idiots, well she thinks most people are idiots actually. She's fierce and feisty and said that you don't get on bet she misses you sometimes, she regrets that she had to leave without saying goodbye, even if you did lie about what happened with the butchers boy."
"That is enough, I trust that you do know her Gendry. If he guards are looking for you then why are you back in kings landing?"
"There are worse out there than the king's guard." Gendry shuddered as he remembered mellisandre's leeches. "The king's guard know my name, but not what I look like."
"So you came to a place where people you used to know will easily recognise you and give you away without even meaning to? You, my friend are no wiser than me. I'm leaving king's landing Gendry. Thank you for the lead, I am going to find my sister, and I am going to go home. Would you like to come with me?"
"I would like it very much, milady."