Hostage

by wibblywobblywesteros

In this AU, Jaime Lannister doesn't escape his captivity with the Starks in quite the same way as the books. Instead, he escapes and takes with him a hostage (OC). Not a particularly fluffy story like some of my others nor to do I stay as true to character in some instances. One shot.

Lyra Mormont stared at the letter on the table before her and chewed her lower lip to force back the tears of anger and disappointment that threatened to spill out at any moment. The tent where she sat was not particularly warm or quiet. The sounds of soldiers wandering about the camp and practicing for battle filled her ears but neither the cold nor the sounds disturbed her thoughts. She felt deeply hurt . She would have no choice but to do her duty in spite of it all. Younger daughters never had as many choices anyhow. She had known that from the moment she left Bear Island to join the Stark forces. She had always known that. And yet some part of her had hoped that she could prove herself in the upcoming battles, that she could gain a little honor and valor of her own, Perhaps that was a selfish hope given everything that her liege lord and now King in the North had suffered. There were bigger things at stake than one warrior woman's honor. She would have to go where she was needed most, even if that meant going back to the duties of a lady.

Dear Mother,

When are you coming home? Joelle says it could be weeks and weeks and that I must be patient. I can't be patient. Joelle is stupid. She doesn't let me ride Wispy. She only wants to read me stories and she let a Bear get all the way inside the gates before Lothor killed it. Can you come home at the next moon?

Lyanna Mormont.

And so it was that their mother Maege Mormont had ordered Lyra to go home. Joelle was a maid of fifteen years and was known for having her head in the clouds. She wasn't stupid, as eight year old Lyanna had accused, but Joelle was far more a lady than any of her sisters and was often found lost in a book or sewing yet another dress. Maege had been leery of leaving Joelle home alone with Lyanna to run the household and now it seemed clear that someone older and wiser would need to go home and lead the household. The job fell to Lyra who had reached her nineteenth nameday two moons ago.

Lyra stood and resumed the task of packing her things. It wasn't difficult. She hadn't brought much with her in the first place and if she wasn't using an item she didn't usually take it out of the bag. She put her extra dagger into the cloth sack as well as a few food items she had saved from dinner, then she was finished. She'd already said good bye to her mother and Alysanne an hour ago. All that was left to do was find Grobel, one of the men of her mother's household who would be escorting her home and rejoining the household. Lothor was too old to be depended on to kill bears. Grobel would be needed to help the household guard.

As she was leaving her tent Lyra decided in that moment to take one last walk around the camp. She wanted to see the Kingslayer. King Rob had ordered everyone who wasn't one of Jaime Lannister's guards to stay far away from the cage. A few times in the past week she had gotten close enough to see his emaciated form where he was tied to a post in the filthy cage. She could not explain the unexpected rush of pity she had felt at seeing the once great knight in that state. Curiosity brought her near his cage again. From the far distance she was at, his guards appeared to be asleep. They were slumped over and not moving. Lyra approached them cautiously, expecting them to jump up and stop her at any moment. They didn't. As she got closer she saw that the cage was empty and the door was ajar. She rushed closer and checked on the guards. They were both still breathing but could not be roused from their deep sleep. Jaime Lannister was nowhere in sight. Her first thought was to sound an alert by yelling to wake the camp. It was late in the night and she should have been gone hours ago. Maybe it was for the best that she hadn't left yet. How far would the kingslayer have gotten by morning when someone discovered him? She opened her mouth to shout at the same moment that she realized someone was behind her. A hand closed over her mouth before she could make a sound. An arm of a large person came around her body from behind. It had to be Ser Jaime trying to stop her from sounding the alert about his escape. She knew he would kill her rather than be captured again. Lyra did the only thing she could. She bit the hand. Her attacker was thrown off by the bite and Lyra managed to pull free and spin around to face them. It wasn't Ser Jaime, it was a woman, Brienne of Tarth.

There weren't very many women in the seven kingdoms who were called Warriors. Brienne was one of the few women who she knew as such. Did Brienne think that Lyra had helped Lannister escape? Lyra didn't want to be her enemy if she could help. That would be a dangerous place to be. It seemed to be too late for that. Brienne pinned her against the walls of the cage with one arm across Lyra's chest and the other arm holding a sword to her neck.

"I didn't do this." Lyra told her cautiously. "I found the cage like this just now and I was just about to alert the others."

"I know, and I can't let you do that." Brienne said warily.

"What?" Lyra was confused. Why would Brienne want the kingslayer to get away? She served Lady Catlyn didn't she?

"I don't have time to explain, Ser Jaime is getting further away as we speak. I'm under orders to take him South and trade him for the Stark girls. I'm sorry." Brienne said and her mailed fist rose to strike Lyra in the head.

Lyra thought quickly. Brienne may be a warrior but so was she. Brienne hadn't noticed the dagger in Lyra's hand or the fact that her arm was nearly freed from between them. Lyra moved swiftly, freeing her arm and plunging the knife into Brienne's neck just above the break in her armor. Blood spurted from the wound and for a moment Brienne look surprised before she stepped back, blood pouring out her mouth, and she fell to the ground dead. Lyra had never killed anyone up close before. She was an archer and those she had killed in battle had never been close by and had never been someone she knew and spoke to and ate with. She felt numb though she knew she didn't have time to feel anything, the alarm had to be sounded.

He was on top of her before she had even taken three steps. She was knocked to the ground by the kingslayer, his hand over her mouth, his weight pinning her down. He had no weapons, there was just the chain that held his hands which he was in the process of wrapping around her neck. The dagger was still in her hand and she managed to stab him in the leg. Distracted by the pain she was able to get her other hand between the chain and her neck. Somehow he got the knife from her hand and held it to her throat. He smelled more horrid than any human ever should and she could feel all the bones in his chest against her own. She knew he would kill her now. He had no reason to let her live. His freedom was at stake and who wouldn't want freedom after all he had suffered in that cage? Lyra closed her eyes when she felt the cold steel prick her neck. She waited for the end to come and it didn't come. She felt his breathing slow above her and hoped that he hadn't decided to rape her first. It had been at least a year since he'd had a woman. Maybe she could use that to her advantage. She opened her eyes and found that he looked just as afraid as she was.

"I've decided you'll be my hostage." Jaime whispered, slowing removing his hand from her mouth while never moving away the blade. "Don't make a sound." Keeping his weight on her he reached toward Brienne's body nearby and drew out one of her swords. He put the blade of the sword against Lyra as he stood. "Get up."

Lyra did as he asked, furious with herself for even being in this situation. This would have never happened to Dacey or Alysane or their mother. They all knew how to handle a man with a sword.

"She had the key." Jaime said, indicating Brienne's body on the ground. "Get it."

Once again Lyra did as she was told. She found the key on Brienne and gave it to Jaime. She thought about screaming to wake everyone up but she wasn't sure if it was something she wanted to die for. She'd be willing to die in battle or die to save a friend, but getting killed during the kingslayers escape wasn't her idea of a glorious death. She watched silently as he unlocked his shackles and the chains fell to the ground.

Keeping the sword trained on Lyra, Jaime picked up the dagger from the ground as well as Lyra's bag that she had dropped when Brienne attacked her. He took Brienne's second sword as well as a handful of coins off of her person. Then he picked up the chains and slung them over his shoulder and slipped the key into his tattered pocket.

"Let's go." Jaime said, grabbing Lyra's arm and pulling her with him out of the South end of the camp.

"Why do you even need a hostage?" Lyra asked him as the passed into the treeline and out of the camp. "Wouldn't it be faster to travel alone?"

"Maybe, but if I'm caught a second time there would have been nothing to stop them from killing me. Now I have a highborn lady to make them hesitate." Jaime said. "You are highborn I take it?"

"I am of House Mormont. But I'm only a third daughter and I doubt King Rob would hesitate to let me die to get to you." Lyra told him honestly.

"I see you have no illusions about your place in the world. Nevertheless, I imagine your mother Maege would not let you go so easily. The young wolf does have certain obligations to his bannermen and banner women in this case."

Lyra said nothing to that. He was right. Taking her hostage would complicate matters between the King and his bannermen. However she didn't believe that was the true reason Jaime hadn't killed her. She finally voiced her opinion after a short while had passed. They were hurrying through the woods away from the camp. He kept Lyra ahead of him with the sword out, nearly at her back the entire way. "You've never killed a woman before have you?" She asked looking back at him.

"What?"

"That's why you didn't just kill me back there. You hesitated. You've never killed a woman."

"What difference would it make if my enemy was a man or a woman? A sword is a sword, no matter who wields it."

"I don't have a sword. I never did. If you can't bring it upon yourself to kill me perhaps you'd best just let me go right here. You've already got a head start on the King's men. Just let me go and you can make faster time alone." Lyra told him pleadingly. It wasn't like her to beg. She hated doing it but if it might work on him then it was worth it to try.

For a moment his eyes softened. "Nice try. Turn around and keep going."

They walked long into the night. There were no sounds of them being followed or of horns blowing to alert the camp. Jaime had seemingly escaped for the time being. They walked in silence, giving Lyra time to think. She thought about many things, about how worried her mother would be in the morning to find her gone and find Grobel had not gone with her. Maege would pretend everything was fine, would even mask it with anger but she would be worried. Lyra was also worried about what Ser Jaime might do with her in the end. Right now he was desperate to get as far from the camp as possible but later, after he'd put some distance between him and his former captors and after he'd had a few good meals would he decide that the woman he had taken hostage was a means to meet his more primal needs? She hoped not. And if he reached his destination in the south what would he do with her then? Then Lyra thought about Lady Brienne with sadness. She had liked Brienne. She hadn't wanted to kill her and doing so had been a self defensive impulse. She supposed that Lady Stark must have believed there was no other way to get her daughters back if she was willing to risk sending Jaime South against her son's wishes. Mothers were like that when it came to their children. Irrational sometimes.

"Which one are you?" Jaime asked her later. Hours had passed, they were still in the cover of the forest and it was nearing dawn.

"Which one what?" She asked, slightly confused.

"Which of Maege's daughters? I don't know all their names or ages."

"I'm Lyra. I've had nineteen namedays."

"Nineteen. Old enough to not be a maiden anymore." He said with a grin.

Lyra glared at him but didn't reply. She was no maiden. There had been a man she loved once three years earlier. He had been a sailor who came to trade at Bear Island and for a time she had carried his child but word came that he his ship had gone down and all hands were lost. Shortly after that the child was lost too. Lyra had not known a man since then. Jaime Lannister didn't need to know any of this. He would probably only laugh anyway.

"So I've guessed correctly. You're not a maiden. I suppose you're going to tell me that it was a Bear and not a man?" Jaime went on.

Lyra still said nothing.

"You know, no one really believes that story your mother tells. Why not just admit that you Mormont women don't wish to be bound by a husband or that the father was lowborn? Wouldn't that be simpler than contriving some story about your children being fathered by a bear?" Jaime said.

"I know nothing about who my father might have been but we Mormont women aren't interested in having a man rule our lives, that much is true." Lyra told him quite honestly.

"And yet you are admittedly not a maiden..." Jaime said with amused curiosity. "I wonder what sort of man you would willingly take to your bed? You don't want him to rule over you, so not one too harsh, and I can't imagine you'd want an effeminate man, so not one too soft. I gather that you aren't impressed by titles or lands which leaves who? The blacksmith?"

Lyra stopped walking and turned to face him. "Why do you even care what sort of man I'd want? If you're hoping I'd take you willingly you will be waiting a very long while for that to happen."

The kingslayer took a step closer to her so that he was in her space. He leaned down so that he was close to her, his beard brushed her cheek as he spoke. "I think you'd be willing enough." He said.

Lyra shuddered involuntarily at his words and moved to take a step back. His hand caught her arm and kept her there. "I won't." She said firmly, her heart was racing. She wrinkled her nose at his smell and he laughed, stepping back away from her.

They continued walking at a rather hurried pace until nightfall. Jaime found a secluded stand of trees with shrubs growing on the ground. "This will do. We can sleep here. I don't suppose there's any food in this bag of yours?" He didn't wait for an answer. He opened the bag and found the bread and cheese Lyra had packed. He tossed her a bit of food and after she had eaten he took the chains he carried and brought them over to her. "I'm sorry about this." He said, "But I can't have you running off or trying to kill me while I sleep."

He chained one shackle to Lyra's wrist and sought a branch to chain the other one too. The first one he tried broke away from the tree. The second one didn't look like it would hold on for long. Finally he settled on chaining Lyra to himself and putting the key inside his boot where she could not reach it without waking him. After they had both eaten they lay down to sleep with the trees and bushes for cover.

The following day they travelled further than Lyra might have thought possible given the condition Ser Jaime was in. He had to be exhausted from lack of meat. She was growing tired herself and she was in better health. Yet he kept going. Near sundown they came to a stream. This time Jaime chained her to a tree, with apologies, so that he could bathe. It was a long time before he came back. Hours had passed. She spent most of that time trying to break the tree branch that kept her there. Then Jaime returned and was clean and wearing clean dry clothes, he carried two fish.

"Where did you get the clothes?" She asked as he unshackled her from the tree and chained her to himself.

"I found an empty cottage."

They made a small fire and ate a meal of fish and dry bread that night. It wasn't difficult to fall asleep that night due to exhaustion. Lyra dreamed of Omar, the sailor she had loved. He was in her bed, his arms were around her, and for the first time in years she felt whole. Then she woke with a start and found herself in a dark forest and in the arms of the Kingslayer, no less. He was still asleep. She tried to move and put some space between them but he only gripped her tighter.

"Let me go!" She said, shaking him awake.

"Hmmm?" He said as he came awake.

"Let go of me!" Lyra insisted and without truly waking up, Jaime let her go. Some hours later Jaime reached for Lyra a second time and pulled her close to him again. This time she just let him. He didn't smell bad anymore and in the dark she could imagine that he was Omar and the future held more for her than Southern Captivity or tending the Keep and her little sisters on Bear Island.

She awoke in the morning still in Jaime Lannister's arms. Even in the daylight, it wasn't as frightening a place to be as she might have expected. Aside from the fact that he would kill her to save himself if he had to. And aside from the fact that the last woman he had held like this had probably been Queen Cersei, his own sister. Disgusted, Lyra pulled away from him.

Jaime sat up and set to work digging the key to the shackles from his boot when Lyra looked over and noticed his leg was bleeding.

"Your leg…" She pointed out and he stopped to look.

"Seven hells." He muttered. "I tried to sew it up back at that cottage where I got the clothes. I don't know why it's bleeding again now. Maybe if someone hadn't stabbed me…" He glared at her.

She ignored his glare. "If you sewed it up then it shouldn't be bleeding now. Maybe you should take a look?" Lyra suggested.

"You just want me to take off my clothes." He quipped.

"I want you to not die. Your body will be much to heavy for me to drag back to the king all on my own." Lyra said irritated. "Now let me have a look."

"Fine." Jaime untied his breeches and slid them off his hips and down past his thighs where the stab wound was.

"Well it's not stitched anymore…" Lyra said looking over the damage she had done. "I think it's infected."

"I know, I've known that since yesterday. There's not much to be done about it here except to sew it back up again. I don't suppose you Mormont women bother with learning how to sew?"

"I can sew. I don't suppose you have a needle?"

Jaime reached into the pocket of his breeches and produced a needle and a small bundle of thread. "From the cottage." He explained.

Lyra reached for the needle and he pulled his hand away.

"How do I know you're not going to stab me with this?" Jaime asked.

She gave him a look. "It's a needle. How much damage could I possibly do?"

"I don't know. Maybe you could use it to gouge my eyes out or puncture an artery."

"Or sew your mouth shut, more likely." She said, reaching again for the needle. "Just give it to me and have it done with. I promise I won't kill you with it."

He let her have the needle. "But you might kill me later if you get the chance?" He asked as she set to work.

"Only if I have to. I'd rather not." She told him freely. She didn't like Jaime Lannister but that didn't mean she wanted him dead.

"You won't have to. I have no intention of harming you. Once I'm safely back in Kings Landing I'll put you on a ship North and you can go straight back to your beloved king unharmed."

"You that now Ser, but what happens if the King's men catch up to us? I'm the third daughter of a lesser house. I believe the men will be far more interested in your capture than in my safety. If they catch us, I will come to harm, you can be sure of it." Lyra told him as she continued to tend his wound.

"Then we'll have to be sure that they don't catch us."

"Your leg is only going to get worse if don't find a Maester to treat the infection. It won't be easy to keep a good pace." She pointed out.

Jaime remained silent for a short time as she tied off the thread and finished her stitches. He pulled his breeches back up and sat next to her on the ground again. "I won't go back to that cage." He said firmly.

Lyra met his eyes and saw fear there. Her king had been anything but kind to his Lannister prisoner. Jaime had been chained to a post sitting in his own filth for the better part of a year. He had been severely underfed and had barely been allowed any human company in all that time. She had failed to understand from the beginning why Jaime had been treated in this manner. It wasn't Jaime who had ordered Ned Stark's death. He had done nothing but go to war on the opposing side as was his duty. Surely, the fact that his family name was Lannister was not reason enough to be treated so cruelly. Even if he were the father of Cersei's children he still ought to have been given a normal cell and enough food to keep from starving or else any prisoners the Lannisters took might be treated with the same harshness as the young wolf treated Ser Jaime. She has once tried to voice this opinion many months ago and was accused of being a soft hearted woman and not a true warrior after all. So she had said nothing more on the matter. She couldn't blame him for his desperation to leave his captivity. "I can not fault you for that sentiment, Ser."

"Really?" He said surprised and amused. "I would have expected you'd be so fiercely loyal to your king in the north that you'd enjoy any punishment he thought up for the kingslayer."

"I am loyal to my liege, but it's not a simple as that. Nothing is simple."

Jaime unlocked her shackles and they continued on their way. She watched for chances to escape him whenever she could but she knew she would have to kill him if she truly wanted to was stronger than she was. Maybe she could get the shackles on him but he had already beaten her once while still wearing them. The only real chance of escape was to kill him and after watching Brienne die, Lyra wasn't sure she could kill someone up close again like that. She wasn't even sure that she wanted Jaime to die. She felt no real hatred to toward him. She knew that he had only taken her hostage to free himself. So far he had not truly harmed her. If she wasn't willing to kill him and she wasn't strong enough to escape him then the only thing she could do was continue to travel with him and be sure that he liked her well enough to make good on his promise to set her free in the end.

For the next four days they travelled at as fast a pace as Jaime could manage given the condition of his leg. Lyra was a well behaved hostage. She did everything Jaime asked of her and did her best to be pleasant and helpful beyond that. By night they slept chained together and woke up far too close to each other in the mornings. Each time they awkwardly pulled away from each other.

On the fifth morning Lyra woke in Ser Jaime's arms and he felt uncommonly warm. She pulled away and found him still asleep, his cheeks were red with fever. She tried to wake him and he didn't rouse. His breathing was shallow, his skin was beaded with sweat. He had been limping more than usual the previous day. It had to be the infection in his leg. If she were ever going to escape, this was her chance.

It wasn't difficult to remove the key from Jaime's boot. She unlocked the shackle from her wrist and then from his own as well. Just to be sure they could never be used on her again, she threw the chains into the woods as far as she could toss them and she threw the key in the opposite direction. Next she grabbed her bag of things, checking to make sure the dagger was still in the bag. It was. She took one of the swords as well and set off South in the direction of the river. Once she found it she could follow it North.

Lyra told herself that she shouldn't feel guilty for leaving him there. He had taken her hostage after all and chained her to him every night. Though he hadn't truly harmed her. He would likely die very soon anyway. There was nothing that could be done for him out here. There were no Maesters, no wine to boil and pour on his wounds. She had been walking for an hour when she saw it, Yarrow flower. She stopped walking, angry with herself for even noticing it, for even considering what she was considering. The war waged within her for several more minutes before her decision was made. She picked the six or eight of the flowers and turned back in the direction she had just come from.

Jaime was still unconscious on the ground when she returned to him. Lyra set to work building a fire. She found her tin cup from her bag and a skin of water. She poured the water into the cup and set it in the flames of the fire. Using her knife she cut Jaime's breeches so she could reach the wound. It was badly infected. She washed it with hot water, happy he wasn't awake to feel what he was doing to her. Then she made a poultice of crushed yarrow and applied it to his wound. For three days she cared for him, leaving his side only long enough to hunt for more food or get water from the nearby stream. She fed him rabbit broth whenever she could and tea of yarrow and she changed the poultice often. On the fourth day he woke up.

"Lyra?" He caught her arm as he opened his eyes. "Where are the chains?"

"Gone." She told him. "They've been gone for days. You've been sick."

He sat up on his elbow. "And you… stayed with me?" He asked with disbelief.

"I wasn't going to. I got about an hour away and I found some yarrow. I thought it would be stupid to let such a nice flower go to waste. So I came back."

"Why? Why would you do that?"

"I'll not have it said that the people of the North are without mercy." Lyra told him quite honestly. "We may be on different sides but I did not have it in me to leave you to die like that."

His hand slid down her arm and gripped her hand. "Thank you." He said, sincerely.

Before she knew what was happening he tugged on her hand and pulled her closer and into his arms. For one worried moment she thought he meant to kiss her but he didn't. Instead he just held her tightly, hugging her firmly to his chest. He was still feverish and weak. She could have pulled away from him had she really wanted to but she felt too sorry for him to do that. He had been surrounded by enemies for the past year, utterly alone. Rob Stark's men were looking for them even now and would kill him rather than let him escape a second time. Her act of kindness had somehow broken him. She could feel the silent sobs that wracked his bony chest. He combed his fingers through her blond hair with one hand while his other arm was wrapped around her tightly.

"Don't go…" He whispered. "You could run away now… but don't leave me alone..."

Lyra knew that it was the fever making him act this way. Feverish people were a little like drunk people. She had seen it when her sister Joelle fell sick the previous year. The girl was saying all sorts of things she might have never said otherwise. Even so, it was difficult to not be affected by the way he was acting. Some part of her wanted to reassure him.

"I'm not going anywhere just yet. Once you are well enough I'll go North again. I'll tell His Grace that you let me go because I kept slowing you down with my attempts to escape. I'll tell him that you treated me well." Lyra told him.

Jaime only nodded and soon fell back into a feverish sleep. Lyra pulled free of him and set to work gathering more wood for the fire, gathering more food and water, making broth for Jaime to drink. She bathed in the nearby stream, washed her clothes and hung them on a tree branch to dry. He awoke again in the late afternoon and was able to eat some meat. She changed his poultice after he had fallen asleep that night and then lay down to sleep next to him. It was warmer that way, she told herself but she knew that wasn't the only reason why she allowed herself to be near him. She didn't like being alone any more than he did.

By morning, Jaime's fever had broken. Lyra helped him to stand and make his way to the stream where he could bathe and wash his clothes. He could have never made it there on his own. He could barely walk. She had to help him remove his clothes. She turned away from him and set to work washing the clothes while he bathed. She gave him the cloak she wore while his clothes were hung near the fire to dry. It was too small so he wrapped it awkwardly around his waist. They had to wait for his clothes to dry before he could consider traveling again but both of them knew he was in no condition to travel anyway.

"Why haven't we been caught yet?" Jaime mused aloud. "We've been here for nearly a week."

"Perhaps they expect that we'd be further South by now." Lyra suggested.

"That must be why. It looks like I'll be much further north than they expect me to be for a long time yet."

Lyra shook her head. "You're not going to get very far with that leg."

"I have to try. Would you have me just give up? Turn myself over to the Stark men and go back in that cage?"

"I think you need a horse."

"And where do you propose I get one of those? It's not as if there's a horse market over the next hill."

"No but if I follow the stream over the next hill it lead to people and where there are people there are often horses to be found." Lyra said.

"If you follow the stream? You'd leave me here and bring me back a horse? Why would you do that? Why have you even helped me at all?"

"I'm not helping you escape, I'm helping you survive. There is a difference."

"I don't need a horse to survive." He pointed out. "Though it would certainly make things a lot easier."

"But you do. If you go back into the filth of that cage you will die from infection. I can't see the point in that. Lady Stark will never get back her daughters if you die."

"I take it you disagree with your King's decision not to trade me for the Stark girls." Jaime said.

"Yes. Men never think daughters are important. Women are only of value for their ability to produce children and to be sold off in alliances with other houses. I thought His Grace should have traded you for his sisters. I thought he should have treated you better but that does not mean I was willing to rebel against my King. It still doesn't."

"And yet, here you are speaking of getting me a horse so that I can escape faster."

"Not so that you can escape, it's so that you can live." Lyra argued.

"As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I can't see how you can be loyal to your king and help me too. Your duty is to bring me back to him if you can or to escape with your life if you can't do that. Anything else he is likely to name treason."

"Are you worried that I might be punished for treason now?" She asked him with a smile.

He shrugged. "You did save my life. I'd not like to see you executed for it."

"I won't be executed. His Grace never needs to know how you came by a horse or that I helped you with your injury."

"Perhaps not, but if you tell him I let you go, he'll want to know why you didn't follow me or try to recapture me."

She thought for a moment. "Because you threw me out of the boat. I couldn't swim after you in the strong current, I could only try to keep from drowning. By the time I reached shore, you were gone."

"That might work… but how do I know you're not just leaving to bring back more men for my capture rather than a horse?" He said warily.

"If I had wanted to do that I would have left you for dead and sent someone back for your body. You're just going to have to trust me."

Jaime nodded but she could see that he did not trust her. She left him at the fireside dressed in damp clothes with a pile of supplies an hour later. It took nearly half the day to find a cottage with horses nearby. Lyra thought about going to the door and buying a horse but she decided against it. Instead she left a handful of coins by the door of the small barn and she took a large gray stallion from the pasture. He seemed well trained enough and her allowed her to lead him to the fence where she climbed up the posts to mount him. She made it back to Jaime in much faster time than she had walked away from him. He sat by the fire with a sword in his hand, apparently waiting for capture.

"It's only me." Lyra said, jumping down from the horse. "You can put away the sword."

"You can't blame me for being wary." He said.

"Yes I can. I spent four days trying to save your stupid life and you're back here expecting me to betray you." She said accusingly.

Jaime looked slightly embarrassed but he got over it quickly.

"Anyway, the horse is yours. You can keep the smoked rabbit too. If you can't walk well enough to mount I'll help you on, then I'm heading North." She told him.

"You're leaving right now?"

"My sisters need me. Lyanna and Joelle are alone back on Bear Island. Mother was sending me home to care for them the night you escaped. I have to get back there."

"Of course…" He said, struggling to rise from where he sat. Lyra went to him and helped him up. He nearly collapsed onto her while trying to mount the horse.

"This isn't going to work out very well for you is it?" She asked.

"I think not." Jaime admitted.

She managed to help him onto the horse and she gathered up the supplies into her bag, stamped out the fire while he watched, seemingly unwilling to leave her yet. She then mounted behind him.

"What are you doing?" He said. "I thought you were heading North."

"How am I supposed to do that? I'm a hostage taken a sword point, entirely by force and against my will. Hostages don't get to decide where they go."

Jaime grinned and set the horse in motion. Lyra knew at this point that what she was doing was treason. Yet she couldn't help but feel that treason was the right thing to do. Jaime Lannister would die or be recaptured if she did not help him. He hadn't done anything worthy of death and her King, for all his good qualities, was clearly not able to treat his prisoners properly. If they were caught she would stick to her story about being a hostage. If they weren't caught, then perhaps she could help save a man from an undeserved fate.

The further they rode, the more the guilt ate at her. She had been a hostage in the beginning, and it had not been treason for her to tend Ser Jaime's wounds, but what she was doing now was betraying her king and liege lord. Yet in spite of that she could not make herself leave him to continue South on his own. He was in no state to make it very far alive. She knew she shouldn't care about that and she didn't know why she did. Was it because he was handsome and charming she wondered? The further they rode the more she had to admit to herself that she had failed to see Jaime as an enemy and had seen him only as a man, a very attractive man. That had been her downfall. Now that she knew it perhaps she could talk herself into letting him go.

It was late in the night when Jaime finally stopped the horse. He was exhausted and nearly falling off the beast as a result of remaining awake for so long. He collapsed to the ground as soon as they had stopped and Lyra set to work setting up camp without a word. Once the horse was tended she changed his poultice and gave Jaime smoked rabbit to eat. She ate a little herself. They lay down to sleep without a fire and Lyra made no protest when Jaime pulled her close to him to sleep near his body. It actually felt good to be near him. She wanted to tell herself that she hated being near him, that he was an enemy who had slept with his own sister, that he was disgusting and horrible for taking her hostage in the first place but she couldn't make herself believe it. The truth was, Jaime had mostly been kind to her since he had taken her. She liked his wit and sense of humor. He was the best swordsman in all the seven kingdoms and he had practically begged her not to leave him. He needed her. How could she say no to that? Maybe the King's men had been right when they had called her a soft hearted woman. Maybe she truly had no place on the battlefield if this was how she treated her enemies. Lyra struggled with those thoughts for a long while before she finally drifted off to sleep in Jaime's arms.

Several uneventful days passed. By day they rode, passing the time speaking of their homes and families and telling stories. By night they slept close reached the river and began following it South. Lyra had to hunt for food and for more Yarrow flowers. Jaime had not passed out again since before they got the horse but his leg was still infected. He would have never made it on foot and he wouldn't have made it far without help. There were bound to be people along the river and Lyra didn't have any idea what they would do when they eventually met up with them. It was a party of five men, commoners, who they came upon first. They had stopped by the river to refill the water bag and give the horse a break and the men came wandering out of the woods.

"Well what do we have here?" One of the scruffy looking men said. He was on foot. All of them were although one was leading a donkey that was packed with bags of things. "A lovely little lady all alone." Jaime had limped off into the woods to make water and they seemingly didn't know she wasn't alone.

Lyra had been called pretty before. Out of all of her sisters she was the best looking. However, this man wasn't making an idle compliment and she knew it. He had noticed that she was alone and unarmed and he and his fellows meant to take advantage of that.. She glanced around and saw that her bag with the dagger was a good ten feet away. One of the swords had been lost a few days earlier and Jaime wore the other one. Maybe she could reach the bag but she couldn't fight off five men with the dagger. She made a dive for the bag anyway. The man knocked her to the ground with the bag out of reach. She scurried out from under him and got hold of a corner of the cloth before he pinned her down again. Her smallclothes were torn off of her by the time she got the knife but it was no use, one of the other men got hold of her hand and took the knife while a third held her legs. Before he could have his way with her, she saw his face twist in horror and blood pour from his belly. The man was dead on top of her and fallen in such a way that she couldn't see what happened next, only hear it. When she was finally able to push the body off of herself she saw Ser Jaime with a bloody sword in hand as he collapsed to his knees with exhaustion. There were four men dead at his feet. She pulled herself free of the body on her legs and ran to him, kneeling to check on his injuries.

"Are you alright?" He asked out of breath. "Did he…?"

"He didn't. I'm alright…. how did you even… how did you manage to stay standing for that?"

"I didn't have a choice. I couldn't let them hurt you." He said, reaching out hold her shoulders to keep from falling over.

Her eyes met his. "Thank you."

It took nearly a fortnight of travel after that before Jaime was healed enough that he could really walk again and even then it wasn't without pain. They passed out of the Riverlands and into the Crownlands. In all that time they slept close together by night, shared a horse by day, and for all intents and purposes were friends.

"There it is, Kings Landing." Jaime said as they came over a hill in view of the city. "Have you ever seen it before?"

"I have not." Lyra said, taking in the view. "What will happen to me there?" She asked as he started the horse towards the city.

"Nothing will happen to you. I'll put you on a ship and send you home." Jaime told her.

"You say that, but what if your family has other plans for me? And what about the Stark girls? You told me you promised lady Stark…"

"I did promise Lady Stark and I will do what I can for her daughters. My family won't harm you, you saved my life. You needn't worry."

"Perhaps you should enter the gates without me. We can say our goodbyes outside the city." Lyra suggested.

"Of course we can't. You'll need fresh clothes and supplies for your journey home. I wouldn't want to send you away with anything less."

Lyra was wary of entering the city with him. She found that she felt much less like she was helping him and more like she was putting herself into captivity again. They rode through the gates and far into the city all the way to the Red Keep. The guards did not recognize Jaime at first glance and he had to remind them of who he was. He dismounted the horse and led Lyra by the hand into the keep and down many winding hallways and passages. He met a servant whose name he knew and he handed Lyra over to his care while he continued on to find his sister no doubt. Lyra was taken to a room and given clothing and food. Maids were sent in to draw her a bath. Books were brought for her entertainment. She grew bored and tried to leave her room only to find two armed guards outside the door.

"Please stay in your room my lady." One of them told her. "It's for your own safety."

Lyra understood that well enough. She was a prisoner. She waited hours for Jaime to return for her and when he didn't she finally fell asleep on the huge bed, alone for the first time in weeks. Jaime did not return to her the following day nor the day after that. It was a week before he came to her. He rushed into the room purposefully as if he'd been waiting for ages for her to come out and was angry that she was taking so long.

"Have you been in this room all this time?" He asked her, irritated for some reason that she did not understand.

"Yes, I was told not to leave it."

"Seven hells." He muttered. "My sister told me she put you on a ship a week ago. I was disappointed about not saying goodbye. I had no idea you were here."

"Why would she do that?" Lyra asked him, trying to ignore the relief she felt at his explanation for his absence.

"Jealousy, she just wanted me to believe you were gone but still keep you close. I don't care for her games anymore. Tyrion told me that she's been taking several men to her bed since I've been gone. I didn't want you to end up as one of her pawns…"

Jaime had all but admitted his relationship with his sister on their journey but he had never talked about it so openly before. He approached Lyra and reached out and touched her cheek. "I've missed you." He said.

"I've missed you too." She told him and then he was kissing her and she was kissing him back. He stayed with her that night in her bed. It was not like those nights camped in the woods, fondly cuddling close together. They awoke in the morning naked and embraced.

Jaime had the servants bring in breakfast and after they had dressed and eaten he gave her the news. " I have news. Your ship leaves this afternoon."

"Oh." Lyra didn't know why that disappointed her or what she had expected. Yes, she did. She had hoped that she meant more to him than that. She had hoped she was more to him than just the hostage that had gotten him safely away from his prison.

"Don't sound so happy to be going home." He quipped.

"No.. I..I am happy… it's just…" Lyra realized in that moment she had made a terrible mistake. She had heard stories of prisoners learning to care for those that kept them captive and somehow she hadn't even seen it while it was happening to her. She didn't want to go home. She wanted to stay with Jaime Lannister, the man who had taken her hostage for no reason other than that he was nice to her. "It's just rather unexpected." She finished.

Lyra packed up her things and Jaime escorted her to the ship that day. "I'll not forget what you've done for me." He told her, giving her another kiss. "Be safe."

Tears in her eyes, Lyra could not find the words to say goodbye. She didn't know how. She knew she must be insane to have fallen for him the way she had but that did not make it hurt any less. She watched the spot where he stood as she sailed away and didn't take her eyes off of him until he had become a tiny speck on the horizon.

Epilogue:

Lyra never had to explain to the King in the North any of the reasons that she had done what she had. By the time she returned North the king was dead. She never had to explain to her mother how she came to be with child. Her Mother didn't ask those sorts of questions. But someday Lyra knew, she would have to explain to her child how he came to be born and who his father was. Maybe she would tell him his father was a lion and that would be enough.