"Do you think you can beat them?" Anya dared to ask Jon once they had begun to walk at a faster pace. He still had his arm around her waist to make sure she didn't fall, but she did question him more than he had thought she would.
"We can try," Jon responded and she bit down on her bottom lip for a moment. "The men cannot get away with treating you as such."
It was then when Anya blinked profusely at his words; "Are you a knight?" she asked him.
Jon's lips did quirk once he heard that. The girl knew nothing of knights or ladies. She only knew what she had been told. Jon suspected she was still living in some childish fantasy where a knight rescued his fair lady. He knew how Sansa loved those tales.
"Not quite," Jon replied. "I do carry a sword, but I am not knight. Crows are not knights."
"So who can be a knight?" she asked him, her brows furrowing and Jon stepped over a fallen tree. He reached back for Anya, taking her waist and helping her to climb on top of the fallen trunk and then jump down.
"Not men of the Night's Watch," he replied. "South of the Wall there are knights...men who sit on top of horses and fight."
Jon only seemed to confuse her more as she stood still and continued to stare up at him.
"Do you not sit on a horse and fight?"
Shaking his head, Jon knew that it would be difficult to try to explain things to her. He took another moment to let her steady herself on her feet before he simply offered his hand as the snow levelled out. Her fingers were bare and Jon could sense she was cold through the leather of his gloves.
"We do, but there is a difference," he assured her. "Men of the Night's Watch are not free men like knights. We serve the Wall."
"Why do you want to serve the Wall?" Anya wondered. "I heard that you could never take a wife or father children. You have to spend all your time stuck on a wall of ice."
"Some of us do not wish to take a wife or father children," Jon informed her. "There is honour in being a man of the Night's Watch."
"I never said there wasn't," Anya defensively replied. "I just don't understand it."
"Some do not," Jon muttered to her and noted how they were almost back at the camp.
He kept hold of her hand and she stopped her questioning once she saw the men come into view. She looked between all of them, taking in their features as she did so. They all eyed her with confusion and Jon coughed before looking down to her. He noted how she tucked her hair behind her ear and glanced down at the snow beneath her feet.
"Where did you find the girl?" a gruff voice asked.
Jon looked across to Locke before releasing Anya's hand from his. The girl instantly folded her arms over her stomach so that her fingers rested underneath the cloak Jon had given her to wear. She wondered if he was cold.
"She is Craster's daughter. Her name is Anya and I found her in the forest running away from the Keep. She is to stay here with the horses whilst we attack Craster's Keep."
Jon declared his words and Anya looked between the men. They all looked ragged and weathered. She wondered what she looked like to them. She saw faces of men who didn't particularly want to be in the middle of a snow covered forest. She couldn't blame them. She had spent most of her days wondering what it would be like to be free from the Keep.
"You took one of his wives?"
Jon looked over as Eddison spoke and Grenn shrugged from behind his shoulder. Shaking his head, Jon was about to speak before Anya beat him to it.
"He never took me," Anya replied. "I am no wife of his."
"As she says," Jon nodded in agreement with her. "We leave soon so prepare yourselves. Anya says there are eleven men at the Keep, but most of them are permanently drunk. Karl will be the difficult one to kill."
"And Rast?" Grenn wondered back.
"He's a coward when it comes to it," Jon said confidently. "We managed to get him to leave Sam alone that time he threatened to hurt him. He isn't the one we need to worry about."
There were grunts of agreement as the men dispersed. Anya noted the control which Jon had over them. It was as though his word was law. All but one turned away, and Anya looked over to the one with the black hair and pointed beard. His face seemed lecherous and his eyes were looking her up and down like a piece of meat. It was the same stare Craster used to grant her with.
"You need to promise me that you will stay here and keep hidden. I will try to bring your family back to you," Jon demanded from her and she shook her head at him.
"My family never had much care for me. They hated my mother for always being Craster's favourite. It wasn't until she spoke against him...quietly raised me to believe there was a better life...it was then when he killed her and they all said how she had it coming. I never spoke to any of them after that. They were all so willing to do his bidding...spread their legs for him..."
"And you weren't?" Jon checked from her and she shook her head.
"He didn't want me after mother died," Anya spoke in a hushed tone. "He only kept me to make my life a misery."
"Well," Jon awkwardly replied after a few moments of silence, "you are safe now."
"Yes," she whispered and turned on her heel before looking over her shoulder and back to him. "Thank you."
...
How long had the men been gone? Anya didn't know. She just knew that night was well and truly upon her as she stood with a white horse and stroked its fur back. It nuzzled against her hand a few times, something that had never happened before. She smiled at it and looked around; making sure that no one was near her.
She had been paranoid ever since they had left. She always swore she heard noises and there was never anything there. She suspected it came from living in fear of Craster. She often heard the man at night. He snuck through the room and picked a girl he wanted to warm his bed. She would lay awake and wonder whether he would go back on the words he spoke and take her. It had been a life of constant fear, and it was not a life she intended to go back to.
"Look what we have here."
Anya turned on her heel and looked behind her, the sight of the well built man bringing fear into her veins. She noted how his lips curled and his eyes twinkled as he moved towards her. She bolted as soon as possible, running through the snow as fast as possible.
"Not so fast, beautiful."
His words haunted her and she felt his arms around her waist, stopping her from advancing any further. Anya yelled loudly as she tumbled to the snow, her dress clinging to her body as he slapped her across the face.
"We never had our fun earlier," he spoke lowly, his mouth near her ear.
She pushed at his chest, trying to get his weight from her. He straddled her waist, his hands tugging her gown from her shoulders and pushing Jon's cloak from her shoulders.
"No...get off of me..."
"You really are spirited," he spoke in her ear, his mouth engulfing it after a moment. She felt herself wretch as his teeth tugged at the skin on her neck. "Your whore sisters accepted this like good girls...but not you..."
She tried to kick at him again and she felt his cold hand wander down to her bare breast. He groaned as he felt her soft skin and continued to kiss down her neck, leaving wet marks to glisten against her pale skin. Slowly, he moved his hand down to the waistband of her skirt and Anya began to scream again. It earned her another slap, but she failed to care.
"So long since a woman fought me," he whispered, his face now pressed in between her breasts, his beard scratching against her skin as Anya continued to sob loudly.
She closed her eyes for a moment, her hands still hitting at his chest. It was only when the weight suddenly disappeared from her body did she look up. The man had seemingly disappeared, but Anya knew something was amiss. She knew it as soon as she heard his loud screams ring through her ears. Looking to the side, the sight of a white creature caught her eyes and she watched as it tore into the man's neck. Flesh and blood covered the white snow, tainting it as the creature growled lowly.
Anya pushed herself to her feet, stumbling around as the wolf finished with the creature. She recalled seeing a white creature like it before. She remembered it from Craster's Keep. It had been one of the crows' creature. She kept still as it advanced towards her. Her hands balled into fists by her sides and her gown was askew over her body as it stood in front of her and tilted its head to the side.
Anya lowered herself to kneel in the snow again, her body cold and her clothes wet. She held her hand out to the direwolf and it rested its chin in her palm. Her fingers roamed its fur and it closed its eyes in content.
"Anya!"
The scream of her name snapped her attention from the wolf. It didn't take long before she saw Jon racing towards her, two men behind him. He bent at the waist and panted for breath at the sight of her, but then he noticed his direwolf. Ghost moved back to Jon and the two of them looked at each other as though they had a special bond which could not be broken.
"I think we found Rast," Edd grunted out, nodding towards the corpse in the snow.
Grenn scoffed and Jon finished petting Ghost for a moment, noting Anya wore nothing but her thin gown. He grabbed his cloak from the floor and wrapped it over her shoulders again, helping her to her feet.
"Did he hurt you?" Jon fretted.
She shook her head, her teeth chattering as Jon ran his hands up and down her arms in an attempt to warm her up. Her hair was damp around her face and small drops of water fell down her slender neck.
"He didn't get chance to," she whispered. "The wolf..."
"Direwolf," Jon corrected her. "He's called Ghost."
"He killed him before he could do anything," Anya spoke and Jon nodded to her.
"Thankfully," he added on. "You're freezing."
"I did just roll in the snow," she added on and Jon acted with haste, knowing what could happen if her situation was not dealt with. He took a moment to dare to wrap her into his arms.
She exhaled loudly at the warmth of his body whilst Grenn end Edd grinned to each other. Jon glowered at them as the girl continued to shake. He dared to take hold of both of her hands into one of his and hold them tightly against her cheek and near his neck. She bit down on her tongue, hoping that it would stop her teeth from chattering.
"Did they survive...your men...my aunts...cousins?"
"Most of my men fell, but we saved the women. They burned the Keep down and didn't want to come with us."
"Hm," she muttered, gulping loudly as she dared to move the top of her head to rest against Jon's neck. "Where will they go?"
"I told them South of the Wall was the safest place," Jon informed her. "I cannot force them to return with us."
"Us?" she checked and Jon chuckled, the vibrations echoing from his chest to her cheek.
"I hardly think it is safe for you to be alone out here," he told her and she shrugged against him. "You can come to Castle Black and then decide what it is you wish to do."
Grenn and Edd sighed lowly and moved over to the horses, leaving Jon to hold the girl in his arms as he tried to warm her up. He didn't know how long he stood there for, but he couldn't help himself from thinking of the previous girl he had held tightly to him. She had ruined his vows and almost ruined him. Ygritte was still out there somewhere. Jon just didn't know where.
...
A/N: Thank you so much to DarylDixon'sLover, xxxRena, Kcrane, Naomi97, jean d'arc and CupcakesAndAlice for reviewing the first chapter. And thank you to everyone who is following. I do hope you will let me know what you think of the first chapter!
