Chapter Two: Regrets
The sun was barely in the sky and still, the Little Bird slept. It had only been a few hours, but the Hound had expected her to wake up already. In reality, sleeping on a horse was extremely uncomfortable. Yet somehow Sansa was fast asleep.
To make matters worse, he was sobering up in a very bad way. He had run out of wine within the first hour of riding and he hadn't thought to bring more. The lack of wine was worst of the situation because he was sobering up about his decision to bring Sansa.
What the hell had he been thinking? He would have been able to get away with telling the King to fuck himself and leaving the city, but stealing Joffrey's plaything was asking for a death sentence. He wouldn't be able to go to Inns and get drunk. Or sleep comfortably. It was a drunken mistake to bring her and he almost turned back to take her to her cage several times. Then he'd remember all that happened to her, being stripped in front of all those so-called Knights, being beaten, and nearly raped, and he couldn't do it. Reluctantly, he pushed the horse forward, further away from the burning city and any chance of returning to the South again.
Well, fuck them all. He'd hated the South for some time anyway.
There was a lot they had to do soon, before the Queen focused on getting Sansa back. They probably had two days at most, if they were lucky enough. More likely, there would be an army sent out by the end of the day. Thankfully, riding all night at least gave them half a day at least. Even better, there hadn't been any witnesses to trace the two of them together. As far as the Kingdom knew, he'd disappeared shortly after ditching the fight. He hadn't been anywhere near the Red Keep at the time.
He was sure the Spider or Littlefinger would be trying every possible trick to find Sansa's trail. Inns and brothels would be out of the question probably after this night. Even then, it would be risky to try staying in their current conditions. Especially the girl. She was very memorable. They'd have to do something with her hair and keep her in his damn cloak at least.
Finally spotting a stream close by, the Hound lead Stranger over to it. His horse needed some time to rest and drink and he needed to piss. As Stranger stooped, the Hound gruffly told the girl, "Get up," while shaking her slightly. She mumbled in her sleep and slowly cracked open an eye.
"What time is it?" she murmured, planning on closing her eyes again. After a moment, she looked back at him, as if she was just remembering who she was talking to and where she was at. Then she was looking down at herself, cuddled up against his armor, and she quickly sat up. "Oh, I-I'm sorry, ser," she stammered, blushing slightly.
"I'm no ser, I've told you this already," he growled. He slipped down off of Stranger and helped lift the redhead off. As soon as her feet, touched the ground, she swayed slightly and flinched. Obviously, she'd be pretty sore. "We're stopping for a quick break. Stretch out while you have the chance. Don't wander off." He barely wandered into the tree line to relieve himself. It was better to keep close, in case anyone happened to go by. He doubted it too much, but he didn't dare risk it. As much as he hated it, he'd promised to bring her back safely to Winterfell.
As he walked back to their little clearing, he noticed she was near the stream, crouched down at its edge. He wandered down near there, first towards Stranger. He reached into one of the saddle packs and pulled out some dried meat and hard bread. There wasn't much, just enough for a few days at most. If they rode long enough today, they'd have time to stop at a small village. It would give them time to rest at an Inn and get some extra food and supplies. And wine, lots of wine.
"Girl," he barked, instantly catching her attention. Noticing the food in hand, her face lit up. He figured it wasn't what she was used to, but it had to be better than being hungry. All ladylike, she took the offered food and settled down by the edge of the stream to nibble on the food. He fought the urge to mock her for it and sat down himself, armor creaking slightly.
After several bites, Sansa cleared her throat and asked, "Where exactly are we heading? I know you mentioned Winterfell last night…"
"Would you rather go to your home or to your mother and brother?" he rasped, looking out at the water.
"Umm… probably to my mother. At least so she can know I'm safe. Then, maybe to Winterfell. I don't know exactly…" She looked extremely unsure.
"To Riverrun then."
"What are you going to do, once you bring me home?"
For a fleeting moment, he was silent. What the hell was she trying at? She should be happy enough that he took her from King's Landing. Gruffly, he told her, "I don't got a clue, girl. Free cities maybe. Or every brothel to drink as much wine till I'm in my grave. Don't matter much. Let's get moving." Reluctantly, she nodded and stood up.
"Thank you for the food," she mumbled, barely looking at him. He grunted in response, already walking over to Stranger. He could hear her shuffling along behind him. Once he was sure she was right behind him, Sandor turned around, grabbed her waist, and hoisted her up on Stranger's saddle. His horse huffed in response, but a quick touch on his side calmed him. He climbed up behind Sansa and urged Stranger to a steady speed.
For a while, everything was quiet, besides the sound of horse steps and the stream close by. Within half an hour, the Hound could sense Sansa looking at him, again and again. The few times he actually met her gaze, she quickly averted it and started looking at something else. It was obvious she wanted to ask something, but he really didn't want to hear anymore chirping this early in the morning.
Apparently, she worked up some courage for she cleared her throat and quietly chirped, "What's the plan for now?"
"There's several things. We'll need provisions and a place to rest for tonight. If you want to stay at an Inn tonight, we'll have to do something about your hair." He noticed her touch one of her dirty locks.
"Like what?" she asked cautiously.
"Make it dirtier with mud and cut some off. It's far too neat for peasants. And it'll become a hassle the longer we're in the forest."
Reluctantly, she nodded at him. "That's fair. My hair can be easily remembered."
"We'll stop for one night at an Inn. Can't risk anything longer than that. Within the next few days, the Queen will have a search party out or you. I'll have a bounty on my head as well. That's if we're lucky they didn't connect our disappearances."
She nodded again. "When will we stop?"
"Close to nightfall," he grunted. By the tone of his voice, he assumed she understood to shut up. He really didn't feel like explaining everything to her at this moment. He was pissed off as it was, hung over, exhausted, and completely out of wine. She seemed to take the hint, for she didn't bring up the topic again. She seemed content to settle down in the saddle and watch the scenery. That was more than fine with him.
They rode for a couple hours before Sansa started to seem antsy. She fidgeted around again, playing with her hands some. She didn't raise her voice about anything, so he started to ignore it. That was when he realized she was staring at his hands. She kept glancing back between his and hers, as if it was the most fascinating subject in the entire world. At this moment, it probably seemed like it. He was sure she was bored.
Eventually, he reached and grabbed his flask that he'd filled with water. He took a large swig himself, wishing terribly for any kind of wine, sour or sweet or watered down, and then offered it to the girl. She gave him a hesitant smile, said her thanks quietly, and took a sip. It was always courtesies and flatteries with her. They needed to fix that. There was no reason for her to keep chirping her false words anymore. That was worse than her pointless chatter.
Glancing up at the sky, he found it was a few hours past midday. He slowed Stranger down until he stopped. Sansa twisted around and asked him, "Why are we stopping?"
"Hair," was all he said, already getting down. He waited while the little bird twisted around in the saddle so she was facing him and then took hold of her waist. She put her little hands on his shoulders as he picked her up. It was the first time she done that. She seemed just as surprised with herself. "Sit on that rock," he ordered, nodding towards it. He took Stranger's reigns to lead him to the stream again. Stranger needed to keep his strength as long as possible as well. He added another horse to his list.
Once his horse was settled, he turned back around towards the little bird. She was just now scrambling to sit on the walk. What the hell had she been doing now? Scowling, he walked over to her, already pulling out the dagger at his hip. She stared at the blade nervously as he came up to her. "How short are you going to cut it?" she asked quietly.
"Probably half. You'll have plenty left over," he snapped, glowering. "It's just some hair. It could be a lot worse. You could be left with him still." He noticed her stiffen at the last part. Ignoring it, he crouched down behind her and picked up part of her locks. He had to admit, it was a shame to cut it off. It had grown out quite nicely.
As he made the first cut, he told her, "We'll make sure to get you bathed once we're at the Inn. We'll leave early enough so no one can recognize you." The locks fell slowly at his feet. He grabbed random bits, cutting them all at uneven angles. He made sure to keep the shortest locks below her shoulder blades. She didn't need it all hacked off.
"How long do you think we'll be out here?" she asked.
"A while. Depends on how fast we move."
After a moment, she said, "My neck already feels lighter without all my hair. It's a strange feeling."
Reluctantly, the Hound stepped away. It seemed like it was cut enough. And it did look like quite a hack job. He probably could have done less to her hair. "Don't fly off Little Bird. I'm going for the mud."
"What's it supposed to do?" she asked, turning towards him. He noticed her hand automatically went to the back of her hair, to feel what happened.
Did he have to explain everything to her? "The mud will darken your hair enough to draw less suspicion. If I'd thought this through, I would have grabbed some dye. Didn't have enough time."
"Thought this through?"
"Why is are you repeating what you hear?"
"I'm just asking… from the sounds of that, you hadn't planned on taking me away at first."
"I hadn't."
"Then why…?"
Instead of answering, the Hound scooped up the mud at the bank, stepped back over to her in five strides and dropped the mud straight on her head. She gasped loudly in surprise and turned to him. "What the…? Why would you do that?!" It didn't surprise him she didn't swear.
"Just be quiet and keep your mouth shut," he growled. He started running the mud through her hair, mud clumping up at odd places. He wasn't a hundred percent sure how to get all the dirt out without washing it all away. But to his satisfaction, the places where the mud didn't clump up ended up much darker. Once it dried, she'd hopefully be much less recognizable. "Go run some water through your hair, just enough to get away the clumps."
She made a face, but stood up all the same. "Turn away then. I'll have to get out of…" A blush stained her cheeks and she looked away from him.
He barked out in laughter. "It's not like I haven't seen a naked woman before. No need to be shy, Little Bird. I won't stare too much." She flushed deeper and surprised him by shoving his shoulders. It didn't do much, but seeing the frustrated, embarrassed look on her face just made him smirk more. It always amused him to ruffle the little bird's feathers. He straightened up and nodded towards the stream. "Hurry up now." Then he turned and walked over to Stranger. He reached into the saddle pack and pulled out an old apple for the horse. Eagerly, he took the fruit from Sandor's hand. He heard a splash from further down and glanced out of the corner of his eye. He could partially see Sansa out of the corner of his eye, just not enough to make out a full view.
A few minutes later, she finally came over to them. He turned around to see what happened with her hair. She was utterly covered in dirt. She truly looked like they'd been in the forest for weeks. "Why are you staring?" she mumbled, looking at the ground.
"You look like shit," he told her, a smirk on his face when she glared at him.
"It's not like you look much better," she snapped, wiping her hair from her face. Anger rushed through him and he glared. He noticed shocked expression that came to her face and she looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, I-"
"Get on this damn horse," he replied shortly, his voice laced with anger. He didn't bother looking at her as he hoisted her up rather roughly onto Stranger. The horse snorted angrily, but the Hound ignored it and climbed behind the girl.
#
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Sansa felt terrible as soon as the sentence came out of her mouth. She was sure his scar was the one thing in life that made him feel horrible. She saw the look on his face and the anger that had come in his eyes. He'd been relatively tolerable since leaving the palace. Even semi-pleasant. But now, he grabbed her roughly as he lifted her to the saddle and stiffly got behind her. Early, he hadn't seemed to mind if she leaned against him, which she had part of the morning. Now, he was sitting as far from her as possible. When she glanced at his hands, they were clutched so tightly to the reigns they were white. She wasn't sure what to say or to do. This was her fault, she had to fix it. Right?
For quite some time, she tried to find the right words. Glancing at his face only told her he was very angry. She glanced back at his hands and slowly reached out to touch one. He jerked away instantly and growled lowly, "Don't touch me." She tensed up, glancing at him nervously. He met her gaze for only an instant, a dark look in his eyes. Sansa turned away and quietly said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said."
"Everything that comes out of your pretty little mouth is what you're thinking, girl. I'm not a fucking idiot." She flinched at his tone and lowered her head.
"I… I'm just sorry." She looked at him for a moment, but she couldn't distinguish his look. She settled back to looking at the scenery quietly. After a while, she noticed Stranger was moving towards a trail. She looked up at the sky and noticed it was much later in the day. It was amazing just how fast time could go by… She hesitated a moment before asking, "How much longer do you think it will be until we get at an Inn?"
"Not much longer," he answered shortly. Was he still pissed?
"It'll be nice to sleep in a bed tonight. And get all this mud off," she started. She was hoping that maybe he'd actually talk to her. He was the only one still on her side at this moment.
"Shut your fucking mouth." Obviously, that was a loss. He hadn't even called her little bird in sometime. While she wasn't a huge fan of the nickname, it would be nice to hear it now. At least he hadn't tried hurting her. He'd never raised a hand to strike her before, she definitely didn't want that happening now.
It hadn't been more than a couple hours when she spotted an Inn. It was obvious the building was in rough shape. At once, the Hound led Stranger into the tree line closest to the Inn. "What are you doing?" Sansa asked him softly. For some reason, she felt like she needed to be quiet.
"Have to see who all is here. Can't have a bunch of Lannisters here," he rasped, then asked, "Do you really have to ask about everything?" She frowned, but kept her mouth shut. He was just upset from earlier, there was no reason to try egging him on.
Once they were closer, Sandor got down from the saddle and took Stranger's reigns in hand. They walked around the Inn, until they could spot the stables. Surprisingly, almost every stall was empty, except for two of them. "Doubt anyone of importance are here," he said. "Let's get Stranger put away and see what we can do about a room."
She swung her leg around and was surprised when he suddenly put his hands on her waist and picked her up from the saddle. Once again, she put her hands on his shoulders as soon as she was off the saddle. For a moment, she got distracted by his size again. His shoulders were wide too! She was tiny compared to him, she realized, as her feet were put on the ground. She tried to ignore her aching thighs and her numb behind and barely stumbled as she moved around just a bit. The Hound handed her his bloodied cloak first, grunting at her to put it on over her head. While she got the soft material settled on her shoulders, she watched him unhook both of their bags from the saddle. When he turned back towards her, he nodded. "Just put a hood around your head. Don't start with your chirping, I'll do the talking."
She nodded and wrapped the cloak close around herself. She followed as close as she could until they were in the Inn. The place looked as rough inside as it did outside. There were obvious places that needed to be updated and fixed and several of the tables were leaning more to one side. Part of the place was shrouded in shadows and some of the windows were barred shut. On a good note, there were very few people sitting at the tables. The few that were at tables were too busy drinking to pay any attention to them walking in. Sansa was grateful for that. She hadn't been at a place like this before and it made her nervous.
As soon as the door to the Inn opened, the owner was already up and making his way towards the Hound. When he glanced at Sansa, he visibly paused and asked, "What troubles have you two been in?"
"Her home was plundered through a bit ago. Last survivor, this one. We're looking for a room for the night and a bath for the poor girl. She's still pretty traumatized. Hasn't said much since I rescued her."
"Sure you weren't the one doing the plundering?" the man muttered as he came to peer closer to Sansa. She kept her head ducked and made herself look shocked. It really wasn't all that hard, just conjuring up some memories of Joffrey did the trick. Glancing at Sandor out of the corner of her cloak confirmed he was holding in quite a bit of rage.
After a moment, the man called back, "Winny, get out here!" When he turned back, he told the Hound, "My wife'll help get her cleaned up good. We can give you one room for the night, so long as you're able to pay."
As a reply, the Hound pulled out two gold dragons and handed them to the owner. "Can that get us some food and good wine as well?" he asked as the owner looked at the pieces with wide eyes.
"Covers the food for tonight and in the morning," he said eagerly. "And as much wine as you'd like."
That's definitely not a great thing to offer to him, Sansa thought, but kept her mouth shut. At that moment, a middle aged woman came out from the back, wiping her hands on a stained apron. As soon as she saw Sansa, she came right over.
"Oh, dear, what happened to this girl?" she asked, sounding concerned. While the owner explained the situation, his wife tutted softly and put her arms around Sansa. She even managed to flinch away good and leak out a few tears. It had to have been pretty good acting, for even the Hound looked pretty impressed. "Get them a room situated and I'll have Tinnie get a bath ready," Willy ordered, leading Sansa away from the Hound. For a moment, real panic seized her and she actually grabbed hold of the Hound's arm. She wasn't sure why, but it felt impossible to trust these people. To trust anyone really.
Noticing Sansa's real panicked look, the Hound crouched down in front of her and rasped at her softly, "It'll be okay, Little Bird. Just shout if you need me. Remember what I promised." After a moment, she nodded and slowly let him go. She glanced back at him as Willy led her back towards the back of the Inn.
~A/N~
I'm glad at least some people seem interested in this story. This chapter was definitely a rough one to write. I'm extremely particular how I portray my characters and Sandor is one of my most particular ones. If I can't get his character to a good point, I'll scrap the paper and try again. I'm still not overly fond with how he is, but I've done the best I can. I don't expect him to be overly crude as he was with Arya, but he isn't softhearted either. He's inbetween and it's extremely difficult to get to a good ground.
I haven't been able to quit writing this story since I started it. While I'll have quick updates now, I can't promise the same pace through the entire story. There's still a lot of plot I need to work out. Let me know how you think the chapters and characters are.
Thanks for reading. R&R
XmX
