ARYA

She withdrew into the shadows as she saw The Bloody Mummers return. They had brought more plunder, taken from the smallfolk. On one cart there was a massive black bear, and surrounding it armoured men. Lords by the look of them. But no lords in the service of the Lannisters, she knew these devices, they belonged to Karstark, Glover, Frey and many others. Her brother's men. She feared what this meant for Robb.

All this changed in an instant, as the crack of lightning could be heard and everything was momentarily illuminated in green. And then, there, right where there had been a pit before, a tower. Or rather a castle, small by the scale of Harrenhal, but not the kind of thing that would just appear from a bolt of lightning. She shook her head, that was impossible, but still, it stood there. There was only one sound coming from its direction, a laugh. Belonging to a woman.

Soon the laughter stopped, and there was only silence, except for the continual yells of surprise from the men. Vargo Hoat commanded some men to investigate, and they approached slowly and carefully. Just as they were about to touch the stone a voice rang out, from atop the battlements above the gate: "Vho are you and vhat have you done vith my castle!"

Finally Armory had gathered the few wits that he had, and he shouted: "This castle belongs to my lord. Surrender, bitch!"

That one word seemingly wasn't taken kindly to within the small castle, and the gates flung open, and a horn was sounded. But the sound was off, ghostly almost. Arya could vaguely make out gleaming white warriors march out in a formation. She looked closer and now she was actually afraid. These were no mortal men, they were only skeletons. It brought her back to the words of Old Nan, speaking about wights and white walkers.

The men closest to the gate were overrun within moments, falling to the spears of the dead. Most tried to flee, but there was no escape for the prisoners, who were still tied to each other. They quickly became a stumbling mess, although a few managed to reach for weapons and fight back.

Surprisingly some of the wights fell, and even to Arya they seemed to not be highly skilled. At this Armory shouted: "Gather, men! Let's show these Northmen what Lannister men can do!"

Some of his men charged, and they managed to hold against the skeletal warriors, taking down more than they lost themselves. Hot Pie came up from behind: "I want to escape now."

But she didn't hear, focusing on the battle instead. The Bloody Mummers were also gathering around their leader, to stand, although a fair few of them went missing. They charged into the dead, and many of them fell. Arya felt her heart beating. She had never expected to hope to see those murderers victorious. She could see another tightly formed block of skeletons march from the gate, but strangely enough they did not head to the battle, but marched off, turning to the right behind an unseen banner. "Not now, you see those over there? They're going to the gate, and we can't take them on alone."

More of the dead fell, and the Bloody Mummers retired to charge again. The Northmen were putting up a good fight, as were the Lannister men, although many had fallen. They did however outnumber the rapidly diminishing dead men.

A horn sounded again, followed by the start of a steady drum. From the gate a third formation appeared. This time led by a few armoured warriors, and strangely enough, a woman in a dress. Besides the black-dressed woman stood a fully armoured man, carrying a terrible banner. It was black as the night, depicting a black wolf howling at a red moon. Above it there was a scroll, but it was too far away to make out what it said.

When she was nearby the other formation broke into two, creating a space in its midst for her attack. The woman broke from the ranks, her place quickly taken by another skeleton, and she leapt into the fray. Arya had never seen someone move with such speed, but was even more surprised when men started falling around her, one was thrown up in the air by the force of a blow, but it was impossible to see the weapon move.

"Do not presume to stand before me!", the lady cried.

Somehow she was clearly audible above the noise of the battle, even though all other voices were drowned out. The men were backing away from her, and now it was possible to get a clearer look. She wore a black dress, which was finely ornamented, and frilly cloth woven into her red hair, in the form of black roses. There also was blood, mostly around her mouth, running from it even. Was she injured?

That seemed unlikely as she advanced again, carrying a heavy mace as though it was a mere wooden stick. Armory stood his ground, finally dressed in his plate. Everyone seemed to pause to watch this duel, and the lady smiled, coming ever closer to Arya. The mace as not held ready for a fight, as though it did not really interest her all that much. "You. Are you ze greatest of these men? Do you have ze courage to stand against me?"

She giggled, even as the knight advanced on her, cutting with his longsword at her unarmoured for. Impossibly fast she stepped aside. He tried again, and again the woman was not where his blade expected her. Lorch tried to rush her, and she moved with him. A moment later she still stood, and he. He hung, held up by one arm, and her teeth in his throat.

Arya couldn't stop looking, and for a moment met the monster's eyes. They were strange, unearthly. Yellow as those of an animal, but showing a savage intelligence, and a will that would make one shake. Arya wanted to move, to run away, but she was held in place by the eyes. The spell was broken when a man came from behind to run her through, but the bloody lady was faster. She dropped the dying Armory and stabbed her assailant without even turning around.

Seeing this Hoat did the sensible thing and shouted for his men to retreat, towards the gate and away from this accursed place. The remaining Lannister men ran to follow, but lacked the speed of the mounted men, and were overrun by the skeletons. The men of the North were dead already, unable to resist for long, and incapable of flight.

Only then did she notice that even more warriors had emerged, and another terrible sight. Gigantic wolves, larger even than Nymerya, and black as the night. They rushed after the fleeing soldiers, even as the lady simply stood there, amidst the fallen. A pair of people approached her, bearing lamps. One of them, a man, was dressed in fine blue robes. The other, a woman, wore old grey clothes, and had a haggard appearance.

Driven by her curiosity Arya snuck closer towards them, to listen to them. Both bowedtheir heads to the lady in black, who spoke: "Vhere are ve?"

"My lady, I do not know, ze sky is different, and the stars are in ze vrong places. Not even the twin moons are there.", the man answered. He talked a bit like a maester.

"And you, Luise, vhat do you see?"

"Your ladyship. I have no idea. But could it be that ve have been betrayed?", the haggard woman replied, hints of fear in her voice.

"Then find vhere ve are! Now! I vill speak to the prisoners, if there are any literates amongst them."

"And how about my reward, my lady?", the man spoke up again.

The woman's face changed, gone was the merry look, replaced by a monstrosity. A ferocity that should not be there as she sneered: "Do not presume to command me, herr Zwieling."

"My lady, I meant no offence, but ve had an agreement. You have ze ring. Now I vant vhat you promised me."

"Your sorcery has brought us here. Do you know vhere ve are? Do you know how to return?", her face returned to its normal state, but still showed hints of anger.

"No my lady, I do not. I have never read about anything like this. I vill have to find a library to study on this."

"Thank you for your honesty, herr Zwieling. I truly appreciate it."

"But the deal…"

Immediately she interrupted him. "I have altered it, pray that I do not alter it any further"

"Yes, my lady."

In the distance she could still hear fighting, the shouting of men and the clash of arms. But her attention remained on the trio in front of her. The man left, but the other woman remained: "Vhat shall ve do now?"

But before she could hear the answer she heard a squeal behind her. She remembered Hot Pie and looked back, only to see him run through by a blade glowing with white light, held by one of the armoured warriors. She looked at his helmet, and the burning red orbs that were behind the eyeslits.

And then she heard the lady again: "Gather captives, and find if there are any with learning. But spare none of those vho raised arms against me."