A/N: I love you guys! I really do, not just saying it. You guys are like my moon and my stars! HAHA! Anyway, I have to give a shout out to N7 Evey….you made me go all "google translator" on your comment! Haha, thanks for all the reviews guys, I can't tell you how happy they make me. It's so cool to see others enjoying a story I am having such a blast writing! Keep those reviews coming! In this chapter, you will see a familiar scene, though I've changed it a bit. This happens to be one of my favorite scenes to date….behind the famous abs scene, but we will discuss that later! Wink wink.
The moment they walked into the gates of Harrenhall, Gendry stopped. His head rose towards the sky, drinking in the enormous structures before him. It was set against the backdrop of a red sky, making it look as though fire was shooting down upon the black stones. The tops of some of the structures were melted away like candle wax dripping down. He had never seen anything like it. Immediately, he felt the hairs on the back of his head stand on end. He could feel the darkness, as if it were reaching out to him. This place was cursed.
Arya was the only one to continue walking. Her head was stretched back, staring up to the very tips of the melted stone. Her eyes looked mesmerized. Hot Pie and Weasel stood at his side, too afraid to continue walking like him…but not Arya. She drank in the vastness before them.
"Dragons," he heard her whisper.
"Dragons?" Weasel whimpered.
Gendry laid his chained hand on the girl's shoulder, squeezing gently. "No, Weasel. There's no dragon's here. They've been dead for centuries."
The girl looked relieved, but he could still see fear on her face. She averted her eyes from the melted structure, looking at Hot Pie instead. The boy looked back, trying his hardest to smile. "Come on," he said gently to her.
Hot Pie and Weasel got back in line, following the other prisoners into Harrenhall. Gendry waited for Arya, but she didn't seem to notice. Her eyes remained fixed towards the sky. He thought about calling to her, but was grabbed roughly from behind. Before him stood the man that had brought Arya the wet fabrics to clean his welts with. In his hands, he held a shirt. Two soldiers stood on Gendry's side as the man released him from his chains.
"Put this on, boy," the man said.
The stench of death lingered on the black shirt as he pulled it over his head. He realized that the person who had worn this shirt before him had met a gruesome death. Their blood was still soaked to the front of the black shirt. For a brief moment, he thought about refusing, but he did not want to suffer another beating. Throughout his life, he had built his body up to be solid muscle and strength, but he knew he had limits like everyone else. He gritted his teeth, until he got used to the smell. After his hands were chained again, he was pushed forward.
"Arya," he called out. She was still staring and didn't see the soldier come up behind her. He grabbed her roughly, throwing her forward. When she straightened up, Gendry saw her face, and what he saw scared him. She was smiling, but not happily. No, that was a smile someone smiled when their sanity was on the brink of dissolving. He would have to keep a closer eye on her.
They were herded into cells that looked like animal stalls. For a moment, the people before him turned into pigs heading for slaughter. He felt a shiver creep up his spine and slither towards the base of his skull. Suddenly, the sound of screams filled his ears. He looked in front of him and saw a man seated. On his chest he wore a barrel. His eyes were so wide that for a moment Gendry expected his eyeballs to roll from their sockets. His body was twitching, his mouth open and screaming.
The man's wide eyes looked back and forth at the two men who were inches away from him. One of them was standing, while the other sat. The one sitting held torch in his hands. The flames were licking at the barrel on the man's chest. Inside, the sounds of screeching could be heard.
"Rats! Seven Hells, they're eating him alive," someone moaned beside Gendry.
He felt the bile rise from his stomach, heading towards his throat. He clamped his eyes shut, breathing out of his nose. In and out, he took in air as slowly and deeply as he could. The stench from his shirt wasn't helping matters any. He was going to be sick, he just knew it. The man's screams rose in volume, so loud his ears were ringing.
"Make him stop," he whispered to whatever gods would listen.
He felt something grab a hold of the side of his shirt and he looked over to see Arya standing beside him. Her chained hands were squeezing the fabric. They were shaking. Gone, was the fascination from her face. Gone, was the smile. Instead, she looked at the man being tortured with horror. He turned, standing before her and blocking out the scene. There was nothing he could do about the screams, but at least he could stop her from watching.
Her eyes stared at his chest, slowly rising to his face. For however long the man sat there, being eaten by the rats, they never looked away from one another.
"That was my son," a woman said. "My sister was three days ago. My husband before that."
"They take someone every day? Gendry asked without looking away from Arya. He already knew the answer and needed no confirmation. When he had seen the people herded into the stalls looking like pigs for slaughter, it was because that's exactly what they were. They were dead animals.
"Does anyone live?" Arya asked. The woman never answered, but stared at her dead son with unseeing eyes. Weasel pushed herself further in to Hot Pie's side, tears beginning to show in her eyes. Hot Pie stared away from the dead man, his face growing scared by the minute.
The man that held the torch drew his sword, cutting the poor bastard's head clean off. Gendry never saw it, but he knew the sound well by now. He saw the shutter that went through the woman's body as she watched what they did to her son.
"Move aside! Get out of my way!"
Gendry looked over Arya's shoulder and saw Rothe heading towards them. He grabbed at Arya, but the soldiers with Rothe were faster. He was grabbed on each side and dragged away from her. He dragged his feet, trying to stop them from taking him. It did no good. Arya jerked around right as Rothe came up to her. The slaves in the stall all scattered to get away from the man, but Arya didn't move a muscle. Gendry wished he could see her face, but her back was turned to him.
"Got to go for a little while, love," the man breathed, reaching out and caressing Arya's face.
Gendry felt the blood go to his face immediately, felt the rage awaken. That man should never be allowed to touch her like that. Not the way he gets to touch her. He fought against the hands holding him, but they did not budge. He was forced to watch. Forced to watch whatever Rothe had planned in his sick mind.
Rothe stepped closer to Arya, shadowing her in his large body. His hands shot up, grabbing Arya by the chin. On instinct, she reached up to throw his hands off of her, but he grabbed her chains, bringing them down to his crotch. He held them firmly to him, stopping any movement they could make towards his cock. Gendry could see Arya wasn't able to inflict any harm. Finally, he heard her whimper.
"I will be back and when I do, you and I will finish what we started out in those woods." Arya fought against him, but it only made him laugh. "I like a fighter," he whispered, taking her mouth with his. When Arya tried to step back, his arm snaked around her, bringing her closer to him. His mouth was rough and hungry, his tongue shooting out for entrance to Ayra's mouth.
Gendry's mind exploded with fury and jealously. He kicked, bucked, whatever he had to do to reach her. He felt a blow to his stomach, but it did nothing to stop his fighting. He barely felt it. Two more soldiers stepped up just as Gendry got loose from his captives. One step, then two and suddenly, he had Rothe by the throat, pushing him away from Arya. Arya stumbled back and Rothe was in plain sight of Gendry's fury. His fists flew back, ready to strike its target, but the soldiers were on him, pulling him off of Rothe. He never got in one single lick.
They held him still as Rothe began to cough and wheeze. His face had turned beet red. His blazing eyes turned slowly towards Gendry, a cruel smile growing on his face. Once Rothe's breaths were even, he walked up, getting right in his face. His hand shot out, grabbing Gendry's hair and pulling his head back. He grunted against the pain as he stared up at the reddened sky.
"I'm going to enjoying fucking her. And just for the fun of it, you will watch," Rothe whispered.
"You won't touch her," Gendry growled.
Rothe laughed at this, letting go of his hair. He took one last look at Arya, a smile on his face, before he strode off. "I do not want the boy killed. Release him. I have plans for him later," Rothe called over his shoulder. The soldiers threw Gendry behind them.
Arya was there in a heartbeat, grabbing him in a tight hug. She was shaking and he realized she must have thought they would surly kill him for attacking Rothe. No, the man had something in mind that was worse than death. "I'm fine," he whispered.
The first night, they took a little boy, just a few years older than Weasel. They strapped the barrel on his chest and began asking him questions, questions that didn't make sense to Gendry. The spoke of some Brotherhood, some man's name he had never heard of before. He leaned his head against a wooden pole behind him. He and Arya were chained to it together. Her head was in his lap, but he knew she wasn't asleep. There was no way anyone could sleep with the boy screaming for his mother, and the mother weeping for her son.
The next day, it was the same thing. This time, they took an old woman, well into her sixties, and strapped her to the chair. The man that had chosen her was staring at what was happening, his face smiling. He had to be the tallest man Gendry had ever seen. He had heard Arya call him The Mountain, and he realized that name was familiar for some reason. He had heard it somewhere, probably in King's Landing. The Mountain turned his black eyes on Gendry, his smile growing. His finger reached to his neck and he began sliding it from one side to the other, as if cutting his own neck. Gendry just blinked at him and looked away. He didn't think anything could scare him anymore.
The third day, another was taken, another was killed. The Mountain had chosen a girl, about Arya's age. She began screaming the moment his finger pointed towards her. She began begging, began promising things…promising her body to The Mountain. He looked at the girl in disgust, nodding his head to the two men that did his dirty work. The girl only lasted minutes after the rats began eating away at her chest. Gendry wished they would die in silence. He wished for the screams to not come. For one horrifying moment, he felt as though he was losing his mind. The girl's scream was the worst, for he could almost imagine that being Arya in the chair. He did not realize his eyes were clenched shut. He did not realize he was shaking, until he felt Arya's hand slide in to his. Gendry looked down at her, holding her hand as if his life depended on it. Her huge eyes were looking up at him, reassuring him that she was unharmed.
The fourth night, they had chosen a boy that told Hot Pie to stare at the Mountain, for it was what had saved him this long. The boy never saw it coming when The Mountain stretched out his huge hand and pointed it at his chest. Hot Pie wet himself, seeing how stupid he had been for listening to the dead boy, because he had stared The Mountain in the face just like the boy. The boy's head now rested on a pike above them. All night long, Arya began to recite names, repeating them over and over. "Rothe, the leader, Joffrey, Cersei, llyn Payne, The Hound." Gendry listened, feeling dread seep into his bones. It sounded like a prayer, but he knew it spoke of death. He knew it was a hit list.
The fifth day was the same, and so was the sixth, but by that night, Gendry was out of his mind. The screams, the cries, the pleas, they all ate away at him a little at a time. What drew him over the edge was Arya's prayer. He felt her pulling away, falling into a blackened abyss. In the light of the sun, she did not speak. He would watch her stare into space, her face void of emotion. He would try to talk to her, but would get no response. He could not tell what she was thinking and when he asked, she would say nothing. But at night, she would recite her names. It was driving him mad and he lost his cool.
"Stop it," he whispered. "Stop it!"
She acted as though she did not hear him and her prayer continued. "Stop it…Arya," he said through gritted teeth.
"Rothe, the leader, Joffrey, Cersei, llyn Payne, The Hound," was her answer.
He grabbed her roughly, jerking her to a sitting position. His fingernails dug into her arms causing her to wince. Finally, her prayer had stopped. She stared at him, her eyes dead. He was angry, furious, but he knew it was not because of her. "Arya," he whispered in defeat.
She did not answer him, but looked straight through him. He was losing her. Slowly, he touched her forehead with his lips, shutting his eyes tightly. "I'm losing it, Arya. I need you to come back to me…please," he whispered against her skin. Nothing happened at first, and Gendry thought it was hopeless. Was Arya already lost to him? He felt her shift and her chained arms came around his neck, holding him tightly.
"I'm here, Gendry," she whispered.
He let out a deep sigh, burying his face in the crook of her neck. Her voice was clear and strong. It calmed the raging insanity in his mind. "Don't leave me again," he said.
On the seventh day, The Mountain strode over to the frightened group. Gendry lowered his head, waiting for the next victim to be chosen. "You!" The Mountain hissed.
Without looking, Gendry could feel all eyes turn towards him. His head shot up, seeing The Mountain's finger pointed at him. No, no, no, no, no, he thought. His eyes looked to Arya. She was staring at him, frozen. The soldiers pushed her out of the way and grabbed Gendry. They unchained him from the pole and jerked him forward. He would not scream. He would not plead. They could torture him till nothing was left and he wouldn't give them that satisfaction.
They threw him in the chair, binding his hands and feet. His eyes moved to Arya, and stayed on her the whole time, even as the questions began.
"Is there gold and silver in the villiage?" the man they called Tickler asked.
"I'm not from the villiage," Gendry responded, staring at Arya.
"Where is the Brotherhood?"
The Brotherhood. The Brotherhood, always about the damned Brotherhood, Gendry thought. His heart was beating at his chest, his breath coming out in puffs. "I don't know what that is," he said, fear in his voice. Tickler turned to the other man, nodding his head. Gendry finally looked away from Arya to see the man pick up a large rat, throwing it into the barrel. It was enough to make Gendry want to scream, but he bit the insides of his mouth instead. His eyes traveled back to Arya, wishing she would look away and not watch. Though her eyes were a comfort to him, he did not want this to be the last thing she remembered of him.
The man came at him with the barrel, and Gendry began puffing out large breaths, holding his chin up in the air. This was it. This would be how he would die, by the mouth of a rat. The man picked his shirt up, forcing the barrel to his chest. In an instant he felt the rat bump in to him, trying to get out. He grunted, biting down harder on the inside of his cheek. I will not scream, I will not scream, he chanted to himself.
Gendry turned to Hot Pie, seeing the boy staring in horror. "Take care of them," he said, his voice cracking. Tickler picked up the torch, turning to walk towards Gendry. He tried the binds on his hands and feet to see if they were weak, but they held their hold. The rat was screaming, running in to his chest over and over again. The flame came down to the barrel.
"No!" Arya shouted.
Just then, the sound of riders surrounded them. Tickler withdrew the flame and the rat ran into the end of the barrel and away from Gendry. Everyone began to bow, everyone except Arya. She remained standing, her eyes only on him. He held her stare, wondering if it was possible that they had been lucky again.
A man climbed from his horse, staring at the people in the stall. Gendry knew him at once. This man was Tywin Lannister. The Mountain greeted him and the man wanted to know why they weren't in their cells. When he was given the explanation, he didn't look happy.
"Are we so well manned that we couldn't use able-bodied workers?" Lannister asked. No one answered him. "You. Do you have a trade?" the man asked Gendry. "Smith, milord."
He turned to the Tickler, as if he should have already known this. "Get these prisoners to work." Gendry watched Lannister walk away, wanting to thank the man for saving his life. That is, until he stopped and stared at Arya. He did not speak at first, but only stared. Gendry was so caught up in what was happening that he did not realize they had released him.
"This one's a girl, dressed as a boy…why?" he asked Arya.
"Safer to travel, milord," she answered.
Lannister looked at her, impressed. "Smart! Which is more than I can say for this lot," Lannister said, pointing to his soldiers.
He turned and walked away, but when the soldiers did not move to release them, he stopped. "Release them, now!" he screamed. "And bring the girl. I need a new cupbearer."
"No," Gendry whispered as he was hoisted from the chair. The soldiers grabbed Arya, whisking her away. She turned her head, watching him, until she disappeared from sight.
They sent him to work right away, forging new weapons and armor. The days passed and he had not laid eyes on Arya since the day he was almost tortured. He had looked for her everywhere, asked everyone, but he found that they had her locked up in Lannister's main rooms until bedtime. Then, she was taken to the holding cell for the women. He was going out of his mind with worry.
"She's okay, Gendry. Weasel told me this morning," Hot Pie said. The boy had come by to see him for a moment before heading to the kitchens. Gendry was forging a sword into existence, or beating it was more like it. His anger shot out of him and he continued to hammer in to the anvil. Sparks flew around him, but he didn't seem to notice. "Weasel says when she sleeps, she calls out for you. I'm sure that she will come to you when she can. Lannister is keeping her busy."
Hot Pie was trying to help, Gendry knew that, but the more the boy talked, the worse he hit into the sword. This was the longest he had been away from her and it was killing him. So much so, that he dared think of bursting into Lannister's quarters just to look upon her face. The only thing holding him back was the fear of her getting in trouble for his stupidity.
"How's Weasel?" Gendry asked, trying to change the subject.
Hot Pie sighed. "She's okay, still scared to death, but she says this place isn't so bad now. I get to keep an eye on her since she works in the kitchen with me." Gendry envied Hot Pie. "How can you stand it in here? It's so hot!" Hot Pie said, fanning his flushed face.
"Used to it," Gendry said, brooding. In all honesty, this place felt like the Seven Hells themselves. Most of the time, he worked shirtless just to be able to breathe. His skin was blackened and streaked with sweat, but it was much cooler than wearing the black shirt.
A little time passed by and Gendry forgot that Hot Pie was there, until he spoke softly, "I would have done it, you know.
Gendry stopped beating the sword and looked up at the boy in confusion. "What?"
Hot Pie's face looked sad. He climbed down off the stone he was sitting on and headed to the exit. Before he left, he turned to Gendry.
"I would have taken care of them like you asked."
Awwwwwww Hot Pie! HAHA! Anyway, hope you enjoyed this. I have to say that Gendry's POV is soooooo much easier to write than Arya's. I have no idea why, but it is. It just kinda flows out of me better. Go figure! You all know what scene happens next. It involves abs…shhh, I'm not saying anything else! I'm making that scene my own, though, so get ready! You all know what to do now. Get those reviews coming!
