So this chapter was really long, thought about splitting it up, kept changing my mind but obviously it did happen.
Chapter Ten – Travel Tense
"You killed him!" She could hear Rickon cry as Shaggydog growled. Myra's heart jumped into her throat. Killed who?
She could see Rickon standing in front of the kennels, facing away from her with Shaggydog hunched in a crouched position next to him. In front of the boy lay Summer's lifeless body. Oh gods! Myra finally stepped out of the dark arch of the gate. Training her arrow on the somewhat unexpected sight before her.
Theon had his left hand gripped around Bran's throat, with a blade digging into the boy's skin there. As far as Myra could tell, Theon was the only man from the Iron Islands who had thought to check this relatively obscure exit. The Maester's turret stood just above. Maester Luwin must have been trying to sneak the boy's out.
"Greyjoy, what are you doing?" Myra asked.
Theon's jerked for a moment before donning a smile she had once found humourous but that now caused Myra's skin to crawl. "Ah! I was wondering where you were…"
"Myra…" Bran wheezed.
Rickon turned. "Myra!" He exclaimed, running towards her to wrap his arms around her leg in relief.
"Hello, little pup…" she greeted, her eyes not leaving Theon and Bran for a moment. "I need you to do me favour, all right?" She felt his head nod against her leg. Speaking loud enough so that Osha could hear her. "I need you to help Osha, brace Summer's weight on Shaggydog and Silver's backs. Then I need you to go with her…"
"But…" Rickon started to argue. She heard Silver growl in protest.
"Do as I say little pup. Osha, Silver…" they began to do as she instructed, lifting Summer so that he lay with his forelegs and hind legs over either sided of the two wolves who walked with some strain side by side.
"Yes, go ahead..." Theon seemed on the verge of laughing. "See how far you get…"
"Myr…" Rickon voice piped up again.
"Osha, pick him up and go do as I asked…" Myra ordered. She heard a huff as Osha pried away from Myra's leg, then picked up Rickon and backed out of the gate with the boy, though he resisted energetically.
"Well then?" Theon asked, sounding somewhat amused. "Are you going to shoot me?"
"That depends…"
"Interesting. On what exactly?"
"On you letting Bran go."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because you would like to hold at least some honour in your lifetime…"
Theon's entertained face transformed into a scowling one. "This is me having honour!" He dug the blade deeper into the skin of Bran's neck.
"Oh yes. Invading the homes of scared children in the middle of the night, while their lord and armies are at war… while the man you called brother is at war, no less, for the sake of a man who treated you as a son… here you are threatening the very boy you saved from this very position only a few months ago. How is this honourable?"
"Shut up!" Theon spat. "You do not know what you are talking about. My father will reward me for this victory. Robb Stark and his foolish men will die on the fields of Riverrun. There is a new lord of Winterfell. I am jus-" He did not get to finish that sentence, Myra had released the arrow, which had flown over Bran's right shoulder embedding itself deeply between where Theon's right arm connected with the rest of his body. He dropped the knife, falling backwards on to the ground at the impact of her shot. Bran fell too, causing Theon to be winded by the weight of the boy. "Argh! You bitch!" Bran elbowed Theon in the ribs, from his position atop the man. "Ah!"
Before Theon could move to stand, Myra was standing above him with another arrow in her bow, pointed directly between his eyes. "Move an inch Greyjoy and you will see how much better my aim is from close up."
Terror filled Theon's hazel eyes "You wouldn…"
"Would I not?" Myra questioned harshly "You threaten the lives of people I love, and have invaded our home…" Theon's eyes filled with even more fear. "But you are right it is not my place to decide, it is Bran issue as lord while Robb is away… What say you, Bran?" Her gaze stayed on Theon, though Greyjoy's hazel eyes flitted down to look at the boy's head.
"Bran, please…" Theon pleaded pitiful.
Bran seemed to contemplate for a moment before speaking. "Let him live."
"Thank you, thank you…"
"Be quiet!" Bran spoke clearly disgusted by Theon. "This is not as a favour to you. I just do not want to kill anyone…"
"Thank y…" Theon did not finish once again as Myra hit hard in the head with the bottom nock of her bow before putting her unused arrow back in her quiver.
Bran looked up at her with an odd expression on his face. "I am proud of you Bran, I was not ready to kill anyone today either."
"What are you still doing here?" A panicked voice asked from above them.
Myra looked up to see Maester Luwin, looking worriedly down from the Maester's turret. "Come with us…" Bran called as loudly as he dared to the older man, as Myra picked the boy off of the Greyjoy's unconscious form.
"No dear boy. I will hold them at bay for as long as I can, do not worry they would not dare harm a Maester…" Myra could tell by his tone of voice that he was uncertain of his own assertion. "Go!" He breathed.
"Thank you." She spoke genuinely grateful to the Maester beyond words. She allowed herself a brief smile at the kindly grey-haired man, before hurrying out of the gate.
Myra swore as she rushed away from the fortress that sounds of the siege were even more frightening from outside of the castle walls than inside them. What she was imagining happening behind the walls terrified her. She let out a breath she had not known she had been holding when she saw that the wagon was still there, and Osha was tying the brooms to the back of it with some expertise, no doubt from using brush to cover tracks beyond the Wall.
Rickon poked his head out of the back flap of the wagon. "Bran! Myra!"
"Little pup!" Myra said breathlessly moving past Osha, who busily grunted in greeting. She heaved Bran and her bow into the wagon next to Rickon and Summer. There was easily enough salted meat, preserved fruit, and casks of water to last them a nearly month at the most if they were careful. She was more than impressed by how quickly the her companion had worked. Furs left for the Night's Watch had also been piled into the wagon.
"Climb in," Osha ordered, still outside.
"But…"
"Just climb in Myra!" Osha commanded impatiently.
Myra squeezed in next to Bran, who looked sadly at Summer's, limp form. The wagon suddenly began moving. Myra glanced around fearfully skimming passed the flap of the wagon for anyone following. But her scanning paused when Bran spoke. "He shot him with something…" he whispered, pointed at the 'something' that appeared to be a dart sticking in Summer's right foreleg.
If it was poisoned no more harm could be done to Summer, Myra could at least try to deduce what it was. She lifted the dart out of Summer's leg, sniffing it. It smelt of Dewney berries, she knew them well. Her mother would tell to collect but not eat these berries. They were not deadly, but worked as an extremely potent anesthetic. She wondered why Theon would want to shoot Summer with it. Unless it was meant for the boys. She shivered at the thought of what fate had awaited the children had they been taken alive.
She looked at Bran and smiled. "He is not dead he is only asleep…"
"Are you sure?" Bran asked staring down at Summer.
Myra nodded. Now looking at Rickon she asked, "Where are Silver and Shaggydog? Where did the horses come from?"
"They came from the three bad men. Shaggydog and Silver, knocked them off of their horses and Osha sent the spare horse running into the woods."
"Oh!" Myra glanced toward the front flaps of the wagon, even more impressed by Osha. "And Silver and Shaggydog?"
Rickon frowned as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Shaggydog is following us through the forest… can't you feel Silver?"
Myra took a deep breath, rolling her shoulders and closing her eyes. "Yes, yes I can." And she was surprised to find that she actually could.
Once they were a fair distance South of Winterfell, Osha peeked her head back into the wagon. "So where to?"
Bran and Rickon had both fallen asleep against the fur in the back of the wagon. Myra placed a finger over her lips and moved to sit next to Osha outside "We go towards Riverrun, using no main roads we will cut across as much land as far East as we can…we have to get to Robb…" Myra sniffed at the collar of her cloak.
"How far is Riverrun?"
"About a week and a half away if we have luck on our side…"
"Let's hope we do then…"
They had been traveling for almost two weeks now, Myra could barely sleep or eat. Though Osha offered the violet-eyed girl food and fairly gave Myra as much time to sleep as Myra gave her. Myra felt too anxious to do anything other than focus on the road, on getting to Robb, and keeping the children safe. Carrying Bran to nearby by forest growth in order for him relieve himself became Myra's task, which was partially because he was most comfortable with her and also because they were able to finish the task quickly. Myra could not make herself calm, the fear of being followed gnawed at her constantly. The healthy wolves offered protection by patrolling close by as the wagon crossed the terrain, only a week before Shaggydog had appeared with a bloody torn piece of cloth from an Iron Island soldier's attire between his teeth.
Summer had regained his full strength by the time they had come to a river, to which the only true crossing lay west at the Twins according to Bran. They had begun travelling west until Myra spotted relatively shallow and narrow part of the river where a large log had been caught and had stymied some of the fast flowing water. Osha and Myra had spent an entire day and part of an evening with their skirts pulled up around their thighs, easing the wagon slowly across the river all the time anxiously watching the log jerking in the current. Thankfully the wagon had been moving with less effort since the Summer's weight was no longer added to the bodies it carried. Rickon cheered when they that made it across. Myra and Osha could not speak they had only hugged each other tightly.
On their journey Osha had entertained them with stories from beyond the Wall. She spoke of the Whitewalkers, and a cold Wildling leader named Mance Rayder, and of how Benjen Stark of the Night's Watch was a familiar person to her. She talked of skin-changers or Wargs. People who became so closely bonded to some animals that they were able to see through their eyes, even live in their bodies, and gain a certain degree of foresight. She said that she had seen it happen first hand, and that it would undoubtedly happen with the Stark wolves and children, and that when it did they all had to be careful to not to give into the beast urges that skin-changing awakened within people.
It did not take Osha long to convince Rickon that her stories were true. Bran took a little longer while Myra had yet to be entirely persuaded. As they neared the Riverlands, Myra had almost stopped sleeping all together, even the horses had more rest in a day than she seemed to. She would give her portions of the dwindling food to the rest of them. Osha had often told Myra she would be of no use to anyone if she was half dead, to which Myra would lamely respond to with the fact that she could not seem help what was happening to her.
She had to keep going.
It was yet another night upon which Myra had forgotten to wake Osha to take her shift driving the wagon. Myra blinked, one moment seeing the starry sky and the crest of a grassy hill before her to suddenly seeing a blurrily vision of a series of tents. She could smell food cooking and hear fuzzy voices speaking. Myra purposely blinked a few times, thinking that the lack of sleep was finally getting to her. She felt a sudden wave of tiredness slam against her, as her vision blurred out into black she thought she heard a calm sound become crystal clear.
So starting next week updates Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hopefully not gonna break down mid-semester.