They were lead back out into the forest, not following any trail just putting distance between them and that cave. Saebyl's feet caught on twigs and rocks with every other step. Her annoyance grew quickly.
"Can we just take the fucking hoods off now?" She whined after stubbing her toe and a particularly large rock.
"I think we could do. Now, wait here, count to sixty, then take the hoods off. Do not follow us, best make your own way." Anguy's voice rang out.
"Leave us, you fucking cowards." Sandor snapped back. The sounds of the men leaving started Sae's count down. After the sixty seconds the pair pulled off their hoods.
"They left that goddamn horse." Sae said dejectedly, staring the great beast in the eye. Apparently not even the Brotherhood wanted to deal with it.
"You're lucky they did." The Hound replied, throwing their bags back onto his back. He pulled the horse in the opposite direction he heard the brotherhood leave.
"What do you think you're doing?" The blonde inquired, staring at him like he had made such an obvious mistake.
"Leaving, what does it look like?" He growled back.
"In the wrong direction. They went that way." She pointed in the direction that they came from.
"Why would we go that way? I don't know if you noticed, girl, but they tried to kill me and took you hostage or is your dream to be raped by the fire god?" He got right in her face in attempts to scare and demean her. They were both in horrendous and irritable moods after this ordeal but Sae was more than prepared to fight back.
"They have the Stark girl, you moron or are you as stupid as you are ugly?" She snapped, rolling her eyes.
"We don't need the wolf pup." Turning his back to her, he finished readying the horse.
Sae let out an exasperated sigh, "How much do you think that the Stark's would pay for her? You rescue the girl from these Men Without Banners, negotiate your way into their employ. Tell them how you tried protecting Sansa from Joffrey's wrath, tried to get her out of King's Landing! You have a witness." She indicated to herself.
"Why would I work for the Starks?" Sandor towered over her.
"Because where the fuck else are we supposed to go? You have any great plans? What's the worst that could happen? We return the girl, get some gold and make a plan from there." She sighed, getting fed up with his thick skull.
"Full of plans and schemes aren't you, clever girl?" He said almost accusingly.
"Clever ideas that will get us somewhere better than here! Now tell me it's not a good idea." She tested. They stood, eyes locked on one another, waiting for the other to back down.
"Aye, it's a good plan but we have to find them first, now get on the horse." He sneered. Saebyl could have slapped him.
They were on the right track. They had found the road and were a safe enough distance behind the Brotherhood. Small clues were left here and there, and they had found their abandoned camps. Once, they were nearly caught, rode too close and the hunting party nearly spotted them. But they trailed behind and waited for the opportune moment to strike. They'd settle a fair distance away, taking turns sleeping as to not get , during the day that they managed to snag a rabbit for their dinner. After Sandor had skinned it, Sae got to work on cooking it over the small fire. It was heavenly to have something other than the same rations they had been surviving off of.
"Where'd you learn to cook like this, girl?" Sandor asked after he tore into the game.
"My mother taught me. She taught me everything, so I would be prepared for any situation. Of course, she stressed me becoming a proper lady of court, not some servant to cook for everyone else." She chuckled. "Look at me now, mum!" She said to the heavens. "I haven't done much cooking since I was a girl."
"Not so long ago." The Hound retorted, food in his mouth.
"Long enough." She glared back and pulled chunks of meat delicately off the carcass. "You shouldn't speak with food in your mouth, you know."
"Wasn't taught to be a proper Lord." He replied in between bites. Sae flared her nostrils in disgust.
"Hard to believe you have no wife." She responded sarcastically.
"Not hard to believe you found your way in to Tywin's bed." He was trying to get a rise out of her again. When she did not respond, he tried a different tactic. "How come Robert didn't have you killed when you went to King's Landing? That man hated the Targaryens."
"Is my name Targaryen?" She raised her eyebrow. "I am a bastard, and I was not so foolish as to flaunt what my paternal bloodline was, played dumb when questions were asked. Not that I could even give an answer, my mother would never tell me who my father was. Probably one of the lesser Targaryens that got slaughtered by our late King." She shrugged, "Besides, Robert was too drunk and lazy to come after Tywin's mistress. No one wants to anger that old lion, it's rather remarkable." Sae let out a little wistful laugh. "He was just a man, like anyone else-" Her thoughts trailed off for a moment and she toyed with her pendant around her neck.
"I know Cersei tried to get Robert to cast me out, imprison me or hang me, something- anything to get me out of her sight." She actually let out a laugh recalling a memory, "I heard them fighting about it. 'You think I'm going to hang your father's whore because you suspect she's a Targaryen? I don't have time for your paranoid delusions, woman! You don't like her because she fucked your father, get over it!'" Saebyl did her best impression of the late King Robert, puffing out her chest and holding out her arms to indicate Robert's rotund frame and using her deepest voice. The Hound made a noise somewhat like a laugh. "I didn't give him a reason to hang me. Actually, I think he rather liked me, or at least he liked how mad his wife got when she saw me. Never put hands on me- though I suspect that he didn't dare when he knew who I had belonged to... Then the oaf went and got himself killed." She shook her head sadly.
"Shame that was. Joffrey was much more tolerable as a prince then he was a king." He added.
Sae smirked, "I'll drink to that." The pair raised their bottles in the air and continued their meal in silence for a long moment. "Why'd you leave?" She finally asked the question that had been bothering her since they had left King's Landing.
"They were going to burn the city, there was fire everywhere. Had to leave." He replied solemnly.
"That's it? You left for because of fire, you betrayed the King because of it?" They had travelled what seemed like an age now, and they had learned next to nothing about each other. Sae had so many things she wanted to know, but their frosty moods never seemed to allow a question and answer period.
"Fuck the King." The Hound literally spat, much to his companion's displeasure. "Little twat left the battle, too scared. Stannis was on the other side of the wall, fighting the front lines with his men, and our King couldn't be bothered to stand at a wall heavily guarded..." he sighed heavily, "Wish we had wine."
"They must have won though, if Tywin's men were looking for me. Must have come back." She finally voiced her fears.
"Probably, girl. Tywin doesn't easily give up his possessions, still haven't worked out why he left you in such poor care with the Queen." He drank deep from the water bottle, imagining wine in its place.
"Believe me, I spent night after night wondering the same thing. I thought he had tired of me, I couldn't, well... after my child was taken from me, the Maester advised on how to recover." She said delicately, twisting her pendant in her hand nervously. "I had to turn him away, he was not pleased. Not long after he went back to Casterly Rock, leaving me with his drunken bitch of a daughter."
Sandor gave a smirk, "Aye, I remember her face when she was told that you were to be in her company. She sooner would have joined the Night's Watch before letting you in."
"People do not disobey Tywin Lannister." A small smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. They fell back into their silence. The Hound winced painfully when he twisted his arm to get at the meat on the rabbit. Sae looked at him and frowned.
"You're arm is hurt." She pointed out.
"It's fine." He grumbled, pulling it close to himself and away from the firelight.
"No it's not." She grabbed his arm forcefully and brought it closer to the light, she saw him flinch again and felt him pull back. "Fucking Berric, that wasn't fair. A flaming sword- what a ponce." She hissed.
She leaned to get her bag, she had a small kit inside with a few medical salves, thread and needle, and some bandages. She had had an emergency escape bag hidden in her chambers long before the war had broken out. She had made it as soon as she heard that she would be working for the Queen. She had a small box of a paste that was meant to soothe burns from the sun but she figured a burn from fire could not be that different. Carefully, she administered the paste.
"Does that hurt?" She asked, it was oddly tingling on her finger tips.
"No." He replied, watching her carefully. The burn was nowhere near as bad as the one on his face. There would probably be a scar, but it would be minimal.
"Now, I don't know if I should wrap it, or wait for it to dry. I'm not a Maester." She said as she carefully covered the last piece of skin.
"Wrap it and have done with it. What's one more scar?" He snapped.
Saebyl looked him in the eye and frowned, "Fine." she replied curtly and quickly wrapped his arm, making it slightly too tight that it would be uncomfortable. She put her things back in her back and kicked out the fire so not to be spotted.
As the sun went down, the pair moved closer to the Brotherhood's camp. They had taken up in another cave. Sandor made the comment of them being like rats, always hiding in holes, to afraid to show their faces. They retreated back a fair distance, by a huge oak tree, so not to be discovered.
"Up the tree, girl." He ordered, the moon was out a bright overhead and he could clearly see her expression of disbelief.
"Excuse me?" She crossed her arms.
"You heard me, up the tree. I'm going to scout ahead, see if I can't pick off any stragglers. You need to be hidden." He explained gruffly.
"What about the horse? It's not coming up the tree with me." The great black beast grunted in approval.
"Better take the horse then take you. They won't rape the horse." It was a hard case to argue, Sae swore that that stupid animal looked at her with a smirk.
"Fine, but I'll need a hand." She caved, pushing the horse's face away from her.
"Here, take this too." He withdrew a small blade from his belt, much like the one he had given her during the riot. The one that sat in the bottom of her pack.
"No need," she pulled up her skirts quickly and unstrapped Bronn's dagger off her thigh.
"How long have you been hiding that one, girl?" Sandor asked with mild surprise.
Sae chuckled, "Since King's Landing. I guess I don't need to hide it anymore." She hooked it to her own belt. Sandor shook his head and knelt to the ground, cupping his hands. Saebyl put her dainty boot in his hands and had to bite back a scream at the speed he lifted her up towards the tall overhanging branch. She scrambled onto the branch and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Go higher." He called up to her.
"I'm not a bloody acrobat." She spat back.
"You will be, girl or you'll be the Brotherhood's new play thing." Sandor turned his back on the stranded maiden and stalked towards the cave.
"Fucking dog." She hissed under her breath and she carefully climbed up two more branches, hiding in a particularly leafy patch.
She sat and waited for what seemed like half the night, the moon hung high in the sky. She was sore from being awkwardly hunched in the branch and nearly fell when a large owl swooped past her. Her blood went cold when she heard cracking branches of someone moving quickly through the woods. Sae pulled her pretty dagger from its sheath and braced herself.
"Come down girl, we have to move now." He barked up the tree. She could make out the massive shadowy figure throwing something big on the horse. Sae manoeuvred delicately down the tree without injury and was hauled behind Sandor on the horse from the last branch.
They rode through the forest, occasionally being told to duck, until they couldn't hear anyone following them. They came to a small clearing with a very large tree and stopped. Sae jumped off as quickly as she could, before that blasted horse got any tricky ideas. The Hound followed pulling something off with him. They had ridden too hard and fast for Sae to figure out what he had brought back with him.
"Arya?" She advanced on the little girl and brushed her raggedly cut locks from her face. Dark chocolate eyes stared back at her. "Are you hurt?"
"No." She replied vacantly. The blonde frowned, remembering the young Stark to be a lot more vivacious.
"Are you sure?" She tried looking for any scrapes or bruises but the dim lighting of the moon was no help.
"Look, I'm as good as I'm going to be. Leave me alone." The younger girl snapped. Sae instantly pulled her hands back in defence.
"Get some sleep. We leave at first light." The Hound growled, returning from tying up the horse. They each found a piece of ground away from each other and tried to sleep. As Sae was drifting off, she thought she heard Arya's voice muttering something, but was too tired to find out what.
In the morning, Saebyl was awake before anyone. She silently made a small fire, it was a talent she never knew she had but it was becoming increasingly useful, and warmed her hands. She could hardly remember the last time she was actually warm since leaving the Capital, cold seem to be set into her very core and she was just learning to cope with it.
Quickly growing bored of having to wait for the other two to wake, she got up and walked into the bushes, maybe through some miracle she'd snag a rabbit or squirrel. While walking, she noted some particular plants along the road. Medicinal herbs, she recognized them from her reading, she had actually brought a small journal with her that recorded some helpful foliage that grew in Westeros. She plucked a few of the leaves, figuring it couldn't hurt to have and turned back to the camp.
"What in Seven hells are you doing?" Saebyl exclaimed, returning to the camp finding Arya with a large rock held over her head, preparing to bring it down on the Hound's skull.
"Girl and I were having a chat. Where the hell were you?" He shot back.
"Foraging." She replied. "We should have been doing this from the beginning. Look medicinal plants." Sae revealed her bounty to her companions.
"How do you know those won't kill us?" Arya asked hesitantly, putting the rock down.
"I've read about them and-" She ran to her pack and fished around to the bottom, withdrawing the small book. "I can double check but I'm usually pretty good at remembering things I've read." The smug grin on her face radiated arrogance.
"Don't expect me to go poking around the bushes for berries. Come." Sandor said, hauling himself off the ground and packing up their things. He threw Arya onto the horse and moved towards Sae.
"I'll walk, I'm done riding that thing." The Targaryen bastard frowned hard at the black beast, whom snorted back. "I'll forage for berries." She replied snidely.
"You fall behind, you stay behind. I'm not coming back for you." Sandor said menacingly, towering above her.
"I won't fall behind." She shot, planting her feet firmly in the ground, glaring back.
They continued on, the once fiery and pugnacious Stark girl, was dead eyed and listless. Saebyl trotted behind them, filling her pack with herbs she found on the road, content not to be on horseback. They had made a plan to go to the Twins, Sandor had over heard some of the Brotherhood discuss a wedding between Edmure Tully and one of the Frey girls, Arya's mother and brother would be there. Along the road they encountered a man with a wagon, the wheel had broken off. Sae was a pace behind them and just saw him mutter something at the girl as he pulled her off.
"What's going on?" She asked, jogging up to the pair.
"You're my daughter," he pointed at Arya, then turned to Sae,"and you're my wife. I'll do the talking." and he stalked off towards the man.
"I got the short end of the stick." The blonde joked, the girl just glanced up at her with a blank expression.
They waited patiently by the horse watching as Sandor help hoist the full wagon so the man could replace the wheel. It made Sae gasp and jump when out of nowhere he cracked the wagon driver over the head, knocking him out. Arya leapt into action when Sandor drew his knife. Sae ran after her to referee this match between the two.
"Don't!" The small girl pushed the Hound. "Don't kill him!"
"Dead rats don't squeak." he replied intimidatingly.
"You're so dangerous aren't you. Saying scary things to little girls. Killing little boys and old people." He glared down at her. "A real hard man, you are." Sae tentatively came up behind. This was the most Arya had said since they came in their company.
"More then anyone you know." Sandor replied.
"You're wrong, I know a killer." The little Stark replied with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on her lips. "A real killer."
The Hound was unimpressed, "That so?"
"You'd be like a kitten to him. He'd kill you with his little finger." Sae couldn't help but admire the girl and her confidence.
"That him?" Sandor nodded to the man on the ground.
Arya looked and shrugged, "No."
"Good." he moved to try to get past the girl, but she shoved him hard again.
"Don't kill him, please." She was definitely stubborn. "Please don't."
There was a long pause, and a glance to Saebyl, who nodded in agreement with the girl. The sword was sheathed.
"You're very kind. Someday it will get you killed." Again he tried to be menacing. Sae walked between the two before more words could turn heated but the groans of the man in the mud grabbed their attention. He sat up, and looked as if he were about to say something but Arya had walked over and bashed him over the head again. She stalked back to the horse. Sandor looked at the girl, then back to Sae, who shrugged.
"She's your daughter." She replied and turning back to the horse.
Now that they had taken the wagon, she didn't have to ride that damned horse anymore and she couldn't have been happier. Saebyl sat proudly in front of the wagon, after figuring out how to drive the mule pulling it, and rode in relative comfort. The smell of pig was getting to her, but it did mean they would have something other than rabbit and that was an encouraging thought.
"Stop for a moment." Sandor called up to her from the horse. Sae pulled the reigns and the wagon came to a stop. She happily hopped off.
"I'm a natural, did you see me? I can pull off the part of a pig farmers wife." She exclaimed very proudly.
"Aye, natural, except your boots cost more than what a pig farmer's wife eats in a year." The Hound replied cruelly, as he lifted Arya off the horse. She rolled her eyes and hopped in the back of the wagon, looking for some good pieces of meat to cook. Sandor unhooked the mule to let it graze with the horse, the animals needed a break.
Sae threw a chunk of a pig flank off the side of the wagon. "Could you put that on that flat rock there?" She ordered to the Hound.
"I'm not your servant, girl." He growled at her.
"Do you want a decent meal? It's going to be a few hours before we make it down there and you'll be starving in an hour. You're a foul mood at the best of times, and worse when you're hungry. Plus, if we're going to meet the King of the North, you need to be civilized." She crossed her arms and gave him a withering stare from atop the wagon. Before he could retort, Arya had already grabbed the piece of meat and carried it to the rock Sae had indicated.
"Do you have a knife, I need to butcher this more." She asked, still with that deadpanned lifeless look. Sae rummaged in her bag and pulled Sandor's old dagger he had given her so long ago. The girl took it and immediately got to work.
"Another knife, how many do you keep on you?" Sandor asked, watching the Stark girl work.
"That one is yours, you gave it to me when we went back for Sansa at the riot." Arya's eyes picked up for a brief second at the mention of her sisters name. "You can have it back, if you wish."
"No, it's better if you keep it. I've got." He touched the new small blade on his belt.
"Thank you." She said quietly and moved to help with their lunch.
Arya made quick work of the pig, telling Sae that she had seen it done many times in the kitchen. Not being a girl who was interested in learning to sew or sing, she had often found herself making friends with the lower class. The woman listened carefully to the girl, not wanting to stop talking, she had been worried about her. A little bit of light returned to her eyes when she talked about life in Winterfell. It made Sae smile, she instantly liked the girl after hearing about some of her exploits around the keep.
They cooked the pork, Arya ate hers on the log overlooking the great stone bridge where she knew her mother and brother were. She would go back and forth, as if it may disappear if she didn't check. Sae left the two for a brief moment to go and relieve herself and possibly find some new herbs. Upon returning, she sensed she had missed another argument. The Stark girl stood staring at at the camp again, the Hound's grimace was deep.
"What in seven hells?" The Targaryen bastard was going to start but was distracted by what was in Sandor's hand. "Trotters? Really? You are disgusting, we just ate." She berated him.
"I eat what I like and I like these." He threw the hoof back into the cart.
"Don't throw it in there, by the Gods! You're impossible." Sae pushed passed him and crawled into the cart, looking for the offending pig's foot.
"We're going, now." He stood up from the cart and it shifted dramatically, throwing Sae off balance.
"Seven hells! What is wrong with you?" She shouted, pulling herself up.
"Come, wolf girl. We have to return you to your mother and brother." He barked at the girl.
They rode the rest of the ways in silence, no one in the mood to speak to each other. Even if they did, they wouldn't have a pleasant thing to say. Saebyl was content enough on the cart, even if the mule smelled worse than the ruddy horse. Her backside was happier on the seat than the saddle.
The ride took longer then she had expected, the sun was setting as they neared the camp. Sandor again pulled them aside, demanding they stop, before any Stark or Frey men could question them.
"Off the wagon." He ordered as he dismounted, Sae was just going to argue but in two strides he was already hauling her off. "Girl, get in." He gestured to Arya to get in the back, who obeyed.
"What about me?" Saebyl glared up to the intimidating man.
"Stay here, stay out of sight. Hold on to that pretty little knife of yours." He growled.
"Why can't I come?" She stamped her foot.
"Too dangerous, these are soldiers and they haven't seen a decent woman in months. Bringing you in there would be like dangling a piece of raw meat in front of a starving animal. Stay here, I will return the girl and come back for you. I'm sure Robb Stark will give you safe passage, he will want to hear of his other sister."
"You better not leave me here." She pouted, she understood why he made her stay but she didn't have to like it.
"Tell me, girl- does that sound like something I would do?" There was a tense silence.
Sae shook her head, "No, of course not. Go, I'll be waiting, eager to meet the King of the North." She nodded to Arya, giving her a small smile. Sandor quickly switched the old mule for his horse so that they would travel faster and Saebyl sat out of sight of the road, waiting for Sandor and possible safety to return.