FRACTURED MOONLIGHT ON THE SEA
Fire

Kaelyn had spend the whole night thinking of a plan for the following day. Firstly she was going to give Theon water and food and then she was going to distract Ramsay so he did not see them escape. It was not a crazy plan, it could very well work, but if it would not work, the consequences would be great.

It was raining when Kaelyn stepped outside in the morning air. The courtyard was deserted and to her surprise there weren't any guards at the Maester's Tower. When she opened the door to the cellar she found out why: Theon was gone.

The cross was empty and only his black hood and the ropes that were tied around his hands and feet were left behind.

Her heart dropped and her mouth fell open. Am I dreaming? Kaelyn tried to pinch herself and it hurt, indicating this was indeed real life.

She looked around the room one more time, but it was completely empty. Kaelyn started to panic, if Theon was not here, where was he? She had to find out.

Returning to the courtyard, Kaelyn found a group of soldiers, laughing while drinking ale and wine from their skins. She approached them from behind, her back towards the sun, and asked them in her most convincing manly-voice where Theon was. While she spoke, she could feel her heart starting to pound louder and louder.

"He'll be back soon" one soldier laughed. "He and Ramsay went on a little ride."

Ride? Kaelyn did not understand what he meant but by the looks of it, Ramsay got to him before she could. Why could nothing ever go according to plan?

Kaelyn nodded and turned around again, her right hand on the sword hanging from her hip. Luckily the men went straight back to drinking and laughing and she was able to walk away without any problems.

There was only one thing left to do. Wait. Wait for his return and hope he'd return in one piece.

Kaelyn had hid herself in one of the towers on the walls of Winterfell. Here she had a perfect view of the surrounding areas. To be safe, she did not lit a torch, no one could know she was up here.

The waiting was long and boring, and Kaelyn found herself drifting asleep a few times. She could not remember the last time she had slept and it started to take its toll on her. Sadly there was no time for sleeping, she had to be able to act immediately once she spotted him.

She guessed she had been there for at least half a day when she finally spotted faint lights in the far distance. This is it, that's him. Kaelyn shot up and closed her eyes a little so she could see better. There were only two horses, one for Ramsay and one for Theon. There was no doubt it was him.

Kaelyn quickly descended the stairs of the tower and went to the castle to prepare for their escape.

She watched them from opposite of the yard as they put their horses back in the stables. From the looks of it, Theon had not been hurt and she wondered why he wasn't tied up. He was a prisoner was he not? In fact, he actually did not look too bad as Ramsay led him out of the stables back to the castle.

Theon and Ramsay entered the Maester's Tower, the same place where they were holding Theon earlier. Why did he go with him? Kaelyn thought. Why isn't he running away? There were so many questions, but she did not have any time to question Ramsay's motives. There was only one thing she could do: prepare and wait for their escape tonight.

Kaelyn pulled her helmet further over her eyes and made sure her hair was still safely secured inside before she stepped out on the yard again. She still was in need of some supplies for her plan and the only place she knew she could find them was inside of the Maester's Tower, but obviously she could not enter the tower, not with Ramsay inside.

She knew she borrowed some vials from Maester Luwin to study, some of them could perhaps be of help. Kaelyn turned to her home. When she opened the unlocked door, she expected to see her mother standing behind the cooker preparing another delicious dinner while her little sister was sewing away, but the house was empty. It made her wonder where her mother and sister were. She could only hope they were safe.

By the looks of it her whole house had been raided empty. All the pots and pans were gone, and even one of the chairs was missing. Her room shared the same fate. The vials were all gone as were the furs that had once laid on her bed. Seeing the house in this state made her sad. Winterfell would never be the same.

Kaelyn sat down on her bed, staring at the emptiness all around her. She closed her eyes and dreamed of the Wolfswood where she had trained with Theon. She dreamed of the needlework she gave to him. She dreamed of the bow he had given to her.

Her eyes opened. Of course! The bow he had given to me! Kaelyn had been searching for a bow for quite some time now, but most of Bolton's men seemed to fight with a sword. She moved off the bed and started to push it from the wall. She had to hide it from her father and to be honest she had completely forgotten all about it. But luckily, the bow was still there.

Kaelyn carefully took the bows in her hand. It was as beautiful as she remembered. She couldn't believe she had not thought of this before. After taking the bow and arrows, she pushed the bed back. Even though she did not find the vials, the bow made up for it.

Clutching the bow tightly to her chest, Kaelyn stepped out on the yard. She had decided to hide in Sansa's chamber again and wait until nightfall to execute her plan. She hoped the men would all be drunk again by then and their escape could come easy.

Please let us escape. Let us escape and let us not be found. Kaelyn prayed to the old gods, the new gods, to every god that would listen. They had to escape tonight or they could not escape at all.

The castle was gloomy in the dark. It was lit by just a few torches and Kaelyn had a hard time seeing everything as she had not taken hers. She wanted to draw as little attention to herself as possible. The courtyard was empty as the soldiers were drinking again, just as Kaelyn expected. She couldn't blame them. No one was attempting to retake Winterfell so they could do what they liked.

The stables were just as dark as the rest of the castle, but still Kaelyn double checked if there really wasn't anyone present. The light of the moon shone through the windows, revealing no one present but the horses. Kaelyn ignored the animals, it was their saddles she wanted.

The saddles were stored in an outbuilding attached to the stables and luckily, the door leading to it was unlocked. Stupid of them, Kaelyn thought. There were more saddles than horses, but still Kaelyn meant to disable them all. Because of the war, horses were getting scarcer and scarcer, a lot of them had been a victim to the violence all around them. Kaelyn pitied them. They went into battle not knowing what was happening to them. Why this was happening to them.

She slipped a dagger from underneath her cloak and started working on the first saddle. She thought if she disabled the saddles, the soldier would be unable to ride their horses. Well, some of them could ride their horse as easily without a saddle as with, but there were only a few who could do that. With little effort, the stirrup leather was cut through. Kaelyn nodded in content. This was working as well as she had imagined it.

Few minutes later, the soldiers could no longer use their saddle. Now it was time to get out of there and work on the second phase of her plan. After she had to wait all day, her imagination had taken over and she had come up with all kinds of plans, but in the end she had settled on one.

She crossed the courtyard back to the castle, lighting a torch on the way, she was going to need it later on. For a moment she stopped in front of the great hall, watching the men entertaining themselves with ale, wine and women. Even though she disapproved of the way they handled women, there was nothing she could do about it now.

With her bow safely on her back, Kaelyn shuffled down the hallway towards Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn's old chambers. As it was easily the biggest and most beautiful chamber of the whole castle, Kaelyn figured it was were Ramsay stayed. And if not, her plan would still work.

Kaelyn held her breath as she went around the corner. There was someone at the end of the hallway. She wasn't planning on killing anyone, but if she had to, she would. Keeping her eyes focused on the ground she passed the soldier, nodding once as she passed him. She only dared to breath when the soldier was well out of sight.

She now rushed towards the chamber, the torch still in her hand. She had left her sword at her house, she was not going to use it anyway and it would only be in the way. Once the door was opened, it became clear that indeed someone was staying here. There were clothes scattered around the chamber and there were furs on the bed.

Kaelyn picked up the clothes and put it on the furs on the bed. She also pulled the curtains off the wall and put it on the pile as well. Lastly, she located a bottle of wine on a cabinet. Before pouring it over the pile, she smelled it, but she knew too little of wine to tell were it was from. The Arbor? Dorne?

Because she had to be quick, she already opened the door so she could leave as quick as she could. The only thing left to do was setting the pile on fire. Kaelyn dropped the torch into the pill and because of the alcohol in the wine, it caught fire easily.

There was no time to admire her work, she had to go. This was the only distraction she had. Kaelyn took a different route back, she figured she was less likely to run into any soldier if she took another route. Against her luck, she did encounter one Bolton bannerman, but she quickly by passed him by saying: "There's a fire! Fire in the castle!"

Once she was in the courtyard again, she saw that the fire had spread quickly. Perfect, Kaelyn thought when she saw all the drunk bannermen rushing towards the chamber, trying to put out the fire with buckets of water and blankets.

Kaelyn herself rushed in the opposite direction, towards the Maester's Tower. She took her bow in her hands and put an arrow inside of it, ready to strike if necessary. It had been a while since she had held a bow, but she still felt confident with it.

She pushed the door open. The room was empty except for a raven sitting on top of the wooden table. Corn, it cawed. Corn, corn. Kaelyn ignored the bird, afraid it was going to make more noise if she paid it any attention. As soft as she could she descended the stairs, her bow still in her hands.

"What's going on up there?"

"Don't know. Do you want me to have a look?"

Her heart started to pound faster with each step she took. Just a few more steps before she reached the ground.

"Come back when you've figured out what's happening. Ramsay ordered us to stay here all night."

The guard spotted her too late. Kaelyn had already fired an arrow straight through his heart. The man looked down at the arrow, before looking up, a dazed look on his face. It wasn't long before he coughed up blood and fell down.

That caught the attention of the other guard. She had to act fast or everything would be for nothing. Hips, arms, fingers, Theon once told her. Kaelyn turned her hips sideways, lifted her arms and loosened her fingers. The second arrow missed his heart, but still penetrated his body. To be safe she fired another, and another. The guard fell down on the ground. He tried to say something but nothing but blood came out of his mouth.

Before continuing Kaelyn took a deep breath. There was no time to process the fact that she had just killed two men, she had to focus on Theon.

She found him hanging on the same cross he had hung on before. It confused her, as she saw Ramsay and Theon walking across the yard like they just had been on a stroll down the Wolfswood. It was another warning to her they had to get out of here as soon as possible.

Unlike last time she saw him, he was not hooded. He moved restless as she approached him.

"No, please!" he said. Kaelyn heart broke into a million pieces upon hearing his voice. She doubted she had ever heart someone so scared.

"Shh" she hushed as she revealed herself and threw her bow on the ground. "It's me. We are getting out of here."

"Kaelyn? You came back? No, go away. What if Ramsay finds us?" Theon mumbled.

"He won't" Kaelyn assured him.

Once she got closer to him, she gasped. His right hand only counted four fingers. Where his ring finger once had been, only a cloth stained with blood remained.

I can't let this affect me. We have to go now. If I remain in one place too long, they will find us.

"Lean on me" she told him as she untied his hands and feet. She noticed the wound in his left foot was started to get infected.

She supported him with her right arm as she picked up her bow with her right. Slowly, but as fast as they could, they moved towards the stairs.

"We can't go up there" Theon told her, squeezing her shoulder. "They will find us."

There was a chance they would be seen. Kaelyn hoped the fire would still have all their attention so they could back their way through the castle without being seen.

"I started a fire, they will be busy with putting it out" she said, breathing heavily.

First she went up the stairs by herself, checking if it was safe to cross. Once she made sure that it indeed was safe, she went down again to help Theon up the stairs. She could not imagine how much his feet and finger were hurting. I have to treat it, otherwise he also might loose his foot.

When they reached the top, Kaelyn grabbed one of the woolen blankets laying around and wrapped Theon in it. It would not only conceal him, but also keep him warm against the cold winds of winter.

"It will be okay" she told him once more. "We will be out of here and we will be safe."

Theon nodded but she could still see the doubt in his eyes.

When they stepped out upon the courtyard, Kaelyn started to doubt as well. There were more people running around than she expected. They were busy with the fire, but they could still be seen.

"Get more water!" she heard one yell.

"Sand! Bring up bags of sand!" another one yelled.

They started to move across the yard, staying mostly in the dark. Kaelyn pushed Theon's head down a bit, so his face was covered in shadows. Glancing to her left, she noticed how the fire had spread. Not only the tower was on fire, but it seemed like the whole hallway was lit up in flames.

Like she had hoped, all the men seemed to be occupied with putting out the fire and they made it across the yard without anyone paying attention to her. If they didn't put out the fire quickly, the whole castle would burn down.

"This way" she said, grabbing Theon's hand, leading him inside the part of the castle that wasn't lit up yet.

The scared look in Theon's eyes made her scared as well. She wasn't scared of what was going to happen, she was scared of what was happening with him. Ramsay broke him. He broke him emotionally and physically.

Kaelyn pushed her feelings away as they made their way down to Sansa's chamber. They were getting closer to their escape. Closer to getting out of this living hell. Kaelyn had no idea where they were going to go once they left the castle, but as long as they were together it did not matter.

"You shouldn't go there. The fire has spread."

The voice came from behind her. Kaelyn turned around and stepped in front of Theon. If he recognized him they would be back to square one and everything would have been for nothing.

"We are bringing water to the chambers to stop it from spreading" Kaelyn made up, deepening her voice. She still had her helmet on, but some of her hair had fallen out of it.

"Where are your buckets?" the bannerman asked frowning.

"We left them behind. They were heavy and we first wanted to check the scale of the fire."

She felt Theon trying to move away from her to stand beside her so she quickly moved in front of him again.

The bannerman waited for a moment to reply, which didn't sit well with Kaelyn. She knew he knew that something was going on. There was only one way of getting out of this situation alive.

Kaelyn stepped forward and retrieved her dagger she had stolen and stabbed the man multiple times. She knew that slitting his throat would be quicker and more efficient, but for some reason she could not do that. So much blood had flown the past few days, she wanted to see as little of it as possible.

The man looked down at his stomach and fell down.

"We have to go, now" Kaelyn urged.

They ran down the hallway towards Sansa's chamber. The fire indeed had spread as she felt the heat of it on her skin growing stronger with each step they took.

The door was unlocked and the chamber was empty. She noticed how Theon limped towards her after he closed the door.

"Can you go on? We can rest for a moment if you want" she asked him.

"No" Theon replied.

Kaelyn nodded and traced the outline of the fireplace to find the lever that opened it. She found it much easier this time and the backside opened up, revealing the same passageway her mother and sister had escaped through.

"Let's go."

She let Theon go through first. Before closing the fireplace she looked around the chamber once more, realizing this would be the last time she would ever be in Winterfell. However it didn't matter anymore. Winterfell hadn't been a home to her for a long time now and Kaelyn could not wait for the moment when she found a new home with Theon. A home where they would be safe, safe and sound.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I had my finals and I'm happy to let you know that I passed and I will be graduating from high school, yay! Sadly, GoT has ended so we have to wait another whole year for more Theon :( Enjoy reading and review! :D