BLACKWATER BAY

"How in the seven hells am I supposed to escape Kings Landing?" I seethe through my teeth. The walls have ears, I have to do my best to be sure none of Cerseis spies overhear.

"I will hide away some weapons for you," Tyrion continues, also maintaining a whisper. "When the battle begins all women, perhaps even including yourself, will be brought to a room for safekeeping. I do not doubt that you can easily escape in all the chaos."

I shake my head reluctantly. "It'll never work. I may be of little use but Sansa is too valuable. Cersie will never let her out of her sight."

Tyrion laugh under his breath. "I think you forget how much my sister enjoys to drink."

He's right. I had taken note of the Queen Mothers consumption of alcohol in the past. During a time of crisis though she wouldn't be so foolish as to consume enough to inebriate herself. Then again…

"When do you expect their arrival?"

"Perhaps a month from now, maybe less."

I caress the wrapping about my waist. It is unlikely I will be fully healed in time. If we were to get captured I doubt there is anything Joffrey could do to prevent his mother from killing me on the spot. But maybe in all of the fighting we will be lost to sight. Maybe.

"I will try," I relent.

Tyrion plops his hand down atop mine and gives a relieved smile.

He leaves shortly after taking the last swig of his second cup of wine and I am left alone once more. The silence and confining walls make me feel more ill than the would I posses.

Sansa comes and goes, refusing to inform me of whatever Cersei had said to her the previous day. Shae comes just as much to ensure I am not doing anything to agitate my injury and to pass on bits of information from Tyrion. Namely the location he hopes to place the weapons to be used for our escape. To each one he mentions I deny for they are all too obvious. I eventually convince him to merely place them inside an old stairwell that I had frequented during my migraines. I knew them to be the most empty in all of the Red Keep.

This planning took all but two weeks and it was in those two weeks that I had gained a strange semblance of peace for the first time whilst imprisoned in Kings Landing. Although, the peace had been disrupted one night.

I had ingested a rather large dose of milk of the poppy before I had been reluctantly placed in bed by Shae. I had paced so much throughout the day that my wounds had started to reopen and when Shae saw the tiny slip of blood coming through my shift she forced me onto my mattress. The healing remedy quickly lulling me into a dreamless sleep. At least until the smell of blood filled my nostrils and a warm air flashed across my face. My eyes wouldn't open and for the longest time I believed myself to be dreaming, but when I awoke the next day to find a jar containing the decapitated head of a cat I knew the dream had been a reality.

I can't help but wonder as to why Joffrey would visit me while I was sleeping, let alone why he'd leave the jar beside me. Perhaps as a sick reminder that I was still his plaything. Something that would be toyed with once I was well enough to do so.

Many others had come and gone. All save one.

000000000000

Another week and Shae finally let me go on walks. Doing them without her supervision was a challenge though. But this day I was able to escape her watchful eye down to the beachside. It was a tiny alcove apart from the docking bay of Kings Landing, most likely the one that Stannis would use to invade. It was silent and smelled of salt and wind. A sent that the port of Kings Landing wouldn't allow.

I removed my sandals and let my toes seep into the sand as the tiny blue waves crashed and foamed over my toes. It was a tiny taste of freedom that I hadn't been able to savor these last few weeks. I embraced it warmly making a mental note to bring Sansa here.

I heard a crunch behind me as sand shifted under a heavy boot.

"You didn't visit me."

There is no reply as the crunching sound of sand grows closer.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

I keep staring out towards the sea and I reply, "In all honestly, I was afraid. Not just of what you would say, but of what everyone would say. What Joffrey would do. What Cersie would do. What would happen to me. To Sansa." I take in another salty breath. "And what you would think of me."

"I wouldn't have thought anything."

I felt a pain stab into my chest that hurt perhaps even more than the tearing of my stomach.

"We're leaving," I say after a long moment of crashing silence.

"How?"

"When Stannis attacks," I reply. "There'll be enough turmoil that I me be able to smuggle us away."

Silence.

I open my mouth to ask, to know if he'll come with us. But the words don't escape my lips. After a few more seconds the heavy boots turn and crunch their way back through the sand and towards the Red Keep.

I spin around then.

"Sandor!"

He stops but doesn't turn to face me.

"I'm sorry."

I know he hears me, but again he says nothing. Just picks up his foot and starts to walk away once more.

I taste the tear before I even realize it has run down my cheek. It tastes like the ocean breeze, but there is a bitterness in the tear. A bitterness that speaks of the realization that I may never see him again.

00000000

The arrival of Stannis was made clear early in the night when the ships lights were spotted about three miles off the coast of Blackwater Bay. Preparations were made for all high class women to be escorted to safety, but we had been instructed to meet in the Grand Hall. When Sansa, Shae, and I entered no one had had yet to arrive and armed soldiers were running every which way to prepare for the battle that was to come.

Tyrion, Bron, and… I believe Tyrion said his squire's name was Podrick, were up in the landing discussing last minute battle plans. The little man had not honored me with the knowledge of how he was going to defend this crappy place for the outnumbered soilders sailing our way, but I don't doubt that his plan may actually work. Just another reason for Sansa and I to flee this place.

Bronn was the first to break from the group and passed by us as he left. He bowed lowly towards us, whispering in my ear as he passed by: "I wish you luck." I nodded my head in thanks as he headed out towards the defending lines.

Tyrion came up closely behind him, followed by Podrick. "Lady Sansa, Eliza," he paused briefly on Shae before saying her name. The girl had also been let in on the plan and knew her role to play, a confirmative nod displayed her knowledge was still intact.

He then looked on me with confusion. "Surely you have all been instructed to join the other highborn ladies in Maegor's holdfast to wait out the battle. What is it you are doing in the grand Hall?"

"She has my Lord," Sansa explains. "But King Joffrey sent for me to see him off."

No sooner do the words leave her mouth does the vulgar sound of Joffreys voice rush into my ears.

"Sansa!" he declares, making his way towards us with his guards closely flanking him. Sandor included.

Sandor has his elaborate dog helm clamped over his head, but I can still feel his eyes on me as he stops at Joffrey's side a few feet away from us.

"Sansa, come here!" Joffrey cries like the wine of a child.

"We will pray for your safe return my Lord," Sansa says with a bow before turning towards Joffrey.

"Will she now?" Tyrion questions under his breath so that only I can hear.

"You and Shae have been the only two people to show her kindness," I say quietly. "As have you shown me." I turn and bow politely and whisper, "Thank you my lord."

"I wish you safe travels," he replies under his own breath before turning off towards a fight I fear he may not return from. Though I hope he does.

"Eliza!" Joffrey hisses my name and I quickly slide over to join Sansa, leaving Shae behind to say her own silent goodbyes.

"Your king rides forth to battle," Joffrey decrees. "YOu should see him off with a kiss." He pulls a sword from his side, one I have strangely never seen before. "My new blade," the boy adds, confirming my suspicions. "Hearteater, I've named it. Kiss it."

Sansa reluctantly leans down and places her lips upon the shiny new blade that I doubt will ever see a drop of blood spilt on it. At least, not by Joffrey's hand on this battlefield. He of course goes on to boast about slaying his uncle but it is only a foolish childe's pretense. If Stannis were to come even a step in Joffreys direction it would be Sandor who'd slay him. I wish he'd take off that ridiculous helmet. I want to just see his face one last time before I go. To see those kind eyes hiding behind the rough exterior.

"They say my brother Robb always goes where the fighting is thickest," Sansa utters, grasping my attention back to the conversation. "And he is only a pretender."

"Your brothers time will come," Joffrey growls. "They you can lick his blood off Hearteater too." The proud fool stomps off, but not before stopping beside me and whispering, "She may lick his blood, but I will force you to eat the heart of the man that you were to marry."

I ball my fists at my side and fight the desire to swing them on him as we walks past.

Sandor slides past me without a glance and follows Joffrey into battle.

"Stay safe," I mumble.

"Some of those men will never come back," Shae says, coming over towards us.

"Joffrey will," Sansa says, an edge of ice and despair in her voice. The worst one's always live.

000000000

It is only when Stannis is just off the coast that all women and children are rushed into a holding area deep beneath the castles. But even as far down as we are the sound of cannon fire is still loud within my ears. I can almost hear the sounds of men screaming as well.

Shortly after our arrival Cersie had taken her first drink, now she was on her fifth. Tyrion had been right about her nervous drinking habit. When she reached her third cup she had asked Sansa to come beside her, instructing me to stay behind. Shae sat close beside me, continuously glancing back and forth from Sansa and the Queen Mother to Ilyn Payne. The mute had been the only man allowed in the rooms and he was the only one guarding the door that led to the exit. I suppose not many people would expect a bunch of court women to flee towards the battle. Good thing I'm not a court woman.

"I can sneak out now and go retrieve the weapons from the stairwell," I whisper into Shae's ear. "Can you bring Sansa to her chambers and I will retrieve her there?"

The handmaid, my friend, nods before slowly gliding in front of me, hiding me within the shadows. I slither back farther into them, following the length of the wall to where Ilyn Payne stands. Luck must be on my side for he is summoned by the Queen Mother, allowing me to easily pass through undetected.

Once out I run as fast as I can towards the abandoned stairwell. With every step I take a tiny pain lights in my stomach, eventually forcing me to apply pressure to the wound to ensure that the skin stay still. By the time I reach the isolated tower the pain has lessened to a dull ache and I am able to climb the stairs without concern.

As I scale the dark stairwell a sudden brightness takes hold of the stairs making the occasional torches glow look like a firefly. That's strange though…. This light… it's… green.

I pass by a tiny window which just so happens to be looking out onto Blackwater Bay and…. It's on fire. But not just any fire.

"Wildfire? Where the hell did they get wildfire!"

The flames dance in my eyes and a sudden realization hits.

"Sandor…"

I shake the thought from my head. He'll be fine. He can handle himself. I have something more important to do.

The sword and daggers are exactly where I instructed: between two hollowed out bricks next to the fifth torch of the stairwell. It feels good to hold weapons again, and not just any, mine. The weapons that I had arrived with in Kings Landing had been stored in the armory when Bronn had found them. He had apparently insisted that they be returned. Never doubt a sellswords value in his blade. If I ever chance upon him again I'll have to thank him.

I had been so enthralled by the feel of the long lost weapons in my hands I hadn't heard the chink of metal until I glanced down the stairwell. I raised my blade up, feeling the weight balance comfortably in my hand as the form made its way around the corner. I took my stance and leaped as the figure came into the lights.

Blade met blade as my feet collided onto the step above him.

"I knew I'd fucking find you here," he growls, pressing his weight where our swords meet. "I see you got your sword back."

I pull my arms back and let my sword fall to my side.

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," he replies. "You said you were leaving. I'm coming with you."

"But the king?"

"Fuck the King," Sandor smirks, before reaching out his hand for mine.

I smirk back and laugh as I say, "Fuck the king."