XXVIII
She was awoken, terrified, in the middle of the night. Donnel shook her awake, shushing her quietly once her eyes were open. She could hardly see anything; the fire outside their tent must have been stomped out. She lifted herself onto her elbows to see that Donnel had his sword unsheathed. A shiver of fear ran through her.
"Stay very quiet," he warned, a finger still over his mouth in a warning. "I think there are bandits just over the hill. You have a dagger?"
She nodded, feeling as if her tongue was frozen from shock. Her heart thumped heavy in her chest. She felt like it was so loud that the bandits over the ridge might hear it. That must have been why Donnel stomped out their fire, but she hadn't any idea what good it might do. It wasn't as if they could pack up their camp and leave before the bandits stumbled across their path in the moonlight.
"Hold close to your babe. If anyone comes our way, I'll take care of them best I can, but keep one hand on your dagger."
He exited the little tent and Ella was left in darkness. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear everything that was going on around her. There was the gentle crunch of footsteps, light and cautious and she knew they were Donnel's. The breeze brushed through the leaves, owls hooted quietly in the night.
And then, so quietly she wasn't sure if her mind was making it up, she heard a second pair of footsteps. Her heart seemed to drop into her stomach then. She held Benjen close to her chest against her rapidly beating heart, reaching with a trembling hand for the dagger she kept. Someone was here, she knew it. There was the shrill sound of a sword being unsheathed and then grunts and clangs and the sounds of a scuffle outside. There were several voices, only one of them Donnel's, and she felt overcome with fear. Donnel, strong knight though he was, was lanky and slight and she wasn't sure he could take on more than one man at once. She knew she certainly couldn't.
There were several thumps like bodies hitting the ground. Ella wasn't sure she'd ever been this afraid before, not even hidden in the depths of the crypts beneath Winterfell. After several moments, all went quiet. All she could hear was a ragged breath cutting harshly through the night. There was no movement.
"Ella! Ella!" the voice that called for her was weak and strained. And it was Donnel. She started, scrambling up with Benjen in one arm and her dagger in her hand. She slipped out of the tent, looking out into the night. In the light of the moon, she could see several bodies on the ground a few paces away from where they'd made camp. She could just barely make out Donnel's orange curls and hurried to him.
He was hurt, holding a wound on his side. It was bleeding, though not profusely. Casting her dagger aside, she took some of Benjen's swaddling, pressing it against his wound.
"Are you okay?" she asked in a breath of fear. Donnel was breathing raggedly, but he didn't seem to be dying.
"I will be," he promised, and placed his hand over hers on the wound. She instructed him to hold the cloth against his wound and promised she'd be back, taking her dagger and Benjen back to the tent before returning to him. On his good side, she placed his arm over her shoulder and led him back to their camp, pulling him inside the tent despite his protests.
"It's too dark to ride out now," she said, "but I don't know how to help you. Where's the nearest town from here?"
"From here?" Donnel's voice was tight with pain. Ella adjusted him in her bedroll to make him comfortable. "Seagard shouldn't be too far off."
A familiar place. For the first time since she'd met Donnel, Ella felt truly hopeful. Donnel had promised to return her to Robb in the camp, but their trip had been so long. Every day, though they grew closer and closer, Robb seemed to be farther and farther away. But her uncle Jason was Lord of Seagard and he would help her, unless he was off fighting with Robb. If he was away, she was sure that he would have taken his son Patrek with him. He had no wife and would have left his castle in the hands of a trusted steward, who Ella was sure would help her if she explained herself.
She smiled down at Donnel, taking his hands and given them a reassuring squeeze. "At morning's first light we'll make for Seagard and you'll get help."
Donnel gazed up at her with a gentle look. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand softly, before smiling.
Seagard was half a day's ride from where they were. Donnel was well enough to ride on his own. The bleeding had quelled with help from the cloth, and he helped Ella to mount her horse like usual. Ella had been to Seagard several times when she was younger to visit her uncle and cousin, but she had never approached it from this direction. Coldocean Cove was across Ironborn's Bay, and they needed only follow the waterline around until they reached Seagard.
But there was something Ella had to do before they arrived. When the castle first came in their sights, Ella turned to Donnel. He was in pain still, but much better than he'd been during the night. When she refused to go forward, worry overcame him.
"What is it?" he asked softly, brow creased. "What's the matter?"
"I have something to tell you," she said quietly. He wouldn't possibly react badly, would he? Donnel nodded his head towards her, beckoning for her to go on. "I'm afraid I haven't been wholly honest with you. I'm sorry."
"What do you mean?" Donnel was wary, she could hear it in his voice.
"My name is Ella Stark. My husband fighting in the south – my husband Robb."
Donnel's eyes were wide as he looked her up and down. She shook his head slowly. "I don't believe it…"
"After Winterfell was sacked, I decided to go south, to Castle Cerwyn, and find help in the hopes that someone would take me to the King's camp."
"You're the Queen?" It was the first time Ella had ever seen him look angry. "I've brought you all this way, and you were lying to me the whole time?"
"Donnel, you must understand, no one could know. If the Greyjoys had heard word that the Queen was being taken south, they'd have followed us."
"I would have fought them off -"
"Only you, Donnel? You would have fought off all the Ironborn single-handedly?"
"Do you mean to say that I couldn't?"
"I mean to say that they could have killed you and my son." Her voice was firm and left him no room to argue. When he didn't say anything, she continued in a quiet voice. "I mean I say that I couldn't take that chance. Come now, Donnel. Let's go on."
"I could hardly believe it," Jason breathed, and held Ella close. She was his only niece and very precious to him, the picture of her mother, his sister. "When I'd heard that Winterfell was attacked by Ironborn, I was furious. Patrek and I accompanied Theon here, we saw his ship safely launched from our docks. I knew it was no good to be sending him off back to that wretched family of his, but it was King Robb's command. I was so worried something horrible had happened to you, that I would never see you again." He pulled back from her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "And now look at you, a woman grown."
She smiled up at her uncle. "I've been very lucky. Our servant hid us in the crypts of Winterfell and kept us safe. When I went south to Castle Cerwyn, I met Ser Donnel."
Jason looked over at the humble knight. "Thank you for protecting my niece. You have done our family a great service."
"I only did what was best," said Donnel, shaking his head.
"Go to the Maester and he will help you. I will have my servants set you up in our best quarters. After all, she is Queen in the North now, isn't that right? King Robb would want no less for the man who saved our dear Queen."
Donnel nodded and headed off. Jason placed an arm around Ella's shoulders. She bounced Benjen in her arms.
"No one has heard a word of you or the young Princes since Winterfell was sacked," he said, voice low and grave.
"Theon slaughtered the ravens," she said. "Before he slaughtered everyone else."
"I heard that King Robb sent Bolton's men to root the Ironborn out. What happened?"
Ella's brow furrowed. "I don't know. We heard a horrible ruckus and when we came up, everything was in ruins. I…I assumed it was the Ironborn. I didn't see any sign of Bolton's men."
"Perhaps they didn't get there in time," Jason said, though there was something in his tone that suggested that he didn't quite believe that. Ella decided it was a question better asked another time. For now, she wanted to bathe and enjoy the comforts of a proper bed, neither of which she hadn't experienced since before the Ironborn came to Winterfell, several weeks before.
There was no bassinet in her room, so she made a makeshift bed of pillows and set Benjen down on it while the maids prepared her bath. When they were gone, she stripped off her heavy dress – too warm for the Riverlands – and sank down beneath the water. It felt so nice to get weeks' worth of dirt and grime off of her skin and out of her hair. When she was finished bathing, she would write to Robb. Jason said that when the Bolton men returned and reported them all missing, Robb and Catelyn had assumed the worst. He deserved to know that they were all alright.
Well, she and Benjen were. She had no idea about Bran and Rickon. They should have reached the Wall by now. Uncle Jason said that if Robb had received word about the boys, he hadn't heard of it. Ella prayed to the old gods and the new that they were safe at the Wall with Jon.
Rising from her bath, Ella wrung out her hair and donned an airy dress. It was by no means warm in the Riverlands, but the weather didn't warrant the heavy wools and furs of the North. She didn't mind the clothes of the North, but the clothes of the Riverlands were more comfortable, she thought. After giving Benjen a short bath, she settled him down to sleep and sat down at the desk with a piece of parchment and a quill in front of her.
And she had no idea what to say. She didn't want to have to take the time to explain all that had happened, though she knew that Robb deserved to know. She only wanted to send him a letter and tell him that she was alright, that they were all alright. But for some reason she couldn't find any words to say. Looking away from the parchment, she found her gaze drifting out of the window, over the ocean.
Standing, she carefully lifted Benjen from his bed and left the chambers, trailing through the winding halls until she found her way outside. It wasn't a very long walk down to the beach. She made her way to the docks, and once there, wandered away. It didn't take her long to find a secluded spot on a hill. She settled herself down with her baby in her lap, pulling off her shoes and burying her feet in the cool sand. The wind was chilly, but felt refreshing on her clean skin.
She let all thoughts leave her as she sat in the sand. This was a place of solace, where nothing from the world could bother her. There were no thoughts of Robb or the war or Bran and Rickon or where they were. Only the breeze on her skin and the sand on her feet and the rush of the waves in her ears. At some point, she leaned back to lie on the sand, Benjen asleep on her chest. The sky above was a rich blue, fading to pinks and oranges as dusk began to settle.
"I was told I might find you out here."
Usually she hated to be interrupted when she sought solace on the beach, but Donnel's voice was a pleasant surprise that, if anything, served only to calm her more. She squinted up at him, and he sat down cross-legged next to her.
"I was looking for you. You gave me a fright when you weren't in your rooms."
"I'm sorry," she responded, still looking up at the sky above her. "What did you need?"
"Only to see how you were. You seem alright now."
"I am. How is your wound?"
"The Maester bandaged it. It wasn't bad."
"I'm glad." He gaze turned from the sky to him. He wasn't looking at her, staring out over the sea. Donnel had red curly hair, but it wasn't the dark auburn like Robb had, more of a proper orange like Sansa. He was older than her, must have been somewhere in his mid- or late-twenties. The waning sunlight lit him up, and she thought for the first time that he looked quite handsome.
"It's getting dark," she said, and looked down at her to find she was already looking at him. They met eyes. "Perhaps we should go inside for dinner."
She nodded, gathering Benjen against her chest and sitting up. "Yes, let's."
He stood and offered her his hand, pulling her to his feet. She held Benjen in one arm and her boots in her free hand as they walked up to the castle in companionable silence, the sound of the waves and the breeze in the trees filling in their silence.
"Have you written King Robb yet?"
"Not yet," she said quietly. "I'm not exactly sure what to say. Getting a letter from me must be like getting a letter from a ghost."
"No, it wouldn't be like that." He sounded so sure. Ella looked up at him. "Knowing you're alive will make him happier than anything in this world."
He was right. And besides, Ella couldn't in good conscience stay here without writing Robb to explain things, or at the very least let him know that she and Benjen were okay. She smiled up at Donnel, but said nothing more to him as they made their way toward the great hall to eat.
She had just released the crow into the air when the door to the Maester's chambers opened. When she turned, it was her cousin Patrek who awaited her.
"Everyone is waiting, Ella," he said, tapping his foot with joking impatience.
"Be mindful of your tongue," she replied, smiling. "I could have it cut out."
She looped her arm through his and they made their way to the courtyard. "You enjoy my company too much to do that."
"Just because I enjoy your presence doesn't mean that I wouldn't mind it if you shut up once in a while."
"You wound me, my Queen!" he jested with false hurt in his voice. She knocked his shoulder and they laughed.
When they arrived in the courtyard, Ella took Benjen from her uncle and with him mounted her horse, and he and Patrek bid her safe travels as the envoy left. In mere hours, they would be arriving in Coldocean Cove, and Ella would be home again for the first time in a year and a half. But it wasn't truly home to her, anymore. What she knew now to be home was lying in ruins. But Coldocean would do well enough. Her brother would be there, and her Uncle Rhys and Penelope. All the people she'd missed when she first went North. And if she couldn't see Robb, then perhaps they would be comfort enough to her until she could see him again.
Just before she left Seagard, she'd finally written to Robb. She told him everything that had happened in as much detail as she could muster, and when her story was finished, she told him that she was taking Benjen to Coldocean Cove where they could be safe and warm and happy, she told him that she would see him as soon as she could, that they would make arrangements when he responded, and last of all she told him that she loved him, and her heart ached with need to see him again. And then she sent the raven into the air, watched it fly off for a moment before it was time for her to go too.
Heloooooo everybody! I'm glad you're liking everything so far! Just wanted to warn you all that I'm currently stuck writing chapter 31, and have been for a while, so...yeah. I'm going to continue updating every Friday like I have been, and hopefully once it's time to upload chapter 31 I'll have figured something out, but I just wanted to prepare you all just in case. If, by the time it comes to upload chapter 31 and I haven't finished it, I don't know how long it would be until I updated again. But I promise I work my hardest and getting chapter 31 and all subsequent chapters done as soon as I can for you!
Thank you all so much for your continued support. You all have no idea how much it means to me. I have a question for you: What are your feelings towards Donnel so far?
Until next time!
-Rex
