Pearl handed Sansa a little brown goat on a lead, 'Take him with you, alive, and slaughter him when you run out of food, that way the meat won't go rancid.'
The Hound grunted in acknowledgment of her good sense, 'We appreciate all you have done for us, old woman, we are in your debt.'
'Nonsense Sandor, it was my pleasure, you own me nothing. I have enjoyed spending time with you all. I will miss you.'
The Hound reached out and put his hand on Pearl's shoulder. He smiled and said, 'Here I felt happy. It felt like a home. We won't forget you.'
Sansa ran forward and pulled Pearl into a hug. The two women held each other for a long time before they let go. They didn't need to say anything; they had already said everything in the herb room. Sansa bent down to caress the goat who bleated mournfully, 'Won't he give us away Sandor, if we are trying to go silently?'
'Aye, but we will kill him before we go too far.'
'So we should leave now, without Grendle?' Sansa looked pale and worried, her eyes massive in her thin face.
The Hound nodded, 'He will catch up no doubt, can't get rid of a little bugger like him.'
'Don't worry my dear, if he comes here I will send him on his way.' Pearl gently stroked the length of her grey hair, which hung long to her waist, not braided at this early hour of the morning. It made her look ethereal and insubstantial in the gossamer strands of dawn.
Sansa checked her leather tunic was belted on right and adjusted her boots one last time. She held the wooden staff in one hand the goat lead in the other. The Hound led Stranger to the edge of the trees and then he looked back over his shoulder, 'Perhaps one day we shall meet again old woman.'
'In the next life perhaps. I am not long for this life; I can feel it in my bones.'
Sansa sobbed then, she couldn't help herself, but she walked after the Hound with careful steps. Her leather pack was full of every kind of herb and remedy she could carry. Pearl smiled at them as they walked into the darkness of the trees, 'You brought light into this cottage,' she called after them, 'don't let fear overwhelm you, stay hopeful and look after Grendle.'
Sansa looked back one last time, 'We will, I promise.'
The Hound's rough voice slipped from between the tree trunks, 'I told you both, Grendle can look after himself.'
They walked through the woodland without talking, both of them were thinking about the road ahead of them. Sansa had no idea what the Hound intended. He seemed angry, his face was grim so she didn't question him, just followed the path he was taking through the trees. It was rough walking, with twisted tree roots and uneven ground. It took them a long time to walk a short distance. Eventually they stepped out onto grassland and hedgerows, their eyes blinking in the midday sun.
'That's the end of protection from the trees,' said the Hound, 'now we travel out in the open.'
'Should we eat here, in the shelter of the woods, before we go on?'
'Yes, little bird, let's eat a small meal and then we must keep going. We have to cross the river that flows beyond that hill.'
'And then where do we go.' Sansa began to pull bread and fish from the pack on Stranger's saddle. The horse snickered at her but he didn't attempt to bite her. She stroked his black flank and enjoyed the warmth of his hide. It was a sunny day but there was an unmistakable chill in the air. Sansa handed some food to Sandor who sat with his back against a tree trunk.
'If we followed the river east,' he said, 'we would get to Riverrun but we must go north, to the coast. Then I hope to get a boat that will take us further north. If not we must walk the coastal path and hope to the god's we don't get caught by the men of Seagard.'
'Can we do this?' Sansa slumped next to him, nibbling on a crust without any real desire to eat.
'Yes, I know we can do this.' He angrily chomped on his food, eating it as fast as could.
'How can you be so sure?'
'I survived five arrows that should have killed me. You survived the dungeons of Harrenhal. A walk north is easy compared to what we have lived through.'
'It's not the walking I am afraid of. It is the people that want to kill us.'
The Hound stood up and towered over her. He looked immense and terrifying. 'I will kill them all Sansa, before they kill you.'
She looked into his dark eyes and she believed him.
The river was wide and fast flowing. It swirled below a steep bank. 'How can we get across that?' Sansa asked in horror.
'We shall swim across.'
'But, that's impossibleā¦I can't swim.'
The Hound turned to look at her with an annoyed look, 'You can't swim? Damn girl, what were you doing when you were a child?'
Sansa glared at him, 'All the pools were frozen where I lived.'
The Hound barked with laughter, 'Aye, of course they were. I'm a fucking fool.'
'You are not a fool, don't say that. Rude and angry but not a fool.'
He laughed and pulled her into an embrace, kissed her with his lips that were full and soft on one side and hard and demanding on the other. Like every other time they had kissed Sansa forgot all her anxieties, blacked out all her problems and just felt the ice of her nature thaw into hot syrup, thick and sensuous as honey in the dexterous hands of the Hound.
Eventually he let her go and they both stood there awkward with lust, whilst the river gushed below them.
'If we cross, Grendle will not be able to track us; please can we wait here for an hour or two.' She pointed to a part of the bank where the horse could walk down and there were rocks and bushes to shelter in from prying eyes. 'Come,' she said and took his huge hand to lead him there. Sandor followed her; his mind was unfocused, only thinking of the taste of her skin, the hardness of his cock in his breeches and his desire to be inside her. Sansa tied the goat to a spiny bush and let Stranger graze the grass on the bank. Then she sat down in a sheltered spot that caught the sun and looked at the Hound as she unbuttoned her jacket to bare her breasts. He groaned softly under his breath, 'You're right Sansa. It wouldn't hurt to linger here a while,' he said, 'give the boy a chance to find us.'
