Sansa was in distress over what Anya was telling her, mainly because the woman was refusing to leave Moat Cailin with her. Anya had told her the plan, but Sansa had disagreed profusely with it. Anya had held the girl by her upper arms, looking her in the eye as she tried to calm her. There would be no chance that Anya would let Sansa stay with her while she saw that the place was evacuated.

"You need to come," Sansa demanded from her as they stood in the courtyard. "Anya, if you stay here and they find you then you know what they will do. Jon lost you once before. I do not think he could bear it if he lost you again."

"Sansa, you need to do as I say," Anya told her, wondering why she sounded so confident when she felt terrified. "I am not leaving here until everyone has been evacuated. If they come then so be it. But I am not leaving helpless women and children. That is not what someone in my position should do."

"Anya," Sansa complained to her. "Please, see sense."

"I am," Anya promised her. "I am seeing complete sense, Sansa, and I cannot go. But you need to leave now. I do not know where they shall send you and it is best that way…then no one can force the information from me."

Sansa felt queasy at hearing Anya speak in such a tone, but she said nothing in response. She couldn't say anything. Instead she felt Anya moved her hand to wrap around her arm and drag her towards where the guard had assembled as the women and children began to pack up their belongings with haste, making sure they had everything before fleeing.

"Mathew, is it not?" Anya asked from the man who had brought her the information earlier. He nodded in confirmation. "You are to guard the Lady Sansa with your life. Take her where you think best or she thinks best, so long as it is far away from here. Alert Jon…the King…of the news as you travel."

"Yes, My Queen," Mathew confirmed to her, offering his hand to Sansa to help her onto her horse, but the red headed girl was still not moving away from Anya. Instead she was clinging to her tightly, holding her by the shoulders.

"Anya, please, see sense," Sansa begged of her and Anya managed a small smile in her direction.

"I am," she told her, "and this is what I have to do. Now go and get to safety."

Anya quickly hugged Sansa to her, closing her eyes as she wondered how her and Sansa had grown so close since their previous disagreements. She even considered the girl to be part of her family. How could she not? Sansa had been nothing but kind to Anya recently and Anya had done nothing but protect Sansa. She would do anything to see that the girl did not suffer more than she already had.

"Go," Anya demanded, pushing Sansa from her firmly and nodding to Mathew.

The guard seemed to understand what Anya was asking him to do as he stepped forwards and took hold of Sansa by the arm, giving her no chance to follow Anya as the Queen in the North began to move backwards into the castle again, leaving Sansa before the young woman could create a fuss.

Closing her eyes in a slight moment of pain as Sansa called after her, Anya managed to pull herself together, shaking her head slowly as her curls bounced around her face and she went back to her duties, knowing that she had to move quickly and with haste before the sun fell over the Moat and the army arrived.

…

"My Queen, that is the last of the people."

Anya watched as the final cart left Moat Cailin, her hands clasped together in her skirts as she nodded, watching them move over the draw bridge. Five members of the guard had stayed behind with Anya while the rest had gone with the people.

"We need to go then," Anya declared to them. "Are the horses prepared?"

"All fed and ready to leave," one member told her and she followed them as they flanked her towards the creatures that had been tied up on the edge of the courtyard.

Climbing onto the horse, Anya pulled at the reins and let the creature begin to move away from Moat Cailin as she hoped and prayed that Sansa had got a decent head start on them and was far enough away from danger. Doing her best to remain calm and collected, Anya looked around, wondering how far away the Lannister army would be on her tail.

"My Queen," a guard called her attention and she looked behind to where Moat Cailin was in the distance, the sun setting over it slowly, but that didn't bother her. What bothered her was the fact that the Moat was lit up in flames. The army had found it.

"They're here," Anya whispered.

"We need to ride hard and fast," the guard responded, but Anya shook her head slowly at hearing him.

"No," she responded. "If we ride fast then we risk catching up with the rest of the villagers. There's too many of them to go fast and we cannot lead the army to them…we cannot risk their lives."

"Then what do you suggest?" the guard demanded. "If we do not move then they will catch us."

"They will follow the horse tracks from the Moat and will find out what direction we have travelled in. If we split up then there is a chance they will follow us, or there is chance they will follow the other tracks and find the villagers."

"Then what in the name of the Old and New Gods are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that I do what I can to protect the people on the road ahead of us who the Lannisters would kill without a second thought. I'm suggesting that I do the right thing…the thing that the Queen should do."

"No," the guard replied. "If you do that then they will either kill you or take you hostage. That would be in no one's best interest."

"It is better than them hurting anyone else," she said. "You should all leave. I can cope with this on my own. Besides, I am better to them alive rather than dead, am I not? My life must hold some value as the Queen in the North."

The guards all appeared uneasy with what they were hearing, but they gulped and knew that the woman was the Queen. Her word was law and what she said went. There could be no denying that, no matter how much they wanted to. Fear took over them and they nodded in agreement. They could not leave their Queen.

…

Jaime Lannister was exhausted. He had sent some scouts further ahead after discovering that Moat Cailin was empty. How the Starks knew of his plan was beyond him. He thought that he could take them by surprise, but apparently not. How they discovered his plan intrigued him, however. They must have had scouts throughout the North watching for any movement.

But what Jaime didn't expect as he sat in his tent after setting up for the evening, was the sight of the Queen in the North to enter his vision. The guard had told him that they had caught someone rather special and Jaime had arched a brow before he told her and shoved her into the tent.

Observing the girl with intrigue, Jaime couldn't help but think that she looked nothing like he had thought she would. She was no rare beauty, nor was she any refined lady. The blue dress she wore was dirty at the ends and the sleeves on it slightly ripped. The cloak she wore was plain black and her hair hung limply around her shoulders. Her eyes were narrowed in Jaime's direction while her cheeks were tinged red from either anger or cold.

"So this is her," Jaime spoke, his voice low and verging on bored as he saw her fight from his guard's grip, her hands tied together behind her back. "Untie her, Bonmin. I doubt she is a threat."

The man did as he was told and Anya moved her hands to her sides. "I want my men to be kept safe while we are here," Anya demanded from Jaime and the knight arched a brow, looking vaguely amused at what he was hearing from her, but he nodded and waved a hand to Bonmin.

"See to it that her men are kept locked up, but safe," Jaime indicated. "I have no intention of killing anyone unnecessarily."

"Yes, Ser Jaime." The guard scurried off and Jaime offered a chair to Anya around the fire.

Hesitantly, she sat down on the edge of the chair, letting the warmth from the fire rush over her as she looked to Jaime Lannister. He was dressed in a white shirt, a grey leather coat on his body while his breeches were tucked into his boots. His short blonde hair was neatly trimmed on his head and a dusting of a beard covered his face. Anya could not deny that he was no doubt considered handsome, despite his heinous crimes.

"I trust you know who I am?" Jaime asked and Anya shrugged.

"You will have to forgive me," she spoke in a drawl, "I'm not entirely up to date with all the Houses or their Lords of Westeros, but I suspect you are Jaime Lannister?"

"Good guess," Jaime told her.

"Not entirely," Anya replied. "You see, I doubt I'd forget the name of the man who has laid with his own sister."

The cocky smirk fell from Jaime's lips then and Anya knew she might have pushed it, but she failed to care. She watched as Jaime stood up and moved through the tent, picking up a goblet and filling it with wine before downing it.

"I will not explain myself to some cheap Wildling whore," Jaime informed her and she rolled her eyes. "You know why I am here. You know what I want. Give me her and no harm shall come to you."

"I do not have her," Anya responded as Jaime sat back down with his cup of wine. "And I do not know where she went. I told her not to inform me in case this happened."

"Smart girl," Jaime muttered, "but that will not spare your life. Without her location then you are useless to me."

"Perhaps so," Anya said, "but you shall not find her, nor shall you have her. She will be far away from here by now."

"You put her life above your own?"

"She is my sister by marriage," Anya said. "What do you think?"

"I think you're either brave or incredibly stupid."

"Perhaps," Anya told him. "But I am the Queen in the North."

"There is no true Queen in the North," Jaime informed her. "There is no King in the North either. The kingdom is ruled by the Queen Regent, Cersei Lannister. Therefore your title is irrelevant which makes your life irrelevant. You see, taking you hostage would prove nothing because I doubt anyone would trade Sansa Stark, the true Lady of Winterfell based on her birth, for some little harlot from beyond the Wall."

"Then kill me," Anya spoke, shrugging her shoulders. "You talk a good talk, Ser Jaime, but could you actually do it. If you intend to kill me then do it because I will never tell you where Sansa is, nor will I let you ransom me in exchange for her."

Jaime observed Anya with intrigue, his hand moving to his chin and stroking it slowly as he considered the girl before him. She was avoiding his gaze, choosing to look around the tent. He took in the way her fingertips tapped on her thighs and Jaime knew she was nervous. She was very good at acting, but deep down she was scared. Everyone was scared when their life was on the line.

"You're brave," Jaime said, tilting his cup in her direction. "To risk your life for a girl you haven't known for longer than a few months is admirable."

"As I said, she is my sister by marriage," Anya retorted, looking back into his gaze. "She is a kind girl and she didn't kill your nephew…son…whatever you want to call him."

Jaime chuckled. "You would say that."

"No, I wouldn't," Anya told him. "If she had killed him then I would still be sat here defending her, but I would tell you and the outcome would still be the same; I'd be dead."

"Why would I believe anything that comes out of your mouth?" Jaime demanded and Anya shrugged back to him.

"I don't know," she admitted. "You wouldn't, but I am speaking the truth. All I have ever done is speak the truth. My mother raised me not to be a liar. She raised me that the truth was better than lies."

"Sounds saintly," Jaime spoke in a sarcastic manner.

"My mother was no saint," Anya hissed at him, "but she was a good woman."

"And you aspire to be like her?"

"I loved her," Anya said. "Doesn't every child aspire to be like their parent?"

"No," Jaime answered honestly. "They do not."

"Then that is sad," Anya declared and Jaime wondered just what this girl was doing. Was she trying to play mind games with him? Did she think that talking would save her? "But nothing changes the fact that Sansa is innocent. If you hurt her then you hurt an innocent young woman."

"All the evidence points to her being the one-"

"-She informed me that all the evidence also pointed to your brother, but you freed him, did you not? At least that is the rumour Sansa heard," Anya interrupted and Jaime pursed his lips. "Yes, Sansa fled King's Landing, but can you blame her? She was living in fear and pain…she was being hurt…beat…and if she did kill Joffrey then who could blame her? I certainly wouldn't. I know what it is like to live that life and I would do anything to avoid it."

Silence enveloped the tent and Anya shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment as she wondered what Jon was doing at that moment in time. Would he be safe? He had to be safer than she was in the lion's den. Before she had a chance to say anything, Jaime stood up.

"Stay here," he demanded from her. "Guards surround this tent so do not even think of moving."

"And where are you going?" Anya asked, turning in her seat to look to him.

"I do not answer to you," Jaime declared. "Stay here…I don't intend to kill you just yet."

…

Jon was struggling to control his rage after he had heard the news. The raven had landed in his encampment less than an hour ago and ever since then he had been pacing and cursing under his breath, trying to deduce what he needed to do. He could hardly believe what he was reading. He thought that it had been for the best to send Anya and Sansa to Moat Cailin. He had thought that they would be safer there than they would be with him.

But he was wrong.

"Why must she be so foolish?" Jon demanded as Davos struggled to read the letter fully, but he understood most of it. "Why must she risk her life for everyone else? She's so-"

"-like you," Davos interrupted Jon, folding the letter that Sansa had sent. "She is so like you, my King, and you know that. She puts everyone else before herself."

"But this is her life," Jon said, his voice low and full of worry. "She is at risk and I don't even know what has happened. I don't know if they have her…or if she escaped…"

"If she hasn't escaped then we will know about it when we receive a raven from the Lannisters," Davos said.

"And until then I'm supposed to wait?" Jon demanded. "Heading to the Wall is the last thing I should be doing right now. I should turn around and go back to her. I should go and save her."

"You'd never make it back in time," Davos said, trying to get Jon to see reason, but even Davos knew he would not succeed. "If she has been captured then it will have happened by now and you can't race back unless you want to be caught with her."

"She is my wife," Jon said, knowing that was his only excuse for wanting to leave.

"Aye," Davos said, moving to clasp Jon on the hand as they stood in the small tent. "And she wouldn't want to see you risk yourself."

"No," Jon said with a solemn shake of his head. "I need to sort this. I can't wait…I won't."

…

A/N: Let me know what you think!