A night to forget
The Twins
Jon Snow
Jon never trusted lord Walder Frey, he forced them to fall back with the bulk of their forces from the Westerlands for Robb's wedding with Lady Roslin Frey, a beautiful girl, though no one in her family shared the same beauty.
The war started to show its consequences in the army, Roose Bolton lost Harrehal and four thousand men at least, the cavalry fighting in the Westerlands destroyed one of the Lannister's army and killed Ser Stafford Lannister in the process, but the biggest cause of discontent was that The Kingslayer escaped from Riverrun and a wildling army was marching on the wall.
Robb's wedding was the best option to ask Lord Walder for more men, fresh men ready to fight. Stannis Baratheon refused to bend the knee and Renly was dead, the bulk of the Stormlands was part of Stannis army now and the Tyrells were in negotiations with the Lannisters, the best option they had was to retreat from the Westerlands with all the loot they had while the Ironborn were constantly attacking Lannisport and the small towns of the westerlands in the name of Asha Greyjoy, the new lady of the Iron Islands.
Jon was looking at the map on table, they needed to fall back to face the wildling army. He sent the bulk of the northern army back to their homeland, they needed to fortify their positions, summer was already over.
"A difficult situation if you ask me." Ser Arthur, the new hand of the king, said.
"I can't fight the Lannisters with an army of wildlings marching on the wall, maybe Stannis can hold them back long enough until we solve this problem with the 'King Beyond the wall'." Jon replied.
"Or maybe Stannis takes the capital and fortifies his position to fight us." Ser Arthur said, "I'm afraid that the Tyrells will play an important role in this war and they have forgotten their old loyalties." Ser Arthur added, his face looking serious as always.
"I have a task to entrust you." Jon said trying to speak like a king should, he was only seventeen years old, "I need you to ride for Castle Black and take my granduncle Aemon to Winterfell."
Arthur's expression said all that Jon needed to know, "But, your grace, I promised your mother that I would protect you, I can't leave you here and ride to the wall." He said.
"I know and I thank you for that, but I need you to do this for me, you're the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, you sworn to protect my family." Jon replied, he needed to make Arthur understand the importance of the task. "Now I ask you to protect my closest Targaryen relative…please, I can't trust this to no one else." He begged.
The sword of the morning stood in silence for a moment, "I'll do as you command your grace, I will leave tomorrow at first light, I promise you that your uncle will be safe in Winterfell in a fortnight." He said and bowed.
Jon felt relieved after hearing Arthur's response, he needed to lead as a king should, that was one of the first lessons that Arthur taught him, 'Learn to follow if you want to lead one day' he told him once. "As soon as you return we will plan to retake Harrenhal and fortify our positions in the borders." With that he dismissed Arthur and walked to the courtyard.
He didn't feel comfortable in the Twins, it looked like the perfect slaughter house for an army, the bridge was too narrow, and the towers too high.
"I can see that I'm the only one happy with this situation." Robb's voice brought him back to the real world, "The people will call you the brooding king if you keep that bad habit." He teased.
"The warden of the north should be more respectful" Jon said and chuckled.
"The old man, Lord Walder, is really pissed because of his son's death." Robb said, he didn't like his soon to be father in law.
"People die fighting wars, but I think that the Late Walder Frey isn't very used to fight them." Said in a low tone that only Robb could hear.
"You should rest, cousin, we brought enough gold and food to hold each castle for two years." Robb said, trying to calm Jon.
"Tywin has our family and we lost the Kingslayer, they can do what they want with them, Arya and Sansa are more valuable for me than a thousand castles." Jon said as he looked at Ghost and Greywind coming out of the forest.
Arya Stark
"Cersei, Illyn Payne, Meryn Trant, The hound, Joffrey." She whispered under the starry sky of the Riverlands.
"You should sleep my lady, we will reach the Twins in a day or two." Jory said, he threw another log into the fire.
When Syrio told her to run she got lost in the city until the day of her father's execution, Jory found her that day and together they escaped from the capital, though the fact that they were traveling with two direwolves made her feel safer. Nymeria and Lady followed them through the Riverlands avoiding the Lannisters and the outlaws.
"We should have rescued Sansa" she said, she wasn't very fond of her sister, but certainly she didn't want to leave her behind as a hostage.
"She was in the Red keep my lady, it was impossible to take her out without being discovered" Jory replied.
Arya was young, but she knew some things, she knew that they were lucky of being alive in that moment after seeing all the destruction in the Riverlands. She only desired to see her family again, ride with Robb and Jon, fight with Bran and her mother, practice with Ser Arthur in Winterfell's courtyard. A lonely tear rolled down her cheek with the memories.
The next day they rode in silence, the sound of birds singing and trees moving with the wind brought peace to her mind, in those moments she tried to think in her father's face, but the memory came with hate, hate towards Joffrey and Cersei the ones responsible for her father's death.
"One day I will kill them all Jory." She said coldly.
"The day will come my lady, but until then we need to find your family." Jory replied, the man showed a complete devotion for her family.
The figure of the Twins got closer and closer, the night fell upon them before they could reach the castle, they rode through the soldiers camp, many were drinking and singing.
"hey you!, What are we celebrating?" Jory asked a soldier.
"The warden of the north is going to marry one of Lord Walder's daughters." The drunk soldier replied and stumbled.
'Robb is going to marry, I will be the perfect wedding gift.' She thought, her brother was the warden of the north now, it was a strange thing for her, he was so young. Her hearth as beating faster and faster as they rode through the camp, they were crossing the bridge when she heard the sound of wings flapping, she looked up and saw it, a white dragon of medium size. She looked at Jory and saw how her guardian was astonished. "It's true then, Jon has a dragon!" she said excited like the girl she was.
"I thought that I wouldn't live to see a dragon in my life." Jory said. "that was the only thing I wanted to see when I was a child."
Arya giggled at Jory's answer, sometimes he was like a child, but he was a fierce warrior too. After seeing a dragon she could confirm the reason of Targaryen banners, the three headed, the direwolf and the twin towers hanging from the top of the battlements. "Jon is king Aemon Targaryen?" she asked Jory.
"I would dare to say that you're right my lady, it seems like he's the one that fought in the Westerlands and helped in Riverrun." Jory said, she noticed that he was anxious.
"What's wrong Jory?" she asked worried.
"It's nothing my lady, but these soldiers, they are very well armored for a wedding night, and there's no women among them, almost like if they were expecting an attack in the middle of the night." Jory replied, and looked up at the battlements.
The howls of wolfs made Arya look at the stables, two locked doors were moving like if the thing inside was trying to escape from there. She climbed down her horse and walked towards the stable, she felt the anxiety of the creature behind those doors. They were close to the great hall's door when Jory dragged her back into the shadows and covered her mouth before she could say something.
A group of at least twenty soldiers from houses Frey and Bolton were marching towards the great hall, they wore full armor and carried crossbows with them.
"Are you enjoying the feast my friends?" one of the Frey soldiers asked to the guards of House Stark.
"Aye! The food is delicious and the ale… the ale is amazing." One of the Stark men said.
"I'm glad to hear that! But the feast is over for you." The Frey soldier said as some of his men shot the Stark men down with their crossbows, soon they kept marching towards the great hall while some of them carried out the dead bodies.
Arya couldn't understand what was going on, House Frey was an ally so as House Bolton, but they were killing Stark men.
"It's treason my lady, that's what the Freys like to do." Jory said with a low tone.
"We need to free Greywind and Ghost" Arya whispered and ran towards the stables, Jory couldn't stop her, but when she was trying to force the lock of the doors someone yelled at her.
"Hey, what are you doing girl?" a guard asked examining her from head to toes, "There are dangerous creatures in there girl, you don't want to free them." The guard warned her, She tightened the grip on needle's hilt.
'All men are made of water, in you pierce them the water leaks out, and they die' Syrio told her once, she was fast enough to do it and as soon as the guard walked closer she buried needle in his stomach and brought it out immediately, the man didn't notice his wound until it was too late, he fell on his knees before dying in front of her.
"What did you do you little shit!" the other guard said unsheathing his sword, Arya was ready to face the man when he let out a scream if pain, Jory was faster and killed the man before he could harm Arya.
"That wasn't necessary, I can take care of myself." She said annoyed.
"I know that my lady, but we need to make this fast" Jory replied, "Step back my lady." He said, Arya stepped back and Jory smashed the lock with an axe, the doors opened and both Direwolves ran out of the stables.
"Run, go find Nymeria and Lady" she told them patting their heads, "We will save Jon and Robb." She added when both creatures refused to leave them, "You can't fight against crossbows" she said, and both wolfs understood what she wanted to say. They ran into the forest following Nymeria's howl.
They ran into the great hall, as they came closer to the doors she could hear the sound of swords clashing and men crying in pain. Desperation started to reign inside her, her family was in that great hall after all.
Arya almost lost her mind with the things she saw inside the great hall.
Jon Snow
"The Lannisters send their regards, your grace." The old Walder Frey said rising his cup.
Jon didn't understand that until he felt the arrow piercing his shoulder, a moment later Robb fell too and a couple of men dragged him and his mother inside the castle. The Smalljon kicked a table and covered his king with it as Dacey and Eddard Karstark tried to protect him, but another bolt found it's way to Jon's chest, the stinging pain was unreliable.
"You hid information, silly boy, you offered just a Lord as husband for Roslin when you could have offered a king" Lord Walder said.
The blood covered the tables, the great hall was a slaughter house, for one last time Jon saw his companions, all injured just like him. He sighed before loosing his battle against the horrible pain, Caraxes screech was the last thing he heard, and then… darkness, darkness and silence.