The room smelled like sweat and sex when the pair left to go downstairs half an hour later.
After she'd recovered from her climax, Maud had shyly offered to do the same for Sandor. He didn't say no. He was pleased that he lasted longer this time, curling his hands in her hair as her mouth pleasured him. The wet warmth of her mouth wasn't an exact match for her tight pussy but it was good enough.
Sated, they went downstairs for substance and enjoyed a bowl of rabbit pie.
"Should we stay here for a few days?" Maud suggested between mouthfuls of tender meat. She savoured the taste: it was a lot more flavoursome than the salty substance she had swallowed less than ten minutes before.
Sandor grunted a response, as he shoved food in his mouth like a starving man.
"We can use this as a base, get money and then go away, maybe across the sea?"
Another grunt, as he reached for a tankard and downed the contents.
You'd think someone who just got his cock sucked would be in a better mood, Maud huffed to herself. She wasn't expecting him to have ditched his armour and skip down the hall, but a smile and decent conversation wouldn't go amiss.
"What was your plan? You know, when you left?" She asked, to try to get some dialogue.
No grunt this time, but a glare. "Not here. We don't want the whole fucking inn knowing our business."
Maud gestured to the air around her. "There's no one here. The innkeeper is in the back and his wife is doing the laundry, remember?"
"You must not have spent enough time in King's Landing. There are ears everywhere."
Maud stood up angrily, and flounced back off to the room.
"The fuck are you doing now?" Sandor called after her.
"I'm going to go hunting. When I get back you can let me know if we're staying or going," she called over her shoulder.
Maud knew she had no reason to get so frustrated with Sandor but Gods, if he wasn't a frustrating person. She knew they weren't in a relationship but over the past few months she had begun to enjoy his company - was she so very wrong to expect him to tell her basic information like where he was going? At the moment she was happy to follow him (especially if he kept doing that thing with his tongue) but she wasn't sure if his plans included her, and she wanted to be prepared. What if they got to a harbour and he jumped on a ship, leaving her behind? She wanted to know what her future held.
She took out her anger on the wildlife, collecting enough rabbits to make a decent stew and potentially even a nice pelt. If when she returned to the inn Sandor decided they were moving on, she would have food for dinner, and if he decided they were staying then they'd make a good present to the innkeeper.
She took her time, picking up feathers and wood to fletch more arrows. Part of her, a part she was not proud of, wanted to make the big man miss her. The other part was enjoying the peace and quiet - the first time she had been by herself in over a week.
Wandering in the early evening she heard a whistled tune and the laughter of men. Maud's heart fluttered as she looked for somewhere to hide. What if it was Lannister men? She darted behind some trees, ditching the rabbits, and prayed she was hidden enough.
Her prayers were not answered.
An arrow shot through the leaves of the nearest tree. "That was a warning. Come out or the next arrow goes through your neck," a voice warned.
Her own arrow nooked and ready to fire, Maud moved out of her hiding place...then promptly dropped her bow to the ground. "Anguy?"
The man with the bow let his weapon fall. "Maud? I'd heard you died. Horace and Jonython - "
"They are dead," Maud told her brother's childhood friend, gently. "But I survived. And now I'm here. But what of you?"
"I'm part of the Brotherhood without Banners," he said proudly, gesturing to the company who had stopped to listen to the exchange. As well as a clump of men there were three boys who looked to be mid teens - wait...was one of them a girl?
"We'll be fine," Anguy said to a balding ginger man.. "Maud's an old friend. You head along and I'll catch up."
Ginger nodded, and the majority of the men (and the teens) followed him as they trampled on. A few men took the opportunity to stop for a piss nearby, and Maud suspected they were listening in. Sandor was right - there were ears everywhere.
"What's the Brotherhood without Banners?" Maud asked. It was surreal to see Anguy again - the man who taught her how to make arrows and fire a bow. He had been the best archer in the Stormlands, and was one of the few boys who hadn't scoffed when Maud wanted to learn to defend herself following her father's death.
"A group of likeminded folk who've had enough of various Houses destroying Westeros. Houses like the Lannisters. You have more reason than most to hate them, if the rumours of your brothers deaths are true. Will you join us?"
"It's tempting," Maud said. "But I'm not here alone. I'm with...a friend. He helped get me out of King's Landing. I don't suppose you'd like two fighters?"
"We can always use more muscle against the damned Clegane and Lannister scum!" Anguy replied cheerfully.
"They're not all bad," Maud said without thinking.
Anguy's eyes narrowed. "The Lannisters are all scum to the bone. But we're not hurting babies, if that's what you mean. We're not child-killers like the Cleganes."
"The Mountain," she corrected. "The Mountain killed my father and all those children."
"And his brother is just as bad. C'mon, Maud. I knew Horace's plan. Just because you couldn't kill the Hound then doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to die, if that's what the Lord of Light wants."
"You're right," Maud blustered, ignoring the mention of the Lord of Light. Since when had Anguy been religious? "I'll go speak to my, eh, friend. If we do want to join, where can I meet you?"
Anguy smiled. "A tavern about 15 miles that way. The Crossroads Inn, it's called. Come find us. Be with family, Maud."
The pair embraced tightly, before Maud began to hurry off back in the rough direction of the inn her and Sandor were staying at. She had to warn him.
Once she was out of earshot, Anguy whistled to the few brothers-at-arms who were waiting for him. "Seems like I might have a lead on the Hound."
Sandor angrily gulped down another tankard of ale and motioned to the innkeeper to refill it.
That girl was so frustrating! You'd think a good cunt-licking would shut her up for an hour or so. And yet she'd stormed off because he didn't want to tell her his plans in public. Varys and Baelish had spies everywhere, didn't she know that by now?
He waited for four hours, growing drunker and more impatient with each passing minute. When the skies began to darken and the inn fill up with workers coming off their shifts, he decided to take matters into his own hands. After one more drink…
Two more hours and six drinks later, Sandor stumbled out the inn. Maud had no horse, so she couldn't have gone too far. Still, he saddled Stranger and made his way towards the woodlands.
He searched silently for an age, until the drink reached his bladder. Clicking his tongue at Stranger to stop, he slid off the big beast and went to relieve himself against a tree.
Was that a rustle in the bushes? Sandor turned, hand on his sword hilt. He saw nothing. Warily, he looked around silently for a few minutes. The only noise was Stranger nickering restlessly.
Sandor made to move to the big horse but stumbled, cursing under his breath. Why did he always feel drunker after a piss?
With a final wary look around, he sat on the ground with his back to a tree, deliberately not the one he had pissed against. He'd wait there for Maud, he decided. And he most definitely wouldn't fall asleep...
It was darker than Maud had expected when she finally reached the inn, desperate to find Sandor and tell him about the Brotherhood. She expected an angry Sandor to be waiting for her, with several tankards in front of him. She prepared herself for his foul temper, but was surprised to not see the man at the tables.
"Have you seen San - eh - my brother?" She asked the innkeeper's wife as she passed by.
"He was here a few hours ago, but stormed off in a bit of a mood, duckie." Maud's face must have fallen, because the woman quickly added "I'm sure he'll be back soon!" Brother, my eye-tooth, she thought to herself as her guest nodded and made her way upstairs after requesting another night's lodgings. If her and that hulk of a man weren't having an affair, the sun wasn't gold.
As soon as she got to the room, Maud began at pack up the small belongings they had. They needed to leave, to go in the opposite direction of the Brotherhood as quickly as possible.
When Sandor awoke he was trussed up like a chicken, with his arms pinned tight to his body and a musty hood over his head. When he found he couldn't move his arms to loosen the ropes, he growled in frustration. Fucks sake.
"He's awake!" A voice jeered.
"Aye, and you'd fucking better untie me before I rip you limb from fucking limb," Sandor growled in reply.
"Seems you'd have more luck tearing me limb from limb if I untie you...so you'll forgive me if I leave you as is," the voice laughed as Sandor felt various hands grab him and pull him to his feet.
Behind him, he could hear Stranger huff in frustration. At least his horse was alright.
"Now walk, or we'll get you a pretty little leash, Hound."
"Hey, hey!" Sandor heard the man holding him call, as he was pushed into what smelled like an inn.
Maud, he thought as men cheer. Is this the inn we're staying at? Is she here? It felt like they had been walking for hours, but he wasn't sure how far he and Stanger had wandered from the inn last night, and time goes slowly when you've a hood on your head and bad singers as travel companions.
"Now that is an uncommonly large person. How does one manage to subdue such an uncommonly large person?" An amused voice asked his captor.
"One waits for him to drink until he passes out," his captor hooted.
"Poor man. You have my sympathy," came the response from the man, who sounding like he was coming nearer. No sooner had the man finished speaking than Sandor felt the hood being tugged off his head. He glared at the men surrounding him, looking for a way out.
"Aha, not a man at all. A Hound!" The man holding the hood crowed, as the surrounding men howl in jest. "So good to see you again, Clegane."
Wait a second. He knew that ginger cunt. "Thoros? The fuck you doing here?"
"Drinking and talking too much. Same as ever," the man grinned. "A pretty prize, lads!"
Sandor was about to lob a sarcastic reply to the balding asshole when he caught a familiar face out the corner of his eye.
"Girl," he called. The girl froze, then turned to face him. He'd thought she was long dead.
Sandor called to Thoros. "What in seven hells are you doing with the Stark bitch?"
The way the men turned to stare, Sandor realised something with a grin. "Well, well, well, you didn't know!"