The further north they went, the colder it got. It was a week since they had set out and Sandor had still not found out who Maud's husband was. In fact, if he didn't know better, he would think Maud had been avoiding him: offering to scout ahead, to take watch, to look after the newly purchased horses.
To be fair, he wasn't much for conversation himself: apart from Maud, only Thoros and Beric were worth conversation, and he was scraping the barrel with them. The others - Jon, Grenn, Luke and a big black bearded fellow Sandor still didn't know the name of - seemed scared of him.
Some emotion must have shown on the giant man's face, making the red priest feel a pang of pity (not that he'd ever let the man know it).
"Bad night to be outdoors." Thoros said, conversationally.
"You've got real powerful magic to figure that out. Did the Lord of Light whisper that in your ear? 'It's snowing, Thoros. It's windy. It's gonna be a cold night.'" Sandor snorted.
"You're a grouchy old bear, aren't you, Clegane?" Thoros smiled. If the man had been in a bad mood he would have told him to fuck off. "You want some rum?" He sloshed the skin of rum towards Sandor.
"Don't like that shit. It's too sweet," came the response.
"Why are you always in such a foul mood?" Thoros was beginning to understand why Maud had been avoiding him. If this was his usual self, how would he take the news the girl he'd once shacked up with married the man who captured him?
"Experience," was Sandor's short answer.
Thoros was stopped from responding by Beric and Maud, who were leading the group, pulling up their horses at a farmhouse.
"This seems like a good place to spend the night," Beric said.
"These people don't want us here," Sandor said. A feeling of dread was coming over him. He knew this place. How?
"Seems deserted to me. No livestock. No smoke coming from the chimney…" Beric urged his horse forward, nearer to the farmhouse. With a look back over her shoulder, Maud followed suit.
"I don't like the look of it," Sandor muttered under his breath, to no one in particular.
Thoros dismounted his horse smoothly. "For a big, hard man, you scare easy."
"I'll tell you what doesn't scare me: bald cocksuckers like you. You think you're fooling anyone with that top knot? Bald cunt."
Thoros smiled. "Come on. Maybe they've got some ale hidden away."
"They don't," Sandor said darkly. He remembered this house now.
"See if there's a larder. They always leave something behind," Thoros called as he walked into the farmhouse.
Sandor hardly heard him. He was too busy staring at the skeletons in the corner. That man and his daughter. They'd been good people, kind. He'd known they wouldn't survive but he didn't expect he'd have to see their bodies. He was so deep in thought he almost jumped when Maud came up behind him.
"How do you think it ended for them?" She asked, softly. It was the first time she'd spoken to him since he'd accused her of being involved in Ray's murder.
"With death," Sandor replied, shortly. He didn't want to talk about them.
"Girl died in her father's arms. Both of them covered in blood and a knife at their feet. I'd say they were starving. And rather than letting his little girl suffer, he ended it for both of them," Beric said, joining them.
"Doesn't matter now." Sandor said, trying to believe it.
"No, doesn't matter now," Beric replied.
Sandor sat at the wooden table and took a bite out of a hunk of bread as Beric joined him.
"I've known you a long time, Dondarrion," he said around a mouthful.
"Aye. I think the first time we met was at that tournament..." Beric started to reply.
"And I always thought you were dull as dirt." Sandor finished over him. "You're not bad. I don't hate you. Don't like, but you're not bad."
"Thank you, Clegane. That warms the heart." Beric replied. Maud, eavesdropping as she helped Thoros start a fire in the fireplace, smiled.
"But there's nothing special about you."
"You're right about that," Beric admitted.
"So why does the Lord of Light keep bringing you back? I've met better men than you, and they've been hanged from crossbeams, or beheaded, or just shat themselves to death in a field somewhere. None of them came back. So, why you?" Sandor asked.
"You think I don't ask myself that? Every hour of every day? Why am I here? What am I supposed to do? What does the Lord see in me?"
"And?" He'd expected more of an answer.
"I don't know. I don't understand our Lord." Beric said, honestly. "I don't know what He wants from me. I only know that He wants me alive."
"If he's so all-powerful, why doesn't he just tell you what the fuck he wants?" Sandor snorted.
"Clegane," Thoros called from the fireplace. "Come over here. Don't worry. The fire won't bite. I want to show you something."
"It's my fucking luck I end up with a band of fire worshippers," Sandor muttered. Maud's heart leaped for a second. That sentence made it seem he might stay with them for a while.
"Aye. Almost seems like divine justice," Beric responded, wryly.
"There's no divine justice, you dumb cunt. If there was, you'd be dead...and that girl would be alive." Despite that, he stood and moved closer to the fire. "What do you want?"
"Look into the flames," Thoros said, his red hair shining in the light.
"I don't want to look in the damn flames."
"You saw me bring him back from the dead after you cut him down. Don't you want to know what gave me the power?" Thoros teased.
"I keep asking and no one wants to tell me."
"We can't tell you. Only the fire can tell you."
With a huff, Sandor approached the fire and looked into it.
"What do you see?" Thoros asked.
"Logs burning," came the short reply.
"Keep looking. What do you see?" The red priest urged.
Sandor looked - really looked - into the flames. He was about to dismiss them all when an image formed. "Ice. A wall of ice. The Wall," he said, surprised at himself.
"What else?" Maud breathed. It had taken her a while to get her first vision and Sandor saw something his first attempt. This was serious.
"It's where the Wall meets the sea. There's a castle there. There's a mountain. Looks like an arrowhead. The dead are marching past. Thousands of them." Sandor tore his eyes away from the flames, looking up to Beric, Thoros and Maud in slight disbelief.
"Do you believe me now, Clegane? Do you believe we're here for a reason?" Beric said.
Wordlessly, Sandor grabbed the pouch from Thoros and pulled a face as he gulped the sweet rum.
"Fucks sake," he muttered to himself.
Thoros and Maud woke to the sound of shoveling. The man picked up his sword and a lantern and together the pair quietly left the farmhouse. Whatever they expected to see, it wasn't Sandor digging a grave.
"What the hell are you doing, Clegane?" Thoros asked.
Sandor dug his shovel in the ground. "Burying the dead." He walked over to the small body of the child, picking it up and placing it gently in the hole.
"You knew these people," Maud whispered, hit with the realisation.
"Not really," came the response, as Sandor moved the man's body beside his daughter. Wordlessly, he began shoveling dirt into the hole.
Thoros planted his sword in the ground and handed Maud his lantern, then picked up a shovel and began helping Sandor bury the bodies. When they're finished,
the three stood over the grave.
"We ask the Father to judge us with mercy. We ask the Mother to... Fuck it, I don't remember the rest. I'm sorry you're dead. You deserved better. Both of you." With that, Sandor tossed down his shovel and walked away.
"Aren't you going after him?" Maud asked the priest.
"No - I'm going to stay here and pray for these two souls. You, my dear, are going to go to that soul...and I'm sure that's a much harder job," Thoros grinned.
Shooting Thoros an evil look, Maud took off after the hulking man, her stomach in knots.
"I'm sorry," she said breathlessly as she caught up to him. "If I'd realised you knew the people here I'd have tried to persuade Beric to go elsewhere."
"Doesn't matter," the man shrugged. "Would've been dead whether we came here or not."
"You did a good thing, to bury them," Maud continued. She noticed he'd slowed his speed for her, and was grateful.
"Don't like bodies in the place I sleep," came the reply.
Instinctively, Maud's arm flew out and touched Sandor's forearm. He stopped immediately, almost making Maud trip up. "You don't mean that," she said, trying to ignore the spark of electricity that went through her with that touch. A spark that settled somewhere between her legs. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but I'm here. If you want me."
Her mouth dry, Maud moved her hand, but Sandor grabbed it, almost without meaning to. "Wait," he said. Inwardly, he marvelled at how small her hand felt in his. "Stay."
Maud nodded. Stop it, she told herself harshly as another frisson shot through her at the feel of those calloused fingers.
"I'll tell you how I knew them...if you tell me about your husband?" Sandor offered.
Maud's stomach turned. "Fine," she whispered. She wasn't looking forward to this…
Author's note: thank you for the reviews! To the guest reviewer who was unhappy about Anguy - don't worry, this is still a Sandor/OFC fic!