The Princesses War

I own nothing but my OC's

AN: So the trailer for Season 8 looked cool and, yes, Season 7 could have been better, but I still can't wait!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I seriously enjoyed writing it, I hope you have as much fin reading it as I had writing it.

Chapter Nine

Not Alone

'How did we get into this mess?' Arya asked her two friends, Gendry, the large black smith who was polishing a sword he had made earlier, and Hot Pie who was eating a spare pie as a group of Lannister soldiers walked past them towards one of the armouries of Harrenhal.

'What mess?' asked Gendry. 'The being a girl who tried to join the Watch? The running into the Lannister soldiers who accused of being Stark spies? The getting captured by the Lannister soldiers while nearly everyone else got killed? Should I go on?'

'No, I think you just explained it all,' Arya agreed with him

'Wait, you forgot the part about you becoming Lord Tywin's cup bearer,' said Hot Pie as he finished his pie

'It wasn't my fault,' she defended herself. 'That reminds me, I have to serve wine at their meeting today.'

'Better get up there then,' Gendry said to her as Arya got up from her loose rock she had been using as a chair and headed towards the meeting chamber.

As she thought about her current position in the world she supposed it could be worse, she could still be on the road, sitting on the back of a wagon or walking for hours and hours. Arya thought about the night they had to flee from the Red Keep, with very few belongings they raced through the city, Arya carrying Needle wrapped in a cloth all the while They were dressed the same as the men she saw in the tunnels beneath Kings Landing and they fired on them before they could all board the ship. Sansa and Lady rushed onto the ship with Septa Mordane while their guards and Syrio, led by Jory, fought back. Arya was soon cut off from the ship. Nymeria sticking with her as she went, and they hid behind some crates. Peering over the crates she watched as her fathers' men, men she had known for her whole life, being cut down one by one by the Farosi.

'Hold still, a voice from behind her said and she felt something cold being pressed into the back of her neck, it was round and metal, the end of a rifle.

'I won't move,' she said, her voice filled with fear when suddenly Nymeria roared and jumped up.

The cold feeling was gone, and Arya turned to see a Farosi in black having his throat torn out by Nymeria. Within seconds though bullets tore through the air and Nymeria was hit many times, her lifeless body falling limp against the ground. Arya could remember screaming in rage but heard no noise. Her attention was snapped back to reality when she saw the ship pulling away and Syrio grabbed her by the back of her dress and pulled her away from the fighting.

'Boy,' he said to her and smiled once, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, 'run.'

He then turned, raised his sword and charged into the battle, dodging bullets as if he could see them coming and slicing through the Farosi, killing so many of them. Arya didn't see what happened to him, she had to run, and she ran as fast as she could until the gunfire was long behind her and she was truly lost. By the time the sun rose, and the bells tolled Arya was hiding in an alley not knowing what to do. She was hungry and alone. She couldn't go back to the Keep, the Lannister's couldn't be trusted, and the Farosi had killed Nymeria and Syrio so she couldn't go the Embassy. She looked at Needle, wrapped in its cloth, and thought about how useless she was. Her sword and she hadn't even used it in the fight. As the day went on she managed to move quickly and stole a crust of bread from a baker and that was her meal. For a while she wished that she had been wearing breaches instead of a dress, it would have made things easier for a start. Then, during the afternoon, she had been walking down a street with an open sewer running along one side when she looked down into it and saw one of the barred doors in it being pushed open and, to her horror, hundreds of Farosi soldiers emerged, bayonets fixed, and moving with a look of men ready to fight. As soon as some nearby Gold Cloaks saw them they raised their shotguns only to be shot by a dozen Farosi. Arya ran and in a matter of moments gunfire rang out across the city.

Everywhere Arya looked she saw fighting, Gold Cloaks being gunned down by Farosi soldiers, Farosi soldiers being pinned against walls and run through. Blood ran through the streets and somewhere a building caught fire, but the chaos was everywhere, small folk running and hiding, trying to escape or avoid the Farosi and Gold Cloaks. She ran into a street to see a large number of Farosi soldiers and Gold Cloaks fighting hand to hand so she made to flee when suddenly a man grabbed her and pulled her into a dark room. Arya screamed but when she saw him she realised he was dressed in black, one of the Nights Watch.

'Arya Stark?' he asked her.

'Yes.'

'Do you remember me? Yoren?'

'The recruiter for the Watch?' she asked him, remembering the grumpy man who sometimes appeared at Winterfell in his duties.

'Aye that's me.'

He kept her hidden in a small building for a couple of days after that, cutting her hair and dressing her in boys' clothes so no one would question who she was. The idea was to hide her amongst recruits for the Watch and drop her off in Winterfell on the way to the Wall. However, things went badly wrong when, on the way, they were attacked by Lannister soldiers, most of their group, including Yoren was killed. The survivors were placed under arrest and taken to Harrenhal where they were pressed into service for the Lannisters, in the process Needle was confiscated by one of the Lannister men.

As usual she entered the meeting chamber before the leaders of the Lannister army arrived, so she could set the cups in the right places. Just as she finished Lord Tywin arrived, followed by everyone else. As they took their seats Arya moved around the table filling each cup with wine, all the while listening to them discussing their plans.

'Our scouts report that the rumours are true,' Ser Kevan informed them. 'The Ironborn have attacked the western shores of the North and Eddard Stark is moving his forces home.'

'Just the Northern troops or the Riverman as well?' asked Amory Lorch.

'Just the Northerners, Tully troops are positioned along every ford and easy passage way to the Westerlands.'

'We smash through them,' Gregor Clegane growled.

'Easier said than done,' Adam Marbarand told him. 'We can either try to force our way across a ford or we can march across the Reach and be ambushed by Renly.'

'I say we face Renly,' the Kingslayer, who Arya was truly glad that he hadn't recognised her with her different hair and scruffy appearance, suggested with confidence. 'If we can knock him out of the war we can let the Farosi plunder the Reach while we rebuild our strength.'

'And let Farosi reinforcements arrive?' asked Kevan. 'No, we need to crush the Farosi as quickly as possible and that means we need to defeat Renly, muster the rest of the realm to our side and fight them off.'

'You're worried about a bunch of unarmoured foreigners who are so scarred of fighting hand to hand that they are only armed with bows that make a lot of noise?' Marbarand asked him, clearly not taking this seriously.

'We will not be going west,' Lord Tywin silenced the argument.

'But doesn't that cut us off from reinforcements?' asked Kevan.

'We are already cut off. Every piece of ground the Farosi control makes us look weak, it's a humiliation. We will show them that they cannot humiliate House Lannister. We will take back Kings Landing.'

'Kings Landing?' asked Kevan. 'I suppose that with most of the Northern Army marching home we can move without the threat of them attacking us.'

'If we capture Kings Landing we will also have the foreign princess as our prisoner,' Marbarand said with a smile. 'It gives us a trophy.'

'And we can get my sister and her children back,' Ser Jaime added quickly.

'We march in three days,' Tywin told them. 'Our soldiers who have trained to fight against rifles will prove their worth now. Dismissed.'

Knowing not to stay any longer than they had to when their lord had made up his mind, everyone quickly left and Arya began to clear away the goblets as Lord Tywin began to look through some documents. For a moment Arya considered trying to get a look at them but she decided against it, not worth the risk.

'You've been a good cup bearer,' Tywin said to her.

'Thank you, milord,' she said, remembering how a lowborn girl would say it.

'You can stop bothering with that now,' he said and fixed her with a glare that made Arya realise what the sheep felt like before the lion pounced.

'I'm sorry?' fear started pulsing through her.

'I know you're of noble blood, it's obvious, you can read, you can speak far better than the daughter of a common man and you know how to behave around men like me. I don't know what house you are of but I understand why you lied.'

'Then,' she said, keeping her voice as level as possible, 'why did I lie?'

'You're from the North, your accent made it obvious, and you and the group you were with were riding away from the capita when you had been captured. A noble girl from a Northern House disguised as a boy and fleeing from Kings Landing. What does that suggest?'

Arya said nothing, instead trying to fight against her will to break eye contact with the old lion.

'My spies in the city told me that Lord Stark's daughters boarded a ship which was attacked by the Farosi. It escaped though, meaning that you aren't one of Lord Stark's daughters. You were a part of his household though. Who are you? No more lies, no more deceptions.'

She had to think fast, she couldn't tell him the truth but would he know it was a lie? She spoke, praying in her mind to whoever would listen.

'I'm, Alena Forrester,' she answered, remembering the name of one of their bannermen, a minor house so Lord Tywin probably wouldn't know it well enough to work out she was lying.

'Forrester?' he asked. 'I see. A minor house of the Wolfswood.'

'That's us,' she said and nodded. 'I was a lady in waiting for Lady Sansa, I was going to go on the ship with her and Arya when we were attacked. I ran away and then I found Yoren and told him who I was. The Watch have always been friendly to House Stark and their bannermen so he agreed to smuggle me home.'

'I see. When we march on King's Landing you will come with us and still serve as my cup bearer. When the city is retaken you will then serve as a lady in waiting to Princess Radwen after we take her prisoner. Consider yourself fortunate that you will spend the rest of the war as a hostage and perhaps you may be exchanged as the war goes on. Return to your quarters.'

'Thank you, Lord Tywin,' she said quickly and almost ran out of there, knowing that it was now or never.

She needed to find Jaqen H'gar.

…

The sea was calm that day, and for that Sansa was relieved, it made it easier to spot ships from her usual perch on top of the rock she had made her home for, she actually didn't know how long. Far in the distance she could see a ship and she had waved a sheet and shouted but it did no good. In recent days she had seen ships at around the same time every day, as regular as the guards at Winterfell, she supposed that they must be acting in the same way. At last she gave up after the ship disappeared over the horizon so she climbed down from her perch, very slowly and carefully thanks to her foot which, although bandaged, still hurt badly from her deep cut. When she reached the bottom Sansa found Lady, waiting obediently for her to feed her. Sansa gently patted her wolf on the head, her coat was looking a bit shabby but, even though she didn't have access to a mirror, Sansa thought that she probably looked just as bad, considering that they had been away from any way of cleaning themselves for so long. Knowing that it was feeding time, Sansa led Lady towards the shelf of rock they slept under where she pulled the basket from there and opened it to reveal the last of the salted meat and the dried fruit they had received in it the last time it had been refilled.

Yes, since that time, she had lost track of the number of days, when the wicker basket appeared. Of course she had guessed it must have gone overboard from a ship and, she had made it last as long as possible, even to the point that the fruit was starting to go soft when she finished it, and with the basket empty she had left it where she had found it at the edge of the sea. The next morning, when she went looking for fresh water in the crooks and crannies of the rock when she saw that the basket was filled again. Fruit, fresh and dried, meet and a skin of fresh water. Of course she was confused and at first thought it was a dream or perhaps, somehow, another basket had washed up. But no, it was the same basket and once again, it was filled with food.

Sansa had rationed it carefully, so it would last as long as possible and, when it was emptied again she had left it close to her shelf of rock and, again, when she woke up one morning, it was full again. Three more times it had been refilled and now, as she finished the last of this latest batch, she was determined to work out just what was going on.

'We'll see who it is tonight,' she said to Lady as the wolf ate her food. 'I'm grateful for what they've done. I couldn't have survived on seaweed much longer.'

Lady seemed to look at her with a questioning gaze.

'And I just want to know who they are, I want to thank them for everything. I owe them my life.'

So, when the sun set that night, and Sansa went to where she and Lady slept, she just laid there, wrapped in the torn sails and sheets she used as a bed, and tried to stay awake. She studied the patterns on the rock above her, and thought. She thought of Arya and where she was. She hoped that she was in Kings Landing, safe with Jon and the Farosi and father. Her mother, safe at Winterfell with poor Bran, and Rickon. She didn't even know what was going on, her entire world has become a small piece of rock in the middle of the sea. She wondered what would happen when a ship found her, would they carry her home, they would be well rewarded to do it.

'No!' she shouted after realising that, just for a few seconds, she had closed her eyes.

Sansa's eyes snapped to her right and she saw the basket, filled again with food and water. She looked to the edge of her shelf and gasped as she saw movement, the hem of a dress, its wearer moving away quickly.

'Wait!' Sansa shouted, waking up Lady, as she tore out of her blankets and crawled out of the rock towards the woman.

When she was out in the open she saw looked left and right but there was no one. She raced around the rock to where she first saw the basket and saw something, ripples as if a large stone had been dropped into the water, the ripples spreading out as Sansa raced towards them and then looked into the water but saw only her own reflection looking back up at her. No, just for a second, she saw another face, with different eyes as blue as the sea, but she vanished at once. Now the face was gone and Sansa was alone as well, except for Lady.

'I just want to talk to you!' she screamed, her voice echoing over the water. 'Please! Come back!'

Nothing happened. The face didn't reappear, the woman was nowhere to be seen. Growling in the agony of her failure she angry turned from the water and walked back to her bed and the basket. Out of habit she looked though the contents of the basket and saw the usual food and drink but now there was something else, right at the bottom, was a letter, sealed with wax. She quickly grabbed it and looked at the seal, in the faint light of the moon she could see that the seal was in the shape of a wave. She broke it open and looked at the perfectly flowing writing, straining her eyes to see it without a candle.

Lady Sansa, I admire your tenacity and I understand why you would want to see me. However, now is not the time, though it soon will be. In three days, as night falls, go to the place you saw me and you shall learn who I am and why I helped you. I look forward to finally speaking to you.

Sansa re read it many more times, even as night ended and the sun climbed over the horizon, she would read through it.

Now she knew that she would no longer be alone. She looked to the place where she saw the face in the water and thought that the slightest amount of movement could be seen beneath the surface.

AN: I thought it was about time that I show what Arya's been getting up to. I loved the scenes between her and Tywin in the show, it was probably one of the best additions they made to the show. Watching it I had the feeling that Tywin was interrogating her and probably suspected who she was. Here he's had less time to do that and, as a result, he's willing to accept her explanation.

As for Sansa, well, what do you think's going on?

I hope you enjoyed and please review, I adore any feedback I get.