Chapter 5

Staring out at the bridge, Karina inwardly debated whether it was really a trap.

Getting to the bridge was harder than she expected, she spent a good four days wandering around, coming up on sheer drops and dead ends in the labyrinthian twists of the Frostfangs, trying to find the path that led to the bridge. It answered her question of why the fuck more wildlings hadn't crossed the bridge, she had only found it because she outright knew that it existed and was thus directly searching for it.

But the problem was...it was literally a bridge from the True North into Westeros. Westwatch-by-the-Bridge was literally there to stop anyone from sneaking across it. The castle itself wasn't in view and also wasn't manned, but to leave the bridge utterly unguarded? No, there were likely patrols sent from the Shadow Tower to watch over the area. However, even if that was the case, she hadn't trekked halfway across the True North just to be scared off of her safest route into Westeros and safer territory.

She checked herself over, her knives still in their sheaths under her sleeves, all her clothing adjusted so she could move without being hindered. If push came to shove, she could ditch the bag she was carrying. If she had to leave it behind then that was her fate, her water was kept under her clothing and when south of the wall she would hopefully be able to find food more easily.

With that done, she glanced at the bridge again, gnawing at her lip. It was literally right there, a few minutes of running and she'd be on the bridge, a minute more to cross it, and then she would be in Westeros. But...it felt too easy. There had to be something about it, something wrong. Karina sat there, her eye on the bridge, unmoving for at least a quarter of an hour, just staring at it.

Nothing happened to prove her right or wrong, and eventually, she had to make her choice. Either she tried to find another way into Westeros, or she tried her luck crossing the bridge, and considering how the only other ways were even more dangerous, she already knew what her answer would be. So, after settling her backpack on her shoulders more firmly and glaring around at her surroundings, she started to march towards the bridge.

Her ears were about as strained as they could be, listening out for any hint of a sound, anything at all suspicious, while her eye darted about, never lingering on one place too long. She checked forwards, left, right, above, below, behind, and forwards again, scanning her area with increasing trepidation. Each crunch of snow beneath her feet, every gust of wind that nudged her hair around, she was aware of it all.

When her foot came down on the edge of the bridge, she honestly didn't believe it, stopping for a second and continuing to look around before focusing her gaze on her foot. She took a step, then another, then more, walking across the bridge whilst glancing around herself. As she reached the halfway point, she stopped, turning to look behind herself, at the True North and the footsteps that she had left in the snow.

She lingered only for a moment before setting her shoulders and turning forwards again, continuing to march across the bridge. Each step honestly felt evermore tentative, as if her own body didn't believe what was happening. Until finally, with a solid step, her foot found the ground of Westeros, her very first step outside of the True North. Releasing a breath she didn't even realize she was holding, she inhaled slowly, closing her eye.

With a final glance towards where she had come from, she marched into Westeros. She didn't allow her guard to drop though, always wary as she moved away from the bridge, at any moment expecting crows to appear out of nowhere and charge at her with their swords, or shoot her full of arrows. But...it didn't happen. She walked away from the bridge, and not once did she feel like she was being watched, like something was going to attack her.

Honestly, she was beginning to wish that she had been attacked, if only so she'd stop feeling so damn paranoid.

Karina's first warning that something was wrong came in the form of the hidden rope that suddenly snatched her ankle and wrenched her into the air.

She yelped in surprise and pain as the rising rope first made her slam into the ground, mercilessly dragging her face across the ground before it hauled her up and made her dangle upside-down, blood dribbling out of the cuts on her face and down to her forehead to drip onto the ground. Twisting, she started to lever herself up to reach the rope around her ankle and cut it with one of her knives, only to realize too late that traps usually came with hunters.

Quick footsteps moved towards her, and a blunt object slammed into her side and made her fall back to dangling by the ankle. "Is that..." Blinking, Karina winced as a hand snatched her hair and swung her to be able to see her attackers. "Girl, you're a free folk, aren't you?" She blinked a few times and focused on the man who had spoken to her, surprised to see a black-cloaked and vaguely familiar face staring down at her.

Rather than outright respond, she tried to turn her head, wincing when he jerked back in surprise upon seeing her greyscale. But the surprise didn't last long, as the man drew the forged steel blade at his hip and then swept it at the rope around her ankle, making her cradle her head and roll as she landed. "Impressive reflexes. Now, what is a free folk girl doing south of the wall on her own?"

Karina tipped her head again and gestured at the faded greyscale scars marring her face and throat, pointing out where it ran then opening her mouth and pretending to speak, then shrugging. "Mighty convenient. Well, then I guess we'll have to play a game of yes and no. Did you come south of the wall to attack?" She very quickly and vigorously shook her head. "Did you come south to run away from trouble?"

She tilted her head to the side, then hesitantly nodded, but also added a shrug. "So, running from potential trouble?" She then nodded again, smiling thinly as she found someone she could actually almost communicate with. "And I'm guessing that from where you're walking into Westeros from, you came across the Bridge of Skulls." She nodded once more. "Interesting..." He trailed off, sheathing his sword though he kept a wary eye on her.

"You know, Westeros might not be as safe as what you believe. Slavers operate here, though nobody knows who is backing them, and they'd be happy to snatch up one such as you. Many a Lyseni noble would enjoy spending a night with such a uniquely scarred girl, gives you a sense of character which they would no doubt appreciate." She simply shrugged and mimed her throat being slit, surprising her when the man laughed.

After a moment where she mock-glared at him, he waved a hand, still laughing a little. "My apologies, I wasn't mocking your tenacity, but don't be so quick to assume that suicide would be so easy. The Lyseni are renowned for their slave-breaking, either with torture or with potions to dull the mind. You would not be the first to enter Lys with the belief that you would find a way to die before serving, only to end up on your knees in a pillow house utterly broken." At the end of his words, his face turned far more serious. "But mark my words, there are certainly fates worse than death in the world."

Narrowing her eye slightly, she watched as the man departed without so much as a by-your-leave, making her bite her lip as she debated following him. Sure, he had caught her in a trap and knew she came from north of the wall, but he had her curiosity. She didn't know who he was, but...well, being honest with herself, his words had touched upon her own fears.

One of the fates she most wanted to avoid was being enslaved. She valued her free will greatly, and slavery was literally the opposite of that. It was why Braavos was one of the places she wouldn't mind going to. The Braavosi absolutely abhorred slavery, as they were descended from slaves, which made it a place she could go to and be fairly confident in not getting enslaved.

Not completely confident, there was always a chance that someone would take the opportunity, but it was safer than anywhere else in that blasted world.

In the end, she decided against following the man.

Not for any proper reason, just based on a hunch that following him would take her somewhere she didn't want to go. And so she continued south, foraging as she travelled. Thankfully, south of the wall, the foraging prospects, while definitely not as good as she'd expect from a place like the Riverlands, was enough to keep her alive and moving. She also scavenged dead animals, not just for any usable meat but also for maggots. While not exactly an appetizing choice of sustenance, as long as she fried them properly, she could use them to keep from starving. On top of that, earthworms and termites were also on the agenda, keeping her eye peeled for places they would be likely to gather.

Between all these sources of food and endless hours of walking every day for about three weeks, she made it to the Wolfswood without incident following the northern mountains that ran from The Wall all the way to the forest. By the time she made it there, she was practically dead on her feet. Sure, she'd trained her body for walking long distances, but she had vastly underestimated how far the Wolfswood really was from The Wall.

Somewhere, vaguely, she knew that Winterfell was over 900 kilometres from The Wall, which meant the northern end of the Wolfswood would be anywhere from 500 to 700 kilometres. So, lowballing it, 500 kilometres to travel. Since she wasn't in such a rush, and was also foraging as she travelled, she could see why it took her such a long time to reach the forest.

She swung her bag off her back and dumped it against a tree, then followed it down and immediately elevated her legs. Karina then started to work them over with her hands, making sure she'd still be able to walk later on. While she did that, she kept her eye and ears peeled, paying attention to the forest around her. As she massaged her legs, she idly realized with amusement that the direwolf at the start of the show probably got into the Wolfswood by crossing the same bridge she did.

Otherwise, she couldn't really see a way for her to get past the Wall. The water would have frozen the wolf solid even with the thick coat it had, and she highly doubted the Night's Watch would have just accidentally let a direwolf slip through their gates and head south of the wall, especially since it could have been a warg. Then again, she wasn't actually sure if the Night's Watch actually even knew about or acknowledged wargs.

Yawning, Karina leaned her head back to look up at the leaves that made up the thick canopy over her head, debating whether or not to find a spot to rest or not. The sun wasn't too far from the horizon, so it would probably be best to find a safe place earlier than normal, since it would all too easily become incredibly dark in the dense forest and make it a nightmare for her to traverse, let alone find a spot for the night.

So, after a few more minutes of rest, she hauled herself back up to her feet and picked up her bag, trudging through the dense foliage in search of a place to rest. She was still heading south but she was also heading east, since eventually she would have to intersect with the Kingsroad, which would lead her straight to Winterfell. Her plan so far was simply to get south, further from the wall where she wouldn't be outed as a wildling.

Failing that, she at least wanted to get to the Long Lake or Torrhen's Square and get herself cleaned up and looking as put-together as she really could. Nobody would look twice at her as long as she could appear to just be a smallfolk. Her greyscale would attract attention, but it was as faded as Shireen's, and her own survival of the affliction was known, as least as far as Karina was aware.

On that thought, Karina halted, her mind going over the beginnings of a plan. If she was to point out her own survival, could she maybe somehow leverage that into spending time with Shireen? Dragonstone was an island and it was pretty far south, so as long as she could stay there, she would be safe. It was also fairly out of the way, though she'd have to be bloody careful not to get burned by Melisandre.

That was something that did scare her, the thought that the Red God might take an interest in her. After all, she was...a planeswalker? More like a refugee in his eyes, but the point still stood that she was probably an interesting little anomaly. Plus, there was that feeling of being watched she had felt back up north where there were plenty of weirwood trees and forests, plentiful places for one of the Children of the Forest or even the Old Gods themselves to observe her.

Shaking her head, she put those thoughts far out of her mind. Even if at that moment all the gods were looking at her, what the fuck could she do about it? She had none of the plot armour of a main character nor the luck or a savant, all she had was her own desire to get the flying fuck away from anything that might cause her to die from anything but her own actions.

She'd already experienced death once, and she was not keen to repeat it.

Coming to a dead stop, Karina took a wary step back as she met the eyes of a wolf, slipping her knives out of her sleeves.

She'd been fairly lucky so far in not encountering much wildlife, probably helped by the fact she'd already eaten all of the food that had a distinct smell which would attract predators, leaving her with the foods that animals had no interest in. But of course eventually, after travelling so far, it was highly likely she'd come across an animal. From the fact the fur that the wolf had was patchy and it had a thin body, it was obviously starving, which was the only reason it was currently in front of her instead of being away from her, it was desperate for a meal.

As she took her step back, the wolf took a step forwards, growling all the while. It was displaying literally every form of aggression, ears out to the sides, teeth bared, snout wrinkled and tail low and back for balance. Glancing around for just a moment to see if she could see any way out of the situation, Karina yelped and threw herself to the side as the wolf leapt at her, taking her momentary look away as an opportunity to attack.

Karina bared her own teeth, forcing herself up from the floor and twisting her wrist to come around in a vicious slash, successfully stabbing the attacking wolf as it had quickly corrected itself and lunged at her again. Said wolf still had plenty of momentum and energy though, plowing into her and forcing her to let go of the dagger in her left hand as it barrelled forwards, claws scraping her front as it snapped at her face. She only stopped it mutilating her face by lifting her arms in front of her, the wolf clamping jaws down on her right arm as she tried to stab it.

Falling backwards as the wolf overwhelmed her with weight, Karina involuntarily yelled in pain as one of the paws of the wolf found purchase in her flesh through her thick clothing, whilst at the same time, it savaged her arm like a dog with a newspaper. The dagger that had been held in that hand dropped to the ground where her left hand quickly snatched it up, stabbing it into the wolf over and over again while it clawed at her front and thrashed its head about, her right arm making sickening noises.

After at least a dozen stabs Karina felt the wolf give a sudden jerk and drop entirely onto her, the weight pressing down on her as the wolf went limp. Not stopping, Karina continued to stab the wolf, more out of anger and pain than any actual fear that the wolf was still able to attack. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that the wolf had at the very least had its spine severed, but at the moment, she was more furious and in pain than logical.

She gave it a few more stabs, then slumped back as her adrenaline began to wear off. Whilst she still had the clarity of being massively in shock and doped up to the gills with adrenaline, Karina used her legs as levers and her left arm to work the wolf off to the side, rolling it off of her body. Her front was a mess, her clothing was shredded and blood was leaking through.

And as for her right arm...she used her left to support it and bring it onto her legs, looking at the mutilated appendage in slight disbelief. To call it mutilated honestly was an understatement, her arm was fucking ruined. When she lifted her bicep, the arm literally flexed downwards, so the bones inside were just...just fucking gone. The flesh itself was also ripped to shreds by the thrashing that the wolf had performed, blood weeping out of her arm freely.

Wasting no more time, Karina racked her brains for anything she could use for a tourniquet, eventually taking some of the rags that once consisted of her clothing, then shoving one of her shoes off and using her toes as a substitute for a second hand as she wrapped some of the rags around her bicep, then pulled them tight. It took her at least a dozen goes before she managed to actually tighten one and tie it off, but she eventually managed it.

Her front was not quite as bad, about a dozen claw lacerations, but it was still really fucking bad. She had no idea where exactly in the Wolfswood she was, so for all she knew the nearest human was over a day's walk away. Plus, there was nothing to say they could or even would help her, she was just some random commoner, not worth the expense of healing.

Stripping her top off painfully then taking some of the rags, Karina started to wrap them around herself, using her right elbow, which was still usable at least, to pin them in place as she wrapped them around herself in several layers, tying each off by using her elbow again to pin the tattered material as she reached around herself to tie them. Shuddering as more of the pain cut through her shock-filled fugue, Karina doubled her speed, finishing her makeshift bindings.

Her pack wasn't damaged too badly thanks to the fact it was on her back, but her waterskin had burst when she landed so the contents were all soaked. Taking the burst waterskin out, Karina widened the tear, which had occurred at the very top of the bag, then bit her lip as she slowly worked her mangled arm into the bag. Yanking the drawstring taut, she took some of the remaining rags and used her teeth to tie the top off more tightly.

Finally, she rose up unsteadily, stumbling and falling onto the carcass of the wolf. As she took several deep breaths then rose again, she gave the wolf a kick for good measure, falling backwards as she did so. In her mind, she knew that anemia was setting in, she felt tired, light-headed and weak and just wanted to go to sleep, but she knew that going to sleep now meant death, plain and simple. If the bleeding didn't kill her, the other predators would, since the area was utterly covered in blood.

Taking one of her knives, Karina used her body weight to drive it into the neck of the wolf, then drew it out again and wiped it against the pelt. Sure, it was a waste of time and energy, but she was angry and anemic, so she didn't give a shit. She then used the corpse to lift herself up again, stumbling and having to lean on the body for a few moments before she could stand. As soon as she was fully upright, whatever blood was left pumping into her head left her, and a bout of lightheadedness sent her right back down to the ground beside the dead wolf. Not willing to just give up and fucking die, Karina tried to lift herself up again, though failed at doing that and fell sideways, rolling over and laying down for a moment.

Looking up at the canopy, Karina decided that maybe she was just fucked either way. She was in one of the worst fictional universes to be in, because it was one where plot armour didn't exist, at least early on. Sure, Warhammer would be worse, but that was like saying being shot by a battleship gun was worse than being shot by a 40mm grenade launcher, both were going to fucking kill her. Giggling at her own stupid thoughts, Karina stopped, then growled and smacked her left arm against the ground, trying to force herself to get back up.

She only made it halfway before collapsing once again, and this time, she didn't get back up.

If I was George, this would be where the story ends for Karina, a lonely death in the middle of nowhere to a starving wild animal.

Of course, if the story ended here, it would be hella unsatisfying, so sorry if any of you wished for this to be truly gritty and non-plot-armour, but there needs to be a certain degree of protection for the story to be longer than 5 chapters. So, what's going to happen to save Karina from her fate? Or will I just leave this story alone for ages and then finish it randomly, so you all will then see that I truly can be evil and plot-armour-removing?!

...Well, you'll just have to wait and see ;)