Game of Thrones
Long Road Home
Chapter I
"Get the Maester."
She had been born in the Long summer, but it had rained the day she was born. She could not remember this herself, of course. Someone had told her. Her mother, or perhaps her Septa. She could not remember this either. Apparently bells rang the day she was born. All of the bells in her father's castle, from dawn to dusk. It was raining again now… well of a sort, a strange and refreshing sensation, too subtle to be rain, somewhere between a mist and a drizzle. There were no bells today. Just a distant echo of the same words, over and over again. "Get the maester." Was it in her head, or just very far away? She was not sure. One thing she was sure about was that she was laying down, somewhere uncomfortable with her eyes closed tightly. She could not remember why she was laying down. She could not remember what she had been doing before.
She opened her eyes. She was outside, looking up at a dull grey sky, as a haze of drizzle floated above her. It was not night time, but she could not see the sun either. It must be hiding behind a cloud. But the more her eyes adjusted, the more she focused, the more she was sure there was no sun there. She thought it was probably time to sit up now. She sat upright as the drizzle settled around her, there was a clatter, as if something fell from her head. She reached behind her back to find a silver crown, a thin band adorned with direwolves, she placed it back on her head, fixing the flaming red hair beneath. She looked down at herself, she was wearing a black and grey dress, embroidered with direwolves around the skirt. She looked around. She was alone, sat on a dirt road that stretched as far as her eyes could see. There were trees and hedge grows on each side of the road, she could hear the rushing of a river nearby, you could smell the water in the air.
She pushed herself to her feet, no sun, no moon, no stars, no wind. Just the faint kiss of drizzle and the rushing of water. "Get the Maester." She heard again. Which way to go? Which way was North? The more she looked around, the more familiar the place was. "This is the King's Road." She said to no one. Or rather a half memory of it, bits were missing, and the missing parts filled in with grey.
"Hello!" She called out "Hello!" There was no response, not even an echo. The Queen in the North felt fear now. She picked a direction and started walking. She walked and walked. "Get the Maester." She heard again. She wished someone would hurry up and get the damn maester. She didn't know how long she had been walking for, seconds, hours, days? The sky stayed the same, she just kept walking. Then she heard it, a rustle in the bushes. "Who's there?" She called out. There was no answer, she moved closer to the hedges.
The hedges parted. Stalking out of the undergrowth on all fours, a magnificent beast, snow white and ash grey appeared before her. Its ears pricked up as it let out a howl. "No." She breathed, as she rushed over to it. "Lady! But how can this be?" The wolf jumped to its back legs to greet her and licked her face. Sansa threw her arms around the wolf's neck and buried her face in her fur. With tears in her eyes Sansa squeezed tighter, the wolf licked back before pulling away and motioning towards the hedges. "What?" Sansa asked, wiping away a tear. The wolf circled around her and began to nudge Sansa's leg with her head. "You want me to go into the hedges?" Sansa asked "Shouldn't we stay on the road?" The wolf barked and headed back into the hedges. "No, Lady, wait." Sansa called after her as she fought her way through the brambles. She emerged on the other side, at a clearing. A large open swathe of grass next to a river. Lady barked once more and wagged her tail. "The Trident." Sansa whispered to herself "Near the Ruby Ford."
"Are you lost, My Lady?" A voice called. Sansa turned to see a boy approaching her, he was shorter than her, he had short red hair, a scar on his cheek "I'm lost My Lady, I think I've been here a long time." Sansa closed her eyes slightly, she could feel herself welling up. She had seen the boy before. "You look older now My Lady… it has been a long time hasn't it? You've got a crown on. Did you marry the Prince?
"No. No I didn't." Sansa sighed "You've been here all this time, alone?"
"I'm not sure, My Lady… My Queen." He corrected himself "I can't remember. I couldn't find my father, I tried to go home… but I forgot the way. I thought I might be dead, but there's no star in the sky. My mother said I could follow the Seven Pointed Star to The Father and The Mother, but it's not there, My Queen. I don't remember my mother now, I don't even remember my name anymore."
Sansa swallowed hard and closed her eyes. "Mycah." She whispered "Your name is Mycah."
"Mycah" he smiled widely "That's it! Thank you My Queen, are you trying to get home as well, maybe I can he…" Sansa gasped as Mycah's chest exploded open, as if someone had driven a sword through his back. A stream of blood flowed from his mouth as his body fell to the floor. The boy's body convulsed and bones began to break as if he had been run over by a war horse. Sansa looked down at the broken body of the butcher's boy. Lady barked and licked at Sansa's hand, before trotting off along the riverbank. Sansa continued to look down at the twisted, broken body of Mycah, before "Get the Maester." Brought her to her senses. She hitched up her skirt and began to chase after Lady, following the meandering Trident. Hours seemed to pass, the sky stayed the same, a blanket of drizzle enveloped her. Her legs became heavy, she started to lag, even Lady's encouraging barking wasn't enough to keep her going forward. She fell to her knees, in the soft mud of the Trident's bank, and hung her head. "Get the Maester." The words echoed again.
She clenched her fists and threw her head back "Will someone get the Maester for the love of all the Gods!" She screamed. She started to breathe heavily, she was no longer looking at an empty stretch of river bank. Now straddling the never ending river, a great stone bridge, a stout tower at either end. Well fortified, and just as she always had pictured it. "The Twins." She said under her breath, as Lady bounded off towards it. "That wasn't there a moment ago." She pushed herself out of the mud, back to her feet and hurried after Lady.
"Get the Maester."