Chapter has been rewritten.


Arya

The morning sun rose with a beautiful light, a kind of which was never seen before. Instead of the silver blue followed by the pale gold, the morning was like molten gold and amber. The clouds erupted like fire, setting the sky ablaze in a pinkish red. There was color present that no one could have ever imagined existed.

Riverrun castle might as well have been home to nothing but Lannister soldiers. There were only three Tully soldiers among four hundred wearing Lannister red. The three who did live in the castle were the commanding officers, kept prisoner with freedom to walk about the grounds at will. But even then, they had no care for the activities the Lannisters around them did. In fact, hardly anyone gave second look to anyone which made getting inside the castle more than easy for Trysten Hills. With a new set of stolen armor and a red cloak, walking into the castle without trouble was the easiest thing so far about this entire task.

Making his way through the hallways, Trysten used these moments to scout the layout and listen to whispers about anything that would be of use to make things easier. The things he heard as he passed men sneaking quick meals in the hallways and sparring in the yard were very interesting.

"I heard Lady Tully singing to her son from outside her chambers last night. Only time I ever heard her my whole stay here."

"One of the Lady's cooks died of fever last week. Good thing he did, the new one's a lot better."

"I saw the Frey woman sitting on her windowsill one night, can't believe she's related to Walder."

"Do you think if we declare for the imp in the North he'll let us go home?"

"Gotta feel bad for the woman and the boy. They've been locked in that room for months without a day to walk about. The Commanders a bit of an ass if you ask me."

"We got a raven from the Twins about some a deserter saying a girl killed some soldiers. Hope it was Orlic and his troupe, fuckin hated them."

"Raven from King's Landing came today. Wish the Commander would let us send a few of our own for once."

Trysten had all he needed to know what to do. Commander Kamren Lefford was practically the only one who ever received any news from Kings Landing. His orders were absolute in the Riverlands. If he were to say the Queen ordered the men to leave, then they would obey. Though there were some to maybe many of whom were considering the option of serving Tyrion Lannister who they were convinced was on the winning side. Maybe when the time came, this could be exploited to get them to change their thoughts into action. The North was in need of more men to fight against the dead anyway.

Trysten would figure out what to do as Commander Lefford once the time came, but for now he had to figure out when the time to strike would be and how. The Commander was constantly busy and never alone. More than one person would probably have to die with him. Unfortunately, there was no more poison left over from Trysten's demise. Then there was the problem with time. The Lannister armor took a while to take off and just as long to put on. With how busy the Commander was, there wasn't a frame of time that Trysten could make the switch. Night was the best possible chance when everyone was asleep, but even then, the Commander shared a room with four others who happened to be lieutenants and their absence would be questioned. So that route was to be avoided.

The only option left would be when the Commander had his visits with Roslin to deliver any ravens scrolls from the Twins or if she had any requests. If she would keep quiet about a death in her room, then things would be easy, except for the part about getting into the room. The only ones aloud to enter were the handmaidens, the wet-nurses, the Commander, and a select few servants, all of whom except the Commander were escorted by guards and under surveillance. The room itself only had one door, but it also had two windows that someone small enough could fit through. Trysten was certainly too large for such a task, but Arya Stark was not.


The Faceless Men specialized in hiding in plain sight, but such a thing was impossible with how much activity happened and the lack of time Arya had at her disposal. She was forced to keep to the shadows. Armed with Needle and the Valyrian dagger, the rest of her things were hidden away near some trees not far from the castle. She kept herself dressed in only her tunic, riding breeches, and boots.

Commander Lefford was due to deliver a raven scroll to Roslin very soon and Arya had to be there to meet him. She never possessed Bran's climbing skills that he once had, but the tower that held Rolsin's chambers was worn out enough that almost anyone her size could ascend it. As Trysten, she saw the best route that was in the path of a blind spot where no one would be able to see her.

After a guard walked his pass on one of the castle battlements, Arya came out of the shadows and climbed onto the ledge. She lowered herself to the outside of the wall and carefully moved across the stone. There were small enough gaps in various places of the brick work and some of the stone was out of place enough to grab ahold. Bran always made it look easy, but the strength needed for such a thing was more than Arya expected. She took her time to get the best grip as she climbed up the tower to one of the windows. One wrong move and she would slip and fall into the cold river and be swept away by the swift current.

Arya finally managed to get a grip onto the edge of the window and pull herself up. When she managed to get her head up to look inside, she became surprised at the quality of the room. She expected it to only be simple and have few luxuries, but inside was more decorated than the room she had in the Red Keep. Roslin was sitting on her bed facing away from her while Steffon played with some toy knights on the floor in front of her.

Arya crept through the window silently and caught the attention of Steffon. He pointed at her before Roslin turned around and gasped. Arya had never seen Roslin before and was surprised at what she looked like. She was very pretty with a mousy face and no one would think her to be a Frey. She took a few steps back and pulled her son to her, keeping caution to her intruder. Arya held her arms up, revealing she wasn't currently armed and kept her distance. "Lady Roslin, I'm not here to harm you."

"Who are you?" She asked fearfully.

"Someone who you can trust to help you." Outside the door, noises could be heard and Arya could tell that Commander Lefford was coming. Arya reached behind her back and drew her dagger, walking to the side of the door that would swing to her. She looked over to Roslin and held her finger to her lips signaling for silence. Arya nearly forgot that Roslin had a three-year-old clinging to her side. "Cover his eyes." Roslin turned her son around and kept his face on her dress.

The door opened and in walked Commander Kamren Lefford who closed the door behind him. "Lady Tully, a raven from the Twins arrived…"

Arya silently crept up behind him, but the reactions of Roslin and Steffon gave away Arya's position. When she held up the dagger to strike at his neck, Commander Lefford swung his arm behind him as he twisted his body, knocking Arya to the side on the ground. "Guards!" He called out as he drew his sword. Arya got back to her feet as three other Lannister soldiers entered the room with their swords drawn.

"Oh, damn it all." She quickly sheathed the dagger and switched to using Needlle. Keeping her thoughts calm like the river, she took her stance and waited for the guards to make the first move.

"Take her alive," Lefford ordered. The three guards started to slowly approach Arya, all of them keeping their free hands in front of them to block or parry whatever Arya had to give to them. The one on the left stepped forward and swung his sword at Arya in hopes to catch her off guard, but Arya easily ducked under the sword and moved forward to him, planting Needle up into his chin and retracting it out within mere seconds. His body fell to the floor, Roslin gasped and pulled Stefforn into the corner of the room.

The other two charged at her at the same time. She was able to parry a strike withNeedle and another by quickly drawing the dagger with her free hand. Lefford joined in the fight and his skill was far better than his men, almost as good as Brienne's. The only reason she didn't beat him yet was because there were two others she had to deal with.

With the dagger in her right hand, Arya managed to land a strike on one of the guards on the hand that held his sword. All of his fingers except his thumb were cut off. He fell backwards, grunting and clenching at his wounds and he bled. Arya ducked under a sword strike and to gain an advantage and stabbed the last guard in his knee with Needle. He screamed out as the blade twisted deep and blood began to spill out.

Unforeseen by Arya, the guard grabbed onto her arm and prevented her from escaping. Before she could attack him with the dagger Commander Lefford swung his sword down at Arya. Using all her strength she pulled back and Lefford's sword cut through the of his guard, but the power of the swing was great enough that it also cut through needle and broke the blade juat two inches above the guard.

Arya fell onto he back and dropped what was left of Needle as the guard screamed out at his newly made stump of an arm. Before she could get up, Lefford thrusted his sword down at her. Arya parried it wit hthe dagger, but she didn't see that Lefford had drawn his own . He stabbed it down at her, and she had nothing to protect herself with. She couldn't allow herself to die, so she raised her arm and caught the blade. It pierced through her forearm between her bone, but with it stuck there she was able to move it out of the way. She gritted her teeth and wanted to scream out, but she did her best to hold it in. Without hesitating, Arya swung the valyrian dagger up at Commander Lefford and slashed him across his arm. The pain was enough for him to let go of his knife and back away from her.

As Arya scrambled to her feet, she foolishly dropped her dagger to look at the one in her arm.

Before she could pulled it out, Lefford was already back on his feet and out of breath and three more guards entered. "Get these two to the maester, and put her in a cell." Before anyone could do anything, Arya darted for the window and without even thinking, leapt out of the tower.

The instant her body impacted against the icy cold water, she was washed over with feeling of self-loathing, frustration, and embarrassment. 'How could I have fucked up so badly?'

When she surfaced out of the water, she struggled to stay afloat as the pain in her arm continued and the cold temperatures made her desperate to breathe as much a she could. As the castle grew smaller in the distance, bells could be heard signaling that there was a break in. Arya didn't get far before a party of riders exited Riverrun and turned downstream to Arya's direction. Putting all thoughts aside and only focusing on surviving, Arya did her best to swim the side of the river that was polluted with many trees and away from the riders.

As Arya climbed out of the water, her wound stung greatly as snow and mud touched the impaled flesh. She did her best to contain the pain within herself before an arrow shot into a tree next to her. She started to run as quick as she could through the woods before her, losing sight of the riders within seconds. Though her pace was slow and her body wouldn't stop shivering, she kept moving and wouldn't allow herself to stop.


It wasn't even an hour and Arya had become lost in her escape. Though the skies were clear and the sun gave heat, the air around the land was cold and would bite at any opportunity. Arya wanted to take the blade out, but if she did then she would start to bleed more than she already was. She was currently in the middle of attempting to get her bearings. She had to find someplace to hide, or someone to help her. Maybe some Tully soldiers were nearby.

She kept walking past the trees, the forest at this point was more open. As she slowly trudged through the snow, she could hear a noise in the distance. It was the sound of horses galloping. Arya scanned through the trees and saw riders wearing red in the distance behind her. She picked up her pace, but the deepness of the snow tripped her and she couldn't get up. She was so cold that her arm had numbed and she no longer felt the pain of the dagger, but she knew that her injury was worsening.

Moments later, she was pulled out from the snow and sat up by the Lannister soldiers. "Is she the one?" One of them asked.

"There's a dagger in her arm, of course it's her." Another confirmed. "Best leave the knife in her or she might bleed to death. Don't want that to happen yet."

She was picked up and sat against a tree. In front of her, kneeling down, was Commander Lefford and he was joined by fifteen Lannister soldiers. "I heard from some of my men that three Red Cloaks were killed by a girl on their way to the Twins. Was that you?"

There was no point in denying it now. Arya gave what passed for a nod. "T-t-they attacked m-me and I-I defended myself-f." She couldn't contain her shivering and she wasn't getting any warmer. The horses started to whine and grow restless as Commander Lefford looked legitimately impressed with her.

"That doesn't explain what you were doin in the Lady Tully's chambers."

"To k-k-kill her." Arya had to make up something believable. If they knew she was there to rescue Roslin, then they would punish her or Steffon. "S-s-she's the r-r-reason my family died at-t the Twins."

"Oh, the Red Wedding?" Lefford asked. Arya nodded simply and could feel her face going numb. "Makes sense. Lots of people in the Riverlands hate the Freys for what they did. But then again, it was the boy they called king who broke his vows just to fuck that foriegn slut." Lefford reached behind his back and revealed the Valyrian dagger. "Now I would've believed ya had I not found this left in the tower. Where'd you get this?"

"Stole it."

"Liar," he spat, "no one let's Valyrian steel get stolen from them." The horses began to jerked around and some of their riders lost their grips on the reigns. "What in seven hells the matter?" Lefford stood up and inspected the horses with his men. From around them amongst the trees, noises of twigs snapping and creatures running could be heard.

Moments later, snarling and growls became apparent and the men became scared, some even drawing their swords. In the corner of Arya's eye, she saw movements passed the trees beyond. Suddenly, wild barks were made and wolves appeared from the trees in packs, attacking the Lannister men. The ones who hadn't drawn their weapons were the first to suffer and die of mauling in the throat. There was catastrophe and chaos among the remaining soldiers and some even tried to flee, but the horses were too riled up to let anyone ride them.

One of the wolves was struck by a sword and impaled afterwords. It whined as the guard drew his blade from the wolf's belly, but he would not be boasting of the deed any time soon. A large white wolf dove on top of the guard and bit as his neck. With a small tug, the white wolf ripped the man's head clean off. The wolf turned to Arya and revealed his ruby red eyes. "Ghost," Arya croaked. His attention was fixated on her while one of the remaining soldiers tried to attack from behind, but another large wolf leapt from out of nowhere and tore the soldier's arm off and continued to kill.

Screams filled the air as at least two dozen wolves were ripping the soldiers from limb to limb. It only took minutes for the snows to turn red and all of the men who wore red were lying dead in pieces. All of the fur of the wolves had many stained of red from their mouths to their paws. They surrounded Arya and became tame as Ghost slowly approached her with Nymeria next to him. "Hello girl." Nymeria eyes looked at Arya's arm and she began to whimper quietly. Arya just smiled at her. "I made a mistake." Arya looked over to Ghost, glad to see him just as much as her direwolf. "You should head home Ghost. Rickon misses you." Ghost just stared at her blankly like he would to everyone except Jon.

Arya did her best to stand up, but she was still very weak and need rest, but with what's happened she didn't have the time for that. She scanned over the dead bodies and saw what remained of Commander Lefford. She limped past the wolves and fell to her knees when she reached his body. Both of his arms wore torn off as was his neck.

The Valyrian dagger rested in red snow next to Lefford's hip. Arya picked it up and immediately began to traced the blade in an outline of Lefford's face.


When Lefford first put on his face, the sensation was different. The pain in his arm was gone and he was no longer cold. The makeshift bandage he made was stained with blood, but it ceased being soaked by it. The wolves around him stepped back, afraid of what they just witnessed. Nymeria and Ghost however still knew that the man before them was the girl they knew. Lefford still felt weak, but he immediately began to undress from the clothes of a girl and salvaged what he could from the faceless body and a few others.

In about an hour, Lefford managed to piece together some clothes and armor that were free of any blood and damage. He strapped his sword belt around his waist and turned to the direwolves. He walked over them and brushed through the fur atop their heads. "Thank you," he said before turning back and approaching a horse that didn't escape. As he mounted it, Ghost had already darted back the way he came, but Nymeria and her pack remained where they were. Lefford took one last look at them before spurring the horse down a trail nearby in the direction of Riverrun.

Within minutes the castle already came back into sight. A horn sounded and the drawbridge was lowered down as he got closer to the entrance. Inside, a younger soldier took the reigns of his horse as he dismounted and guided it back to the stables as other men approached him. "Commander, did you find the girl?"

"Where're the others?"

"What happened?"

"Quite!" Lefford shouted. "Seven hells, give me moment to say something, you cunts!" The men quieted down enough for Lefford to not have to shout. "Now then, I'm afraid that we found the girl, but she froze to death before we could question her. Not moments later, we were all set upon by a huge pack of wolves, and two of them were big fuckers, nearly big as horses they were. I managed to escape, but I'm not sure how many others did as well. We'll keep our eyes out on the way."

"On the way to what?" Someone asked.

Lefford pulled out a scroll with a broken seal on it that bore the crest of the Lannister Lion. It was a complete fake, but no one even had to see its contents for Lefford to make up what was inside. "I received a raven this morning from Kings Landing before this whole shit storm happened, we're ordered by the queen to return to the Westerlands and wait for further instructions."

"We're going home?"

"Not all of us. The queen has order that a thousand men remain in the Riverlands to keep watch for anything suspicious or troubling. They'll be under the command of Lord Edmure Tully who's declared for the queen."

"She's giving the Riverlands away!" Someone complained.

"If any of you have any shit about this, you're free to ride down to the Red Keep and tell the queen that yourself, because I'm not gonna be hearin any of it. We have six days to pack up and leave, but I want every man in this castle ready in five." There were many groans and complaints heard all around. "Shut it you cunts! Or else I'll make it three days!" Everyone immediately left the courtyard to go do something that was productive except for the three lieutenants. They all joined Lefford in a walk to the castle.

"Commander," One of them said, "are you sure about this? With only a thousand men garrisoned here, we'll have no grip on the Tully's."

"This is only a ploy to confuse our enemies. With only a thousand men, The Riverlands and the Northern rebels will sieze the chance to attack. And once they do, we'll have them surrounded on all sides and wipe them out."

"We mean to sacrfice a thousand of our men?"

"No, we mean to sacrifice a thousand traitors."

"Traitors?" Another lieutenant asked?

"Come now, haven't you heard the faint whispers of our men turning their cloaks to the imp? Such disloyalty will not go unpunished." That was the best thing Lefford could think of to root out the soldiers considering loyalty to Tyrion Lannister and securing more men foir the wars to come.

The ieutenants looked at eachother bother nervously andseeing the logic in the tactics. "By your orders, commander." The three of them left as Lefford approached the doors to Roslin's chambers. He opened them and proceeded inside and found Roslin sitting next to a small bed, drinking a glass of wine. Steffon was asleep in the bed and there were also two handmaidens scrubbing the blood stains out of the floor. Roslin looked up to him, still shaken at what transpired.

"My lady, if we could speak alone for moment." She looked puzzled at him which told Lefford that his attitude towards her was not his usual. The handmaidens took the hint and left the room, closing the door behind them. Lefford walked over to an unoccupied chair at a table across the room and sat down in it, exhausted. "I have news of which I believe you'll be glad to hear. Your husband will be returning to Riverrun within a week's time from tomorrow. The Lannister forces will be returning to the Westerlands, save a garrison of one thousand."

This news shocked Roslin. She looked confused more than she'd ever been. "Commander Lefford, why?"

"Because I told everyone the queen ordered it, which she didn't. I just new that my men would listen to me since I'm their leader and they believed me when I told them the queen ordered it."

Roslin only looked more confused. "But, why?"

Lefford placed his right hand on his chin and grabbed his skin. He pulled up and returned to being Arya, causing Roslin to become wide eyed and mystified. Arya's arm felt a jolting pain, but she bore it in her. "You're not a Stark, but you are a Tully like my mother, and I will always fight to protect my family, even if yours killed her and my brother."

"You're-"

"Family," Arya cut off, "and if you want to keep it that way, then trust in me and you won't be kept a prisoner in this room for much longer." Arya placed the face back on her and became Lefford once again. "Winter is here, and a great evil is coming for us all."