Sansa

Sansa sat in the bedroom of the hand of the King huddled next to Jeyne Poole, waiting for her gallant prince Joffrey to save her from whoever is attacking the castle. Jeyne was weeping but Sansa was

Jorey Cassel seemed to know the attack was on it's way before it happened though as he had seen it fit to put her in the same room as Arya and her dancing master who happened to not be a dancing master at all.

Septa Mordain was furious when she saw Arya in grey steel mail and learned the truth, that her father had decided to teach Arya swordfighting. She was about to lecture Arya but she stopped talking when Jorey handed Arya her own sword and sword belt. Arya gave the Septa a wry smile, smelling her fear.

It didn't surprise Sansa that her father would do such a thing of course. If it wasn't for the wise counsel of her mother, father would have probably brought her to the executions as well. The first men don't value the innocence of maids the same way those that worship the Seven do. Unlike the Seven, the Gods of the North were cruel, demanding blood sacrifices. They made wargs and skinchangers to cast spells and had an army of meat eating giants if any of old Nan's stories were to be believed. Sansa preferred the charming tales of the South to the horrific ones old Nan told.

It was as if Sansa was stuck in one of those southern tales today. She was the pretty princess stuck in the tower and she only wanted Prince Joffrey to find her. Her father was going to call off her marriage with him but that was only because he was mad at Robert for some reason. Now that Robert is dead Sansa was sure she could change his mind. He let Arya have her swordmaster, Sansa couldn't see why he won't let her marry Joffy?

Syrio Forrel, the last sword of Bravos or something, paced about the apartment of the hand of the King, rearranging the furniture for some reason. Jorey Cassel had come up from the tower floor to observe his work, with a level of seriousness that almost made Sansa snort.

When Arya asked Syrio what he was doing he started rambling on about how he became the last sword. He said something about a cat and how it wasn't actually a cat but he knew it was a cat. Septa Mordain rolled her eyes at the madness of the story while Jeyne and Sansa did their best to not laugh at the fool her father left to guard them.

Syrio stopped suddenly and began stomping the ground like a maniac. Sansa became afraid suddenly, remembering that he was the first sword of bravos, not the last. Sansa instinctively grabbed Jeyne's

"What do you see boy?" Syrio asked Arya.

"The floor?" Arya replied looking visibly disturbed by her master's behaviour.

"Who are you trying to fool? Remember the story I told you, this floor only looks like a floor." Syrio said, the disappointment in his face grew as Arya still did not seem to understand what he was telling her.

"It's a hidden door." Arya said as the realization donned on her.

"How did you know? Have you come across one before?" Syro said as a smile spread across his face.

Syrio Forrel bent over and ,wriggling his fingers delicately, pulled out the tile. underneath it was a black void. Sansa stood up to get a better view, she could make out wooden ladder steps in the darkness.

"How did you find it?" Arya asked him.

"You have other senses boy, the ears are the ones I use to find hidden rooms, the nose is the one I use to find poisons and common sense to find hidden faces." Syrio said as he continued stomping on the floor.

"So they sound different." Arya translated what Syrio said into words Sansa could understand.

Arya began stomping the floor, listening to the sound. Most went BANG, BANG, BANG but some went plap, plap, plap. Syrio wasn't concerned by either of those sounds. Jorey had covered the hidden door by piling overturned furniture on top of it.

Eventually Syrio declared that the room was free of more trap doors and left to check the rest of the tower. Jorey told the girls and Septa Mordain to stay in the bedroom, away from the balcony and to come find him if the the pile of furniture stirs before leaving to follow Syrio down the stairs.

It became quiet for a while after the initial fighting.

"If your father were to lose do not fear, I know where all the tunnels in the Red Keep lead, I can save you all." Varys told them in his effeminate voice. Arya didn't like the way he spoke.

"If you know all the hidden doors in the Red Keep, why didn't you help Syrio?" Her sister asked the bald man.

"Well I'm afraid your father doesn't trust me and Syrio would have checked every inch of this room even if I helped. Do not worry child, Syrio has done well without me." He says Syrio has done well but he didn't say he found all the doors. Sansa tried to push the thought aside but began to think Varys had a hidden agenda.

Varys stood up to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" Arya called after him.

"I'm going to help them seal some trap doors." Varys replied with a smile before going up the stairs to the hand's solar.

Arya left to follow him with her left hand gripping her sword tightly.

"Arya don't." Sansa called out to her sister trying to stop her sister who was eagerly disobedient.

"Sansa!" Septa Mordain called out when Sansa began to follow her sister out the door, but Sansa had made up her mind to not let Arya wander off following some strange man on her own.

Arya moved silently despite her grey steel dress so Sansa could not help but be aware of the fact that her own footsteps were painfully audible. If Varys noticed her, he did not give any sign as he continued to make his way up the tower of the hand soundlessly.

He stopped when he reached the hand's solar.

"What are you doing here?" Sansa recognized the voice as one that belonged to Vayon Poole, the loving father of her best friend Jeyne. Arya ran up the stairs now giving up on her stealthy approach, Sansa followed her up hastily as well.

"I was asked to help seal the hidden passageways in the tower of the hand." Varys replied.

"On whose orders?" Winterfel's steward asked him suspiciously.

"Why the request of Lord Stark's daughters of course" Varys turned around to gesture towards Sansa and Arya who stood behind him. Vayon Poole crossed his arms in disapproval.

"You girls are not old enough to be giving orders to grown men. Especially at a-" the steward's lecture was cut short when Varys deftly slipped past him into the solar.

"Hey get out of the solar!" Vayon tried to sound as commanding as possible but Varys didn't listen. The sisters followed Vayon as he went into the room.

"I'm helping you find the hidden doors of course." Varys replied as he kicked a stone slab at the bottom of the right wall. The slab that looked no different than any other stone brick moved and cracks began to form on the wall which was solid just seconds before. To Sansa's horror the wall began to move with a laborious rumble that shook the ground they stood on. It first moved out of the wall then grinded it's way across the ground to the left.

"Oh no!" Varys squealed as he dove to the right and revealed small men armed with knives, axes and small swords standing on the other side of the dark door.

Sansa did not know how many there were as she was too scared to count and ran back to the left of the doorway they came from.

"JOREY!" Sansa screamed.

"We are under attack!" Vayon Poole shouted

Arya stabbed one and Vayon Poole cut down two men in half

"They are after the book!" Vayon shouted before he lunged at a man who was hefting a massive brick of a book towards the dark door and cut his head off.

Sansa had a sudden realization that Varys was standing next to her now, his face a mask of fear and shock. He stretched out his right arm and from his billowing sleave something shot out.

A small feathered dart sprouted from the chest of Vayon Poole. Sansa let out a wordless scream as Vayon Poole collapsed onto the floor.

As the small men retreated through the dark door with the massive book, Arya turned to face Varys who had managed to wrap his hands around Sansa without her noticing.

"Drop your weapon my lady." Varys ordered her sister politely. He pulled back the sleave of his left hand as he talked, revealing muscular forearms that was adorned by a black bracelet that had something sharp sticking out of it.

"You wouldn't dare." Arya said with a certainty Sansa wasn't sure where Arya got from. sansa wanted to scream at her sister that this wasn't the time to be playing games.

"Hurt my sister and I will kill you, it is better for you to surrender." Hints of uncertainty crept into Arya's confident face as she said it. If Varys valued his life he would have surrendered, but do men who were gelded value their lives? Sansa wasn't sure.

"You are wise beyond your years lady Arya but let me teach you of the another way this encounter will end." Varys held out his hand pointing towards her little sister.

"NO!" Sansa screamed as Varys moved his fingers in a strange way, the black device on his hand made a thumping noise and Arya was knocked off her feet.

Varys picked Sansa up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of rice. Sansa kicked the air pointlessly as her tears fell on the floor.

"Well, well, well. I never knew I would see this. What could a eunich possibly want from a fair maid?" Sansa heard the voice of Syrio Forrel say.

"Drop the little lady." Jorey commanded.

Sansa couldn't see it but from his sleeve Varys produced a dagger.

"Is that the best you can do? Are you out of tricks Lord Varys?" Jorey asked him with a chuckle

"Go ahead cut her ass with that dagger." Syrio challenged him.

"NO!" Sansa screamed.

"I think that you will soon realize that letting me take Sansa now and ending the fighting now is a far more pleasant way to lose than to wait until all your friends and Lord Stark die in battle. The Lannisters outnumber your Allies two to one." Varys told them without a hint of fear in his voice.

"I've fought under worse odds eunich." Jorey replied.

"I see you have made your decision, I will try to save as many of you as I can." Sansa could sense a hint of grief in his voice.

Sansa fell to the carpeted floor as Varys was suddenly no longer under her. She saw the floor come up to her face, and then she was under it. from the home above Sansa could make out the face Syrio Forel and soon he was gone too as ran through a door into darkness.

Jorey Cassel

Jorey saw the man fall through the floor. Syrio rushed up to the hole.

"I didn't know that was there." He heard Syrio say.

Arya's dress of steel rings and padded cloth meant she survived with just a broken collar bone, Vayon Poole wasn't as lucky.

The stone door in the solar could only be opened from the inside so Vayon Poole had seen no need to wear any armour while he sat safe in the solar. Now his friend was paying the price for his carelessness.

Vayon was trying to cough up words when Jorey told Arya to bring Jeyne upstairs.