The tunnels were a tight fit for a warrior Brienne's size, made especially hard by the swords on either side of her waist. She heard Jaime quietly counting turns ahead of her. She too ran through Tyrion's directions in her mind, confirming their path: next a right, then the ladder. The tunnels were growing wider until at last, they stopped under a stone arch. She watched Jaime's mouth move as he counted the bricks and pushed. The stone scraped loudly as it slid aside.

Light streamed into the tunnel.

Brienne heard Jaime give a small, exasperated sigh a second before a guard's yell echoed down the hall. She rushed after Jaime through the opening with Podrick close behind. A twitching guard lay on the ground before her, and Jaime was already cutting down a second guard. She drew her sword and stepped to the right of the throne room's door, with Jaime to the left.

Everyone inside would be expecting them now. Brienne glanced back at Podrick, then across to Jaime. She nodded slightly and mouthed the words one, two, three. They burst into the room.

Cersei stood facing them with Euron and the Mountain behind her, framed by the window. To the front of her stood half a dozen knights of her queensguard. Her glittering eyes flickered to Brienne, and her mouth curled into a sneer. "Hello, my stupid brother," she said to Jaime.

"Cersei," Jaime said tensely. "I'm begging you to surrender. No harm will come to you, I swear it on my life."

"Looks like you're outnumbered," Cersei replied. "Why should I surrender to you?"

"Danaerys and the Northern soldiers are storming the city as we speak. Even if you kill us, they'll kill you. I'm here to save you. I'll make them promise not to harm you. We can live in the countryside and raise our child together."

Euron shifted behind Cersei as she laughed, "And what does she have to say about that?" Brienne kept her expression blank as Cersei turned to face her. "You love him," she said, and this time it was not a question. She turned back to Jaime, and now there was a bitter edge to her voice. "I'll never understand how you came to prefer that lumbering beast of a woman."

She sensed rather than saw Jaime stiffen. Any other time he would have defended her, had the stakes not been so high. Instead, he pleaded, "Cersei, please, you don't have to die. We're not here to fight you."

Cersei waited a long moment, gazing at them with an amused expression. Brienne was no silver-tongued diplomat, but even she could see Cersei would not back down. He never had a chance, she realized.

"Take my brother alive, but kill the other two!" Cersei's voice rang out. The queensguard fanned out to surround them, three on each side, followed by the Mountain, then a beat later, Euron.

Brienne took a step forward, planting herself between the Mountain and Jaime. He towered unnervingly over her by half a foot. Usually she was the one towering over her opponents. Brienne kept her gaze fixed on him, but her mind was racing. Six guards plus Euron. . . .

Suddenly, new footsteps entered into the throne room. Brienne didn't turn around - she knew not to turn her back on an enemy, even as the guards all turned to look at the newcomer. Her heart sunk further. We're truly surrounded.

Then, miraculously, she heard the Hound's bitter voice. "Brother, time to put you out of your misery." His heavy footsteps pounded towards them. Brienne's eyes met Jaime's as she jerked her head at Cersei, and her voice said "Podrick get Euron."

She leaped to her right with her sword extended, driving it into a distracted guard, as the Hound barreled past her. The other two guards on that side spun to face her, then lunged at her. She raised her sword in her right arm to block the first guard, while her left hand drew a second sword from her belt, slashing it across the second guard's stomach. The first guard glanced down at her left-hand sword in surprise, just enough time Brienne to ram into him with her shoulder. He staggered back, and she slashed Oathkeeper downwards across his chest.

The three guards on the left were upon her. She raised both swords and took a deep breath as they collided.

She was stronger than any one of them, she thought, as she blocked first a guard on her right, then her left. The third guard, just a hair slower than the other two, charged straight at her with his sword raised. I'm stronger than them. She pushed hard with both arms, pushing both guards back as she took a quick step left. The third guard's sword connected with her right side, carving out a shallow cut, but briefly shielding her from the guard to her right. She swept her right arm under it, cutting through his armor with her Valyrian steel blade. Her left arm was already raising to block the left guard's next strike.

The last two guards were excellent fighters. Brienne parried their attacks, desperately searching for a chance to strike, but none came. They were fast, careful, and skilled at defense, and there were two of them. It was all she could do to keep up, Brienne thought with a grimace. Their blows were strong, and her arms were burning. She raised her right arm to block another forceful attack.

As the guard brought his sword down on hers, hard, she let Oathkeeper fall from her loose grip. Startled by the sudden lack of resistance, the guard staggered. Faster than breathing, Brienne whipped a dagger from her belt and plunged it into his side. The guard fell with the dagger still in his body. Brienne turned and gripped her remaining sword with both hands, with her full attention on the last remaining guard. He backed away a step. She charged at him, neatly knocking his sword from his hand and stabbing him through the stomach.

Breathing heavily, she reached down to pick up Oathkeeper. She examined her injuries on her side, and on her arms and legs. They were bloody but shallow. The room was silent around her. The Hound was there, looking bruised and battered, and Arya, whom she hadn't noticed entering. The Mountain was dead on the floor. Podrick was nowhere to be seen. Jaime was nowhere to be seen.

Arya was watching her with an odd, almost proud expression. "Where did you learn to fight with your left hand?"

"I trained with with Ser Jaime," Brienne answered. I hope he's still alive.

****** JBJBJBJBJBJB ******

Author's Notes:

Why is our favorite Lady Ser a dual-wielder now? Actually, it's because I didn't plan ahead!

Yesterday I was writing Arya's chapter and not really thinking carefully about the other characters' fight scenes. All Arya has to do is make a hard choice and deliver a hard strike. The details of the other fights can wait another day, or so I thought. (I'm not good with fight scenes. I wish I had Astolat's grasp of weapons, techniques, and strategy!)

So I'm thinking, how many opponents should Brienne take down? It must be enough to sound impressive, but not an impossible number. Her scuffle with the three Stark guys was a pretty easy fight for her. Twelve is too many, and it would clutter the throne room, but six is a perfect number. I bet she can handle six.

I hit "publish", and later it occurs to me that the Stark guys were untrained, hapless villagers (albeit evil ones), unlike the highly skilled knights of the queensguard. Welp!

So I'm laying in bed trying to envision this battle scene, between Brienne and six armored guards, going how is this going to work? Every way I try it in my mind's eye, I see the remaining guards swarming her. Is she faster than them? Not really, she's not slow by any means, but she's more powerful than fast. Does she lead them into a tight space to fight them one-on-one? Maybe someone comes to her aid. But I already wrote Arya and the Hound chilling, having a chat, so not them. Maybe Pod? Jealously, I don't want anyone except Jaime saving her and fighting back-to-back with her.

What can I do to give her the edge? Then I remember I used to play Pirates in Love, a visual novel where the captain was a dual-wielding swordsman. I'll take it. I bet she'd be training for it anyway. She fought Arya, who's ambidextrous with a dagger, and she watched Jaime struggle to learn his left hand. She's probably concluded that it's a useful skill on her own. At this point she's not particularly good at it, which is why she does most of her kills with her right hand.