Author's Note: Thanks so much to all the readers for your support! I can't believe the story's at 400 reviews with lots of people following and enjoying it:) Fingers crossed this will be the first of several updates this week. Now that I'm back with access to the internet, I'm hoping to make some good progress with this story in the next several days.
The Lannister Camp
"What did you say?!" Amarah roared at the stoic figure in front of her.
Brienne's mask of passive obedience of faltered not the slightest in the face of her mistress's wrath. "He's gone with his men to the Eyrie, my lady," Brienne repeated the sentence that had managed to incite Amarah's vitriolic fury. "He requested that you remain here while he retrieves the Stark girl."
"And did he happen to explain why he chose to make this request through you and sneak out like a thief in the night rather than request it of me himself?" Amarah could hear her already thundering voice rise with each word, but she didn't care. As her anger could not be directed at Jaime himself, she was perfectly content to instead unleash it on her own knight who had willingly gone along with his deception.
Brienne's left brow quirked slightly upwards then, gracing her face with a faintly patronizing look that did nothing to help temper Amarah's rage. "He seemed to think you would not react well to hearing his wishes, my lady."
"How perceptive of him," Amarah shot back.
When Jaime had pleaded with her to trust him two days before, she had foolishly believed that the trust he spoke of would go both ways. Instead he had chosen to keep his plans from her while apparently scheming to leave her behind as he went to rescue Sansa from the Eyrie by himself.
Earlier that eve he had assured her that he would join her shortly after the evening meal, per his usual ritual, and retire with her for the night. After Amarah had sat up waiting for the space of almost three hours for him to make an appearance, Brienne had come to inform her that Jaime had left the camp almost as soon as they had parted after the evening meal. Amarah wasn't certain which had injured her more, Jaime's wish to leave her behind or his dishonesty in accomplishing that goal. Either way, she didn't intend to acquiesce with his orders like a docile, obedient little creature.
With a determined glint lighting her eyes, she hastily retrieved her fur trimmed cloak and stepped past Brienne to walk outside, but her escape was hastily cut short by the solid mass of Sandor Clegane who had quickly moved to block exit of the tent in order to intercept her hasty retreat.
Amarah flashed him a disapproving frown before attempting to sidestep the bothersome man, but he mirrored the action, effectively barring any further progress. "What in the seven hells do you think you're doing?" she shouted at him over the howling wind outside.
"Keeping you here," he answered in an uninterested tone that indicated he was not in the least affected by her angry temper. Amarah looked back at Brienne for help but was only destined to be disappointed by her knight's failure to provide any assistance.
Amarah wanted to scream at them both in frustration but forced herself to take a deep, calming death before replying. "I thought you were tired of being told what to do," she questioned Clegane, assuming that he, like Brienne, was simply following Jaime's orders to keep her from helping in the mission to recover Sansa from Littlefinger's fortress.
Her hopes to illicit an angry response were quickly squelched by the smug look in his slate-colored eyes. "I volunteered."
Amarah blinked back the unexpected burn of angry tears that blurred her vision before shooting an accusing glance at her lady knight. "Why are you doing this to me? You are meant to serve me, not keep me a captive at Jaime Lannister's command."
Brienne's hard expression slipped then to reveal the concern in her blue eyes. "I am trying to protect you, my lady. Lannister only wishes to do the same."
"By keeping me here against my will?" Amarah questioned her, abandoning her attempts to get past Clegane and approaching her knight with a pleading look. "With all Jaime's attempts to protect me, he has forgotten that by leaving me behind there is no one in his party who Sansa can trust. What possible reason could she have to believe Jaime Lannister means her no harm? The same man whose son ended, most brutally, the life of her beloved father. Without me there, who can she trust to leave Littlefinger and the Eyrie of her own accord?"
Amarah could tell that her reasoning to be included in the rescue party had dented Brienne's confidence that she should be kept away at all costs. As Brienne contemplated her words, Clegane spoke from behind them. "Did you never consider the fact that Kingslayer could simply take the Little Bird with him, whether she likes it or not?"
"And did you ever stop to consider what Sansa might do if forced on a day long journey down a treacherous mountain path with a man she considers her enemy?" she sent back with a desperate look that begged him to understand her logic. "What's to keep her from harming herself in an attempt to escape? The only way to ensure she returns safely is if I am there as someone she can trust. You said you wanted to help her. The only way to do that is by allowing me to follow Jaime."
The boredom in Clegane's expression had been steadily replaced by doubt as Amarah spoke. "She makes sense," he sent the words over her head to Brienne who had still not spoken in response to Amarah's pleas.
"Lannister will have our heads if we do this," the tall woman finally responded with a dubious look.
"I'll deal with Jaime," Amarah assured Brienne. "What I need from both of you now is to help me go after him. As every minute is precious to our cause, we must leave without further delay."
Brienne still looked reluctant but eventually ceded to her lady's wishes with a sigh of resignation. "Very well."
"And you?" Amarah asked, turning her gaze to the hulking brute still blocking her way.
Clegane answered with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders. "Any way I can be of service." His words might have painted a picture of disinterest, but Amarah suspected the only reason he agreed to help her was out of concern for Sansa. Though whatever reason he could have for helping her cousin was swiftly brushed from Amarah's mind as she waved them both to follow her lead out of the tent.
When she stepped outside she found Gendry lingering by the entrance, clearly in the same place where he had been for the duration of her argument with the two knights. "You too?" she asked with a disappointed frown.
"Ser Jaime threatened to cut off my head if I tried to warn you," the boy defended himself with his hands thrown up in surrender. "But I'll gladly help you follow him, m'lady."
"For the love of the seven, Gendry, stop calling me that!" Amarah ordered him in an irritated huff before taking off in the direction of the Bloody Gate, a mountain pass they would have to make their way through in order to start their trek up the mountain.
Gendry followed her with his gaze before giving a confused shake of his head. "Why is she still angry at me when I agreed to help her? I don't understand females." He had muttered the words to himself, though Clegane, who was passing by, happened to catch the words.
"You never will, boy," he informed him before continuing on in the princess's wake.
The Eyrie: The Following Eve
Swords. Struggle. Death. Those were the jarring thoughts that served to rouse Sansa from her deep slumber. Sitting up quickly with the fur coverings pooling at her waist, she looked out the small window of her room to see the half moon shining brightly in the starry night sky, indicating it was still late into the night. Sansa tried to tamp down the feeling of panic that had inexplicably taken hold of her. She squinted through the dimness of her surroundings to discover any imminent threat but was relieved to find nothing sinister lurking about in the darkness.
Just as she meant to ignore the strange premonition and attempt to return to sleep, Sansa caught the sound of footsteps just outside her door. As the approaching steps stilled by her door, she pulled the furs up around her in an irrational attempt to shield herself from the mysterious person who meant to enter her room. As the door slowly creaked open on its hinges, a sliver of moonlight fell across the intruder's face, illuminating her crooked nose.
Heaving a pent up sigh of relief, Sansa threw off her coverings and left the warm bed to approach her maid. "Pia, what are you doing here? This is no time to be wandering about. One of the guards could mistake you for an intruder."
"That's why I'm here, m'lady," Pia whispered urgently before latching onto one of Sansa's wrists and trying to pull her through the door she had just entered. "The keep is under attack."
At that bit of information, Sansa snatched back her wrist and regarded her maid with a shocked look. "But that can't be! This fortress is impenetrable."
"Not if the soldiers were rendered… impaired, m'lady," her maid whispered back quietly.
"What do you mean?"
Pia tried once again to pull Sansa through the doorway behind her, but Sansa resisted, silently demanding that the maid explain herself. "A sleeping draught was put in the stew the men ate at evening meal," the girl answered quietly, the barest hint of guilt creeping into her reply. "They weren't able to defend the keep."
"And who put the draught there?" Sansa demanded of her, taking a small step backwards out of the beam of moonlight.
"I only want to help you, m'lady," Pia pleaded with her, but Sansa was not interested in what she had to say. All she could hear was that she had been betrayed once again.
Shaking her head in denial at the maid's earnest attempts to convince her of her loyalty, Sansa quickly darted around her and ran out the door before bolting it behind her. She could hear Pia shout her false name before the call was accompanied by the pounding of fists on the wooden door, but Sansa paid it no heed. Instead, she rushed down the hall towards the tower that housed Petyr's set of rooms where the lord of the keep would reside. She had to warn him of what was happening. She might suspect his motives in keeping her here, but she would rather trust her fate to his hands than to the men who she could hear even now in the lower levels of the keep claiming it as their own. Only the gods knew of what dire fate might befall her at their hands. The possibility of a brutal rape or consequences even worse than that flickered through her mind before Sansa resolutely pushed those thoughts away in favor or focusing on getting to Petyr.
However, when she reached his rooms, she found them empty with nary a soul in sight. Fighting down the feeling of panic that was slowly beginning to envelop her senses, Sansa began walking in the direction of the High Hall. The sounds of fighting and struggle floated through the air more prominently than before, and she had to force herself to ignore the feelings of fright and terror those sounds inspired as she continued on. The fighting was still far enough away to give her time to reach the Hall in search of any allies that could be found.
Pia had mentioned the sleeping draught that had rendered most of the knights incapable of fending off the intruders, but from the sound of clashing steel, enough must have escaped the trap to give the knights of the keep some hope of retaining control. Though whoever it was that had planned the invasion had been wise to attempt the siege at night. With the view that the seven towers of the keep had over the mountains of the Vale, an attack in the middle of the day would have been nigh unto impossible with the archers of the keep having a perfect opportunity to pick off any attackers in the light of day. The thought of intelligent attackers, however, did nothing to waylay Sansa's fear of discovery. Whoever they were, they were no allies of hers and she would be best served to find Petyr as soon as possible.
The frightened shaking of her limbs made it difficult for Sansa to walk as quickly as she wished, but eventually she was able to find her destination. It would have been too risky to light her surrounding with torch or flame, so she had to content herself with finding her way around in the shadowed dark. As she entered the High Hall where she had regularly taken meals during her time here, she noticed it looked much more frightening to her alerted senses than ever before. The moonlight shone through the slanted windows, reflecting off the blue-veined marble walls in a ghostly way, sending a shiver of dread through her bones.
Sansa's attention was pulled from the eerie surroundings by the sound of voices at the far end of the Hall. Walking on the soft pads of her feet to carry her silently across the stone floor, Sansa crept closer to the shadowed figures huddled together near the moon door, an instrument of execution that was meant to send its victims hurtling to their unfortunate demise at the foot of the mountains. Sansa could make out Petyr's figure in the sliver of light that fell through the windows and instantly tensed at the sight of a shiny dagger he held in his hand against the other figure's throat. She was too far away at present to make out the other person's face, but as she came closer she quickly drew back in shock and dread as the wandering ray of moonlight moved across the intruder's face.
Sansa was too frozen with shock to speak the person's name as her lips moved wordlessly to call out. Amarah. The cousin she had thought lost had come to find her, but the feeling of joy she should have felt was quickly overridden by terror as she saw Petyr open the moon door while he continued to hold her cousin immobile with his knife pressed against her pale throat. In a moment of horrifying clarity, Sansa realized what Lord Baelish intended to do. He meant to throw Amarah Baratheon to her death.
Next chapter will backtrack a bit to find out how Amarah got herself in this not ideal position. Maybe she should have followed Jaime's orders after all… Keep reading to find out what happens next with Amarah and Jaime. Speaking of whom, we'll catch up with him in the next chapter as well. Also, the following update will fill in many of the missing holes on how Jaime managed to infiltrate the fortress. I just wanted to leave things a bit of a mystery for now. Thanks for reading! Reviews are always an extremely welcome and appreciated thing:)