The Gilded Hand

"I did what I needed to do." Arya explained. Gendry sighed, forgetting that even when Arya did talk she usually gave only half answers.

"No you didn't, did you even think about this before you did it? You didn't even know who was holding this place and now you know it's Ramsay Snow and you still think this is a good idea?"

"Yes." She said, her fingers working tirelessly at the restraints around their friends' wrists.

"How?" Gendry asked, still standing their dumbfounded.

"A girl has realized that there were only two guards watching the men, now is the perfect time to strike with the castle's defences lowered." Jaqen had walked forward silently and now stood next to Gendry.

"There now that you have your answers could you maybe help?" Arya asked, Gendry knelt next to Thoros and began examining the gashes across his chest.

"Strike where? And what is he doing here?" Gendry asked, his head motioning up to the man.

"Helping me." Arya replied.

"I am simply repaying a debt." He answered, as if offering Gendry a new riddle to solve.

Half of the men were tied up with ropes, revealing the true disrepair of Harrenhal, while the others were held in with iron shackles. "I could break these in the forge, but we'd have to sneak them back there."

"That'll take too long," Arya grumbled. "We can't leave in the middle of daylight, we'd be foolish to try it."

"Suppose we keep them there all day?" Gendry offered.

"And risk getting caught?" Arya said, dismissing him immediately.

"Well, I'd come up with a better plan but I've only been at it for a few seconds, mayhaps if you had told me what you were thinking of doing more than two minutes before you did it, I could be of better assistance," He said, his voice a hushed but angry whisper. He almost added a m'lady for good measure but resisted, not believing for a moment that the man next to him with his half coloured hair was trustworthy.

Arya bit her lip and thought for a moment, "We'll sneak the ones who need it over to the Forge and hide them there. Jaqen, can you remove the bodies and stand guard here until we're ready to go?" The man silently acquiesced and began lifting the still shackled men of the Brotherhood up to be moved. "The others will stay here as a decoy, and the rest of us will go about our day like normal."

"And if they ask where the other men went?" Gendry questioned, seeing holes in every detail of her makeshift plan.

"Dead." She answered, her eyes gazing far off into the distance. "The Bloody Mummers are said to be returning tomorrow, we'll leave tonight." She looked to Jaqen who nodded, a secret deal passing between them, and then they led Thoros, Lem and Jack to Forge. Beric also had metal cuffs around his wrist, tight fitting ones too, but the sun was rising and people would be moving around Harrenhal all too soon, and as the leader of the Brotherhood he would be quickly missed. They resolved to break him free before they left, and with that they left the remaining members in a bloody heap and went on with their day.

Gendry broke Thoros free of his shackles in minutes. Aside from leaving them a balm used for burns and cuts in the kitchen, Arya would've been too easily missed in the kitchens and had to return to work.

He hid them in the back of the Forge in the blacksmith's private quarters. Closing the door behind him as they entered his pleasant stare turned to a severe grimace. "Explain."

"While I understand your frustration, your Grace, now might not be the best time." Thoros replied diplomatically as Lem applied the ointment to his bleeding wrists.

"And while I might agree with you, I am still your pr…" He paused, "You're King." His resolve became steely once again. "Explain."

The three men of the Brotherhood exchanged a few looks before Thoros relented, "What would you like to know, your Grace?"

"Who are the Bloody Mummers?"

"Sellswords, hired killers who are apparently working for the Boltons, who to make matters worse were once holding allegiance to the Starks, though I don't think that's information we can trust any longer. They're led by Vargo Hoat, who has a penchant for…"

"Let's say collectibles" Lem added carefully.

"Either way not someone we're letting within ten inches of either you or Arry." Jack finished.

"That's what they wanted you for, huh?" Gendry asked, "I'd hoped it was anything else, maybe some kind of rebellions or news from the North, but they know that Arya and I are missing and they're looking for us."

Lem nodded, "Luckily for us, Cersei's hatred of you has left the kingdom looking for a crippled halting with buck teeth and a bald spot. You oughta thank her for disguising you so well all those years."

"I doubt we'll be speaking again." Gendry muttered under his breath.

"As for Arry, well the girl seems to know how to hide herself quite well."

"For now," Thoros added, "I don't need to remind you that a young girl arrived in King's Landing over a year ago and was supposed to be a wed around this time now. Unsurprisingly, she soon won't resemble that same girl much longer."

"It's just as good she's planned on getting us out tonight. She's in near as much jeopardy, and if she's found you can bet they won't be far off on figuring out who you are too, your Grace." Jack said.

"And how did she plan it?" Gendry questioned.

"Perhaps, your Grace, are you trying to delicately asked who that red haired bastard is?" Lem said candidly. "Because we're not sure either, only that for now he's our ally."

"I just... I know I've seen him before." Gendry said, not sure where to the place the unusual man in his mind. "But I don't trust him." Gendry shook the thought from his head, "I suppose I should get back to work, try and get some sleep."

He returned to work, stoking the fire in the heart of the Forge and picking up the sword he was working on for Ramsay Snow, he'd fashioned just right, and sharp too. And he knew Ramsay was clever enough to know a faulty sword when he saw one, and especially when he used one. Still Gendry was clever too, and he knew how to make the sword more frail than it would appear. He set to work putting the changes in, relishing in the work until the sun rose over the castle's walls.

"You seem determined with that." Arya said watching him as he heated and re shaped the sword. "I thought he just wanted it sharpened to lob your bullish head off faster."

He chuckled for a moment before shooting his head up to look around, "Be careful who you say that around." He looked at the sword for a moment before he began sharpening it. "I suppose I am."

"Aren't there stories about knights being killed with their own swords?" She asked.

Gendry shrugged, "I'm not sure." He sighed, "Honestly, I always could kind of see myself doing this. Not here, or in King's or anything, but there was this one time, Sansa and I were talking about finding a way to keep you in the North, in Winterfell, and I thought what if I could go there too. You could live in Winterfell, I could run the Forge." He shrugged, "Maybe it could've happened in another life."

Arya just stared at him. "Why would you even want that?" she asked, her eyes wide and unblinking.

Gendry just chuckled, "Well, if you don't know by now." He replied, returning to his work. "Shouldn't you get back to the kitchens?"

"Yes..." She replied, still eyeing him warily. Arya was almost out the door when Gendry decided to speak again.

"Who was that man, what's his name, Jaqen?"

"He was going to the Wall, with Yoren." She said, giving him no real explanation.

"How did he escape?"

"I helped him." She replied. "And now he owes me a debt."

"Isn't Yoren going to be looking for him?"

She stared down at the ground, "Yoren's dead. They're all dead." They were silent for a while, both knowing the reason why they had been killed, knowing that it was their own fault.

"We'll leave tonight." Gendry replied. "And we'll find a way to make up for all that's happened."

Arya gritted her teeth together and grimaced. "I know I will." Then she left as silently as she'd entered.

Back on the King's Road, when her throat felt dry and unused and she couldn't stand the sight of Gendry, she'd wandered over to the man in the cage who was being dragged along the road to the Wall.

"A girl does not speak." He said to her, quietly enough that no one would hear.

"I'm not a girl." She muttered.

"A man knows what a girl is. A man can tell." He said cryptically. "And he can see what a girl wants to bring back a man who is no longer alive. That is not something a girl can have. However, a girl can instead... have something else."

"A what is it you think I want?" She asked.

"A girl cannot return to what was but can move forward and... forget." He offered, his hand moved outside the bars of the cage and held a small iron coin out to her, but when she reached for it his hand snapped back behind the bars in an instant.

"What do you want from me?" She asked.

"That man" He said pointing to one of Yoren's men, holds the key to this cell, and sooner or later someone will come looking for these people, for you, when that happens I would like to be prepared to escape. In return, a girl will be owed a debt."

"What kind of debt?"

"By saving a man's life, the Red God will be owed one to replace it."

Arya bit her lower lip and thought this over, looking around the makeshift camp she could see a group of young men heading out in search of water, some of them no older than Rickon would be now, one even had curly reddish hair like him.

"I get you the key, then when trouble comes, you save them too." She said, motioning to the boys.

"That is not how this works." The man began, Arya cut him off.

"Yes, it is."

The man considered it for a moment, and saw the steely reserve in Arya's gray eyes. "Very well, Arya Stark."

When she handed over the key that night, he passed the coin through the bars to her, holding her hand in his for a moment as two words left his lips. "Valar Morghulis."

"Boy, get over here!" Yoren yelled at her, already warning her once that day about talking to the man.

"Valar Morghulis." She repeated foolishly, unaware of any meaning behind the words, except that they were High Valyrian.

She'd only found him a few days ago in Harrenhal, though he claimed to have been there for weeks already. She finally learned his name too, Jaqen H'ghar, and that Yoren's men had been ambushed by gold cloaks about three days after they had left. It made Arya nervous to think that if the Bloody Mummers, a name she'd hear tossed around in the kitchens, hadn't found them, the gold cloaks would've. They'd had too many close calls between here and the Capital and it was still a long way to King's Landing.

He'd saved himself a four of the boys, though he had no clue where they were now, dead or alive, he maintained that she was owed three favours. She'd claimed two as soon as she'd seen the opportunity. Tonight Jaqen would kill whatever guards were left and she, Gendry and the Brotherhood would all but walk out the front gates.

She passed him in the halls of the kitchen as she went upstairs to serve Ramsay Bolton his midday meal. His eyes were as blank a slate as they always were. As if he didn't know her at all. She tried to make her own eyes do that but always felt they betrayed her.

The hall was all but empty where Ramsay Snow ate that day, just him and one of his father's advisors, who related to him the news from around Westerns as it had come in by the raven's wing.

"The Lannisters and the Tyrells are showing a united front in the Capital but a little bird has informed me that there is infighting between the Queen and her new good-daughter."

"Are you boring me with tales of women?" Ramsay asked as Arya placed the tray of food in front of him. He glared at her for a passing moment as she moved to pour him some wine.

"Perhaps this will suit you better," The man continued.

"What news of the Starks?" The bastard lord asked loudly. Arya's hand stayed steady as she poured. She could feel Ramsay's eyes boring into her back.

Still as calm water, she thought to herself, though her arm began to shake. No, that only reminds you of home. Her mind scrambled to find someway to think of anything else, anything other than Jon and Bran and Rickon and her father and her lady mother, and Sansa and Nymeria and Syria Forrel back in the Capital when everyone was still together and al-

"A girl does not speak" Jaqen's voice repeated in her head. "A girl cannot return to what was but can go forward."

Arya finished pouring the wine and took a moment to stare out the window onto the whole of Harrenhal, and the dark gloomy sky that loomed over it. I must be like Jaqen, she thought, not Arya Stark, not Arry, but a girl. I must be a ghost. She felt the storm behind her eyes clear.

She served the wine to Lord Snow as the man announced that Theon Greyjoy had taken Winterfell for his own while Robb Stark had been away fighting for the North.

"Will that be all, m'lord?" She asked quietly.

"One moment," Ramsay instructed. "Go on," He said, turning back to the other man.

"Reports have come in that he has killed the youngest Stark boys, Rickon and Brandon Stark are dead."

Arya didn't flinch, didn't move at all. Didn't breathe. She held her hands behind her back and stared blankly at Ramsay's face, her own eyes meeting his. "Will that be all m'lord?" She repeated, her voice just as cheery, just as empty, as the last time.

"You're dismissed." Ramsay answered, unsatisfied.

She calmly walked down the winding stairs of the tower back to the kitchens.

"Arry?" She heard as she walked down to the dark and damp cellars where they kept stores of salt and Eastern spices and meats for the upcoming winter. "Arry?!" A voice repeated, more concerned as it followed her.

Soon, she collapsed, and as he did, Gendry knelt down next to her.

"Arya," He whispered, the room was empty save for the two of them, and he'd closed the door behind himself, but still he was always careful. "Arya, what happened up there?"

She held her hands out in front of her. Her long and jagged nails had torn into the flesh of her palms and there was blood running slowly down her wrists and forearms. Gendry quickly ripped a strip of cloth from the sleeve of his worn down tunic to wrap around her hands. "What happened?" He repeated.

"Bran and Rickon are dead. Theon killed them, he was like a brother to us, and he killed them." She said the words in confusion because they didn't make sense on her tongue, or to her brain, and out loud they made even less sense.

"What?" Gendry asked. "How do you know this?"

"He made the man read it, right in front of me." She said, "They're gone."

"Arya, he was testing you, he must've been. He suspects you're not what you seem, even after that stunt you pulled yesterday, you can't trust anything he says. He's just looking for a way to expose you." He said, brushing strands of matted hair away from her eyes so as to better see into them.

"What if they're actually dead though?" She asked, Gendry didn't have an answer. "Sansa's in the Capital and Cersei will either control her or kill her, Robb's fighting a war for the North, No one even knows where my mother is! And Jon... he's probably dead too, somewhere on that bloody wall." Tears started rolling down her face. "I've got no family anymore."

Tears fell violently down her cheeks and as they dropped she felt an anger rushing up in her chest. Her fingers reached up and began pulling at her tattered hair, then swiping at the air in front of her, then as she reached around to begin attacking the shelves of preserves around them Gendry grabbed her wrists.

She stopped, her eyes piercingly grey in the limited light of the store room, after a moment's hesitation he let go, and she mounted a blow of her small fist against his toros, then another, then another until soon she was full on sparring with his chest, and crying and growling like a wolf and though it didn't not happen soon she did eventually get tired and then Gendry wrapped his large arms around her and she sobbed into his chest and fidgeted and fought against him and then stopped. He leaned down placing a silent kiss on top of her head. "I've got no family left either, by now" He thought aloud. "But I've got you."

He felt her chest moving up and down slowly against his as she began to calm down. "I could be your family."

They sat there on the cold ground for a while, until her breathing lulled into an almost sleep.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked, the question was ridiculous. Any other time she would have called him stupid, but instead she just answered with a quiet "Yes."

"Perhaps we should get back up there. It's almost dark."

She nodded. Her eyes were no longer red and blotchy, though her nose was still running. He stood and offered a hand to help her up and as she stood she jumped up close to him and wrapped her arms around his strong neck in a hug, "Thank you." She whispered in his ear.

He hated that in a moment like this he could still think about how he loved her and how he would do anything for her, to make it better. He felt her rage as well as his own, he wanted to see people dead, to see them cower, to see them suffer what they'd done to him, and his father, and the Starks, and the countless people who'd already gotten hurt along the way. But more than all of that he just wanted to see Arya Stark safe, and to see her happy. To not let the weight of this whole thing change her more than it already had. He supposed that was more unlikely than him ever finding his way safely back to King's to reclaim his throne. But the throne was the furthest thing from his mind now. Damn it all. Damn them all. He thought it, but he didn't mean it. He would put the whole world back together for both their sakes.

That night once the kitchens were cleared and the Forge was still, the towers were silent save for the lords in their chambers.

Arya tiptoed into the Forge, into the back quarters where the Brotherhood waited.

"So what's the plan?" Lem asked.

"Jaqen will take care of the three guards on watch tonight, then we will simply leave through the front gate." Arya answered.

"Then what?"

"We've got enough supplies to last us four nights on our own, we can steal weapons from the Forge here, but taking horses is risky."

"Not taking them is even more risky, Ramsay's men will only find us sooner if they can outrun us."

"Not if we use the rivers to get to the sea." Arya interjected.

"And then where do you propose we go?" Tom asked.

"East." Arya answered surely, surprising even Gendry. "Or North, or even south to Dorne. We need to get some place quickly, some place they won't look for us immediately. We need a boat."

"While I appreciate what you're saying, m'lady," Anguy said, speaking through a busted lip covered in dried blood. "We're sworn to protect these lands for King Robert."

"These needs outweigh those." Beric said, putting an end to that brief discussion. "We will accompany them where they need to go."

"Speaking of going, we should start to move." Gendry said.

"Jaqen is already taking care of his share." Arya said, hoisting a pack of food onto her back.

"And what's to become of him?" Thoros asked curiously.

Arya shrugged, "Our duty to each other is done."

Thoros and Gendry exchanged a look momentarily before Anguy motioned for them to begin departing from the Forge.

Three men remained at their post at the door. And the Brotherhood waiting expectantly for Jaqen to make his move. Arya's eyes roamed the area carefully, watching and waiting. "They're already dead." She realized. They were positioned to look as if men were still standing guard.

Slowly the group made their way to the front gate. Gendry smiled, feeling the relief that their plan was actually working, until they heard someone from the other side yell,

"Gates open!"

They all stood, unsure of what to do.

"Are you fucking dead?" The voice yelled again. "Open the gates for the Brave Companions!"

Thoros grabbed Arya and pulled her to the shadows with the other members of the Brotherhood, Gendry walked over to the empty guards post and began cranking the handle to open the gates.

Nine horses ran into the open and empty yard of Harrenhal, "The Blood Mummers." Lem whispered in Arya's ear.

Across the open gates she could see Gendry staring back at her, and Jaqen in the shadows just beyond.

"The Bloody Mummers have returned and we bring with us the Kingslayer himself!"

At these words Gender wandered away from his post, his mouth slightly ajar as his eyes fell on his uncle, bruised and bloodied dragged from the back of Vargo Hoat's horse.

"You, go wake Ramsay Snow and tell him we have returned."

Gendry nodded, knowing better than to shoot one more look to his friends. The men moved in towards the hall, leaving Jaime Lannister and another knight lying the dirt at their feet. The storm above them finally cracked open and the rain began to fall. Arya turned back to the men, Jaqen was now at her side.

"You all need to go. They'll notice Gendry and I missing too if you all are gone but if you leave now without us, that might throw of their suspicions."

"That's madness." Jack said shaking his head.

"A girl is right, they have not yet seen her. They would not know she is a part of this plot. Leave now, and we can find a new way out once they send these men out again, this time after you."

"This plan is risky." Thoros warned.

"It will suffice, we don't have time to bicker before they catch us out here for no reason." Beric decided. "Arya return to your room, rise when the rest of the castle does. We'll meet again, the Brotherhood won't stray far from here, even then we can still elude the Bloody Mummers for long enough to survive."

She nodded and for once did as she was told, first saying a thank you to the group then wrapping her arms around Beric in a quick hug. "Go scout the way," Beric commanded his men until only he and Thoros remained. Arya let go and looked up at him in the dark. "You've had a tough road so far, little wolf, and it will doubtfully get easier from here on in. I know it hasn't for me." He added sadly, looking at Thoros.

"I serve the one true god, the Red god. But I also serve this man here, and that has gotten me a fair bit of trouble along the way. Whichever one god you end up choosing to serve, be sure it's one the will serve you in return."

Arya stared at him trying to absorb his words as they walked away.

"Beric," she whispered, "Is it true they've brought you back, that," She gestured to Thoros, "He's brought you back, many times?"

He shook his head, "it is never the same man who comes back, Arya. Just as the you who returns to Winterfell one day, will not be the same you who left."

They disappeared into the night, Jaqen shut the gates behind them, and Arya watched her escape slip through her fingers.

She walked further into the yard, people were already coming down from their chambers, and the servants from their small quarters and their few hours sleep. "What's happenin'?" One of the serving girl's asked Arya.

"The Brave Companions are back, and they've found some new captives."

Across the din of the slow forming crowd Arya saw Gendry walking back into the yard, his eyes wandered from the Mummers, to Jaime Lannister, to her. She looked over to the closed gate, trying to convey to him all that had happened when he was gone.

"Who's that other one?" She heard someone behind her ask.

"That tall blonde thing?" They answered. "That's Brienne of Tarth. She's a fucking big woman."

"She's a knight?" Arya asked turning around, the two men who'd been talking glared at her. "I mean... a woman knight?" She asked, trying to hide her curiosity as disgust.

The men believed her act and scoffed, "Rich bitch thinks she can be whatever she fucking pleases. Look where it got her."

Ramsay Snow and his men walked down into the yard and a hush fell over the crowd.

"Well, well, well, looks like we've caught ourselves a Kingslayer!" He said, ushering in a cheer from the crowd. He spoke a few words quietly with Vargo Hoat, before grimacing back out at the crowd. "You can all go back to your business now." He yelled, the cheery tone still present in his voice though his eyes were black and vile.

The crowd dispersed but the Blood Mummers remained. Gendry went back to the Forge and in the chaos of people running about she managed to slip in behind him unnoticed.

"What are they going to do to him?"

"I don't know." Gendry said, staring out the window carefully, Arya remained hidden underneath the sill, starting up at Gendry's face trying to gauge what was happening by the look on his face.

"The Brotherhood is gone?" He whispered.

"Yes, it was their only chance to get free." Arya replied.

"And to remove any suspicion from us." Gendry nodded, "That was good of them."

"It was my idea." Arya shrugged.

"Oh seven fucking hells." Gendry groaned. Outside Arya could hear the sounds of men taking punches and kicks against the Kingslayer's armorless body. "Don't suppose there's a way we can escape with them."

"Gendry, are you mad?!" She asked, shocked by his question.

"He's my uncle." He replied.

"No, Gendry, he's not." She said. It was a harsh truth, but she told it. She had to admit a small part of her felt hurt by it, after only hours ago they had promised to be each other's family and now he was getting some of his back.

"I know, but he was always decent to me, more than decent sometimes. And he knew, the whole time he knew, that Cersei hated me, that I was keeping his true nephews from the throne, and still he didn't make my life hell."

"You were the crowned prince, he couldn't."

"We can't leave him here."

"Fine." Arya said, standing up from her crouched position and pacing around the Forge. "What about the other one?"

"Brienne, I'm actually surprised you haven't met her. You'd like her. And she's a fine swordsman, er, woman... she's an asset for us to have on our side. And Jaime is too, trust me, he's the best swordsman in all of Wester-"

Gendry's words were cut off as a bone chilling scream echoed into the Forge from the yard. Arya's hands slammed against her ears and Gendry ran to her, grabbing her into his arms and pulling her down. A fight must've broken out, or someone must've attacked.

After a few moments he let go and stood.

"What was that?" Arya asked as Gendry walked slowly back towards the window.

Gendry looked into the yard and found Vargo Hoat holding Jaime's sword in his hand, covered in blood. Jaime writhed in pain on the muddy ground, clutching his right arm into his stomach, still screaming like mad.

The Bloody Mummers laughed as something rolled away into the yard.

"Collectibles." Gendry whispered.

"What?" Arya asked in a whispered hiss. She crawled back over to him, "What is it Gendry? What's happening?" He didn't respond. "Fuck this." She stood and took a moment to take in the scene. Her eyes scanned the yard, from the men cackling, to Ramsay Snow's evil smile, to Jaime Lannister passed out from the pain, to Brienne of Tarth's horrified face. To Jaime Lannister's prized fighting hand rolling away into the muddy earth.