Dragons and Thrones: An Unusual Union
Chapter 26 of my crossover story, enjoy.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin. Dragon Age belongs to Bioware.
Arya
Arya remained quiet as they rode, finally reaching the Storm Coast, a wide, sparsely populated area of coast with many mountains, it was raining and the waves from the sea were very high and crashed against the shore with noticeable force. Arya looked around, biting her lip, her mind still dwelled on the man she had killed; she could still see his face, the light draining from his eyes.
'All because of me, I took that from him.' She thought sadly. 'Where was once a man, with hopes and dreams…There's nothing now, an empty shell and it's all because of me.'
She sighed softly and Syrio turned to her.
"Arya."
She shook her head. "Sorry, I, I know I shouldn't…"
Syrio shook his head. "It's alright; in fact I'd be worried if you weren't thinking about your first kill. You have to realize what killing means, those that don't…become monsters."
Arya's breath was shaky as she inhaled sharply at that.
"I…I see." She whispered.
Loghain then spoke up, drawing their attention. "We're here, there's the boat."
They both turned and looked at where Loghain was pointing. The seemed normal enough, not very large, yet Arya noticed something strange.
"There's no sail?"
Loghain smiled. "This boat is operated by a magic crystal; we activate the crystal, by touch, and speak our destination. Then we'll cut those ropes holding it to the shore and the crystal will power the boat and take it to our destination."
They nodded as they listened, taking this in.
Just then however, a shout got their attention, Loghain cursed as he spun around, Arya and Syrio turned and saw that the rogue Wardens had followed them here, they were already approaching, weapons drawn.
"No choice, we fight!" Loghain yelled.
Arya quickly drew Needle and, along with Syrio, stood ready as the Warden's charged in. Loghain stood with them, but was clearly concerned about something.
"This is bad, where are they?" He muttered. "Get ready!"
With that they were met by the Wardens in battle. Arya bit her lip, praying she wouldn't freeze up. She quickly deflected a sword attack from one of them, before ducking under a wide two handed swing from another armed with a large axe.
'Shit, that's…Urgh.' She thought frantically, leaping out of the way of another attack.
She only saw glimpses of Loghain and Syrio as they fought, but they were faring better. Not inhibited by the horrors of committing their first kill, they were fighting without distraction. Gritting her teeth Arya deflected another attack and, knowing she had no other choice, she ducked under the large axe and struck with Needle. The Warden let out a cry as he fell, the wound fatal.
Spinning around, Arya let out another strike and cut the other Warden, he growled as he took the blow, injured.
"Bitch, you die!" He cried out.
Arya leapt back, trying to avoid being struck. There was a ripping noise and she winced in pain as the tip of the blade cut along her side, thankfully it only tore at her tunic, she wasn't injured. Arya quickly closed the gap and killed the second Warden attacking her, pulling Needle out and spinning away quickly.
She spotted Syrio and Loghain; they had managed to defeat some more of the Warden's too. More however appeared on the crest of a nearby hill.
"Archers!" Loghain growled. "There's nothing else for it, Arya, get on that ship!"
Arya shook her head, they were asking her to run. "I can't. I won't just…!"
Syrio cut across her. "Go Arya, we'll be there, you need to ensure the ship is ready to go, so all that we just need to cut the ropes."
"Yes…We'll go wherever you choose, now quickly!" Loghain told her. "We'll hold them off until then."
Arya bit her lip but conceded to their point reluctantly. So she turned and ran to the boat as the battle continued to rage behind her. She clambered aboard, already soaked with the precipitation in the air and from the spray of the waves. Once on the deck she saw the crystal and hurried over to it.
"White Harbour, the North, Westeros." She panted breathlessly.
Her decision was easy, there was no way she was going back to King's Landing, she wanted to go home, White Harbour was the nearest place she could get by sea. She wasn't sure if she had spoken clearly or if all her words got through she was that breathless. She could only pray it was. She turned and made her way back to the edge of the ship.
What she saw horrified her; more Wardens were dead, but what horrified her was Syrio and Loghain weren't trying to get on the ship at all. Loghain cut the last rope and the ship lurched forwards, nearly knocking her off her feet.
"What are you doing, NO?!" She cried in dismay.
But it was no good, Arya knew how to swim, but she knew she had no chance against the massive waves and currents. She could only watch, her dismay increasing as she saw Syrio fall, struck with a hail of arrows.
Tears came unbidden to her eyes as she let out a shuddering gasp. "S-Syrio…No, no it…no…"
Another wave knocked her backwards, making her fall; she winced as she hit the deck of the ship, which continued to move on its own power.
'Syrio, it can't be, why…how could they do this, I could have helped.' She thought sadly. 'Gods, and I don't even know what's going to happen now…What's changed back at Westeros, what…?'
It was too much, she couldn't focus, not only that her mind was racing and before long her mind couldn't take and as such, she soon passed out.
When she finally regained consciousness, she realized she was lying on solid ground and that there was someone standing over her. She reacted at once, pushing herself back as he tried to get up, her hand fumbling for Needle.
"Whoa, easy." The man said. "It's alright, you're safe."
Arya remained kneeling, one hand clasped firmly around Needle, as she observed the man. He was tall and muscular, around the same age as her brother Robb, with shaggy thick black hair and blue eyes. He was standing with his hands held out, an apprehensive look on his face.
She glared. "Who are you, where am I?"
He sighed and explained. "My name is Gendry, you're…we're not far from the coast, on the border between the Riverlands and Crownlands."
Arya silently cursed, it seemed the only thing that came out clearly when she spoke her destination was Westeros. It was then another man appeared, one she recognized as the man of the Night's Watch that came to speak to her father once, Yoren was his name is she had heard right.
"I see she's awake, Gendry." He remarked.
Gendry nodded. "Yes Yoren, I…"
Yoren shook his head. "Well, glad to see it, we found you washed up on the shore, in the midst of a ruined boat."
Arya bit her lip, now realizing what had happened some unknown length of time after she passed out.
"So who exactly are you?" Yoren asked. "You seem familiar."
She bit her lip, wary but finally made up her mind. "My name is Arya, of House Stark."
Both froze and Yoren seemed to make up his mind.
"Gendry, you're not to breathe a word of this to anyone in the group understand, we need to help her."
Gendry nodded, suddenly worried.
Yoren continued. "Now, go back, tell the others that we have a new recruit, then come back, we'll need get a move on quickly."
Gendry left and Yoren turned to her, drawing his dagger.
"Lady Arya, we need to hurry, I'll explain soon, but we need to disguise you…You also need to come with me, you're not safe."
Arya tensed but nodded; something inside her screamed that this was true and she knew thi was her only option, so she let Yoren do what he had to do as he approached and started by cutting off her braid.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.
Well, that ends Arya's storyline in this story, nearly at the end now, next up, Loghain's last chapter.