They headed back up to camp, Jaime walking beside Sooty, the chain that had dangled from his cuffs now securely attached to the horse's harness by an old padlock and another length of chain. The girl had always known that lock would come in handy one day.

'This is hardly necessary,' Jaime grumbled, 'I thought we were a team.'

'We still are. I'm still taking you to KingsLanding. All back roads and avoiding people, like we agreed. And as soon as you pay me the money you owe for this little venture, you'll be a free man. I don't want to hang around too long in the Capital.'

'Why not? Bad debts?'

'Yeah, more like unpaid debt. Personal debt,' the girl muttered. 'History with the evil little shit sitting on the Throne right now. Very bad history. Pretty much with that whole fucked-up family.'

'Really?' Jaime sounded curious.

'The sooner they're taken down, the better. If it's by the Starks, Greyjoys, whoever. No offence,' she looked over at Jaime, 'I'm sure you can't help where you live. Most people who live there don't have a good word to say about them either though, I hear. Right?'

Jaime was staring at her strangely, as if he hadn't noticed something about her before.

'Hey, sorry if you don't like hearing the truth.' She held up her hands. 'But just ask anyone. It's not a lone opinion.'

Jaime didn't say much for a few minutes, then he sighed. 'I said I'd pay you, and I always pay my... I mean, I'm good for it. Trust me. But you really need to unlock me. I don't feel comfortable being this close to your horse. She's not my biggest admirer.'

'You tried to get on her before, didn't you? While I was asleep, that first day? I wondered why she was standing guard over you when I woke up. You know, I didn't tell you before but. Sooty seriously doesn't like other people.'

'Most people have guard dogs. A guard horse is a bit of an overkill.'

'Lucky for me I've got one.'

'Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot. The trying-to-get-on-your-horse thing? I think you're taking it too seriously.'

'Just stop talking.'

'I promise I'll not touch your horse if you unlock me from this chain. We can keep the cuffs on, no problems. This is a big mistake .'

The girl decided to ignore Jaime's griping about a situation he'd brought upon himself, and concentrated on laying out all the food supplies. She allocated enough for the day, putting what little was left into a separate bag. She prised the seal off one of the two flasks from the pack she'd been gifted and swirled the red liquid around inside. It didn't smell very nice, the vapours singed the inside of her nose.

'Wine,' said Jaime, noticing her reaction with interest. 'Fermented blackberries, I think. Or is it pure ethanol flavoured with blackberry juice? A Southern speciality I believe.'

She pulled a face. 'Try some,' he encouraged her. 'You'll like it.'

She tossed the unopened flask at him over Sooty's back, and he caught it deftly even with his hands restrained. She imagined at some time in his life he'd played some kind of ball sport, and been good at it. 'You can have it,' she said, re-sealing and packing away the other flask, 'I don't like wine.'

'Fine by me,' he said. He used a thumb to pry off the stopper and took a long swig. 'Ahh,' he gasped, gagged. 'That's... quite something.' His eyes watered and he coughed. The girl looked away to hide her smile. He had another gulp and coughed again.

'Why are you drinking it when it's so revolting?' she asked.

'It's growing on me,' he said through a grimace.

'Well, don't let it grow too much. We have a lot of walking to do.'

They headed upstream, the girl moving confidently now, along the back paths she'd known as a child. Only people native to this area used the narrow tracks, and while she half-expected to come across one of her Tribesmen, even an outlaw, they met no-one. Cloud covered the sky and it was warm and humid. She stopped a few times to fill her water flask and let Sooty drink. At one stop, Jaime abruptly sat down and, using his cuffs, pushed off his boots. Then he dangled his bare feet over the bank into the water.

'Blisters,' he explained, at her raised eyebrow. The look of relief on his face almost tempted the girl to do the same but she resisted. She wanted to make good time and didn't know how long the weather would stay fine. 'C'mon. We've got to go,' she said impatiently. She'd missed out on a lot of regular business by agreeing to this trip, and this stranger had better compensate her for it.

Jaime sighed and scooted backwards in a sitting position to grab his boots. He tried unsuccessfully for a while to get his foot back into one, then had a go with the other, but the chains on his wrists seemed to be preventing him from getting enough grip to pull them on. The girl watched him in silence, until one overly-ambitious yank sent his boot flying out of his fingers and into the river.

'Why the fuck did you take them off for?' she said, annoyed, as she sprang down the bank and scooped the boot up before it floated past. She upended it and water poured out. Then she tossed it to Jaime. He reached up his hands but missed it completely; it landed in the dirt to his left, and he fell over onto his back.

'Oh my gods,' she huffed, marching over to him. Jaime sat up again, chuckling, and the girl reached down and grabbed the wine flask out of his jacket. It weighed nothing; she shook it and a small amount sloshed inside. Disgusted, she turned and threw it into the river. It arced out and landed with a splash, bobbed up and then slowly spun and disappeared underwater.

'Good shhrow,' Jaime slurred, 'but that wasn't quite emp-ty.'

'What is wrong with you,' she sighed. 'Honestly. Get your fucking boots.' She snatched them off him as he passed them over, then knelt down and manoeuvred one onto his right foot, pulling the straps tighter than probably necessary. Her body leaned over his lap as she reached for his left ankle, holding the matching boot in her other hand. Jaime lifted his hands up to clear the chain out of her way, and the smell of his sweat tanged in her nostrils. It wasn't unpleasant, but it made her feel strange, as if she were upside down and blood had rushed to her head.

'You should always get me dreshed,' Jaime murmured.

She stood up too quickly, shook her head to clear the momentary loss of vision. Pressed her lips together. 'Look, I don't care that you're wasted. We've got to go.' She heaved him up by his jacket collar; he was much heavier than his skinny frame suggested. She shoved him forward and motioned to Sooty to walk on. 'If you fall over, I'll just get her to drag you by that chain.'

'I'm not wassshted,' he said. 'But... thanks for helping me with my bootssshh. No... I 'preciate it. Havin' you leaning on me... hash def'nitely been the highlight of our trip sho far.'

'Keep walking,' she said tersely. How could he be so stupid to drink all that wine, on a hot day? Was he touched? That stuff was deadly. She briefly felt sorry for him. He'll be sick tonight. After a while she slowed down and kept pace with him as he walked, somewhat unevenly, beside Sooty. She handed him her water flask, knocking it on his elbow when he didn't appear to notice. 'Here, drink this,' she ordered.

'I'm good,' he waved her away.

'Drink! It!'

He grinned and stopped, swaying. The girl pressed the flask into his chest. 'Alright, alright' he mumbled, taking it off her. She crossed her arms and glared at him as he concentrated hard on undoing the lid, but after a while it was obvious that the task was beyond him.

'Gimme that,' she said, and took it back. Just as she unscrewed the cap, he lurched forward and bumped her arm, knocking the flask onto the ground.

'Fuck!' she exclaimed, as the water gurgled into the dirt at their feet.

'Shorry, fuck... shorry. Your horshe... shtepped on me...'

The girl exhaled loudly in annoyance and bent down to pick up the flask. Suddenly something hard smacked into the back of her neck, and as she turned, she felt metal whip around and smash into her mouth. She was yanked backwards and sprawled onto the sand. Her hands instinctively clutched at the links of chain as they fell loose from her face; then she was wrenched forward as Jaime drew them sharply back to lash out again.

'Let go, girl,' he said, his voice calm and totally sober. He braced hard into her chest, jerking the chain to try and free it. Sooty snorted and moved sideways, taking them both a step along with her. The girl was on her knees. She tried to get a breath to talk, to give Sooty a command, but her lungs wouldn't work. She didn't let go of the chain either.

Jaime dragged her up to him and looped the chain around her neck. She could feel the solidness of his arm muscles as he seemingly effortlessly lifted her off her feet. 'Where're the keys to this lock?' His voice was quiet, urgent. 'I don't want to hurt you, but I need the key. Where is it?'

He dropped her but kept tension on the chain, his hands feeling for her belt, under her top. The girl felt her knife slide out of its holster, the keyring ripped free. She scrabbled and dug her fingers into the skin of her neck, trying to get under the metal that felt like it was crushing her windpipe. She was vaguely aware of Jaime's hands leaving her belt, and a click as he unlocked the lock from Sooty's harness, then she was pushed backwards and the chain was falling away from her.

She wheezed, got to her hands and knees. She could hear Sooty stamping and blowing in alarm. As the red cleared from the girl's eyes she could see again; more red, this time drops of blood and saliva that splattered from her open mouth onto the sand in front of her. Her teeth had cut into her lips. She coughed, stood up. Where was that son-of-a-bitch? She took a step and toppled sideways, but Sooty's broad body was there to hold her up. The girl couldn't speak, but she gave her horse a hand signal she understood.

Ever since Sooty had been a yearling, the girl had taught her how to chase down sheep, cattle, big cats and most useful of all, people. The old horse really was the girl's secret weapon, the reason she had managed to deliver goods on her own for years without being attacked or robbed. The hand signal was clear and well-understood to the horse - Get him!

Sooty sprang away, and without her as a prop, the girl fell over. She pushed herself back up onto her heels and wiped her mouth with a sleeve; it stung and her whole bottom jaw was numb. She crawled over to her water flask where it lay half-buried in the sandy dirt, kicked aside in the scuffle. Taking a deep, painful breath, she got to her feet and balanced unsteadily. It's like I'm the drunk one. Except, he wasn't drunk.

She allowed herself a small grin of admiration at his ingenuity, then started walking in the direction Sooty had gone, following the gouged holes of hoof prints. Hearing sounds up ahead, she began to run.

Dodging between the trees, she saw Sooty first, head tossing up and down, ears pinned. She was pivoting on her hindquarters, her front legs striking out. The girl saw Jaime get up off the ground and try to duck around her, but the mare was too quick and her shoulder crashed into him, knocking him over again. The girl tried to whistle but only air hissed out of her bruised throat, and the big horse lunged forward again. Dust plumed up from the force of her front hooves landing, obscuring Jaime altogether. If that was his head, he's dead, the girl thought, with a pang of guilt and fear. She ran faster, and reached them as Sooty pranced sideways, still snorting explosively. Relief flooded through the girl as she saw Jaime was getting to his feet, albeit slowly. He didn't look so good.

The girl motioned to Sooty to stop, backing the horse away with both palms out. Sooty snorted one last defiant blast, then retreated. The girl leaned down warily and grabbed her knife off the ground where Jaime had dropped it, holding it out in front of her as she approached him. 'Were you going to stab my horse?' she rasped, the words spiking like needles in her damaged throat.

'That was the plan,' Jaime said, reaching out his still-cuffed hands to a tree trunk to steady himself. Blood poured down his face from a cut above his eyebrow. 'Until your horse...tried to kill me first.' He gave a weak laugh.

'If she'd tried to kill you, you'd be dead,' the girl said. 'She was stopping you. Like I told her to.'

'I'd hate to see how she kills people, then,' he remarked, leaning heavily against the tree. 'Must be a subtle distinction.'

'You're alive aren't you?' the girl sneered. Excess adrenaline turned to anger inside her. She might've killed you, she thought, if I hadn't got here in time. It wouldn't be the first time Sooty had stomped someone to death. What the fuck was he doing anyway, trying to run off like that? Didn't he ask for my help in the first place? She could see the fast pulse of blood pumping from the wound on his temple, it had soaked his top and fat drops were pattering from the hem of it down onto the dirt. As she got close enough to reach for his cuffs, he slid down the tree-trunk and collapsed.

She called Sooty over, re-locked the chain on his wrists to the harness, then propped him up against the tree. His head lolled and beneath the slick of blood his skin looked icy white. She held a hand to his face: still breathing.

'Fuck it,' the girl said to Sooty, 'I guess we're stopping here for the day.'