At first, Sandor thought their island had been surrounded by a flock of strange birds, but there were no birds to be seen. Only some horrible and strange sounds. The sounds were getting louder and louder, some shrieking in their pitch and others so deep they made his chest vibrate.

He was dizzy, his vision was blurring, and he looked over to Sansa. She was writhing on the sand, her hands clapped over her ears and tears streaking down her face. He could see the red of her blood seeping through her fingers.

He grabbed up the only good sword he had and stood, wobbling on his feet.

"Come out!" He shouted over the sounds. "Come fight me, you bloody cravens! Come out!"

And the noises ceased.

"Sandor, no." Sansa said. Her hands were red, and her ears were red. She was pale and shaking. "You don't understand, they'll kill you."

"If the Mountain couldn't kill me when he wanted to, then I doubt a few fish men could do it." So he held his sword and waited.

There were three of them. They rose up from the sea like terrible monsters. Sandor had thought of Sansa as quite fearsome when it suited her, but he realized then that she was not very fearsome at all. These mermen were larger than she was, and looked like serpents like Sansa had that time long ago. One was red finned, the next black finned, and the final was a dark purple. They carried no weapons, but perhaps they did not need to.

One of the mermen hissed something at Sansa in her strange tongue, and she responded. They had a short, tense conversation before the mermen launched themselves back into the water. Sansa pulled herself towards the shore.

"What did they say?" Sandor asked. "Where are you going?"

"I'll deal with them in the sea." She told him. "Don't follow me. They'll kill you if you do."

"What about you?" He reached down and grabbed her arm. "What if they kill you?"

"I'll be fine." She smiled at him and pushed his hand away. "Stay here." And she pushed herself off into the water.

Sandor stood on the shore, looking out at the water, trying to catch sight of her. He cursed to himself when he couldn't find her. She said not to follow. She said not to… but she was outnumbered, and they seemed pissed.

After a few minutes, the noises began again, although they weren't so painful this time. Those horrible sounds couldn't have been a good sign. He had to help her. She might be angry at him for it later, but it was better than seeing her dead or captured.

Water is better than fire. He told himself as he waded out into the sea, sword in hand. Water is better than fire. He dived down and opened his eyes, ignoring the sting. He could see them, only a little ways out. He could make out the mermen easily, and the color of Sansa's hair. He broke the surface, took a big gulp of air, and dived down again just as they began to swarm around her like angry wasps.

The closer he got, the more uncertain he became. They could move faster than he could underwater, and they used their bodies for weapons while he only had a sword. He swung at one of them and missed terribly. It was then that they noticed his presence.

A loud high-pitched trill echoed out across the water, leaving him light-headed. The violet-finned merman lashed out with his fingernails, but they were more like claws. They tore at Sandor's arm while he swung his sword with the other and missed again.

Sansa barreled forward and beat the merman aside with her tail. The noise was coming from her. She opened her mouth and shrieked again, giving the mermen just enough pause for Sandor to bury his sword in the purple tail of one of them.

The other two flew at him. Under the water, he couldn't move fast enough to fight them away. Their hands were tearing at his skin. He could barely see around him, but he did see blood. The red of his own, the merman he killed, and maybe more. He didn't know.

Suddenly he saw Sansa there, and her hands went around the red merman's throat. Her fingers dug under his gills and she yanked them out just as quick. Blood filtered out into the water and the merman froze, and she pushed him away.

Sandor felt Sansa take his arm and yank him towards the shore. She swam so fast that he couldn't keep the water out of his nose and mouth, and when she dragged him up on the shore he coughed and sputtered until he vomited.

"There's one more." He said, trying to catch his breath. "There's another. Where?" Sansa snatched the sword from his hand and sat herself up next to him, and he knew where.

The merman with the black tail, crawled to the shore. He bled from several long gashes across his body, and was nearly burning up with rage. He spoke something to Sansa, but Sandor didn't understand. Sansa didn't say anything back, only held up the sword. Her grip was wrong but she had a sword and planned on using it.

When the merman crawled forward toward her like some terrible monster, she flung him to the side with her tail and buried the sword in his belly. He let out a long, agonized wail that nearly knocked Sandor unconscious. Sansa pulled the bloodied sword from his belly and shoved him, half dead, into the ocean.

She wept afterward. "Why did you have to do that? I told you not to follow me!"

Even when he laid down under his lean-to and she carefully helped him clean the sand from his wounds, she would not stop. "Now they'll all know. They'll come after me. They'll find me and kill you. Two more deaths on my name, and one more on yours. Gods, no, no."

"I did what I thought was right, Sansa." He said. "They were going to kill you or capture you."

"I was handling it myself." She covered her face with her hands. "What have you done? What have we done? Oh, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to fix this."

"How will everyone know now? We killed them. It's over."

"It's not over, it's only just started!" She hissed. "Didn't you hear them as they circled the island? That wasn't just to hurt me so I would finally surrender, that was to tell everyone else that I'm here."

"What can we do, then?"

"I don't know. I'll have to think on that, but you're not going to do anything. Humans are so fragile. You'll die if I involve you any further."

"I'm not fragile." He growled.

"You are." She smiled and cupped the burned side of his face. "But I can't take chances. I won't lose you."

They spoke no more after that. Sansa sat next to him, staring out into the sea and thinking on her plans. He thought that even if he did speak to her, she might not hear him. He tried to stay up with her, but his wounds pained him and he found sleep faster than he would've liked.

And when he woke the next morning, he could not find her.