Chapter 19:
Sansa was still holding Wolfsong in one hand, like Arya had told her. By now Roose Bolton, wherever he was, had become aware that a force was moving out from the Wolfswood to attack Winterfell and men were beginning to leave the hall. Sandor had just told her they were already outside the walls of Winterfell so it was safer to stay in the Godswood until the battle was won. She knew that a part of him wanted to go out and kill any Bolton man he came across, but that a larger part knew to remain and protect her.
Something told Sansa that the Godswood had not been visited by many Bolton men since their occupation of Winterfell. There was something diminished about it, as if it had grown smaller since Father's death. As she remembered how the Godswood in King's Landing had been her one place of peace and comfort Sansa thought, when Winterfell is ours I'll grow this wood so it stretches for miles around, and is impossible to destroy.
They had come to the heart of the wood where Father had spent many of his days. The heart tree with it's pure white bark and blood red leaves was still standing, and for a fleeting second Sansa could have sworn there was the shadow of a man sat on the rock, shining his sword as the old gods watched over him.
As she stared at the leaves reflecting the moonlight, a sudden roar of men's voices could be heard from outside the gates of Winterfell. As she shuddered Sansa knew the Boltons were on the march. Yet outside she knew the Greyjoys and men loyal to Eddard Stark were coming to meet them.
So why am I afraid? I have a sword emblazoned with the Sigil of my people and I have Sandor.
As the ground began to tremble with the marching feet of forces approaching each other her fear began to grow.
Arya is out there somewhere. I should be with her.
As if he had heard her thoughts, Sandor came to face her.
"Your sister is protected," He told her gently, "Don't worry, it would take more than an army to kill that bloody she-wolf."
"I should be out there with her," Sansa replied in little more than a whimper.
"How do you know she hasn't reached the Wolfswood? It would take more than a hoard of Bolton men to cut down that Tarth woman."
"I know Brienne would do anything to keep her safe, but still…"
Their conversation was stilled when Sandor gestured for her silence, and his eyes went immediately to the trees shrouded in darkness. There was undoubtedly someone there. A figure emerged from between the trunks, and Sansa's heart sank when she saw the cross of House Bolton on his chest. But there was an air of authority about this one. He had cropped hair and the face of an ageing man who had seen plenty of bloodshed and actually plotted most of it himself. As he looked at both of them in turn she could see his brow knitting as recognition hit him.
Clearly he had not been expecting to find anyone in the Godswood tonight.
"Joffrey's dog Clegane," Said this man in a voice that made Sansa shiver.
"Roose Bolton." Sandor's voice was rock hard.
For an unbearable moment there was silence broken only by the chaos outside the walls. Then Bolton's eyes fixed on Sansa, and he looked as if he had seen a ghost.
"Lady Catelyn?" He murmured. "It's not possible.."
Sandor attacked Roose Bolton, stabbing him in a craze. Before his opponent could even reach down for his own sword Sandor had driven his through Bolton's belly and his entrails were spilling out more and more in spewing blood each time Sandor pulled his sword out for another jab. Sansa shrank back against the Heart tree at first, but she clutched Wolfsong tight and looked down at the blood on its helm with an eerie calmness.
He once told me killing is the sweetest thing there is.
She looked up at Sandor and knew he was seeing the man who had took her by the hair. He was seeing the one in King's Landing who had tried to pull her from her horse and rape her. He was seeing Ser Meryn who had hit her and beat her bloody. He was seeing Joffrey who had given the order. He was seeing his brother who had held his face to the flame.
Sansa was seeing all of these men. She was seeing Ser Ilyn Payne as he swung the axe down on Eddard Stark's neck. She was seeing Queen Cersei telling her that tears were not a woman's only weapon. She was seeing Petyr Baelish as he forced his kiss on her and betrayed her Mother and pushed her deranged Aunt out of the Moon Door. She was seeing the men who had butchered Robb at Uncle Edmure's wedding.
For that one moment, he is right.
Without any hesitation or fear she rose and walked over to Sandor, where Roose Bolton, the usurper of Winterfell, lay at his feet. She could see the blood spattered across the impaled cross on his chest.
"The Starks send their regards." She said coldly.