Sandor

Sandor stood motionless as a gargoyle. His eyes locked on the burning river where half of Stannis's fleet was ablaze along with its crew. Wildfire had filled the air with green smoke, screams and the smell of burning human flesh. Somewhere in the background he heard Joffrey's voice crack as he yelled and pointed towards his precious Kingslander now burning against an enemy ship.

The chain had already melted away and the rest of the ships were already making their way to land. Even after the Imp's fire trick Stannis's army still outnumbered theirs. They will soon be at the mud gate, thought Sandor.

"Archers! To your marks!" the Imp yelled. Sandor could tell he was anxious; the chain melting so fast was not part of the plan. "Hold…"

"What are you doing? We need to attack!" yelled the King

"Hold" he repeated, the Imp was growing impatient of his nephew.

The little bird was standing behind him. He couldn't feel her fingers tight around his arm because of the armor but he knew they were there. She had grabbed him when the first green explosion appeared. He wanted to turn around, tell her everything was going to be fine, that he wouldn't let anything harm her but he couldn't promise her that. He didn't know if he could protect her anymore. All the fire had made him weak.

"My lord" a runner cried "We've got enemy on the riverfront" They are here, thought Sandor, just outside the gates.

"Tell Ser Arneld to swing the whores thirty degrees west." The angle would give them some advantage over the numerous army.

"Mother said I could have the Whores!" Joffrey said.

"Fine, the Whores are yours" Tyrion replied annoyed and Joffrey hurried off happy.

Sandor had been so focused on the burning happening outside the gates that he barely noticed Tyrion shouting commands at him and his men.

"Form up!" said Tyrion, "You're going out".

No. Sandor had gone pale. He wanted to protect Sansa but he couldn't bring himself to face the fire. Tyrion must have seen the fear in his eyes because he added quickly "Dog, now that my nephew is gone I'll need you to take Lady Sansa back to the castle"

Sandor could feel the life coming back to him, he had only felt this afraid once and it was a long time ago when his brother had shoved his face to the fire.

"M'LORD!" a soldier shouted just before a sword opened him from shoulder to armpit. They had gotten inside.

"TAKE SANSA NOW!" Tyrion shouted at him as an arrow missed him by an inch.

Sandor lifted Sansa over his shoulder and started running towards the castle. She protested but Sandor wasn't even listening, his mind was focused on the men coming through the gate and over the walls. We won't make it to the holdfast.

Most of the battle was going on outside the gates but some soldiers had gotten inside and the golden cloaks couldn't hold the doors any longer. A soldier came at him but Sandor simply kicked him over one of the walls. His head exploded as soon as it hit the floor. He heard the little bird gasp. She'll hate me for it.

Sandor kicked a door open and ran as fast as he could, up and around until they reached the castle and were far enough from the battle and the walls. As soon as he put Sansa down she started throwing fists and yelling at him.

"Hey! HEY!" the Hound yelled trying to restrain her with his arms "There's no time for that"

"You killed that man! You threw him of a wall like he was nothing!"

"He was nothing, Sansa. It was him or you, so I made a choice. Next time I'll let them kill you, if it pleases my Lady"

"You're a monster," she said as she took off the helmet and threw it against him.

"Yeah, I know" He said, she was always going to think of him as a monster. "That maid the Imp has been fucking, do you know where she could be?"

"Shae? Why do you wh…"

"Just tell me," he rasped.

"You are scaring me"

Sandor hadn't realized how hard he had been grabbing her wrist and quickly let go. "Everything scares you, little bird," he mocked trying to calm her.

"She was with me before the King summoned me to the walls. We were supposed to be with the Queen but I don't know where she could be now. Why?"

"I don't know, some soldiers mentioned something about the Imp sneaking out of the castle to see some whore" He said as they walked towards the King's tower "They said he knew about some secret passage, I figured the maid would know about it too if she isn't gone already. We'll just have to use Geoffrey's"

"Geoffrey's? Geoffrey's what?" she said breathless, she had to run to keep up with Sandor's pace.

"Geoffrey's secret passage. It's in the king's chamber, I didn't want to use it in case Stannis knew about it but we don't have much of a choice really"

"But wait! I don't understand. Why do we need to find a passage?

"You are not planning on staying here are you?" he said, stopping abruptly.

"Lord Stannis wouldn't hurt me, he's not like Geoffrey" she replied.

"What do you know of Stannis? Still believing in those stupid stories little bird? Do you have any clue as to what happens when a city is raided?"

She shook her head and stared at the floor. He looked at her and leaned closer; he could almost smell the lemon in her hair, sweet and sour. "Look at me. Look at me". Sansa looked up, her eyes growing moist.

"If the city falls the soldiers will be the first ones to come through those doors, sweating and bleeding they'll fuck anything that walks. If they see you dressed as a soldier they'll kill you, if they see you dressed as a girl they'll rape you, either way you'll probably be dead come the morning" The words sounded cruel in his ears as he said them.

Sansa had gone pale. "If you were so lucky so as to survive the raids and the raping and the killings, what makes you think Stannis wouldn't kill you? Your brother's claim to the North makes him a traitor and so are you little bird" His voice was cold and hard as steel "So you can come with me and maybe make it to the North or stay here and hope for Prince Aemon the Dragonknight to come rescue you, I'm sure it won't be long."

Sansa didn't say anything she simply looked at him. Some instinct made Sandor lift his hand and cup his cheek with his fingers; he could feel the tears rushing through her face. He pulled her closer and she closed her eyes; for a moment he thought about kissing her. He wanted to taste her lips, ran his finger through her hair, kiss every inch of her but most of all make her leave with him.

"Still can't bare to look, can you?" he smiled awkwardly and leaned to kiss her forehead.

"I can't leave," she finally said. Her eyes met his and Sandor understood that nothing he said would make her change his mind, she still didn't trust him.

He didn't know what to say, or even if he should say anything. He was nothing to Sansa, and Sansa was nothing to him but then why did he feel this urge to protect her, to keep her from harm? He mocked her innocence and her knight stories but here he was asking her to come with him, promising to protect her like her knights would. He picked her helmet and handed it over to her.

"Be careful, little bird." He said as he took a step back to look at her, really look at her, for the last time. He smiled again and turned to make his way to the King's chamber.