The night continued to drag and the men grew rowdier with each passing minute. Jaime, Brienne and Sarah had said nothing since Brienne had been dragged back to their camp and tied to the tree. She was gaining a swollen lip slowly whilst her eye looked puffed up too. Jaime's gaze moved from the stars up above him to the women tied to the trees near his. It wasn't long before two men returned, clearly escaping the gaze of Locke.
"And look what we have here," one snarled, spitting on the ground as he stood to the side of Sarah's tree. The girl refused to look up to them, her eyes set straight ahead before she felt one of them take hold of her hair, pulling her head back and exposing her neck to the length of a blade.
"A Baratheon bitch," the other hissed.
Jaime looked over to her, knowing full well that the two men had no intention to slit her throat. They would stay away from her unless they wanted to see their heads decorating the walls of Dragonstone. His eyes moved to Sarah's stoic face, noting how she kept her bottom lip sucked under by her top one, refusing to let them see her whimper.
"The Lord of Dragonstone's ugly daughter," the dark greasy haired one spoke as the brunette held the blade to her throat. The dark haired one chuckled and bent down in front of her, grabbing her by the cheeks roughly. Her mouth opened into a perfect 'o' once he had completed the motion and Jaime noted him reaching for his breeches.
"What do you think?" he asked his friend as he tugged his laces. "Do you think King Stannis's daughter sucks dick as well as any whore?"
It was then when Sarah began to fight, refusing to let them have their way with her. Brienne managed to peer over to the sight and then looked to Jaime with worry. The Kingslayer closed his eyes, Sarah's cries echoing in his ears. He looked again, turning his cheek to the side against the cold trunk of the tree as Sarah continued to whither, refusing to allow the man to hold her head in place whilst her body fought against the ropes.
"And do you think Stannis Baratheon would let you harm his daughter and go unpunished?" Jaime suddenly asked, recalling how he had saved one female earlier in the evening.
The two men looked over to him.
"Do you think he would find us? Stannis Baratheon is not the King, nor will he ever be the true King," the brunette hissed at Jaime, his knife now by his side as he stood tall and looked over to the Kingslayer. "We don't intend to take her maidenhead."
"No," Jaime agreed, his voice sarcastic, "you just intend to violate a different hole. Stannis would not take kindly either way. Besides, what would Locke say if he saw you? Would he not have your heads for disobeying him?"
Both men seemed to look confused then and a smug smirk formed on Jaime's lips as the dark haired man finished trying to unlace his breeches and left them to hang on his hips in a low fashion. Jaime nodded once at them and then watched Sarah as she regained her breath, her face pale from fear and her breath coming out in short pants. He nodded briefly at her before he looked to the men again;
"I would run along if I were you," he urged them in a soft voice. "I am sure you are both able to suck each other's cocks if you are that desperate. I'll wager you are."
It was then when they both looked insulted. They advanced towards Jaime and he wondered if they would beat him. He didn't doubt it, but he was saved by Locke moving towards them, his leather gloves in his hands as he moved them from one palm to the other.
"And what is going on here?" he demanded from the two men. Some of his other men followed him through the camp, their gazes set between the three prisoners.
"The Kingslayer insulted us!" the brunette roared. "We were just having a little bit of fun with the Princess," he snarled her name as though it offended her.
"And what fun did that include?" Locke wondered, moving closer towards both of them. "Did I not say that she was off limits?"
"We weren't going to take her maidenhead-"
"-Oh, well that is alright then," Locke snapped back and the two men went silent, their cocky attitude vanishing in seconds. "Get out of my sight. Both of you!"
They scurried away and Sarah watched them go, only to hope that they didn't bother to come back. Jaime turned his eyes up to Locke, wondering if he should try to push his luck. He deduced it couldn't hurt. Sarah watched him intently, thankful that he had distracted them from harming her. Brienne remained silent, straining to hear the conversation as the pain of her beating consumed her more than she thought possible. But nothing could stop her from hearing the scream which was yet to come.
"I have been chained to this tree for hours on end," Jaime complained as Locke suddenly turned his back on him, contemplating following the rest of his men to return to their meals. "And I have fought off your men from ruining your hostage. Would it be at all possible for me to lie down? I'm not as young as I used to be."
Locke looked to Sarah and then back to Jaime, his upper lip curling. It was then when Sarah knew that something was wrong. She could sense it.
"We all aren't as young as we once were," Locke agreed, slipping his hands into his gloves before nodding to a man who had remained behind with him. "Untie Ser Jaime from the tree."
Jaime winked at Sarah and she shook her head slowly, trying to be inconspicuous. "No," she whispered to him. He ignored her as the man untied Jaime from the tree.
"You must be hungry," Locke continued. "We have some partridge going spare."
"Well, yes," Jaime agreed, his tone nonchalant as the men moved behind Jaime towards a stump of a tree.
It was then when Sarah lost the conversation. She squinted into the darkness, listening intently as Brienne slowly drifted into unconsciousness, not bother to try and fight the tiredness which washed over her. Sarah shook her head back and forth, sensing that Jaime was in trouble. Her belief was only confirmed when she saw the men gather around him. One tripped him over his own feet, pushing him to the floor and pulling his chained hands apart to rest on the tree stump.
"No!" Sarah snapped, fearing the worst for him. She didn't know what came over her as she continued to struggle against the ropes binding her, doing her best to pull her body from the tree which bound her.
It was only when she saw the glint of a blade in the fire's light did she stop her feeble attempts. She watched as the blade moved into the sky and swiftly came down, slicing through Jaime's wrist without a second thought. Sarah gasped and Jaime's scream filled her ears. She could scarcely believe what she had seen as Jaime sat up straight and collapsed to his side, shock taking hold of his body. All that remained on the stump was his right hand; his sword hand.
"Jaime," Sarah whispered his name.
Locke moved back between the trees her and Brienne were tied to. Brienne was slowly pulling her eyes open, her mouth agape at the sight which she had just witnessed.
"Locke!" Sarah snapped his name and he looked to her as the men picked up Jaime's discarded hand and threw it between themselves as though it were some form of game.
Locke looked to her and waited for her to speak; "Well?"
"He needs tending to," Sarah snapped, doing her best not to watch the men mock Jaime. "If you do not stop the bleeding or clean the wound then he will surely die before we reach Harrenhal. Do you know what will happen then?"
"And why do you care?" Locke wondered from her. "He is a Lannister."
Sarah couldn't answer that question. Why did she care about Jaime Lannister? He had done nothing but mock and taunt her. Yet she remembered her time with him in Winterfell. She remembered how he had stopped his sister from ruining her chances of having children. She remembered the way he had laughed with her about trivial matters. That was all she could recall; not his incestuous relationship with the woman who would have Sarah killed in her sleep at any given moment.
"That he is," Sarah said, "but he is also worth a lot of money to you alive so let me tend to his wound. I can bandage it up and then I don't have his death on my conscience either."
Locke regarded her with caution before he moved away from her. She waited to see what he did. Slowly two men dragged Jaime towards her tree, his arms over theirs and his eyes remained shut. They dropped his body in front of Sarah and untied her from the tree.
"Do you not have a bandage?" she wondered from them. "Or water?"
"We have water," Locke threw her a flagon he carried on his belt. "You'll have to make do with that."
Sarah shook her head before she stood up and picked up her skirt. "Pass me your knife." She demanded from one man.
"Do you think we're stupid?" Locke wondered with a laugh.
"I won't deem that with an answer," she assured him. "I need to cut some material off to wrap over the stump you have created on his arm."
Locke glowered at her and moved his blade through the material of her skirt, watching as it cut through the gown, leaving her underskirt visible through the gap it created. His blade went above her knee, giving her more material than she needed, but she didn't complain. Sarah sunk to her knees in front of Jaime as the men moved away a few paces to laugh amongst themselves.
"Jaime," Sarah whispered his name in a soft tone.
His face was muddy from being dropped in the mud, but she could see that his eyes were open as he lay curled on his side, his hand holding his stump, clinging onto it tightly.
"I need you to sit up so that I can bandage it for you," she spoke to him, trying to haul him to kneel in front of her.
Brienne remained silent, watching the sight as Jaime came to kneel and Sarah delicately prised his fingers from his arm. He remained reluctant, but he finally moved his hand to rest on his thigh and Sarah began to pour water over his stump.
"It needs to be cleaned properly, but they don't have the supplies," Sarah explained and he remained mute, the cold seeming to burn against his skin as the water trickled downwards. She moved a piece of her skirt on her dress to dry his arm, her touch as light as a feather that Jaime wondered if she was even touching him.
He said nothing to her, his eyes simply staring down at her as she wrapped her discarded skirt around his arm, her hands holding his stump delicately.
"You need to be strong," Sarah urged him suddenly and his eyes found hers.
He should have a smart remark for her. He should have something condescending to say, but he couldn't muster up the energy.
"Harrenhal is still a few days ride," she told him. "You have to make it. Try to sleep for now...it might help you to gain your strength."
Jaime wanted to curse at her. He wanted to yell at her and tell her to leave him alone, but he did nothing. He allowed her to help him rest against the tree before she sat by his side, not allowing sleep to take her for fear that she might wake up and Jaime might not.
...
A/N: So thank you to Yakitori-Chan, Thecompanionwhoneverwas, Lady Syndra, KoishNoish, QueenGamora, tiplin and CupcakesandAlive for reviewing the previous chapter! Thank you so much for reading and please do review for me!