His words were weak and soft, Sansa could tell he didn't have much longer if left alone out here. She looked up to his horse, Stranger was his name, somehow she remembered. "Hold on," her gaze returned to the man on the ground, "just a little longer." She then stood and slowly approached the large warhorse. She knew Stranger was not friendly but she needed him to help her. She held out her hand slowly so that Stranger could sniff it, "come Stranger, your master needs you." She held her breath as the horse moved towards her, his nose moving to sniff her hand slowly. Then he moved to allow her hand to graze across him, in a way of letting her know he trusted her. She smiled as she softly stroked his mane, then took his reigns and led him back to the Hound.
She knelt down beside him once again, taking his hand into hers. "I cannot lift you, I need you to help me." And somehow he was able to find the strength to climb to his feet, and as if he read their minds, Stranger knelt down as well, making it easier for the Hound to mount him. The Hound could not sit straight though, too weak to hold up his own body, he slouched over. Sansa sighed, taking his cloak and covered him with it, careful to cover his most distinctive traits. She then returned the hood over her head as well before taking the reins of both horses, slowly leading them to the inn.
"Good evenin m'lady…" Sansa had been greeted by a young stable boy, he couldn't be much older than she was. She nodded with a small smile then turned back to the Hound for a moment before looking to the boy again. "My husband and I were attacked by bandits, he has been greatly wounded. I need a room as well as some help getting him into a bed. I cannot lift him on my own, he is quite a large man." She then dug into her pouch beneath her cloak and handed the boy two gold dragons. "I also would need someone to tend to our horses while my husband is recuperating." The boy eyed the gold for a moment then nodded, quickly hurrying inside. Sansa then walked beside the Hound, her hand moving to his face which had been laying against the back of Strangers neck. "Just a little longer…"
After a few minutes, the stable boy returned, followed by three larger men. None of them spoke as they instantly moved to the Hound, helping him off the horse and quickly leading them inside. The stable boy stayed behind to tend to the horses. "Be careful with the black one, he has a temper." Sansa warned as she turned to the boy before following after the men and the Hound. They had led them to one of the largest rooms they had available, and helped place the Hound on the bed. Two of the men then quickly left the room while the third stayed behind. "M'lady this is one of the finest rooms our inn has." Sansa nodded, knowing very well this must be the innkeeper. "Thank you Ser, now I ask that some fresh cloths and water sent up quickly so I can tend to my husband wounds. As well and string and a needle should I need to sew him up. And some food, he has not eaten in a while and is deathly ill." She then reached into her pouch again, this time handing the innkeeper two silver coins. The man smiled wide and nodded, quickly leaving the room.
The stable boy returned shortly after, carrying in all their belongings that had been left with the horses. "I was able to get the horses into their own stalls m'lady." He then placed everything on the ground near the fireplace. "They have fresh water and been fed as well." Sansa nodded and handed him a silver coin, "I thank you." The boy nodded and left. Sansa then moved to the bed where the Hound lay, now completely unconscious. She moved to start removing his armor, thankful for the years she helped her brother Robb and Theon remove their armor after they trained. Once she had him down to his tunic and breeches she was able to examine the wound on his leg, it had not infected yet, but she knew if she did not clean it soon, it would. When a knock came on the door, she was relieved to see two female servants enter with the water, cloths and fresh food. One of them offered to assist her with him but she declined, instead asking that she light a fire so that she could keep him warm.
Once the women left, she locked the door behind them. She then moved the water and cloth to a table next to the bed, and placed the needle and string on the bed. She brought over some wine, knowing if the hound woke up, he would need it, and her mother had taught her to clean wounds with wine to help cease any infection. Carefully she poured some of the wine onto his wound, causing him to let out a groan of agony as he sat up and grabbed her arm roughly.
"Bloody hells girl!" He released his grip on her arm and fell back against the bed again, breathing heavily from the pain. "Warn a man when you're going to do that!"
She moved to the table, pouring some of the wine into a glass then moved to sit beside him. "Here, drink some wine." She helped him sit up and held the glass to his lips. He eyed her carefully as she helped him drink.
"Why you helpin' me girl?" He asked as he laid back into the bed.
"Do not worry about that right now." She then moved to sit down at the end of the bed, picking his injured leg up and laying it across her lap. "This is going to hurt, try not to kick me." She then grabbed a cloth she had soaking in the water and began to clean around his wound. She was careful not to press to hard but frowned a bit when she heard him struggling not to scream. "There is some dead skin I will have to remove…" She reached down to the dagger she had attached to her hip, she looked to him and waited for a moment. He gave her a nod then closed his eyes as she proceeded to use the dagger to cut away the skin. She could hear him groaning, but knew he had taken a pillow to his face to keep it from being too loud.
After what seemed to be an eternity to the Hound, Sansa had finally finished stitching up his leg. She had torn the remainder of the cloth to wrap around his leg then lifted it from her lap and carefully placed it back on the bed. She then removed her cloak and rolled it up, using it to help prop his leg up slightly. She could feel him shivering and quickly pulled the blankets of the bed over him, then moved to the food that had been brought to them, letting out a happy sigh as she saw one of the servants had left a pot of stew on the fire. She poured a small bowl of it and tore off a small piece of bread, she then moved to his side, placing the bowl and bread on the bedside table. She carefully sat down on the edge of the bed, again helping him to sit up.
"You need to try and eat, but not too much." She then took a spoonful of the stew and held it to his lips. Again he watched her carefully but did not protest, he was too tired and weak to argue right now. She was careful not to give him too much of the stew, knowing he was running a fever and too much could make him sick. She wiped away some of the stew that had fallen down the side of his mouth before tearing up the bread she had brought over, offering him piece by piece.
"Enough…" He held up his hand to stop her from giving him any more of the food, though he hadn't eaten much, he couldn't eat more.
Sansa nodded, picking up the bowl and remainder of bread, and placed it back on the table near the fire. She then moved back to him and placed her hand to his forehead, "you need to rest if you're going to beat this." She then helped him lay back, and pulled the blankets over him again. She could hear him groan in pain. She wished she had some milk of the poppy to help ease the pain, but she did not. With a sigh she moved to her pack and pulled out her sleeping shift. She then moved behind a small changing screen and carefully changed from her dress into the shift. She knew the Hound was in no shape to try and peek, but she still was more comfortable behind the changing screen. Once she was changed, she laid her dress across a small chair and pulled a small robe from her pack to wrap around herself.
She was about to sit next to the fire when she heard the Hound groan out in pain again. She quickly moved over to him and could see he was shivering uncontrollably. She sighed a bit as she lifted the blankets and slowly moved into the bed with him, knowing body heat would help. She was careful not to move his leg and purposely moved to the opposite side of his body. She then carefully wrapped one arm around him and placed her head on his chest, she was so tiny next to him, she wasn't sure if she would be enough to keep him warm. But very slowly she could feel his body start to relax as well as his breathing, and she knew he had fallen asleep. Soon she found herself unable to fight her exhaustion and fell asleep, still holding her arm around him to keep him warm.
The sun had begun to rise before Sansa woke up, she found the Hound had wrapped one of his large arms around her while they slept. She moved her head slightly to look up at him, he was still sleeping. Carefully she moved from under his arm, careful to not let it fall and wake him up. She then grabbed her cloak and boots and quickly put them on, placing her dagger on her ankle. With one last glance at the sleeping man, she unlocked the door and slipped quietly from the room, going downstairs to get them some breakfast. When she returned a short while later, she found the Hound sitting up in bed.
"Where'd you go little bird?"
She rolled her eyes as she closed the door behind her, placing the tray of food down before removing her cloak and boots. "You need food if you're going to regain your strength, and you are in no shape to walk and get your own food." She cut up some of the bread, then filled a plate with some of the bacon they had given her, along with some fresh fruits and a bit of the pork sausage. She then walked to the bed side table and placed it beside him. "How are you feeling?"
He grumbled slightly, reaching for the glass of wine instead of the food. "Feel like shit"
Sansa sighed, making herself a small plate to eat as well. "Drinking only isn't going to help, you need to eat." She sat at the table near the fireplace as she poured herself some water. "I didn't spend most of my night nursing you back to health to watch you try and kill yourself."
He couldn't help but let out a laugh at her comment, "why did you help me little bird? Didn't know you cared." He chuckled a bit as he grabbed for a piece of the bread.
She looked over at him and shrugged, "I'm not the kind of person to walk away when someone needs help." She then turned away from him and looked down at her plate, suddenly she wasn't very hungry.
The Hound eyed her a moment before finishing off his bread, he then pulled the blankets from his leg and observed her word. "Didn't know a Lady could handle the sight of blood. Where'd you learn to do that?"
She did not look at him this time when she spoke, "my mother, she taught me how to handle wounds since I was one of the oldest. And my sister Arya was always getting hurt, sometimes I would secretly stitch her up so she wouldn't get in trouble for sneaking out when she should have been doing her needlework."
At the mention of Arya, the Hound couldn't help but let out a snort, causing Sansa to look straight at him. "That sister of yours is the reason I almost died. We'd been attacked, and I got this wound. We hadn't eaten in days so I was weak. She left me to die, the little wolf bitch."
"Arya is alive?" Sansa ignored his comments of her leaving him to die and how he spoke of her. She had been told by Cersei that Arya was dead, could the Queen have been lying to her the entire time?
"She was. Not too sure she'll last without me protecting her." He grabbed his glass and finished his wine. "Took good care of her, kept her from bein' murdered at that weddin' and all she does is leave me to die."
Sansa suddenly looked down, remembering how her mother and brother had been murdered at the twins during her uncles wedding. She fought back any tears that wanted to escape her eyes though, she had cried enough in Kings Landing, and now she was on the run, she had to stay strong.
A knock on the door had stopped them from saying anymore. Gripping a dagger in one hand, Sansa opened the door slightly, seeing it was the same servant girls from the night before, she smiled and opened the door for them to enter. They carried a large wooden tub with buckets of water as well. They quickly placed it in front of the fire and left. Sansa quickly locking the door behind them.
"I had them bring a bath for you, do you think you can walk?"
He moved to swing his leg off the bed and slowly stood with a groan. "Aye…" As he started to walk over, Sansa moved to his side, having him wrap one of his arms around her to help him balance. He let out a small chuckle as she helped him to the tub, "you gonna help me get undressed to little bird?" He then looked down at her with a grin.
For the first time since she found him, Sansa blushed slightly and shook her head. "I think you can do that yourself. Just sit in the chair when you do it." She then slipped from underneath his arm and pushed the chair close to the tub. She then quickly retreated to the bed and sat down, keeping her back to him.
"Still the timid little bird I left shiverin' in her room." The Hound laughed as he slipped out of his tunic and breeches. He then let out a groan as he slipped into the hot water of the tub. "How'd you get outta there anyway?"
She looked over her shoulder slightly as she heard him slip into the tub, "with the help of Lord Baelish. He helped me escape after Joffreys wedding." She then looked back down at her hands that she had folded in her lap.
"Littlefinger huh?" He couldn't help but let a bit of jealousy wash over him, "how'd he convince ya to go with him?"
She let out a small laugh as she shook her head, moving to lay back on the bed. "Trick is more like it. He used Ser Dontos to convince me to escape. I had no idea it was Lord Baelish until I was aboard his ship." She thought back on it, watching as Lord Baelish had her sweet Dontos killed in front of her, saying he would have betrayed her.
He glanced over her as she lay on the bed, admiring her beauty, though he missed that red hair of hers. "He have you dye your hair like that?"
She nodded a bit, letting her fingers moved to her hair slightly, "my Aunt Lysa gave us the dye, they both agreed my hair stood out too much. But now she's gone, and I couldn't stay with him any longer, I couldn't let him…" she then shook her head, unable to speak any longer.
Anger seemed to overcome the Hound, suddenly he stood from the tub, sliding his breeches and tunic on. He moved over to Sansa, groaning in pain though he tried to ignore it. He sat beside her and stroked her cheek slightly, "what did Littlefinger do? Did he touch you?" The thought of Littlefinger touching his little bird was enough to send him into a rage, he wanted to hit someone or something.
She looked up at him, but did not move away when his finger moved to stroke her cheek. "He kissed me once, and because of it, my aunt Lysa tried to kill me. So he killed her instead, he was keeping me close afterwards. I feared he was going to try and make me his wife after that, I couldn't marry him, so I ran." She finally sat up, looking at him, seeing the rage in his eyes.
"I should kill him, teach him not to touch ya." He had balled his hands into tight fists by that time.
Sansa smiled and shook her head, "in your state, you would never get to him." She then looked down to his leg and noticed he was bleeding through his bandages. "Lay back, I need to change those." She quickly stood, going to a fresh pile of cloth as he moved to lay against the back of the bed, watching her as she moved quickly to the clothes then back to his side. He watched her as she removed the bloodied cloth and replaced it with new fresh cloths. Chuckling as she did so.
"A little bird tending to an old dog, never thought I'd live to see somethin' like this." He then reached out and took her hand, pulling her up to him, causing her to gasp. "That imp ever bed ya?"
Sansas eyes widened at his question, and the fact that he had pulled her so close to him. "No…" she shook her head, trying to pull her hand from him but he held it tight, "he wouldn't unless I asked him to, and I never did."
He grinned, pulling her closer so that their faces were only inches apart. "So the little bird is still a maid?" He held her there a moment longer before releasing her hand and leaning his head back. "Silly little bird, could be dangerous locking yourself up with an old dog."
She quickly stood from the bed once he released her hand, her heart was beating so fast she could hear it in her ears. Though it wasn't fear she had felt, but she wasn't sure what she was feeling. She looked at him a moment before moving to sit in a nearby chair, her eyes on him as he closed his once again. "You need to rest more."
There was something about him, the Hound, something about Sandor Clegane. But Sansa could not figure it out.