There was nothing, Sansa decided, worse, than waking up to the sound of screaming. Not the sort of screaming a mother might think of, the kind that bids her answer the baby's call for food. Instead, screaming for life. Screaming in terror.
It happened very suddenly, the screaming, and then a great crash of wood.
Sansa and Jon both woke with a start. There was chaos beyond their closed door, they could hear it getting louder. The crash of swords, yelling, and the clattering of feet on wood.
"The children." Jon said to Sansa, pointing at the door to their right, where there was a hall that led right to Aden and Kyria's nursery.
She ran, around the bed and down the hall. She shoved open the far door, to see Kyria standing in her bassinet, screaming. She hurried to her, scooping her off the bed, holding her.
"Mama!" she heard Aden's cry from the other side of the bedroom. She didn't see him as she looked around desperately.
"Aden, where are you?"
He cried for her again, and she saw a small hand waving from underneath the bed.
She dashed to him, and sunk to her knees, holding Kyria steady.
"Darling, I'm so sorry, we need to go." she urged him, leaning beneath the bed, reaching with her other arm.
"Momma, no, we can't." he cried.
Suddenly, another arm reached beneath the bed, and pulled Aden by his elbow out into the light.
"Look at me." Jon said, pulling Aden up, steadying him. "We cannot be craven today, Lord Stark." he said to his son, his hands on his shoulders. "What do Starks do? Are we cowards? Or do we fight?"
"Jon-" Sansa began, but then looked at her son. He was steely faced, determined, and she realized then how much he would grow exactly to look like his father.
"We are wolves." Aden said.
"That's right, son." Jon said. "Get dressed, now, in your warmest riding clothes, do you understand?"
"Aye." Aden said softly. Then he scrambled to his wardrobe.
Sansa took Jon's hand, looking at him desperately.
"I have men readying our horses. There's a raid on the gates, and they're holding them off for now, but it might not be long. We need to go, as fast as we can."
"Bran?" Sansa asked. Jon thought for a minute, and knew he was too far to get to from their side of the castle.
"They won't hurt him." Jon decided. "He's the pure son of Ned Stark, they really can't argue that at all. Pack some things, whatever you can fit in a rucksack."
"Jon-" Sansa's voice was breaking. She was pleading with him.
"They've set the castle on fire." Jon finally said. Sansa froze. "We need to go."
"We need to go." she agreed. He stood, pulling her up to her feet. Aden was tugging on his boots, still shirtless. Sansa crossed the room, digging a bag out of a trunk, and then gathering with her free hand as many clothes of Kyria's she could fit in it. Back in their room, Jon was filling a pack with clothes for him and Sansa.
"Are you nearly ready?" Brienne asked, dropping her usual propriety.
"Sansa is just getting the children dressed." he said, and then remembered Sansa still needed to change. He grabbed a pair of her fur-lined riding pants, and a tight jacket to go over. Then a black cloak, and he bent, digging her boots from out underneath the bed. He put all of these in a pile at the end of the bed.
"Are they fitting the horses with bedrolls? And rations to last us...for a while, I suppose?"
"Aye." she said. "Lord Davos insists on coming."
"Of course." he waved at her. "Anyone who has close allegiance to me or my family should come. They might all be at risk. Strickland, maybe, and Owen and Niclas."
"Yes." she said. Sansa ran into the room, Kyria still in her arms, Aden standing, dressed, beside her.
"Clothes?" she asked, pointing at the pile he'd arranged. Jon nodded, and took Kyria from her to let her change. It was rare to see his wife in just pants, he realized, and he thought for a moment how shapely her legs looked.
When she was dressed, she took Kyria back, set her standing on the bed in front of her. She dipped into the bag and found a thick woolen cloak for Kyria, which she secured around her neck. She tapped the bed, signaling to her daughter to sit on her bottom. She tugged on the plush sheepskin boots Kyria had, and laced them tight. Finally, she tugged on a small rabbit fur cap, which contrasted with her dark hair.
"Aden will take Champion, but Kyria will ride with you." Jon said.
"Are you sure he can ride alone?" Sansa asked, stopping what she was doing in surprise.
"I'll be beside him the whole time." he said earnestly, and Sansa believed him. She tied up the bags, and tossed them to Brienne, who was loading them into the arms of some horrified looking stewards. Finally, she secured her cloak, and secured Kyria to her hips. Lastly, she took the knife in the holster she kept next to her bed. She attached it to her belt, and reached for Jon.
From his belt, he unsheathed Longclaw, and Brienne nodded.
"Stay close." she said. "I'll take up the rear."
Aden reached for his mother, and she took his hand. She gave him a small reassuring smile.
They moved quickly down the hallway, and down a small side staircase. The night air reeked of smoke, and Sansa looked up in horror to see a turret across the way engulfed in flame.
"Bran!" she screamed, realizing where it was.
"He's fine." Jon shouted behind his shoulder, over the clashing metal below. "Ghost has him, is pulling him to the maester."
Sansa sighed, gasping in relief.
They shuffled down the staircase, pressed against the cool stone of the wall beside them. Sansa mapped out where they were heading, through another hallway, down past the ballroom, out the back way to the stables. It wouldn't take more than a minute. They rounded a corner, and there was a loud whoosh of air as a flaming arrow whizzed past Sansa's ear and embedded itself in a pillar behind her. She dropped to the ground, and realized Jon had done the same in front of her. He looked up, trying to spot the archer. They were hidden behind a wall, crouching.
"When I say run, run." He said, turning around to Sansa. "Run, to the stables, don't wait more than 2 minutes for me, understand?"
"Jon-" she said, tears in her eyes.
"I'll be right behind you, Sansa." he said. "I swear."
She nodded.
"Keep your mother and sister safe." he said, looking to Aden. Aden clenched his jaw, and nodded firmly.
He moved quickly, and Sansa jumped as she heard the clatter of metal against metal. They all listened in silence for a second, and then she heard Jon's voice, out of breath and hoarse.
"Run!" he shouted. She took Aden's hand, and pulled him up.
They ducked around the corner, and into another poorly lit hallway. But Sansa grew up here, and spent many years playing hide and seek in these very halls. In the pitch black, she rushed down the long hallway, where she knew a wooden door was on the right, leading right outside the walls.
Sure enough, she felt her palm hit rough wood, and she grabbed the handle and shoved.
The night seemed colder outside, and Sansa checked behind her. Brienne was still there. Sansa saw the stables, a good hundred meters away.
"Run." she whispered. They all scrambled down the grassy hill, towards the stables. Sansa could see the glow of Champion, Aden's horse, in the moonlight.
They reached the horses, panting. A few guards began helping Aden onto his, and Brienne secured to hers. Sansa's horse was saddled, but she waited beside it, watching the door at the back of the castle, tense. Kyria was crying softly, and Sansa hushed her as well as she could.
She pulled from one of the saddlebags the wrap she'd brought for her daughter. Not keeping her eyes off the door, she tied Kyria to her chest, with the wrap that most mothers used to carry their infant.
As the clock ticked down, Sansa became more and more terrified. And then finally, the figure of Jon, Ghost at his side. Sansa climbed up to her horse, and took Stranger, Jon's horse, by the bridle.
She handed Stranger to Jon as he arrived.
"They have riders too." he gasped. "We need to go, now."
Sansa nodded. She turned to Aden, angling her horse so she was beside him.
"You know how mama and papa say you can't ride fast, not like you want to?" she asked him. He nodded. "I want you to ride that fast, and faster, okay, darling?"
"Okay." he said.
"And stay right next to your father. We'll be just behind you."
"We ride for the Iron Islands." Jon said to the small group of mounted guards. Sansa was taken aback, but realized she didn't have time to worry about that right now.
They broke into the night, tearing into the damp earth, and up the hill, away from their home.