JAIME

The snow had begun to fall on Kings Landing when Jaime left the city, wasting no time, he had made haste north, leaving Cersei to her fate whatever that may be.

Damn her, the woman I love, threatening to murder me, plotting behind my back, lying to me, damn her. Riding north on the King's Road, Jaime Lannister felt a sense of freedom, he knew this was the right thing to do, not just for family or honour, but for survival.

He recalled the meeting at the Dragonpit, the corpse Jon Snow had brought as proof of the threat.

The creature was but skin and bone; ragged clothes draped its bare form, wisps of grey and white hair sprouted from its head, what flesh did remain was grey and sunken away from the bones, exposing the true decomposition of the body.

How did it even move the way it did? As it sprawled out of the crate onto its feet, screeching, almost as if it was choking, gasping for breath, Jamie noticed as it sprinted for Cersei, the blue in its eyes were the only sign of life.

When Sandor Clegane had cut straight through its torso, it barely seemed to notice, crawling across the floor, organs and entrails rotten and black hanging from its chest, screeching all the while, Jamie Lannister became more than concerned.

The dragon queen claimed there were a hundred thousand of these things, at least. Marching south commanded by these ancient ice warriors, Jaime knew the stories, the mysterious white walkers roaming the lands of always winter with their packs of ice spiders.

He never really believed them, no one did, they were tales of ages long past, stories for the night when the wind howled and the air was cold. Now the long night was here and those stories were now tales of truth.

Why now? He thought to himself, All these years they've been skulking in the shadows beyond the wall, watching, waiting...and now they're on the move...why now?

He made good time on the Kings Road; few people bothered him. His golden hand covered and grey and black robes kept his identity and allegiance hidden from following eyes.

Night after night of sleeping beneath trees and under the roof of abandoned houses had turned his golden locks to brown streaks, further masking his appearance.

After passing several taverns on the road, he decided to take a chance for a hot meal and a warm bed. The tavern was a quaint structure, the thatched roof had a succinct blend of yellow and brown with small patches of snow and sleet.

A single lantern hung from above the entrance, the flame flickering as the wind rushed through, a large oak tree stood across from the door, its branches reaching up and over the path like a sheet of brown wool, a finger's touch from the chimney on the roof.

The stables to the right appeared mostly empty indicating there weren't many people inside. Dismounting, Jamie tied up his horse and headed towards the door.

He took a seat by the fire, removing his hood he spotted a serving girl approaching him, "food and ale, m'lord?"

"Just food if I may, and a bed for the night."

"Of course, m'lord, a single silver should cover it".

She returned quickly with a stew of ham and potatoes and a slice of bread, he didn't hesitate, tucking into the warm meal as he stared into the flames of the burning embers.

He heard footsteps approach behind him, thinking it was the serving girl he began to turn, until a man rounded the table and sat directly opposite him…

"Jaime fookin Lannister...fancy seeing you here…"

"Ser Bronn of the Blackwater, you followed me?"

"You're easy to follow, you fancy lords aren't used to travelling in secret, usually you announce your damn presence everywhere you go."

Jaime smiled, "Well I'd appreciate you keeping your voice low."

"Why? No one gives two shits who you are, they've got bigger problems on their hands now winters here." But all it takes is one vengeful northerner…

"So you trying to leave without delivering your end of the deal, ay? Bronn asked.

"How did you find me? I left Kings Landing days ago; I'm not even wearing any colours." Jaime enquired.

"You think that matters, you radiate Lannister. I've been around your fucking family long enough to realise that." Grinning, Bronn took a drink wiping his mouth with the end of his sleeve.

"Word spreads fast when you're the head golden twat. When I heard you'd gone, I knew exactly where you'd be going. So, you gonna tell me what happened?"

She couldn't see, she just couldn't see… "She lied to me."

"Wouldn't be the first time I imagine." Bronn interjected.

"She plotted with Euron Greyjoy behind my back. She swore to send all our forces north to fight alongside Ned Stark's bastard and the dragon queen...but there was no truth to it, she never had any intention of forging any sort of peace."

"She doesn't seem like the kind to play well with others"

"I tried to convince her, make her see that if we don't help those in the north and we betray them, they'll kill us all. We don't have the numbers to defeat them and after the Blackwater rush...we'd never stop her dragons. When I told her I intended to keep my promise, she threatened to execute me." I wonder if she would have…

"Well, I'm glad you finally know your sister is a back-stabbing cunt".

Charming way to put it "I've always known what she is, but this is beyond that. This threatens the entire country, maybe the entire world and I made a promise."

"So you're going up there...alone?"

"Not quite..."

Bronn let out a small chuckle, shaking his head, "Oh no, I ain't going up there. I'd rather not get ripped to pieces by a bunch of dead men."

"Ha...you can't avoid something like this. You might as well come with me; you clearly followed me here for a reason." Jaime pried,

"You sure this isn't just a chance encounter between two old friends?"

"I highly doubt it" Jaime replied, "Well if you're not going to face this, you're riding in the wrong direction. Why don't you go south, to Dorne. The dead will still get to you eventually of course but at least you'll have time to enjoy yourself.

"Aye I'd love to go back to the place where I almost died of poisoning. Now I don't want to go with you, but as I said you haven't held up your end of our agreement. You still owe me a castle and a wife."

"I'm not really in a position to give you anything at the moment, let alone a castle."

"You're not now, but you might be someday."

"You're really going to come north with me on the chance you might get a castle, you've got more of a chance of being ripped to pieces. I expect you'd get a far better offer from my sister."

"I would expect that aye, truth is I don't really like your sister and now you've left, there's nothing for me in that shithole of a city."
Jaime watched him as he took another long drink of his cup, a line of red liquid dripped down the side of his mouth.

"So you're actually choosing to do the right thing?"

"The right thing for me." He smirked.

"Why don't you just admit that you care about us and don't want to see us die?"

"Fuck off." Bronn retorted with a hint of a chuckle. "You still haven't answered my question though, you said you weren't going alone, I hope that's not just about me."

"No it's not, though I am glad you've thought about someone other than yourself for once." He saw a smirk grow on the sellswords face.

"Then I don't suppose you've got a secret garrison of men somewhere do ya?

"Well I do, just not here. I couldn't rally any of the Lannister forces in Kings Landing before I left. I had to make a rather hasty exit after what happened. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, Cersei probably got word to all the officers of my 'treacherous betrayal' as soon as I left the Red Keep. I'd never have been able to convince those men to follow me, there was no time regardless."

"So if this army ain't in Kings Landing, where is it?"

"There's still an army stationed at Riverrun and the Riverlands are on the road north. We just have to hope word from Cersei hasn't reached there yet. It's not a particularly large force but it's better than just the two of us arriving at Winterfell."

"D'ya think she knows the garrison is there?"

"It's possible, she became much more interested in military matters when the Targaryen girl landed at Dragonstone but this was before that...so...I could not say." She's probably tracked my every move since I left, her little birds singing songs of my whereabouts.

"Whether she knows about it or not, we have to try."

"Alright, so we go to Riverrun, get the army, give the castle back to the Tullys and head north, is that it?"

"Should be that easy, but you know...the Tully army is still intact and is still there at Riverrun, if we could combine our forces, march north together-"

"You really think Edmure Tully is gonna ally with you? I think you're overestimating your influence a bit there, he still hates your guts."

"I don't imagine he's the only one, worst case we'll still have our men. Jaime stood from the table pushing his empty dish aside, turning to Bronn.

"We'll leave at first light. Don't draw too much attention, we need to keep a low profile, especially as we get further north."

"I'd be more worried about yourself, you're the one who can't fight."

Jaime swallowed hard, glancing around the room. There were no more than seven patrons in the tavern, most warming their hands to a brazier, others chewing on mutton and gulping dark beer, muttering to each other between bites and swigs.

None of them look a threat, but looks can be deceiving.

"Nevertheless keep to yourself till the morning, we can't afford any sort of delay...not now."

Bronn simply nodded and turned back towards the flame, extending his hands outwards to the warmth. Jaime made his way towards the door, nodding to the serving girl as he manoeuvred between the benches.

The weather had turned, rain drops covered the path in front of the door, pattering off the leaves of the oak tree opposite. Jaime pulled his hood up, adjusting the edge to not obstruct his vision.

Heading through the darkness, Jaime could only see the prospect of a warm bed and a good night's rest.