The Great Hall, The Twins, now.
It had taken stealth and a bit of luck for Alayne to steal a hooded cloak from a drunken guard close to the castle after she left the relative safety of the forest nearly twenty minutes ago. With her dark blue flight suit and black vest helping to camouflage her as the sky got darker, Alayne was able to hop onto the back of a covered cart that was being pulled by two horses towards the entrance of the castle. After jumping onto the back, Alayne covered herself with the thick, grey, woollen blanket that covered what she thought was barrels of salted pork. At least that's what the barrels smelled like as she covered her nose while covering herself with the thick blanket. It would be several minutes later that the cart stopped, and she heard someone asking what was inside the cart.
"Salted pork," the male holding the reins of the horses said gruffly, "for the wedding."
'Oh, crashing a medieval wedding?' Alayne thought to herself with interest expressed on her face, 'this is going to be interesting. So that's why people were enjoying themselves. It's a wedding,' Alayne smirked as the cart began to move once again. She waiting for several more minutes before the cart stopped and she slipped out. From then on, Alayne had been sneaking around, using the crowd as cover, to observe the mass of people celebrating as they ate and drank. Eventually, she figured out that the real wedding had to be taking place within the castle walls – the ones partying outside the castle walls were the bannermen of the wedding party and the hosts.
And Alayne wanted to check it out. She graduated from the Academy with a degree in Aeronautic Engineering, but her passion lay in anthropology and archaeology. So, observing a real life medieval wedding was a once in a lifetime experience for her as she made her way through the drunken throngs of men. She watched the long wooden tables full of food and mugs of ale… at least she thought it was ale, she watched as women were serving various tables while a few others were being groped. Alayne even had her rear end smacked once or twice, with the ones responsible laughing it off as she rushed off. As Alayne went on, she listened as the bannermen yelled at each other about how the King in the North would win the war.
'King in the North?' Alayne thought to herself as she cautiously weaved through the crowds. 'Is there some kind of war going on or…' Alayne stopped walking and darted into a shadowy section of the hallway she just entered into. She realised that this was going to be a problem. If there was a war going on, then she had to put her head down and stay out the war if she could. It had been drilled into her after joining Stargate Command that the Tau'ri would steer clear of the internal affairs and conflicts between governments on alien worlds - the infamous Tegalus Incident came up to the forefront in her mind. Stargate Command didn't want another scenario like that; it had been drilled into all new recruits to the SGC. So, Alayne told herself to be very careful.
'I already landed the F-502 in an isolated area away from any human beings,' Alayne thought once again, 'so that shouldn't be a problem. And this is just an observational mission. I'll head back in another hour after some exploring, and then I'll broadcast the distress signal.' As Alayne continued on further into the castle, she thought to herself, 'I was supposed to reach the rendezvous point in five hours. After that, if I'm not there, then there would be a search party. I'm guessing I'll be spending at most twenty-four to forty-eight hours here.' At least, that's what she hoped.
Entering another hallway, Alayne heard the sounds of distant music and yells of celebration. She then heard people yelling that it was time for the "bedding ceremony".
'I read about this,' Alayne thought as she crept towards the wide-open wooden doors affixed with seven pointed stars in the center of both wooden doors as revellers were rushing out- the group pushing along a nearly naked man and blushing woman who was in her underwear. The hooded redhead then slipped into the room where they exited from and gaped at the size and extravagance of it all. As she walked down a side of the wall in the rear of the room, Alayne marvelled at the sight of the great stone hall, the torches that hung on the walls; she then looked up to see the candles in the chandeliers… their light illuminating the entire room. She caught the scent of cooked meat and looked at the tables as she crept to a corner of the room and scanned the area with her eyes, taking in the sights and sounds before her.
And then Alayne felt herself being watched as she stood under the light from one of the torches in the corner. Her eyes shifted to the direction of where her gut was telling her that she was being spied upon. It was something that Alayne didn't understand, she was among several hundred people who were celebrating this wedding feast, 'so how can I be recognized? As far as I know, there are no other SG teams here, or else I'd have detected the signals from their subcutaneous transmitters. And… wait… how?' Alayne lost her chain of thought as her eyes caught the eyes of the woman looking back at her.
Alayne couldn't believe her eyes as she widened them at seeing the other redhead staring back at her.
'No,' she thought as the voices and yelps of celebration faded into the background. She stared at the older redhead, 'It can't be.' Alayne knew it was simply not possible.
"Mom?" Alayne mouthed silently as her memories flashed back to what happened three years ago.
Heathrow, London, three years ago.
It was a long and boring flight from Colorado Springs to London, via Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Alayne breathed a sigh of relief as she exited the plane, walked to the luggage carousals to collect her bags, and then to catch a taxi outside the arrival hall. Alayne walked out of one of the exits and flagged a taxi – she finally returned home after a year's tour with her SG-14 team in the Pegasus Galaxy. Getting into a taxi, she sat on the rear seat with her bags – two black coloured carry ons – next to her before telling the driver her destination. Once the driver nodded his head, started the meter, and then started driving towards the City, Alayne leaned back on her seat and took in a deep breath.
Just as the driver left the vicinity of the airport, Alayne reached into her jeans pocket and took out her phone. She swiped the screen with her thumb and then searched her Recent Calls for her father. Then she dialled her father, who was in Washington D.C, and told him that she reached London, and that he couldn't tell her mother or brother that she was on the way to see them.
"It's a surprise, daddy," Alayne said with a smile as she placed her hand on top of one of the bags to her left, "anyway, yes…. I reached Heathrow safe and I'm in a taxi now. I'll give mom and John your love." Alayne then made a smooch sound on the phone that had the driver slightly chuckle, "See you and Aunty Karla here in three days." Alayne then disconnected the call and put the phone back in her pocket.
And smiled at thinking about the reactions from her mother and brother.
Alayne's mother came to the forefront of her mind as she watched the cars rush by the other side of the road. Her mother, Becka Collins, was a banker in the City with one of the top financial firms while her older brother, Johnathan, was a solicitor with the Crown Prosecution Service. He was the only one in her family, other than her mother, who did not join the military. Alayne's father was the British military attaché to Homeworld Command, and her Aunt Karla was the black sheep of the family – an aspiring musician who had only just gotten noticed after playing several gigs in London and several places throughout the United Kingdom. She was now on tour in the United States after having been discovered on one of the four talent competitions in the U.K. And then there was her cousin, Robbie, who was a Colonel, and still is, in command of the Tau'ri Defence Force's latest BCS 304 ship- the Aurora.
It would just before reaching London, that Alayne noticed several jets flying through the air at top speed, 'F-502's? Why have Sparrows been deployed?' she thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes at the twelve jets which began pulling up as they fired plasma blasts into the air. And then, suddenly the ground shook after a loud BOOM filled the air. A chill went up Alayne's spine when she heard a second BOOM! Alayne then heard the driver yell out "Fuck no!" before slamming on the brakes as she, sitting in the back seat, grabbed on tight to the handle in the interior of the taxi just above the door. She shifted her position to stare at the four gigantic fireballs in the distance through the windscreen as the taxi skidded while screeching to a stop. She saw more explosions in the sky as the F-502's took down seven other streaks that had just cut through the clouds.
She was only thirty minutes away from London when it happened- the day a group, later identified known as the Brotherhood, launched an attack on Earth.
Major cities were targeted, among them London where a large section of the city was destroyed. It claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the capital with over two million worldwide, with even more injured. And among the casualties were Becka and Jonathan Collins. Alayne had her hands over her mouth while tears welled in her eyes as the Shard, the location where Becka worked, was one of the buildings that shattered from the shockwave of the blast and was toppled to the ground.
Alayne called Becka, hoping against hope that she could reach her mother, 'maybe she's home, maybe she's sick… oh God please be sick.' But there was no answer, all she received on the call was a voice saying that the call could not go through. And it was the same for her brother.
While casualties were being counted on Erath, there were simultaneous attacks on Chulak and several allied worlds by the then mysterious Brotherhood - all using previously unseen technology.
Earth and her allies were at war against the Brotherhood. A war that was still ongoing.
The Twins, now.
Alayne shook her head in disbelief before she tore her eyes away from the woman who looked so much like her mother as music continued to play from the gallery above her. 'It can't be possible.'
Alayne felt as if she was having trouble breathing. She needed to leave. She stepped back and turned to leave. She needed to get out. 'It's not possible… how…? How…?' Alayne had taken a few more steps while her hood covered her face - no one noticed her in the crowd of people celebrating this wedding. 'I need to get out… I.. I need air…' She suddenly stopped before reaching the doors that had been closed soon after she entered. The music had changed. A chill went up and down her spine as she slowly turned and stared at the musicians playing in the gallery. The song was haunting, but it filled her with a kind of dread she couldn't explain.
Shaking her head, she began to make her way for the doors again. She was going to use the party atmosphere to leave. But then, before reaching the doors, Alayne heard the old man seated at the high table at the other end of the room say, "Your Grace!"
Alayne stopped mid-stride before she glanced at the old man as everyone started to take their seats, just as the noise all around her started to die down. There was something dreadful in the song that had been playing until now, and there was something in the man's voice that had a chill go through Alayne.
"I feel I've been remiss…" the old man continued to speak as Alayne stared at him.
There was such anger in that voice - the tone was similar to the time her SG-14 team, as well as SG-21, had gone to P7V-273 to finalise a treaty that would allow the SGC to mine Trinium. The SGC had given the local chieftain favourable terms, but the man got greedy at the very last moment when it came to signing the document. The tone in the man's voice - that of masked rage and mockery- was similar to the old man as he stood up and raised his glass.
Once again, Alayne's blood froze as the one the old decrepit man referred to as 'Your Grace' stood up and walked up standing next to the front table. The glimpse of his face as Alayne slowly walked back towards the corner for a better view had her heart beating hard, 'how is this possible? How is there someone who looks like mum and John living on another world?' Alayne stared at the man's dark red hair, and then at the worried looking woman who was looking at a man with thinning grey hair while, at the same time, the old man was talking about honour and oaths.
And then a dangerous feeling permeated the room; to Alayne, it was exactly like that mission.
'I hope not,' Alayne thought to herself. She didn't want to get involved since she had no business being on any side of someone else's war. Adding to that that, even if she did want to help, she was the only one on the planet with any advanced technology… technology that was now a little more than an hour away from her by foot. 'I should leave,' Alayne thought as she watched the older redhead's eyes widen as she pulled up the sleeve of the grey-haired man, 'I need to know how it is that a copy of my brother and mother are living on another world, maybe I should…' Alayne took a few more steps to the left to see what it was that worried the older woman. Suddenly, the older woman stared directly at Alayne and yelled out for all to hear.
"Sansa! You must leave!" At that shout, the sounds of celebrations faded as a confused Alayne pulled back her hood while the clone of her brother turned around and stared at her in surprise.
"Sansa?" he said with his eyes narrowed. Alayne felt everyone looking at her, even the wrinkled old man who stopped talking, as well as the bald man who turned to look at her with eyes so cold and dark that she swore she was staring back at a soulless creature. Alayne wanted to say that she wasn't who they thought she was while thinking to herself, 'who's Sansa? Do I have a double here too? What's going on?'
"Robb!" the woman yelled after she slapped the bald man until he stumbled back into another table while the others gawked in disbelief, "it's a trap!" And then all hell broke loose.
….
Roose Bolton was surprised at the slap followed by the push by Catelyn. He had thought she wasn't Northern enough- that she wasn't hard enough for the people of the North. The slap surprised him, the fact that he was sent stumbling back surprised him even more. He pushed himself off the table and then turned to the younger redhead just as Catelyn turned to Robb and yelled about a trap. All the while, the Bolton was rushing at 'Sansa' with a gleam in his eyes.
'Sansa Stark, how did you escape King's Landing?' He pushed the surprised girl who yelled out, "look out!" back against a wall. The older Bolton knew that Sansa was a Southern girl who believed in the knights of songs and stories. She believed in hope and honour and did not know the real world- at least that was the Sansa he had heard about. The same Sansa he wanted wed to his heir, Domeric, before he mysteriously died.
As the arrows flew while he pushed the younger redhead against the wall, Bolton heard the screams from his 'Queen' – Talia Stark. He saw Sansa's green eyes as they widened at the sight behind him after arrows from the crossbows where launched from the gallery above them.
"Green," Bolton whispered as he stared into the eyes of the girl he thought was Sansa. The Sansa he had heard about... the one who went to Kings Landing with her father and sister was blue eyed and aged thirteen years. But the girl, no... woman… he held against the wall did not have the Tully blue eyes. The woman he was holding against the wall was older, older than what he believed Sansa should be. And then the eyes. Bolton saw those green eyes stare behind him in shock. He thought he saw a reflection of an arrow going through Robb's shoulder and another missing Catelyn entirely through those eyes.
And then, time seemed to slow down even more.
When those eyes focused on him… the Lord of the Dreadfort saw rage. He saw the eyes of someone who had seen war. Someone who had killed. His eyes narrowed in confusion before he felt himself being pulled away. He was about to turn while he reached for his dagger, he was going to kill whoever it was that pulled him away. He was going to stab them before turning back to 'Sansa' - he would take her back to the Dreadfort and interrogate her. After all, after that very night, the Lord of the Dreadfort would be the Warden of the North, and he thought to himself, 'after thousands of years, the Red Kings rule the North.' He thought to himself that the green eyes were a trick of the light- that Sansa Stark had really escaped Kings Landing and fled to the Twins after having heard about the wedding.
'I win… I will have Sansa Stark marry my bastard, and then the North is mine,.'
….
Alayne saw the thin haired man rushing at her. But she stood in place, for a moment she forgot all her training as the faces of the people who looked like her brother and mother were attacked in front of her very eyes. And then, she felt the thin haired man with cold eyes grab her arms and push her back against the wall. She stared into his cream coloured eyes and shivered. And then, all hell broke loose. She glanced at her right side to see the surprise on numerous men and women before they were cut down by axes and swords. And then she saw movement to her two o'clock, "look out!" She yelled. But it was too late.
Alayne's eyes were wide open as the dagger was thrust into the abdomen of the pregnant woman who screamed in pain the four times she was stabbed, blood dripping on the flood each time the blade was pulled out of the bleeding belly. Time then stopped when Alayne's peripheral vision caught sight of her 'brother' stepping back as an arrow struck through his right shoulder. Alayne wanted to yell… her mind was buzzing… it was yelling at her to remember her training. She had seen war, she had killed, she had been injured, she had seen people die… but these people here were copies of her mother and brother.
'Mum, John,' she thought to herself as time seemed to go back to normal. She heard the sickening sounds of arrows slicing through the air and into bodies, and the sounds of weapons cutting through flesh. She heard yelps and screams from the tables as people fought to survive. And then Alayne stared at the man holding her arms. She saw coldness in his eyes… but there was rage in hers. She didn't know these people who were duplicates of the family she lost, but they were not going to die. Alayne was prepared to make a move when she caught sight of her 'mother' rushing up to the man, grabbing his shoulders and pulled him back. Alayne saw anger flash on the man's face as he was pulled back, and then he reached to his side to grab a handle.
'Some kind of bladed weapon,' thought Alayne as she grabbed the man's left hand after it pulled out a razor-sharp dagger. The man had already let go of her arms when he was being pulled back, allowing Alayne to make her move. She saw the man and woman look back at her in surprise before she twisted the man's hand, the dagger falling onto the grey coloured floor with a clang, and then she stepped forward and struck the side of his exposed neck. She then pushed him away from her 'mother', grabbed her right hand and pulled just as arrows from above whizzed by and hit the table to her right.
"Get down!" Alayne yelled as she pushed the older redhead under the table before she, having caught a look of perverse joy from the old man as he held a mug in his shrivelled hand watching the massacre all around her, joined the older redhead under the table.
"Sansa, I…." Alayne looked back up at Catelyn, while at the same time, she reached under her cloak and pulled out her plasma gun from its holster. Alayne shook her head and said, among the yells of fighting and the clash of metal, "I don't know a Sansa… but…" Alayne wanted to continue. Her heart clenched at the sight of the look of confusion on the woman in front of her. But what mattered now was survival. She knew the people in the gallery had to be taken out first. 'They have the high ground… and while I don't have a crossbow with me, I have the next best thing. A plasma weapon.'
"Stay here," Alayne said staring into the blue eyes of the woman in front of her, "stay here… it's safe. The arrows can't get you." Alayne then turned and, while crouched, slinked over to the other end of the table where she saw the redhaired man who looked like her brother. 'He can't be more than what… eighteen?' she thought as he crawled towards the bleeding woman. She looked back at people stabbing the ones who were unarmed, she then looked back at the woman who looked like her dead mother whispering as she stared at the old decrepit man from beneath the table.
"Traitor, oathbreaker," she muttered angrily towards him before she turned towards Alayne.
Alayne's lips were pressed together, 'she looks just like her' before looking out to the rear of the room as more of the unarmed died. Alayne had her weapon in her hand, the very weapon she could Catelyn glancing towards periodically. Alayne looked down and set the weapon to kill – the musicians in the gallery were the ones armed with crossbows, and they were surrounded by a wooden fence-like structure all around them, 'probably to prevent any arrows from getting through. But I don't have arrows, just the next best thing.'
"Sansa… why did you… what are you wearing and what are…." Catelyn asked in surprise as she stared at Sansa and her clothing, her eyes then glancing at the strange object in her hand, before looking back up at the look of, what seemed to be, regret on her face.
"I'm sorry, Miss," Alayne said looking at the woman, "I'm not…" Alayne stopped delaying, people were dying. She told the woman to stay under the table before she got out, glanced at the red-haired teen who was crawling to the woman who had been stabbed, turned, and aimed her weapon up to the gallery. Alayne took a few steps back to get a decent shot and depressed the trigger.
'Thoom' sounds heralded each bolt of plasma that was fired from the weapon. The multiple blots of plasma, each held together within a magnetic shell, impacted the wood and shattered it. The shrapnel blinded the ones on their knees as they reloaded their weapons on the gallery. The plasma blots were being fired automatically; they tore through the wooden and melted through the armour of the attackers in the gallery – all before anyone had a chance of shooting Alayne with an arrow. The attackers in the gallery cried out in pain before they fell dead. The sounds made by the destruction of the wooden wall, and the screams of the 'musicians' impacted by the plasma bolts rang out through the hall.
And suddenly there was silence. Alayne turned around and aimed her weapon at those in the room who were still standing, all staring stunned at her. She switched the weapon to stun, knowing from the indicator on the casing that the naquada in her weapon was currently recharging its energy cells after releasing most of its stored capacity. She glanced at the redhead staring at her while his hands pressed down on the woman's belly. She then looked up and met his eyes.
"Sansa?" he whispered shaking his head before looking back down at the woman, blood pooling beneath her as her lifeless eyes stared up at the ceiling. Alayne saw tears streaking down his cheeks while he pressed down harder on her bleeding abdomen before looking back up at the stares she was getting.
Alayne could tell from the blood loss that the woman was now dead.
"Now," Alayne said as she cautiously walked over towards the red headed teen who was putting pressure on the wound in the belly of the pregnant woman while the shaft of an arrow jutted t through his left shoulder. "Let's take it easy. This is a wedding, so…"
"What are all of you cunts waiting for," the old man behind Alayne screeched as he stood up and pointed at Alayne and the others, "kill them all!"
Alayne tightened her grip on her weapon as she aimed it towards her front. She still scanned her left side, and saw there were no one with any weapons to her left, and then to her right. She saw the woman who looked like her mother leave the relative safety of the bottom of the table and stood there in stunned silence. Alayne then stared at the unconscious man with the cold eyes just as two people rushed at Catelyn, and another two rushed at Robb who was still mourning his wife's death.
"I said kill them all!" the old man behind Alayne yelled
Alayne saw the six people rushing – two for her, two for Robb, and two for Catelyn. She saw their swords were already drawn as they ran towards her and the others.
"Damn it," Alayne whispered as she fired her weapon twice at the ones coming at her. One blue bolt of energy hit the chest of a bearded man, and then the head of a man whose face was already covered in blood. The energy bolt acted like a Zat blast, it rendered them unconscious before they crumbled to the ground. The sight of the blue bolts, and the yellow ones from a few seconds ago, stopped everyone in their tracks.
"Witchcraft, magic, blood magic," those were some of the words being whispered by the people in the room while Alayne stared at the young man, Robb, she remembered her mother's-look-alike calling him; Alayne's weapon aimed at the two behind him. She then turned her head to the right, towards the two who were sneering at her… the ones who were going to run the older redhead through with their swords.
"Like I said," Alayne spoke staring at the two men who were glancing at each other, and then at her mother's look-a-like. In the back of her mind, Alayne was reminding herself to get the woman's name while she spoke, "my idea of a wedding is that there's supposed to be no killing on such a happy day." Alayne tried to sound a little sarcastic to hide the fact that everyone - mainly the people she guessed were guests to the wedding, were the ones being attacked. "Where I come from, I heard about the right of guests – that guests were supposed to be unharmed," Alayne said, her head turning back towards Robb, who still had an arrow impaled through his left shoulder and was now leaning against a table after he pulled himself up off the floor, grimacing in pain, with his bloodstained right hand.
Alayne then turned her head back to the older redhead who called her Sansa, "am I wrong?"
….
"N… no," the woman whispered in shock as she stared at the woman who… well… Catelyn didn't know what to think. She couldn't hear any voices from the gallery above, nor could she hear the sounds of crossbows being loaded, or of anyone playing music. Catelyn then stared at the two men who collapsed onto the ground, and then her eyes shifted towards the redhead who was looking back at her while the object in her hand was pointed at Robb.
'No, behind Robb,' Catelyn thought to herself as the two supposed Frey knights, took several steps back.
Catelyn heard the sounds from earlier from when she was under the table, and the she saw what looked like blue coloured lighting shoot out from the object in Sansa's hand – she knew in her heart that this woman was Sansa - and hit the two Freys who were rushing at the woman who looked so much like her daughter.
"Are… are you Sansa?" Catelyn asked as she tried to hold on to some hope… no matter how silly.
….
"What are you all doing? Stupid sons of mine! Kill…." Alayne frowned at the old geezer yelling from behind her. Her skin crawled while thinking that he was staring at her while giving out the order to kill them, and then he was interrupted before finishing his rant.
"Silence, traitor," one gruff sounding man yelled out from the crowd before there were more yells. Alayne saw fighting start again, this time the ones who were unarmed were fighting back; taking the others by surprise. She didn't know what to do now… she didn't know who was good or who was evil… she intervened for the safety of the teen, the one referred to as 'your highness' and woman who looked like her dead brother and mother. And now she was in a middle of a great fight.
While more men fought, the two who were heading for Catelyn rushed at her. Alayne threw all caution to the wind and fired at the too before she turned and fired at the two who were almost onto Robb as he picked up a dinner knife… the only weapon close enough to reach with his good arm. Alayne shifted her position while feeling someone brush past her. Alayne fired, the electrical charges dropping the two men before she turned to see the woman who looked like her mother rush around the high table while grabbing a long bladed cutting knife that had been stuck into a large block of what looked like cheese. Alayne saw two women, both of whom looked as if they were in their early teens, run away while the old man stared in terror at Catelyn rushing at him.
Alayne aimed the weapon at her… but she hesitated. The woman looked like her mother… even her voice. Even her eyes were as blue as Becka's. Instead, Alayne aimed the weapon at the retreating Walder Frey, and fired a blue stun blast.
The man collapsed as he tried to run, but he hit a chair on the way down after the blast impacted him and blue energy crackled around his body. As he went down, his head slammed the side of the chair next to him. Alayne and Catelyn stared each other while Walder lay unconscious on the floor before the older redhead kneeled and stabbed the old man.
"Traitorous filth," Catelyn spat as she stood up, her right hand was stained with fresh blood and she turned towards Alayne, who was staring at her stunned. All she wanted to do was stun the man so that the woman who looked so much like her mother wouldn't kill.
'But this is not mum,' Alayne reminded herself, 'she's someone else.' Alayne then turned and stared at the dead on the floor while others in furs stood over the bodies.
"Mother!" a woman yelled. Alayne turned her head towards the source and saw a woman in a blood stained green dress rushing to the left, dropping the dagger she was holding in her hand. Alayne felt the rush of wind as the woman who looked like her mother ran towards the redhaired teen who was leaning back against the table. He nodded his head, Alayne saw as she holstered her weapon. He looked back at her with narrowed eyes while panting. Alayne tore her eyes away from the man who looked so much like her brother as her mother's-look-alike rushed to the sobbing woman who was kneeling next to a body covered in blood.
"Who… who did we lose?" the redheaded male asked as he looked to the right, "Lord Umber? Who did we lose?"
"Maege," the large, stout, bearded man said while blood was dripping from his fists. Alayne saw him close his eyes and press his lips together into a scowl before continuing, "we're still counting the dead."
The redheaded teen then yelled out, "Fuck! How many people did we lose? How many people did that fucker help kill?" Alayne saw his eyes widen before he slumped forward. She rushed forward at him while her mother's look-a-like yelled out, "ROBB!"
'Robb,' Alayne thought to herself as she reached him and held him up while careful to avoid the shafts of the arrows that dug into him.
The two of them stared at each other before Robb narrowed his eyes and mumbled, "you're not Sansa."
"Sorry, I'm just someone who I guess must look like her," Alayne said as she stumbled back while trying to hold him up… his weight pushing her back as several of the men from the crowd rushed forward.
"Get her away from the king."
"She's a witch… hold her for…."
Alayne turned her head towards the group coming at her before she heard the man she was holding on to say in a rasping voice, "hold! As your king, I am ordering you to hold!" Alayne looked back at Robb, and then back to the group who were now standing still… some unsure about what to do next, while the others were glaring at her as they held blood stained dagger, cleavers, and even some held what looking like butter knives.
"Your Grace… she…"
"Just hold," Robb whispered before looking back at Alayne who was pushing back up with her legs so that Robb wasn't leaning all the way on her. "We… we have to leave… we…"
"Robb?" the older redhead said as Alayne turned her head towards the man she was holding up. The woman rushed to her with tears in her eyes as she held his right arm, "Robb? We'll leave… we'll get Edmure and leave. We'll take Sansa…" It was then that the woman turned to Alayne with tears in her eyes and then back to Robb, "we'll…"
"I can't feel Grey Wind anymore," Robb whispered.
Alayne was wondering what the words 'Grey Wind' meant when her mother's-look-alike gasped out, "What?"
"I think he's dead," Robb whispered, "I can always feel him, even when he's hunting, but I can't feel him now. We have to leave… we have to leave right now." The woman opened her eyes wide at Robb while Alayne looked on hearing the anguish in Robb's voice.
"Lady Stark?" Alayne looked up at the one Robb called Lord Umber, and then back down at Lady Stark, "if the direwolf is dead then…"
"Then there is fighting ongoing outside these walls," Alayne listened as Lady Stark's shoulders sagged and she stepped back, "they betrayed us. The Freys, the Boltons… they betrayed us."
"Then all we have to do is collect Lord Edmure and then kill his Frey wench, and…"
"No," Robb whispered out, "she's a Tully now. She's Kin."
"We'll fight our way out of here," said the same female voice from earlier as she strode towards the group with anger etched on her face.
"Dacey," Robb said while he was being held up by the two women, "we need a plan, I…"
"How many people do you have?" Alayne asked. She mentally cringed when everyone turned towards her, most staring at her with suspicion. But she didn't show herself being affected by their stares, "how many?"
"Sansa, you…"
"She's not Sansa," Robb said looking up at his mother who turned her head towards him with an expression of surprise, "look at her eyes, mother. They're green, not blue. She looks like Sansa but…"
"No… no…"
"I'd like to explain everything," Alayne said in a gentle voice as Catelyn looked back at her, 'she looks traumatised… and I doubt this is what made her so scared for this Sansa person, that she thinks I'm her.' Alayne continued, "but if there's fighting outside, and we're the only ones alive here then we don't have the time for any explanations."
"Use your magic," the one named Dacey said, "swear fealty to the King in the North and use your witchcraft or magic or… or whatever it is for the North."
"Sorry," Alayne said shaking her head at Dacey, "I can't do that and… before you ask why, I have my own reasons. And besides, what I did wasn't magic."
"Sansa…" a horrified Lady Stark asked, "we saw you perform feats of magic."
"Not magic," Alayne said looking back at Lady Stark before looking at Robb, "if you're their leader, then my advice to you is that we need to get the hell out of here. What I did with my weapon isn't magic, and it isn't enough to hold off…" Alayne then looked at Lord Umber, "how many people are there?"
"3500 Stark, Boltons, and Tully's, and 3500 Freys or more," he answered with a look of confusion before he shook his head and growled, "you bewitched me."
"No, I didn't," Alayne frowned before turning to Lady Stark who said that the Boltons helped the Freys commit this treasonous act. Alayne knew what that meant; they were outnumbered. She knew that even with her plasma weapon, there was only so many targets she could take out before the overwhelming numbers of the enemy took her and the others down. The only hope they had in getting out of the castle alive was using the fighting as a distraction to escape, and then using her F-502 for air cover; but the Sparrow was more than an hour away on foot.
'I saw some horses by the stables I passed,' Alayne said, 'but I have no experience riding.' She frowned at herself as she looked away while the others tried to come up with a plan of attack that wold ensure their survival. But Alayne knew that very few would survive, especially if what she had seen was any indication. 'They were drunk, or on the verse of being drunk,' Alayne thought back to the unarmed guests as she crept through the Castle. Even these guys here.. the guests were unarmed, but the hosts seemed to be ready for a fight.' Alayne guessed it would be a slaughter out there, 'I'm sure some would survive.' She then looked back at Robb and then at Lady Stark who were talking to each other, 'they look so much like mum and John. It's so uncanny. I wanted to just crash this wedding, check out what a real medieval wedding was like. But now… now… I can't let them die. I just can't. Not again.'
Alayne then opened her lips while thinking to herself, 'not again.'
"Look, I'm not from around here," Alayne said glancing at the hurt on Lady Stark's face before continuing, "I'm not this Sansa person. I'm from somewhere very far away." Alayne then lightly shrugged before saying, "I'm an explorer. And I'd like to explain more to you good people but I think the first thing we do is get the hell out of here? Agreed?"
"We… we must get to Edmure and his wife first," Lady Stark said, tearing away her devastated expression away from Alayne, "and then.. then… we go North."
"Moat Cailin would have been taken by the Ironborn," another man in the group said, "and the journey to Riverrun would be fraught with Lannisters and their bitches."
"We go North," Robb said, "we… we take the Kings Road. Nearly all the Freys would be here… we… we take the Kingsroad to the Neck and seek out the Cranogman." Robb looked at Dacey, and then at Lod Umber, "Lord Reed is a friend and ally of my father, and a loyal Bannermen of the Starks. They know the area around Moat Cailin very well, they will help repel the Ironborn. I will also sent Ravens to Lord Manderley and… and seek aid to attack the Moat from the rear."
"Robb," Lady Stark said as she pressed her hand on his cheek and turned his head towards her, "we…"
"I lost the North, mother," Robb said. Alayne saw the group in front of her look away in shame. She then turned her head towards Robb who winced in pain as he stood straight up, the arrow still sticking out, "but I will get it back. I will get our homes back, I will repel the Ironborn and... and when I get my hands on Theon? I will kill him." Robb then turned to Alayne, "I don't know why you look like my sister, I…"
"I don't know why you look like my brother," Alayne smirked as Robb tilted his head in surprise, "listen, how long would it take to get to this Moat Cailin place? Or this Neck you're talking about?"
'So, I look like his sister,' Alayne thought.
"Your Grace," another man yelled before Robb could answer. Alayne looked over Robbs shoulder at the dark haired man wearing a bloodied vest and trousers while aiming his sword at the balding man she knocked out earlier… the very one who held her against the wall, "what do we do with this traitor?"
"I say kill him," one of the surviving men said while the woman Alayne recalled was called Dacey rushed past them with her sword at the ready.
"Because of that fuck, my mother died," she cursed, "they broke Guest Right, he helped the Freys… the Boltons helped the Frey's! And none of them… especially this bastard, deserves to live." Robb looked over his shoulder as Dacey was about to bring her sword down.
"Dacey stop!" yelled Robb turning around, his voice echoing around the stone walled hall. Alayne saw the sword stop just before reaching the side of the unconscious man's head. Dacey looked up at Robb with eyes that were red and a face etched with rage. Alayne saw the arm holding the sword tremble while Robb spoke, "we will need him. If there is a battle outside these walls, he will be the best way for us to leave unmolested."
"You mean to take him as hostage," Alayne heard Lady Stark ask.
"Yes, I…."
Suddenly, everyone turned towards the rapping sound on the doors.
"Open the doors," a voice yelled out as sharp pounding of fists against the doors could be heard, "Lame Lothar, open up!"
"Ummm…" Alayne said pointing at the door, "is that the only way in and out?"
"Yes," Alayne turned her head towards Robb who answered, his eyes shifting towards her. And then, as if he knew what she was going to ask next, Robb continued, "there is a stairway behind the door to the left that goes up to the gallery."
Alayne nodded her head before she looked up over her shoulder at the shattered fencing at the edges of the gallery before looking back at Robb, "we need to get out of here." The moment she said that, there were more pounding on the wooden double doors. Alayne eyed it and noticed that there was a wooden plank that acted as a lock… the door wasn't opening from the outside. Alayne stepped back while the others planned a way out of their current predicament. She knew the longer they stayed in the room, the longer it would take for the enemy to finish what they were doing and then get back to the Hall.
'We could be outnumbered now,' Alayne thought, 'we lost time.' She looked back down at her plasma weapon and thought, 'I could overload the powercell. It would be enough for the resulting explosion to clear a hallway. And anyone else would be afraid of the sound… maybe we could play of off as the roar of a demon or something.' Alayne then looked up at the doors, 'then I won't have any other weapon other than my combat knife.'
"Lord Walder!" voices could be heard from the other side of the door.
And then there were more voice as the doors were being pounded upon, possibly by the weight of so many bodies that were pushing against it. Alayne took out her plasma weapon and looked down at the indicator, 'fully charged. So the explosion could be much….' She then looked up just as other voices could be heard in the distance on the other side of the double doors.
"For the North!"
"For Winterfell!"
"For the King!"
"The King in the North!"
The group inside heard more voices yell out, followed by clashes of steel against steel. Everyone listened in trepidation as the fighting behind the door seemed to go on and on. And then there was silence… and then heavy pounding on the door.
"Hey! Get her out of here!" Alayne glanced at Lady Stark as she breathed a sigh of relief – the older redhead recognised the voice. And then she yelped in surprise when she heard another voice, "no! I'm supposed to be here… mother! Mother!"
"Arya!" Alayne heard Lady Stark yell before she and several others rushed to the door. Alayne glanced at Robb who had his eyes turned towards her, and nodded his head. Alayne put her weapon back into the holster as she watched several men lift up the wooden plank before throwing it to one side. Alayne hand her hand tighten around the grip of her plasma weapon, ready to fire in case she needed to, as the doors opened and what looked like a short haired boy rushed in along with several other men covered in blood.
"Arya!" Lady Stark rushed forward to grab the boy.
'No, it's a girl,' Alayne thought to herself.
"While this is a great time for a reunion," a man in armour, with half of his face burned, spoke sarcastically as he looked over at the girl called Arya and Lady Stark, "there's still a shit load of fighting out there."
"Cat," another grey-haired man rushed to Lady Stark.
'Cat,' Alayne thought while she glanced at the woman called Dacey pulling up the unconscious man she knocked out earlier, 'strange name. Well… it's short for something.' She then heard the grey-haired man speak, "that bastard's right, there's a load of fighting outside."
"He almost ran away," the armoured man said as he spoke before looking around and then laid his eyes on Alayne, and he narrowed his eyes while staring at her with suspicion. He then shook his head before turning his head towards Cat who was holding her daughter tight. Alayne saw her looking back at Robb, and she slipped out of her hands and rushed to her brother. Alayne listened as the grey-haired older man black armour told Cat of how he was, in his words, taking piss when everything went to hell. There was no way to get back in without being taken or killed since he was unarmed, at least until he saw the Hound – Alayne glance up at the man who was glancing back at her- fighting while protecting a little boy. He was killing one Frey after another, and that's when he joined in.
"I picked up one of the dead bastard's swords and joined in," the older man said, "we have a hundred wounded men who are still strong enough to fight."
"Robb!" yelled the one Alayne thought was a boy, Arya, as she reached the two of them. Alayne listened to the old man say that they had twenty men sent to retrieve Edmure and his wife. Alayne then looked down at the little girl, she couldn't be more than eight or nine, with a very thin bladed sword in her left hand.
"Sansa?" she asked her eyes narrowed while looking her up and down, "what the hell are you wearing? How the hell…"
"Language, Arya," Robb said.
"Sorry," Arya frowned looking back at him, and then back at Alayne, "how the hell did you get out of Kings Landing? Did your precious Joffrey…" Alayne winced at the venom in the girl's voice when she mentioned 'precious Joffrey'. She wondered what happened between Arya and Sansa for there to be such anger in the girl's voice.
Alayne shook her head and sighed again, "I'm not Sansa."
"What are you…"
"Robb, Lady Stark," Alayne said as she stepped forward and walked around Arya who tracked her with her eyes, "we need to get out of here."
"Little Bird," the Hound said. His voice had Alayne turn her head up at him, "how did you leave…"
"Questions and answers later," Alayne said shaking her head before looking at Robb behind her, and then at Lady Stark, "we need to go now."
"Whoever this is…" the older man in black leather armour said staring at Alayne before turning towards Cat, "the fight outside is still ongoing. And we are very few. We have to use the distraction to leave the Twins and travel to Riverrun. There we will be safe. We can regroup and then strategize a counter-offensive."
"I cannot," the woman Alayne knew as Cat, said shaking her head, to the surprise of the old man, "Uncle, Robb is the Lord of Winterfell. And until he is married…" Alayne noticed Cat looking back at Robb with a sad look on her face while Robb turned his head slightly and stared at the body of the dead woman on the floor. She then listened while Cat continued, "until he is married once again, I am the Lady of Winterfell. My place is in the North."
Alayne could see the nods of head among the crowd around them, indicating they agreed with what Cat was saying.
"The Ironborn could have taken Moat Cailin," the older man in black armour countered.
"We will ask Lord Reed of the Cranogmen for help," Robb said while he grabbed the shaft of the arrow he was about to pull it out.
"Stop," Alayne said, grabbing his hand before it could touch the shafts. She heard sounds around her before there was a hand on her shoulder. She turned her face to see the older man from earlier. She glanced at his chest plate and noticed the emblem of a fish before she looked back up into his blue eyes, "listen to me very carefully. Unless you are a doctor or a healer of some kind, then do not have him pull out those arrows." Alayne glanced at Robb, "you pull them out, and they'll tear flesh and muscle apart, and you'll bleed more. Right now, your blood's clotted. You take them out now before seeing a healer, then you'll bleed to death."
"Uncle," Robb whispered as he looked over at Alayne with an amused expression, "when we reach the Greywater, I'll ask Lord Reed for one of his Maesters."
"Who is this that you place your trust in, nephew?" the man with the fish emblem asked nodding at Alayne.
"That's Sansa," Arya, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, said as Alayne rubbed her forehead and shook her head, "but how she knew all that about blood and arrows, I don't know. She's supposed to be far more interested in knights, and songs, and love, and princes, and…."
"Arya," Robb scolded his sister before looking back at Alayne, "you never did introduce yourself."
"Let's get out of here first and then…"
"If I am to die while we leave," Robb said, "then I would have the name of the one who helped save our lives."
"If you want my name?" Alayne countered staring at Robb, "then don't die." She then turned to the man with the fish emblem and said, "we use what's happening outside as a distraction, yes?"
The older man stared at Alayne with a look of suspicion.
"I take that as a yes," Alayne said before looking at Robb and his injuries. "Well, let's get out of here then."
TBC