Alayne.

The horse was galloping as fast as it could while carrying both Alayne and Ser Brynden, the brother of Catelyn Stark, on its back. Alayne looked back over her shoulder as the horse raced towards the direction its rider indicated, the distance to the forest where she hid her aircraft seeming to be shorter since she wasn't walking on foot. Her surroundings were a blur as she turned her head looked back towards the front and over Bryden's shoulder, the wind causing her hair to flutter behind her as she yelled out, "we're clear. No one's following us!"

"Good!" Brynden yelled holding the reigns to the horse as it began weaving in and out of the trees upon entering the forest. They had finally reached the forest after about twenty minutes riding under total darkness, the only light coming from the various fires that were still burning thanks to the 'celebrations' at the Twins in the distance. Brynden looked over his shoulder at Alayne before looking back in front, "what do you have hidden here?"

"You'll have to see to believe it!" Alayne yelled when suddenly she heard the sounds of yelling behind her. They weren't close, but the voices and the sounds of hooves thundering against the ground were barely audible. Alayne glared back over her shoulder and swore she could see shapes moving in the distance, the tree trunks preventing her from properly looking out into the dark clearing behind her. In addition, the figures were obscured by the darkness that surrounded them as clouds covered the moon. Alayne turned back around and yelled out, "spoke too soon. We could have company."

Brynden nodded his head before saying, "do you recognize any landmarks?"

"Just keep on going this way!" she yelled out while one hand let go off Bryden's shoulder and pointed straight ahead, "I walked straight towards the castle from here. We can't miss it… head for a large clearing… it's the only clearing in the forest!"

Brynden nodded his head before exclaiming, "I know where it is!"

Alayne widened her eyes before ducking and then yelled out, "branch!" The leaves of several low hanging branches only just brushed the top of her head, while Brynden leaned to the left, as the horse continued to gallop at high speed through the forest. All Alayne could do was frown as Brynden laughed, before she yelled out, "watch where you're going!"

It would be a few seconds later that Alayne sat normally behind the knight, her arms tightly around his waist. She was so scared of falling off the horse that she held on like a vice. as she stared through the forest of trees in front of them as the horse weaved in and out past the thick trunks.

The only thoughts going through her mind were that she hoped to arrive at the location of her Arrow within no broken bones from falling off the horse, 'it could stilll happen she thought to herself while holding onto Brynden tightly.

Before long, several minutes later, Alayne looked back over her shoulder again and frowned at the barely visible shapes she though weaving between the trees, 'ten… twenty? Yeah, looks like at least twenty on horseback coming after the two of us. And who knows how may are heading for the others.' Alayne's heart was racing as she recalled everything that happened after the large group of Northerners and Riverlanders surrounding the Starks began heading for the stables so that they could acquire the horses to escape the hell they found themselves in.

The Twins, Thirty minutes ago; Alayne.

It was hell just getting to the stables through all the armoured people who wanted her, the Starks, and the others, dead. There were screams, yells for aid by the injured who Alayne and the group couldn't reach, as well as cries of agony that were suddenly cut off by virtue of an enemy's blade though the chest or the neck. Between the 'thoom thoom' of Alayne firing her plasma weapon, the magnetically shelled bursts of plasma going cleanly through the rough leather or silver coloured armour of the Bolton and Frey soldiers, and swords crossing with each other before being shoved into someone's gut, the Tau'ri officer made sure to keep a look-out on the Starks.

Her job, as well as the job of the group surrounding Catelyn, Robb, and Arya, was to protect them, the tight group moved towards the stables with groups of dead around them; many shot by Alayne as she rapidly fired off her weapon. Soon, once they reached the stables, the group were counting on the Freys and the Bolton soldiers to be distracted by the remaining Northern forces in the Twins who were still fighting.

And in the meantime, the Starks as well as the other northerners were getting on the horses so that they could make their escape.

"Let's go!" the man Alayne recognized as GreatJon yelled out after he and the others got onto the horses. Alayne rushed over to Arya who was seated in front of the woman named Dacey. Alayne told Arya to hold on tight to the radio, and that she would find them.

"It's too complicated to explain how I will find you, but just know that I will," Alayne said as she looked up at Arya who then nodded her head and held on tightly to the body of the radio. Alayne then turned to Catelyn and Robb before telling them to ride as fast as possible. Over the sudden roar of voices, Alayne turned to see even more people from the Houses of Frey and Bolton rushing into the stables with weapons held high. They were met with several of the Northerners and Riverlanders brandishing swords, axes, hammers, and even shovels from the stables; and just like that, the fighting began once again. While some of the Northerners and Riverlanders were keeping the oncoming enemy forces at bay, Catelyn and the others prepared to ride off through the oncoming crowd.

Alayne was pulled onto one of the last horses by Brynden, before they started to force their way towards the exit. Curses spewed by the Frey and Bolton men could be heard as they ran, on foot, after the group galloping away. Through the noise and stench of blood, Alayne heard Robb and Bryden yelling out at any survivors to retreat.

"Leave! Leave the dead and retreat!"

And as many Northerners and Riverlanders retreated with their Liege Lords, away from the Twins were the Freys broke that most revered of traditions in Westeros; the Guest Rights. The sae thought ran through the minds of those galloping away – 'The North Remembers. Winter will come for Houses Frey and Bolton.'

It wasn't too long after the escape that Alayne saw Catelyn meet with another man with shaggy hair and a crying woman next to him on another horse. Alayne was too far away to hear what was being said, but she didn't miss the look of sadness directed at her from Catelyn and Robb after Bynden's horse pulled up next to the Starks; Catelyn was seated in front of the one known as the GreatJon, an unsteady Robb was seated in front of another male, and the still unconscious Roose Bolton was tied to Dacey Mormont. Last of all, Arya was seated in front of the one known as the Hound – the little girl holding tightly onto the subspace transceiver that Alayne had given her earlier.

No words were said between them; all Alayne could do was silently nod her head before she and Brynden galloped away towards the forest. Alayne remembered looking back, only to see the group of Starks and the Northerners riding off in one direction while the Riverlanders rode off in another direction.

Now.

That was at least thirty minutes ago, and now Alayne was heading towards the clearing where her Sparrow was located. However, where she once thought they were free from pursuers, Alayne discovered they were indeed not alone… they were being pursued by what seemed to be, at the very least, twenty people on horseback. Alayne still didn't know why they were being pursued – she didn't know the reasoning behind this war, but felt that with the possibility of her being rescued by the Tau'ri very soon, the reasoning didn't matter. By right, she wasn't supposed to interfere, but there were people who looked just like her dead mother and brother. And it was because of that very reason that she couldn't stand by watching them die.

She had to do something, no matter how small.

"By the Gods, what the f…" Brynden stopped talking, his eyes wide open in surprise at the sight of the strange object gleaming under the light of the moon reflecting of its metallic skin. It was seconds ago that the horse carrying the two of them broke into the clearing and made its way towards the strange object several meters away. Alayne looked over his shoulder at the Sparrow and smiled, she was now mentally calculating the distance between the people chasing the two of them and the amount of time she had to get off the horse, input her code so that the canopy would open and she would get into the cockpit. Once she got into the plane, she could then arm the weapons and target the incoming enemy forces.

While she was calculating, Alayne chuckled before pointing at the Sparrow, "that's what I came to get. I told you I'm not from around here." The horse soon came to a stop upon reaching one side of the strange object.

Honestly, Brynden didn't know what to make of the strange looking object. He could tell the skin was metallic and that it had a strange head, as well as what looked to be wings. He didn't see any scales, 'so not a dragon', and he didn't see any feathers, 'so not a bird'.

"What is it?" Brynden whispered as he reached out with his dark leather gloved hand as Alayne jumped off the back of the horse, her feet touching the ground a second later. Once she was back on the ground, Alayne rushed to the panel near the nose of the plane while an audible 'tang' told Alayne that Bryden placed his metallic gloves on the skin of the Sparrow. Alayne then pushed the panel inwards before watching it slide away. Brynden watched in stunned silence as the number pad within the recess lit up before Alayne pressed down on the buttons.

"What is that?" Brynden asked as Alayne finished inputting a code before stepping back as the panel slid back, closing the recess, and then another panel opened up to extend a ladder.

"I just input a Security key," Alayne said as she placed her foot on the first rung of the ladder just as the canopy began opening, the lights along the inside of the cockpit turning on as Bryden's horse neighed while taking several steps away as the Knight stared in silent amazement, which was slightly mixed with a little fear, at what he was seeing. However, he didn't have time to gawk as a woman who looked so much like his niece reached into the opened 'head' of the object, placed a helm over her head before stepping into the metallic object.

Instead, Brynden turned towards the sounds of yelling men and the thuds of hooves hitting the hard ground coming his way. He took out his sword as his horse backed away while the Sparrow's canopy closed. He glanced at Alayne through the transparent canopy, at the now dimly lit cockpit as she seemed to reached for something to her left and then in front of her. Brynden didn't know what she was doing, but he couldn't wonder about it as he turned his gaze back to the enemy.

Brynden's blade flashed under the moon light as he held it up and pointed the pointed end towards the enemy while his other hand held tight onto the reigns. Brynden was about ready to charge the riders coming towards him and the strange object when, all of a sudden, everyone stopped at the sound of a roar.

The horses panicked as they reared back, even Brynden was doing everything he could to hold on to the reigns as his horse moved sideways away from the Sparrow in panic. In the meantime, the Knight turned his head towards the sound of the roar. His mouth hung open like the fish on his chest piece as he watched the object retract the metallic legs attached to wheels back into it's metallic body. The most amazing thing though wasn't that the legs were moving up into the object with a 'whirrr' sound.

No. What was amazing was the fact the object was floating in the air without any form of outside help. Brynden even looked over at the metallic wings as his horse took several steps back, and they were not flapping. The more he moved away from the Sparrow though, the more he noticed the blue hued glow reflecting down onto the green glass from the rear of the object.

'What the fuck?' he thought to himself as the object rose into the air, 'how is it being lifted without flapping any wings? How… what is this?" However, the shock of the Sparrow suddenly stopping mid-air faded just when the Frey and Bolton forces were running towards them.

Some were yelling out "For the Twins" while others were yelling out "for the North", as well as "our knives are sharp!" Brynden snarled at the men; all of whom were traitors in his eyes. Particularly the Northmen who were represented by the Boltons.

'All traitors,' Brynden thought as he steeled himself for the coming battle. He glanced at the Sparrow next to him, and wondered what Alayne meant by the object floating in the air being a weapon of war. It didn't look threatening… just awe inspiring in that it was floating in the air.

He hear the 'whizz' of arrows that went past him before pulling back on the reigns, causing the horse to back away slightly. He was about to pull away from the Sparrow when suddenly there were bright flashes of light – orange bursts that were being expelled from points underneath the floating object. Brynden heard the sickening yells of men screaming in pain as the bursts of light made contact with several of the riders. He smelt burnt flesh mixed with melted metal as he watched the ground beneath the riders explode upwards – the dirt and grass kicked up into the air as the orange bursts continuously sliced through more and more riders. Even among the ones who were retreating, whose swords, bows and arrows were thrown to the ground in fear, were not spared.

He watched many of the men fall off their horses; the animals kept on running without their masters.

And then, once all twenty were either dead or begging to die on the grass covered ground, did the firing stop. Brynden, his eyes wide open in shock of what he had just seen turned towards the glass covered canopy and saw the woman who had looked so much like his niece, staring out at the dead. Her head was covered by the helm, and her face blocked by a shiny black faceplate where he could glimpse only the reflection of lights from within the 'head' of the object.

'Who are you? Really?' Brynden watched the woman turn her head and nod at him before a disembodied voice… one that sounded just like Alayne, spoke out of thin air.

"The area's clear, Brynden. I'll watch over the others as much as I can, for as long as I can," Alayne spoke before she waved at Bryden, who gave a nervous wave back. He watched as the object lifted higher and higher off the ground before the rear of the object glowed a brighter blue hue. And then, it shot forward with a slight roar. Brynden watched as it took off into the air before he looked back down at the scorched land meters in front of him.

He rode towards the smoking area as he placed his sword back its scabbard. Before long, he looked down at the burnt bodies of men and horses. Shaking his head, the man tried to process what he was seeing before he took off. He didn't want to be in the area for too long in case there were more reinforcements… he had to get back to Riverrun.

'Who are you, really?' that was the repeated thought going through his mind as he rode away from the charred remains of the men who betrayed his family, 'and will you not help us win this war?'

Arya

"They are closing in behind us," a voice yelled out. Arya didn't know how long it had been since they escaped The Twins. All she knew was that she had to hold on tight to the object in her hand and make sure that the thing stuffed into her ear remained in her ear. Her heart, despite her bravado in wanting to kill as many people as possible, was racing as fast as her horse was galloping.

She and the Hound were riding hard and fast alongside the Greatjon and Catelyn, along with three other riders who were guarding them. Given Robb's condition, he was riding slightly slower behind them; the King in the North was surrounded by a circle of riders so that any enemy on their tail would have a difficult time getting to him.

And it wasn't until only a few minutes ago that they had heard, and then seen, at least fifty riders coming after them.

"Mother, Arya!" Robb yelled from the back, "leave us! Get out of here!"

"No! I will not leave you," Catelyn looked back over her shoulder as her horse continued galloping away. She then turned to the Hound, "take my daughter to the Neck, and I will make sure you are handsomely rewarded."

The Hound huffed just before he was about to kick the sides of his horse to get it to gallop faster.

"Hound! Greatjon! This is an order from your King… get them out of here and into the Neck. Seek out Lord Howland Reed for temporary shelter! Go.."

"Bzzzzz," Arya yelped at the sound from the object in her ear before a disembodied female voice said, "Arya, can you hear me?"

"Mother! Robb! That Alayne woman… the one who looks like Sansa is speaking to me!" Arya yelled out in amazement. A second later, even before turning towards her mother, Arya could feel all eyes on her as the horses continued to gallop. She looked sideways towards Catelyn, and then back at the object in her small hands. She pressed the button – the one that Alayne told her to press so that she could send a message – before softly, and with a tinge of scepticism, saying, "yes, I… can hear you."

Now Arya felt as if she was an insane girl talking into thin air. All eyes were on her as the group continued on while the enemy was getting closer and closer.

"I have you," Alayne's voice whispered in Arya's ear.

"Where are you?" Arya yelled out as everyone, including the Hound, looked at each other in disbelief.

"Look up," came the voice. Arya looked up and saw the stars over the pathway, with wide fields of grass on either side, they were taking to get them to the Neck and into safety. Staring up at the sky, Arya was about to ask what Alayne meant by 'look up' when she suddenly saw what looked like a blinking star flying towards them. Arya squinted her eyes at the blinking white and red lights that was coming towards them before she gasped as the object got closer and the moonlight reflected off its surface.

"There… up there!" Arya yelled up, a finger stretched out and up towards the sky.

No one knew what to make of it. It wasn't a dragon, or a bird. It was just an object that flew over them with a slight roar.

"Go on, Arya! Tell everyone to keep on going!" Alayne exclaimed in Arya's ear.

"We have to go!" Arya yelled as she stared at the object going up into the air. They saw the blue hued lights at the rear of the object glow brightly before making a turn and then flying away.

"Arya, all of you have to go! This close and your horses will be scared. Go! Move!"

"We have to go… Alayne said the horses will be scared of what will happen next."

With the entire group having stopped, everyone looked at Arya before looking back at the object that had gone far out before making coming back towards them.

"Move it, soldier!" Alayne yelled out when her monitors showed the Starks and their group were too close to the combined forces of the Freys and the Boltons who were staring up at the sky in both awe and fear, "move!"

"We have to go!" Arya yelled out. That yell brought everyone out of the shock they were experiencing, and the whole group started to take off towards the Neck just as the Sparrow buzzed over the enemy. Robb looked over his shoulder as the horses being ridden by the Freys and Bolton's were panicking. His eyes then shifted up towards the object, which was now getting further away the more he and the Northmen were riding away from the distracted enemy forces.

"Arya, ask your brother if anything else needs to be done to keep the Freys and Boltons away from you and your people."

Arya relayed that question, yelling it over her shoulder to Robb who jokingly said it would help if the bridge at the Twins could be destroyed. It would harm any fight back the North could muster, but it would make it much harder for the Lannisters to strike back against the North by coming to the aid of the Boltons. Everyone chuckled as Arya, having relayed what Rob said back to Alayne, continued to say that her brother was only joking.

"What is that thing? How does it fly? What does it do?" the curious Arya continued to ask.

"I'll tell you one day," Alayne said just before Arya noticed the reflection of bright yellow lights on the grass around them, and then the ground trembled. Everyone stopped riding once again and turned, only to see more orange lights being fired at the enemy from the object as it hovered in the air. Arya, the Hound, Catelyn, and Robb… as well as the others… watched in silent horror as the enemy forces were cut down.

Where there was once the screams of the men from the Freys and Boltons, now there was silence as the object in the air stopped firing. Just charred and smoking remains, and the stench of burnt meat hung in the air, as the object flew off into the distance towards the direction of the Twins.

"What the…" The Hound whispered just before everyone saw a huge explosion, followed by the sound of a loud boom, in the distance where the bridge that made up the Twins was located. Now, all there was in place of the bridge was a tower of fire that soon dissipated to leave a column of dark smoke rising into the sky above. And the bridge itself was destroyed - the remaining Freys and Boltons would see the scale of the destruction the next morning.

For now though, Arya stared in awe as the object then took off into the sky and rose higher and higher until it couldn't be seen by the naked eye.

"You and your people should be in the clear, Arya," Alayne's voice said over the earpiece. No one will be coming after you guys, at least for now. I'll be in low orbit of your world and…"

"I don't understand…" Arya said as she looked up at the stars in the night sky, her eyes trying to pick out Alayne in her flying object.

"I will keep watch on you and your people until my own people come to rescue me," Alayne said over the earpiece, "if I see anything, I will let you know. But for now, ride on home."

"I… I understand," Arya whispered before she relayed Alayne's message to the others. After they nodded their heads, disbelief and wonderment etched on their faces, and began galloping off towards the Neck once again, Arya pressed down on the button and said, "will you say farewell before you are rescued?"

"I will," was the reply as the group of Northerners rushed off for the three day journey to the Neck. All the while, many of them, Arya in particular, looked up at the night sky for the object and the woman who saved their lives.

TBC.