Author's Notes: Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews. As always Martin owns GOT. A special thanks to IV Legacy of Poseidon, whose note help inspire this chapter.
They departed from King's Landing for the Twins three days later. They traveled in the royal carriage with a large escort of Lannister soldiers. For Sansa the journey was a cruel parody of her journey here, which seemed to have occurred a lifetime ago, and a mockery of the journey home she had prayed for so long.
Her only relief was her strange ability. Nearly every night, as her husband lay sleeping, she would enter some creature of the night. Sometimes it would be an owl, other times a fox and many other nocturnal creatures. During these times she allowed herself to forget where she was going and what she doubtless would have to endure when she got there.
The journey was uneventful until they were about four days from the Twins. They had stopped for the noon meal when one of their escorts came up to Tyrion and informed him that a large party of armed men was riding toward them. For a moment Sansa had feared they were about to be attacked; but then the sentry informed them that they carried the banner of the Freys. Clearly they were an honor guard sent to escort them to the Twins.
Sansa found that she could not bear to face them yet and retired to the carriage pleading illness, she doubted she fooled anyone but her husband did not protest. Before long she heard the sounds of the Frey party meeting up with theirs. Though their voices were muffled she still found the sound of them hateful. With the curtains all drawn the carriage soon became stuffy, much to Shae's annoyance, but Sansa would not let her open them. Even with them closed she still felt like they were gazing at her.
They camped for the night near a small river. After supper Tyrion said he needed to get some air and stretch his legs after riding all day. Shortly after he had left Shae said she needed some air after being cooped up in a stuffy carriage all day. Sansa did not mind their absence; it was easier for her if no one was around, after the strain of day she needed to get away from the camp.
Going back into the carriage she cast her mind into a nearby fox. As soon as she was in control she set off into the night. After running around for a while she began to feel thirsty, so she headed towards the river to get a drink. As she drew near she realized to her dismay that she was near the camp of the Frey troops.
She was suddenly startled by a burst of raucous laughter. To her left, right at the edge of the water three men sat drinking and laughing. She did not recognize them so she knew that they were Frey. She was just starting to back away when she realized that they were talking about her family.
"Yeah," laughed one, a small skinny man with numerous warts; "And then Bolton comes up to the Stark boy and says, 'The Lannisters send their regards and gutted him like a fish!" The others howled with laughter and one of the others, a short fat man, joined in.
"Funny, almost as funny as that bellowing his mother did, sounded like a horse birthing a colt! But you shut her up good, didn't you?"
This was addressed to the third member of the group, a man of average height and build with a fuzzy beard, who nodded modestly. "Yeah," he slurred, clearly drunk; "Slit her ear to ear I did. Just like bleeding a pig, the old sow." This brought another burst of laughter from the others. As the laughter died down he stood turned toward the river and began to relieve himself.
The fat one silently got up and gave him a shove, almost sending him into the water. The man turned back with a curse and punched the other man full in the face. The other man fell down and cursed in turn. "What was that for? It was just a bit of fun!"
"Never mind him." Said the small man as he helped the fat man up. "For a man named Rivers he's a real coward around water, never learned to swim or nothing."
Just then someone called to them and Skinny and Fatty headed back to the camp, Rivers sat back down and continued drinking. Sansa had heard every word they had said; the words, and the glee in their voices, had cut her like a knife. She wanted to launch herself at him and tear at him with the fox's teeth. But the animal was too small, even drunk the man could fight it off, and there were no larger animals about.
Then a thought occurred to her. It had never occurred to her before and even now she shrank from it, unsure if she could do it. Then she remembered that this man had murdered her mother and had just been bragging about it. A wave of hate, the likes of which she had only felt once before, filled her pushing her doubts and fears away. Gathering herself she left the fox. She did not return to her own body, however, instead; she cast herself into to man.
It was nothing like entering the mind of an animal. Their fear at her entrance was low and quiet, like gentle breeze, easily ignored. The man's fear howled like a fierce gale, the sheer shock of it nearly repelled her. But it did not. It helped that the man was both drunk and tired from the day's travel, which weakened his resistance. Sansa marshaled all the hate and pain caused by his and his companions' words and pressed on. The man tried to cry out in fear but she seized control of his mouth and forced it shut.
Even so, she knew she could not hold him long; the strain was just too much; already she felt herself being forced out as weariness and drunkenness were pushed aside by the man's fear. Already she was losing control of his limbs. But that was alright. She did not have to hold him for long.
She made him turn and walk towards the water; gods above it was hard, his terror increasing with each step. Having only partial control, the man was shaking and jerking with half-controlled muscles as he entered the water. Already losing control Sansa forced the body under her control to start swimming. The efforts were made clumsy due to her only having partial control and his clothing becoming heavy from the water, but still she pushed on. His fear crashing into her so hard it had become almost unbearably painful.
She soon had him out deep enough, his feet no long able to reach the bottom. With control almost gone she sent him a message. I don't know if you can hear me; but if you can I just want you to know that I am the daughter of the Catelyn Stark, the woman you murdered. Now, and here she gave a mental smile that might have chilled Tywin himself, die. Just as he forced her out she made him submerge himself.
She reentered her own body and gave a deep, shuddering gasp. Her head ached abominably and her whole body felt weak, stiff and covered in sweat. She slowly rose, feeling slightly nauseous.
Hearing a commotion she exited the carriage. Outside people were moving about in a slightly confused manner, as no one was quite sure what was going on. "My lady," Shae said coming up to her; "You look unwell, are you ill?"
Sansa ignored her, focusing instead on Tyrion, who was approaching with his man Sir Bronn. "What is happening?" She asked.
"Nothing you need concern yourself with, my dear. There was a little disturbance in the Frey camp."
"Aye," said Sir Bronn; "Some stupid sod went and fell in the river. Bugger was dead by the time they dragged him out."
"Oh." Sansa said, careful to keep her tone blank.
"Well," Tyrion said; "I suggest we all turn in. There is nothing we can do for the poor fellow and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
As the reentered the carriage Sansa caught Shae's hand and squeezed it. "Thank you for your concern; but I am quite alright. In fact," here she gave a small, mischievous grin; "You could say I just had a wonderful dream."
Author's Notes: Well another chapter done. I hope it was to everyone's liking. I know how much trouble warging a human was for Brann and I don't want Sansa doing it all the time so I made it very difficult for her to do it, in fact I am not sure if she'll do it again. IV Legacy of Poseidon suggested that the next kill be small fry so as to not risk getting caught. Well, as can be seen here, the best murder is one where murder isn't suspected at all. . Please keep praying for Shawn, persecuted Christians, Saeed Abedini and everyone else who needs it, including Amir Hekmati, an American in poor health being held in Iran. Bye for now and may Jesus bless you all.