Author's Notes: Hey everyone, glad you liked the last chapter and thanks for the reviews past the 100 mark hurray! Well onward. As always I own nothing.
After making her announcement Sansa was taken from the throne room and separated from Tyrion. She had expected to be returned to the black cells but instead she was taken to the regular cells. While still a cell there was a window which permitted light into it and the air was somewhat cleaner than it had been in her previous place of confinement. Once she would have been horrified at being in such a place, now it seemed almost a paradise.
She was there for several days when she heard the door opening behind her. Turning she was not surprised in the least to see Lord Varys enter her cell. As he shut the door he gave her a little bow that seemed rather out of place in their current surroundings.
"Lady Sansa, I am glad to see your conditions improved, somewhat at any rate." She smiled without humor.
"For what time I have left. What is happening?"
"Today is the public funeral for King Joffrey. As a consequence the trials for you and Lord Tyrion have been put on hold to allow for an appropriate period of grieving."
"I should think that that period would be over by the time you finished speaking of it." Sansa replied in a sardonic tone. She never would dared have said such a thing before but with Joffrey dead she found she enjoyed speaking of him thusly and it could hardly get her into any more trouble than she was already in. If Varys found that amusing he gave no sign of it.
"You surprised me once again my lady, I might have expected that from Lord Tyrion but I did not expect you to take such a course."
"I am a little surprised myself," she admitted; "But in the end I could not give up without a fight."
"Indeed, in this I think you are much like your late father." The remark pleased Sansa but then he spoke again. "If I may, who will be serving as your champion?"
"There is no one I fear. I spoke impulsively and did not consider it till after I had spoken. In the end all I fear I have done is delay the inevitable. Do you know whom is championing Lord Tyrion?"
"Alas, I fear your husband is in the same predicament as yourself when it comes to finding someone will to defend his innocence."
"Not Sir Bronn?"
"Alas for Lord Tyrion Sir Bronn was made an offer that Lord Tyrion could not match at the moment, a wife and the chance at a keep. No, I fear that Lord Tyrion will get no help from that quarter. Not surprising really, a wife and wealth sound far more appealing than facing the champion the Queen has chosen to face whomever defends her brother."
"Who?" Sansa asked.
"Sir Gregor Clegane, the Mountain That Rides." He replied simply. Sansa remembered him from the tournament given in her father's honor. She remembered the great sword and the rage of the man who wielded it and shuddered. Yes, she could see why a man would not want to fight him.
"Do you know who is to face my champion, if I find one?" She asked, trying to get the image of the Mountain out of her mind.
"Indeed I do. Sir Meryn Trant, a somewhat less formidable foe one must admit." Sansa nodded in agreement and wished she did have a champion, if only to kill the man who had beat her.
"Well, it hardly matters." She said aloud; "I am friendless in this city and I doubt any will rise to my defense." At that Varys gave a smile that Sansa could not understand.
"Perhaps you are right my lady, or not." He would say no more and took his leave.
Several more days past and Sansa found herself again wishing that they would get on with it. She thought that her wish had been granted when the door to her cell again opened. Sansa had expected it to be the guards or perhaps Lord Varys but it was not, it was a woman. She was quite possibly the most unattractive woman that Sansa had ever seen. She had short messy blond hair, large crooked teeth, a mass of freckles and broad course features. She was also the tallest woman that Sansa had ever seen, standing taller than most men and seemed bulkier than most as well. She even bowed like a man rather than curtsy, though for her it seemed more appropriate.
"My lady," she began; "We have not been formally introduced. I am Brienne of House Tarth. I served your mother, Lady Catelyn Stark. She was kind enough to take me into her service after the war began. Shortly before her…passing, she charged me to bring Ja…the King Slayer to King's Landing to exchange him for you and your sister. When we arrived, however, we found that your sister is missing and believed dead and you wed to Lord Tywin. When you were arrested I did not know what to do to protect you, as I pledged to your mother I would. But now a way has been suggested to me. If you will have me I would pledge myself to you as I did to your mother and serve as your champion."
This unexpected turn of events took Sansa completely by surprise and for a moment she did not know what to say in reply. Finally she found her voice again.
"Would they even let you fight? And if you did, you would be facing a member of the Kingsguard."
"Any may serve as champion my lady, have no fear on that account and as for Sir Trant, I defeated Sir Loras once, Sir Trant holds no fear for me." Sansa stared at her for a moment.
"You defeated the Knight of the Flowers?" Brienne merely nodded in reply. "Then I will accept your pledge."
Brienne went down on one knee and drew a long sword that she had at her waist and placed it on the ground before Sansa. "I pledge to serve you, I shall be your sword and shield and to give my life for yours if the need should come. This I vow, by the old gods and the new." Sansa stood before her and tried to remember the words Father always spoke when he took men into his service but could only remember parts of it. So she took up the sword and handed it back to Brienne and did the best she could.
"I accept your service and vow you shall always have a place at my side and I shall never ask of you anything that would besmirch your honor. This I vow, by the old gods and the new."
Author's Notes: Well there you have it the mystery of her champion solved. Next chapter will be Brienne vs. Trant. Till then please keep praying for the American woman and her child in Sudan and all Americans held abroad and all who need prayers. Bye and may Jesus bless you.