Author's Notes: Hey everyone, glad you liked the last chapter, I hope that you like this one as well, as always I own nothing. SPOILERS FROM THE BOOKS.
The army moved westward from Castle Black towards the foothills of along the shore of the Bay of Ice, to the lands of the Flints and Norreys, the mountains whose land were nearest to Castle Black. Sansa has messages to the clansmen, asking the leaders of the clans to meet her and the King there and to bring their warriors with them. As they moved they looked for ravens from Castle Black from the other Northern lords but they saw none.
When they reached Flint lands they found that the clan leaders where already there and had brought their warriors by the look of them, thousands of men were camped among the hills by the look of it. As the approached a horn was blown to signal their approach and as they came to the camp a party of horsemen rode out to meet them, at their head were two men who were clearly the leaders. One was an old man, stout and with large red knuckled hands. The other was possibly the fattest man Sansa had ever seen, though this in no way made him look weak. They wore crude armor and the older one was armed with a large sword while the fat one had an equally large axe.
The two groups pulled their horses to a halt a short distance from one another and looked at one another. Then Sansa urged her horse forward, as did the two leaders also moved forward. They stared intently at Sansa for a moment then they nodded, seemingly satisfied.
"It's her alright," the fat one said satisfied after a moment; "She's the Ned's daughter alright."
"Aye," the other man said; "A blind man could see she has wolf blood in her." The both bowed in their saddles to her.
"Welcome the Stark," they said, addressing her after the fashion of the Mountain Clans. "Come and share our hospitality." Nodding in acceptance Sansa, the King and Sir Davos followed them to a large tent where they dismounted and went inside.
There a fire burned and chunks of meat were roasting. A young woman presented them with a plate with bread and salt on it and the three of them ate from it. The two men who had met them took seats and offered more to Sansa and the others.
"You may not remember me," the fat one said; "I am Hugo Wull, though some call me Big Bucket." This last was said as he slapped his big belly and laughed. Sansa smiled politely while Sir Davos chuckled, the King remained silent.
"I," the other man said; "Am Torghen Flint, though some call me the Old Flint."
"We've spoken to the other clan chieftains and they've agreed to let us speak for them." Sansa nodded, took a deep breath and began.
"I thank you for the hospitality which you have shown us and the King thanks you as well." She turned to look at the King. "Here is Stannis, the first of his name. He is king by right of birth and blood, he is strong and brave. He has heard of the strength, courage and honor of your clans. He has need of such men to reclaim his rightful throne. To show his respect for you and your people he has come, in person, to ask you for your aid." As she sat the King rose to speak.
"Lords of the Mountains. I am not one for long speeches, so I will speak bluntly. The Throne is mine by right. People say that I am a just man and when I sit upon the Throne I will bring justice. Justice for your murder lieges, Ned Stark who was your lord and his son, Robb Stark, who was your king. But to do this I need your aid. Will you give your aid? Will you avenge your beloved lords?" It had been hard to convince the King to do this, he had believed that the Mountain Clans should just give him their allegiance as he was the King, but Jon had prevailed and the King had consented to ask. The men looked at Stannis for a moment and then nodded.
"You honor us, Your Grace, by coming to ask us in person." They rose and both went down on one knee. "We will honor the request of Lady Stark. We pledge our lives and clans to you King Stannis, as do all the clans of the Mountains." The King motioned for them to rise.
"I, Stannis of House Baratheon and the rightful King of Westeros, accept your pledges of loyalty."
"Right," Wull said; "Now that the formalities are over, let us feast. And tomorrow let's go find some Ironborn scum and make the squid-lovers wish they had never left those rocks the love so much." This was met by roars of approval from the other Mountain Clansmen, the King and the others remained silent.
That night the Clans men feasted Sansa and the King. The food consisted mainly of a stew made of mutton, carrots and onions, which they washed down with strong wine and ale. Sansa found it rather good but the Queen turned her nose up at it, though she ate a small portion of it. Sir Davos, on the other hand, ate voraciously.
"I've been hungry too many times in my life to not eat when a feast is offered my lady." He said in reply to Sansa's inquiring look.
After the feast there was singing and dancing, though it was like no dancing which Sansa had ever seen. Many of the songs were about the various feuds which the clans had been embroiled in. Though her father had at times cursed these feuds and the trouble he had to go through to settle them the songs made them seem almost funny. Some of the songs were more than a little crude and the Queen soon retired with Shireen, though it was clear the girl would have been more than happy to stay. Sometime during the night the King, Sir Davos, her uncle and the clan leaders retired to discuss strategy, Sansa was not invited and eventually retired.
The next day the army moved out, with the foothills on one side and the coast on the other, as they moved towards Deepwood Motte. The clans' men sent out scouts but there were no signs of Ironborn. At night, once she was alone in her tent Sansa would enter the mind of some nocturnal animal and would search as well, but she too so no sign of the enemy. Either they had abandoned the area all together or they were content to wait within Deepwood Motte's walls.
She could not look every night, however. Shireen often came to Sansa's tent and often as not stayed there till morning. It seemed that Sansa had been correct, the Queen did not care much for her daughter and the girl much preferred Sansa's company to her mother's or to being alone. She often brought a book and they would read the stories within and talk about it for hours on end. It seemed that despite how her life had been so far, or perhaps because of it, Shireen was almost as much a lover of stories as Sansa had been, at the same time Shireen loved the kind of stories which Arya would like, filled with warriors and dragons.
If there was one thing of the march which Sansa did not like it was the Lady Melisandre. The woman was always near the King, far closer than the Queen and seemed to do, or try to do, most of the King's thinking. She always seemed to have an opinion on everything and even before they had met the Mountain Clans Sansa was hardily sick of hearing what was and what was not the Lord of Light's will. From the look on his face Sir Davos cared no more for her then Sansa did, but he kept his opinions to himself as it was clear that the King and the Queen were quite enthralled by her, or at least seemed to be. At times the King looked rather annoyed with her.
What irritated and unnerved Sansa the most was the way the woman would look at her. It was not all the time, but occasionally she would feel eyes upon her and, turning to seek the source, she would find Lady Melisandre staring at her in a manner which reminded Sansa of a raptor watching a mouse. A feeling which Sansa did not like at all. At last, two days after they began to march, she confronted the woman and demanded to know what the other woman wanted.
"I apologize if I have offended you, My Lady, but you are of interest to me. In you is the blood of kings and the flames have told me that you have a part to play in the events to come, as does your brother." Having heard from Shireen what happened to people Lady Melisandre had decided had a role to play, this did not do much to put Sansa at ease. Her thoughts were soon distracted as the neared Deepwood Motte.
The army had been advancing on Deepwood Motte, moving through the wolfswood to avoid detection. Scouts sent out by the King and Sansa's own efforts showed that the Ironborn were within Deepwood but seemed to not be aware of the approaching army and indeed had not seemed to have sent out scouts into the surrounding forest. Though she was not invited to the war council her uncle told her what was decided.
They did not have time for a siege, so it was decided that it would have to be taken by storm. A small force of five men would try to sneak over the walls and open the gates. Meanwhile the rest of the army would sneak to within a short distance from the walls and wait, either to rushed the open gates or attack it with a battering ram that they were making from a felled tree if the five men should fail. Sansa had wanted to follow the battle within the body of an animal, but Shireen had come to her tent. She was afraid for Sir Davos and her father, both of whom would be fighting in the battle. As usual her mother was praying before her fires and had no time for her daughter.
The night seemed to take forever. The two tried to speak several times but they always soon lapsed into silence. In the distance they heard a horn blowing but they were too far away to hear the sounds of battle itself. Finally, after several hours of tense waiting, a rider returned to camp with words. Sansa was afraid at first, but the rider brought the best of news. Deepwood Motte had been taken. Though the five men sent over the wall had perished none others had been lost, it seemed that the Ironborn had fled while Stannis and his men were breaking down the gate. While all the Ironborn had fled, they had left their captives behind. Chief among them was Lady Sybelle Glover, wife of Robett Glover. In return for saving her Lady Sybelle had pledged House Glover to King Stannis and had agreed to send guides and all the men whom she could spare.
Not wasting any time the army gave chase. All through the night the army pursued the fleeing Ironborn, first south and then north again. It was clear that they were heading towards the coast, it was assumed that they had ships beached and that they were heading back to them in order to make good their escaped. It was clear that the Ironborn were not familiar with the woods and they were being slowed by that fact. Guided by men from Lady Glover the army moved swiftly through the woods and came on the Ironborn before dawn. Once found the King had the Mountain Clans surround the Ironborn, once this was done they charged in, with the King and his mounted forced followed behind.
Sansa found herself riding beside the King and his party and as soon as they heard the sounds of battle they moved in. As they drew closer they saw the battle being fought. Some of the Northmen had branches tied to themselves which they had used to blend in with the trees. Once the fighting had begun these helped to distinguish them from the Ironborn. The Ironbon, for the most part, had drawn themselves up in circle and seemed to be trying to form a shield wall. Elsewhere there were individuals and small bands fighting.
Just as Sansa laid eyes on a Northman and an Ironborn fighting the Ironborn cut the Northman down. Without thinking Sansa knocked an arrow and fired. She was far from a master archer and was mounted on a horse, who insisted on moving around and the shot went wide. Her second shot took him in the leg, causing him to stumble. Before the man could recover another Northman cut him down. Sansa did not have time to take another shot as the fighting was now all in a tight circle. The battle was soon over, the Ironborn fought fiercely but were heavily outnumbered and were soon overwhelmed. Most were killed but a few were taken captive. Once the fighting was over the King ordered camp set up and the leader of the Ironborn, if still living, was to be brought to him. While they waited a scout brought word of more fighting on the coast, they had no soldiers there so the King and the others went to investigate leaving only Sansa behind. Sansa dismounted and sat down on a fallen log to wait.
Before the King and the others could return some of the Northmen came up to her, with them was a woman. She was slightly shorter than Sansa but more muscular, a fact emphasized by the fact that she was wearing armor. She had blond hair which fell slightly past her shoulders. Other than an ugly bruise on her forehead she seemed to be in good health, as seen by the fact that two Northmen held her by the arms. At Sansa's questioning look one of the men spoke.
"This she-squid claims that she is the leader of this band of thieving wrenches." Sansa nodded and turned back to the woman.
"What is your name Ironborn?" She tried to make her voice firm and in command, like her father's had been, but she was not sure if she succeeded. The woman was clearly not impressed.
"I would like to know who I am talking to. All I see is a little girl with a big mouth playing at war." Sansa drew herself up to her full height, pleased to see that she was indeed slightly taller than the woman.
"Who I am, is Sansa Stark. Lady of Winterfell, Wardeness of the North and as you are my prisoner and not the other way around you may wish to rethink which of us is playing." The Northmen roared with laughter and to her surprise even the other woman smiled.
"It is good to see these people haven't had their spirits completely beaten out of them. I am Yara, of House Greyjoy. Daughter of Balon Greyjoy, King of the Iron Islands and of the North."
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry it has been so long since I last updated, school keeps one rather busy you know. Well, what did you think? I decided to keep Theon's sister from the show, I figure no sense in confusing the show watchers any more than need be, please forgive me if you can book readers, for their heights I went off of their actress' heights and I know the Mountain Clans wouldn't have had spokesmen but I did not much on some of the others. I will be following the books somewhat but I have a few ideas of my own which I may use in the future. Till then please pray for the refugees from the fighting, the hungry and homeless and all who need it, including my pastor who's sister-in-law recently passed away. Bye and may Jesus bless you.