Author's Notes: Hey everyone, hope you like the last one, as always I own nothing.
In the aftermath of the battle there were cheers of victory, both by the King's forces and by the White Harbor men. Once this died down there was the wounded and the dead to be cared for and prepared for burial respectively. There was also the matter of linking up with the men from White Harbor, with the ice now broken up the men had to go all the way around before they could meet up. As they were mounted the men from White Harbor came to the King, including their leader. It turned out that Lord Manderly himself had not accompanied his knights and had remained in Winterfell and had given command to Sir Hector Uthar, a landed knight sworn to House Manderly.
"How strong a force do you have?" The King asked, coming right to the point.
"I brought three hundred men with me from Winterfell, Your Grace." Sir Uthar replied. "Of that, I would say about two hundred and sixty are still fit to fight after dealing with the Frey."
"It is unfortunate that some of them were able to get away." Sir Horped interjected. "When they reach Winterfell Bolton will know that your lord has betrayed him. I fear Lord Manderly will not survive Roose's wrath." Sir Uthar did not look happy but merely nodded in agreement.
"My lord knew that this event might occur and made preparations for it. Which is why he brought no hostages with him when he came to Winterfell and his remaining son remained at White Harbor. He will take up the mantle of lordship and swear allegiance to your Grace." This last was said with a slight bow to the King. The King for his part nodded in acknowledgement of this statement.
"I will avenge your lord if has fallen and his son shall know my gratitude, provided he proves to have his father's loyalty.
"That is something for the future; however, now that we have defeated the Freys and Bolton now knows of the Manderlys' true loyalty he is unlikely to attempt anymore sallies. It is more likely that he shall now what he should have done from the beginning, remain behind the walls of Winterfell and force us to go in and dig him out."
"Your Grace," said another of the mercenary knights present at the council; "We do not have the necessary siege engines to breach the walls of Winterfell. Constructing them will take some time and we must consider the possibility that the Lannisters will be sending reinforcements to aid the Boltons and the others in Winterfell the entire time."
"True," the King said, stoking the stubble on his chin. "But the risk is relatively small. The storm may have died down for now but the winter is still going on and it is likely that movements north from King's Landing will be hampered and if they have not already been dispatched it is unlikely that any force will reach Winterfell for some time."
"It would be quicker to storm the place than bother with a siege." Sir Suggs put in.
"Aye," said the King, a hint of a sneer on his face; "If we wished to climb over on a mountain of our own dead. The defenses of Winterfell are strong, perhaps as strong as those of King's Landing. No, we shall not squander what we have gained here through our victory, we shall move to Winterfell and join up with the Umber forces already there. We shall take Winterfell by siege if we can and by storm if we must. We march in the morning."
"What of the turncloak?" Sir Suggs asked, an unpleasant gleam in his eye. The King looked at the council for a moment, as if unsure of what to say.
Just then, a guard came in and announced that the King was needed and the meeting ended. While the King had not given an answer Sansa knew that an answer would have to be given soon. If she was to intervene she had to discover something. As the council broke up she went back to her sleeping area. It pleased her to see that both Yara and Alysane were already there, the former fixing a bandage to the latter's arm.
"My lady." Alysane said as she finished fixing the bandage.
"You're wounded." Sansa said to Yara.
"It's nothing." Yara said. "On the Iron Islands this would be considered a beauty mark."
"I see you fought well then." Though Sansa said this to Yara she was looking at Alysane. The burly woman nodded slightly.
"Aye, for an Iron Born she handled herself well." Sansa merely nodded and went off, muttering something about seeing if Jeyne Poole was alright. So, it seemed that Yara might be useful after all, that being the case it would be wise to gain her gratitude and for that she needed to see if she could gain a quick death for her brother.
It did not sit well with her, she wanted Theon to die in pain, to hear him shirk and howl for what he had done to her brothers but there was more than her hate to be considered. Theon was going to die, that was a fact and so her brother's would have justice. From the look of him Ramsey had already done everything that could be done to Theon anyway and Sansa needed his sister more than his pain.
Still, the Red Woman and her lot would want Theon to burn, they so wanted their sacrifice. For a moment Sansa considered that a problem and then she smiled, a smile that would have chilled the old Sansa. The Red Woman wanted a sacrifice and had spoken of the blood of kings. Well, Sansa knew of others close at hand who had kings' blood in them, others whom she would very much like to see burn. Her smile deepened the more she considered it. Yes, that would do nicely, very nicely indeed. As if aping her thoughts a feeling like a burning fire bloomed in her chest and began to spread all through her.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope that you like this chapter, sorry about it being short. Who do you think she is thinking about at the end? Not sure when the next chapter will be, may brush up a bit on medieval sieges. Till then please pray for those held by ISIS and all held against their will. The missing ski instructor in California and the missing marines in Hawaii and all others who need prayer including Asia Bibi, under sentence of death, Pastor Aftab Gill accused of blasphemy, Nadia Bibi a Christian girl kidnapped in Pakistan and forced to marry her kidnapper and others in similar situation, including Saima Bibi whose family is going to court to try to get her back. Raif Badawi and his lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair who have both been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia and the families of the Ben Carson campaign who died in a car accident and the victims of flooding in US. Bye and may Jesus bless you.