Author's Notes: Hey everyone, first let me say something. THANKS! This story has passed 250,000 views! I never thought that it would be so popular, please accept my thanks for reading and commenting. I hope you will continue to enjoy it, as always I own nothing.
Two days later the storm that the Greatjon had predicted struck. It was not as furious as the one which had trapped them at the village but still fierce. While the storm was an unpleasant it was exactly what they had been waiting for. Under the cover of the storm Umber and his handpicked men left the camp and made their way towards Winterfell. At the same time the King and his men assembled the army and moved forward, hopefully far enough away to avoid detection by those on the wall but close enough to storm the gate once those climbing the wall had succeeded in their efforts to seize and open the gates. For her part Sansa had gone to the godswood, to pray as far as those in the camp were concerned. Archers would be of little value in this battle and weather, besides, she had other tools at her disposal and she intended to make use of them. Alysane had gone with the King with the rest of Sansa's men and Yara had gone with the Greatjon.
He had not wanted to take her but Sansa had pointed out that as an Ironborn would be skilled in such matters and if she were to die…well, there would be one less Ironborn. At that the Greatjon had laughed and said if that were the case having her might be a bit more tolerable. In truth, Sansa didn't partially feel kindly disposed toward Yara, but she had been the one to give Sansa the idea to take Winerfell and Sansa owed her the chance to prove herself, though she could not say as such to anyone. Additionally, though he had not given any outward sign of it, the King had clearly been willing to try anything to avoid whatever it was that the Red Woman wanted to do. If this worked the King would owe it to what Sansa had suggested through Umber as Yara would never say anything. But that was for later, what mattered right now was that Sansa was able to be alone and that was what she needed.
When she arrived at the godswood she looked about at the frost-covered trees. She had never felt the pull to this place that her father and brothers had felt, she had always preferred the sept, with her mother and her gods. Now neither held any religious awe for her now but being here she felt a closeness to her father and brothers that she had not felt in some time. She half expected to turn around and see them, a feeling that caused both longing and pain. Pushing such thoughts aside she cast about and found what she was looking for. Nestled in the branches of one of the trees out of the wind and snow was a large owl. Making herself comfortable she leaned against a tree and cast her mind into the bird.
She had not do this often but it still came easily and she soon gained control. Spreading her wings she flew from the woods. The wind buffeted at her and the cold sought to sap the heat from her borrowed body but still she pressed on. As she flew towards Winterfell her enhanced sight detected the advance party below her, they were nearly to the wall and were readying their ropes. She flew on towards the walls to begin her task. She doubted that they would be detected. If the weather had not driven Bolton sentries from the walls, then it would restrict their vision to next to nothing. Still, she was not going to take the risk of that and she was determined to do all that she could to ensure their success and the success of the battle as a whole.
As she flew above the wall the party reached the wall and began climbing hand-over-hand up the wall till they were far enough up to throw their ropes and hooks. Sansa landed on the wall and stared down at them as they made their way up. After what seemed like eternity they reached high enough up for their ropes to reach and hurled them up. Sansa was forced to fly up to avoid being struck by several of the hooks as they cleared the parapet. They all caught as the slack was taken from the ropes, which soon grew taught as those below began to climb up them. Then another sound caught Sansa's attention. It seemed that their progress had not gone entirely unnoticed by those standing watch and a man was moving to investigate. Moving quickly Sansa cast her mind from the owl and into the man. She always found entering the minds of humans always difficult and unpleasant and this time it was more so. The man had been suspicious and on the alert and that made entering and controlling his mind even harder. He struggled and fought her and his motions were causing the other guards to take notice.
"What in Seven Hells are you doing?" One of the other guards demanded. The man tried to reply but Sansa held his mouth shut. Desperate to silence the man before his actions altered the other guards to the climbers Sansa headed towards the edge of the walkway, the man increased his struggles but Sansa forced him to walk over the edge. She ignored both the cries of the man's comrades and his terror and focused on her next task. As she had been standing on the edge she had seen several hounds in the courtyard chained to a post and as the man fell she left him and entered one of the hounds. The dog was far easier to control than the man had been and she had dominance before the man hit the ground. Due to the storm few people saw or heard it, though it did set the dogs to howling and barking.
Looking up she saw several heads looking down at the body and one or two of them headed to some nearby stairs to investigate and sound the alarm. Sansa knew that Umber and the others were making their way up the wall and the longer the guards were distracted the better the chances that they would not be detected. After several minutes she smelled the party as they cleared the parapet and soon they began to make their way towards the stairs themselves. As they did so the hounds around her pricked up their ears and were sniffing the air. Just then the wind shifted and brought their smell to the hounds. Almost as one the dogs started to growl and Sansa knew that it was only a matter of seconds before they begin to bark and that might very well alert the castles inhabitants. Just as one opened its mouth to bark Sansa lounged at it. As she bowled it to the ground she bit into it the back of its neck. It yelped and struggled under her and their actions drew the others. Sansa yelped in pain as one of them sank its teeth into her back left leg, tearing through fur and flesh. Sansa let go to of the one hound to turn and try to snap at the other one. The others joined in, biting both Sansa and each other. Suddenly a boot crashed into her side. She yelped and moved to the side in an effort to get away from whomever had kicked her. Turning to the source of the blow she saw a man wading among the hounds kicking them apart.
"Break it up curse you! Break it up!" The man yelled at them. Reluctantly the dogs moved apart, whining and snarling but none daring to attack the man.
"That's better, you make me come out into this blasted snow again," here he paused and quickly looked around and then turned back to the dogs. "Make me come out here again and I don't care how much the Bastard likes you, I'll skin the lot of you." With that he turned to stomp off towards one of the buildings.
Before he could get there a horn blast tore through the night and Sansa's heart soared. That was the signal that Umber's party had taken the gates and forced them open and were ready for the King and his men. Unfortunately, the horn had been heard by the inhabitants as well and they began pouring out of the various buildings. They rushed the gates in an effort to close them, but while they outnumbered the Umber party they were coming at them in ones or in small groups. On the other hand Umber and his party were fighting as a group and were on the defensive in confined space and before long the sound of the army approaching was heard.
They surged through the gate and crashed into the defenders trying to reclaim the gate. These were swept away easily as the army was fighting in a body and the defenders were alone or in small groups. They were half-way across the courtyard before they began to encounter serious resistance as the enemy began to form into formations to resist the onslaught. With a crash the two sides came together and the courtyard dissolved into a wild melee. Sansa watched intently but she could not see which side was going to emerge the victor. In one spot she saw Sir Clayton Suggs go down bleeding from several wounds, in another place the King took off an opponent's head with powerful blow and in another Yara thrust her blade into the belly of an opponent, while using her other hand to clutch at her own.
Not wanting to not remain uninvolved while her people were fighting for their lives and her home she began to struggle to escape from the chain. The other hounds, driven nearly wild by the sights, sounds and smells of the battle around them were also struggling to escape from their chains, all the while raising a tremendous cacophony of barks and howls. Yet despite Sansa and the others' efforts the post and chains held. In desperation Sansa considered entered the mind of one of the combatants but dismissed it, she was too unskilled with weapons to make any real differences and would likely get whoever she was controlling killed before she could make any difference.
Never the less, the battle seemed to be going the way that she and the others had hoped. The defenders did not seem to be as numerous as they had anticipated and they had been taken completely off guard and had not been able to form an effective organized resistance. Still, the attackers were taking casualties and the sooner the battle could be ended the better. Just then two combatants crashed into the post the chains were attached two. One of the men was one of the mountain clans' chieftains and was armed with a great axe while his opponent was armed with a shield and long sword. The men struggled for a moment before the clans man came out on top. He swung the axe over his head and brought it crashing down. Before the blade could connect his opponent rolled to the side and the axe crashed into the post, striking the cluster of chains holding the hounds, causing them to break and freeing the hounds. Before the chieftain could bring his axe back for another blow the other man brought his own blade down on the axe haft. From his position he could not bring enough force to split the haft but the unexpected blow knocked the weapon from its wielder's hand. Rather than try to get his weapon back the Northman man jumped back as his opponent scrambled to his feet and moved after him. Sansa; however, was now free from the post and able to act.
Acting on impulse she ran after them and sprang at the man before he could put his sword through his opponent. The body she was inhabiting was heavy and its weight bore the man to the ground. Sansa felt a sudden urge to bite and tear and acted on it. As the man beneath her struggled and thrashed she bit down on his head and neck. Blood and flesh filled her mouth, which both repelled and thrilled her at the same time. The excitement quickly won over and her attacks came faster and more savage till the man's face was little more than a bloody mess. She looked up, eager for more prey and blood, when she felt a searing pain in her side as something stuck her there. As she yowled in pain she was struck again. The pain threatened to become overwhelming and blood filled her vision. She cast about to try to find a new body but the pain was too great and the hound was resurfacing due to the pain. It all made the effort of maintaining control of the animal too much and Sansa released her hold on the dying animal and sent her mind flying from the body and the battle and back to her own body back in the godswood.
Author's Notes: Hey everyone, what did you think of it? I know it was shorting than the last one but I hope you don't mind. I have some twists for the next one, which leads to a question. While it cannot be denied Ramsey deserves to die a horrible, horrible death how do you think he would meet that death, smugness or begging and pleading? Please let me know. Till next time please pray for Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman and sentence of death for her faith and now threatened with vigilante violence. Nabila Bibi, another Christian in that country persecuted for her faith, several sick members of my family, the sick and homeless and all others who need prayer. Thanks and may Jesus bless you.