Author's Notes: Hey everyone, glad that you liked the last chapter, I hope that you like this one too, as always I own nothing. SPOILER WARNING: material from the books will be used, not in the show, but book readers be warned.
Sansa had barely finished crying out when Sir Massey and Brienne broke in. Sansa pointed to the open window and then to the body, near which she had dropped the knife.
"We were attacked! There was a man concealed in the room. He killed the castellan and tried to kill me! When he failed and I cried out he fled out of the window!" Brienne ran to the window and looked out, attempting to find the attacker. Meanwhile Sir Massey was calling for soldiers to organize a search of the area. Sansa keep her expression one of concern, but she was smirking on the inside as Maester Wolkan arrived to see to her injuries.
Later that night Sansa, Brienne who had not left her side since the supposed attack and her councilors gathered to discuss what course of action to take. Everyone was eager to return to Winterfell as quickly as possible so the army could be disbanded before the winter made that impossible. Unspoken was the possibility that the King would call for them to march, either south or north. That last possibility filled Sansa with dread. She pushed that thought aside for the moment and concentrated on the present problems.
"I fear that I must report our efforts have proven futile." Sir Massey reported.
"We have looked everywhere and have found no sign of the assassin." Sansa nodded, attempting to look interested. It would not do to appear to be uninterested in an attempt on her life. In truth, she wanted the matter to be over as quickly as possible so they could focus on important, not to mention real, problems. Fortunately, Maester Wolkan did just that.
"Be that as it may, we cannot stay here long. Hopefully, when we leave the assassin will remain."
"There is still the matter of the Dreadfort." Sir Massey interjected.
"With the castellan dead, we need someone to run the place." Umber nodded.
"Aye, not to mention the fact that we can't trust those whore-sons of the Boltons. We need to keep a garrison here, at least for now." Lord Strongwood, who commanded the forces from White Harbor, spoke up.
"If I may my lady, my lords. Lord Wylis Manderly, foreseeing this possibility, instructed me to inform you that he would be quite willing to use part of his force for this duty." He might have said more, but he was cut off by Umber, who gave a derisive snort.
"Of course he would. And what does he want in exchange for this generous act? The Hornwood lands, perhaps the Dreadfort as well?" Lord Strongwood held up his hands in placating manner.
"Please my lord. Lord Manderly has no designs on the Bolton lands. They are, of course, the possession of Lady Jeyne Bolton and he would never think to steal land from her.
"However; there is the matter of the Hornwood lands. Lord Halys Hornwood and his son Daryn both fell in battle, fighting on behalf of your brother I might remark and Lady Hornwood is also dead. As she was kin to Lord Manderly, as such Lord Manderly feels that he has some claim to the lands."
"Others will not think so." Umber stated. "House Manderly is already lords of half the North."
"Nevertheless," Sir Massey interjected; "It would appear that Lord Manderly does have a legitimate claim to the lands in question as there is no other possible heirs…"
"Not true." Umber interjected.
"There is the boy Larence, he was being held at Deepwood Motte and was rescued by the King."
"Who?" Sansa asked at the unfamiliar name. Lord Strongwood answered, a note of reluctance in his voice.
"The boy is Larence Snow, the late Lord Hornwood's bastard son." Sir Massey looked doubtful.
"I am not sure those sworn to House Hornwood would take to being ruled by a bastard." Umber made a dismissive gesture.
"You do not know of what you speak southerner. The boy is clever and well-liked by his father's smallfolk. As for the matter of his birth, that is easy enough to settle. Lady Stark is Wardeness of the North and has just won an important victory for the King. If she were to ask, the King would doubtless be willing to legitimize the boy. It costs him nothing and it would further cement his support from the Hornwoods." Lord Strongwood looked as if he wished to say something, but was reluctant to speak it aloud. Sir Massey, on the other hand, had no such inhibitions.
"My lady, if you do this Lord Manderly may take it as an insult and I would not recommend offending your most powerful bannerman." Umber made a sound of outrage.
"My lady! If you do this, then all the North will see you as nothing but a pawn of the Manderlys!" Everyone was looking at her and for a moment she did not know what to say, then a memory occurred to her, a way out of this situation. She returned her focus to the assembled knights and lords.
"I shall speak to the King and advise him to legitimize the boy." Lord Strongwood looked as if he might speak, but Sansa held up her hand to silence him.
"Your lord has several daughters does he not?" The man nodded an affirmation.
"That being the case, once the boy is legitimized, Lord Manderly shall have one of them marry the new lord of Hornwood, uniting the families as they were while Lady Hornwood was alive." Lord Strongwood was silent, it was clear that it was not what Lord Manderly was hoping for, but there was no way he could convincingly argue for lordship of Hornwood lands with an heir and he could rule through his grandchildren. That night Sansa wrote to the King reporting the success of the siege and the death of Roose Bolton, she hoped that the fall of the Dreadfort would decrease his anger over the loss of a sacrifice to the Lord of Light. She further requested the legitimization of Larence Snow, stressing how it would strengthen the King's hold on the North and would reduce the chance of internal strife between the houses. The next day the army began its march back to Winterfell. Though the weather continued to hinder them, they reached it without too much difficulty. Once there Sansa dismissed the majority of the army and reluctantly returned to the papers, which had failed to vanish as she had hoped that they would. In addition to all the other problems, there was a new one to confound her.
When they had taken the Dreadfort they had found the wife of Roose Bolton, Walda Frey. The woman was enormously fat, made even more so by her pregnancy which had resulted in the birth of a daughter. Sansa had reflected that that was fortunate as if it had been a boy it would have been a threat to Jeyne's own son. Walda had clutched he baby, as if fearful that Sansa would snatch away the child and eat it. Even before Sansa had had a chance to speak Walda had begun pleading, begging to be released, promising that she would go home to the Twins and would give Sansa no trouble.
Her words tore at Sansa's heart, remembering what it had been like when she had been in the other woman's position. At the same time, the woman's actions had made Sasna angry, she had a sudden urge to slap the woman and tell her that no one cared about her or their child, if she wasn't strong enough to help herself then she would just have to take whatever came her way. These thoughts disturbed her as that was something that the Queen would have said and Sansa did not want to be anything like her. Regardless, she could not let the woman go, she was valuable as a hostage and the King would not thank her for letting her go. Her child, while a girl, could also conceivably be used to rally bannermen of House Bolton. Sansa was glad that it was a girl, if it had been a boy…action might have been called for and Sansa did not want to have to do that.
When they had arrived at Winterfell Sansa arranged for her to have comfortable quarters. Surprisingly Jeyne began to spend a great deal of her time with Walda. She confided to Sansa that when the four of them had been together Walda had always been kind to her and that had helped Jeyne endure her husband. Sansa was surprised, she did not think that any Frey could be capable of kindness. Still she trusted Jeyne and, in truth, Sansa was too busy to really give it much thought.
Shortly after they returned to Winterfell, while Sansa was once again fighting her way through a pile of papers, when a servant came in. For a minute Sansa thought that the man was bearing a message from the King, but the man said that it was not that. He proffered a wrapped bundle.
"What is this?" Sansa asked.
"I do not know m'lady." The man replied.
"A man in Winter Town gave it to me and said that I was to give this to you and only you. I was also to give you this." As he spoke he proffered a folded piece of paper on the front of which was a wax seal of a leaping trout, the seal of House Tully. Assuming that it came from her uncle Edmure Sansa broke the seal and opened it and soon saw that it was, in fact not from him.
To my favorite great-niece. I heard that you had taken your home back, it does my heart good to think of the direwolf flying over Winterfell again. Since I find Riverrun a bit too crowded with Freys at the moment for my liking I have been seeing a bit of the countryside. The Frey and their Lannister friends keep trying to join me, but I find the company that I am keeping at the moment but be more than ample. However; I recently came upon a party of Frey wandering in a place where they should not have been. Being of a charitable bent I stopped by to explain to them why this should be so. During the discussion I found that a lady friend of one of them had something that belonged to your brother. I know that you would rather have him, but perhaps it will give you some comfort. Gods keep you girl and see that Edmure doesn't break the Wall or something.
Brynden Tully.
Sansa put the letter aside and turned to the bundle, she unwrapped the cloth and saw what lay within. It was an open circlet of hammered bronze. Along the outside of the circlet strange runes were carved and atop the circlet were nine pieces of black iron formed in the shape of swords. Though she had never seen it before she had heard it described, it was the crown that had been made for Robb when he had been declared King of the North.
She stared at it for a moment, half feeling that if she stared at it hard enough Robb would appear. Of course he did not and after a moment she put the crown on the table with a heavy sigh. She sat there for a time trying to decide what to do. Doubtless the King would want the crown surrender to him as a sign of her submission to him, but she was unwilling to do that. As she thought that another thought occurred to her and she smiled. They were still hunting for whoever had tried to kill her, still without success despite Sir Massey's efforts. In Sansa's mind a plan formed that would allow her to achieve all of her goals: honoring her brother, keep the crown from Stannis and uncover who was trying to kill her. Her brother would help her one last time.
Author's Notes: Hello everyone, I hope that you liked the chapter. I know that Walda had a boy in the show, but in the book she hasn't had any yet and, as I said, if it were a boy Sansa would see him as a threat and I try to keep child-killing to a minimum thank you very much. What do you think that she is going to do and how much power do you think she really has? Till next time please pray for the victims and their families of the fire in Oakland, I had a friend there though I did not know that till later, victims of religious persecution and all who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.