Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I am glad that you liked the last chapter and I hope that you like this one as well. As always I own nothing G.R.R. Martin and HBO does. WARNING: RAPE MENTIONED
After the force of Lannisters had fought their way into King's Landing things quieted down with both sides settling in for a siege. Sir Barristan and Prince Oberyn began setting up siege lines, including defenses in the rear of the camp. Tyrion explained that these were put in place to prevent both supplies from being snuck into the city and to prevent any further efforts to bring in reinforcements by land. The defenders, for their part, appeared unwilling to interfere with the besiegers' efforts. At first Sansa was confused by this, as Measter Luwin had always said that once cut off from supplies a fortress would usually fall. It was Tyrion once again who explained their cause of inaction.
"Why should they?" He asked her when she mentioned this. "We do not, in fact have them surrounded." Once he told her this Sansa realized that he was telling the truth and was blindingly obvious. They did indeed not have the city surrounded.
With the Queen off chasing the Ironborn they had no fleet with which to blockade the harbor. From the camp Sansa could watch ships sailing into and out of the city. The defenders did not attempt to drive off the besiegers, there was no need to. They were as well supplied as the attackers and so all that they had to do was sit back and wait for the winter to drive them off and winter had come. Snow had begun to fall on the camp of the attackers and while it quickly melted Sir Barristan, the oldest person in the camp, declared that in none of the previous winters that he had seen had snow fallen in King's Landing. This caused fear to grow in Sansa, thinking of the Wall and what Jon had told her was waiting beyond it and which was likely causing the snow. While it quickly melted the snow was causing problems with the army.
The snow caused the roads to turn to mud, making supplies harder to bring up. The army consisted entirely of men from Essos and the southern parts of Westeros, none of whom were used to such weather. The men of the Reach had never had weather like this and while uncomfortable they were, at least for the time being, determined not to make too much of their discomfort. The Unsullied took the change with their usual stoicism, but they too were as vulnerable to the increasing cold. Hardest hit were the Dothraki, who not only were they not used to the weather, they had no clothing to protect them from it. There were other problems for the Dothraki, though in truth they were more problems for the Dothrkis' Westerosi allies.
The Dothraki were not used to sieges and the boredom weighed heavily on them and they would often leave the camp to plunder and pillage the lands around King's Landing. Most people had fled when the army drew near, but those who did not were robbed and possibly raped and killed as well. Sir Barristan and Lord Tyrell were both outraged, but it seemed that they had little actual control over the Dothraki. The Dothraki informed them that they answered to the Queen, whom they referred to as the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea and seemed to think that the Westerosi nobles were, at best, their equals and were in no position to give orders to them.
All of these circumstances forced the commanders to change their tactics. They had neither the time nor the ability to starve the city into submission, so it would have to be carried by storm. A frontal assault would be suicidal, so instead they began driving a series of mines. Sir Barristan explained that these were tunnels which they would dig under the wall of King's Landing. Once there the braces under the walls would be set on fire which would cause sections of the wall to collapse, creating openings for the attackers to charge through. The problem was that the defenders would likely become aware of what was going on and would attempt to drive counter-mines to intercept the tunnels and collapse them before they reached the walls. This meant that the soldiers detailed to the digging had to be prepared to fight their opposites. They were sure that the Lannisters were indeed digging counter-mines, but thus far none had been seen. In the end an attack did come, but it came in a manner that Sansa had not anticipated.
She had retired for the night and had just drifted off to sleep when the blaring of horns awoke her. Throwing on a robe she rushed from her tent to find that the camp had fallen into chaos. Men were rushing about, grabbing weapons and throwing on armor. She grabbed the arm of a Reach bannerman and demanded to know what was going on. She had no access to her powers, but she still had the commanding tone and it had the desired effect. The man paused and looked at her.
"We are under attack my lady! The Ironborn are here!"
"Gods not again!" She cursed as she sought a place where she could observe the battle. As she moved through the camp a knight in the service of House Redwyne came up to her.
"My lady! My lady!" he called out in an effort to be heard. Sansa realized that he was addressing her and waited for him to catch up to her.
"My lady," he said as he came up to her; "Sir Barristan sent me to find you and ensure your protection while the Ironborn are dealt with."
"You sound very confident Sir…?"
"Sir William Willows my lady and I have good reason to be confident." At her inquiring looking he chuckled.
"Sir Barristan and Lord Tyrell anticipated that the Ironborn might attempt to raid us again and prepared accordingly. In the center of camp, where they cannot be seen from the water, a large number of men have been kept under arms. As soon as the Ironborn have beached their ships they will ride down on them and slaughter and burn their beached ships. We'll break the back of the Ironborn and end their threat once and for all." He seemed very confident, a confidence which seemed justified as a horn sounded and the thunder of horses could be heard. As they moved through the camp a second horn was sounded and fresh cries rose from the camp.
"What is happening Sir Willows?" Sansa asked.
"I do not know my lady." He replied. He grabbed the arm of a passing archer.
"You! What is going on?!"
"They say that the Lannisters are sallying out and attacking siege lines!"
"Don't worry my lady," Sir Willows assured her; "The foremost siege line is held by the Unsullied. They may be eunuchs, but they are decent infantry and they hold a strong position." Just as he said that an explosion sounded throughout the camp. The ground shook and both of them were thrown to the ground. A column of greenish fire shot up into the sky. Sansa had no idea what was going on and from the look on his face her escort did not know what was going on either, though it was clearly not something that had been planned or expected. It seemed to have thrown the camp into even more chaos. Though she could not see it from the sounds all around them it seemed to Sansa that the explosion had effect the counter-attack. The sounds of the battle drew closer and these were joined by more sounds of battle from the direction of the gate.
Just then a band of horsemen burst through the tents near them, horsemen bearing the sigil of House Lannister. Seeing Sansa and Sir Willows they spurred towards them. Sir Willows pushed Sansa behind him and turned to face them. The first man rode straight at them, sword raised. Rather than trying to strike the man Sir Willows grabbed the horse's reigns and pulled, the horse twisted to the side and came crashing down and pinning the rider under it. Before the man could get himself free Sir Willows dropped down beside him and stabbed the man through the eye slit of his helmet with a dagger. However; as he rose to his feet the other riders reached them and one of them swung his hammer down, crushing Sir Willows' skull. Another came towards Sansa swing a long axe up to strike at her. Unable to use her powers she tried to get away, but was not quite quick enough and the blade came down, cutting her neck.
She screamed and fell back between two tents and the riders thundered on. She lay there for a time, waiting for the pain to abate and for the riders to pass, the riders did but the pain did not. She gingerly reached up and touched the wound. It was a deep gash and was bleeding badly, but what really seized her attention was the choker. The axe had struck the metal and had partially cut through it. She pulled at the metal, but while she could wiggle the pieces she could not quite get it off. By the light of the fires she saw Sir Willows' dagger.
Crawling to it she grabbed and tried to use it as an improvised file. The scrapping produced a horrible sound and she nicked herself several times, as well as driving the cut metal into her skin. At last steel proved superior to iron and the choker fell from her neck to the ground. Sansa rubbed her neck, it was still bleeding slightly but she ignored it. She was free! It was nothing overwhelming, but she could feel her abilities again and knew that she could use them when she had to. She also knew it was high time for her to make her escape and return home. Keeping low she disappeared into the shadows and chaos of the battle.
Author's Notes: And that is how you escape from an armed camp. Or at least begin to as she is not out yet. What did you think? I believe that is how the Dothraki would behave and I doubt that the others could control them. Do you agree? Till next time please pray for those who need it and may Jesus bless you.