This was originally going to be a chapter split between Sansa and Bran but I ended up making them into two separate chapters.

Sansa II

The boat rocked gently against the waves as Sansa stood atop its deck. To the east and west of her was land, rocky shores that gave way to green fields, but her eyes were focused to the north, to the speck of white that was growing larger every minute. Behind her were a few more ships, each of them merchant vessels and all of them making the journey together.

"We'll be there shortly," Vayon Poole said, hand resting on Jeyne's shoulder.

The relief on the face of her father's steward was evident. Not that Sansa blamed him. She could feel her own relief bubbling up inside of herself.

The escape from the Red Keep had led them through dark and damp tunnels that twisted and turned. They didn't have any light, moving about in darkness except for the few times rays of sunlight cut through cracks in the stone. Sansa didn't know how anyone could find their way through it all but Ser Barristan did. He had been a member of the Kingsguard for over thirty-eight years so it made sense that he knew the tunnels below the castle he had helped guard all that time. Though it was clear he didn't know all of them as when questioned about certain ones they'd pass by he could only shake his head in answer. She doubted any besides Maegor the Cruel and all the workers he had killed knew every tunnel that ran beneath the Red Keep.

After what felt like hours they had emerged between the city walls and a narrow back alley behind a row of houses near the Iron Gate. A handful of Gold Cloaks tried to stop their leaving of the city but two were killed by Ser Barristan, another by Jory, and the rest were chased away by Lady. Sansa almost fainted at the sight of the men being killed. All she could do was stare in horror at the dead bodies as Harwin led her past them.

She had never seen someone killed before. In fact, besides her grandfather a few months ago she had never even seen a dead body. Her brothers, except Rickon who was still a toddler, had all accompanied her father when he executed someone, though Bran had only been once or twice before he had gone to the Vale to become a page for Ser Robar Royce, a deal worked out when Lord Yohn Royce had stayed at Winterfell as he accompanied his son Ser Waymar to Castle Black. Robb and Jon were old hands at seeing dead bodies, they had probably seen close to a hundred, even if most of them had been under the care of the Karstarks and Umbers. Though Sansa was of the North, she was a daughter of it, not a son. She had never even been asked if she wanted to go to witness an execution, not that she'd want to. No, that was something more to Arya's liking.

"Where do we go?" Jacks asked, as they put distance between themselves and the city.

They were a large group of almost sixty total people, though some of the house staff, Hullen and a few stableboys, hadn't escaped with them. That first hour of wandering below the Red Keep Harwin had cried when he realized his father had been left behind and everyone pretended they didn't notice.

"Riverrun," Sansa said. "My Uncle Edmure will take us in."

She had met her uncle when she had traveled to Riverrun when her grandfather was on his deathbed, and her father had brought her to the castle to be there for her mother. Despite the circumstances Uncle Edmure was an easy going man who was quick with a laugh. She knew he would gladly take her in and see her safe.

Jory shook his head. "I'm sorry Lady Sansa, but Lannister men ravage through the Riverlands, Tywin Lannister is marching up the God's Eye to Harrenhal, and another army marches on Riverrun. The Riverlands are not safe for House Stark."

"The Crownland houses around here are loyal to the Crown. We will find no help here and it's best we avoid the lords and those who serve them at all costs," Ser Barristan said. "Our best bet is to stay off the roads and to travel north to Maidenpool. We can get a boat to White Harbor from there."

With Ser Barristan in the lead, they had traveled the farmlands to the east of Hayford and to the west of Rosby and Stokeworth.

"My father always spoke highly of you," Sansa said to Ser Barristan on one of those first days since leaving the capital.

"Eddard Stark is a good man," Ser Barristan had answered, eyes looking at her briefly before shifting back to watch their surroundings. "If only my most recent brothers of the Kingsguard had half his sense of duty and honor."

"He always said he was glad he did not have to cross blades with you during the rebellion, that he would not be here if he did."

"Your father does himself a disservice. He is a fine swordsman himself."

"But not as fine a swordsman as you," Sansa pointed out. The aged knight dipped his head in acknowledgement at her words.

At least once a day during that first week they hid from Gold Cloaks on horseback that Lady alerted them to. The direwolf was a better scout than every man in their party, and they would have been caught multiple times if it wasn't for Lady.

"Every time we're forced to hide is hours of travel wasted," Ser Barristan said on the sixth day of their escape, after being forced to hide again. "At this rate it will take us the turn of two moons before we get to Maidenpool."

Sansa was tired. Never before had she walked so far in a day, and never for so many days in a row. On her feet were the thin slippers popular with the noble women of King's Landing, which offered no protection from the uneven and rocky ground. She felt every single pebble she stepped on. And her dresses were not meant for such travel either. They were frilly things with wide sleeves and layers that hovered only an inch or two above the ground and constantly got caught on things. She had only worn two of them and both were dirty and ripped. While Ser Barristan hated the times they were forced to stop, Sansa relished them.

"We should split up," Jory said. "There's too many of us, and us Stark guards are too noticeable in our armor, as are you Ser Barristan."

Jory gave a pointed look to the white armor the former Kingsguard still wore. Ser Barristan looked down.

"Yes, perhaps we should have ditched our armor before we escaped the city but I think we can use it to our advantage now."

Ten minutes later Jory held up one of Sansa's spare dresses to Jacks.

"No!" Jacks protested, furiously shaking his head.

"You're the smallest one."

"I'm not putting on a bloody dress!"

Sansa walked up to Jacks and took one of his hands in her own. "Please Jacks, for the love you hold for my family. I will make sure you are rewarded for this. I promise by the old gods and the new."

Jacks looked at her pleading face, which was level with his own, and sighed. "Give me the damn dress."

The plan was simple. Sansa, all of the house staff, and half of the guard would continue as originally planned; traveling north through the land that lay between the major keeps and holdfasts of the Crownlands until they reached Maidenpool. The guard, including Jory, would ditch their armor. Maybe they'd get lucky and someone else would find it and wear it, leading the Gold Cloaks looking for them in other directions.

Ser Barristan and half of the guard, including Jacks wearing one of Sansa's dresses and a hooded cloak, would travel northwest towards the Kingsroad and they would do so in full armor. There was an inn to the west of Sow's Horn that they would make sure they were spotted at. They would continue along the Kingsroad for as long as they dared before ditching all of their armor and circling back northeast to Maidenpool.

Sansa couldn't wear her dresses anymore, not that the ones she had were worth wearing anymore, instead wearing extra clothes that one of the kitchen servants had grabbed before fleeing. Jory had insisted on cutting her long, beautiful hair, to something much shorter that could be put up and easily hidden by a dirty cap he made her wear. Her red hair was too distinct, she was told. It had been cut with a dagger. Even with Jory being as gentle as he could, the rough treatment had brought tears to her eyes. Her hair was now an uneven mess that hung to her shoulders.

But as much as cutting her hair pained her, the worst part of the plan was that Lady had to go with the others.

"To sell the facade," Jory told her. "If Lady travels with you her presence will give you away in an instant. Everyone knows the Stark children have direwolves."

Sansa sent her direwolf off with a warning to behave and to listen to Harwin, who was the only one outside of herself who seemed to have any control over Lady.

"She listens to me as well as Arya listens to your lady mother," Harwin explained with a small grin. "And by that I mean, barely at all. She'll listen if it's what she wants to do, but if Lady sets her mind to something, I can't get her to change it."

She knew deep in her gut that Lady would behave like a lady, unless herself or her pack was threatened. Then Lady would show those who got in her way why direwolves were so feared.

The nights were chilly and were spent huddled together with Jeyne, as they didn't want any fires to draw unwanted attention. Sansa was just grateful they were still well south of the North, where even the late summer nights would have had them shivering in their sleep.

She wanted to rest more, for her sake and for Jeyne's, who was also struggling, but Jory wouldn't allow it. The guards marched in relative silence, as did the house staff. Sansa took her cue from them, as most of the talking she was likely to do would just be complaining about how miserable she was. The others were miserable as well but they kept their silence.

How long they had been split up before the food they had taken from the kitchens of the Tower of the Hand had run out she did not know. The last several days of their journey to Maidenpool, not only was she sore and dirty, she was also starving.

They did what they could for food, stripping berry bushes and hunting the rabbits and squirrels that roamed the land. They plucked ripened vegetables from the edge of the farms they passed. Yet it was not enough to feed all of them, and though she was often given the largest share of the small amount of food they gathered each day, Sansa would split her extra food with Jeyne.

The first two days after splitting up they had seen Gold Cloaks, spotted much closer than previous days without Lady to alert them well beforehand. Sansa always made sure to hide when they came but the others didn't need to like she did. After those first two days, they didn't see the Gold Cloaks again. The ruse must have worked.

She wasn't sure how long the total journey took but she knew it was over a moon's turn before they came upon Maidenpool. The city had walls built of pink stone, something she had never seen before. She couldn't help but admire the walls as they walked through the gates.

They were part of a much larger group, refugees fleeing the fighting in the heart of the Riverlands who were seeking safety behind the city walls. Unlike the refugees though, they had coin to pay for rooms and food.

"We wait for a week," Jory said on their first night in the inn by the docks he had chosen. "If the others don't arrive by then, then we must take a ship without them."

Sansa, Jeyne, and two serving girls who were a few years older than them, got their own room. The rest were split between two rooms of their own. Despite them being safely behind city walls guarded by the city watch, Jory had the house guards work in shifts to watch her. She was not allowed to leave her room in the inn to wander on her own, something no others had such restrictions on. In fact not only were they free to wander the city, they were asked to do so to gather information and look for the coming of Ser Barristan and those who had gone with him.

The first few days she spent stuck in the inn she had bathed for the first time in what felt like ages, and rested her sore feet. On the third day she felt antsy and wanted to walk through a bit of the city but Jory would not allow it. There was nothing in the room to distract herself with; no needle and thread, and no books. The guards outside the door wouldn't talk to her for fear of getting distracted, and the two serving girls were used to being commanded by Sansa so they were not good conversationalists. While Jeyne had spent the third day exploring Maidenpool, Sansa had begged her friend to keep her company on the fourth day less she go mad with boredom.

"There was a handsome knight by the gates to the keep," Jeyne said dreamily, as she recalled her exploring of Maidenpool. "Father said he's likely a captain in the city watch."

A knight of a city watch would be a good match for Jeyne, but Sansa knew that Jeyne fell in love with every handsome man she saw. Not that Sansa could say she used to be much better. That was before King's Landing had changed her.

Jaime Lannister was one of the best looking men she had ever seen, but he had attacked her father and killed men from the North she had known all her life. Prince Joffrey was handsome but she had seen how cruel he could be. Renly Baratheon was handsome but it seemed like everyone around him was something to mock and laugh at. Loras Tyrell, on the few chances she saw him, was even better looking than Jaime Lannister, but while he appeared charming and chivalrous she had witnessed his arrogance and anger.

All those handsome men and none of them were the type of man she would want to find herself wed to. When they had traveled to Riverrun to see her grandfather, they had stopped at Raventree Hall, the family of her betrothed. She had hoped to see Ser Brynden Blackwood, to see if she was as handsome as she hoped so she could have the fairytale she always dreamed of, but he had been away at some tourney in the Reach with his brother Ser Lucas. She had seen his father, Lord Tytos, a tall man with plain looks, and the third eldest brother, a tall and gangly teen with a cowlick who none of the bards would ever mistake for handsome. After the feast Lord Blackwood had held for them, she had cried in the guest room she was in because it seemed like the man she was set to marry was not handsome at all.

Now she didn't find herself much caring if Ser Brynden Blackwood was handsome or not. She had enough of men whose looks hid the type of person they truly were. She just hoped her betrothed was a good man, like her father.

Jeyne's description of the knight, which had gotten to his dark curly looks that tickled his neck, was interrupted by the twin bells of the city's sept beginning to ring. The two girls looked at each other in confusion.

Sansa got up and stuck her head out into the hallway to look at the man who stood there to guard her. "It seems early for evening prayer," she said with uncertainty, looking at the man.

Like all other southern septs, the one in Maidenpool had evening prayer, which it rang its bells to announce. The guard, called Roddy, scratched at his cheek.

"It's barely midday," he said. Roddy would have no idea about the traditions and practices of those who followed the Seven, but he would know the time of day.

There was shouting in the streets, high panicked voices. Cutting through it all was the howl of a wolf. No, not a wolf.

"Lady," Sansa breathed.

She ran from her room, ignoring the surprised shout from both Jeyne and Roddy. She raced down the stairs into the main floor of the inn and saw those who occupied the room peering outside windows or looking outside the door.

Sansa moved to the Stark servants and guards who were there. "What is the commotion?"

"We think the city is under attack," one of the cooks answered.

Sansa paled at the news. If that was true, then they would need to leave the city as soon as possible. Without Lady, or Harwin, or Jacks, or any of the other Stark guards that had gone with them. And where was Jory and the others?

"Which means the ships won't be long for the harbor," Vayon Poole said. "We need to head there now, to secure passage."

"What about the others?" Sansa asked.

Vayon's lips pressed themselves tightly together. "This is either a siege, in which case the ports will be blockaded shortly, or this is an assault and armed men will storm the city. Either way, we can not stay here."

They were instructed to go and grab all of their bags, especially the ones that had their money and jewels. Once all the bags were gathered they exited the inn. There was sounds of fighting in the air, and it was a lot closer to them than Sansa would think possible.

A wild looking man with dark braided hair with bells, leather armor that looked to be foreign, and a curved sword that looked like a scythe, appeared in front of them. The wild man slashed out with his sword, cutting down one of the cooks who had worked for the Stark family since before Sansa was born. She was one of many who cried out at the sight, as the wild man turned toward the rest of them. The few guards with them struggled to bring out their swords but it didn't matter because Jory appeared from out of nowhere, longsword raised in front of him.

The fight was quick, a few swings of the sword from each, metal clanging against metal, before Jory's longsword was buried into the wild man's chest. As Jory yanked his sword from the man's chest, Sansa had to look away due to the nausea that overwhelmed her.

"We have to get to the docks, now," Jory commanded.

"What happened?" Vayon asked.

"Sellswords entered the city before the Lannister host was spotted. They're tearing it apart from the inside," Jory explained, pushing them toward the docks. The guards with them had their swords in hand, and some of the other guards who had been exploring the city that day came from the panicking crowds.

"We lost Karl and Dovan," one of the guards explained to Jory, "to some psychotic fool and a bloody septon."

"What of the others?" Sansa asked, remembering hearing Lady's howl. "Ser Barristan and Harwin?"

She was answered by Lady rushing at her, muzzle red with blood. Many screamed at the direwolf's sudden appearance but not Sansa. Instead she gave a cry of joy, arms encircling the wolf without a care for the blood that dripped from the muzzle and onto her skin.

Ser Barristan, Harwin, and five other of the Stark guard were there, each of them carrying a sword stained with blood.

"So few of you?" Sans asked, petting Lady as she surveyed the men who had split from them all those weeks ago.

"We couldn't escape the Gold Cloaks," Ser Barristan said, grimly. "Eight of the men were killed. And we lost another getting through these sellswords in the city."

"Where is Jacks?" she asked, searching for the man she had promised a reward to for wearing a dress.

Harwin was the one who shook his head. "Jacks didn't make it, my lady."

"And neither will we if we don't hurry," Jory said. "Thousands of Lannister men are scaling the walls of the city as we speak. These sellswords are killing everyone they run across. The city guards are resisting but it doesn't look like the men-at-arms from the keep are coming to assist."

A few of the ships still remained in the docks, trying to load up as much as their cargo as they could before they were forced to flee. Armed sailors did their best to keep at bay the smallfolk who gathered at the docks, looking to jump on the ships to flee.

Jory was the one who approached them. "We need passage to White Harbor."

"No one gets on the ships," a sailor answered, waving his curved sword at Jory.

"We have coin to pay!" Jory shouted.

That caught the ear of someone important. Haggling began, as if their lives were nothing more than some bolt of fabric to be purchased. Jory offered a hundred silver stags a head, they wanted twenty gold dragons. In the end it was agreed to five gold dragons per head, plus another ten for Lady, who would have to be locked up the entire trip.

As they began to board the ship, Sansa looked back at all the fearful faces of the smallfolk who would be trapped in the city. Ser Barristan, who had been following behind her, looking both stronger yet older outside of his Kingsguard armor, stopped inches from bumping into her.

"Lady Sansa, we must hurry," Ser Barristan, glancing back over the roofs of the town to the walls, where they could see the city watch trying to put up a fight.

"What will happen to them?" she asked, nodding her head at the crowd that still gathered on the docks.

"Nothing that bears saying in front of a lady," Ser Barristan answered quietly.

She pulled the cap off her head. Her silky red hair fell about her shoulders as she tossed the cap to the ground.

"My lady," Ser Barristan protested.

"My name is Sansa Stark, daughter of Eddard Stark," she yelled.

"Lady Sansa," Jory hissed. "What are you doing?"

She ignored Jory, and Ser Barristan who was trying to urge her onto the ship without placing a hand on her. "Any captain that ferries these people to White Harbor will be paid by House Stark five gold dragons per head. On this I swear on my honor as a Stark."

Eleven days later and they were sailing into White Harbor, a small fleet of merchant ships packed with smallfolk amongst their cargo. They would be docking at the only city in the North in a few hours and by then she would have to make good on her pledge to have the captains of these ships paid. Several hundred gold dragons were owed to them and she had no idea how she was going to pay it.