She stood in the middle of the field.
Alone.
Everything was eerie and quiet.
Too quiet.
It wasn't until she picked her head up, was when she noticed the surroundings. She was standing in the same field that they held the negotiations with Ramsay in. She turned around and saw the banners of the Stark direwolf flying, with Jon pacing the lines of the army on horseback in anxiousness. Noticing his worry, Visenya immediately turned around to see Ramsay and his forces, along with Rickon, whose hands were tied by a rope that Ramsay was holding.
Ramsay gestured for Rickon to start walking towards Jon, who was still awaiting on his horse. After taking a quick glance back at Ramsay, Rickon then broke out into a sprint heading towards Jon and his army. That's when Visenya noticed a soldier approach Ramsay and hand him a bow and a quiver full of arrows. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
"They're going to shoot him down." She murmured to herself.
She immediately broke out into a sprint, to try and get Rickon herself, not knowing that Jon was galloping towards them on his horse.
"Rickon!" She shouted, but the boy didn't respond.
As she continued to run, Ramsay continuously fired more arrows, and just as Visenya was about to reach Rickon, he disappeared...phasing through her body, and no sooner she turned around, one of Ramsay's arrows pierced through the boy's back, making him fall to the ground.
Rickon was dead.
As tears flooded her eyes, she slowly picked her head up to see Jon, charging at her on his horse. Visenya frowned in confusion.
"Jon, don't!" She called to him, putting her hands up to try and stop him and the horse. "It's what Ramsay wants! It's a trap!"
Once again, there was no luck, and just like Rickon, Jon and his horse phased through her. With fear present on her face, she slowly turned around once more to see the hundreds of arrows being launched into the sky, and no sooner gravity took over as they reached the ground, at least 50 of them pierced through Jon's chest.
Visenya, with eyes wide, let out a blood-curdling scream, witnessing Jon and Rickon die before her, willing to accept her fate of imminent death as she saw Ramsay's forces charge toward her.
Visenya let out a scream as she sat up abruptly in her bed, sweat present on her face from the horror she witnessed moments prior.
"What's wrong?" Jaime asked, sitting up next to her placing his arm around her waist, trying to calm the girl down.
She didn't respond, but wiped the tears away from her eyes, as she brought her legs to her chest to try and stop shaking, along with attempting to control her breathing...along with trying to make sense of her dream.
Visenya had been getting dreams like this from when she was a child, and after researching in various scrolls and texts, she learned that she inherited the trait of Dragon Dreams...something few Targaryens were able to have. While her dreams were very rare, they always were of some form of conflict and horror. She remembered having a dream as a small child, shortly after she went to Winterfell watching Bran fall from the old tower...but she never made sense of it until after she researched her dreams, she also remembered a dream she saw of The Red Wedding, which is why she had told Robb to be cautious with taking Jaime as a prisoner...but again, she didn't understand it.
"You're alright Visenya, it was just a bad dream." Jaime spoke softly, trying to calm her down, but she had a distant look in her eyes.
"Rickon is going to die tomorrow." She murmured.
He shook his head. "He won't die, you and I both know Jon wouldn't let that happen."
"Jon is going to die tomorrow." She immediately responded.
"It was only a dream. Nothing like that is going to happen." He sighed.
She shook her head, before she got up, and began to put on her red overcoat.
"What're you doing?" He asked in confusion.
"I need to think." She sighed, before walking out of their tent.
Based upon the lack of activity, she knew it was late into the night. Snow had begun to fall, and normally she would greatly accept it willingly...taking it as a blessing from the Gods...but now she wondered if it was a curse. Eventually, she came across Melisandre's tent, and upon realizing that the woman was awake, she walked in. No sooner she walked in, Melisandre lifted her head from the book she was reading.
"What brings you to see me, Princess?" She asked in curiosity, gesturing for Visenya to sit, and Visenya immediately obliged.
"Tell me...are Rickon and Jon going to die tomorrow?" She asked sternly. "I want no mind games...I want to know the truth."
The older woman sighed. "I know of your Dragon Dreams...but sometimes they can be tricks of the mind."
Visenya shook her head. "I don't think this was a trick of the mind...it felt so real."
"Most Dragon Dreams do." Melisandre sighed. "I wish I could tell you otherwise, with regards to both Jon Snow and Rickon Stark...but the Lord of Light hasn't told me anything either."
"Do you know who will die?" She asked, beginning to pick at her cuticles.
"I will die in Westeros." She began. "Which I have known for sometime now, as my Lord spoke to me...he has not told me if the Starks will perish...perhaps they will, perhaps they won't."
Visenya sighed in frustration before standing up in her seat. Just as she was about to walk out of the tent, Melisandre stopped her.
"Your dream might've showed Rickon Stark dying by an arrow puncture...but it can be prevented." She warned.
"How?"
"By you dying yourself." She spoke, making Visenya frown in disbelief, unsure on what she should think.
Utter shock, was how she felt.
If she had to die to save Rickon, and allow for Jon to live...she'd do it.
She'd do anything to protect them.
She stayed awake the rest of that night, thinking about how she'd be able to protect both Jon and Rickon, and no sooner dawn broke, they rode back to the same field the meeting occurred on. Visenya and Jon rode their horses through the ranks to the front of the lines, and waited anxiously to see what Ramsay would bring to the equation. A few moments later, X-shaped pyres resembling the sigil of House Bolton were burning, each with the body of a flayed man, hanging upside down was attached to them. Visenya glanced to Jon, as they watched Ramsay ride through his own ranks...with a rope in his hands. No sooner he reached the front of his line, he dismounted his horse, revealing what was attached to the rope.
Rickon.
Just like in Visenya's dream.
In response, Visenya and Jon both dismounted their horses and walked a few steps forward into the field. Visenya carefully eyed Ramsay, as he repeated the same actions she saw him do in her dream. That's when she glanced to Jon, who was confused by the whole situation, as he watched Ramsay cut Rickon's ropes.
"He's going to put an arrow through Rickon." She murmured with fear, making Jon widen his eyes in fear.
Almost instantly, he bolted back to his horse, before taking off galloping into the field, trying to get Rickon first. Visenya on the other hand, bolted towards Tormund, who was holding a bow.
"Give her the bow." Jaime said quietly watching his new wife sprint towards them.
"Why would I give her the bow?" Tormund asked in confusion. "She probably doesn't know how to use it."
"Give her the fucking bow!" Davos ordered.
Tormund's eyes widened in confusion, as he tossed Visenya the bow and quiver, watching as she quickly mounted her horse, before galloping into the field after Jon, even though she was some distance behind him. As she started to close in on Jon's position, she saw the first three arrows that fired...knowing in the back of her mind they'd miss Rickon.
That's when she saw Ramsay take the fourth and final arrow, and aim to the sky. Almost instantly, Visenya loaded her bow and aimed it towards Ramsay's arrow, closed her eyes, and released it. As she opened her eyes, she saw Jon, had stopped his horse, allowing for Rickon to get on, but all that came on her face, was the element of surprise, when she saw her arrow, hit Ramsay's mid air.
"That's why she needed the bow." Davos sighed, glancing to Tormund who shook his head in disbelief.
Seeing that the arrow, was struck down, Visenya pulled back on the reins to stop her horse, only realizing that she was a couple feet in front of Jon and Rickon...but they were both alive...which is all she wanted. Almost instantly, Jon and Visenya started to gallop back to their lines, and in response, Ramsay started firing arrows aimed to hit Jon.
Once again, Visenya continuously fired arrows that caused a counterattacked his arrows. That's when Ramsay's anger came over him. Not only was he shocked by her archery skills...but he became rather annoyed with her. Carefully waiting for her to load her bow, he launched an arrow, aimed for her, and because she wasn't looking for one aimed at her, this arrow landed embedded in her left shoulder, knocking her off her horse.
Jon, who was only a few feet ahead of her, stopped his horse, and turned around to see Visenya laying on the ground. Visenya's horse, had also stopped, noticing it was missing a rider. As Visenya brought herself back to her feet, beginning to experience pain in her left shoulder from the arrow embedded in it, she whistled for her horse to come back to her, which the horse did willingly. What she wasn't expecting, was for another arrow to land embedded within the horse's eye, knocking it to the ground, killing it.
In that moment, she felt time stop, as she looked back towards Ramsay in fear, and just as she did, she heard him address his archers.
"Send a volley...I want her dead." Ramsay ordered calmly with a smirk.
Visenya whipped head around back to Jon, who looked at her in fear.
"GO!" She screamed in horror, and thankfully, Jon listened to her (for once), as he started galloping off towards their lines, as a volley of arrows started invading the field.
And just as she started running...she felt something pierce through her back, knocking her face down on the ground instantly. All she hoped for in that moment, was for Jon and Rickon to have gotten away safety. But as soon as she got hit with the arrow...everyone held their breaths in shock. Jon and Rickon had missed the several arrows that were fired at them...but they didn't know the cost at what had happened. Sansa and Mira, who were watching from a nearby hill felt tears come to their eyes. Sansa was glad her brother was safe...but the cost was her sister. Mira, who had come to love Visenya as a sister, felt numb...witnessing the sight of her best friend...her sister, get shot down before her eyes. Jaime felt similar. Watching the one person he loved in this world, die before him...almost instantly making him ready to cut down every single Bolton for killing her. Aegonar and Sunspear roared in pain, almost like they could feel the arrow pierce through Visenya's back...almost like they were ready to burn them all alive.
As Jon dropped Rickon off to his lines, gesturing him to go to Sansa and Mira, he turned his horse around to see Visenya slowly struggle to get to her knees, before trying to reach around to pull the arrow embedded in her back...which she did, though she let out a slight scream of pain as she did. Just as she brought herself to her feet, Ramsay, seeing this as an opportunity to get the Stark's to attack first, smirked.
"Run her down!" He ordered, and the calvary started heading toward her...with the intent of killing her.
Visenya, lifted her head up, seeing Jon's calvary heading toward her at rapid pace, and just as she pulled the second arrow out of her shoulder, she turned her head slowly around to see Ramsay's incoming calvary. In the back of her mind, she wondered what occurred in her life that got her to this moment. But knowing there was only a small chance at getting out of this alive, and fully accepting her fate, she carefully unsheathedDark Sister, mentally and physically preparing herself to receive the Bolton's head on.
What surprised her was the Stark calvary to surpass her and collide head on with the Boltons. Both sides began to die in a frenzy, with bodies and weaponry flying everywhere, arrows began to be fired on both sides, and as both sides continued to shoot, Aegonar and Sunspear took to the skies and began to fly over the two armies. Seeing the two dragons, the Stark archers stopped firing.
"Don't stop for the dragons...something stronger than arrows can take them down...but nothing the Boltons or us have can." Jaime ordered.
"But if we keep firing, we'll loose our own men." Davos countered before gesturing to the archers. "Stand down."
Almost instantly, the archers stopped firing. Ramsay, seeing the two incoming dragons, ordered his archers to once again to fire a volley with the hopes of taking down the dragons. However, just like Jaime said, the arrows were useless against them. Unfased by the Bolton's attack, both Aegonar and Sunspear began to close in on the Bolton army, and as soon as they were, flames erupted from their mouths, causing the archers and foot-soldiers to fall in submission from the heat of the flames...burning them alive. Jon smiled from his position on the battlefield...still mesmerized by Visenya's dragons. The only thing, was that the amount of dead bodies was so large...small mountains could be created from them, as Jon was standing on a mountain of dead bodies.
From the position behind the carnage, Davos glanced to Jaime.
"Are you thinking the same thing I am thinking?" He asked.
The man nodded to him, before urging his horse into a gallop heading toward the battlefield, unsheathing his sword in the process.
Davos sighed glancing to the rest of the men who stood frozen.
"We might as well be taking shits back here." He groaned before dismounting from his horse, unsheathing his sword, and gesturing for the rest of the soldiers to take to the field...which they all did.
From their position on the hill, Rickon, who was now, standing next to Sansa and her horse, sighed in confusion.
"Will Jon and Visenya die?" He asked with worry.
Mira glanced to Sansa with fear on her face, but Sansa didn't answer, as she didn't know how to respond.
On the battlefield, in the middle of the carnage, Visenya, who was still weilding Dark Sister with ease, continuously cut down enemy soldiers one-by-one. Eventually, she came face-to-face with Herald Karstark.
The man looked to her with a smirk.
"I hoped the Lannister's killed you...like they killed Robb." He taunted. "Now I get to do the same."
"You may try." She murmured before he began swinging his sword at her, which immediately collided withDark Sister.
Each sword swing that the Karstark made, Visenya countered with ease. All of those stupid sword lessons Jaime did with her after she receivedDawnhad finally paid off.
'Maybe the sword isn't so bad.'She thought to herself in the middle of the fight.
Just as she thought that, two punches from Herald Karstark landed to her face, which only angered her more, making her attack him more with rage. While her entire body filled with adrenaline...she started to feel exhaustion take over her...feeling the pain from her back and her shoulder...and it only worsened when the man punched her left shoulder, making her scream in pain. Seeing this as a weak point in her attack, Karstark was able to knockDark Sisterout of Visenya's hands, but before he could give her one final blow, Visenya reached for the dagger that Ned Stark gave her, and embedded it inside of the man's thigh, making him scream in pain, knocking him to his knees.
Almost immediately, she unsheathedDawnfrom her back and did a downward slice on the man, who had attempted to block it with his sword, butDawnwas able to cut through his blade easily, allowing her to split him down the middle in the process...ending the man's life.
After admiring the man's dead body in shock, she immediately placedDawnback within it's sheath on her back, and picked upDark Sisterin the process. That's when she noticed Jaime, standing a few paces away.
"Hi." She sighed in exhaustion.
"Hi." He replied in the same tone.
She gestured to the disembodied body of Herald Karstark before her. "You were right...using the sword isn't so bad."
He let out a laugh as he walked toward her, before placing a kiss on her forehead. Due to her exhaustion, she leaned into him, before he helped her walk towards Jon, Tormund, and Davos, who were all standing on a mountain of bodies. As soon as they were at the top of the mountain, Jon embraced Visenya, who still hadDark Sisterin her hands.
"You alright?" Jon asked.
She shrugged, gesturing to Aegonar and Sunspear who were still burning the Bolton's.
"If they are still burning people alive...then no." She murmured as she looked on towards where Ramsay was standing. That's when she noticed that he was moving away from the front lines and heading toward the back of his army.
"He's heading back to Winterfell." She explained.
Just as Jon was about to respond, a horn sounded from the hill where Sansa, Mira, and Rickon were. All of them turned to look that way seeing two different banners heading their way. The sigil for House Arryn...and the sigil for House Tully.
As the Arryn calvalry and the Tully calvary began riding through the field, eventually making it towards the gates of Winterfell...allowing to cut down the garrisons who were trying to hold the gate open. Within a matter of moments, the entire battle had calmed down, and as they all began to walk the field, the amount of dead bodies from both sides was astonishing.
Seeing that all of the Bolton's bannermen were dead, Sansa, Mira, Rickon, Brienne (who arrived with the Tully's), and Petyr Baelish (who arrived with the Arryn's) all walked their horses onto the field. As they rode into Winterfell, the noticed that the once Bolton banners that hung from the towers were now replaced by Stark banners, and the remaining Stark bannermen now occupied the castle.
As soon as they dismounted from their horses, Rickon and Sansa ran towards Jon and Visenya, who immediately embraced them both...happy that Winterfell was once again under Stark control. Brienne gave a nod to Jaime who immediately nodded back to her in the utmost respect. After Visenya let go of Sansa and Rickon, Mira engulfed her into a hug, crying into her shoulder.
That's when Mira noticed the blood that was coming from Visenya's back and shoulder.
"You need a maester." She said calmly. "I'll take you to one...you must be exhausted."
"For once...I can finally say I know what it feels like to be exhausted." Was all Visenya could reply.
A/N:
Shoutout to Ian09121995 for help with The Battle of the Bastards.
Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, ideas, or concerns.