Chapter 6 Arya

(Hello everyone! So, this is a fanfic that I've been working on for a while now. I borrowed several elements from Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire. This is my first fanfic on this site, so constructive criticism is welcome. Appreciate!)

As soon as the recruit had entered the inn to tell them about the gold cloaks Yoren had ordered Arya and Gendry to get up the stairs and hide. The bewildered innkeeper pleaded with Yoren to cause no trouble as Yoren and Arya's father and the other recruits piled out the door. Now Arya knelt on the floor in a room on the second floor of the inn by the stream on the Kingsroad. She was peering out the window down in the front courtyard of the inn. Below she could see Yoren and her father talking to the gold cloaks that had come looking for Gendry. The gold cloaks were still on their horses. Many more of the Night's Watch recruits were standing around them, weapons in hand.

"What are they saying?" Gendry whispered in Arya's left ear. He was kneeling beside her, trying to see out the window without raising his head too high. His breath was hot and smelled like ale and mutton stew.

"Shut up!" she whispered back fiercely. "Listen."

"Aye, I'm with the Night's Watch." Yoren was telling the gold cloak officer. "And what would you be wanting?"

"I have a royal warrant," said the officer in a stern tone. He had a rolled parchment in his left hand. "We're to bring a bastard called Gendry back to the city. He has a bull's head helmet. He was seen leaving King's Landing with your group."

"That's right," Yoren replied. "And he belongs to the Night's Watch now. He's beyond the touch of kings and queens."

"We have a royal warrant!"

"Piss on your warrant," Yoren said as he spat on the ground.

The officer began to draw his sword and his men meant to followed suit but in a flash Yoren's sword was out and at the officer's belly and the rest of the Night's Watch recruits brandished their weapons at the other gold cloaks. To Arya's surprise even Hot Pie and Lommy were there, both with big rocks in their hands.

"This is treason!" the officer shouted at them. "You'll all hang!"

"You first," said one of the recruits as he brandished a mace. The hunter had his bow drawn and an arrow notched. "Nah, I think this one will get an arrow through the heart before he hangs," he said.

"All these men belong to the Night's Watch," said Arya's father to the gold cloaks, his voice loud and strong and commanding. "Including the boy you want. You best get back to King's Landing while you can."

"Best do what Lord Stark says," Yoren told the officer. "Or we might have to dig six fresh graves by the side of the road."

The office sneered. "I don't take orders from traitors!"

"You already do," said Arya's father and the officer's sneer grew into a look of confusion. What did that mean, Arya thought? Did the officer take orders from traitors? She didn't know who was in charge of the gold cloaks. Maybe he meant Joffrey. And maybe Cersei. They could give orders to the gold cloaks. But he was the King and she was the Queen. How could they be traitors? Traitors to who?

"We'll be back," said the officer after a moment of hesitation. "And we won't be alone." With that he swiftly turned his horse around and his men followed and Arya last saw them heading south on the Kingsroad, crossing the wooden bridge over the stream and then disappearing where the road went in the forest on the far side.

"Should've killed them," said the hunter.

"Aye," said Yoren. "But some of you would be dead, too."

Arya sat on the floor of the room and Gendry sat next to her. She was looking at him in puzzlement. Something wasn't right here. He was just an armorer's apprentice. He was rather common looking, except for his very black hair and very blue eyes. What would they want with him? "Why do the gold cloaks want you?"

"Don't know," he answered, and he looked away and Arya knew he was hiding something.

"Liar."

"You shouldn't call people liar."

"You are a liar," she said louder. "They had a warrant for you. Why?'

Gendry shrugged and she punched his arm. "Tell me!" He laughed and she punched him again and he laughed again. "You hit like a girl."

Arya's face flushed. "I'm not a girl!"

Gendry raised his eyebrows. "Now who's the liar?"

Arya felt her face grow all hot. What did he know? Her father! "Did Lord Stark say…?"

"That you are his daughter? Yes. Lady Arya Stark of Winterfell."

"Don't call me a lady!" she almost yelled and she punched him again.

"What's this all about?" came her father's stern voice from the door.

Arya stood and so did Gendry. "You told him who I am!" she said in as loud a tone as she dared.

Her father sighed and nodded. "He already knew you were a girl."

Arya looked at Gendry. "How?" she asked more quietly.

"You were always pis…making water in the woods," he said. "Besides, you look like a girl. I'm not stupid. My lady."

"Yes, you are!" She punched him in the arm again, this time really hard and Gendry yelped in real pain.

"Enough of that!" her father said in a stern tone and then he looked at Gendry. "And don't you call her 'my lady' anymore."

"Yes. My lord," Gendry said with his eyes cast down.

"Why do the gold cloaks want him?" Arya asked.

Her father looked at Gendry, then back to her. "Don't rightly know."

Arya looked from one to the other. She couldn't call her father a liar but she felt he knew why they wanted Gendry so he was a liar. Maybe. If someone didn't tell you something they knew but also didn't tell you a lie about it, were they a liar? "Just tell me," she said, almost pleading. "I can keep a secret."

"That's up to Gendry."

Arya looked at Gendry but he wouldn't look at her. "Fine!" she said in a huff. "Keep your secrets. I don't care." She started to leave but her father stopped her.

"The innkeeper's daughter is bringing up a bucket of hot water for you so you can have a wash. Gendry, you best get to the baths if you want to get clean. Yoren said we'll leave as soon as everyone is ready. We aren't staying here the night."

"Sorry for bringing trouble, my lord," Gendry apologized.

"Not your fault, lad. Get going."

Gendry left and Arya sat on the bed that was in the room and which had a straw filled mattress. Her father sat next to her, wincing in pain from his bad leg.

"How is your leg?"

"Mending. But slowly," he replied. He put an arm around her and looked at her closely. "Trouble is following us."

"Following Gendry, you mean."

"Aye. But we're here with him so it's our trouble as well."

"What did he do? Did he kill someone?"

"No. He's just a good lad who is in a bad situation. And don't you be bothering him about it. If he wants to tell you, he will."

She nodded and then she remembered she had wanted to ask him something. "Why did you tell him to look after me?"

"I'm worried about you."

"Yes, but why Gendry?"

"I'd met him before, in King's Landing."

"Oh…How?"

"I visited his shop."

"Why?"

"To get my sword fixed. Now enough with the questions. You leave him alone and…" But before he could scold her further there was a knock on the door and her father got up and opened the door a crack and then opened it wide. A young girl no older than Arya came in with a bucket of hot water and a wash cloth. Her father thanked the girl and then she left and he stepped outside, saying he would guard the door while she washed.

Arya felt the water in the bucket and it was warm, not hot, but it would do nicely. She hadn't had a bath in well over a week, not since her father was arrested and she had run away. Now she felt all grimy and dirty, the filth of King's Landing's mean streets and alleys in her hair and on her body. She quickly stripped and soon had the cloth soaking wet and began rubbing the soapy water all over her body. Arya dipped her head in the water and held it there for a long time, then raised her head and let the water pour down her face and back. She washed her face and hair as best she could and soon felt much better. But her clothes were still dirty and putting them back on again after a wash made them feel twice as dirty.

Afterwards her father went off to the baths for a quick wash while she stayed outside with the rest of the men and Yoren. She watched as he pulled off a leaf from the sour leaf bale in the lead wagon and started chewing, and then he gave some out to some recruits who asked. It made their mouths frothy and they spit red. Arya had never tried sour leaf. It looked like a disgusting habit which she wanted no part of.

Arya's clothes itched and felt terrible but there was nothing she could do about it. Most of the others still had wet hair from the baths and all were tired. She stood by her donkey with Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy nearby.

"I bet he's a criminal," Lommy was saying, trying to whisper but failing.

"He weren't in that cell with us," Hot Pie replied.

"That's cause he ain't been caught yet."

If Gendry had heard them he ignored them as he adjusted the bridle on his donkey. Arya looked at him in the growing darkness and whispered to him. "Did you kill someone?"

"Not yet," he whispered back, and she sucked in her breath and her hand automatically went to Needle's hilt but then she calmed down when she saw him grinning and it was a nice grin and she knew he was jesting.

"I won't ask again," Arya said, remembering her father's warning.

"I can't tell you," Gendry whispered, in a serious tone. "You wouldn't believe me anyway. I don't believe it myself."

Arya said nothing but felt confused once again. Why can't he believe something that was true about himself?

Just then her father and the last men came from the baths. Her father was limping, using a stick to help him walk. Arya wanted to help him but knew she couldn't. He hobbled to the front of the line and Yoren helped him up on the wagon and then without a word the first wagon started and the hunter rode off on his horse in front of it and soon they were on the road again.

The road was more of a track now, the way heavily forested and the going was very slow in the gloom. Yoren lit a lamp up front and soon they made better time, but it was not easy. After a few hours they hadn't gone far, and most were dead tired and the horses and donkeys were as well. Arya kept dozing off and once Gendry had to grab her arm to stop her from falling off her donkey. Then they came out of the thickest part of the forest and the sky was above them, clean and clear, and the stars were bright and everyone started looking up and one man shouted and another pointed and soon they all saw it. A red streak across the sky, looking like the gods had painted it with a heavenly stroke of a giant brush.

"What is it?" gasped Hot Pie.

"The sky's on fire!" said Lommy in fear.

Arya laughed at him. "The sky can't burn." They were such idiots. She didn't know what it was either but she had some lessons about the stars back at Winterfell. She and Sansa usually had lessons with Septa Mordane, who taught them about the Seven and sewing and needle work and how to run a household and play music and sing. Arya was terrible at it all except for how to run a household. Sansa was good at everything Arya wasn't good at. They were so different Arya wondered how they could be sisters sometimes. They had also had some lessons with Maester Luwin, about things maesters knew, about the plants, and the rocks, and the oceans, and the animals, and about the history of Westeros and the great houses of the realm. Arya liked those lessons best cause they often had them with Bran, and Sansa was not so perfect as she was at the things Septa Mordane had taught them. Master Luwin also taught them about the sun and the moon and the stars.

Maester Luwin said there were many theories about the stars and moon and sun and our world. The one he liked best was the one that said that the world was a round ball of rock and water and trees and the stars and moon and sun were all around the world. Arya at first thought that was stupid. The land was flat, not round like a ball. She told the maester and he nodded. "Many men believe that is so. But, my child, why does the sun rise in the east and set in the west? Why does the moon appear here and there, not always in the same place, and why does it change shape? And the stars move as well. Sailors who have been across the Narrow Sea to the Free Cities and to the Jade Sea and back say the stars are in different places in the night sky in those lands. A wise sailor can even use them to navigate, steering his ship by the stars. And the land everywhere appears as a smudge on the horizon and then rises out of the water, growing bigger as you get closer. If the world is all flat, why does all this happen? Because the world is round, and the stars and moon and sun are all around our world."

It seemed right, but she still wasn't sure. The world looked flat to her. Well, except for the hills and mountains. Arya had told her brother Jon what the maester had said. He had told her Maester Luwin had the right of it and she trusted Jon so from then on she believed it, too. But she couldn't tell that to these boys, that the stars moved around their round world, and maybe this red streak was one of those moving stars. They would laugh at her and wonder how she knew and she couldn't explain that. No, she had to keep pretending to be a stupid boy, a stupid commoner boy like they were.

"It's just a star on fire, falling toward the sun," she said, trying to sound as dumb as they did.

Now it was Lommy's turn to snicker at her. "Stars don't fall into the sun," he said as if he knew everything. "The sun is out in the day and the stars are out at night. How could a star fall into the sun?"

"Don't know," said Hot Pie. "Looks like it's falling, though, don't it?"

Gendry was gazing up at the red streak. "It looks like a sword after coming out of the hot forge."

Arya had seen a sword come out of the forge at Winterfell and the red streak did sort of look like that. Thinking of Winterfell and Maester Luwin and Jon made her homesick. Maybe they never should have left and none of the bad things would have happened. But soon she'd be home and her mother and Bran and Rickon and everyone else would be there.

No, that's not right. Sansa wouldn't be there. Or Jon or Robb. Or Jory or Septa Mordane or Jeyne Poole or Jeyne's father. Arya didn't even know what had happened to most of those they had left Winterfell with. Some had died, she knew that, had seen some of their bodies near the stables. The others she thought must have died too, or were prisoners like Sansa. She felt a deep hurt inside as she thought on all this and also felt an intense anger at those who had caused it all. Winterfell would not be the same as when she had left. Was home still home if the people who belonged there weren't there anymore?

Up ahead she saw the light Yoren carried on the front wagon moving to the left. Soon the rest of them followed it and they found themselves in a small clearing. The red streak in the sky made it bright enough to see the stone foundations of a house that had once stood here but had been burnt or somehow else been destroyed. They halted and Yoren told them to bed down for a few hours. Once the horses and donkeys were hobbled and a few guards set, everyone was too tired to do much else except flop to the ground and cover themselves as best they could. Arya found a not so lumpy patch of ground and lay on her back for a while looking up at the red streak in the starry sky.

Nearby lay Gendry. He knew who she was now, knew her big secret. Still, he had said nothing to the others. Yoren had said anyone of them would turn her in for a few coppers and their freedom. But Gendry wasn't like the others. At least she didn't think so. Or maybe he was a criminal, too. Maybe he was running away from something. What was he running from? Why did he join the Night's Watch? What did the gold cloaks want with him?

She peered through her half close eyelids at the red streak high above. "It looks sort of like a sword," she whispered to Gendry.

"A bit," he said after a moment. "Right before the hot steel hits the cold water." They were silent for a moment. Gendry rolled on his side and looked at her and whispered. "Where did you get your sword?"

"Needle was…"

"Needle?"

"All great swords have names. Needle was a gift from my brother Jon."

"Is he fighting with your other brother?"

"No," Arya whispered. "He's at the Wall. He joined the Night's Watch."

"Why?"

"He's a bast…sorry. He's…"

"A bastard. You can say it, I know what I am."

"My father said it was not a nice word."

"No, I guess not. But I bet there are a lot of bastards on the Wall," Gendry whispered. "No where else to go."

He lay back and they were silent for a long time. Arya had never thought of Jon as anything but her brother. She knew her mother never liked him, but everyone else did. Jon had always mussed up her hair and called her little sister. And he had Mikken the Winterfell smith make Needle for her. Needle had saved her.

"Have you ever made a sword?" she whispered to Gendry.

"Not yet. Was going to but…but I left."

"Why?"

He sighed heavily. "Go to sleep, Arry." He rolled to his other side and said nothing else and after a while Arya let exhaustion overwhelm her.

It didn't seem like she had slept long before Yoren was kicking them all awake and the sun was rising. They found a nearby stream and soon had filled their water skins and bottles and had a big pot of grounded up oats cooking for breakfast. Everyone had a bowl full and after they cleaned up Arya had a chance to sneak off to use the bathroom in the nearby woods. She said nothing to Gendry but he saw her leaving and he looked about to make sure no one was taking an interest in what she was doing. When she came back her father was talking to Gendry. She walked up and they stopped talking and her father hobbled away after a quick worried look to her.

"What's going on?" she asked Gendry quietly.

"He said the road is going to get more dangerous from now on."

"I knew that."

Gendry's eyes darted about, like he was hiding something. "What else did he say?"

He looked at her and hesitated but finally spoke. "He said if we get attacked and it looks bad I'm to…I'm to get you away."

Arya glared at him. "I'm glad you two have decided I need saving! I can fight, too!"

He raised his eyebrows and looked at Needle at her side. "You ever kill anyone with Needle?" The way he said it, it sounded like he was sure she never had even scratched anyone but herself with Needle.

"I killed a stable boy at King's Landing."

He stared at her, confusion on his face, as if that was the last thing he had expected her to say. "You did not."

"I don't care if you believe me or not," she said in a huff and started to walk away.

"Wait…," Gendry said but she kept going and soon they were with the others and it wasn't safe to talk anymore.

Before long Yoren ordered them to mount up and they pulled back onto the rutted track that passed for the Kingsroad here. For a while Arya rode in silence besides Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy. Hot Pie went on about the desserts and bread he could make and it was making her stomach grumble thinking of all the delicious food she had eaten in her life. After a while one of the older recruits told Hot Pie to shut up about food or he was going to eat him.

Soon after Arya kicked her donkey in the sides and moved up to be nearer to where her father sat in his wagon. She was mad at him, thinking she needed a bodyguard. She knew she was a little girl but she didn't feel like it, not with Needle at her side, not with Syrio walking with her, telling her not today and that fear cuts deeper than swords. She knew she was better at wielding a sword than anyone here except her father and Yoren.

In the lead wagon Yoren was dozing on the bale of sour leaf and her father sat with his bad leg propped up on a sack of something. The wagon driver was looking ahead concentrating on the road and the hunter was far in front on his horse. Behind them came the wagon with the cage and the three prisoners. As she passed by Biter hissed at her and Rorge actually tried to smile but it made him look more hideous with the hole where his nose should be.

"Little boy," he said. "Be a good lad and open our cage, eh? That black crow is sleeping now. We'll just run away and he don't need to know a thing about it till after, eh?"

Arya shook her head. "Why should I help you? You're criminals."

Now Rorge snarled. "You know what I'm in here for? Rape and murder. Women, little girls, even a little boy like you. Nice and fresh, that's the way I likes 'em. And then I cuts off their noses and guts 'em."

Arya shuddered and her left hand went to Needle without even thinking of it. "Think I'll let you out of the cage after you told me that?"

Rorge snarled at her and reached through the bars trying to grab her but she was too far away.

"The boy is too smart to set us free," said the one with red and white hair she heard was called Jaqen H'ghar. "The boy has sense. You are called Arry, yes?

Arya nodded and the strange man was about to speak again when there came a shout.

"Hey, boy!" yelled her father from the first wagon. "Get away from that cage!"

Arya kicked her donkey again and trotted up to her father's wagon on the left side. He was mad she could see right away. "Yoren told you to stay away from that lot," he said in a low voice, eyes staring intently at her. In all her years Arya had never seen or heard about her father hitting any of his children, including her. She had gotten a few cuffs behind the ear from her mother and more than a few from Septa Mordane. But now he looked like he wanted to hit her and that scared her more than Rorge's noseless face. "You do as you're told. We're not playing a game here. You understand?"

"Yes," she said with downcast eyes.

His look softened. "This lot are not your friends," her father told her quietly, patiently. "All of them have crimes in their past, some of them very terrible crimes."

"Not Hot Pie or Lommy. They just stole a few things cause they were poor and hungry."

He raised his eyebrows for a moment. "Aye. Maybe not them. Or Gendry."

"Why is he… okay, I won't ask," she said after seeing his look. But Arya was confused. "But…you are friendly with them all. You tried to help them, tell them how to fight properly."

"Because we're in this together, so we need their help. But remember who you are and who they are."

"I will."

"Good."

"I can fight too, you know. Syrio taught me. That's why you hired him."

He sighed. "But I don't want you to fight."

"Is that why you told Gendry to take me away if there is a fight?"

He hesitated. "Aye, if it gets bad."

"Before you said we shouldn't run."

"Sometimes you have to run. Now go back with the other boys."

But Arya wouldn't let it go. "I think we're like a wolf pack. You once told me wolves stick together. Our pack should stick together like wolves do."

"And what should I tell your mother if I live and you don't? That you died fighting beside me like a grown man?"

Arya gulped. She never thought she would die. "No. But you have to run with us if it gets bad. I won't run without you."

He stared at her and then nodded. "Aye. Chances are nothing will happen. Go on, get back with the other boys."

After a short break at noon for a quick meal of cheese, bread, and dry salted fish, they rode hard the rest of the day. They soon left the forest and were in proper farming country. More and more people were coming down the road and all had the same tales of woe, running from war and outlaws. Now they began talking of a particular savage group, led by a tall man who rode a black and white stripped zorse. They were foreigners for the most part, said another frightened farmer, who escaped with his life but lost his herd of goats and field of corn. And his wife, who he had last seen being dragged off by the vicious men. He begged them to come help him save her, but Yoren told him it was most likely she was dead now and he would be too if he went back. The last they saw of him he was standing in the Kingsroad with tears coming down his cheeks. Arya saw her father's stern look and knew he was mad and it made her mad too, all these poor people caught up in the middle of all this.

Before long they came upon a burned out farm, and saw some bodies hanging from a tree in a field. The flies were buzzing around them and the stench as they rode past was terrible. After that, dead bodies and burnt fields and buildings became a more common sight. That night they stopped under the trees of an apple orchard and found an abandoned farmhouse. Inside they found nothing of any use, all the food and valuables gone. But they had a warm dry place to sleep for a change and ate apples with their supper of salt fish and mashed boiled pease, and finished the last of the barrel of ale. The bread was almost gone too so they made a fire in the farmhouse oven and Hot Pie set to work with the sack of flour they had and some water and by morning they had twenty round loaves of fresh bread. It was delicious and everyone complemented him on his skill as a baker. But the rest of their food was running low and it was still a long way to the Wall. She heard Yoren tell her father he usually stopped at Harrenhal to have a rest and get more provisions.

The next day in the morning the weather started fine but by midday it was raining hard and they got good and soaking wet. They made little progress, and that night they huddled around fires to get dry and warn off the chill. In the morning several recruits were sick and one was so bad he had to lie in a wagon all day, coughing and shaking badly. Two days later he was dead and Arya didn't even know his name. They dug a quick grave and buried him by the side of the road. His wasn't the only grave there.

By this time they were nearing Gods Eye, the massive lake which was in central Westeros. It was to the far west of the Kingsroad but was so big they could see it in the distance from a certain hill Yoren told them one morning. Sure enough, later that day they saw the lake as they came over a rise and stopped where a road branched west from the Kingsroad. They saw a shimmering expanse of water which filled the northwestern horizon.

"Is it the ocean?" asked Lommy.

"Gods Eye," Arya told him. "It's a lake."

"A big lake," Gendry commented.

"Harrenhal is near it, up north," Arya said.

"Harrenhal is full of ghosts," Hot Pie said in a quivering voice. They were about to move down the hill when the hunter came back riding hard. He had a quick talk with Yoren and her father up front and then Yoren stood on the wagon and shouted to all of them.

"There's a large party of men ahead, riding and they look like trouble. We'll head off the road west a bit and find a good place to lie low. Let's move!"

The road west was worse than the Kingsroad but this part of the land hadn't been touched by war yet. People were in their fields and by their houses in little villages. Many were armed with axes and sickles. Yoren stopped and traded news with the people and more than a few asked them if war was coming their way and Yoren and her father told them to be prepared to run at any moment. Yoren used the few coins he had left to buy some carrots and onions from one farmer but many didn't want to sell, worried about the war and coming winter.

They lay low in a small copse of trees for the night and next morning Yoren decided to lead the party up to the shore of Gods Eye and then skirt the shore towards Harrenhal. Or maybe they could get passage on a boat in a small town he knew about. A day and half later they came to the small town on the lake shore and it was abandoned. A careful search of the houses and a stone holdfast told them no one was left, except a few cats and dogs, chickens and a goose. There were also no boats.

They moved into the stone holdfast for the night. It wasn't a castle, but it had stone walls about ten feet high, and a strong gate, so it seemed safer than the wooden houses in the town. There was also a large barn and another building with a kitchen and a high tower in one corner. They put all the horses, donkeys, and wagons inside the barn, including the one with the three violent prisoners. In the barn they also found a trap door in the floor and a tunnel that led to the lake. That was their escape route Yoren told them all, in case of trouble. Yoren and her father set the guard, placing three men in the tower, including the hunter with his bow, and others on a wooden catwalk that went around the top part of the walls. They killed the goose and a few chickens and had a good meal as night fell.

Arya saw her father awkwardly climbing a ladder to the wooden catwalk to join Yoren up there and she soon followed him, quiet as a cat. She stood to the side as her father and Yoren looked out over the town and talked, neither of them noticing her in the dark.

"We should stick to the shoreline all the way to Harrenhal," her father said.

"Aye," Yoren replied. "No telling who or what is on the Kingsroad now. Lady Whent always showed a kindness to me and will take us in. Should be able to top up our supplies as well."

"I was there a long time ago," her father said. "The year of the false spring, when there was a grand tournament at Harrenhal." He spoke in a tone of longing, as if he remembered something special. Arya had never heard him talk about this before. Then his voice turned harsh. "But Rhaegar Targaryen ruined it all. He named my sister the queen of beauty during the tournament."

"Aye," said Yoren. "I've heard this story once before. He was married to Elia of Dorne at the time, wasn't he?"

"Married, aye," her father said. "It caused a scandal. Robert was in love with my sister and…" But then he stopped and seemed to be staring hard in the distance. "Someone's in the town."

Arya looked out and could see some pinpricks of light coming closer and then she heard the clop of horse hoofs and the shouts of men. They were carrying torches and were moving from house to house, and the men were getting off their horses as if searching for something. Arya couldn't tell how many were out there, but it seemed like much more than they had.

Yoren turned and was startled to see her but quickly shouted an order. "Boy, roust the rest and get them on the walls. We may have trouble."

Arya swiftly climbed down the ladder and started shouting to the others to get out and get armed. In minutes they were all up and mounting the wall with whatever weapons then had. Arya stood by her father and Yoren again as the torches began to converge on the holdfast. The men had some banners that looked red but in the dark it was hard to see. Two of them tried the gate but it was barred shut.

Yoren yelled at them. "The lord is gone and we're just staying the night. Who's calling?"

A big man in chain mail sitting on a big warhorse rode up and now they could see the Lannister banner in another horseman's hand. "I'm Ser Marcus Lefford," the big man shouted. It was hard to tell what his face looked like in the dark and with his helmet on. "Who am I addressing?"

"Yoren of the Night's Watch. I got a party of recruits and we're hold up here for safety for the night. We'll be on our way in the morning."

"That's the bastard crow," came a voice and out of the darkness rode the gold cloak officer from the inn.

"Aye, it is. You back for more, are you?" Yoren said as he spat over the parapet. "The bastard you wanted ran off after you left the inn so he ain't with us no more."

"Then we'll just take a look inside and see who's here," said the gold cloak officer.

"I think not," Yoren replied.

"I command you to open the gate in the name of King Joffrey," Ser Marcus ordered.

"We got nothing to do with your kings and wars," Yoren told him.

"Open the gate or we'll burn you out!"

Now Arya's father shouted down to them. "Ser Marcus, you know me. I am a man of honor. I say the boy is gone, he is gone." It was a lie, Arya knew. Gendry was kneeling right beside her wearing his bulls head helmet and carrying his big hammer.

"Eddard Stark," said Ser Marcus. "Yes, I know you are a man of honor. Or at least you were until you tried to take the Iron Throne. But that matters not now. You are just the man I'm looking for. The Queen has commanded you be brought back to King's Landing."

Arya felt a shock run through her. They want to take him back! They're going to kill him!

"What does the Queen want with me now?" her father asked in a calm manner.

"I follow orders, I do not question them," Ser Marcus said. "These men of the gold cloaks say you and your party threatened them and refused to hand over the bastard boy. If you and the bastard boy surrender peacefully we will let the rest go. If you resist all will die."

There was silence for a moment and her father stood there. He looked around and he saw her, smiled slightly and then turned and shouted down to Ser Marcus. "I have your word on that?"

"You do."

Some of the recruits around Arya were muttering "no" and "don't surrender" but none shouted it.

Her father looked over the wall and down at Ser Marcus. "Thing is, Ser Marcus, you are a sworn bannermen for the Lannisters. Cersei ordered you to bring me back to the capital. So I can hang? So Ser Ilyn Payne can cut my head off? Or are you to cut my throat after I surrender?"

"I was told no harm would come to you."

"All Lannisters are liars, including the Queen and her bastard son the false king."

That brought another shock to Arya and everyone started muttering. Joffrey…a bastard? False king?

"Such talk is treason, Stark!" said Ser Marcus angrily.

"I'm already branded a traitor so what of it," her father answered. "And it is no treason to tell the truth. I trusted the word of other men recently. They betrayed me. So I don't think I will be trusting your word."

"Then the deaths of these men will be on your head!" said Ser Marcus in rising anger and just as he raised his hand to give a command an arrow flew out of the dark and hit him in the right shoulder, driving through his chain mail and knocking him from his horse. "Kill them all except Stark!" he shouted from the ground and the battle was on.

Torches and spears started sailing towards them from the darkness. One recruit on the wall took a spear through the face and died in an instant. Several men started pounding on the wooden gates with heavy axes while other men started climbing the rough stone walls. Arya drew out Needle and was all set to fight when her father was there grabbing her. "Go! Now!"

"No!" she yelled. "I'm going to fight!"

"Get her away!" her father shouted to Gendry who was behind her.

"I won't leave you!" Arya screamed as the noise of battle grew louder.

"They won't kill me, sweet child, but they will kill you and Gendry. Now run!"

Torches were sailing over the walls and into the thatched roofs of the barn and the other building. More arrows sailed from the tower and more screams came. Tears filled her eyes and then Gendry was grabbing her and picking her up. She struggled and cursed him but he leaped from the wall with her in his strong arms. The wall was only ten feet high but he landed badly and they stumbled.

Arya rolled and got to her feet quick as a cat and then there was a man right in front of her, one of the gold cloaks, landing after leaping from the wall. But his back was to her and his eyes were on another target. "There's the bastard!" he shouted and he swung his sword at Gendry, who was still clumsily rising to his feet. The sword hit the helmet but it was well built and took the blow, although Gendry was dazed and fell to the ground again. Before the gold cloak could strike once more Arya screamed "Winterfell!" and stabbed him in the back. Needle went through his cloak and punched into his mail and the man screamed and dropped his sword and fell to the ground clutching his back. Without hesitation Arya stabbed down and Needle went through his eye and into his brain and he was dead. She was dizzy with battle fever, her heart racing, her thin body as strong as it ever was, and she felt like she could kill every Lannister and gold cloak in the Seven Kingdoms.

"Come on!" she yelled as she helped Gendry up. Then a Lannister man was there and Gendry smashed him in the face with his hammer and the man went down, his nose smashed in and his teeth in pieces. Two bodies fell from the wall and it was Lommy, entangled with a Lannister man and Arya and Gendry fell on him and killed him before the man could stab Lommy with his dagger. As Gendry helped Lommy up, she looked around for Yoren and her father and they were on the wall, Yoren stabbing a man through the stomach with his long sword and her father stabbing one under the ribs with his dagger. But the man didn't die, and as he screamed he grabbed her father and the weight of the man's body took him and her father over the parapet and outside the stone holdfast. As her father disappeared over the wall Arya screamed in horror.

"NOOOOO!"

Gendry had seen it happen too and he gasped. "They got him!"

Arya shouted at him. "Open the gate! We have to save him!" Gendry tried to do as she asked and was running to the gate but then she heard a scream of "Hot Pie!" and Hot Pie fell from the wall with a gold cloak in his fat arms and the two of them hit Gendry and the three of them landed on the ground in a tangle. Hot Pie's plump body landed on the gold cloak and knocked the wind out of him. The gold cloak gasped and tried to rise but Needle went through his throat and he didn't move again. As Gendry and Hot Pie started to stand, Arya looked around. The air was filled with smoke and fire and screams and dead bodies, and then Yoren was there in front of her.

"Go! Get out! The lot of you!" he yelled.

"He's outside the wall!" she yelled back.

"They won't kill him! But they will kill you! Go!"

"Come with us!"

"Run!"

Gendry was up and he grabbed Arya and Hot Pie ran too and Lommy came with him. Both looked unhurt. Arya screamed once more for her father as Gendry dragged her and then they were in the barn. It was on fire and the donkeys and horses were screeching and the din was awful. Lommy used a knife he had to cut the horses and donkeys loose and they were soon running from the barn in terror.

"Boys, lovely boys!" shouted Jaqen from the wagon with the cage. "Let us out! A man can fight!"

"Open this cage you fucking bastards or I'll rape you in hell!" Rorge screamed. Biter shook the cage violently, his eyes wide in fear.

Arya hesitated as Gendry opened the trap door in the barn floor. The barn was on fire and it was hot and smoky. She stared at Jaqen. "I'll let you out but you have to help me save my father."

"A man agrees," Jaqen said quickly. He didn't even ask her who her father was.

"Gendry, smash the lock with your hammer!" she yelled. He hesitated and Hot Pie whimpered from where he was standing in the hole in the floor, with Lommy sitting beside him.

"Go!" Gendry yelled to them. "We'll be right behind you!" Hot Pie and Lommy disappeared down the hole as Gendry smashed open the cage lock with two strong blows from his hammer.

Jaqen leaped out as best he could with manacled hands and feet and started heading for the trap door. "Wait!" Arya screamed. "My father is outside the walls! The Lannisters and gold cloaks have him! They're going to take him to King's Landing to the Queen. She'll kill him!"

"Lovely boy, the Red God is all around us, asking for payment," Jaqen said patiently. "We must go now and save a boy's father another day."

"Fuck his father!" Rorge yelled as he awkwardly climbed from the cage with Biter right behind him. "Let's go!"

"A man's companions are not coming," said Jaqen and before she knew it Needle was out of her hands and in Jaqen's and then Rorge screamed as Needle drove through his heart. Biter snarled and leaped at Jaqen but in an instant Needle was in his neck and coming out the other side. Biter collapsed next to Rorge, choking on his own blood and then Jaqen handed Needle back to Arya.

"These two would have been trouble," he said to her shocked look and then he followed Gendry down the hole in the floor. Arya heard a scream and looked behind her and out in the holdfast courtyard Yoren was dieing. Bodies surrounded him but three more Lannister men were stabbing him with spears as he slowly sank to his knees. Arya gasped and blinked away her tears and as she dropped into the tunnel the barn ceiling began to collapse around her.

Arya shimmed her way down the tunnel and found the others waiting for her by the lake. Gendry was trying to pound the manacles off Jaqen's feet, and after a few minutes he managed to part the chain so Jaqen could walk faster. "A man's manacled hands will have to wait," Jaqen said. "It is time to move."

"But…my father." Arya protested.

"Who's your father?" Hot Pie and Lommy asked almost at the same time.

She hesitated, but Jaqen spoke first. "Who the boy's father is of no matter for now. We must go. This man does not want to be in an iron cage anymore. Those who attacked will come looking when the fire dies. But they have who they want so maybe they will not look so hard."

"Where will we go?" Gendry asked.

"Away from here," Jaqen said.

Arya snarled at him. "You're going to leave us, aren't you?"

Jaqen stared at her and his eyes had a kindness and a burning intensity at the same time. "Lovely boy, a man has made a promise. A man has a debt to pay. A man will not abandon you until your father is safe."