Chapter Text
By all accounts it had been a normal uneventful summer day. Ellie had dragged herself out of bed and showered, attempted a Smokey eye, and lazily pulled on a sundress and heels. Then as she spent most of her days, she answered telephones and drank coffee and attempted to hide that she was reading fan fiction on her phone most of the day.
It was how she got through the monotony of it all and the Loneliness. She had just moved to Chicago from ohio and none of her friends had moved with her. So she took her solace in the one place where romance and adventure wasn’t dead. She couldn’t say when she’d become so attached to her fan-fiction only that her favorite was Game of Thrones. Not only was it full of intrigue like a Medieval House of cards, but there was a romance there that she loved to explore at any opportunity.
It gave her a thrill to think of Bronn finally getting his lady, finally figuring out who was Azor Ahai, and new takes on the history of the world she had become increasingly wrapped up in. Somewhere in her mind she knew that it might be a crutch, a small escape until she’d really settled but somehow she had grown accustomed to the warm feeling these stories had given her.
The day passed and no one commented on her phone use. No one spoke to her at all. However, something was different about this day. Even if she’d known what awaited her there was very little she could do to prepare herself.
6:40pm and the office was empty. In fact, some of the new green overhead lighting had started to turn off with the lack of movement. She sighed and determined that yes, it was way past time to go home. She dreaded it. It all seemed so boring to her now. She hadn’t thought that it would be this hard to adjust. She was 26 and living in a big city. Wasn’t everything just supposed to fall into place?
With another heavy sigh she grabbed her purse taking out her headphones and left the office to the upbeat tones of Taylor Swift. She felt like she was in a daze and it suited her the louder she turned the music the less she would have to be alone with her thoughts.
Perhaps if she’d been less exhausted, or if the song hadn’t been her favorite, she might have seen the light turn green. She might have avoided stepping into the street as the last few pedestrians made their way to the other side and she might have heard the honking of the speeding yellow taxi as it tried to maneuver out of the way. But she did not.
She felt the blow briefly almost like a wave of pressure that propelled her onto the hood of the car. There was dull throb in her ears and somewhere in the distance someone was shouting but she couldn’t register what they were saying only that she was so tired. Moments later everything turned black.
It was dark when she woke. Her eyes fluttered attempting to adjust to the low candlelight that burned in the room. She was in a bed and her head ached. That much she knew. She groaned in pain feeling weak and sore as she attempted to sit up. Suddenly there was a calming hand on her shoulder and the face of a woman staring down at her.
“There now, no need to rush, you’ve had a terrible fall” she said softly as she pushed her gently back down on the bed.
“Where am I?” Ellie asked trying to take in her surroundings. They were in a large room with stone walls. It was dark and most of the light was coming from a large fireplace on the left hand side of the room.
“You’re in the great keep, we were told you were coming” the woman replied bringing a hand up to caress her cheek worriedly.
Ellie looked back at her curiously noticing that she seemed to be wearing a long dress with medieval style sleeves. She had long auburn hair that was half tied and very kind eyes but Ellie was beginning to feel afraid. She tried to think back to how she arrived here and all she could remember was walking across the street and listening to..
‘My phone!’ She thought frantically as if having that device in her hand would somehow make sense of everything.
“Where’s my phone?” She groaned attempting to sit up one more time with the help of the mysterious woman.
“Phone?” The woman asked with confusion. “You’ve hit your head, let me get the Maester”
“No, I need my phone” Ellie tried to argue but the woman had already left the room. Once alone, she scanned the room again. There were no lamps, no wall fixtures, and seemed to be no electronics of any kind.
‘Where am I?’ She thought the worst ideas flowing through her head. This was not a hospital, that much she was clear on. Had someone picked her up after her accident? At the very least this was a kidnapping. Her heart began to drum in her chest and she found it hard to control her breathing.
‘Don’t panic’ she thought attempting to calm down. ‘Get up, find a way out’
With great effort she managed to stand out of the bed and proceeded to move to the window. Peering out of the stained glass her heart stopped. It was dark and the courtyard was only lit by a few fires around which she saw soldiers. Slowly she came to the realization that because of it’s lunacy she had a hard time accepting, she was in a castle. A castle with what appeared to be no electricity and she could not see the city lights from where she was.
Her mind started racing, it was possible that she’d been taken to a renaissance fair or she’d heard about a restaurant in the suburbs called Medieval times. Yet that didn’t fully make sense to her, even if she’d been taken to the burbs there would be a streetlight or a road somewhere and this place looked massive and seemed very far away from any kind of civilization.
Tearing herself from the window she went about exploring the room. She had realized when she woke that she was no longer wearing the clothes she’d put on this morning. Someone to her horror had changed her into a long white nightgown. Thankfully she didn’t feel like they’d done anything else to her but it was terrifying to think that someone had seen her when she was passed out. She found a mirror in the corner of the room and went to it hastily.
She looked ok she supposed but her ribs hurt. Lifting the long nightgown she examined her stomach. A large yellow bruise had formed on her left side it hurt to the touch and she could tell that it would be worse before it got better.
‘So I did get hit’ she thought bitterly and wondered how she went from a car accident to this renaissance fair nightmare without noticing.
‘How long have I been asleep?’
Suddenly there was a knock on the door and the woman was back with an old man wearing tan robes. He looked concerned an regarded her with a curious expression before moving towards her slowly.
“You shouldn’t be up and moving” the older woman chided motioning for her to go back to the bed. Ellie stood her ground.
“Who are you and why am I here?” She shouted to the surprise of all. Though they quickly recovered giving her a kind smile.
“I apologize for not introducing myself earlier, I thought you might know” she started motioning for her to sit on the bed. Ellie feeling the pain from her injuries reluctantly did so. “I am Caitlyn Stark and this is Maester Lewin, you are in Winterfell, and you are safe”
“W-what?” Ellie replied feeling a dull buzzing in her ears. “Winterfell isn’t real”
They both regarded her with curious expressions looking between themselves for a moment.
“We were told you were coming and that you might be a little confused by your journey.” Maester Lewin spoke slowly and clearly as if he was talking to a newborn. “He however, did not mention your name, might we have the pleasure of your introduction?”
“It’s Ellie” she paused. “Elinor”
“Lady Elinor” he bowed and gave her a smile.
“We think you might have hit your head” Caitlyn continued. “We were so worried when my son Robb brought you in and you were wearing such strange clothes.”
‘Clothes?’ That peaked her interest, that meant that her things were still around here somewhere. She just needed to get to her phone and somehow everything would be ok.
“Yes, my clothes! Where have you put them?” She asked trying to hide the panic in her voice.
“We have placed your things there” Caitlyn said with an obvious tone and pointed to the large wing backed chair in the corner. Ellie’s eyes immediately went to the chair in the corner and giving them a glance she dashed towards it letting out a sigh of relief when she found her dress, shoes, and bag all there waiting for her.
“I’m afraid the” Caitlyn paused looking for the right words, “garment you were wearing may not be salvageable.”
She was right looking at the dress it was covered in dirt and what appeared to be blood. She pushed the feelings of dread down as she focused on the most important item. Her phone. Digging through her purse she let joy wash over her as she felt the cold metal of her IPhone 6s Plus. With a glance back at her captors she pulled out the device and quickly turned it on. Thankfully it still had 82% battery but no service.
“W-what is that?” Maester Lewin interrupted with horror and awe in his voice. Ellie turned to see that both Caitlyn and the old man were looking at her with extreme apprehension.
“What do you mean?” Ellie replied incredulously. “It’s an iPhone”
“iPhone?” Caitlyn repeated. “What does it do?”
“What does it..? Ok, ok, I need you two to level with me here.” Ellie snapped unable to hide her fear and confusion any longer.
“I’ve got parents you know, my mom could not live if anything happened to me and she calls me everyday. If I don’t call her back she’s going to sick the cops on you so fast. No I, I didn’t mean to threaten you I just” she started to cry. “Just let me go home, I promise I wont tell anyone about this place, I wont tell them you kidnapped me, I promise” Ellie was clutching her phone to her chest and crying incoherently pleading with them and knowing that she had very little power in the situation.
The older woman slowly approached her and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Ellie was surprised how she actually felt comforted by her actions. It was strange how she felt no danger from her kidnappers and wondered what their motives could be in taking her.
“Shh” Caitlyn cooed trying to calm her tears and led her back to the bed. Ellie sat obediently attempting to calm herself down, she would need her wits about her if she were to escape this situation.
“I promise no harm will come to you while you are in our care and of course you are free to leave anytime you choose, though I would not recommend doing so at night” Caitlyn continued with a soothing voice. “I’m sure that your journey has been harrowing. We are just as confused as you. We were told to expect a young lady dressed strangely, we assumed you knew you were coming here.”
“W-who told you I was coming here?” Ellie asked, feeling silly for playing along with their game.
“The Three Eye’d Raven” Maester Lewin stated clearly moving closer to take a look at her. Ellie deadpanned. They were really taking this Game of Thrones joke too far.
“The Three Eye’d Raven” she repeated. “The old guy in the tree or was it Bran, no wait it wouldn’t be Bran not yet. Or are you lady Stoneheart now? I didn’t read the books” she finished looking between Caitlyn and Maester Lewin who both stared back with extreme shock.
“How do you know my son Bran? Who is Lady Stoneheart?” She asked with confusion.
“You’ve met the Three Eye’d Raven?” Maester Lewin spoke excitedly and with awe. Ellie looked back and forth between them and curiously felt no falseness coming from either of them. Where ever she was she knew that these two fully believed their story and she wondered what kind of cult she’d encountered.
“Met him?” She replied slowly realizing that this conversation would get her nowhere. She needed to be alone again, to formulate a plan and find a way to escape. It didn’t seem like her captors were trying to keep her locked up and they’d even given her a phone, they must know that it is hard to leave, they must be very remote.
“I’m very tired. Do you think I might rest a while” she lied hoping that they would leave her alone again.
“Of course, Is there anything we can provide to make you more comfortable? Some ale perhaps?” She looked at Maester Lewin for confirmation. He nodded in agreement.
“I have always believed in a good draft of ale for any ailment.” He replied with a chuckle. It sounded like such a good idea but she wondered if it would be wise to accept anything from these people.
‘Well if they were going to poison me they probably already would have’ she thought logically. ‘And maybe I shouldn’t refuse their hospitality.’
“Thank you that would be much appreciated” she replied attempting to be gracious and play along. They smiled between themselves and stood to leave.
“It will be sent to your room shortly, we can talk more in the morning. Good night, Lady Elinor” Caitlyn said with a smile and with that Ellie was left alone in the room once again.
A few moments later there was a knock at the door and a maid entered carrying a small tray of bread and cheese and a large flagon of ale. Ellie merely stared at her noticing that she also was wearing medieval clothing and seemed wary of her. She exited the room as soon as she laid down the tray on a table by the fire.
Ellie eyed the tray suspiciously moving to smell and paw at the food and drink. When she had satisfied herself that it was likely safe she took a hesitant bite of the bread. It was then that she realized how hungry she was and couldn’t stop herself from eating everything on the tray. Only after did she realize that she’d probably made a huge error in eating anything from these people but she felt fine so perhaps it was fine.
She eye’d the door wondering if they’d locked her in. Tiptoeing over she gently placed her hand on the rod iron ring and pulled. To her surprise the door opened easily. She peered out into the hall finding nothing but a few lanterns lighting the way but there didn’t seem to be anyone about.
‘This could be my chance’ she thought, ‘If I wait until morning I don’t know what will happen’
Going back in the room she grabbed her purse and phone choosing to put her heels in her bag to avoid making any noise on the stone floor she continued barefoot. Walking down the dimly lit hall she was surprised that she hadn’t run into any people or electronics. Using her phone’s flashlight she attempted to scan the area better and try to get a lay of the land but she could not.
Looking out of the window at the end of the hall she was shocked to find that apart from the small fires she could see on the castle walls there were absolutely no lights to be seen. No lights, no streets, no power-lines as far as the eye could see. She sighed deeply the woman was right, trying to escape at night wouldn’t help. She’d likely end up lost and back at the castle again. That’s why they hadn’t tied her down. They knew she wouldn’t be going anywhere.
Finally after staring out the window long enough to fully convince her that there were no signs of modern civilization she decided to go back to the room. There she could at least bolt the door and wait until daylight to make everything more clear.
Turning the rod iron ring once more she tiptoed back into the room and climbed onto the bed. She looked at her phone, still no service, and it looked like the date had still not changed. According to her phone it would seem she’d only been unconscious for about 3 hours. It didn’t seem possible there was no where someone could take her in 3 hours by car that would be this remote. Could they have put her in a plane? No that didn’t make sense either.
Her mind raced as she gathered her knees to her chest and waited out the dawn.