Chapter Text
Ser Meryn Trant landed a blow on her stomach and Sansa collapsed onto the floor. He grabbed her by the hair and propped her up on her knees and the flat of Boros Blount's sword came down across the back of her thighs. Sansa fell forward and it seemed like ages before her head hit the ground. Trant kicked her in the side and she heard Joffery laughing but the noise was from a far away place and the pain was barely real. She saw Winterfell in her mind, the snow and the hard-faced Northmen. She saw her mother smiling at her. Then she saw her father and Ser Ilyn Payne standing above him, Joffery laughed again, the world faded away and she bid it good riddance.
Sansa's mind was blank. She didn't feel anything. There was no pain or fear or hatred, she just existed. A blinding light surrounded her and in it she saw things, ghosts of images but they pulled her closer. The high wall of a city, but it didn't fill her with dread like the sight of the Red Keep. The city rose towards the sky, sparkling and full of life, it beckoned her and promised her hope. Then she saw a white tree, and felt a familiar twinge of pain, the same kind she felt when she thought of her lost sister, her dead father, Winterfell.......
It had been four days since they set out from Rivendell when Sam found her. A breathtakingly lovely young maiden, lying motionless on the bank of a nameless river. She wore a dress of the softest blue silk but it was torn at the shoulder, her soft red hair was disheveled and strewn over her face. Her skin bruised black and blue where cruel hands had struck her. Her body was stiff and her fists were clenched. She looked like a queen but it wasn't very common for queens to be found unconscious on river banks. Indecisive of what to do Sam ran back to his companions and told them of his discovery.
"You found a girl?", Merry asked, his tone making it apparent that he didn't believe a word of Sam's story. "Poor Rosie."
"It weren't like that.", Sam blushed and stammered. "She's hurt, she's lying by the river. We have to help her", he pleaded. Boromir, Legolas and Gimli had gone in search of game so he turned to Aragorn.
"Lead me to her", he said after a long silence. He picked up his sword and followed Sam as Gandalf sighed and started giving instructions on where to set up a fire. It was not long before they returned, Aragorn carrying the girl in his arms.
"So he wasn't making it up", Pippin said, quite surprised but unable to take his eyes off her.
"No he wasn't." Aragon pulled out a few mysterious looking weeds and herbs and began working on healing her bruises.
"Do you know who she is? Where she is from?", he asked Gandalf but the wizard was as perplexed as the hobbits, though he did a better job of hiding it.
"She looks like a queen , doesn't she?", Sam said.
"A queen of what kingdom, Samwise Gamgee?", Gandalf said, irritably. It was obvious the wizard was not used to not knowing things and he did not like the sensation at all.
"Not this one you hopeless idiot.", Cersei threw the bottle of perfume at her handmaiden barely missing the poor girl. "Get out" she screamed and the girl quickly withdrew, stammering apologies, when she came out of her initial fright.
Tywin Lannister had never considered his daughter reliable for serious work but recent events had led him to declare her utterly incompetent and foolish. Joffrey had gone out of hand again, beating Sansa Stark to unconsciousness. Cersei had little power over her son, he did as he pleased and the Kingsguard were more than compliant. Her inability as a parent had cost them the North and the Lannister's key to winning it back hadn't woken up in four days.
Cersei knew that if the girl didn't wake up soon, they would have to kill her and make up a story. Their power in the North would then be based solely on their covert alliance with Roose Bolton, a man she wasn't stupid enough to trust.
"Lord Tyrion, Your Grace," the handmaiden's voice quivered as she announced the queen had a visitor. Tyrion walked in as the girl curtsied and fled from Cersei's look of contempt.
"Sansa is still unconscious."Tyrion said. "Father seems to hold you responsible."
"Father resents me more for being a woman than you for being a dwarf," Cersei spat out. "He will take every opportunity to hold me responsible for a misstep."
"He has instructed us to....... Uh...dispose of her, should she not wake in three more days." In the few moments Tyrion had hesitated, his sister had managed to pour herself a glass of wine and was already halfway through it. She looked at him now with a bitter smile.
"You're his favourite now. You! A twisted little monster!", Tyrion sighed as his sister laughed like a madwoman. "You're Jaime's replacement. To you're new post!", Cersei said raising her glass. "To the second most loved Lannister child!" Tyrion stood up to leave but she grabbed his hand. "Congratulations brother, your cock is taking you places!" Cersei cackled with laughter but all Tyrion could think about was poor Sansa Stark and her fate.
The Fellowship had travelled less than four leagues in three days. The maiden they had found hadn't shown any signs of improvement and her added weight had slowed them down. Gandalf and Legolas had suggested that they take the girl back to Rivendell where the elves would tend to her but Boromir had protested strongly, he was adamant on taking her to Gondor. Boromir had been enchanted from the moment he laid eyes on her, he sat by her motionless body for hours willing her to wake up, to say something. The girl affected Boromir like nothing had before, he had even confessed to Gandalf that he felt an odd recognition. She seemed like a bleak image of a distant time, like a memory that one cannot remember was from reality or a dream.
On the fourth morning after they had found her, the girl had still not awoken and Boromir had still not relented. The slow progress of the company didn't sit well with a few.
"We need to move, the enemy grows stronger. Time is of the essence.", Legolas whispered to Gandalf even though there was nobody close enough to hear him. "At this pace, it won't be long before Saruman finds us, we're sitting ducks. We have a duty to the ring-bearer. We have to protect Frodo."
"There is truth in what you say but we cannot abandon a helpless girl in these dangerous lands. Surely it goes against your noble elvish principles." Gandalf's eyes twinkled as he watched Legolas in his dilemma.
"Nonetheless we must destroy the ring quickly before the armies of Mordor grow strong enough to wage war.", said Legolas when he had finally made up his mind. Gandalf sighed deeply and nodded but said nothing.
"Why is Boromir so fascinated by her? She's beautiful, yes, but......."
"I do not know why Legolas, but I am grateful that she has taken away his attention from Frodo and the Ring."
That night around the fire other members of the Fellowship voiced their concerns and an argument was soon underway. Frodo sat in the rudimentary shelter they had built for the girl and kept an eye on her. The raised voices outside soon caught his attention and the hobbit could not help but feel a little guilty.
"Our objective was to protect Frodo in his quest to destroy the Ring. She is slowing us down." Aragon made his case concisely.
"What do you suggest? We just leave a helpless maiden alone in the middle of nowhere?", Boromir said, flustered and angry that he was the only one on his side of the fence.
"We can take her back to Rivendell." said Legolas, starting to lose patience.
"No, she must go to Gondor. It's what's right.", Boromir heard the lack of reason in his plan but an inexplicable conviction forced him to stand by it. They continued to argue and he continued to vehemently oppose any course if action that wouldn't end with the maiden being in his white city.
The bright light soon began to fade and everything was dark again. Pain hit her suddenly and sharply, confusing her. Reality returned as she felt a slight breeze across her face and noticed sounds, slowly and reluctantly Sansa opened her eyes to face the world. But it wasn't the world she had run away from. She found herself lying on the cold ground being guarded by Tyrion Lannister. Sansa did not move, she willed herself to fall back into nothingness but her mind was growing more accustomed to the surroundings.
She lay still but began to focus, the creature guarding her was not Tyrion, he was smaller and had hairy feet. He hadn't noticed her yet, he was listening to the men arguing outside. Making not a sound, Sansa slowly reached for a tree branch that lay near her. She leapt to her feet suddenly, surprising the creature. Before he could speak, she whacked him across the face with the branch, knocking him off his feet. She snatched the sword from the sheath on his hip and ran out. Sansa found herself facing several men of various shapes and sizes. She was bewildered and afraid but for the first time in her life, she stood her ground.
"Back away from me, back away I said.", She held up her tiny sword and ignored the tremble in her voice.
"We won't hurt you, we want to help you.", said an impossibly fair-haired man, putting down his bow and arrow in show of good faith. Sansa wanted to trust him but her instinct told her to run, her hands shook and she fought back the urge to cry.
"It's alright my lady, put down the sword," the voice was calm and strong and she knew it better than the sound of her own. Her fear of forgetting it had only etched it further into her memory.
Sansa didn't believe her ears so she turned her head to look at the man who had spoken. The face that looked back at her was filled with concern, the same furrowed brow and grim mouth that had greeted her after her falls while learning to ride and her long walks with Joffery during the journey to King's Landing.
"Father", she said, her voice breaking. "Father", she whispered again,the sword fell from her hand and she sank to the ground in tears.