The wolves of Castle Black - Book 2 - GoT

Lady Stark

Again, Ylina wasn't sure when or how she had fallen asleep, but she guessed eventually her body had grown tired of crying and, instead, decided to just rest. What she did know was that she was so weak that not even when one of Stannis' soldiers entered the tent she was being held in and opened the small cage she was thrown in she managed to do much more than open her eyes and groan as she forced herself to lift her head from the ground. As her eyes fell on the soldier in front of her, she noticed how he was wearing his full armor. Ylina wasn't sure if Stannis thought she was that dangerous, or maybe he had grown to believe she could turn into a direwolf like Robb. She wouldn't put it past him. After all, if he believed in blood magic, why not in shapeshifting? Still, as Ylina scanned the man in front of her, his clear eyes hard, but not exactly hostile and his lips pulled back into themselves in what Ylina could only describe as anxiety, she noticed the man didn't have anywhere in his armor the sigil of Stannis Baratheon's house, not a deer to be seen. But maybe he was just a minor soldier and Stannis didn't give him the honor of carrying his sigil.

"Come with me." It was all the man said, as he held the cage door open.

"How is my son?" Ylina found the strength to ask.

"Just come with me." The man repeated.

It wasn't as if she expected a proper answer but it still made her blood boil the fact that the man didn't even seem to care about the fact that the last time she had seen her son, he was shaking and apparently unresponsive, being carried away from her by a man she knew no better than she did Stannis. For all she knew, Embar could already be dead.

"I need to see him." She pleaded, her voice weak and miserable. "Please, I just have to hold him."

"Lady Stark. Come with me."

"Just please tell me if he's alive. Please tell me if your Maester managed to save my baby's life."

"Your son is fine, m'lady." The man answered shortly before reaching inside the cage and grabbing her arm, forcing her out. "Now, come with me and I'll take you to him."

As he pulled her up to her feet, Ylina was surprised at how gentle the man seemed to be handling her. Usually, soldiers were not the kindest of people especially the ones who had been at war for so long and especially not to the prisoners of their leader who were sentenced to die in a pyre. Still, even if it was clear to Ylina the man wanted to get her out of there as soon as possible, the girl also noticed how he never pushed her into anything or forced her to move anymore than she wanted. He almost didn't touch her, in spite of the fact that she had nothing but a rope tied against her wrists. It was almost as if he was scared of hurting her and he moved around her the same way the servants in Winterfell used to do as well, to show her the respect she earned simply by being born in the right family with the right name. She frowned.

"That crazy bitch wants to burn us both." Ylina admitted. Now that she was sentenced to die, there was no reason for her to hold anything back anymore. "Is there where I will last see my son? Tied to a pole like a deer ready to be cooked? Will I be able to hold him, at least?"

"It will be in your best interest to not talk, Lady Stark." The man said, as Ylina scoffed. "If you'd follow me."

Shaking her head and knowing she had no other choice, Ylina watched as the man walked out of the tent and followed him close behind. Again, she frowned confused as to why everywhere around her seemed so quiet. There were almost no other soldiers around and as she walked beside the clear eyed man, she started to notice how he tended to avoid the places where his fellow soldiers were in fact reunited.

Ylina started to wonder in silence what was happening. She could see some of the men carrying wood around, to what she could only guess would be her own pyre after Shireen's one burned down. But they all seemed to be going the other way and everytime one of them walked nearby, the soldier escorting her would step up in front of her, almost as if trying to prevent his army to see who he walked with. Ylina noticed how the man walked in the opposite direction to where she was supposed to be going and suddenly, she started to worry. What if Melisandre had wanted to burn Ylina and Embar separately? What if she never got to see her son again? What if she never got to hold him again? Suddenly breathing heavily, Ylina found she no longer could stay quiet.