The Lost Stag

The Old Gods and the New

Must have 10 comments and 20 votes for another chapter. Warning: attempted rape.

                    In the woods of the Stormlands, Brienne, Ned, and Catelyn stand next to a stream, having stopped to water their horses. "It looked like Stannis," Brienne explained. Brienne is tall, muscular, flat-chested, and ungainly, with long, shoulder-length brittle straw-colored hair and broad, coarse features that are covered in freckles. Her mouth is wide, her lips are swollen, and her nose has been broken more than once. She has beautiful blue eyes while her fingers are thick and callused.

                    "To me, it just looked like... A shadow in the shape of a man," Catelyn said.

                    "In the shape of Stannis," Brienne proclaimed though Catelyn was still unsure.

                    "We should reach my son's camp tomorrow," Catelyn explained.

                    "Will you stay there long, my lady?" Brienne asked.

                   "Only long enough to tell Robb what I have seen. After that, my husband and I will leave for Winterfell. Our two youngest need us. We've been away from them for far too long," Catelyn explained as Ned cared for the horses.

                    "I never knew my mother," Brienne admitted sadly.

                    "I'm sorry," Catelyn said, then walked to the fire and sat as Brienne followed.

                    "My own mother died on the birthing bed when I was very young," Catelyn admitted.

                    "It's a bloody business," Brings said.

                   "What comes after is even harder," Catelyn explained.

                    "Once you and Lord Stark are safely back amongst your own people, will you give me leave to go, my lady?" Brienne asked.

                    "You mean to kill Stannis," Catelyn asked.

                    "I swore a vow," Brienne said.

                    Ned walks over and sits by his wife, "Stannis has a great army. You wouldn't make it," he explained.

                   "I'm as good as any of them. I should never have fled," Brienne said.

                    "If you had, they would have hung you," Ned explained.

                    "Renly's death was no fault of yours. You served him bravely," Catelyn said.

                    "I only held him that once as he was dying," Brienne said with pain in her eyes.

                    Catelyn stands, "He's gone, Brienne. You serve nothing and no one by following him into the earth. Renly's enemies are Robb's enemies as well," she explained.

                    "I do not know your son, my lady. But I could serve you if you would have me. You have courage. Not battle courage, perhaps, but, I don't know, a woman's kind of courage. And I think that when the time comes, you will not hold me back. Promise me that you will not hold me back from Stannis," Brienne pleaded.

                    "When the time comes, I will not hold you back," Catelyn vowed. Brienne draws her sword and kneels to pledge her loyalty.

                    "Then I am yours, my lady. I will shield your back and give my life for yours if it comes to that. I swear it by the Old Gods and the new," Brienne vowed.