𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 || 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑾𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝑪𝒓𝒚 𝑶𝒖𝒕

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑿

CHAPTER X

300 AFTER CONQUEST

<¤¤¤ALYS¤¤¤>

The leaves fallen from the trees and the snow fallen from the sky crunched under her feet as the fair brown-haired girl ran as fast as she could with little left to her name and body. The Karstark had been running for countless days it seemed. Running from traitorous people whom she called family with word of betrayal.

Alys had known little else of the world other than the cold. The North itself has been cold all her life, and for countless generations it had been as such as well. But now, the kingdom of the North felt much colder. The Maester of Karhold made claim that the winter to come would be the coldest and longest one in a thousand years. How true that statement to be she did not know, but what Alys did know was that it was bloody cold, both temperature and mood alike.

Tripping suddenly on a root of a tree covered with snow, Alys hit the ground hard, hissing in pain.

"Fucking..damn it!"

She tried to keep herself quiet. She knew she had to have been followed. They must've discovered already of my leave, Alys thought to herself. But her uncle perhaps was really as stupid as they always say and had not realized of his niece's escape from her tower window. Unlike most girls who would dream and pray for a knight in shining armor or a fighting man alike to rescue them, Alys was far from that. She knew the only person who could save her was herself in that time.

Arnolf Karstark was her uncle, her father being the late Rickard Karstark, the Lord of Karhold. But that was all gone when the Young Wolf passed the sentence and swung the blade himself. For many nights after when word arrived to Karhold of her father's apparent betrayal and subsequent execution by their king, Alys cried. She did not know then that the passing of her father would be the least of her concerns and sorrows, not worth her tears.

Her uncle Arnolf had made it his intention to be the Lord of Karhold for a long time, but merely waited for his brother-her father to die like a coward rather than have the courage and taking the chance to kill him himself. The backstabbing and secret plots were all too much for Alys. She needed to get away from it.

Standing up with a slight groan, the sharp stinging in her foot dulled but not fully gone, Alys looked up to the sky which had since turned to darkness in the last few hours. It was a half moon, she saw. It was a waxing moon, which not enough light to see clearly but she could see enough to wear her own breath showed in the chilled air. The stars cutting through the trees above her were beautiful, a much needed distraction from the world she lived. But the stars also brought her to reality again. Brought her to the reason why she was running so far North.

Him, she thought. The Violet Wolf. Sure, the Starks executed her father, but it was the Starks that gave peace and safety to the North. Since the Boltons-but to her and the majority of the North-since Ramsey Snow-there has been nothing but slaughter and savagery. Safety was a distant past, and the future looked bleak. His "Hunters" were always lurking in the shadows, it seemed. That's who she felt was after her if not her own family. The Wall was close. It had to have been. She had made it past Last Hearth, the Umbers-another traitorous bunch, were sure to be after her too.

"Come on.."

Alys whispered in the cold night air, forcing herself to stand as she marched on through the cold.