Hand of the Queen

2

Brienne rows as I watch the sun pass over the mountaintops, the morning breeze blowing through my hair.

"When arrive on the shore we head straight for King's Landing. Should we run into any trouble, I am the Knight escorting my lady and her prisoner to Tywin Lannister. Should we run into any Stark soldiers, we are returning a loose prisoner to Roose Bolton's bastard." Brienne says, I nod in agreement.

"And should they not believe you?" Jaime asks, pushing the hair from his face.

"Then I will kill them." She says, looking back to her rowing. The shoreline comes into view, Brienne pulls the small boat onto the sand and offers me her hand. I step onto the ground and immediately notice the three women hanging from the trees, necks broken and the life lost in their eyes. Stark soldiers stand below them, chuckling amongst themselves as we approach. They look to the three of us, I notice Jaime take a small step in front of me, placing himself between the soldiers and I. Brienne places a hand on the hilt of her sword and confronts the men.

"The lot of them slept with Lannister soldiers, the whores got what they deserved." One man says, Brienne does not hesitate before slicing his throat. Jaime throws an arm across me and shoves me behind him, backing us into a tree as Brienne cuts through the men with ease. I place a hand on Jaime's arm as Brienne finishes, easing myself out of his grasp and walking towards her.

"I'm sorry, my Lady." She says, taking heavy breaths. I smile and place a hand atop her own where it still sits holding her sword.

"Come, I will help you bury them." I say, leading her to the rope holding up the women.

...

We make our way through the woods, following the path towards King's Landing. The trip will take days on foot, our journey having only just begun. A man leading a horse approaches us, I watch Jaime duck his head down.

"Careful heading that way, war's raging on." He says, his eyes falling on each of us before he passes.

"You must kill him." Jaime whispers, urgency in his voice. "If he recognizes us, we will all be doomed."

"No." Brienne says, her voice sharp. I do not allow her to hear my agreement with the kingslayer, careful not to upset the woman who protects my life. She moves a few steps ahead, watching the road before us carefully. Jaime remains by my side, keeping pace with my own steps.

"Perhaps we could make camp at an inn with a bathhouse." Jaime whispers, leaning close to my ear before pulling back to look at Brienne.

"My help was not good enough for you? I could have left you covered in filth." I say a grin, Jaime chuckles.

"You would have had to reduce me to my name-day suit to properly clean away the grim." We continue in our trail for an hour, the scenery of trees hardly changing. Jaime recalls his tourney days to me as we walk, just beginning the story of his first day as kingsguard when a footstep comes from behind.

Before Brienne can react, a huge man takes me into his arms with the blade of a dagger held to my throat. Jaime reaches out of instinct for the sword that is missing from his hip as I meet his eyes in terror. Brienne is beside him in a heartbeat, facing the eyes of Roose Bolton's bannermen and the farmer we met on the trails.

"Let her go." Brienne says, her voice dark as the man chuckles.

"I don't think so. The whole lot of you are coming with us." The man says, throwing me into the arms of another. Anger builds on Jaime's face as he watches the man who holds me roughly pull me to his horse.

...

I watch with nothing but sheer horror ripping through my body as Locke's men look to me with hungry eyes. Jaime sits tied to the tree across from me; he carefully watches me as he glances to the men holding lustful eyes. The first one moves and a tear slips from my eye as he approaches me.

"No..." I beg, my voice cracks as he begins to untie the rope binding me to where I sit. I watch Jaime pull against his ropes, hoping for any sort of loose spot. The man pulls me to my feet and grins down at me.

"Come with me, pretty one." He says, his hands traveling across my breasts.

"Do you know who that is?" Jaime finally says, realizing his own ropes will not give. The man holding me looks to Jaime with rage-full eyes. "What do you think Robb Stark will do to the man that raped his sister?" The man looks back to me with shock in his eyes.

"You're lying." He says before his eyes settle on the silver necklace holding the sigil of a direwolf that hangs around my neck.

"I believe the King of the North will do much more than just take your head when he finds out what you did to his beloved sister." Jaime tells him, the man quickly shoves me back to where I sit and ties the rope once more. My body trembles as I look to Jaime, tears staining my face.

"Why did you..." I begin, my voice trailing off as he looks to me with immensely worried eyes.

"Are you alright?" He asks me, not letting go of my gaze.

"Thank you." My voice is quiet, barely a whisper, as Locke appears beside Jaime. His men untie him from where he sits and pull him towards their seats by the fire.

Exhaustion begins to take over my body as I attempt to force myself awake, awaiting Jaime's return across from me. Just as my eyes begin to flutter shut, they snap open once more at the sound of Jaime's horrific scream.