LIONS AND WOLVES | Robb Stark

26. The Lannisters' Regards 𓃬

OUTSIDE, JOANNA FOUND AN OUTHOUSE to use as Alayna stood outside the door. Chatting aimlessly about the festivities until she had finished her business, Joanna pushed open the door and walked back out into the mud.

"I bet you're ready to sleep," Alayna said. "I would be if I had to endure Walder Frey talking about my tits and ogling me like a piece of meat."

"Honestly, I stopped noticing a few hours ago," Joanna replied. "But now that you've said it, I am exhausted. I'll fetch Robb and we'll leave."

"Imagine how old Walder will react," Alayna replied.

Joanna stopped when they neared the hall. "Why are the doors... Can you hear that?"

Alayna stopped beside her friend. From inside the now sealed hall, the two of them could hear violins playing a song that sent shivers down Joanna's spine, that achingly familiar drawl flinging her back in time to when she lived in King's Landing.

"What is that?" Alayna asked. "I've never heard that music."

"The Rains of Castamere," Joanna replied. "It's a song the Lannisters sing."

Two guards approached them. "Your Grace, what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be inside?"

"I was just about to go back inside," Joanna replied.

"Right, well, let us escort you," the guard said, trying to latch onto Joanna's arm.

Alayna smacked his hand away. "Do not touch the queen."

"Your Grace, My Lady, we must insist," the second guard said.

Joanna took a step back. "I don't feel like I want to."

Something definitely wasn't right, and Joanna could feel her heart sinking in her chest. Robb was inside that hall, with the Rains of Castamere playing ominously, and the guards' insistence sent a trickle of fear down her spine. Alayna grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the guards.

"My Lady," the guard said. "Your Grace."

Alayna reached for her sword, concealed in the folds of her dress. "We're not going anywhere with you."

Joanna gasped when the music stopped and distressed yells echoed from inside the hall. "Robb!"

There it was, the cracking sensation in her chest where her heart had cleaved in two. Even without seeing it, she knew enough from the feeling to know that it had happened. Robb Stark was dead, or dying, and she could do nothing to stop it. She felt as though she too were dying, a part of her soul breaking off and withering with her husband's. She staggered.

Alayna's eyes were wide with horror. "Joanna, we can't go in there."

She took care of the two guards hassling them, striking them down where they stood before they could even draw their swords. Alden ran towards them, wrenching an arrow out of his shoulder as he did so. All around them, fighting was breaking out, unlike the friendly ones going on in the camp down below. This was real, and Stark men were being slaughtered where they stood.

As Alayna ran towards her brother, Joanna saw a girl she recognised immediately and stopped. "Arya? Arya Stark?"

"Joanna?" Arya asked. "What are you-?"

Alden appeared in her peripheral and grabbed her arm. "We have to hide, Jo."

Joanna turned around to speak to Arya, but the girl was gone. She let Alayna and Alden drag her down behind a pile of barrels and she covered her mouth with her hand.

She had left Robb behind in that hall. She had left him in a room with men who had slaughtered everyone she knew. She could feel the tears in her eyes and felt them on her cheeks as Alden wrapped a cloak around her shoulders and yanked up the hood to conceal her face from view.