It was a good thing Dahlia had spent so long inside this castle's walls, walking around every inch of it with little Ned in her arms and Jeyne beside her. Of course, that didn't mean she knew every nook and cranny of Riverrun, but she knew enough to run out of the castle and toward the gardens outside. She barely looked back as she ran, little Ned clutched to her chest as he cried, being jostled about as his mother moved, one of her arms coming up and around him to prevent him from becoming too wet from the rain pouring outside. She could feel her legs growing tired as she fought against the added weight of the water in her sleeping clothes, but she did not stop, taking turn after turn in the garden in hopes of hiding away from whoever had decided to go for her life and her son's.
Stopping for a moment, Dahlia tried to control her breathing as she listened for any footsteps behind her. Holding ser Derren's dagger in one hand, Dahlia bounced little Ned in her other arm. He was crying still, attracting far too much attention, walling loudly enough to be heard over the pouring rain. Dahlia hushed him quietly, trying to get her babe to stop crying so they could, possibly hide, but even as she desperately wished little Ned would stop, she couldn't blame him when he didn't. After all, given the chance to cry at the moment, Dahlia was pretty sure she wouldn't have thought twice about it.
"Come on, now, sweetling..." She whispered to her son as she looked around herself. "Calm now, little Ned. Momma's here. No one's gonna hurt you now."
It was a promise Dhalia wasn't entirely sure she could keep, but that she would fight with all she had to try. Dahlia's head snapped to her right when she heard footsteps coming her direction. She let out a shaky breath as she decided how to proceed next. Looking down at Ned in her arms, she whimpered quietly, knowing she would have no fighting chance for either of them if she kept holding him so, with her heart squeezing in her chest and a gentle kiss pressed to the top of his head, Dahlia wrapped her son up in his soaked though blanket before placing him on the ground, by some bushes in hopes of hiding him away from whoever was coming for them - which might have worked if not for the constant heart-wrenching cries coming out of her sweet babe.
Dahlia clutched the dagger in her hand, her whole body shaking as she stood in front of her son, ready to give her life for his if that was what it came down to. She felt her breath getting caught in her throat when, from behind some trees, came the huge man she had seen earlier - the one ser Derren had stayed behind to delay. He was at least three times her size and his skin looked almost gray. If she was being honest Dahlia didn't know if he was sick or if it was just because of the storm raging on around them, but she didn't care to find out at the moment. Especially not when she noticed, dripping from the man's face were heavy droplets of blood, running down his neck and onto his heavy, golden armor.
"Ser Derren..." Dahlia whimpered when she realized that blood wasn't his. "No, please... Please... What do you want?"
"The Lannisters send their regards." The man said, his voice deep and scary as he unsheathed his sword and walked toward Dahlia, ready to kill her bare-handed, it seemed.
"No." Dahlia stepped back, his dagger pointed at the man as if that would be enough to save her life. "No, please. No! No! Please!"
The rain muffled her cries, but, from around her, Dahlia could hear little Ned's cries and when he let out a pitiful little sob, Dahlia decided enough was enough.
She charged at the man before her, a scream rippling through her throat as she pointed her dagger at him. It was pointless, they all knew, but if that was how she died, Dahlia knew she wouldn't die a coward. So, instead, she blindly charged at the man, letting out a groan when he hit her across the face as soon as she was close enough, sending her flying across the garden. The huge man barely reacted to it, turning in his heels instead when little Ned cried out again and moving toward him.
"No..." Dahlia cried again, forcing herself up on her feet again as she ran toward the man and jumped on his back, the hand with the dagger lifting up in the sky before she brought her hand down again and managed to stab the man on his neck.
He let out a howl of pain, reaching for Dahlia's hand around the hilt of her dagger and squeezing it so hard she was sure she heard her bones cracking. She cried out against him, her pain blinding her for a moment so the man managed to pull the dagger and Dahlia away from him in one swift movement, throwing her aside once again like a ragdoll before turning to face her with fire burning behind his eyes.
"Bitch." He spat at her, pulling out his sword while his free hand reached for her ankle. Dahlia screamed and kicked and squirmed, trying to set herself free, but it wasn't until the man used his bloodied sword to cut open the front of her night gown that she realized what was about to happen.
"No, no, please..." She cried, looking up at the sky as she tried to ignore the pain in her hand while she still kicked with all she had. "Robb! Please, gods... Oh, Robb, please!"
And in some miraculous form, the gods must have heard her prayers because, just before the man before her could kneel on the ground in between her legs, a form appeared from the trees, almost like magic, charging at the man much like Dahlia had done before but very much more efficiently.
Dahlia whimpered when the form hit hard against the man, the two of them rolling in the dirty and away from her. Dahlia crawled over toward Ned and it wasn't until she had her son back in her arms that she managed to process what was happening - not that any of it made much sense in the first place.
A wolf had come from the trees, fighting against the man as it growled and bit and scratched with all its might. It was a formidable beast, Dahlia noticed and, the more she looked at it, the more she realized it wasn't just any wolf. It was a direwolf - huge, just as Grey Wind used to be but with its furs a little whiter. It bit off a whole finger from the man below it while keeping him on the ground with its massive paws on his chest. The man trashed and yelled and tried to push the beast off him but the wolf would not let him.
Dahlia watched with wide eyes as the beast leaned down to take the man's whole ear clean off before clawing at his armor so much its claws cut through the metal and straight into his chest. The man stopped fighting after a while and, even though Dahlia could see he was still breathing.
The wolf growled a last time over his face then, its snout covered in blood and its eyes full of anger. Its fur was wet from the rain and as Dahlia knelt on the ground with little Ned in her arms while the wolf left the man behind to walk over to them, Dahlia knew she should be scared. But she wasn't. Strangely, the closer the wolf got to them, the safer she felt. And little Ned must have felt it too, considering, as soon as the wolf moved to settle just beside Dahlia, with its eyes wide and ears up like a guard dog, the babe stopped fussing.
"Thank you." Dahlia whispered, and even though she realized she didn't know who she was thanking at that point, she smiled when the wolf beside her tilted its head a little as it turned to look at her. "Thank you."
YOU ARE READING
The crossed rose: The War of the Five Kings - GoT - R.S.
Fanfiction"As Queen Dahlia said, you have our thanks, Lord Frey, for all the time and space and food you have so kindly offered us and our men. However, as you well know, there is still a war raging outside these walls and we have spent enough time away from...
