The King of Winters

Chapter-128

Ashara

The ladder to the forecastle was steep and splintery, so Ashara accepted a hand up from Lothor Brune. Ser Lothor, she had to remind herself; though he had been a knight only for a short time and in truth a freerider. He looked like a freerider as well, wearing those patched brown breeches and scuffed boots, and that cracked and water-stained leather jerkin that she had often see him wear. Brune spoke seldom but when he did speak Ashara could only hear honest words in them. He had an honest face too and he had been the one to catch her when she fainted.

Off the bow of the Merling King stretched a bare and stony strand, windswept, treeless, and uninviting. Even so, it made a welcome sight. They had been a long while clawing their way back on course to land. The Blackwater Bay had swept them out of sight of land, that all she had seen for days were the dark, misty waters of the sea. She had heard old Oswell saying, that they had gone astray because of the heavy fog and mist. But it was the fog and mist which kept them hidden from the Royal fleet.

She had seldom ventured out on deck herself after she woke. And Ser Lothor Brune had told her that she had been sleeping for days. Her little cabin was dank and cold, but Ashara was grateful for it. It was better than the black cells of the Red Keep and she had her freedom now. The freedom to meet her son. Even still sleep came hard after she woke up. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw the nightmare that was Starfall. And the thought of leaving her Ned back in the castle bothered her in more ways than one. Sometimes she dreamed that he was alive and that she had left him to be killed. But that was just a dream, Ashara told herself. She had lost her husband already. Her sweet Ned was gone, taken from her.

Ashara wondered whether Rhaegar knew she had escaped or not. He must have. The Spider would have made sure that he knew. Him or the Red priest. And she wondered what might have happened to Quenn.

“Where is Quenn?” Ashara asked Baelish once, when he paid a visit to her cabin to see if she was feeling better after she woke up. “The man who saved me from the black cells.”

“He did save you from the black cells, true, but that was what expected of him. He knows his way around King's Landing. You need not worry about him.”

“You should.”

“Me?” Littlefinger was surprised. “He served me well but I have no reason to worry about him.”

Ashara had been surprised by the casual gesture he made. “He is your man.”

“And I paid him well,” Baelish had said. “Shed no tears for him, my lady.”

Ashara sighed as she huddled beneath her covers. He brought me to you and might have gotten himself killed while doing so. She could not take it so lightly as this little man did. Rhaegar would have made a gift of her to his army. Or worse he might have done more to use her against her son. Shedding a few tears were the least she could do for him.

The wind ran salty fingers through her hair, and Ashara shivered. It was cold and the autumn rain from the night had left it's mark on the watery world all around her. Even this close to shore, the rolling of the ship made her tummy queasy. It's been a while since she had travelled by the ship. The last time she had stepped onto a ship was when she travelled to Braavos with Ned, aboard the sleek and beautiful Lady of Stars that had been named in her honour by Lord Wyman Manderly. Ashara wondered what happened to the rest of her fleet, the dromonds and the longships that she had built to protect the northern coast as well as to control the trade routes that she had established with the east. It had taken her days to convince Ned to finally invest his gold into that fleet, for her husband thought that the northern coast was too steep and rocky for anyone to land a large invading force there. Instead he had preferred strengthening the forts along the coast and building new ones to defend the land. Arthur had made him realise the folly of it however soon after.