The Dance of the Ocean and Moon [Book One]

Chapter Fifteen | Brienne

BRIENNE

"Milady!" A voice called out in the distance but Brienne could not tell if it was to her or someone else. In fact, she could not come to the conclusion of who she even was or where she was or what she was supposed to be doing. It was dark and she couldn't feel any of her extremities.

"Milady!" the voice called again. Brienne's head rolled from one shoulder to the other in response. Podrick knelt down in the snow next to Brienne and started to shake her. She groaned in response but lifted her head. Her eyes fluttered open but she squinted at the sunset which was beaming through the treetops directly into her face. Her vision was blurry as her mind tried to reconcile what her eyes were seeing, but her thoughts were spinning. "Brienne!" Podrick yelled once again in her ear.

"Stop that!" she yelled back in response. When she noticed the burning pain in her lungs she attempted to put her hand on her chest but couldn't. She looked down to see what was preventing her from moving. When her eyes met the rope, she had an epiphany of remembrance. "Saga..." she said and looked around the surrounding area. "Where is Saga?" she demanded. Podrick looked confused, "I don't know. I didn't see her. I was just walking through the woods then everything went black. I just woke up and I was on the ground so I came back here and you were tied up." Brienne moved around frantically then yelled, "Then why have you not released me?! Hurry!"

Podrick stumbled back and looked for the knot on the other side of the tree. It was a tight knot and he struggled. "Hurry!" Brienne screamed again, "I don't care about the damn rope; cut it if you must! Just do it now!" Podrick jumped to his feet and pulled out his sword. He brought it down hard on the rope and snapped through it. Once the rope was cut, Brienne threw it aside and stumbled to her feet. She grabbed her sword from the ground and tied it to her belt, coughing furiously the whole time. "Podrick," she demanded, "on your horse now."

She mounted her horse and rode off to the edge of the woods where the battle was meant to take place. Podrick ran to his horse and once mounted, galloped after her. Her heart was pounding and her throat had red and purple marks on it. Tears were falling from her eyes as the last words she heard before falling unconscious echoed through her head. 'I have to, Brienne, I have to. You cannot die on this day; I will not allow it!' she could hear Saga yelling. The tears that left her eyes flew off her face into the air that was rushing by her on the horse. She pushed the horse as hard as it would go, there was no time to waste.

The edge of the forest was approaching; she could see the trees thinning and in the distance, far past them were buildings. She pulled on the reins hard at the top of a steep hill, which was the edge of the forest. She jumped off her horse and looked down into the field. Brienne grew weak at the knees as her eyes swept over the field. There was no battle-not anymore. Instead she looked upon a graveyard. "No," she whispered as her eyes began to burn and threaten her with more tears. Podrick pulled his horse to a halt behind her. "Brienne?" he asked.

She paid him no mind as she ran down the hill, tripping and falling the last few feet, then running toward the mass of dead bodies. "Saga!" she screamed then waited for a reply. When she was met with dead silence, she screamed again, "Saga!" Without hesitation, she waded into the sea of blood and dead bodies. She examined each and every face, turned over bodies, and ran about. "Saga!" she cried, her voice becoming weaker with desperation. She turned around and around, stumbling and panting. Finally, her eye caught a familiar sight: A black arrow with black feathers and runic engravings. The man had fallen forward with the arrow in his back.

She turned and trudged through the red and black sea in the direction the arrow would have come from. She looked over every person on the ground, heart pounding in her ears. Podrick stood from the side of the field where they had entered and Brienne began to make her way in his direction. He watched Brienne's face, waiting for the reaction he did not want to see; he did not dare to look for Saga himself, he was too afraid of what he would find. As Brienne reached the edge of the sea, deep into the side where the enemy had attacked from, she found more arrows. Her heard filled with dread the farther she walked and her pace slowed. She wasn't prepared to find the source of the arrows.

The sunset receded behind dark grey clouds and the sky threatened to release a heavy amount of snow. As the last of the sun disappeared it swept over a large patch of bare skin. Bare skin in battle was unheard of, since everyone was clad in armor and leather for protection. But Brienne knew someone who never wore armor. She never would have noticed the skin beneath the dirt and blood that covered her except the sun had set the exposed her skin in its light. When the realization hit her, she took a step back and shook her head. "No," she whined, "no."

Slowly she approached the body. The only woman on the entire field was laying on her right side, her left arm resting on the ground behind her, her right arm extending in front of her and still gripping her axe. Brienne knelt down behind her and slowly pulled her shoulder until her face was exposed. Brienne took in a sharp breath of air. Saga's hair was frazzled, some of it sticking to the blood and dirt on her face. Her lips were parted slightly and her eyes were wide open, staring toward the woods from whence they came. Brienne scooped her up and placed her ear to Saga's chest to listen.

She heard nothing.

The tears pushed their way out without hesitation as Brienne threw her head back and screamed. She screamed at the sky, she screamed at the birds, she screamed at the gods, she screamed at anyone who would listen. The scream had no form, no words, just the sound of Brienne's heart breaking into a million pieces. "Saga!" she screamed out again and held the dead woman to her as tightly as she could. Podrick stood a few feet before them, crying and staring down at the scene. "Why!" Brienne screamed as she put her face on Saga's shoulder, "Why!"

"You're a fool," Brienne cried, her voice deep and shaky, "Why would you do this? How could you do this?" Brienne looked down at the dead girl in her arms and screamed, "How could you do this to me?!" as if expecting a response. When she was met with dead silence she began to cry again. "I love you," she cried out then rested her head on Saga's shoulder once again. She sat like that, holding her dead love and crying, she did not know for how long. Podrick sat on the ground across from her, staring down at Saga, tears sliding down his face. They sat there for so long and deep in their sorrow that they had hardly noticed when it began to snow.

After an hour or two Brienne finally pulled back to look at Saga again. She brushed her eyelids shut and picked her up. "Where are you going?" Podrick asked as she walked past him. "We can't take her to her homeland," Brienne sniffed, "The only thing we can do now is honor her people's tradition as best we can. Pick up her axes." Podrick went over to where she lay and picked up her two axes then followed Brienne. Brienne took her out of the sea of frozen dead bodies and brought her to the base of the hill. She placed Saga down gently and walked up the hill to collect sticks and dead foliage.

Podrick put together a bed of dried tinder and Brienne placed her on top of it, putting some of the tinder against her sides. She placed the two axes on Saga's chest and put her hands over them. With a heavy sigh, she lit a fire at her feet then stepped back. Podrick and Brienne watched as the fire licked over her dead body, finally engulfing her and burning her up. "She was a good woman," Podrick said, his eyes fixed on the flame rather than the burning girl behind it. "She was just and altruistic. She cared about everyone," he said then added as he turned to Brienne, "And she loved you so much." Brienne looked directly at Saga, she watched the skin peel away from her bones, she did it as a punishment, and now those images would haunt her for the rest of her life.

"She was a fool," Brienne said barely loud enough for Podrick to hear. "Love will do that to you," he replied, equally as quiet. "I didn't deserve to have my life spared, not by her," she said. "She believed it was worth it. So, it must be true," Podrick pointed out. Brienne flinched and decided not to say anything more. "It's getting dark, we have to go," Brienne said after a few more minutes of forcing herself to watch Saga burn. They still had a duty to get back to Winterfell. Podrick looked between Saga and Brienne with a sigh then he followed Brienne as she walked back up the hill to where they left their horses.

Brienne looked down at the fire at the base of the hill one last time before taking off toward Winterfell. The moon cast its pale light over the graveyard, making every frozen body visible in even the dark of the night. Brienne no longer felt anxious, she no longer felt death's presence. Death had already come and gone; but not for her.

^^^

~End of Book One~

Note: Book Two may not be finished for some months. I haven't started it, nor do I have much of a plot yet. I will make updates on the progress of Book Two on my page. 7/1/17