The Forest Child {Sandor Clegane Story}

Good Night

Upon Jon being proclaimed the new Lord Commander, Stannis left Castle Black with his men. Stannis had assured Jon that he next planned to head for Winterfell and kill the Boltons for their actions. Davos, the hand to King Stannis stayed behind with the Lord of Light Priestess Melisandre, who had seemed to take a strange liking to the Snow boy.

The morning Stannis planned to leave, he and Jon had tried to convince Mance to surrender. Stannis promised that if he knelt, he would allow the free folk to go free and unharmed. The King beyond the wall would still not kneel though and as Stannis followed the Lord of Light, Mance was put to death by fire.

Jon had disagreed with the manner of death and he had respected for Mance, despite their differences in life. Stannis would not hear of it though, and the penalty was given. Jon and Sam watched from the baloney as Mance screamed out under the flames.

"This is wrong," Jon sighed.

"What can we do though?" Samwell asked nervously.

Jon, unable to watch any longer, quickly reached for his bow and shot a single arrow into the man's heart, killing him instantly. Stannis was enraged by Jons actions but took no action on the Lord Commander and had his leave for Winterfell shortly after. Meanwhile, back in the common hall, Thorne sat around in a small group of his fellow brothers.

"He's a wildlings lover and now we must follow him, it's not right," one of the men spat.

"Aye, I will not follow that boy. What can we do?" Another sighed.

"We can end his watch." Thorne smiled.

Later that night, Jon was returning to his chambers when he stopped to see to Ghost. As he comforted his pet, he heard the sound of footprints in the deep snow behind him.

"Thorne?" he announced once he turned around to see the man who hated him.

Behind Thorne stood a group of 12 other angered men. Jon instantly knew something was not right and placed his hand on his sword.

"For the watch," Thorne smiled and suddenly stepped forward and slammed his knife into Jon's stomach.

Blood instantly filled Jon's mouth as Thorne pulled out his blade and another brother stepped forward.

"For the watch," he hissed and again slammed his knife into Jon.

One by one, the men spoke the same words before stabbing Jon. By the time they had finished Jon had fallen to the ground as a chained up ghost howled into the cold night air. As Jon lay dying in the cold ground, the image Natari standing over him appeared before him. She was smiling sweetly and urging him to come and practise fighting. When Jon didn't move, the image of Natari grew dark and angered.

"You left me, Jon!" The image hissed at him.

"Natari please," he begged as he coughed on his own blood and reached out for her.

"It is too late now. Goodnight sweet brother."

Further South Sandor Clegane had woken up to find the space next to him empty.

"Natari?" he grumbled and he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

The room was empty and quiet though. Slowly, Sandor pulled himself out of the bed and began to look around the room. Her things were gone and a small portion of the supplies as well. She had left him. Quickly, he packed up his belongings and rushed out of the Inn. God only knew how far ahead she was and in what direction she had travelled. He knew his best bet of finding her was to continue on north.

Over the next week, Sandor continued onwards, still finding no trace of the woman he hunted. Yet one afternoon, he came across a campsite and instantly knew who the men where.

"Sandor Clegane, you're still alive?" Thoros, the priest from the Brotherhood without Banners laughed.

Suddenly the rest of the men in their group stood up and surrounded Sandor.

"Tougher girls than you have tried to kill me!" Sandor announced as he pointed to the man holding a bow and arrow at him.

"You must be hungry?" Beric smiled.

Sandor grunted and joined the group by the fire. In silence, they ate the cooked rabbits.

"Enjoying yourself?" Thoros asked as he passed Sandor a skin of water.

"I'd prefer chicken," he grumbled as he picked at the rabbit leg.

"You should join us, we could use a man like you. Where here for a reason, Clegane. The Lord of Light is keeping me alive for a reason. We are part of something greater than ourselves," Beric smiled.

"Lots of horrible shit gets done in this world for some reason or another. For something larger than ourselves,".

"Cold winds are rising in the north," Beric sighed.

"And you're going to go stop them?" Sandor scoffed.

"We need good men to help us," Beric urged.

Sandor laughed as he threw the rabbit leg away and looked up to Beric. "Last time you saw me, you wanted to execute me!"

"Aye, but the Lord of Light gave you the power to defeat me. Why?"

"I beat you because I'm better than you, Beric," he laughed again.

"Aye, you're probably right, but you're a fighter. You were born a fighter. And then you walked away from the fight, walked to find a woman. How did that go?"

Sandor didn't reply as he felt a wave of sinking anger in his stomach at the thought of Natari.

"Young and old, woman or man. The things we're fighting will destroy them all. But you can still help a lot more than you harmed Clegane. It's not too late for you."