The Forest Child {Sandor Clegane Story}

Flames

Natari had hoped for more time to plan her escape, but she needed to be quicker. The longer she waited, the more Ramsay hurt Sansa. Finally, on the third night, she decided it was time.

"Sister, it is time. We leave right now!" Natari urged as she packed up some clothes for Sansa.

"How? I do not understand. If they found us trying to escape..."

"They won't." 

"How do you know that?" 

"Because my sweet sister, they are too busy trying to ensure the castle does not burn to the ground," Natari smiled as she pointed out of the window to show Sansa the east wing which was completely engulfed by flames. "We need to hurry, it will spread here quickly".

Sansa nodded her head in shock as she helped Natari pack a bag. Once the girls were finally ready, Natari pulled out her knife and peaked out of the door.

"Come on, it's clear," she smiled.

Natari had planned for them to head to the South side of the castle. It was not far from her room, and the walls were lower, allowing them to jump when they reached the open walkway. She knew she could not expect to come across no guards on there way and so held her knife ready underneath her cloak as Sansa walked closely behind her.

The first guard they came across was a young lad. Natari had told him that she was ordered to get Sansa to a safer location and the idiot had brought it. When they were just one turn away from freedom they came across two more guards, this time Natari was unable to fool them.

"Lord Bolton will have your head for this!"

"Or perhaps I shall have yours?" Natari smiled.

Sansa could not help but smile at this as well. She remembered how she had once hold Joffrey a similar thing. Quickly, Natari threw her knife towards one of the guards. It landed straight into his throat. As the other guard looked over at his dying friend in complete confusion, Natari pulled out another knife and slammed it underneath his chin and straight into his head. As she pulled the blade away, the man flopped to the ground and she held out her hand for Sansa.

"I can't do that. I can't jump down there," Sansa began to panic as they reached the walkway.

"The fall is short and the snow is deep. You must jump this time Sansa. There is no other chose this time," Natari explained sternly.

Sansa could understand the seriousness in her sister's voice. This time she would not let her down and nodded quickly. Suddenly, their moment was interrupted when the sound of two guards calling out caught their attention.

"Sansa jump now!" Natari commanded.

"What about you, you will follow?" She continued to cry.

"I need to stop those guards, I cannot let them alert anyone else. Just jump and run, do not stop running. Your sister in the tree line waiting for you. You must promise me, neither of you will return here!"

"I'm not leaving you!" she cried.

"I promise. I will find you. I am much faster than you both, so I might even beat you to Castle Black. Promise me though Sansa. Promise me you and Arya will run and not stop!"

"I promise," she whispered and finally turned away from her sister to look down the edge of the walkway. With a deep breath, she rolled her shoulders back and finally, jumped off the edge and disappeared into the deep cold snow below. 

Once Sansa hit the ground, she kept her word and began to charge across the snowy field and towards the tree line. When she was about halfway across, a blast of flames erupted from where she had jumped. The blast was so forceful it made her trip. Quickly, she picked herself back up and looked at Winterfell one last time.

At the other end of Winterfell, the Brotherhood Without Banners and Sandor Clegane stood behind the tree line and watched as Winterfell exploded into a pile of flames.

"By the gods," Sandor whispered under his breath.

"Perhaps the Lord of Light," Beric smiled.

"Either way, your woman is unlikely to there, and if she is, there is no helping her now. We should continue onto Castle Black, it is only a few more days ride." Thoros added.

Beric looked over at the speechless Sandor. "He's right. You will not find anything here Clegane." 

Slowly, Clegane nodded and the group of men turned their horses around.

At Castle Black, Davos had been the first to find the dead body of Jon Snow. Without even thinking about it, he dragged the lifeless body back to his chambers and placed him on the table. Lady Melisandre had been the first he told and she believed there was a way to bring him back. Davos only shared this information with the small group he knew Jon had trusted.

A group of the watchmen had demanded that Jon Snow's body be buried and that Thorne become the new Lord Commander. Davos didn't trust any of them though, someone here had been the one to kill Jon. Over the next three days, Davos and those he trusted, including Tormund and a couple of other Wildlings protected the room from the others. Tormund had respected Jon for what he had done in ending Mance's pain, and in return put his loyalty in him. Jon's wolf, Ghost also sat guard, never once leaving the boys body.

By the third day, all of Lady Melisande attempts to bring Jon back had failed. Each failed time, she grew more desperate and began to beg the Lord of Light to help. She had never conducted this type of magic before, and she knew her faith was being tested.

"Please" she whispered after repeating the magic words once again.

Still, Jon's body lay cold and still underneath her hands. Tormund suddenly stormed out of the room in frustration, and slowly each of Jon's friends began to leave. Finally, Lady Melisandre removed her hands from the body and looked over to Davos. Only Davos, herself and Jon wolf were left in the room as she walked over to the fireplace and closed her eyes in defeat. 

After a few moments in silence, Ghost jumped to his feet and began barking at the body. Davos and Lady Melisandre quickly look back at the dead body of Jon Snow. Suddenly, Jon's eyes flashed open and he began to gasp for air.

Winter has come.