Winter Is Here // Game Of Thrones

Now It Ends (Third POV)

Can a man still be brave when he is afraid?

That is the only time a man can be brave.

When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.

Know the men who follow you and let them know you. Don't ask your men to die for a stranger.

Black and white and grey, all the shades of truth.

In this world only winter is certain. We may lose our heads, it's true ... but what if we prevail?

Her father's words rang through her head as Audelia ran through Winterfell's halls, trying to get to the bridge. She held Ned, bundled in four different layers of fur to the point he could not move, in her arms tightly, unable to let him go.

Jaime followed close behind, his sword at his side, his golden hand on his stump, his armour on his chest, and the cape Audelia had made for him on his back. It was all he had to protect himself. But with his limp from the arrows he suffered during the Battle of the Bastards, and one working hand, he was but a cripple who stood almost no chance.

A maimed lion stuck in the North, covered in snow, not sunlight like he was used to. If he only could fight in Dorne, he would stand better chances.

"Lia!", Jaime called after her. She had been quick, making it down the stairs in the middle of the night, with no light to guide her because she knew her home so well, he had not been so lucky.

Audelia stopped at the bottom of the stairs and waited for him. "Jaime, I must give Sansa Ned so she can take him to the crypts with her", Audelia said hurriedly, as they continued down the hallways towards the doors that led to the bridge.

"You mean you are going with Sansa and Ned to the crypts, Lia", Jaime said, stopped her. His good hand held her elbow tightly but it did not hurt.

"Jaime-", she tried to argue but he stopped her.

"I will not allow it", Jaime said, his words seething. He was not angry, he was scared. "You are going to those crypts with Ned and you will stay there the entirety of the Battle, do you understand?".

Audelia clenched her jaw together. She had known he would argue with her, and disagree with her decision to be outside of the crypts and give orders directly from the bridge.

She was not a fool to believe she could fight alongside the seasoned Knights or Soldiers. But she did have some training with the sword, better than some soldier's. She knew how to swing it, she knew how to hold it. She knew how to fight from her brief lessons with Ser Rodrik and Robb and Jon and her Uncle the Blackfish as a child. She was not completely helpless.