The White Wolf of Winterfell

[ two ]

a rose born and bred,

no love she gets, but for love she bled.

*

   The gypsy made her way to the north. The queen didn't offer her any money and the gold she'd received was taken away from her so she had no money for traveling nor for a place to sleep.

It got colder and colder every step she took towards the north, her off shoulder tunic and thin skirt did not help. She hopped off the horse she stole and made her way around the house she'd found by the road.

It was dark and wet, she was sure no one would be around. Alyss went over to the back of the house and grabbed whatever piece of clothing she could find, luckily for her it was a large white cloak with a hood. She immediately put it on and ran back to the black horse.

She followed the main road for quite a while, it had been weeks since she set off. It usually took a month to Winterfell, 'I must be near' she thought as she passed a brothel filled with northerners.

Alyss didn't want to do it, to kill the king in the north, she knew of the outcome, everyone knew. She could just turn the horse around and flee to Lys, or any other exotic country she hadn't been to in Essos, maybe she could start a life there. Work under someone for a while just to save up enough money to move onto the next chapter, or she could find a rich drunken husband who'd drink himself to his grave. But she knew, that her past would catch up to her and if she was going to die, why not do it now instead of giving herself false hope or live the rest of her life just constantly looking over her shoulder to see if someone's there to kill her yet. Cersei would not let her live, one way or another, Alyss was going to die.

If she played it smart, kill the king in the north and immediately leave Westeros, she may just give her life a few weeks, months or even years but she was not going to live 'til her old age.

She continued on the Kingsroad, when the sun started to set she decided to quicken her pace, trying to find an abandoned place she could stay in for the night and when she finally saw a house, she slowed down and got off the horse. She made her way towards the house slowly, hoping to catch a glimpse of the owners by the windows or hear noises, when she heard none; she ran towards the door and knocked three times. "Hello?" she yelled out, as the cold started to get to her.

No one answered so she made the decision to barge in; she checked all the rooms and found nothing. She smiled and hurriedly went outside to get the horse.

The kitchen had a few things that she could work with, she fed the horse a few carrots and made herself some stew. Though she found it strange that no one was in the house, a house filled with food and supplies and even freshly chopped wood for the fireplace.

A chill went down her spine, something was wrong; she knew it as soon as a breeze went through the kitchen window and a foul smell spread through the room like wildfire. She walked over to the window and looked out from behind the thin curtain.

A tree stood in the middle of what seemed like a farm in the dark, Alyss took a deep breath and walked out towards the tree. She glanced back at the kitchen door next to the window and placed a shaky step forward. Fear was what she felt as she neared the tree and with every step she took, the air became more eerie that before. She got to the tree and held onto its' trunk and walked herself to the other side. It took her a long minute before her sight could adjust to what she was looking at.

Alyss gasped in shock as she realized it was four dead bodies hanging off the large branches; she swallowed the acid that rose from her stomach as she analyzed the bodies.

The one closest to her was a boy, no more than 10, with dried blood across his head and his face, next to him was a girl, maybe a few years younger than Alyss. An older woman and a man about the same age were strung up together with their hands tied to each other. Flies were swarming around all of them as they stunk up the entire lot. Alyss said a quick prayer, hoping that their gods would hear. She bowed and left quickly as fear began to rise in the pits of her stomach.

She ran back to the house, locked the doors and shut the windows. She would rid of their bodies in the morning, she told herself, and she would burn their bodies as it would be too much work for one girl to dig four holes. The fear she felt was new, it wasn't the usual fear for her life; it was a fear of something else, something dark and terrifying.

There was something about the north, she concluded as she started the fire for the fireplace and prepared herself for a night's rest. Something different than the other places in all of Westeros and Essos, but she couldn't seem to put her finger on it yet. It felt spiritual, odd and monstrous. Something was coming and it was coming fast.

*

She wiped her hands clean on an apron she found in the kitchen and looked down at the four bodies piled up together. She threw a candle onto the pile and said another prayer.

No guilt was felt as she took a few fur cloaks she'd found from rummaging the dead families' closet. She still had on the white cloak she had stolen from the day before but knew that it would not be enough.

She soon got on the horse and left the house quietly, occasionally glancing back to watch the smoke from the fire she'd set. Alyss shook her head, trying to rid of the headache that was coming on. When she lived in Essos, killing people wasn't a hard thing for her to do, but as soon as she saw the four bodies, she felt heavy as if all of the people she had killed suddenly piled onto her shoulders.

She closed her eyes for a second and let the horse take her north as she let the bitter wind bite her cheeks and the tip of her nose. She tightened her grip on the rein of the horse and opened her eyes. Her mind had come to a conclusion that she was not going to die anytime soon.

She was going to Winterfell, and she was going to kill the king in the north.

*