Carliene Stark

Prologue

Carliene

The windows of the carriage had thick curtains and my hands where bound  to the hard wooden bench with iron chains so I couldn't pull them aside and look where we were going. I had lost track of any sense of direction or distance. It seemed like ages of being confined to these small wooden walls. At sunset the whole caravan would stop and they would let me get a few minutes of fresh air to relief myself before locking me back into the carriage for the night. Everytime they let me out the scenery looked more unfamiliar, we were not on the Kingsroad to Kingslanding anymore, that was the only theory that made sense, although I had no idea why they would take me along a different road. I had tried to escape once, nocked over the guard that had his turn watching me and bolted for the woods. I was almost sure I would be successful .... but they had horses and two beastly dogs, it seemed a miracle they didn't kill me right there. They probably didn't dare, I surely had some use to someone in Kingslanding, being the eldest Stark child and all. Next time I would steal one of the horses, I was just looking for the next opportunity, but the guards didn't make it easy. They had two of them watch me while I was out of the carriage now and I rather not try my luck against two fully armoured men with double-bladed longswords while in shackles.

Lannisters... they made me sick. Another thing that made me sick was this traveling, my whole body hurt from sleeping in the tiny confined space.
When the carriage came to its final halt I didn't realise that this was the end of our journey at first. But as I noticed that the sun was still standing high behind the curtains I sat up straight. There were voices outside and sounds that painted a city.

Someone yanked open the door and I quickly turned my head away as the bright sun bit into my eyes that had gotten so used to the dim and dark of the carriage.A guard unlocked the shackles from the bench and pulled on them so I would step outside. Still squinting my eyes I half stepped, half stumbled out and looked around confused. I could make out great stone walls and buildings, we must have been on a great yard before a castle or something simmilar. My stomach tightened as I saw Lannister banners everywhere. This must have been some Castle they had taken over and were now using as a military holdfast.
A lot of people were on the yard, guards, stable boys with horses. I recognised a smithy next to what must have been the stables.
     "Where are we?" I questioned confused and concerned, but the guard just kept on dragging me along in silence.
Everyone on the yard seemed to stop whatever they were doing and look up towards me. My eyes met with a women, carrying a basket what I presumed to be laundry. Her gaze was filled with something I could only interpret as hate.

Not being able to break eye contact with her in my confusion, I did not realise the guard had stopped and bumped into him with a small gasp of surprise. I frowned in displeasure and looked up at the horse we had come to halt before.

"Hey wait!" I protested but the man had already picked me up and put me on the horses back. I had to desperately cling onto the saddle in order to not slip off again. At that moment I was once again clad I was not wearing a dress, for that would have only caused my legs to tangle and me plunging to my death. Though death seemed a more comforting thought that being the bannister's prisoner.

"Where are we?" I demanded as a group of gold-cloaks on horses surrounded me. They turned out to be as talkative as my old companions.

We started to climb a steep stone road, that twisted and turned between houses of the common folk. As the guard at the front ordered them to make way, the people stepped aside and looked up at me with all sorts of mixed expressions. Some looked curious, some like almost afraid and some in disgust or hate. The later was the most common expression, which send an uneasy feeling down my spine. As we passed a brothel the whores did not speak flirtations at the guards as one would expect, but rather stared at me and a few of them even spat as I made eye contact with them.

Looking back I could only see parts of the city bellow as a wider view was blocked by surrounding houses. I could make out parts of a great dome, which I presumed must belong to a sept, though everything was so unfamiliar that the knot in my gut grew ever tighter. We weren't in King's Landing that much was certain. This place didn't have the overall stink of the capitol. Here the smell of smoke, excrement and cooking was interrupted by cool breezes that smelled like the winds that had come in from the sea at the port of king's landing. My suspicion was confirmed as we turned a corner and between the houses I was able to catch a glimpse at the shimmering blue.

My heard dropped when I turned my gaze back to the front, before us a great castle was sprouting up from the ground. It looked like it was growing right out of the rock. Realisation hit me and suddenly I felt like falling to my knees and begging them to bring me back to King's Landing. Because this was worse... way worse.

This was Casterly Rock.