Solace {A Game of Thrones Fanfiction}

Chapter 2

She entered again the next night. Tonight the castle was a lot louder than the nights before.

She held a rag and a pair of shoes. The woman was rushed as she threw the shoes at the ground by his feet. Theon was surprised by how quickly she had walked in. One moment he was hanging on the x and then the very next she was rushing in.

She looked up at Theon. "This is going to hurt a lot." She put the rag into his mouth, "Bite down hard, it will help."

She bent down to the screws in his feet and started to unscrew them. Theon let out wails of pain. He clenched his teeth onto the rag as he felt he might break his own jaw from the pressure. His mangled foot dripped blood all over the stone floor.

Then, she had to do it one more time. Finally, his feet were free. Theon could barely stand. Any pressure he put on his feet hurt excruciatingly.

She helped Theon put on the shoes. He tried to keep standing, but his entire body was numb. The pain became so unbearable that it stopped all feeling in his body. He felt like he might pass out, but he tried desperately not to. It would be impossible to escape if he was unconscious.

"Let's go." She helped him walk a little bit over to a grate in the stone floor. Theon's blood had drained down into that grate before. He had a hard time focusing on what was happening really and all he could think about was staying conscious.

She moved away from Theon and grunted as she pushed the grate to the side. She helped Theon down, and then she hopped down herself. Theon vision was starting to become blurry as he was lead by her. 

They kept walking through the sewers. Theon could only hear his breaths as his head was spinning. He felt a massive pounding continually go through his spine. His body was tell him to stop, but he didn't listen to it. 

Rays of gray light flashed into Theon's eyes. He looked above him to another grate. For a moment, all he could fixate on were the stars peeking behind the metal bars. Theon was sure he was never going to see those stars again. 

She was unaware of what was happening in Theon's brain as she moved away from him to open the grate. Theon was not ready and without her support he fell against the wall. 

"Stay strong for me." She said. He tried to listen to her words and kept standing using the little strength he had left. She grunted and pushed the grate open. She climbed out first, and Theon tried to pull himself up behind her. He had a hand on the ledge but all his strength was rapidly draining from his body. 

"Take my hand." Theon reached up and grabbed her hand. He tried to help to pull himself up but he knew he wasn't helping much. With her help, he was over the ledge.

Theon looked up again to see the moon. The stars were spinning in lines around him as his legs quivered beneath him. Even though it was night, he felt like the outside world was almost blinding. He only barely caught a glimpse of her running over to a bush to pull out a bag.

She lead Theon over to the stables. "Where are all the guards? The men?" Theon asked.

"Don't worry. They are all occupied at the moment." She said. When she saw Theon's confused expression, she added, "Whores."

She put the bag on a horse. "Hop up." She helped Theon to barely make it on top of the horse. She hopped onto the front of the horse. 

Immediately, she sent the horse galloping into the woods. 

Theon tried to will himself to stay alert in case of this being a trick but it was very difficult. He hadn't slept in days and he was in a lot of pain. He found himself slipping in and out of sleep as they rode.

They rode all through the night. For a very long time they galloped through the forest. They slowed down for a while as they made it across empty hills. Theon had finally felt calm for the first time in a long time.

--

An orange haze started to appear on the horizon. Theon was only barely registering what was happening or where they were. 

The horse came to a stop in a clearing in the woods next to the river. There were some small rocky cliffs and hills only a little bit downstream from them. The woman got off the horse and then helped Theon get down. It was a lot more difficult than getting him up on the horse. She tried to make his dismount as smooth as possible, but his foot jammed into the ground. Adrenaline shot back into Theon's body as he let out a grunt in pain.

She then helped him to sit his back against a tree. He let out a big breath as he finally was stable. 

"Ramsay's men are going to be looking for us everywhere." She started as she grabbed the bag off the back of the horse. "We have to find shelter to hide for a few days.

Theon wasn't listening as much as he probably should have been, "What's your name?"

She paused as she stopped what she was doing. She turned to face him, "Tara."

Theon nodded, "Thank you Tara." 

-

Tara had found a small overhang in the rocky cliffs that was perfect for shelter. Some bigger rocks obscured the entrance to their cave of sorts which allowed it to be dark and cool inside. She had gotten Theon there and let him rest against the rock wall while she got the rest of the items they needed. 

Theon wished he could help, but again his body longed for sleep. 

His eyes fluttered open again when he heard rustling next to him. Tara had gathered leaves and grass and was creating a makeshift bed next to him. Even though it was primitive, Theon couldn't wait to lay down on it. 

Without even saying anything to each other, Tara helped Theon to gently lay himself down. Theon let out a sigh of relief as his body was finally allowed to rest properly.

"I wish I could let you sleep, but your wounds." She said to him. 

Theon gave her an almost scared look. He knew this wasn't going to be good. 

She started to tend to his feet. Theon had to endure more pain as she had to disinfect his wounds. Every time it would sting severely. Theon wished she would pull out milk of the poppy out of her bag. 

When she was finally done, Theon felt a little more at ease. A slight breeze blew in through the gaps in the rocks. He noticed that the sun wasn't coming through and touching the cave wall as vibrantly as before. He didn't realize that he must have slept the entire day. 

He turned to lay on his side to see her. She was tending the beginnings of a fire but Theon's movement turned her to look at him. 

"Why are you helping me?" Theon asked. They both shared a look between the growing embers between them. 

"I don't know." She said as she looked back at the fire in thought, "I didn't know I had to have a reason."

Theon watched her eyes focus on the tinder. "I thought I was alone." He admitted to her. 

She nodded. A cooler breeze swept through the cave. "I think maybe that's why."

"What?" 

"You remind me of me." 

They met each other's eyes but Tara quickly looked away. Theon knew there had to be something that she wasn't saying. Little did he know, Tara was feeling immense guilt. She knew there was something she had to tell him, but she didn't want him to not trust her. She didn't know how to look at him and tell him the truth about why the two of them were so similar in her eyes.