Solace {A Game of Thrones Fanfiction}

Chapter 24

Tara left the rope in the broken tower. She had to find Theon and Sansa. The candle in the tower had to be the handy work of Sansa, and it couldn't have been lit too long ago.

Tara ran down the stairs of the broken tower as fast as she could. She tried to stay as calm as she could, but it had been too long and panic was starting to set in.

Then she heard the horn for the gates. Now she couldn't help but panic. Ramsay was back and all his men. They were supposed to have left a while ago. Tara started to rush through the yard. She had to find them, but so many doubts were rushing through her head. What if they had been captured? What was she supposed to do then?

She stopped in her tracks once she saw a body on the ground. She looked both ways and then slowly approached the body. Anxiety was building up inside of her. She couldn't tell who it was and she just prayed it wasn't Sansa or Theon. She only made out the face until she got closer.

It was Myranda. Tara looked up to see Ramsay's men walking over this way. Tara didn't hesitate, she started to sprint back to the tower. Ramsays men started to yell and run after her. Tara ran as fast as she could. She slammed the door of the broken tower behind her and ran up the stairs two steps at a time.

She threw the random assorted furniture at the stairs and by the door to slow down the men and then threw the rope she had ready out the window of the broken tower. She stopped for a moment at the candle in the window to see it all burnt out.

-

Tara's legs were screaming at her. She had ran nonstop all the way into the woods. Her calf was covered with blood. Someone had managed to shoot her with an arrow while she was running away from Winterfell, but she had so much adrenaline coursing through that she couldn't feel the pain yet. She could hear the dogs and men near her. She needed to move fast, and she needed to think fast. The dogs would find her scent and then she would have no escape. It probably didn't help that she was dripping blood everywhere she went.

Every step she took she felt like it was getting more and more hopeless. The dogs barks were getting closer and she was starting to tire. Despite her body yelling at her to stop running, she didn't. She jumped over trunks and pushed her way through frosted branches.

At some point, she started to feel more hopeful. The hounds barking was slowly getting farther away until at one point she stopped hearing the barks distinctly, but only heard their distant echoes bouncing through the forest. Tara finally slowed for a moment.

It's like the dogs are going after something else now, Tara thought.

She stopped moving altogether. It was Theon and Sansa. Tara hadn't been able to think clearly until just then. It made the most sense. They were ones who killed Myranda, and they were the reasons that the hounds hadn't found her yet.

Tara stopped for a moment and looked down at her calf. Blood was completely covering her leg. The arrow was still jammed into her leg. She hadn't felt much, but now she was really starting to feel it hitting her. Tara didn't stop yet though. She couldn't just run away knowing that the dogs were probably going to find Theon and Sansa. Tara could help. She turned in the direction of the barking and started to run again despite the throbbing pain in her leg.

Horrible thoughts started to rush through Tara's head as she ran towards the barks. The barks were getting louder as she got closer. She wanted so badly to collapse from the cold and the bleeding, but she didn't let herself. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if Theon needed her help right now and she wasn't there to give it.

But then the barks stopped. Tara kept running but her terrible thoughts turned horrific when she heard the screams and yelling. When she got even closer she heard the whinnying of horses and the clanging of swords. Tara ran even faster.