Winter Is Our Fury

Chapter Twelve: Escaping

A dark figure moved through the castle grounds that night, skipping in and out rooms and avoiding patrolling soldiers. The figure snuck across the courtyard and into the smithy. She ducked under the table and pulled back a cloth to reveal a bow. Aris took the bow and picked up a quiver of arrows and slung them over her shoulders.

"Ready?" Gendry's voice asked. Aris turned back and rose to her feet and nodded. She came to the entrance and looked around before lightly skipping across the courtyard and under the shelter of a walkway. Aris came to a crouch as she rounded the yard to the front gates, there she met Arya and HotPie who were hiding behind a wall.

"You have everything?" Aris whispered. 

"Sour cherries are all crushed up and ready." announced HotPie too loudly for they're liking.

"Shut up!" Gendry whispered. Even still he continued, "...Probably in the pie crust by now. In the oven, the nice warm oven."

"Shut up!" Arya was next to scold him. "What did you bring?"

"Cheese crevecoeur. I did get some nice sausages."

Aris grew more annoyed the more they sat there and waited. She dared to peer over the wall seeing all the guards standing in position and guarding the gates. "What's he want us to do with those guards?"

"He didn't say." Arya replied. "He just said 'walk through the gates'."

"But, what about the guards?" Gendry asked.

"He didn't say anything about the guards." Arya repeated.

"Well he left that bit out! It's a pretty important part, don't you think?"

"We have to trust him."

"Trust him? You trusted him to fight with us when you set him free and he ran."

"I wanna go back to the kitchen." HotPie's voice shook with fear.

"Shut up! Stay here if you're afraid."

Aris had enough. She stood up and went to round Arya to head for the gates but Gendry's hand grabbed her's to stop her. "Don't!"

Arya was next to follow. She walked out from hiding and headed towards the gates. Gendry had no choice but to release Aris and follow Arya with HotPie in tow. They kept their heads down as they walked, trying to act natural.

They're hearts pounded harder as they reached the gates but the closer they came the more they noticed each guard was pinned to the wall with spears. All suspended to make out as if they were alive. All of them were dead.

They walked out of the gates of Harrenhal and followed the road which they came in from. They couldn't stop, not until they were RiverLands, as far away from the Lannister armies as possible. Aris looked back at the castle ruins unable to believe they had actually escaped and a wide smile drew across her face.

"I think it's time you explained yourself, Arya."

➵

The four of them stopped momentarily to camp out in the woods for that night but they didn't light a fire in fear of being spotted. It was too close and too dangerous. So they slept the night and kept going when the sun rose. They were tired and hungry and they couldn't stop and they couldn't waste their provisions.

"I'm just trying to understand." said Gendry as they hiked through the woods. It was simple and he still couldn't wrap his head around the concept.

"Would you please shut up about it." Arya shot. Even she was growing tired of having to explain herself several times.

"Jaqen H'gar offered you three kills."