Keeper

The Roads Lead To Harrenhal

Her heart ached for him.

After Rhaella had spent the last several nights tending to Jaime's wounds the best she knew how, Locke had thought it would be comical to watch The Kingslayer try to keep himself upright on his horse while she and Brienne rode on either side of him. The straw-haired Knight had seen her concern nearly the entire ride from Locke's camp to where they were now. His hand hung limply from around his neck as punishment for his sharp tongue.

"Jaime-"

Green eyes flickered upwards to where she sat on his right. They were so dull, so lifeless-

"Oi, Kingslayers Whore!" Rhaella snarled as a large hand came in contact with her cheek, and her head snapped so hard to the right she was sure the vertebrae in her lower neck were out of place. "How many of those fingers do you think he'd be able to shove up your-" Rhaella urged her horse forward with a harsh kick to the ribs, desperate to keep her mouth shut as it would've provoked them to wound Jaime further.

That was when Brienne realized that Jaime was slowly leaning far enough outward that he would fall off of his horse and straight into the mud.

"He's going to fall." She called out. Locke cast an annoyed glance over his shoulder, but Rhaella heard her friend through the laughter of the Bolton men and guided her horse in the opposite direction. "He's going to fall off of his horse, someone help him!"

The Bolton men formed a circle around where Jaime had fallen, face immersed in the mud as his left arm trembled in an attempt to push himself upright. Rhaella stopped her horse beside Brienne and kept a vice-like grip on her reins to prevent a rash decision that was forming in the corner of her mind. "If you imbeciles value your gold and your future fortunes, you will place The Kingslayer on my saddle." Her voice was smooth as steel, not an ounce of emotion evident in her expression. It was cold, calculating. The complete opposite of the woman Brienne had come to know since departing from Lady Stark. "I will be responsible for him."

Locke stood beside her and cast a glance behind him at Jaime. "If you're thinking about doing anything foolish-"

"Do I look like someone who wants to get kicked in the face?" She nudged her head at the fallen man. "If you have half a mind, you'll put him up here. Otherwise Lord Tywin will hear a word from his favorite lady of the Court and your fortune is gone." Locke clucked his tongue and nodded as he parted from her to meet Jaime from his spot in the mud.

"Water, water-" Their leader took his skin from the saddlebag of his horse and drenched Jaime in whatever liquid it contained. A sliver of relief bloomed in her chest as Jaime tilted his head up to let it run past his lips and into his mouth. "If I die, you won't be getting-"

"Oh, enough." Locke tutted. "Here." He handed the skin over to Jaime who devoured it in three large gulps as if he'd been deprived of water for weeks. "I don't think I've ever seen a man drink horse piss that fast."

Rhaella stiffened and screwed her eyes tightly shut as Jaime retched into the mud. "Locke," She called out. "For the love of the Seven, please put him on my saddle. I'm not asking again." One of the Bolton men went to lift Jaime to his feet and received a well earned elbow to the face before he wrenched the longsword from his scabbard with his left hand, which had not been trained in swordplay before that moment. It was the wrong hand, the weak one. "Jaime!"

"Listen to your whore cry for you, Kingslayer."

It was a sad sight to watch as Jaime Lannister, almost acting like a wounded animal, made a futile attempt to ward off the men who approached him at all sides. It didn't take much effort to disarm him as a well placed blow was delivered to his back. Brienne was off her horse in an instant. "Stop!" Rhaella remained unmoving in her saddle as she and Brienne were forced to watch Locke repeatedly kick Jaime in the stomach. It was painful. Almost as painful as if it were happening to her at the same time.