Iron and Blood: a Theon & Sansa Story

Chapter 74

Theon
A full moon after Theon parted from Robb, he returned to the Iron Islands on a merchant ship, using Robb's coin. With him, Theon brought pages upon pages of the notes Robb had written, describing all that he knew of the Lannisters' plans.

They would do as Robb had suggested in his lie to Thaddeus Mallister: take the smaller isles that were sparsely populated first, then, with their islands destroyed, the Greyjoys on Pyke would presumably surrender or die fighting.

Asha would know what to do, Theon was certain of it. But he had to see Sansa first. The thought of touching her after nearly two moons away made him giddy with excitement. Soon, he would return home to a baby as well.

He would sacrifice the Iron Islands, but he would not sacrifice his family. No matter what, Theon would make certain that Sansa, the baby, Arya, and Asha found a safe haven to live out their days, even if all else was lost.

The fog was heavy when Theon's ship docked on Pyke. He couldn't see through it to the towers, but he could hear that the streets were quiet. While the sky was dark with clouds, the sun had not yet descended, which meant Pyke should have been alive with business before the drunken lull of nighttime.

Something felt markedly wrong to Theon, but he shook it away. After all, Pyke was still an unfamiliar place to him after so many years on the mainland; discomfort should not have worried him there.

He gathered the stack of parchments from Robb and started up the road. A few women he passed asked if he needed a friend for the night, but Theon ignored them. Otherwise, no one else was out.

And then he heard a scream. "Theon!" someone shouted, their voice pained beyond measure. "Theon!" it came again.

"Where are you?" Theon called into the fog.

Arya emerged from the mist, her feet hard against the stones beneath them. There were tears still wet on her cheeks. "Theon!" she cried and fell into him.

"What is it?" he snapped. He grabbed her by the shoulders to look her in the eye. "What's wrong?"

"Sansa," Arya sobbed. "Please, Theon, we have to find her!"

Theon did not understand, and it seemed that Arya would never calm enough to tell him more. Instead, she ripped him forward by the arm and started down the road, away from the tower. They came upon the wood by the sea—the tree where Theon and Sansa had been married in the eyes of the Old Gods.

Only now, a face had been carved into the bark, ugly and mocking. It cried tears of true blood.

At its center was a direwolf brooch, only it was dark with blood instead of silver. There was a gash down the pin's center—the mark of some big blade. If he had not known better, Theon might have mistaken it for the brooch that Robb Stark wore and that Theon had worn once, too.

No, Robb was too far away. Theon saw Arya's own pin upon her chest there in the fog.

The brooch had to be Sansa's.

Everything inside of Theon started to shatter. "Have you seen your sister?" he asked Arya, who only cried harder.

"Not since yesterday," she stammered. "I looked all night. All night, Theon. And then I found this." She gestures towards the mutilated tree and the pin pressed into it.

"Have you told Asha?" he hurried. His voice shook, no matter how desperately he tried to control it. "Where is Asha?"

"I told her," Arya replied, and then she was cut off by a sob. "I told her, and she locked up your maester and doubled the guards, but she doesn't know where to look."

"Did she send men out looking?" Theon pressed.

Arya nodded, chewing at her lip. As she sniffled, Theon knelt down and pulled her into him. "We have to help her," Arya sobbed against his shoulder. "Please, Theon, please."

Theon released her so that he could pull Sansa's direwolf brooch from the tree. The blood on it was cool and sticky, caked into the features of the silver dog. There was more blood on the tree bark—more than Theon wanted to imagine had come from Sansa. He could not ponder it any longer than that moment in the wood.

"Come," he beckoned Arya. "We have to get you back to the tower. You'll need to stay there with your door locked."

"No!" Arya screamed.

It stopped Theon in his tracks. "Keep your voice down," he shushed her.

"I'm not hiding in my chamber while my sister is missing," she yelled back at him, only a little quieter. "You can't make me."

Theon would not fight her there. He grabbed Arya's hand and pulled her out of the forest. She didn't protest as they ran towards the tower, where two guards awaited them. They moved aside at Theon's approach and slammed the door behind him.

The room he shared with Sansa looked the same as it had when he left, only there was a girl inside that he did not recognize, pacing back and forth from the window to the bedside. Theon drew his sword, but Arya screamed, "Theon, no!"

The stranger spun to look at them: she was a young woman, dark of skin and hair, with a long braid and a pretty white dress. "Who are you?" Theon called to her.

"Abylene, my Lord," she replied, rushing a curtsy. "Or Aby. I'm the midwife you sent the Reeds for."

Theon sheathed his sword but wasted no time with apologies. "Where's my wife?" he demanded.

Aby shook her head, almost tearful. "I don't know," she breathed shakily. "I've not seen her since yesterday morning."

Theon searched the room for something, anything, that might reveal where Sansa had gone. But the room was neat and apparently undisturbed. He turned to Arya now and asked, "Do you know where Asha is?"

Arya pointed up at the ceiling to indicate Asha's solar. Theon nodded his thanks and ran from the chamber, skipping every other step on his way up. Asha was at the long table with five of her men, including Kal of No Name, Tristifer Botley, and Harrag Sharp, along with two Harlaw cousins who looked too much alike for Theon to tell the difference.

All Asha could do was look up at her brother and sigh. "What happened?" he shouted as he moved to the table. He slammed the bloody wolf brooch in front of Asha and asked again, "What happened?"

"I don't know," she snapped back at him. She pushed Tris Botley out of her way to meet Theon face to face. "Sansa did not return home for dinner last night, so I sent men to search everywhere on the island and ordered all boats to remain at the docks."

Theon leaned heavily on the table, trembling. "We'll search every house," he muttered. "No one on Pyke rests until Lady Sansa is returned safely."