The moment Alexandra left the tent she called her lieutenants and captains.
"Pack up , we're riding north. The night king has hit the wall, he's heading this way.. we need to stop at the castles along the way and save the common people. I won't give him more humans to feed and swell his ranks." Her lieutenants looked grim
"Your grace these people do not know of us.. they would not follow us" Alex opened her mouth but another voice answered.
"I'll ride with you." Alex turned to the voice. She was in her tent and this girl was very good at sneaking in, would hate to be her target for assassination. Her lieutenants and captains not taking kindly to being sneaked up on reached for the weapons which stopped Arya in her tracks.
" stand down.. she's a" Alex looked at Arya " a friend of the crown."
The implication was not lost on Arya she gaped. She just met the Amazonian queen minutes ago and yet a friend of the crown.. " Alexandra—"she started once again the guards bristled at the use of the name " We hardly know each other .. how could you possibly trust me?"
Alex looked at the map before her " I trust my instincts Arya stark . You have endured much that much I know. You carry a darkness.." she paused shooting the girl a smile " yet there's also a bright light in you.. a light that I trust now.." she said meaningfully pointing out of the map " there's last hearth here.. then karhold." Alexandra drew her finger across the map " many small villages on the way.. he will try and use all those humans to his advantage and add to his undead. Lexa is right the north doesn't know us, we're strangers, foreigners.. Do you believe you have enough sway to bring these people to safety?"
Arya clenched her needle " I can — the name of stark rings through the north. As a lady of the house of Stark I'll use every advantage I can to save as many as I can.." she said determined.
Alex licked her lips " It brings me no pleasure for a child to do this but it is necessary however," she stared at Arya "if I tell you to leave.. you will ride north to Winterfell .. without question. I don't care whether you're a seasoned fighter — you are still young and I won't sacrifice it pointlessly is that clear Arya ?"
Arya wanted to protest but the burning blue eyes that pierced her made it difficult she dropped her head " I swear if your grace tells me to run, I'll run" Alex nodded satisfied " Lexa, Leah , Maggie.. the same goes for you — the common people are the goal of this mission. If I tell you to abandon me your queen you will follow the order without hesitance"
Leah's eyes widened " Your Grace can't possibly ask—"
Arya watched in awe as the woman looked back at her warriors , her words made Aryas heart clench — a woman that barely knew of the north would sacrifice herself to save the common people
"My orders are absolute— I order your retreat you retreat .. I will hold them back for you." She noticed the tears in Leah's eyes " Do you not have faith in your queen?"
"Of course your grace"
"Then by his lord Raygon's will — I won't die easily. Nor will I give my life up just to be another undead. Trust me that I will keep the line if need be.. but it's just a precaution I want no misunderstandings while we on route .." she sighed . Fixing her armor.
"Come let's prepare.." she looked at Arya " you may want to tell your brother what you're doing. I don't have any intention to deal with him more than necessary"
Arya nodded and headed to her brother.
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When Daenerys found Alex she watched the women barking orders to her army as they took down their camp and prepared to leave in haste. She was partly stunned by how quickly they organized
" Alexandra" she called stepping forward into the woman's eye line " what are you doing?"
Alex glanced at khaleesi she strapped the reigns tighter on starlight " I'm preparing to leave — I'll take a 100 of my army and head to the castles and villages on the way to evacuate the common people. The night king will no doubt hit"
Daenerys opened her mouth but Alex turned to face her " no you will leave with the unsullied, the Dothraki and the remainder of my warriors too winterfell and prepare there"
Daenerys frowned " the northerners don't know you, they won't leave with you"
Alexandra smiled " I've got a solution ." She saw her solution approach followed by a dire wolf " speaking of Arya you ready?"
Arya nodded " Yes your grace"
Alexandra rolled her eyes " I told you to call me Alex or Alexandra whichever works." She reached out and in one swift movement saddled the girl on her horse. The wolf inched closer staring at Alex. " your friend ?"
"Jon's dire wolf." Alex nodded and she glanced at Daenerys.
"Arya will help gather the common folk, concentrate on getting to winterfell."
" Alexandra at least take the Dothraki with you too" Alex shook her head
" No, we divide and conquer . That's the best strategy here." Before Daenerys could protest again she squeezed the queens hand " I'll be fine.. I'll return soon and when I do they'll be plenty of more mouths to feed." She brought Danny's hand to his lips and kissed it " Take care Daenerys Targaryen— my army are under strict orders to follow your command only— but the one thing they will not follow is you sending any assistance my way. So don't even attempt it." With that she nodded on last time and easily vaulted herself on starlight the large warhorse.
She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly gaining the attention of her group . She pulled at starlight's reigns. With one final look at Daenerys she clicked her tongue urging the horse forward. The sound of hoove beats trailed after her as she rode at the head of the formation. Starlight wasted no time following it's masters order and broke out into a full gallop. " hold on tight Arya this one rides very very fast"
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Last hearth hours later
Alex rode and her contingent rode hard and fast.. when they entered last hearth she abruptly pulled starlights reigns to stop the horse from moving any further. She entered the broken down gates — the smell of death lingered in the air.
"We're too late" she grimly said loud enough for Arya to hear.
"what do you mean? Maybe there's survivors."
Alex shook her head " eyes open, weapons ready, we'll do a quick sweep to check for survivors.." she trailed off " if none are found then we have to assume the dead are already in route to the next castle" she said loud enough for her contingent to hear carefully she lead starlight through the path — she could see the splatters of blood across the blanket of snow. She closed her eyes inhaling a deep breath. Before continuing forward. The homes abandoned, the blood and the lack of bodies were a clear indication of the occurrence.
Alexandra led starlight to the castle " Keep your wits about you Arya" she said in warning " remember prepare to flee on my order" she reminded the girl.
Arya clenched her jaw but nodded none the less " I'm not a child" she added
"You are to me.. a child that has no part in any of this.." she whispered "a child I would've wished to spare the cruelties of the world from.. perhaps with the next generation I can.." she sighed " I know you have skills as a fighter but for now those skills aren't to be used now come on" she said hopping off starlight. Arya and a few of Alex's contingent set to exploring the castle — was they walked through the halls the pungent smell of death and blood got stronger— Alex scrunched her nose but other than that showed no visible reaction.
She reached the main hall — but held out her hand— she could hear voices speaking..
"Stay behind me" she ordered Arya removing her swords from her back she entered the main hall what she didn't expect was to find Beric and tormund standing over a corpse pinned to the wall.
" Beric" she called gaining the man's attention. His hand on his flaming sword but the moment his eyes met his lord raygons daughter he dropped to a knee.
"My lady" he intoned deeply.
"Spare the pleasantries we have much more important business at hand" she turned to Arya " who's that ?"
Arya swallowed at the sight of the corpse "Young lord umber your grace"
Alex nodded she nodded towards tormund the wildling as she examined the corpse " rigor mortis set in maybe an hour or two." She murmured feeling the subtle warmth of his body " He was killed and then put in this position— two hours go. Which means the army of the dead are two hours in front of us" she stood up to her she closed his unseeing eyes and looked at the spiral design made out of his severed limbs. "this is a message from the night king" she muttered .
"Beric how many of your men survived the attack on the wall?"
Beric blinked " Not much my lady — those that made it down the wall , either succumbed to the freezing cold or died of their injuries."
Alex nodded "I have a contingent of a 100 warriors with me.." she sighed " for now unfortunately we need to assume that the next castle has been hit already." She turned to Arya " as much as I want to save them we need to assume the worst which means we won't be stopping at the next— instead we'll ride to the villages in between and gather the common folk and take them to safety."
"So we just leaving them to die!" Interjected Arya
Alex bristled at the accusation "This is the reality of the war we're in. These undead do not have the limitations we have which means they can run all night if they have too, they don't need sleep, food and drink. They will have hit the next castle and if we go now and find them in the midst of their attack do you think we'll be capable in stopping a 100 000 dead plus a dragon in their tracks?"
Arya clenched her jaw looking down "No.."
Alex nodded she shot a look to Beric " I'll be leaving with my contingent — the two of you may join. But if you wish to go to winter fell you can" she said turning on her heel with her cape swinging as she walked back through the main hall.
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Karhold.
Alexandra and her riders rode non stop painfully zipping through the paths Arya said would be devoid of people. In other words to avoid the undead. She apologized to the girl for being so abrupt but Arya waved it off stating that she should've realized that by doing what she said would just be a suicide mission which in the end wouldn't save anybody. Alex was thankful for the young girls insight. Tormund and Beric decided to join them — each were riding double on the warhorses Alex had available.
When they reached karhold, Alex could hear humans speaking in the distance and sent a prayer to her father in relief .
"Arya your voice will need to reach these people — they need to only take thick clothes and rations — no more, no less. More will be provided at winter fell but their lives are more important"
"I will try my best your grace"
" I expect no less" said Alex. She urged starlight faster. The thunderous hoove beats caught the attention of the guards at the gate. Alexandra pulled starlights reigns to a stop him from barreling then men over . His forelegs bayed in the air as they pointed their weapons at Alex .
"Stand down! I'm lady arya of house Stark and we have come to evacuate you all to winter fell! An army of dead is heading this way, it's already got last hearth and the villages in between — karhold is next.!" Her voice was strong and Alex commended her mentally.
"How do we know you aren't lying?"
Alex nodded to Lexa to throw forward the dead wight.The sack dropped at the mens feet " Open it" ordered Alex .
The men gingerly opened the sack only to be met with a rotting corpse " the only reason that thing is now permanently dead is because of the dragon glass it's been killed with. So unless you have a mountain of dragon glass hidden in your castle I suggest you open the fucking gates so that we can get these people to safety" he harsh order mad both men hop up and immediately pushed the gates open.
"You were more effective your grace" said arya
"There's a time for diplomacy and then there's not. Diplomacy only works if you're not in a life threatening situation." She rode forward "you go to the lord or lady and tell them to get the asses moving" she said allow arya to get off starlight . She turned to face her warriors .
"Go door to door and get these people moving— attach wagons to your horses — woman and children first — men will need to show their mettle and follow after .. we are running out of time so I expect you all to be swift in your orders!" She said " Go!" She said loud enough which got her riders moving in perfect rescue mode.
Maybe a hour or two passed since they arrived Alex was ensuring that every man woman and child was settled and ready to leave this place. Lady Karhold and her husband who Alex didn't care to remember did she they were told. Most citizens were the elderly and Alex grimaced at the idea that these old people worked in their freezing conditions.
"Your grace the wagons are ready, the people are settled we await your graces orders" Alex looked at Lexa and nodded.
"We ride those who's horses aren't attached to wagons will carry up the rear . There will be no breaks this is the last stronghold before we reach winterfell— these people will get there alive one or another. I want .. you and nine others to carry up the rear with me." She said looking to the throngs of wagons and people sitting on it. She turned to Arya " let's go Arya" she said and put the girl up on her horse ..when she vaulted herself on starlight she trotted to the back of the group . As she passed Beric " You and tormund on the right flank. Eyes open — any sign of a Walker we increase to a full gallop"
"Of course my lady." Said Beric with a nod. Tormund on the other hand only took willing orders from Jon snow. But for some reason he couldn't find himself denying the order. He turned to Beric "She's very imposing for a southerner" he said gruffly.
Beric ignored the veiled insult "Because of her position" he said shortly.
Tormund raised a brow "As Amazonian queen" he said looking at all these woman " I mean... it does look like every man's paradise"
Beric opened his mouth but the loud whistle caught him off guard as soon as the whistle sounded the warrior woman lead their horses and it's wagons attached forward which propelled Him and tormund forward bring up the right flank as ordered.
Alexandra had been extending her senses for the past few hours as they rode trying to listen for any incoming enemies. In happened quickly, the sound of their screeches reached her ears before anyone else's and she stopped her horse. She turned starlight to face the back.. at first there was nothing until she saw a hoard no less than a 100 walkers advancing on them.
"Full gallop now!!" She ordered over their screeches. The nine riders with her turned at her voice and all pulled their swords. Alex stopped them — she jumped off starlight leaving Arya. She shot a look at Lexa.
"This is where you follow my orders and leave— keep up their rear and ride straight to winterfell as fast as you can . I'll stop there advance here. As soon as I can I'll come but under no circumstances are you to send anyone! Is that clear Vice Captain ?"
Lexa gritted the reigns of her horse— her eyes misted over "Yes your grace" Alexandra nodded . Alex turned to Arya " hold on tight little wolf"
With a hard smack to starlights rear she sent starlight galloping at full pace. The hoard was getting closer.. they were small and she assumed they broke off from the main army or a scouting party. Either way her swords would be no help. She called for her chains.
Once last look at Lexa " Go now!" The vice captain followed the order most likely against her will.
Alexandra inhaled a deep breath but all she smelled was rotting corpses — the golden chains around her arm glinted under the rising sun, even so hidden behind the clouds.
"Wraith .. Today I need you to keep a constant flame we're laying these poor souls to rest." As the command left her mouth red/orange flames lit each link — " second form" she whispered the smooth chain changed in appearance small spikes started to form — the spikes reached up to her forearm digging into her skin, letting out a constant prickle of blood coating her arm.
"Alright then.. let's get this funeral started" readying herself she took a starting running position when she kicked off the running start allowed her to leap through the air and landed in the middle of the undead . Her hand gripped the flaming chain and swung it in a circle— burning whoever it touched " rage" she whispered the flames engulfed its enemies in reckless abandon. As she twirled and danced around using her chain to exacting judgment and release for the poor tortured souls. The words she spoke on the battle against the tarly/Lannister armies came to the forefront of her mind but instead of saying them she now used an altered version.
"These souls, dying at my hand" her chain violently ripped through a corpse " they are dead and I now release their souls unto you " A Walker jumped at her snarling and gnashing— her flaming chain sliced through the walkers torso — his burning corpse fell to the ground before her. She stared at the remaining walkers.
"Come at me, we've been at this for a few hours but I can go all day if I have too— I've been told I have incredible stamina"
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