GREY clouds dominated the skies that cold winter dawn.
The opposing Stark and Bolton forces sat across the battlefield from one another, along the outskirts of Winterfell. Davos was mounted on horseback among the men of the Stark army, while Jon rode through the ranks, observing the men in place. He stopped his horse as he reached Tormund and Wun Wun, the giant, at the front of the line.
Dread draped over them as their eyes roamed on the threatening X-shaped flaming pyres, all which held flayed men.
All the while, Jon partly felt at ease, because as bad things could get from here on out, he could rest assured that Diana would be alright. Sure, she left her tent severely upset with him, and she wasn't there to see him off, but at the very least she was safe. He couldn't have it on his conscience if she got hurt.
They've dug trenches all along their flanks, just so the enemy wouldn't be able to hit them in a double envelopment. They just needed the patience, all they had to do was wait.
The sound of hoofbeats thundered in Jon's ears.
The commander of the Stark forces tilted his head to the side to determine the source. It was a rider on a black stallion, heading into the field from the direction of their camp. As the person approached closer and closer, Jon nearly had a heart attack.
It was Diana.
Diana's horse galloped across the field. She could see the troops at the other end, in formation, swords and bows in hand.
Her eyes filled with eagerness and challenge, the thrill fuelling her. This was her first real battle. She was donned in her armor and weapons.
She rode past the Stark men, Jon's eyes filled in panic as she went passed them. Her horse entering unmarked territory. A part of him knew for certain that Diana hadn't stayed back as he ordered; he should've known she wouldn't.
"DIANA!" He screamed, desperately, as if that would help things, his whole body was trembling. What in the seven hells was she doing?!
She heard him calling desperately for her, but she didn't give it any attention.
Just as she made it halfway across the field, Diana's hands released the leash and she hurried to stand on the mare. Her feet were steady on the its back before she jumped off, flipping in the air as she did and landed steadily on her feet.
The theatricality of her arrival didn't go unnoticed by the men on the opposite sides.
Diana left the horse in place and began to move forwards. She had one objective; capture Ramsay. He was the one commanding the men. Fear was his weapon and weakness, his men didn't want to fight for him, they were forced to. Once they see the tide turning, they would feel no need to defend the vicious lord.
Her stance didn't show an innocent and fragile girl as one might believe at first glance.
"What the bloody hell is she doing?!" Ser Davos shouted at particularly no one, it seemed like she was heading for her own death.
Jon Snow clenched his jaw, grinding on his teeth in the process.
Diana armor shone with every time she moved with the reflection of daylight. As she neared ever closer, her breathing began to pick up. Her pulse was clear in her ears, blocking out the shouts of protests Jon and his people directed towards her.
She could feel the the men fighting for Ramsay turning to look at her, stunned, not knowing what exactly was happening. There were surprised exclamations, questions, people pointing at her.
Ramsay Bolton didn't know what she was playing at, but he thought that maybe he could use this to his advantage. He perhaps didn't even need to perform that play with Rickon to force Jon and his men to charge at him first. As beautiful as she was, a few arrows in her would be the best catalyst for Jon to march.
"Knock." He calmly commanded the archers, they did as told and prepared the arrows in place.
Seeing as Diana was in mortal danger now, Jon couldn't simply stand by, he needed to get her back to safety. He ran to his horse, mounting on it quickly.
Davos Seaworth approached him in a hurry, knowing what Jon was intending to do. "Where do you think you're going?"
"I can't let her go off on her own." Jon answered.
"You're the commander! These men follow you. If you go after her, you'll be leading them to their deaths."
The impotence rose like bile in Jon's throat. His fists clenched so hard, they turned white. The Onion Knight was right.
Diana's eyes met with Ramsay's, and she saw the threatening glint he sent her, smirking as he did.
"Loose!"
He was hoping she would run, scream or crouch down in hopes of shielding herself.
But she just ignored him and kept walking, her eyes fixed on them. Their weapons were raised and pointed at her; Diana simply kept walking.
They began to shoot.
Diana saw every arrow crossing the air, her eyes plotting every single trajectory instantaneously as she was trained to do with projectiles. Her heightened senses were fully focused and her muscles were already prepared to react. Of all the shots, only one arrow was coming in her direction; her eyes followed the weapon while she raised her arm calmly, almost disdainfully, and blocked it with her bracelet, the projectile flopping weakly to the ground.
The archers stopped for a second when that happened, not understanding what was going on, but it didn't last after Ramsay's angered command. They started to shoot again and Diana raised her arm to deflect another arrow; a wild grin formed on her lips as she looked at them and began to walk faster in their direction.
Diana's brown eyes roamed through the enemy once they stopped fire.
It wasn't until she saw Ramsay leading a figure behind him to the front of the line, that she halted her sprint. Lord Bolton dismounted off his horse, and menacingly unsheathed a blade, raising it into the air. Both Diana and Jon tensed at the action, but to their surprise, Ramsay brought the blade down to cut Rickon's bindings.
The Amazon Princess noticed the Bastard talking to Rickon, before the latter began to walk slowly on the field.
Rickon must have looked back, because the demented Ramsay gestured for him to continue while one of his soldiers handed him a bow. At the sight of the weapon, Rickon started running hurriedly, while Ramsay leisurely drew an arrow from a quiver.
Diana immediately scampered to the young boy in haste.
Jon, panicked, began galloping across the field towards both Diana and Rickon.
Ramsay fired the arrow and it embedded itself in the ground next to the sprinting Rickon. Then he loosed another one, which missed by inches.
The youngest Stark ran as fast as he could, his legs beginning to hurt as he did. His head frantically looking back every now and then to see Ramsay's menacing form aiming at him. Seeing that both Diana and Jon were getting close enough to hopefully think they could save the Stark boy, Ramsay shot his last arrow, this time aiming to kill.
But that didn't go according to plan.
It all happened in a blur. Diana had leapt across the field, her vault removing the great distance that was between her and Rickon. As she had landed before him, her arm raised to swat away the deadly arrow as if it was a measly bug.
From the stun that Jon had been in, he stopped in his tracks, his eyes as wide as they could get at Diana's heroic act.
Rickon, who had his eyes closed this entire time, slowly fluttered them open to come face to face with his savior.
The Bolton commander clenched his teeth so hard the strain of his jaw muscles prominent, his eyes burnt with a loathing fury at Rickon's unharmed figure.
"LOOSE!"
At Lord Bolton's signal, a volley of arrows from his soldiers were released, all aimed at the youngest Stark and the woman shielding him.
She grabbed her shield from her back as arrows began flying in their direction now that she was closer, so Diana placed her amazon shield in front of her, the flurry of projectiles hitting it like a never ending storm. Her stance still as her number one task was to ensure the boy's safety. Everything rode on Diana's shoulders at this moment.
Her eyes scanned the enemy lines, taking notice of their diminishing number of arrows. At the moment of their reload, the Amazon wrapped around Rickon's torso and lifted him with one arm. She jumped and flew away from the Boltons with inhuman speed.
Running faster than ever, everything becoming a blur as they passed, Diana placed Rickon down to his feet once they reached the horse she used to get to the field.
Quickly helping him get on, staying alert as she did, Diana glanced back to see Jon across the field from them.
"Go ahead, I'll stay here!" She yelled out to the still astonished young boy. Diana needed to make sure that Jon's brother was safe from the Bolton's grasp.
Opening his mouth to argue, Rickon was interjected by Diana. "Go!" She commanded before running sprinting back to the opposing side.
"Seize her!" Ramsay clamored. He didn't even know how she just did the things that she just did. But he was sure to teach her a lesson. He could still use her to bait Jon Snow.
A number of infantrymen did as their liege lord commanded, dashing towards the woman.
Jon, meanwhile was relieved by the sight of Rickon riding passed him, but the feeling faded once he saw Diana's dangerous position. "Diana!" He howled, rushing to her.
"Don't." Tormund whispered to himself, but they all already knew he was too far gone to turn back. Sure his brother rode passed him to safety, but the woman who made it happen stood alone on enemy territory.
Diana drew her sword from it's sheath and held it by her side, a dangerous aura surrounding her as her eyes glowed like those of a hungry beast. Soldiers gathered around her, it was then when the black haired woman pointed her weapon at them. As the soldiers hesitantly launched forward to attack, Diana nullified their attack by a swift movement of her weapon, making them fall back.
A soldier ran up to her from the back, but she didn't turn and flipped in the air above her attacker. Raising her arm up, her heavy Valriyan stone shield drove in between the man's shoulder blade and he collapsed to the ground with a loud thud.
Another charged towards Diana like an angry bull. Diana's expression didn't change and she stood her ground. When the attacker was about to swing his blade, her hand quickly yanked the soldier's arm, then she pushed him down to the ground with her knee on his face.
Before Jon could decide what to do, the sound of metal against metal made itself heard.
All their eyes were fixed on the amazon there.
It was amazing. The grace of her movements, the ability she had with a sword, her speed and strength. She had claimed she was a fighter, an amazon, on several occasions, but he couldn't fully appreciate or believe her: she was unnaturally gifted, he had no doubt now.
He saw her leaping in air to avoid a sword strike, turning midair with complete control, while tossing her shield to strike one of the men, all in a single movement; she was fighting on, bending herself to deflect their arrows with impeccable precision; the clash of her blade basically a blur, while she danced on the battlefield; one single warrior fighting against several, each blow she dealt tossing her adversaries far away.
Normal humans simply couldn't do that.
Fear danced in their eyes.
"CAVALRY ADVANCE!" Ramsay shouted.
Davos started riding through the ranks, screaming orders to the men.
"Prepare to charge! Prepare to charge!"
"Go! Go! Follow your commander!" Davos screeched.
"Run and fight!" Tormund howled.
Wun Wun roared loudly, the giant's action prompting the bulk of the forces to charge across the field behind him.
Ramsay lifted a brow, surprised at the feat. To see her fighting and slaying his men was a shock. He briefly thought that under different circumstances, she would have done a fine job replacing his deceased lover, Myranda, who also had a talent for violence. But she was too infuriating.
Jon arrived first into battle on horseback, but his stallion was quickly shot down by the Bolton forces' arrows.
Diana was already smiling as she turned, seeing Jon arriving, grabbing his sword back as it slashed the soldier. They stood back to back, fighting, deflecting the arrows, moving with such synchrony that Diana felt that she had trained with him for thousands of years, just as she did with her fellow amazons.
Bodies flew past her as horses and men toppled in her path.
The Bolton cavalry charged at them on the ground, prompting the Stark men to speed up and collide with them.
Smiling, knowing that they weren't alone in the fight anymore, Diana advanced forward with all her speed once the shooting against them stopped.
She was a blur in the air and then she was in the middle of the enemy forces. Diana lifted her sword and began slashing, spinning, hitting in all directions with her blade and shield. The soldiers couldn't do anything against her, not when she was in the middle of their formation and all they had were shields.
Godkiller ripped them apart and Diana covered the fields in blood and body parts as they screamed in fear and panic. Her shield hit three of them at the same time, sending them several meters in the air, only for them to clash against the ground already dead. Not stopping to fight even for a second, Diana turned, her shield already in position, deflecting an array of arrows in her way.
"We'll just kill our own men. Stand down." On Davos' command, the Stark archers didn't release the arrows, but Ramsay had other ideas.
"Loose!" The enemy archers fired, raining arrows on Bolton and Stark men alike.
Seeing that they had the situation with the soldiers under control, the Amazon jumped near the wagons in the back.
'You're stronger than you believe, Diana, you have greater power in you.' Antiope's voice echoed in her mind, empowering her with the strength she needed.
Yelling in rage, Diana dashed forward and hit the wagon with her shoulder, sending it rolling away. And then she jumped against the other one, colliding against it with such strength that the wood broke, using her arms to lift one of its sides, toppling it upside down atop the Umber men.
"Holy shit!" yelled Tormund, seeing the huge wagon rolling in the field and Diana rising from the dust in great speed right behind.
The soldiers below of the wagon looked at her with their jaws agape; Diana was grinning when she crashed against the wagon with all her strength.
When the last wagon fell, the last threat-the Umbers who aimed to surround them in a pincer move-was gone and there was a minute of silence. Diana turned to look at Jon.
And they were staring at her, paralyzed, their eyes incredibly wide and mouths opened.
Whenever he had the advantage in a skirmish, Ramsay was fearless-almost a beast in human skin-reveling in the violence of personal combat.
But he knew at that moment, he was truly fucked.
And things got way worse for him when he heard a trumpet blaring. The Knights of the Vale rode into battle, the falcon sigil of House Arryn flipping in the air.
Staying in the back with his men guarding him wasn't an option anymore, not with this beast of a woman and the fresh troops that have come for their aid. So he ran, riding his horse as fast as he could to retreat back into the safety of Winterfell.
Seeing Ramsay's cowardly move, Diana's honey orbs searched for Jon, one she found him she yelled out to get him to notice Ramsay's retreat.
"JON! Let's go!"
At her indication, Jon began running after her, Tormund and Wun Wun following him.
Diana was running faster than she had ever before, the fields passing in a blur around her. She could see Winterfell approaching, the gate facing her direction a few kilometers away.
Soon, there were yells and arrows rained in her direction; lifting her shield, she deflected them and kept moving, ignoring the flurry of arrows as she sped up.
Speeding up, Diana jumped against a wall, her hand digging itself in the bricks, as she used it to propel herself all the way up to the roof from where the archers was shooting.
The bricks shattered when she crashed against it, killing the soldier at the same time, and she glided to the middle of the parapet walk; there was a second of silence as the soldiers in the roof turned to look at her. Grinning, Diana kicked a table against two of them, sending it flying in the air, already raising her shield to defend herself from the arrows. Turning, she used her sword against the Bolton men close by, hitting their necks, and jumped forward against the remaining three, crushing them with her shield and destroying the wall behind them.
Turning to the right, meeting a few Bolton soldiers in the roof; they didn't even have time to raise their weapons as Diana clashed against them, not even slowing down.
She could see Jon, Tormund and Wun Wun approaching the castle behind her, when a Bolton soldier began to shoot at them from one of the towers on her left. So she jumped down to courtyard in great speed to let them into the castle.
The wooden gates in front of her became even bigger as she got closer and Diana grinned, putting even more strength in her legs.
And then she crashed against them.
The thundering collision was unbelievably loud and the gate was simply disintegrated. The shockwaves of the hit destroyed the base of both guard towers at its sides, making them collapse with the soldiers still on it.
Jon was running through the fields with Tormund and Wun Wun, the whole city in complete chaos
He had lost sight of Diana when she jumped several meters in the air and ran behind Ramsay, but he could hear the panicking yells nearby, so he knew she wasn't far. And at the moment he found that Winterfell's gate has collapsed.
There was a moment of silence as Diana looked around, seeing the soldiers approaching, focusing her senses to be able to know exactly what she would have to expect; then the shooting began. Diana dodged the first arrows, raising her arms to null their attacks. Grabbing her lasso, she wrapped it around a soldier's legs, tossing him against his companions.
Arrows were coming from every direction and Diana was a blur in the air as she moved, her bracelets deflecting everything that she couldn't dodge and her golden lasso hitting her opponents in a flurry of golden attacks. Diana had never, in all her life, moved so fast or fought against that many people at the same time.
Ramsay watched the woman wreacking havoc upon his castle, taking down all of his men. Was she even human? No, not human at all.
In his own twisted way Ramsay was actually quite intelligent, possessing a certain "low cunning" with which he tricked his enemies. He was particularly good at thinking on his feet, but what good would it do him now?
"This is impossible. What are you?" He said. For the first time in his life, Ramsay showed genuine fear when he realized he can't control this situation and won't survive after all.
"You will soon find out." Diana bit out, and menacingly walked towards him, her attention was quickly diverted from him though at Jon's arrival.
In that moment of distraction, Ramsay clumsily ran to the side and grabbed a bow and arrow, fumbling and aiming at her in a desperate attempt. Her lack of alarm only added to his growing aggravation, did she underestimate him?
In anger, he shot at her hoping to at least wound her. Diana quickly reacted and shielded herself with her bracelet.
Nothing would work on this monster, Ramsay thought. He looked over to Jon hoping to provoke him at the very least. "You suggested one-on-one combat, didn't you?"
"I've reconsidered. I think that sounds like a wonderful idea-" Before he could finish talking or pull another arrow from the quiver, Diana raised her lasso, spinning it and throwing it over Ramsay like a whip and binding him as she did.
The rope shone golden as it wrapped on the demented man, the fires of the truth forcing him to speak his mind.
Grunting, Ramsay's whole body shook in a futile attempt to break loose of the bindings. He felt sick to his stomach. Being the deceitful man that he was, the shackles of the truth emanated an overall unpleasant sensation, rummaging throughout his being. "I had a plan, you know."
"I was going to make your brother run for dear life. I was going to make you chase after him like a desperate hound."
Diana clenched her teeth, her hands gripping tightly on the other side of the lasso. While Jon glared at Ramsay with immeasurable hate and loathing.
"And just as your hand reaches for his, you'd see the life fading out of his eyes." Ramsay chuckled like a madman, closing his lids as he did. "Then all I'd had to do was watch as my men round you up for slaughter. But she, she ruined it." His cold steel blue eyes bore into Diana's, disdain shone in them.
He was a sour loser. Due to having played mind games and tortured helpless and defenseless victims and getting away with it all his life, Ramsay was not used to the possibility of ever losing a confrontation. Until Diana.
"You ruined everything!"
No longer being able to contain his anger, Jon ran up to the Bastard, and jumped on top of him with a series of heavy punches until Ramsay's face was reduced blood and dirt.
Jon only paused when he caught sight of Sansa, who'd rode up after him and witnessed as Ramsay spat out his hate for Diana. The redhead watched with hardened eyes.
Standing up, Jon stared at Ramsay in disgust who still managed to smirk like the twisted man that he was. He caught Diana's eyes as he went and sent a small, tired nod her way, soms of his anger dissipating as his grey eyes lightened when she returned the gesture.
⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️
The Bolton flags were soon replaced by the white and blue colors of House Stark
Diana sat by the threshold of the Castle as the remaining soldiers gathered the bodies of their fallen.
This battle was nothing like she expected. Her childhood training fully prepared her, but it was nothing compared to the blood that was spilled on the field.
Diana was pleasantly surprised when the youngest Stark approached her after riding through the gates. Right after dismounting, Rickon hastily walked to the Amazon, bowing as he did.
"If it weren't for you, I would not be here, my lady. I'm forever indebted to you." Words could not express the gratitude he held for the savior of a woman, since if it weren't for her, he would've been another dead body lying on that battlefield.
Diana's eyes and cheeks were graced with a grin. Rickon was only a boy of twelve years, but his harsh life experiences made him seem older and more mature.
"Please raise your head." She stood up, gesturing with her hand and he did as told.
"There's no need for any of that, I only did what was right. Just as well, I had a promise to keep." Diana's honey colored irises briefly traveled to Sansa who was speaking with Jon from across the courtyard, then back meeting Rickon's. "I'm glad you're safe and well."
Rickon favored his late mother in appearance, having the bright blue eyes, auburn hair, and easy smile of a Tully.
Their gaze was broken upon Sansa joining them. The red-haired Stark girl's lips stretched when she looked at her brother, reaching her hand out to ruffle his hair. Earlier, when they both reunited, Sansa didn't even try to stop the tears that traveled down her cheeks when she saw her little brother alive and well.
Chuckling at Sansa's affectionate gesture, Rickon excused himself and went to join his half-brother.
The two females smiled at one another.
"Jon said that you fought valiantly on the battlefield. I'm sorry I missed it." Sansa said.
"Is that so?" Diana smugly smirked to herself, allowing her eyes to look in Jon's way.
Seeing as Jon averted his eyes away from the Amazon, almost in shame, Diana heard Sansa continue. "Well, those weren't his particular choice of wording."
"What exactly did he say then?"The dark haired woman asked.
"Something along the lines of 'Nothing he's ever seen before' and he's seen a great deal of things, I believe."
Sansa still couldn't believe that her youngest brother was alive. She supposed that he wouldn't live long due to Ramsay's concern of his claim to the North. But from what she heard from Jon, Diana shielded Rickon from the multiple arrows sent his way, thus nullifying Lord Bolton's sick game. "Thank you. For saving our brother."
"I promised you, didn't I?"
A/N:-
Whew, that sure was a long one to write and read 😂💔
I suck at writing fighting scenes but I hope that it came out as best as possible
Only a chapter left to be done with part I and then we can go to Season 7!!
Don't forget to vote and comment XD