★☆

CHAPTER TEN; RUN IN BLOOD

"It looked like Stannis," Brienne said once the women had dismounted their stolen horses. They had covered enough ground throughout the night to take a break, but Rey didn't know if she could. Her heart was still racing; she couldn't close her eyes because every time she did she saw Renly's body bleeding out onto her lap. Her dress was beginning to smell from the stains. 

Catelyn pulled the young girl into her arms and held her while she caught her breath. "To me, it just looked like...a shadow in the shape of a man."

"In the shape of Stannis," Brienne insisted without hesitation. She had gotten ahold of herself quicker than Rey, but her voice still trembled in horror and dismay. 

Catelyn ran her hands through Rey's hair as she would with Sansa or Arya when they were upset; Gods, she missed her children. Not a moment passed that she didn't think about having her beloved babes back under her protection. The day would come. "We will reach my son's camp tomorrow."

"Will you stay there long, my lady?" Brienne asked, tying her horse to a nearby tree branch. She did the same with Rey's. 

"Long enough to tell Robb what I have seen," Catelyn muttered. "After that, I will leave for Winterfell. My two youngest need me. I've been away from them for far too long."

"I never knew my mother," Brienne said softly, watching as Rey parted from Catelyn and walked towards the riverbank, wanting to wash her hands and arms of dried dirt and blood. 

"I'm sorry," Catelyn replied, her tone genuine. 

Rey felt tears welling up in her eyes again as she scrubbed her skin furiously. She watched the crusty red matter dissolve in the water and flow into oblivion. She felt both disgusted and upset. She had the book still, but this, the blood stained into her skirt, that was the last part of Renly she had left.  

The two women began to engage in conversation behind her, so Rey cried quietly where the bubbling creek drowned her out. "Renly, forgive me."

What of Margaery? What would she think -- the young one she had taken care of for so long, leaving in the middle of the night with two people she hardly knew. She'd be heartbroken. She'd tell Olenna, and Olenna would tell Irvin. What would Irvin do? Would he demand she be brought back? Would he send for her? Would the further shame brought to the Marigot name mean that the marriage could be called off?

Funny how she seemed to spiral without a crutch to help her along the way. 

"He's gone, Brienne. You serve nothing and no one by following him into the earth. Renly's enemies are Robb's enemies as well."

Rey turned her head to the side slightly to see Catelyn seated opposite a standing Brienne. 

"I do not know your son, my lady. But I could serve you, if you would have me. You have courage. Not battle courage, perhaps, but, I don't know, a woman's kind of courage. And I think that when the time comes, you will not hold me back. Promise me that you will not hold me back from Stannis."

Catelyn nodded. "When the time comes, I will not hold you back."

Brienne drew her sword and bent her knee, pledging her loyalty to the Stark woman. "Then I am yours, my lady. I will shield your back and give my life for yours, if it comes to that. I swear it by the Old Gods and the new."

Rey rose from the ground, her hands dripping onto the muddy ground. Her mind flashed to Ser Hogarth, whom she'd left at Highgarden. She hadn't heard from him since. She missed him more and more as the days had passed, and now, when she had found herself in trouble, he was nowhere to be found. 

Catelyn took Brienne by the hand and stared her deep in the eyes. "I vow that you shall always have a place in my home and at my table and that I shall ask no service of you that might bring you dishonor. I swear it by the Old Gods and the new."

★☆

Robb Stark's camp was far larger, though far more rank in comparison to Renly's. There were more men, granted, but Rey didn't like how they stared as she walked alongside Brienne and Catelyn. To them, she was a nobody; not someone of noble birth or a brave fighter like she'd hoped one day to be. For now, she was a meek young girl who had found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

"I will see to it that you get taken care of, little one," Catelyn assured her, before spotting her son in the distance. Rey followed where the older woman looked, seeing a tallish, broadish, reddish young man in Northern armour. "Robb!"

The man turned around. Immediately, Rey could see both his mother and father in his face. He had the auburn Tully hair and the strong Stark structure -- but he didn't look like she expected. She'd heard stories of the King in the North; how he could turn into a great direwolf if he wanted. But, here he was; a boy, only a year or two her senior, leading an army of twenty thousand to rescue his sisters. "Mother!"

The two embraced warmly, and Rey felt a small smile creep onto her face. It was nice to see two members of a family who had lost so much be reunited once more. 

"Mother, this is Lady Talisa. She's been helping with the wounded. She's been very... helpful," Robb gestured to the woman behind him once he and his mother parted. 

"Lady Stark," the dark haired woman, Talisa, bowed her head politely.

"Lady Talisa...?"

"Maegyr."

"Maegyr? Forgive me, I do not know this name."

Talisa smiled. "An uncommon name here. An old name in Volantis. Excuse me, my lady. Your Grace."

She then left promptly, and Rey didn't observe closely enough to see how Robb watched her go. Catelyn did, however. She took her son by the arm and turned him around so that he could see the guests she had brought into the camp. "This is Lady Aurelia of House Marigot, and this is Brienne of Tarth."

Rey didn't know how to greet the man. Renly was her King. He always would be. But, she knew that it was in her best interest to please the man before her. "Your grace."

"House Marigot?" Robb inquired, his brows furrowing. "How did you end up out here?"

"It's a long story," Catelyn said before Rey could respond, knowing the teenager would have trouble forming a sentence without getting upset. Robb looked down and saw the patches of blood on her gown, and he exhaled through his nose, soon catching on. "I will lend her some of my clothes for now, but we must send a raven to her family and let them know that she is alright."

Robb nodded in agreement. He smiled at Rey, and for a split second it felt like Renly was with her once more. The teasing and playful nature was no longer there, but there was a kindness in Robb's face that could only have been produced by a good man such as the late Baratheon. 

★☆

Rey stood opposite Brienne outside Robb's tent, now in a clean dress. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail, the reddish locks falling past her shoulders. Catelyn's handmaidens had wanted to take her dress from her, but she hadn't let them. She carried it with her, not sure she wanted to let it go just yet.

"Do you have the book I brought?" she asked Brienne softly, and the tall woman reached into her satchel and pulled out the dirtied novel, handing it over. "Thank you."

"Are you alright, my lady?" Brienne asked, already knowing the answer. 

"No," Rey said honestly, shaking her head. She then looked up at Brienne. "Are you?"

Brienne gave her a sad smile. "No."

A silence fell between the two, and Rey opened up the book; not to the first page, but to one of the dog-eared pages Renly had left. 

"A woman does not fight. A woman stands where she is told, speaks when she is told, and if a man so desires to fuck her until she bleeds to death, then that is what she will do," Asten hissed, his saliva spraying on Suesane's cheek. 

Asten's company laughed in support of their leader's words, none of them noticing how Suesane drew her dagger from underneath her cloak. 

Rey looked to the side of the page, where Renly had written; Perhaps if my little bee trains enough, this is what she will become. By the Old Gods and the New, she had better. 

A chuckle escaped her lips. She covered her mouth as she read the note again and again, hearing it in his voice. She noticed Brienne staring at her, and she looked up to meet her gaze. "Perhaps, we could pick up where we left off in training? As a distraction."

Brienne didn't seem entirely on board. But Rey had gone through a lot, and they were in a safe environment where she didn't have to protect Lady Catelyn every second of every day. Her shoulders dropped, and she sighed through her nose. "Fine."

★☆