Chương 256: Chapter 256

"This is so cool!" Arya shouted as Ygritte showed her her capabilities as a horse archer. She was still not the best at it but she was getting there.

"Can I learn this in Dreadfort as well?" Arya asked and Ygritte grinned at the younger girl as they travelled through the mud trail from Winterfell to Dreadfort. The mud trail would turn into a proper road after White Knife River but that was still leagues ahead of them.

After the debacle with the Queen, he had spent only one more night in the castle before leaving. Though not before having yet another unpleasant meeting with Lady Stark in which she asked him to bring help from the Children of the Forest.

Compared to when he arrived in Winterfell a few days ago, he had two more Valyrian swords with him upon his return.

The Lion's Claw and the Ice which Lord Stark had given to Arya for safekeeping along with the two Stark guards who were sent to get her settled in before returning to Winterfell once Ice had been reforged into two one-handed Valyrian swords.

The fact that Lord Stark gave him his daughter as well as his family's Valyrian sword showed just how much the Lord trusted him. It made him feel warm but more because he had been trying to correct the reputation of his house for years and it was finally showing results.

"Of course." Ygritte said "You can learn anything you want in there. In fact, I'm sure Lord Bolton would even hire personal tutors to teach you any weapon you might want to learn."

"Don't go promising such things on my behalf." He said but Ygritte merely laughed.

Her laughter came to an abrupt end when one of the guards behind them shouted "Riders."

He turned his head and looked behind to find that they were being chased by about two hundred bandits.

Well armored, well equipped bandits riding on good horses.

He used a Far eye (telescope) to look closely and found that the 'bandits' were not even trying to hide their identities that well as the Red underneath their bandit attire was showing.

"The Lannisters" Ygritte said without even looking through a Far eye. The enhancements he had given to her eye proving to be just as useful as when she was trying to hit target from large distances.

"We should run. There are only 25 of us." One of the Stark guard said "We have a good lead on them. We might be able to reach the White Knife and get some Bolton reinforcement's from there."

"Doubtful." He said "Unlike the Northern horses which are hardy and built to withstand the cold, the Westerland horses are bred for the sole purpose of being large and fast. We'll never reach the White Knife."

"Oh gods! Are we doomed then." The other Stark man said, looking like he was about to piss his breeches at the mere sight of an overwhelming foe.

"No." He said "Lord Stark put Lady Arya in my care. It would be highly irresponsible of me if I let any harm come to her. You two will ride ahead. Do not go too far. We'll catch up to you by the end of the day."

The Stark men looked at him like he was mad. Hmm… looking closely, he was sure that these men didn't go beyond the Wall with him where he defeated the Weeper with ease. He had no idea why Lord Stark would send such inexperienced men with him.

"Yo… you're mad."

"Watch your tongue boy." Varko said and the Stark guard nodded meekly before both the Stark guards turned to Arya who was watching the byplay with some barely concealed anger and frustration.

"Come on Lady Arya. We must leave." First guard said.

Arya shook her head "I'm not leaving. And neither are you. They're already undermanned as they are. Every single man will help. No. We're staying and we're fighting."

"Lady Arya." The second guard pleaded but Arya still shook her head.

He was touched. By both Arya bravery and her unwillingness to leave them behind to save her own skin. She might have looked under confident when she was among the other ladies in Winterfell. All of whom were more beautiful, more elegant and more graceful than her.

But unlike those ladies, Arya had a inner strength to her. Something that he was starting to see now.

Especially because while his men knew that they were not really in any true danger thanks to their magical armor and magical weapons, the same couldn't be said to Arya who was trying to subtly hide the shaking of her hands.

She truly thought that they might die here and she was still willing to stay with them.

Huh…

She almost reminded him of Hermione for a second. Not the confident and intelligent woman she had grown up to be but the shy and awkward kid she had once been. A girl who lacked confident in herself but was still brave enough to accompany him and Ron in their life threatening yearly adventures.