Chapter Text
“You should have gone back for my mother!” shouted the little wolf-bitch over her shoulder as she rode away.
Sandor Clegane blew all the air out of his lungs and willed for none to return.
Alas his body still wanted to live as he unwillingly coughed his lungs full again.
The fucking bastard.
The pain in Sandor's leg was like a living thing: writhing and twisting, burning up his spine into his brain. In the still air the flies buzzed around his head, landing delicately on the sticky blood matted in his hair.
Somewhere there was the running of water. He licked his dry lips but could not will his arms to move.
Above his head he heard sweet bird song. Occasionally he would see Stranger out in the woods; the smell of rot made the animal keep it's distance no matter how loyal the horse was.
Sandor closed his eyes and let the dry tears come.
Mercy… mercy...mercy…
He must of passed out because the next thing he knew the light had vanished from the forest floor. Above his head the sky was shades of red as the setting sun set the sky ablaze.
Fuck I’m still alive.
Sandor regarded his leg in the dying light. He had seen rot before, but never on his own body. The flesh around the dressings on his thigh looked like spoiled meat and smelled worse. The pain was a dull throb and flies still buzzed around his head.
He tried to move his foot, but nothing happened.
In the stillness of the night he heard a faint squeaking noise and something lightly brushed his scalp. Craning his head he watched as another small dark form dove from the shadows of the trees.
Bats.
Sandor knew the stories of the bats that lived in the Riverlands; to look upon them was an omen of death.
Thank the fucking gods.
“Please” he pleaded in a whisper through his dry lips. “Please, mercy… no more…. Help me…. Please….”
In the sun’s last rays the bats squeaked at him then vanished.
Even the omens failed him on this day.
Suddenly a breeze moved it’s way through the trees make them wave to and fro. The cool air soothed his hot skin and blew away the tormenting flies.
Sandor felt the air crackle around him as if a storm was forming above his head. In the dying light he thought he could make out will o wisps in the distance.
Then it was gone and all was still in the forest.
Sandor Clegane breathed out again in a vain attempt to force his soul from his broken body.
In the painful silence that followed he heard voices in the distance.
As they came closer he found that they were female and familiar…..
“Way to go Ms. Perfect score on the MCAT!”
“Don’t blame this on me Arya! You’re the one with all the survival training!”
Sandor mind perked up and he strained his ears
It couldn’t be…..
“This all started when you had to find that stone circle!”
“I have explained to you a thousand times! That location is one of the only places to find these herbs!”
“So how do you explain that flash of lightening, Sansa?! Why is it getting dark at 11:30 in the morning?”
“I don’t know Arya!”
Sandor could hear them crash through the underbrush. For the first time that day he fought to stay awake, but delirium was threatening to take him. There was no way the wolf bitch had returned with the Little Bird.
Mayhaps he had already died and his personal hell was to be tormented by the sisters forever.
“... you know I spent an hour trying to find my car at the White Harbor shopping center last Sevenmas, that's why I wanted you to come. Because I needed your help…”
Sandor heard them still in the forest and a sigh.
“Alright,” Arya Stark breathed. “Well I haven’t had a signal in an hour, but we still have the radios and the maps and compass.”
Close in the trees, Sandor saw a bright but small light flare to life.
“Look,” spoke Arya Stark to her sister. “We were south of the Trident when we set off this morning and we haven’t seen the river yet. So all we have to do is head north till we hit the water and follow it east till we hit the highway.”
Sandor heard them walking again, their steps getting louder.
“I mean we’re in fucking Westeros,” Arya said. “I’m shocked we haven’t stumbled across a hippy gathering or scout camp already…”
Sandor heard them come out of the wood and into the clearing.
“See?” he heard the wolf bitch boast. "The river should be a little bit further."
Sandor tried to call out but his breath caught in his throat making him wheeze weakly.
Suddenly the sun exploded in his face followed by screaming.
“By the Mother!”
“Holy shit!”
The bright light vanished from his face and Sandor Clegane struggled to see as spots danced in front of his eyes sending shooting pain out the back of his skull.
Suddenly the form of Sansa Stark formed in front of him. She was holding a torch that was burning as bright as the sun and passing the light over his body muttering under her breath.
"No, no don’t look,” he tried to tell her. "Ladies like you shouldn’t see this…"
Suddenly she rushed to his face and jammed her fingers into his neck.
“He has a pulse!” she screamed.
Sandor heard a loud hissing noise, then a click and a voice calling out;
“Mayday, mayday,mayday, this is Arya Stark calling Riverland Forest Tower one, two and three, do you copy? Over.”
Sansa Stark grasped his face with strong hands and forced his left eye open then directed her torch onto his face. The pain from the searing light was enough to snap him into full conscience.
“He’s conscience!” She screamed over her shoulder.
Once again the hiss filled the clearing before the clicking and Arya repeated her call; “Mayday, Mayday, mayday, this is Arya Stark calling Riverland Forest Tower one, two and three, do you copy? Over.”
Sansa's hands where in his hair, feeling around his cuts, then unthinkably examining the piss poor dressings on his leg.
“Oh by the gods,” she whispered before setting the torch on the ground light up.
Sansa pulled a sack from somewhere behind her back. She opened it and pulled out a large bladder attached to a long reed.
“Sip it slow,” she whispered as she put the end of the reed to his cracked lips and dipped water into his dry mouth.
The water felt divine and Sandor tried to get as much as he could, even whimpering when she retracted the reed from his lips.
Sansa crouched close enough to look him in the face.
Hissssss "click"
“Mayday, mayday, mayday this is Arya Stark…”
“Sir? Can you tell me your name?” Sansa asked. Her voice full of genuine concern.
Sandor couldn’t help it when he replied “I am no ser.”
Sansa chewed her lip, her hair was curled around her head in a red halo. Her stare never flinched from his face.
“Okay, so what is your name and we’ll deal with the pronouns later.”
His mind fought to stay aware but none of this made sense. How could she not know him?
“Sandor Clegane," he finally choked out.
Beyond the light he heard Arya Stark scream; “Godsdamn it Yoren! Put down the porn mag and get me a medevac right fucking now!”