Arc 4 - Cliffs and plans

|A young girl runs through the trees. Her clothes are torn and her body is full of bruises. In her arms she carries a small child. The boy is unconscious, he has a large head wound that is bleeding.

The girl looks briefly at the boy, seeing the blood flow with no signs of stopping her despair increases even more.

She prays to the gods, begs for help.

But no one answers.

She keeps running.

She ignores the burning in her arms and her legs.

She keeps running.

"Don't let her get away!"

"Get them!"

"She's just a girl!"

"When I catch her I'll fuck her!"

"Aye, we'll make her beg!"

The voices are getting closer.

She hears the galloping of the horses.

She stops running and hides behind a tree. She stays very still.

The horses pass by.

Jenny sighs in relief and drops to the ground. She leans against the tree with Aemon in her arms.

She hugs him tightly, tears falling from her eyes.

"Please Aemy! You have to fight, I can't lose you!"

The child lies limp in her arms, the soft rise and fall of his chest is the only thing that shows he is alive.

It's the only consolation Jenny has.

The only thing that keeps her going.

She has to fight for her little brother.

It is her duty as the older sister to protect him.

She is not going to give up.

They will escape together.

They will come home.

She hears the barking of a dog in the distance.

Her head snaps up and the panic in her eyes grows.

"Dogs! If they have our-"

She gets up from the ground and starts to move.

If those monsters catch them-

"No! We are going to escape!" Her voice is low, just a whisper that is lost in the wind.

The moon illuminates the forest, it guides the path.

Time starts to warp, Jenny couldn't tell if she's been walking for minutes or hours. Her body is on the verge of collapse, her tiredness and hunger clouding her mind.

But she doesn't stop.

She keeps walking.

The weight in her arms reminds her of what's important.

"I have to save Aemy"

But luck is not on her side.

The barking gets closer and closer.

"Over there!"

"We found them!"

She turns her head and sees the monsters that destroyed her home. They are a couple of dozen meters away.

She turns and starts to run, but she's too tired.

Her speed doesn't increase much, it is just a frantic jog.

She grits her teeth and tries even harder.

She breaks the limits of her body.

A burst of energy surges inside her and her speed increases.

She's running full speed through the woods, she sees the tree line end a couple of feet in front of her.

She makes the mistake of looking back.

She sees two men on horseback following her, they are quite far away but they are closing fast.

She doesn't see the root.

She stumbles and rolls on the ground, sending Aemon flying into the air and landing on the grass.

The pain wakes him up. The boy looks around confused. He sees trees on one side and the sky on the other, and a hand clutching to something.

Aemon crawls towards the hand.

He sees his sister hanging from the edge of a cliff.

He feels something in the pit of his stomach and a pressure in his chest.

He tries to grab her hand.

But at the same time his small hand touches hers, her grip loosens-

"Sorry Aemy"

"NO!"

He sees his sister's blue eyes as she falls into oblivion.

Someone grabs him by the neck and lifts him-|

"NO!"

Ikarus stands up with his body drenched in sweat.

He gets up from the ground and crawls over to his bonfire. He is breathing heavily, like he just ran two marathons in a row.

"That Dream Again"

Ever since he found the charred remains of the farm his nights had been full of nightmares. He sometimes saw the siblings being killed by an unnamed bandit, other times being tortured by Frosteye. Many nightmares were worse, he saw monsters in human flesh raping his friend.

But ever since he found out what really happened to the siblings, his nightmares became more specific.

They always started the same way, Jenny and Aemon escaping from their captors, running through the woods and Jenny falling into oblivion while Aemon was captured.

The same story over and over again, with a few minor changes here and there.

And every time his blood runs cold, he gets up screaming with his body drenched in cold sweat.

Ikarus grabs a branch and throws it into the fire, fanning the flames.

He wipes the tears from his eyes, but it's useless. For every tear he wipes away, two more take its place. He puts his knees on his chest and hugs them.

Never before had he felt so desperate, so scared and alone.

He is running a race against the clock.

He has to get to Dorne before the slaver ship and intercept them.

He has to find Aemon.

"I have to find him." His voice comes out weak and broken. A pitiful sound coming from an injured animal rather than a shinobi.

The south coast of Dorne is four hundred leagues, which is about 1,900 kilometers. Keeping that fact in mind Ikarus calculated that Westeros is about 4800 kilometers long. Since Blazewater Bay is south of North, the shinobi calculates that the slave ship would have to travel at least 5,600 kilometers, taking into account that they would have to avoid the Iron Islands to avoid pirates.

"About 5,600 kilometers until they reach the Stepstones."

The ships in this era sail at a speed of between 7 and 15 kilometers per hour. With an average speed of 10 km/h without stopping to refuel, the slave ship would reach Sunspear in about three weeks.

His plan is to get to Sunspear as soon as possible.

That's the last port in Westeros where they can replenish supplies before sailing to Essos, Brandon told him that the slavers usually stop there.

Since he killed Brandon Smallfoot Ikarus took the Kingsroad south. He could go faster if he ran straight but Westeros is big and he could get lost. Following the Kingsroad he can reach Yronwood and from there follow the coast.

He will have to buy supplies to avoid wasting time hunting.

Luckily Ikarus is not short of coins.

And even if he had no money he would steal the necessary supplies.

Courtesies and nobility no longer matter to him.

The only thing on his mind is to get Aemon back.