The Enemy Camp

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The massive city of ragged tents that is the army of the Basilisk. They are out in the cold, bleak world outside Deep Den, by the burned woods and snow-covered, icy land.

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It was past midnight, with very little moonlight thanks to the waning moon and the dark clouds covering it. Three figures scaled down the walls of Deep Den, after telling the sentries on duty to watch for their return, and relay the message to the men who relieved them. Aranya Lannister had a spear strapped to her back, Cerenna had her morningstar, and Ser Ustice Kettleblack had his axe strapped to his back. They dropped lightly to the ground, and slowly, carefully crossed no man's land on a route that Aranya had marked exactly. All three of them were dressed in the uniforms of black masked foreign soldiers, taken from dead bodies.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Ser Ustice asked, watchful and wary and full of misgivings.

"Yes," Aranya said, crouching and scampering ahead. "I scouted out this route as a bird, and I have the layout of the enemy camp in my head. A bird sees things from an enviable position. This way, one of their sentries is on the watch there." They skirted round the sentry, bent low to the ground, and Aranya found a way to navigate into the camp. It was dark, but there were some fires outside a few tents.

"Well," Ser Ustice whispered. "I hope to seven hells you have a plan, Lady Aranya."

"Of course she does," Cerenna hissed. Aranya winced.

"We need to get to the center," she said, trying to sound like she had planned out how they would do this. She did have the connection to the rat, and was using it to scout out the safest path to the nucleus of the camp. Right now, they were hidden beside a tent on the edge. "We're in their uniforms, with their masks. Be cool, don't attract attention. Don't make eye contact with anyone. I figure that if we try to slip and hide too much, people will notice. Just walk out."

Cerenna looked worried. That was too brazen, even for her. Ser Ustice looked flat out thunderous. But Aranya overrode their protests before they could voice them. "You two have any better ideas?"

"I do," Ser Ustice said. "Let's get the hell out of here."

"Shut up, Ustice," Aranya said impatiently. "All right, ready? Let's go."

The masks lowered, and they walked through the camp. Aranya's rat had found the emptiest route through, with the fewest people - it was late at night, and the men were starving and bone-weary, asleep in their tents. Those who weren't asleep were sitting around weak fires, talking quietly, or merely sitting in sullen, exhausted silence.

Aranya's walk was the weary shuffle of a tired soldier. She kept her head down, and in her bloodied and beaten armor, she looked as bad as the others. So did Ser Ustice and Cerenna. They used the sides of tents to cover them whenever they needed, as subtly as possible, and quietly walked towards the center.

When the center came in sight, Aranya signaled subtly to the other two, and they quietly, separately, slipped into the shadows of a large tent. A rat scampered over, her nose twitching.

Cerenna gave Aranya a questioning look. Aranya looked out from behind the tent, watching from the shadows. "We need to find out which tent it is," she whispered. "It ought to have many guards."

[The Stranger]

Men were scattered everywhere , sleeping in blankets on the ground, or around little camp fires. The campfires ruined everyone's night vision, but it was still more of a hindrance to the enemy than to Aranya's little trio.

The small band crept forward towards the center of the camp, where Aranya had spotted a large round tent, ringed with guardsmen. It was not the same as the large square tent where the Basilisk had been stored, but it was clearly important.

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Aranya crouched, and stroked the little rat. "Bed time, you two," she whispered to Cerenna and Ustice. "Just drop and pretend to sleep beside that little tent there." They did as she told them. It was within the same distance as the great square tent, and very close to Aranya. Aranya lay flat on her stomach in the dirt, gazed into the rat's bright beady eyes. The rat looked at her, intelligent and alert.

Then, obeying her bidding, it scampered through the darkness to the large square tent and slipped though the side flap, quiet as a shadow and camoflaged in the darkness. Inside, it sniffed for the scent of a human, and tried to see if there was light.

[The Stranger]

Aranya smelled seven people inside. She could see one, lying in the center, a dark shape, and two standing inside, the other four were laying on the ground in dark clumps. She could hear their deep breathing.

Aranya was hungry. cheese.

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Aranya overcame the rat's impulses and crawled forward, looking for a shape that was smaller and less muscled. It stuck to the shadows, though the room was hardly lit.

[The Stranger]

The two standing shapes were big humans, the others on the side too. The one in the middle...

Aranya sniffed.

it was under something, thin and soft, good for making a nest, but it broke up human's shape, there was a human under it, she could smell it, but she couldn't see it.

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Aranya debated, before deciding to quietly crawl under the blanket.

[The Stranger]

the human stretched its arm and let a sound out of its mouth as it did. It's finger tips brushed Aranya's tail, and the thing let out a high pitched loud sound. The other humans were moving too now.

"EEEP!" Aranya squealed.

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The rat scampered under the human's shirt.

[The Stranger]

The human was small, but quick, as it squealed, grabbed Aranya, and wrung her neck.

She awoke with a splitting headache (light wound -10)

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Aranya awoke, cursing, and filled with pain and anger and guilt. That poor rat. She gritted her teeth. You little bastard,she thought. I should leave you here and hope they kill you. Part of her wanted to burn him in that tent.

Pushing her feelings aside, she closed her eyes again for a moment, calming herself and refortifying her mind, searching the camp for another likely rat. There were many of them. When she found a grip on one, she sent it to wait at a certain position - in the shadows of a tent right beside this circle of tents, which had a cookfire going to keep the sleeping men warm. Aranya's new rat found a dry twig, and waited in the darkness.

Still raging inwardly, Aranya summoned the other two. They were laying as if asleep, but watching her. They crawled over and crouched beside her.

"What's wrong?" Cerenna asked in concern, seeing the pain in Aranya's face.

"I'm fine, and the little son of a bitch is in there," Aranya growled.

Ser Ustice eyed the tent's guards. "Those are twice our number," he said quietly. "But underfed, and tired."

"Six outside, and I saw six inside," Aranya whispered, watching the tent. "We can't just rush at the tent from here."

"Distract them," Ustice suggested.

"Oh come on, let's just go," Cerenna urged. "We can take twelve."

"We can't, Cerenna," Aranya said, while Ser Ustice gave the girl an exasperated look. "How should I distract them, Ustice? I don't want to alert the rest of the camp either...yet."

"I'll creep round the back, and take on one guard," Ustice said. "The others are sure to come to his aid. Then you two attack from the front."

"Will you be all right?" Aranya asked, worried.

Ser Ustice snorted. "Against this lot? It's no contest. The problem will be when we try to get out of here. Have you given that any thought?"

"Yes. But we'll worry about that later. Go. Quietly." Ustice slipped off obediently into the darkness.

Aranya and Cerenna crouched side by side, waiting. "Do you think we should have brought Lord Lefford?" Cerenna whispered.

Aranya gave her a sharp look. "No. Why?"

Cerenna's hesitated, then looked determinedly at the tent. "I just asked. He's very brave, you know. He might have wanted to help."

Aranya hid her smile, amused despite her tension. "I don't confide in people I barely know about these kind of daredevil plans. I would have been locked away if they knew I was planning this. Now quiet, and be ready."

Cerenna nodded, and held her morningstar as Aranya gripped her spear. Then they heard a faint yell from the back of the square tent, and the clash of weapons. The other guards reacted.

"Now," Aranya hissed, and they sprinted.

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Aranya realized things were looking dire for her companions. "Stop!" she shouted. "Pull out!" But Ustice didn't hear her, and continued fighting. Aranya's heart stopped when she saw him cleaved in two.

"Ustice!" Cerenna screamed.

"Get back!" Aranya caught the girl before she could run to him, and pushed her away, parrying another soldier's blow and slicing him. She was covered in blood and gore. "Hide. You're dead on your feet."

"But..."

"Go! That's an order." Aranya glared at the girl, and so fearsome a sight was she that Cerenna obeyed without further protest. Pale from her wounds, and bleeding terribly, the girl staggered back into the darkness. She had never known such pain. She collapsed in a ditch, curled up into a black ball in the darkness, and tried to staunch the blood flow with strips of her uniform. She whimpered to herself.

Back at the tent, Aranya fought back with renewed fury and determination. There was no question about it now. She had to have Rodrick. Ustice could not have died for nothing.

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Shit. The grim reality of her fate became clear to Aranya in hard, cold light, as she heard the soldiers moving. Despair threatened to cripple her. Her babies, everyone who needed her...she almost panicked. And the long winter, which she had prepared for all her adult life - that flashed in her mind too.

And then she forgot it all, and focused on the fight. She had one more task, and prayed that she would have the strength to finish it.

She snarled and parried a blow, kicking aside the guards, and rushed into the tent. Her heart was pounding in her chest, beating out a frantic rhythm. How much time did she have left?

She ripped the blanket off the boy. "Get up," she said urgently. "Show me your chains, quick."

[The Stranger]

"Well it's about fucking time," said Prince Rodrick, as he stood, pointing to a chain around his ankle attached to a peg beaten into the ground.

"Where's the rest of your men?" He asked, as he tugged on the chain with his leg.