You couldn't move when you opened your eyes again. Your bones were stiff from the cold, and your muscles cramped and sore from the ropes. You were sure the skin around your wrists were bloody, to judge by the sticky liquid on your fingers. It was impossible to tell how much time had passed due to the lack of light in your cell. A pained gasp escaped you as you tried to heave yourself into a sitting position. You were in more pain than you had originally thought. Lying back down slowly, you tried not to think about the fact that you couldn't feel your right arm, which you had apparently slept on all night. Or all day? Was it night? 

Your eyes could see better in the darkness now that they had fully adjusted, and it appeared Jaime was sleeping. He'd pulled his knees close to his chest and rested his head against the pillar he was chained to. It would be impossible for him to lay down, but you still envied his superior restraints. 

You closed your eyes again and took on a lethargic limpness. Maybe dying would be easier, you thought hopelessly. Hours passed and no one from upstairs came down to untie you, or bring water or food. You remained still until you were sure you would never be able to move any part of your body ever again. 

You were in a state of odd semi-consciousness when a voice called you back to the cold reality you were trying to escape. 

"You have to move." It was Jaime's voice, you realized. 

"I can't move. It hurts," you whispered faintly, your voice raspy. 

"You'll lose your limbs if you can't get blood circulating to them," he told you truthfully, still somehow sounding nonchalant. You knew it was true, but you felt rather helpless to do anything about it. Each movement made your entire body scream at you.

"Come here," Jaime commanded. 

"No," you muttered tiredly. "I don't need your help."

"You Starks are an annoyingly stubborn brood. If you have any desire to retain all of your body parts, you will put our differences aside and let me assist you. I'd rather not share a cell with corpse, if it can be avoided. And if we have any hope of escaping, we need each other."

That got your attention. You lifted your head and forced your body over slightly to look at him. "You intend to escape?"

Jaime sighed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Of course I intend to escape. Now come here." He sounded more impatient now. 

You bit down hard on your lip and forced your body to move in his direction. You were thankful for the blanket of blackness to cover your clumsy undignified movements. Your teeth sank so deeply into your lip trying not to cry out that you began to taste blood by the time you were close enough to the Kingslayer for him to reach you. He pulled you painfully the rest of the way towards him, but you were glad to not have to do it yourself. 

"These rebels have no idea how to treat a prisoner," Jaime said loftily as he fumbled with the rope around your arms and wrists. "Even your brother was more courteous than this." 

You said nothing as he untied the sturdy knots and unwound the rope with surprising gentleness. You could have cried in relief when he removed all the rope from your upper body and let your arms free. You could hardly feel anything in your limbs as Jaime skillfully rubbed feeling back into them, carefully avoiding the spots on your wrists where the skin had been inflamed to blistering. He untied your legs next and repeated the process in silence. Once he was finished he pulled you into his chest and wrapped his arms across yours to heat up your frozen skin. He was incredibly warm against you.

"How long do you suppose it'll be until they give us water, at least?" You asked casually, rubbing your tingling arms. You could feel him shrug his shoulders.

"They haven't failed to bring water at least once a day so far, but I haven't a clue if things will be changing now that you're here as well."

It was a dishearting to think that you may not eat today, though you felt worse for Jaime than you did for yourself. He'd had to suffer this for almost six days now. 

You couldn't say how long you stayed like that. You both drifted off to silence, and time stretched on forever in that pressing darkness. You weren't aware that you had fallen asleep until you were being violently shaken by the shoulders, Jaime's shackles clanging with the motion. 

"What in Seven Hells, Kingslayer!" You exclaimed, disgruntled. Jaime threw you to the floor and grabbed the rope he had set aside when he removed it from you. 

"Hear those footsteps?" Jaime asked as he loosely put your arms behind your back and began raveling the rope around you, his fingers unsteady with hunger. "Someone's coming. It's best they don't think we're getting too friendly. Hold still, stop squirming!"

You allowed him to tie you back up (though in a considerably more clumsy manner), and once he finished with you, he pushed you away from him like a log. 

Huffing irritably, a plan suddenly struck you. Throwing dignity to the wind, you rolled as fast as you could into the deepest, darkest bit of shadow. You slowed your breathing to be as quiet as possible and tested the ropes Jaime had reapplied. He had done a terrible job. They were loose, so you squirmed softly until they fell away from you. You heard the key turn in the heavy iron lock.

The archer who had put you down here yesterday stepped through the door. You could hardly see him in the dark, but you recognized his figure well enough. As he came closer into the room, leaving the door open behind him, you could see he held something in his hand. Water, perhaps? Maybe food, but that was more unlikely. 

"Where's the girl, Kingslayer?" The archer demanded when he saw you weren't to be seen. 

"How should I know?" Jaime shrugged. "It's rather hard to see past one's face in this cell. Maybe she was offended by your poor house-keeping skills."

A loud clap of skin smashing against skin met your ears and Jaime grunted painfully. "Was that so very necessary?" He asked with false exasperation. "If you did not want to disturb highborn Ladies, you might consider running a broom around the place on occasion-"

The archer struck him once again and barked, "Shut your mouth, Lannister. I'll take your tongue out if you can't keep it quiet."

You moved slowly to your feet. You had two distinct advantages: one, Jaime Lannister was distractingly infuriating. Two, you could see much better than the bowman could. You moved quickly, as silent as a shadow until you stood behind the bastard. 

He was in the middle of threatening Jaime when you wrapped the rope around his throat and pulled backwards. Unable to call out, the archer struggled to breathe, grasping with panicked hands at the rope. With strength gifted to you by adrenaline and the gods, you held taunt until his eyes rolled back in his skull and he collapsed into a heap at your feet.

"I don't know what your escape plans were, but now might a good time to put them into action," you told Jaime as you knelt down on the ground beside the fallen man. 

"Does he have a weapon on him?" Jaime asked hopefully. You could see the blood running down the side of his face from where the bowman had punched him.

"No. But he has this." You jangled a key chain under his nose and gave it to him to unlock his shackles. He took it from you eagerly and began letting himself loose. You picked up the cup of mostly-spilled water off the ground and took a swig before passing it to Jaime to have the rest. He got unsteadily to his feet and drank what was left. 

Your thrill of adrenaline was suddenly dampened as you watched the Kingslayer take a step and nearly fall to his knees. "Are you going to be able to fight?" You asked worriedly. 

"Yes, of course. I'm just a bit dizzy, nothing to fuss about," said Jaime. He took a moment to regain his balance before quietly heading to the door with you. Keenly aware that you must now be careful of him, you allowed him to be the first to go up the stairs. 

The light was blinding. Both of you squinted and shielded your eyes from the blaring light that was coming in through an open window. You heard voices coming from down the hall and moved slowly and quietly. Jaime peered around the corner and gestured for you to wait until he moved. You held your breath for ten seconds until he finally jumped into action. 

You had taken the four that resided in the room by such surprise that they failed to act immediately, costing them one precious second that allowed Jaime to get his hands on a sword. The four bandits, including the one-eyed black beard, jumped to their feet and reached for their weapons. One was unarmed, and Jaime stabbed him through the throat before he could even move to get to his sword that was leaning on the wall across the room. Your sword, the one they had taken from you. 

Half starved, weak and nearly blinded by the light, Jaime held off the three remaining men while you made a mad dash from the hall and snatched your sword from its hilt. Swinging it down just in time to parry a hit, you fought with a familiar face. The swordsman with the bright red hair met you strike for strike with graceful confidence. Steel kissed and sang as you danced back and forth with one another. However, he was just a little too slow, and you were able to smack his blade out of the way just long enough to drive yours trough his stomach. He gasped, dropping his sword, and fell to the floor to bleed out. 

You turned your attention to Jaime, who looked like he could use a little help with the two he was just barely keeping at bay. You jumped in next to him and fought the black bearded man who had ordered your capture. "Bastard," you cried, plunging your sword through his one good eye just as Jaime got a blow with the last one. 

The bodies dropped to the floor and steel rang on steel throughout the room as you and Jaime turned on each other in a heartbeat, swords clashing together in a freezing moment. You held still, your sword making an X with his. "So what's your next move, Kingslayer?" You purred softly, looking him square in his moss-green eyes. "Are you gonna come with me willingly, or do I have to hurt you?" You were taking him back to Robb.

"Funny, I was just about to ask the same of you, my Lady," he said, his eyes glittering with amusement. "It appears we've reached an impasse."

"So be it." Just as you were about to lift your sword, Jaime gasped and lowered his weapon as an arrow came whizzing down the hall, finding its mark in his right shoulder. The archer, whom you apparently didn't strangle long enough to kill, notched another arrow. You went to move to do something (you weren't sure what, but you needed to do something), but he was too quick. This time, the arrow went through Jaime's right arm, and his sword clattered to the ground as he stepped out of the way before the archer could shoot again. You grabbed his left arm as you dove behind a wall for cover.

"Fuck," Jaime cursed, grabbing his arm as it began seeping blood all over the place. "I. . . I thought you killed him."

"So did I," you snapped, rather harsher than you had meant to. Jaime's breathing came in ragged as your eyes roamed for any means of escape. "The window." You pointed to the opening in question. "We have to climb out the window. We can get to the barn and steal horses."

The only issue was that the window was rather high up, and you weren't sure Jaime could climb it with only one arm. 

You could hear the archer coming slowly and skeptically down the hall. 

"Come on, get up!" You hissed. Or you would have, if that sentence had contained any syllables that allowed such a noise. Jaime struggled to his feet, adrenaline pushing him on. You climbed up first, pushing your body out onto the ledge and reaching back down to assist Jaime. He found a place for his foot in between the wooden planks of the walls and seethed in pain as you helped pull him up. 

The bowman came into view just as you dropped out of sight. The sky was mercifully dark, but it looked as though a storm was coming. You landed gracefully on your feet and slid your sword into its hilt as Jaime crashed to the ground next to you and lay bleeding.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next one will be out in a day or two. Please vote/comment, if you want!