𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 | The Volantis Woman

{ Eliza }

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𝕰ven though Eliza had been to a battlefield multiple times already, the carnage of it all never left her. She brought her horse to a stop, trying to soothe his nerves as screams and moans of pain reached her ears. Robb was waiting for her, still dressed in his armour, with Greywind at his side.

"Eliza."

"Robb." She slipped down from her horse, handing his reins to a guard as she pressed a customary kiss to his cheek, to keep up appearances. "I am glad you are alright."

"Thank you." He bowed his head as Eliza turned to Greywind, making a fuss of the large wolf. "You don't have to be here, you know that?"

"Aye, I do." She pressed a kiss to the wolf's head, before standing up as Roose Bolton stalked towards them. Eliza didn't like the man, finding that there was something off with him, although she couldn't put that feeling into words.

"Five Lannisters dead for every one of ours." Roose reported, as Eliza caught sight of Anceron across the field, reigning in spare horses with the rest of the Bare men. He waved, causing her to smile. "We've nowhere to keep all these prisoners. Barely enough food to feed our own."

"We're not executing prisoners, Lord Bolton." Robb reminded the man, sounding weary from the night's battle. Greywind leant further into Eliza's side, panting happily.

"Of course, Your Grace. The officers will be useful. Some of them may be privy to Tywin Lannister's plans." Eliza hid the scowl that was threatening to appear on her face. Now she was Queen of the North, she didn't have the luxury of displaying her true thoughts on her face.

"I doubt it."

"Well, we'll learn soon enough. In my family we say, 'A naked man has few secrets. A flayed man, none'"

Eliza's head snapped towards the two men talking. Flaying had been outlawed in the North for a reason. The method of torture was brutal, too horrific to be used on anyone. Whilst living, the torturer would peel skin off of the victim, piece by piece.

"My father outlawed flaying in the North." Robb spat.

"We're not in the North." Eliza's eyes narrowed. Everything the Bolton man said had Eliza shivering in disgust.

"We should not be torturing prisoners." Eliza replied, threading her arm through Robb's.

"The high road's pretty, Your Grace, but you will have a hard time marching down it." Eliza sized the man up and down.

"The Lannisters hold prisoners of their own. I won't give them an excuse to abuse my sisters." Robb responded, noticing that Eliza was looking less and less happy as time went on. "Excuse me, Lord Bolton."

Roose bowed his head and wandered off, as Robb looked down at Eliza's sour expression.

"What is it?" She sighed, before replying.

"I don't trust him." 

"You don't trust many people." Robb stated. 

"That's true. But there's something about him that's just off. I can't place my finger on it, but we should keep an eye on him." Robb sighed, before reluctantly agreeing with her demands.

"No, you can't!" The married couple looked up at the sound of a scream from a wounded soldier. Robb approached first, his interest piqued, as Eliza trailed along behind him. She didn't particularly want to watch a man die.

"Ser, please. I can't lose..." Robb cut the soldier off as he knelt down to help hold the man down. Eliza watched on with narrowed eyes, Greywind leaning into her side in comfort.

"You'll die if she doesn't."

"I don't want to be a cripple, please." The wounded soldier continued to beg.

"Put this in your mouth and lie down. You don't want to watch." Robb handed the man a strap, as he continued to struggle. Eliza took note of the Lannister armour, and looked at the nurse again. She wasn't one of theirs.

"No! You can't!" The soldier cried, as Robb sighed.

"Bite on it. It's better than biting on your own tongue, believe me." Robb commanded, before holding the soldier down as the nurse began to saw off his foot. Eliza didn't flinch, watching the soldier scream through the gag instead of looking at the injury.

She had seen many a fall and injury back at Faymont. Some of the horses, that they had reared over the years, were able to break someone's bone with a single kick. Eliza had seen a horse cave a stable hand's head in when the boy got too cocky with the stallion.

The nurse finally finished, bandaging the soldier up as others appeared to place him into a cart. Robb's eyes widened, and Eliza tensed up. She had never seen her husband look so interested in something before.

"What's your name?" Robb asked, causing Eliza's brows to furrow even further. She couldn't understand why Robb was talking to her? She was a nurse, nothing more.

"Talisa." It was an uncommon name, not one that Eliza had heard used in the Northern houses before.

"Your last name?" Robb replied, as the woman turned to face the two Northerners. She wasn't from around here. Most Northerners had pale skin, from the little sun and cold temperatures, with dark hair and light eyes. Talisa was tanned, from living under the sun, with dark eyes and a small form.

"You want to know what side my family fight on?" She seemed exasperated with Robb.

"You know my family name. You have me at a disadvantage."

"That boy lost his foot on your orders."

"He was fighting a war, sometimes things like that happen." Eliza finally grew tired of the conversation, stepping forward to stand beside her husband as she watched the woman with cold eyes. She and Robb may not get along, but he was still her husband.

"He's a fisherman's son that grew up near Lannisport. He probably never held a spear before they shoved one in his hands a few months ago," Talisa retorted, staring between the two Northerners with discontent. She hopped onto the back of a passing wagon, that was heading in the direction of the camp, a small smile on her face. 

Eliza watched her go, the unsettled feeling returning to her stomach as she turned to look at her husband. Robb was watching her, so Eliza gave him a gentle nudge and motioned to their horses, that were being brought over.

"Shall we head back to camp?"

"Aye. I need to get the mud off of me."

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Eliza pulled off her riding gloves and over cloak as she entered the tent, throwing them over one of the chairs with little care if things became creased or not. Robb followed her in, pulling muddy armour pieces off and depositing them by the armour stand.

Eliza watched him struggle, before slapping his hands away from the strap and using her nails to pull the stubborn leather out of the buckle.

"You should tell your squire to oil these more."

"It's just the mud." Their conversation was stilted, neither knowing what to truly say to each other in the silence of their tent.

Finally, the leather came loose and Eliza was able to pull his armour off and place it onto the rack as a guard appeared in the entrance to the tent.

"Your Grace, Your Grace." They both turned to face the man, who bowed his head, before depositing a letter into Robb's hand and hurrying away.

"Who's it from?" Eliza asked, picking the remainder of the armour up and sliding it into the trunk for Olyvar Frey to collect and clean.

"My sister." Robb read through it quickly, before handing the parchment to Eliza to read through. "I was not expecting Cersei to tear up the demands. I would think that she would accept at least one of them."

"How did your sister get this to you?" Eliza asked, flipping the letter over and looking at the seal. "Why does it have the royal seal?"

"I think she knows that she's being watched and she's using her betrothed's." Robb guessed, shrugging his shoulder. "But I don't understand why. Joffrey murdered our father, sent the country into war, so why would she be using his seal?"

"I don't know." Eliza rubbed her face, before sliding the letter into her trunk, deep at the bottom so that it would stay hidden. "This is all strange. Nothing seems to add up anymore."

Hiya,

So, we've met Talisa and things are now about to get interesting. I'm super excited for this to go up so that you can see more of the characters. Plus, I really love Eliza.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx