KINGDOM FALL
— 72. The Battle at Castle Black

Days later, the night of the Battle at Castle Black finally arrived. Annalys was on the verge of making her way to the top of the wall when she heard a bit of commotion, "Sam, is that you?!" An unknown woman and Annalys turned to look down to the courtyard to see Sam speaking to a woman through the gate dividing them.

"Yes!"

"Thorne gave me strict orders to not open the gate," Pyp informed Sam, refusing to open the gates for him.

"Oh, Pyp," Sam groaned in frustration, "Open the fucking gate!"

Pyp sighed in defeat, immediately going to open the gate, "I've never heard you curse before."

"Yes, well, best get used to it."

After being allowed in, Gilly ran into Sam's arms, hugging him tightly, "Are you alright?" He asked Gilly, who sighed in relief as she nodded his head.

Sam looked down at the baby Gilly was carrying in her arms, "Shh, you're alright," He told the small infant, "Yeah, of course you are, my brave little fella."

"It was horrible," Gilly informed Sam and as she eavesdropped on the conversation, Annalys immediately pieced together that Gilly must have been at the village that had been attacked by the Wildlings.

"I'm so so sorry," Sam apologized to Gilly, clearly feeling extremely guilty for what had happened, "I didn't know until I got back."

"Don't let them send me away, Sam," Gilly begged Sam, a pleading look on her face.

"Never," Sam replied without hesitation and by the look on his face, Annalys knew Sam loved the girl with all his heart.

"I know there's no women allowed." Gilly continued on, fear in her eyes.

"Anyone who tries to throw you out will be having words with me," Sam immediately told Gilly, who was shocked by his confession, "From now on, wherever you go, I go too."

A longing look on her face, Annalys turned away from eavesdropping on the couple's conversation. Her eyes widened, however, when she turned to see Robb from a distance. He had his eyes locked on Gilly and Sam, clearly overhearing their conversation as Annalys did.

He looked saddened by it, clearly feeling the same way Annalys had.

He turned to leave as well, only to come face to face with Annalys. They stared at each other with wide eyes, clearly shocked that they had come face to face with the person they had been longing for while eavesdropping on Sam's conversation with Gilly.

Robb began to move closer to Annalys, opening his mouth to speak to her when the horns blared from above, which meant the Wildlings were on the verge of coming.

Annalys turned to walk away when Robb quickly grabbed ahold of her hand. Annalys immediately froze in place, turning to face Robb once more.

"Annalys," He called out softly and Annalys tried her best to act annoyed, despite feeling relieved that he had stopped her from leaving.

"What?" Annalys questioned Robb, feigning annoyance.

"Promise me you'll be careful," Robb told Annalys, whose eyes softened, seeing as though she hadn't expected him to say such a thing, "Promise me you won't be reckless tonight."

He wanted to mention the fact that she was pregnant, which was something they both seemed to continuously forget lately. However, Robb decided against it, knowing that wasn't even the real reason he wanted her not to be reckless.

The reason was quite obvious. Despite them constantly fighting since arriving at Castle Black, Robb still loved her with all his heart.

"You do realize who you're talking to?" Annalys remarked, a soft, playful smile on her face as she stared up at Robb.

Robb's expression remained both stern and concerned after hearing Annalys' remark, earning a small eye roll from her.

"I promise," Annalys assured Robb, grabbing his hand and giving it a light, affectionate squeeze, "Don't die tonight, alright? I don't think Eddard's old enough to become king in the north just yet."

Robb found a smile forming on his lips, much to Annalys' relief. She was glad that he realized her remark about Eddard was a joke and not to be taken seriously.

Annalys and Robb stared at each other closely, not knowing what to say. Annalys let go of Robb's hand, taking a deep breath. Without a second thought, she leaned forward. Instead of kissing Robb on the lips, she placed one of her hand on the side of Robb's cheek before pressing a lingering kiss to his cheek.

After a moment, she pulled away and Robb opened his mouth to speak to her. Deciding against it, Robb shut his mouth, much to Annalys' dismay.

She remained silent, despite wanting nothing more than to say what she truly wanted to. Instead, she sent him a soft smile, just before she turned and walked away from him.

______

When Annalys reached the top of the wall, she knew something was wrong when the men of the Night's Watch seemed to be in more of a hurry than expected. She pushed past many of them as she rushed toward where Jon was standing at the edge of the Wall.

She quickly moved toward him, only to find what had everyone so alarmed. Her eyes widened in utter disbelief when she looked ahead to see flames engulfing most of the Haunted Forest.

Several moments had passed when Annalys finally witnessed the Wildlings walking out of the forests.

Her eyes widened in utter disbelief at the sight of a giant riding on top of a mammoth, both of which were creatures she had never seen before.

"Seven hells," She muttered under breath, counting to figure out there was two giants among the army of wildings.

"Archers, nock!" She shouted out to the Night's Watchmen as she lifted up her balled up fist, "Everyone else, hold!"

Just then, Annalys watched as Grenn accidentally dropped a barrel of oil off the Wall, causing her to sigh in frustration.

Green turned to her, sending her an apologetic look, "Draw!" Annalys yelled out, deciding to not call the man out on his mistake.

"Annalys!" A voice suddenly called out, causing Annalys to turn to see Robb standing in back of her, "They're attacking the Southern gates."

Annalys sighed in frustration, knowing that meant she'd have to go down there to lead the Lannister men, which was the last thing she wanted to do at that moment.

She turned toward Jon, nodding her head, which told Jon she wanted him to lead in her stead atop the wall.

Jon nodded in understanding, watching as Annalys headed back down to the courtyard alongside Robb.

Once reaching the courtyard, Annalys was quick to speak up, "Knights of the Lannister army, Brothers of the Night's Watch!" She called out, causing every single one of the men to turn to her, both Lannister soldiers and Night's Watchmen, "For hundreds of generations, the Night's Watch has defended this castle and it's never fallen before. It will not fall tonight either. Not on my watch and definitely not on yours. Tonight, we will fight and continue fighting until we've won. When the sun rises tomorrow, Castle Black will stand," She announced confidently and as she unsheathed Lady's Wrath, the men began to cheer,"The Night's Watch will stand!" She continued on and even Robb began to smile, only to have it fade when they witnessed the Wildings begin to enter, "Stand with me now and let us defeat our foe!"

Instinctively, Annalys ran forward, immediately stabbing a Wildling in the stomach. She elbowed another that came toward her and kneed the next one.

Yet another came toward her and tried to swing his axe. She blocked it with her sword before punching him the face. She wasted no time knocking him out with the handle of her sword, just before slashing two others and killing them.

One by one, Annalys cut down each and every one of the Wildings that came her way.

Everyone that witnessed her thought the same thing Euron Greyjoy claimed that people said about Jaime during the Greyjoy Rebellion.

The best in the world. No one can stop her.

As she shot numerous arrows into the Night's Watchmen, Ygritte soon locked eyes on Annalys, whose movements were far too quick for her to ever land a perfect shot that could kill her. She presumed the person to be a man, only to squint her eyes to see Annalys' long golden hair.

That was Annalys Lannister.

Jon never really spoke of his family during his time beyond the Wall, but there was someone he did mention. Annalys.

Even before then, the people closest to Mance Rayder heard of her. It was a odd thing, to have news of Annalys spread to people beyond the Wall and to people across the Narrow Sea.

"Queen Annalys!" One of the brothers of the Night's Watch called out to her, causing her to turn to them, "You're needed above."

Annalys glanced around, searching for Robb. He stopped for a moment, locking eyes on her. Without either of them having to say anything, Robb nodded his head, encouraging her to go man the Wall.

Later on, once reaching the top of the Wall, Annalys was quick to give orders.

"Archers!" She exclaimed, picking up her own bow to begin shooting arrows, "Nock your arrows! Draw!" She continued to command as she did the same with her own bow and arrow, "Loose!"

As Annalys released her first flaming arrow, the rest of the men followed in her footsteps.

Despite being so high up on the Wall, Annalys was able to have every single one of her arrows reach its target, leaving dozens of Wildings either wounded or dead from her arrows.

Annalys frowned, immediately noticing how the wildings began to climb the Wall, "I've made that climb before, they won't make it to the top before dawn," Jon informed Annalys, who was quick to argue.

"Sorry to say this, Jon, but I'm pretty sure they're in a bigger hurry than you were," She informed him, annoyance laced in her tone of voice.

Just moments later, Annalys and numerous other Archers of the Night's Watch were lowered perpendicularly to the Wall. Annalys looked downwards, her eyes widening at how high off the ground she was. The rope holding her began to move a bit, causing her to feel uneasy.

   "You drop me and I swear to you, I'll come back a wight and I will kill you!" She shouted at Jon and the other men sternly as she nocked her arrow alongside the rest of the men, "Knock...Draw...Loose!"

One by one, Annalys shot many of the wildings attempting to climb the Wall. One of the Wildings tried to shoot an arrow at the Wall, only to end up missing.

One of the giants, however, fell into a kneeling position beside him before releasing one of his arrows. The first arrow ended up ripping through a roof of one of the posts on top of the Wall. The second one, however, ended up hitting one of the Night's Watchmen and ripped him right through one of the posts.

Annalys watched the scene in horror, her eyes wide as she watched the man go flying from the force.

____

After getting back on the Wall, Annalys, Edd, and Jon gave commands to the men of the Night's Watch, which led to them dropping the barrels of oil down toward the Wildings that tried to approach the gate.

Annalys watched closely as two giants and a mammoth approached the gate and began to pull at it with long ropes.

"The outer gate won't hold," She told the group, an uneasy look on her face as she turned toward Grenn, "I need you to take five men, Grenn. I need you take them to the tunnels and I want you to hold the inner gate."

Grenn nodded without hesitation, not realizing that even if he succeeded in holding the gate, it most likely meant he would die in the process.

Just as Grenn was about to leave with five other men, Annalys grabbed onto his arm, "Hold the gate," She told him in a stern tone, "If they make it through--"

"They won't," Grenn assured Annalys, a sincere look on his face when he realized what Annalys was getting at.

Annalys sent Grenn a small nod, just before he walked away with the group of men he decided to take with him.

Annalys turned her head, only to notice the odd look Jon was giving her. He clearly realized that she had basically sent Grenn to his death and seemed totally fine with it, as if she were used to doing such things.

She immediately looked away from him, turning toward the other men standing with her, "Oil!" She shouted out, giving the men her next command, "Oil on the ramp!"

___

In the courtyard, Robb fought numerous wildings, one after another, Lionsbane alive in his hands.

He suddenly stopped, looking upward to find a ginger-haired wildling, making his way down the stairs, cutting down two Lannister soldiers and one Stark soldier on the way down.

"Protect the gate!" He commanded loudly, just before making his way up to the second floor to sneak up on who actually happened to be Tormund Giantsbane.

When Robb reached Tormund, the wilding man yelled out, swinging his sword at the Stark man.

Robb parried and when Tormund retracted before swinging again, Robb was able to dodge it. Tormund continued to swing at Robb, but he repeatedly either dodged the hits or deflected them with Lionsbane.

They continued to place attacks on each other and soon enough, Tormund grabbed Robb by the neck, slamming him against the stonewall. Robb lifted his balled up fist, punching Tormund in the face.

Tormund stumbled back and after stepping away from the stone wall, Robb punched him again.

Tormund swung his sword at Robb, who was quick to dodge him. Robb ended up hitting Tormund in the face with the hilt of his sword. However, as Tormund felt into a kneel in front of Robb, he used it to his advantage and slashed Robb across the thighs with his blade.

Robb winced in pain as he clutched his leg. Just as Tormund was about to finish him off, Robb jumped off of where he was standing in front of Tormund. He landed on the ground floor of the courtyard, landing on top of a large pile of hay.

Robb wasted no time rising to his feet, despite being in so much pain. He soon locked eyes on Grenn, who was making his way toward the gates with five other men, "Grenn!" He called out in concern, causing Grenn to turn to him, "Where is she? Where is Annalys?"

"She's on top of the Wall," Grenn quickly informed Robb, clearly in a rush, "She's in command."

Before he could say any more, Grenn rushed off with the men, causing Robb to sigh in defeat.

____

On top of the Wall, Annalys watched closely as the men of the Night's Watch dropped barrels of oil down on the mammoth and the giants as they tried to opens the gates.

As the explosion occurred, many of them wildings were blown up. Clearly startled, the mammoth began to run away, one of the giants chasing after it.

Annalys sighed in frustration, noticing the men on top of the wall frantically trying to release one of the barrels that happened to be stuck on the tamp.

Just then, one of the men fired a spear into the giant that was attempting to chase after the mammoth. Annalys' eyes widened, watching as the giant dropped to the ground after getting hit with the spear in the back.

In a way, Annalys almost felt saddened by the sight. Oddly enough, she felt bad for the giant, despite him being the enemy. She had no clue why.

Witnessing the sight, the second giant screamed out in anger, immediately turning toward the gate. Annalys watched with wide eyes as he began to raise the gate with his bare hands.

Just then, Annalys turned when Sam began to approach him and Jon, "What are you doing up here?" Jon asked Sam, not understanding why he wasn't with Pyp.

"The rest of the Wildings are over the walls. Robb is injured," He began to explain and both Robb and Annalys exchanged a worried look at the last part of his sentence, "The castle walls can't stand much longer."

While Jon stopped for a moment to put Edd in charge, Annalys walked off, leaving her post. Soon enough, Jon followed her, both of them heading to the ground.

____

  Once making it close to the ground with the lift, Annalys opened the door and wasted no time unsheathing Lady's Wrath.

Without the lift even touching the ground yet, Annalys jumped out of it and leaped onto the ground. She wasted no time beginning to cut down every wilding between her and the kennel holding Ghost and Greywind.

After cutting down at least thirty wildings, Annalys finally reached the door to the room. She took the key hanging on the necklace around her neck before unlocking the door.

Once opening the door, she looked down at Ghost and Greywind, who stared at her closely, "We need you, boys," She informed the two direwolves, who wasted no time obeying Annalys' command.

The two direwolves ran out into the courtyard, attacking many different wildings.

Annalys wasted no time beginning cut down even more wildings. At that moment, she began to lose count of how many casualties she caused on her own. From what she could tell, the number was way past one hundred by then.

Styr, one of the Thenns who were apart of the wilding army, locked eyes on Annalys. He watched as she killed a half dozen wildings with her sword within twenty seconds, which infuriated him.

He yelled out, beginning to make his way toward her with a hint of determination in his eyes. Annalys immediately noticed the man and turned toward him, glaring at him hatefully.

She began to move toward him as well, tightly grasping the handle of her sword as she prepared to attack him.

Once reaching him, Annalys swung her sword at him, but with his absurdly large battle axe, he parried. He soon swung his axe in her direction at full force, causing Annalys to duck in a crouched position to avoid getting hit with such a weapon.

Annalys tried her best to fight him and for the first time in a long time, she found herself on the defensive side. Believe it or not, she found herself struggling to defend herself, clearly not knowing how to use her sword against such a weapon.

Over and over, Annalys swung her sword at Styr, who was able to parry and block them with his battle axe.

As Annalys went to swing for what felt like the hundredth time, Styr caught her by surprise and ended up knocking Lady's Wrath right out of her hand.

Annalys looked toward her fallen sword, her eyes wide in alarm. It was too far away for her to reach it, that was for sure.

Before she could react, Styr swung a punch to her face, causing her to grunt as she spit up a bit of blood.

As Styr attempted to swing his axe at her while she was unarmed, Annalys immediately stepped back. He continued to try to swing his axe at her, but just as she always did while armed, Annalys was able to dodge each hit with her quick movements.

Soon enough, Annalys was able to grab ahold of the battle axe as he tried to hit her with it and much to his shock, Annalys was able to take it out of his hands.

Once the battle axe was knocked out of his hands, Styr grabbed ahold of Annalys, beginning to use his fists to fight her instead. Oddly enough, Annalys smiled each time he punched her and ended up just returning the favor as if his hits did nothing to her, even though they did.

She winced as Styr grabbed ahold of her hair and before she could react, he slammed her face against an anvil. Annalys groaned, but didn't cry out, refusing to give him the satisfaction.

With that, Styr tossed Annalys to the side, clearly thinking she was wounded enough to stay down. That, however, wasn't the truth.

If he truly knew Annalys, he'd know the woman seemed to be able to endure more pain than others could.

When he saw Annalys weakly stand back up, Styr made his way back over to her. He grabbed her by the neck, just before slamming against a stone pillar. He wrapped his fingers around her throat, beginning to choke her with all the strength he had.

Annalys attempted to pry his hands away from her neck, but found herself unable to due to his strength. He was far stronger than any man she ever fought before.

Noticing a large nail on the table behind her, Annalys spit the large amount of black blood that was filling her mouth in Styr's face. Once he was distracted, she picked up the rusty nail before stabbing the Thenn man in the eye with it. He yelled out in pain and just as he was on the verge of attacking her again, an unknown person stabbed him through the back with their sword.

Moments later, as Styr's dead body finally fell the ground, Annalys' eyes widened at the sight of Robb standing before her. He saved her.

Annalys' eyes scanned Robb's body, finding him to be far more wounded than she was. Annalys nervously laughed, relieved to see Robb, oddly enough.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you," Robb confessed to Annalys, who gradually began to smile, despite everything that was happening at that moment.

It was as if the whole world stopped for that short moment while in each other's presence.

However, Annalys' smile immediately disappeared and her eyes widened when she turned her head to see a red-haired wilding pointing an arrow at Robb.

"No!" Annalys shouted out in alarm.

Just as Ygritte released her arrow, Annalys roughly pushed Robb back, stepping in front of him. Robb's eyes widened and he gasped loudly as he watched the arrow hit Annalys just inches away from her heart.

Within seconds of releasing her arrow and shooting Annalys, Ygritte was then shot through the back by Olly.

Despite what she had done to hurt Annalys while actually aiming for his brother, Jon caught Ygritte in his arms, devastated by the side.

Robb was right. Jon had just as many problems having to do with the woman he loved as his brother did.

Annalys clawed at the arrow embedded in her chest as she stared down at it. Not being able to stand, Annalys was on the verge of falling to the ground when Robb caught her in his arms.

"Anna--" Robb began to tell the woman, holding her in his arms as he sat on the ground with the battle still going on around them.

"It's okay," Annalys assured Robb as he placed his hand over the spot on her chest where black blood was practically pouring out of her, "If I can survive the Red Wedding, childbirth, Ramsay Snow, and a boar attacking me, I can survive this." She explained to him, a weak smile forming on her lips, despite knowing there was a chance she would die that night.

Robb stared down at her, tears threatening to spill from his eyes, "W-Why would you do that?" He began to stammer, tears on the verge of spilling from his eyes at the sight of her, "Why would you step in front of me like that? You could've died."

"Because I love you," Annalys confessed without hesitation, her hand beginning to tremble for some odd reason, "Because despite everything we've put each other through, I'll always love you and I'd die for you without a second thought," She explained, beginning to slow drift into a deep sleep.

Robb tightly held Annalys in his arms as she fell unconscious. He began to quietly cry, not knowing whether or not she'd wake up from her slumber the next morning.

He slowly glanced around, the battle continuing on around him. His eyes soon locked on Jon, who held Ygritte's lifeless corpse in his eyes as he silently cried.

Robb pitied his brother. He knew how it felt to be in love with a person whom he could never truly have. He knew what it was like to fall for a woman who was considered to be the enemy.

However, in the end, Jon chose duty over love. Robb, on the other hand, was bound to choose the opposite when push came to shove, Jon had said it himself just days before. Everyone knew it was the truth. Everyone but Robb and Annalys.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Forgot to say this before, but lemme just say, this will be the act that Robb really proves that's he's the badass he is in the show.

The first half of this act will be mostly of Annalys, but after a certain chapter, it'll be chapters filled with A LOT of Robb content and his development as a character.

It will all start with a little talk with Maester Aemon, who finally knocks some common sense into Robb of how much he's fucking up and being an idiot 😂

They'll be a big ass battle against Stannis where ROBB wins, not Annalys.

Ik, It's a sort of spoiler, but I want you to be wondering until then how tf Robb ends up fighting a battle against Stannis on his own with Annalys not in attendance with her family, despite it being HER war for Westeros, not Robb's. 🤷🏻‍♀️