"Take the flame back," Lord Morton commanded, to which the guard obliged. "Faceless," he said to No One. "Is this a trick of Essos?

"Not that I am aware," she said, completely neutral.

"So, you clearly have some magic in your veins," he said, now looking to Lana. "Even if you are the half-sister of the dragon queen, how will she know that I killed you?"

"My company follows the Lord of Light. Eventually, if I don't come back, they will look for me in the flames. They will know how I died. Word will reach my sister, as she will want to know as well."

"This is as far-fetched as the stories about the Others and giants."

"Dragons were once a part of those fables, and now they take wing in Essos."

He slowly rubbed the stubble on his face before eyeing No One. "Faceless," he said. "You have no opinions. So tell me the facts. Can her ilk really see into the flames?"

"A girl does not know. But a girl knows that the Faceless follow a god that answers. It is not hard to imagine that another answers in the flames."

"It is a popular religion in Essos?"

"It is growing in Essos, and stems from Asshai and the Shadowlands."

"So you," he said, looking to Lana. "Want me to make a deal with an assassin from the darkest parts of our world? That almost seems unholy."

Again, the hypocrisy was real. "Lord Morton, either kill me or don't. Just know that your house is the Ram. In the nests of my sister's dragons are many skeletons, and often there are ram's horns, their tips completely melted." She had his attention now. "You saw the fire doesn't burn me. It doesn't burn Daenerys Targeryen either. Take the risk, and burn her only relative, or don't. Either way, I am done with this conversation."

He took in a deep breath, grabbing his chalice as he took a long drink. He swirled around whatever liquid was inside before looking up at her, just staring. He nodded and put the chalice back on the table. "Fine, I swear, girl, if I find out you are full of ram's shit, then I will go bankrupt to pay for the Faceless to hunt you down."

To her shock and surprise, the guards came over and quickly escorted her out of the hall. When she reached the outside world, she squinted, putting her chained hands to her face to keep the sun out. She breathed in the fresh smell of trees, dirt, and hay. Even the smell of fresh manure was lovely after being stuck in a cell for two months. Her knees shook and fell to the ground, her throat burning from the joy of being free.

To her even greater shock, they gave her her bag from before. It even had her things inside.

"Do I get anything? Like a sword, or a horse?" she asked as they unchained her.

The guard laughed. "No. You are lucky you got your bag. The faceless freak demanded it be kept, at least until you were dead. Which isn't happening anymore."

Lana wondered why, but wasn't about to question it.

She opened her bag as she walked. All the food in there was spoiled and smelled nearly as badly as she did. She still had a few small weapons, a handkerchief from Dany, her handmaid's dress, salt, honey, a few poisons, a few healing agents, and a bag full of sewing goods for repairs.

Lana waited until nightfall to steal a horse from the stablemaster, hitting him square in the head to knock him out. She raided his home for food, taking a cruddy sword and a whetstone, wrapping it around her waist and taking off on the healthiest horse she could find.

She rode into the night, using the moonlight as her guiding light. She laughed and trotted quickly to feel the wind in her hair, hopefully airing some of her stench out.

After a while, she turned around, the mountains of the Horned Castle officially behind her. Holy shit. I am free. She turned back around, the grin on her face slowly fading, her stomach tying into knots as she looked at a land that she no bearings in.

Her initial job was to kill Lady Morganna Hornley and then travel the King's road up to white harbor, where she could buy her passage without worry of being killed. She was to travel to Bravos from there, where she could travel to Qohor, the Crimson Company's home city.

Now she was three months late, with no map.

She was useless in land that she didn't know. One of her greatest weaknesses was that she had the directional senses of a cross-eyed homing pigeon. She had no idea where she was, and even with a map, she'd probably go in a circle.

She had studied the map previously, and knew what rivers and roads to look for, but she had a horrible sense of knowing how far she had traveled.

This was one of her greatest fears.

She gripped the reigns, knowing that she had to make it East. At least the sun rose and set in the same spot everyday, which meant she could orient herself that way.

She eventually rested for a few hours until the sun came up. She looked at her firepit that she had built but not used, and decided to leave it that way, lest the smoke draw attention.

To her abysmal luck, as she was tightening the saddle, she saw a few Lannister men approach.

"Good morning, erm, my lady? What happened to you?" one of them asked, his cordial tone turning to complete disgust.

"You look like you crawled out of a whore's ass," the other said and they all sniggered.

"I was mistaken for someone, and upon my innocence, I was released and given a fresh horse. I am on my way back home," she lied, smiling.

"Who held you? And where is home?"

"The Hornley's. Their daughter died recently, and they thought I was her killer," she said with an incredulous chuckle. "Can you believe that? Obviously no one else did, or they wouldn't have let me go. And my home is in White Harbor. Father is a merchant there."

"You do look like the woman that has a bounty on her head. I can see the mistake."

"Oh great, now there is a bounty? It's going to take forever getting to White Harbor when I look like a damned bounty!" she said, trying her best to get this small talk over with. Fuck me, of course there is a bounty.

"Apparently Lady Hornley was to be married to Tommen, and the queen and Lord Tywin are very angry. Was going to be a good alliance and merging of houses. You best be careful, miss. Much worse than us out there who are willing to bring your head just 'cause it looks like the woman they are looking for. The bounty is fifty gold dragons. We were on our way to inform the Hornley's."

Her stomach nearly fell through her body, the nervousness loosening her gut at those words. She was barely making it out of this alive. She needed to get far away from these fucking lands. What if Lord Morton decided to take the bounty? That itself would pay for the faceless.

"Well, thank you for the warning, lads," she said, her heart thrumming.

"Hang on!" one shouted with a serious tone that made her breathe with flared nostrils, her teeth grinding.

"What's that?" he asked and rode to her bag, pulling out the soft fabric of a handmaiden dress. All three men glared at her with knowing eyes.

Lana just stared at it with no expression, unblinking. She let out a deep breath. "That, good ser, would be a problem."

She took her dull blade, stabbed him right in the balls, and pulled his sword from his hilt as the man cried out in pain. The other men quickly jumped into action, and before she knew it, she was in a fucking sword fight with two men while the other gripped his bleeding cock. This sword was heavy, and she was weak from months as a prisoner.

She dropped the sword, reverting back to her dagger, which was the last weapon on her. Lana ducked and dodged, but she was weak, tired, and famished. They were well fed with shiny armor, and it wasn't long before their hits were landing, slicing at her skin, the warmth of her blood soaking her clothes.

Then, one of the blades went clean through her gut.

She growled. "I fucking hate this part," she said through an anmilaistc tone and expression she reserved only for death.

She slid further forward, feeling the blade tear at her organs, and then stabbed him in the throat as he watched with horrid eyes. He fell, and she slowly pulled out his blade, looking to the other, before glancing at the one with an injured cock. He had fallen from his horse, bleeding out. She took a step to him and stabbed him in the heart. She didn't need him getting involved, if he ever got up.

She could taste blood in her mouth now from the wound in her gut. She smiled at the remaining man, her own blood in her teeth, laughing manically. She had learned that seeing a fairly innocuous woman turn bathshit crazy allowed her a fresh edge on her enemies.

She was not above theatrics.

"Come, Lannister cunt. Join your brothers in death," she said, blood pouring from her mouth, twirling her dagger in her hand. She tried to ignore the way something felt terribly wrong in her stomach, like she was about to fall apart. That's because it is.

In his shock, she hurled the blade at him in a throw. It landed in his throat. She moved forward, every step causing her to grimace from the injury to her abdomen. He had dropped his sword to grab the dagger, and in that timeframe, she used his own blade to cut his ankles. He fell over, gripping his bleeding neck. She stabbed both of his hands and jumped onto his spine, to which he let out a bloody, wet cry.

"It'll be over soon. Don't need you moving," she said and went to the fire pit she had built, but not used. She dragged him over, gushing blood out from her stomach and other lacerations, feeling herself growing faint. She had to get it done soon, or she would die.

"Should have taken you out closer to the fire pit," she said, her heart starting to grow empty of the blood. She laid him in it and lit the fire quickly, stumbling herself. She undressed so as not to ruin the only clothes she had and laid in the smoking wood.

"What," he stammered out, his face pale and blood spurting from his throat as he looked at her with terrified eyes.

"Blood magic," she said, watching him die.

Sedona, the shadowbinder that raised Lana, taught her how to use her inability to burn to her advantage. Lana repeated the words in her head as the fire began to grow, the flames licking her wounds and healing her injuries. The man's face slowly turned gaunt, his life force allowing her wounds to repair in unnatural ways, the blood in her veins replenishing via the fire.

It took the rest of the day and her lying in the flames before she felt like her wounds were recovered. By the time the fire was done burning, Lana sat up, naked and smoking. She looked down to see a giant, pink scar where she was stabbed. It will match the others. She looked to the Lannister man who was nothing more than a cooked body. "Thanks for the life," she said and stood. "Sorry about the bounty."

Luck seemed back on her side, as no man had approached that entire time. Perhaps it was the Lord granting her this reprieve. She wouldn't question it, as she never questioned R'hllor. Whatever Sedona thought Lana was alive to do, it must be somewhat true, or the flames wouldn't have healed her.

Lana rummaged through the already stinking bodies, gathering their daggers and swords that she would put on her horse. She stole their food, water and wine, laughing to herself as she guided the horse through the woods, still completely naked, growing delirious from hunger and thirst. "This started off shitty, but I am having a good day. What about you, Clemmy? I hope you're alright with that name. You look like a Clemmy."

The cream colored horse puffed out air in return. She finally reached the river that was hidden in the woods. She cleaned off her clothes, trying her best to make them presentable. The Lannister men were right – she stuck out being a dirty mess. Luckily the fire cleaned her body, and once she cleaned her clothes, she let them dry before putting them back on.

The sun was setting by the time she was dressed again, and she wondered if she should ride through the night or not.

She decided to do it, as she needed to get far from these dead bodies.

She hopped back on Clemmy and rode back to the main road. "Fuck me," she said as she came to a fork. She never remembered a fork in the road on the maps she had studied.

She chose the left path, as it should lead east.

Half way through the night she rested, and so did Clemmy. As soon as the sun was back on her skin, she rode off once more.

She had no idea what to do about the bounty. That was something she had not intended. How was she to make to east without being nabbed? She barely survived three soldiers just now, and she wondered if they were even that talented. They said they were delivering a message, so they could have just been armored messengers. What was she to do if she came across actual soldiers?

She tucked her growing panic away, focusing on the task at hand. I just have to get east.

With a few more hours under her belt, Lana saw a black horse in the distance.

A large black horse.

At least she didn't look dirtied and like she climbed out of a whore's ass anymore, which meant she should be able to ride right on by. She threw up her hood, ready to push this horse as fast as it could go if need be.