Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Arya

Arya climbed up the tallest branch with all her strength, and saw the chimneys jutting out of the forest, and a few thatched huts gathered on the shore of the lake, and a small stream flowed into the lake.A wooden pier juts out into the water on the bank, next to a low stone-roofed longhouse. She continued to climb outwards until the branches were unable to bear her weight.There were no boats by the docks, but she could see the wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys, and the half-hidden carriages behind the stables. someone.Arya clenched her lower lip. So far, all the places they had passed were deserted and ruined, whether they were farmlands, villages, castles, sanctuaries, or barns.The Lannister army burned as much as they could, killed as much as they could, and even set fire to the woods everywhere.Fortunately, the leaves were still green and it had rained recently, so the fire did not spread. "If the lake could light a fire, they wouldn't let it go," Gendry said, and Arya knew he was right.On the night they escaped, the raging fires of the town were reflected in the water, as if the lake was really on fire.

On the second night after the accident, they finally mustered up the courage to sneak back to the ruins of the manor.There were only charred ruins and dead bodies everywhere, and some ashes were still emitting pale smoke.Hot Pie had begged them not to go back, and Romy called them fools and swore Ser Amory would catch them and kill them.But when they returned, Rocky and his men had already left.They found the gate of the manor knocked down, the walls half collapsed, and dead bodies strewn inside.Gendry couldn't stand just one look. "They're dead, all dead," he said, "and got bitten by dogs, you see."

"It could be a wolf, too." "Whether it's a dog or a wolf, isn't it all the same? Anyway, it's over here." But Arya refuses to leave until she finds Yoren.They can't kill him can they?She kept telling herself that he was so strong, so strong, and a brother to the Night's Watch.She told Gendry as they searched the pile. The deadly sharp ax split his head in half, but the tangled beard and the black clothes that were full of patches, never washed, and faded to gray were so eye-catching .Sir Amory Lodge buried neither his rivals nor his own.Four Lannister soldiers fell beside Yoren, and Arya wondered how many had died before he was brought down.

He was going to take me home, she thought, as they dug the old man's grave.There were too many dead on the farm to bury them all, but Arya insisted that a grave should be dug for Yoren anyway.He had promised me that he would bring me safely back to Winterfell.She wanted to cry, but wanted to kick him hard. Then Gendry thought of the three people Yoren sent to the tower before. Although they were also attacked, the circular tower had only one entrance, and it was located on the second floor, so they had to take a ladder to go up. Here, Ser Amory's men can't do anything to them.Although the men of the Lannister family piled dry wood at the bottom of the tower and set fire to it, the stones could not be burned, and Lodge was impatient to force the people inside out.When Gendry called out now, Kejack opened the door and came out.As soon as Arya heard Kurtz suggest that they continue to go north and cannot turn back, the hope of returning to Winterfell was repeatedly rekindled in Arya's heart.

Ah, although the village in front of me is not Winterfell, those thatched roofs represent warmth and protection, and maybe there is food.Of course, the prerequisite for all this is that they are brave enough to take risks and get close.As long as it wasn't Rocky, he was riding a horse, and he should have gone far away. She stood in the tree and watched for a long time, hoping to see something: a person, a horse, a flag, anything that could provide information.A few times, she vaguely saw a little movement, but the distance from the house was too far to be sure.But once, very clearly, she heard the neighing of the horse.

The sky is full of birds, most of which are crows.They flapped their wings and hovered over the thatched cottage, and they were no different in size from flies when viewed from a distance.The God's Eye Lake in the east is like a piece of blue knocked out by the sun, occupying half of the world.During the last few days, as they trudged along the muddy shore (Gendry would not go anywhere near any roads, even Hot Pie and Romy were justified), it seemed to Arya at times that the water was calling to her.She really wanted to jump into the calm blue lake, wash herself clean, have a swim, splash water, and then lie in the sun to dry.But she dared not take off her clothes in front of other people, and she didn't even dare to wash them.So every day at sunset, she can only sit on the rocks by the lake, with her feet hanging in the cool water.Later she lost the tattered pair of shoes.Walking barefoot was painful at first, but the blisters burst and the cuts healed until the soles of her feet were hard as leather.The feeling of wet mud between her toes was good, and she loved the throbbing of her skin connecting to the earth.

From here, she could see a small wooded island to the northeast.Thirty yards from the shore, three black swans are cruising the water, what a peaceful scene... No one tells them that the war is coming, and the burned town and the tragic death of people have nothing to do with them.She looked at them enviously, part of her heart wanted to become a swan, but another part wanted to kill one and eat it.Her breakfast was acorn paste and a handful of beetles.In fact, as long as you get used to it, beetles are not difficult to swallow, but worms are much more difficult.But no matter how unpalatable it is, it's better than being hungry every day.Beetles are easy to find, just kick over a rock.Arya once ate a beetle on purpose to watch Sansa scream when she was a child, so there's nothing wrong with eating it now. Weasel accepted it calmly, too, but Hot Pie vomited the worm out just as he tried to swallow it.As for Romy and Gendry, they didn't even dare to try.Gendry caught a frog yesterday and shared it with Romy.Hot Pie had found a bunch of blackberries a few days ago, and they picked the whole bush right away.But most of the time, they have to live off water and acorns.Kurtz showed them how to stone-ground an acorn paste that tasted awful.

She really hoped that the poacher Kuz was not dead. He knew more about the forest than everyone else combined, but he was shot through the shoulder by an arrow that night when he was collecting a ladder in the guard tower.Tabor used the mud and moss from the lake to cover his wounds. Two days ago, Kurz said that the wounds were not a problem, although the flesh and blood in his throat gradually turned black, and horrible red and swollen streaks grew from his chin to his chest.Then one morning, he didn't have the energy to get up, and he died the next day. They heaped stones for his grave, and Kejak took his sword and hunting horn, and Tabor took his bow and arrows and boots and knives.When the two left, they took these with them.At first they thought that the two were just going hunting, and that they would return with game to feed them soon.But they waited and waited, until at last Gendry drove them on.Perhaps Tabor and Kejak thought they had a better chance of surviving without these orphans.Maybe that was the case, but that didn't make her hate them any less.

Under the tree, Hot Pie barked like a dog.Once upon a time, Kurtz taught them to communicate with each other using animal sounds, which he said was a poacher's signature trick, but he died before he could learn it.Hot Pai's barking like a bird is really amazing. It's a little better like barking like a dog, but it's not much better. Arya hopped to the branches below, her hands outstretched for balance.A water dancer will never fall.She landed lightly, her toes curled, and she clung to the branches.Then she took a few steps, jumped down to a larger branch, and then hung her hands on the branch, and climbed in, hand after hand, through the dense leaves until her hands and feet touched the main trunk.The bark was rough to the touch, and she descended quickly, landing a final six-foot leap and rolling.

Gendry reached out and pulled her up. "You've been up there for a long time. Did you see anything?" "A small fishing village, just on the north shore of the lake. I counted twenty-six thatched huts and one slate hut. I also saw half-exposed carriages. There are people there." Hearing her voice, the weasel crawled out of the bushes.Romy had given her the nickname, and he said she looked like a weasel, which wasn't the case at all, but they couldn't keep calling her a "crybaby," because she stopped crying after all.Her mouth was dirty, and Arya wished she hadn't eaten mud again.

"See someone?" Gendry asked. "Only the roofs," said Arya, "but some of the chimneys were smoking, and I heard horses braying." The weasel put out his hands, and hugged her legs tightly, as she had done so often lately. "There's food for anyone!" Hot Pie said.He was so loud that Gendry told him to turn it down all day, but it didn't work. "Maybe it will be divided between us!" "Might kill us all," Gendry said. "Just surrender," said Hot Pie hopefully. "You really sound like Romy." Lomy the Green Hand sat under an oak tree, leaning against two thick roots.During the fierce battle in the village, a spear pierced his left calf, so that the next night, he could only support Gendry and walk on one foot.Now that he couldn't even walk, they had to cut down branches to make a stretcher.Carrying him on the road was not only hard work, but also slow, and he would moan endlessly whenever there was a bump. "We must surrender," he said. "That's what Yoren should do. He should be obedient and open the door." Arya has had enough of Romy's "Yoren should surrender" comments.Everyone carried him away, but he talked about it all day long, or complained about sore feet and hunger. Hot Pie echoed: "They ordered Yoren to open the door, and they said it in the name of the king. As long as you say it in the name of the king, you must do it. It's all the fault of the old man. If he surrenders obediently, we will not Something will happen." Gendry frowned, "Only knights and nobles will capture each other for ransom, they don't care if people like you surrender or not." He turned to Arya, "What else do you see?" "If it was a fishing village, I bet they'd sell fish," said Hot Pie.There are plenty of fresh fish in the lake, but unfortunately they have no tools to catch them.Arya tried to use her hands, learning from Kos's moves before, but the fish moved faster than the pigeons, and the reflection of the water made her unable to see clearly. "I don't know if there is any fish for sale." Arya pulled the weasel's tangled hair, thinking it would be better to cut it off. "There are crows by the lake, something must have died there." "Must be a dead fish, washed ashore," Hot Pie said. "Crows can eat it, and I bet we can too!" "We should catch some crows and eat them!" said Romy. "We can make a fire and roast them like chickens." Gendry looked fierce when he frowned, his beard growing thicker and blacker than heather. "I said, no fire is allowed." "Rommy's hungry," Hot Pie began wailing, "and I'm hungry, too." "Who isn't hungry?" Arya said. "You!" Romy spat, "You bug eater." Arya really wanted to kick his wound, "Didn't I tell you? If you want to eat, I can dig it for you." Luo Mi showed a disgusted expression, "If I didn't have such feet, I would have killed a few wild boars to eat." "Hit wild boars," she laughed. "You know that? You need a spear for hunting boars, horses and hounds, and someone to help you drive wild boars out of their dens." Father used to Hunting boars in the Wolfwood with Robb and Jon, he took Bran there once, but Arya was never allowed to go, even though she was older than Bran.Septa Mordane said hunting was not for a lady, and Mother promised her that she would have a falcon of her own when she grew up.She's grown up now, but if there's a falcon, she'll eat it first. "What do you know about hunting boars?" said Hot Pie. "At least I know more than you." Gendry was not in the mood to listen to their quarrel, "Silence, both of you! Let me think about what to do." When he thought about it, he would show a painful expression, as if he was in pain. "Only surrender," Romy said. "I told you to stop talking about surrender! We don't even know who the people are there. Maybe we can steal some food." "If it wasn't for Romy's broken foot, you can ask him to steal." Hot Pie said, "He used to be a thief in the city." "And it's bad," Arya said, "or I wouldn't have been caught." Gendry looked up at the sun. "It's best to sneak in in the evening. I'll go see it when it gets dark." "No, I'll go," said Arya, "you're making too much noise." Gendry started to frown again, "Then let's go together." "Ali should be called," said Romy, "he's a little lighter than you." "I said, I'll go with him." "Then what if you can't come back? Hot Pai can't lift me by himself, and you know he can't lift me..." "And wolves," Hot Pie said. "I heard them last night at my watch. They seem to be around." Arya heard it too.Last night she slept on the branch of an elm, only to be awakened by howling wolves.Afterwards she sat and listened for a full hour, feeling a chill down her spine. "You won't let us start a fire to scare them," said Hot Pie, "and throw us down for the wolves, that's not right!" "Who threw you down?" Gendry said disgustedly. "Even if the wolf does come, Romy has the spear, and you're there. We're just going to see, that's all, and we'll be back." "No matter who you meet, just surrender." Romy moaned, "My feet hurt so much, I want to apply some medicine." "If we find the foot potion, we'll bring it back to you," Gendry said. "Let's go, Ali. I want to get closer before sunset. Hot Pie, I'll leave the weasel to you. Don't let her follow us." "She kicked me last time!" "You don't take her seriously, be careful I'll kick you!" Without waiting for the other party to answer, Gendry put on his helmet and set off. Arya had to trot to keep up, and Gendry was five years her senior, a full foot taller, with long legs.For a long time he said nothing, but plodded through the woods with a scowling face and a lot of noise.Finally he stopped. "I think Romy is dying." She wasn't surprised, that's how Kurtz died, and he was much stronger than Romy.When it was Arya's turn to lift him, she could feel the warmth of his skin and smell the stink of his wounded leg. "Perhaps, we can find a bachelor..." "Maesters are only found in castles, and even if we find them, they won't get their hands dirty for someone like Romy." Gendry ducked his head to avoid a low-hanging branch. "It's not like that." She was sure Maester Luwin would help whoever came to him. "Sooner or later he's going to die, and the sooner he dies the better for everyone else. We should leave him, as he just said. If it was me or you who got hurt today, you know he would have left us long ago ’” They climbed down a steep ravine and climbed up the other side, grabbing tree roots. "I'm tired of lifting him, tired of his surrender. If he can stand up properly, I will beat him to the ground. Romy is no use to us, that crying little girl Same." "Don't think of the weasel! She's just hungry and scared." Arya glanced back, luckily the little girl didn't follow this time.Hot Pie must have obeyed Gendry and caught her. "Useless is useless." Gendry repeated stubbornly. "She and Hot Pie and Romy will only slow us down and kill us in the end. You are the only useful person in this group, although you are girl." Arya froze in place. "I'm not a girl!" "You are, do you think I'm as stupid as them?" "No, you are more stupid than them. Everyone knows that the night watchmen don't accept girls." "You're right. I don't know why Yoren took you, but he must have his reasons. After all, you're a girl." "I'm not!" "Then take out your dick and pee, hurry up!" "I don't have to pee, I pee when I want to." "You lie, you can't take out a dick, because you don't have any. I didn't notice when there were many people, and now I find out that you pee in the woods every time. Hot pie doesn't do that? I don't, if If you're not a girl, then you must be a eunuch." "You are the eunuch!" "You know I'm not." Gendry smiled. "Should I pull out my dick to prove it? I have nothing to hide." "No wonder!" Arya hurriedly avoided the dick topic, and blurted out, "When we were in the hotel, those golden robes came to arrest you, but you didn't say why!" "I wish I knew. I think Yoren knows, but he won't tell me. What about you? Why do you think they're after you?" Arya bit her lip, remembering what Yoren had said the day he cut her hair: Half the men would hand you over to the queen without a second thought for an amnesty and a few coppers.The other half will do the same, but they'll fuck you a few times first.Only Gendry was different, because the Queen was also after him. "If you're willing to tell me, I'll tell you." She said cautiously. "If I knew why, I would tell you! Ali... Is your name really Ali? Do you have a girl's name?" Arya stared at the curling roots at her feet, knowing she could hide no more.Gendry guessed the truth, and there was nothing in her crotch.She could either pull out the needle and kill him on the spot, or trust him.Even if he did do it, she wasn't sure if he could kill her, because not only did he have a sword, but he was also much stronger than her.So the only option is to tell the truth. "Don't tell Romy and Hot Pie," she said. "No," he swore, "they won't know from me." "Arya," she said, looking up into his eyes, "I am Arya of House Stark." "Shi..." He paused for a while, "The prime minister of the king is named Stark, the traitor who was killed." "He's not a traitor. He's my father." Gendry's eyes widened, "So you thought..." She nodded. "Yoren was going to take me back to Winterfell." "I...then you are a...lady from a good family..." Arya looked down at herself, her torn clothes, her bare feet, and her skin full of calluses.She saw the mud under her toenails, the scars on her elbows.I bet Septa Mordane would not have recognized him in that way.Sansa might, but she'd pretend not to know. "My mother was a lady, and so was my sister, but I never was." "Why not? You're the daughter of a great nobleman, living in a castle, right? And you... God, I don't..." Gendry hesitated suddenly, seeming a little scared. "I didn't mean to talk about those dicks and stuff. I was pissing in front of you and... I... please forgive me, miss." "Enough!" Arya yelled angrily.Is he looking for her to be happy? "Miss, I am also a person who understands etiquette." Gendry said, stubborn as usual, "Every time a girl from a good family comes to our shop with her father, the master tells me to kneel on one knee and wait until they talk to me before speaking." , and be sure to address them as 'My Miss'." "If you call me Miss, even Hot Pie will find out! Also, you'd better pee as before." "Just as the lady ordered." Arya hammered his chest with both hands, and he tripped over a rock and fell with a thud. "What kind of lord's daughter are you?" he said with a smile. "That's it!" She kicked him sideways, but he laughed even harder. "You can laugh as much as you like, and I'll go see who is in the village." The sun has already sunk into the bushes, and dusk will soon come.This time it was Gendry's turn to hurry up. "Did you smell it?" she asked. He sniffed, "Dead fish?" "You know it's not." "We'd better be careful. I'll go around from the west to see if there's a way. Since you see the carriage, there must be a way. You go along the shore, and if you need help, bark like a dog." "That's stupid. If I need help, I'll call." She strode away, her bare feet on the grass, silent.When she looked back, she found that he was staring at her, with the iconic pained expression on his face when he was thinking.He probably thought in his heart that ladies should not be allowed to go out and steal food.Arya knew instinctively that he was going to start doing something stupid. The closer you are to the village, the stronger the smell.She didn't think it smelled like dead fish, it smelled more foul, and she couldn't help wrinkling her nose. The trees began to thin out, so she drilled into the bushes and slid between the bushes, as silent as a shadow.Every few yards she stopped and listened.On the third time, she heard the neighing of horses and human voices, and the smell became even more unbearable.It's the stench of dead men, it must be.She had smelled Yoren and the other dead before. A thick clump of brambles grew on the south side of the village, and when she arrived there, the long shadows of the setting sun had faded and fireflies were coming out.Over the fence, she saw thatched roofs.She crawled and crawled until she found an opening, and squirmed her way through without anyone noticing.At this time, she saw the source of the stench. The waters of God's Eye Lake lapped softly into the shallows, and a long row of scaffolds stood on the shore, all made of freshly felled trees.The corpse, which had already lost its shape, was hung upside down on the torture rack, with its feet bound by iron chains, allowing the crows to peck at will.Crows flew from corpse to corpse, each accompanied by hundreds of flies.If there is a breeze blowing from the lake, the corpse closest to her will shake slightly, as if trying to break free from the chain.More than half of his face had been bitten off by a crow and some larger unknown animal, his throat and chest were torn apart alive, the shiny green viscera and strips of ripped flesh dangled from the opening of his abdomen.An arm was ripped from the shoulder, and Arya saw the bones scattered a few feet away, broken and bite marks, the flesh had been gnawed clean. She forced herself to look at one corpse, then another, and another, and kept telling herself to be as hard as a stone.The corpses were all ravaged and decomposed, and it took her a while to see that they had been stripped naked before they were hanged.But they didn't look like naked people, they didn't look like people at all.Crows ate their eyes, and many faces were not spared.The sixth in the row of long torture racks had only one foot left on the iron chain, which swayed gently with the breeze. Fear hurts more than a sword.The dead couldn't hurt her, but the people who killed them could.Far behind the gallows, two men in armor leaning on their spears stood in front of a low long house with a slate roof by the water's edge.There were two long poles planted on the dirt floor in front of the door, with flags hanging on them, one side was red and the other side was lighter in color, maybe white or yellow, but both were hanging low, and the sky was getting darker, so she couldn't be sure which Is it the crimson of the Lannisters?I don't need to see a lion pattern, these dead people say it all, but who else but Lannister? At this time, there was a shout. The two spearmen turned their heads immediately, only to see the third person pushing a prisoner in sight.It was too dark to make out his face, but the prisoner was wearing a shiny steel helmet, and Arya knew it was Gendry when she saw the horns on the helmet.You idiot idiot idiot idiot!she thought.If he was still around, she would definitely kick him again. The three guards talked loudly, but she was too far away to hear what she was saying, and there were a large number of crows nearby, screaming and flapping their wings to interfere.One of the Lancers snatched Gendry's helmet, asked a question, and, apparently not satisfied with the answer, slammed the butt of his gun in his face, knocking him to the ground.His captor then kicked him, while another spearman tried on his horned helmet.Finally, they pulled him up and marched him toward the longhouse.When they opened the heavy wooden door, a little boy jumped out, but the guard grabbed his arm and threw him back into the house.Arya bit her lip when she heard a sob from inside, followed by a scream of pain. The guard pushed Gendry in, too, and bolted the door.At this moment, a gust of wind blew from the lake, and the two flags shook and floated up.As she had feared, the flag on the taller pole was embroidered with golden lions.The other side was cream yellow, embroidered with three glossy black figures.It's a dog, she thought.Arya had seen these dogs before, but where? It does not matter.What matters is that Gendry is captured by them.No matter how benign and stubborn he is, she has to find a way to rescue him.She didn't know if these people knew that the Queen Mother was going to arrest him. She was furious when a guard took off her own helmet and put on Gendry's instead, but she knew she couldn't stop him.She vaguely heard all kinds of screams coming from the windowless warehouse, separated by the stone wall, it was very vague, and she couldn't be sure. She stayed a while longer, and saw the changing of the guards, the comings and goings, the horses being taken to the stream to drink, and the hunting party returning from the forest, carrying a deer on sticks.She watched as they cleaned and gutted the dead deer and built a fire across the creek.The smell of meat and the smell of corpses were strangely mixed together, and she could only feel her empty stomach churning and wanting to vomit.As soon as there was something to eat, other people came out from the houses, mostly in chainmail or hard leather.After the venison is roasted, the tastiest parts are sent to one of the houses. She thought she could sneak in and save Gendry in the dark, but the guards lit torches.A page brought bread and roast to two warehouse guards, and then two more brought wine, which they drank from the wine-sacks in turn.After drinking, the visitors left, but the guards still stayed where they were with their spears. Seeing that there was no chance, Arya finally emerged from the thorns and returned to the dark wood, her limbs were all stiff at this time.It was completely dark, and a silver moon flickered between the flowing clouds.Quiet as a shadow, she reminded herself while walking in the forest.She dared not run in the dark, for fear of tripping over tree roots or getting lost.The God's Eye Lake is on the left, and the lake water is slapping slowly on the shallows; on the right, the breeze is blowing through the forest, and the leaves are rustling.In the distance came the howling of wolves. When she came out of the woods behind Romy and Hot Pie, they almost wet their pants. "Hush!" she said to them, and put her arms around the little girl Weasel running up. Hot Pie stared at her wide-eyed. "We thought you'd left us alone." He held the short sword, the same one Yoren had taken from the gold cloaked officer. "We thought wolves were coming." "Where's Daniel?" Romy asked. "Caught them," Arya whispered. "We've got to get him out. Hot Pie, you've got to help me. We'll touch and kill the guards, and I'll open the door." Hot Pie and Romy exchanged glances, "How many people are there?" "I can't see," Arya admitted, "twenty at least, but there are only two by the door." Hot Pie seemed about to cry. "We can't beat twenty." "You just take one, leave the other to me, and we'll get Gendry out and run." "We should surrender," Romy said, "It was okay to surrender in the past." Arya shook her head stubbornly. "Leave him alone, Ali," begged Romy. "They don't know we're here. We just need to hide and they'll go. You know they'll go. It wasn't our fault Gendry got caught." "Romy, you're so stupid," Arya said angrily, "if we don't get Gendry out, you're going to die. Come to think of it, who's going to carry you?" "You and Hot Pie." "Just the two of us, no one to help? Absolutely no way. The strongest of our bunch is Gendry. Well, whatever you say, I'm going back to get him." She looked at Hot Pie. "Are you going?" go?" Hot Pie glanced at Romy, then at Arya, then at Romy. "Okay," he said reluctantly. "Romy, you watch the weasel." He reached out and grabbed the little girl, pulling him to his side. "What if the wolf comes?" "Surrender," Arya suggested. It took a long time to find her way back to the village, and Hot Pie kept stumbling in the dark, getting lost from time to time, and Arya kept stopping to wait for him before moving on again.Finally she just took his hand and led him through the woods, "Just follow me quietly." When they saw the dim lights from the village in the night for the first time, she said, "Remember, the fence is another There's a bunch of hanged people on one side, but they have nothing to fear, you know: fear hurts worse than a sword. We're going to move very quietly and carefully." Hot Pie nodded. She got into the bushes first, lowered her body and walked to the other side to wait for him.Hot Pie came out pale and panting, his hands and cheeks cut and bleeding.He was about to speak when Arya quickly covered his mouth with her finger.Then the two crawled across the row of racks, moving under the shaking corpses.Hot Pie didn't dare to raise his eyes or make any sound from the beginning to the end. Suddenly, a crow landed on his back, and he couldn't help gasping, "Who?" A voice suddenly came from the darkness. Hot Pie jumped up, "I surrender!" He threw his sword far away, startled dozens of crows, complained sharply, and fluttered their wings around the corpse.Arya grabs his leg and tries to drag him down, but he breaks free, waving his hands, and runs forward instead, "I surrender! I surrender!" She jumped up and pulled out her needle, but by then she was surrounded.Arya swung her sword at the nearest, but the steel gauntlet blocked her, and then someone came forward and pulled her to the ground, while another snatched the sword from her hand.She opened her mouth to bite, but what she bit into was the cold and dirty mail armor. "Hehe, you vicious little guy!" The man laughed, and then he punched her head on. He put on an iron gauntlet, and almost knocked her head off. She was lying on the ground in pain, and they talked beside her, but Arya's ears were ringing, and she couldn't make out the words.She tried to crawl away, but felt the ground shake under her feet.They had taken the needle, and the disgrace hurt her more than the flesh wound, which was already excruciatingly painful.Jon had given her the sword, and Syrio had taught her how to use it. Finally someone grabbed her by the front of her vest and forced her to kneel, and Hot Pie knelt too.Before them was the tallest man Arya had ever seen, like a monster out of an Old Nan story.She didn't know where the giant had come from, but there were three running black dogs on his faded yellow coat, and his face was as if carved out of solid stone.For a moment Arya remembered where she had seen the three dogs. It was the night of the Tournament in King's Landing, when all the knights hung their shields outside their tents. "That's the Hound's brother," Sansa whispered to her as she passed the black dog sign on a yellow background. "He's taller than Hodor. You'll know when the time comes. Everyone calls him the 'Walking Mountain'." Arya lowered her head, dimly aware of what was going on around her, only to hear Hot Pie still shouting for surrender.Magic Mountain said: "Take us to find other people," then turned and left.Afterwards, she staggered past dead men on the rack, while Hot Pie kept promising them hot pies and fruit pies as long as they didn't hurt him.Four men followed them, one with a torch, one with a sword, and two with spears. Romy was still under the oak tree, "I surrender!" he cried when he saw them, throwing down his spear, and raising his hands.His hands were covered with green spots from his apprenticeship. "I surrender! Spare me!" The person holding the torch patrolled under the tree, "You're the only one? Brother Bread said there was a little girl." "She ran when she heard you coming," said Rommy, "and you walked very loudly." And Arya thought, "Run, weasel, as far as you can go, run and hide, never." return. "Speak! Where's the son of a bitch Dondarrion? We'll treat you to a hot meal." "Who?" Romy asked in a daze. "Did I tell you, these fucking boys don't know anything like village whores. Damn, waste of time!" A spearman walked up to Romy, "Little devil, what's the matter with your feet?" "hurt." "Can you walk?" There was concern in his voice. "No," said Romy, "you have to carry me." "Back you?" The man picked up the spear casually and pierced the boy's soft throat.Romy didn't even have a chance to say surrender, he shook a bit, and then stopped moving.The man pulled out the tip of his gun, and blood gushed out like a fountain of dark red. "He told me to carry him!" He giggled.