Chapter 1

The girl ran terrified through the forest, her heart pounding, stumbling several times along the way.

Her desperation grew each time she heard the barking of those hellish beasts, and of a monster even worse.

"I am a kind person, as you can see, so I will give you a small advantage. Go, run, run as fast as you can or my boys will catch you and well… you wouldn't want that."

She remembered his words, that sick smile that turned her stomach and terrified her.

'Please gods, please I don't want to die, I don't want to die,' she repeated over and over in her mind, praying to any deity that would listen.

However, it seemed they turned a deaf ear, for in one of her stumbles she could no longer get up. With growing horror, she realized it was her ankle, she had injured it.

The little girl, with her torn, dirty, and battered dress, crawled as best she could to a tree. She tried to lean on it to stand up but couldn't; she couldn't run.

She was going to die. She realized it as the barking grew closer and closer. The little girl curled up there, closing her eyes, preparing for her inevitable fate, praying to any god who would listen.

She felt that at any moment she would be torn apart by those monstrous dogs.

Suddenly, there was silence.

The barking stopped. An abnormal silence settled over the forest, several minutes passed, it seemed like an eternity, and her heart leaped in fear when some bushes rustled. She paled greatly when a white figure emerged.

It was a wolf, an enormous white wolf, with impressive red eyes. Its snow-white fur was stained red, with blood.

The girl curled up more where she was, knowing she had no chance of fleeing, but the wolf did not attack; it just stared at her with those unnatural eyes.

The wolf's ears perked up. It looked away from the girl, who found herself following the direction it was looking, and saw a man approaching on foot. He was tall, dressed in a black cloak that covered his head, making it impossible to see his face clearly. She noticed a large sword strapped to his back.

To her astonishment, he calmly approached the wolf. She wanted to scream at him, warn him, but she was paralyzed with fear.

Her surprise grew when the man crouched down to the level of the great wolf and petted it, and the wolf simply allowed it and playfully licked his face.

A moment later, the man seemed to notice her presence because he looked at her. Dark eyes met hers. He approached her slowly, stopping when he was just a few steps away.

"You are safe," the man's voice was cold and distant. "No one will harm you again, for now, you must rest. You will be fine."

Then, her eyes grew incredibly heavy, giving in to the exhaustion and stress, hoping to wake up from this horrible nightmare.

---

Ramsay Snow opened his eyes heavily, feeling the pain in his body, dazed, he looked around, realizing he was in the forest. He was there, leaning against the trunk of a tree. When he tried to stand up, the pain exploded, his legs ached. He looked down and realized his legs were in a position they shouldn't be; his legs were broken.

Then he remembered everything. The farm, that girl, his day of hunting, and…

A raven cawed, and Ramsay suddenly realized he was surrounded by ravens. There, in the branches of the surrounding trees, were ravens, watching him, he realized.

"Death, Death, Death!"

A chill ran down his spine. He looked with stupefaction at the ground near him, where bodies lay scattered, several of them, men, men from his hunting party.

All dead, he observed with morbid amazement that several of them had their faces unrecognizable, a bloody mess. Reek was among the dead, split in half.

How had this happened?

He heard footsteps approaching. Apparently, they were coming to finish the job, Ramsay smiled.

"I hadn't believed the rumors about you, bastard… I should have paid more attention to them," Ramsay said.

The footsteps stopped just a few meters away from him. Then he opened his mouth to speak again, but with a quick movement, a sword split his head in two, the blade passing through his open mouth, with a clean cut.

His brains spilled onto the ground, and from that moment on, Ramsay Snow, of House Bolton, ceased to exist.

"A feast for the crows."

Jon Snow only looked on with indifference and in silence, turned around, and left.

---

As the fire crackled in the campfire, Jon Snow ate the meat of the deer he had hunted earlier that day. It was already night, it was better to camp and continue his journey in the morning. Ghost was a few meters away from him, eating a piece of meat.

The girl he had rescued just a few hours ago looked at him with fear and distrust.

Jon looked at her, and she trembled.

"Eat your food, girl," he urged her in a soft, cold voice.

She just looked at him. Jon sighed.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you. If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have rescued you in the first place," Jon said patiently.

Still distrustful, the girl began to eat.

"Tell me, do you have any family?"

Jon's question made the girl stop eating. She lowered her gaze.

"I…" the girl began to say. "I had my parents… but… they…"

She didn't need to finish speaking.

"I'm sorry," Jon said honestly.

There was silence, occasionally broken by the girl's sobs, Jon let her cry.

"I'm heading to the Neck. I can drop you off at Winterfell, you can work in the castle, you'll have a roof over your head, food, and you'll be safe, I'll make sure of that. I'm sorry about your family, this is the best I can offer you."

The girl looked at him, her brown eyes focused on him, searching for any deceit in his words.

"I… I appreciate it, my lord," said the girl sadly.

"I'm not a lord," Jon said softly instead. "You can call me Jon. May I know your name, little lady?"

She blushed, it's true, she hadn't introduced herself properly.

"B-Beth, my lord," she stammered.

Jon smiled.

"Very well, Beth, from now on you'll be my traveling companion."