Chapter 19 The Three-eyed Crow

This was a nightmare, Torrhen knew.

He was asleep inside the mansion and what he was seeing was a dream. Regardless of the knowledge that he was dreaming, it didn't lift his fear as the dream unfolded.

Dark figures held him back, holding his hands and head in place to make him watch. They lined up everyone he cared about in front of him; his family, his direwolves, his Pack and everyone of his friends he had made in his travels.

He could see his lovers, the two women who had stolen part of his heart, his strong Orelia, a powerful lady from Braavos and his sweet Wynafryd, granddaughter of Wyman Manderly of the White Harbor.

It had been many days since he had last seen them. Though this was a dream, they looked as real as in life. And seeing them in his nightmare rattled him even more.

Torrhen tugged at his hands to release him.

Everyone he loved and cared about were on their knees. The dark figures didn't hold them but yet they stayed on their knees in front of him as a dark figure approached them.

It went to Owen first, his oldest friend and the first member of the Pack, he had created. A spear materialized out of nowhere and the dark figure thrust it into his throat. Surprise showed on Owen's face as blood from his mouth painted his white beard red, he looked at Torrhen and said with a broken voice: "I had your back. Why didn't you have mine?"

"No!" Torrhen shouted and fought against those he held him. But it was no use.

The dark figure went to his father, Ned Stark, and cut his head off in a single stroke. The head rolled near to Torrhen's feet and said: "My son, why did you abandon me?"

His father was dead now. "No. Father! I didn't abandon you." Torrhen said as tears streamed from his eyes.

His brother Robb spoke, from where he knelt. "You are my twin. They say that twins have a link-connection with each other that others don't have. I thought you would be there beside me as I ruled my Kingdom. Did you feel our bond break when they stabbed me in the back?" And the dark figure drove a dagger into his back.

His mother Catelyn Stark shrieked, "My Children! Torrhen my sweet baby boy, they are killing our family, why are you not saving them?"

Torrhen raged at those who held him. "Please I beg you. Stop this. No more…" He broke into tears and sobbed.

Torrhen shut his eyes as his mother let out a shriek as the dark figure slit her throat with a dagger.

A three-eyed crow appeared on the shoulder of the dark figure and spoke then. "You should not exist. You are supposed to be dead. The longer you live, you will get to see more of your loved ones die. Die or stop resisting me, else I will see to it that everyone you love is dead."

Torrhen opened his eyes to see the voice that spoke. Then dark figures materialized behind all of his loved ones and killed them all using different ways. Daggers, swords, arrows, strangulation, etc, one by one they all died and the dark figures piled their bodies into a single pile.

Only Winter was left alive and they dragged him in front of Torrhen.

The three-eyed crow spoke again, "Give up Torrhen. Yield your mind to me. How many more days will you keep on resisting me? It is inevitable. I will break your mind one day and then I will be able to take you. Stop this unnecessary suffering you inflict upon yourself."

That piercing headache he had often, resumed once more as the dark figures holding him pressed their hands on his head.

The crow fluttered its wings in anger. "Yield I said. I will kill everyone you love if you do not yield. Starting with your direwolf, Winter."

Torrhen stared defiantly at the crow . His eyes screaming his rage at it as his body convulsed in pain.

"So be it," the three-eyed crow croaked. The dark figure raised his hand with the dagger.

Torrhen focused his eyes on Winter.

Winter stirred. Then he came alive and turned on the dark figure tearing into him with his claws and fangs. The three-eyed crow took to the air and croaked continuously as the dark figure lay dead.

Winter turned from the dead dark figure to the figures holding Torrhen. He growled and snarled at them. Then he broke into a sprint and smashed into Torrhen.

Torrhen could feel power growing in him as they became one, and released the beast in him. And he turned his head forcefully left and right, and bit onto the hands that held him, and teared it from their bodies.

The dark figures stumbled back in pain and he turned on them and killed them.

More countless dark figures appeared, Torrhen raised his head and howled and set after them. He killed every single one of the dark figures and raised his head holding in his jaws one of the dead figures, at the three-eyed crow that hovered in the air.

The three-eyed crow croaked and laughed as it moved in a circle above him, "Look at what you did!"

A fear pierced through him and he released the figure in his jaws. And Torrhen saw as the figure fell that it was Winter, his direwolf, his neck snapped apart, the dead eyes watched him.

"No. No. No." Torrhen killed Winter.

He didn't do it, he killed one of those dark figures, not Winter.

Torrhen raised his eyes and saw the dark figures that he had killed. Their faces now revealed to him, he let out a anguished howl. He killed his family, his pack and everyone he loved and cared about. Their bodies marred with the claw and fang marks of the beast, the wounds Torrhen had inflicted upon them. His hands and face covered with the blood of his loved ones.

He looked to the pile of bodies that the dark figures had created and it was not there now.

"You did it," the three-eyed crow croaked. "You killed your family, your lovers, your Pack and everyone you cared about. It was you that killed them. Look what happens when you try to keep me out of your mind. Yield your mind to me and I can stop this. You can't take this anymore."

Torrhen muttered continuously, "No…no…no…no…no…no…"

He backed away from the bodies of his loved ones that he had killed.

This was a nightmare.

This is not real.

This is a dream.

He hit his head once, twice, then kept on hitting his head with his hands. He had to get out of here. Direwolves howled in the distance, their howls like a thunder in this nightmare he had. But he would not wake up. Then the thought came out of nowhere.

Torrhen killed them.

He killed his family.

He was the one that killed everyone he cared about.

Then the nightmare broke, he gasped and his eyes opened. He scrambled to get up but something held him. He thrashed as he fought the ones that held him. And two wolfs howled in the background.

"Torrhen! Its fine. This is not a dream. You are awake. You are safe." A soft voice said close to his head. The hands that held him said it.

Torrhen calmed down at that familiar voice. He tried to calm his heaving breath and looked at his surroundings. He recognized his room in the mansion he had in King's Landing, the candles lit the dark room. He saw familiar faces to, Alys and Cleyton. Cleyton was holding his legs and Alys his hands as he sat on top of him. The Direwolves were on the floor next to the bed, their howls had stopped when they saw that he woke up.

"You are safe," she repeated as she got off him and held his hand. Cleyton too released his legs and came to his side. Their faces showed fear and concern.

Torrhen could feel the the cold sweat that soaked him and the bed. He was drenched in his sweat.

Cleyton sighed as he could see that Torrhen was wide awake now. He went to the table and poured some wine onto a glass and bought it to him.

Torrhen got up onto his seat and drank the whole glass to sate his parched throat.

"Its getting worse and worse," Alys said as she watched Torrhen, sitting beside him. "We need to do something."

"No," Torrhen said. "It will lessen by itself after some time. I had these nightmares with me since I was a child, you know that I had these even then when you joined the pack."

"Not like this Torrhen," Alys said. "It used to come every few days and it was never this intense. Now every night, you wake up drenched in cold sweat and screaming for your life, and the direwolves howl as though you are dead. I am worried about you Torrhen. We need to get you some help."

"I tried since I was a child. No medicine I take stops these nightmares. I can't do anything about it."

"Tell him Cleyton," Alys said. "He needs someone to take a look at him. The nightmares are getting worse as time passes everyday since that damn Tourney joust and his fight with the Mountain."

Cleyton shook his head. "There is nothing we can do to help it. What Torrhen is suffering from, I do not know. But it is something that I don't think can be cured by normal medicine."

"At least see the Grand Maester about it then," Alys said. "He may be able to do something about it."

Torrhen caressed the bloody lip that he had caused to Alys with his thumb. "I am sorry about this. I… does it hurt?"

She swatted his hand away. "I am not worried about my bloody lip right now, Torrhen. Your nightmares are affecting you in real life too, your face is looking paler, and it looks as though you are becoming weaker and melancholic. You are laughing less and less as the days passed. And you are not fooling anyone with that fake smile you put on your face. So don't you try to change the subject."

Torrhen nodded to Cleyton to explain to her.

"We can't trust the Grand Maester Pycelle," Cleyton said. "We know that he is not trustworthy, just like the rest of the small council. His act as a old man, is just an act to wave off any suspicions on him. He must be working for the Lannisters, though I do not know for sure."

"He is working for the Lannisters," Torrhen said. "We can't show any weakness right now. Word will reach of Tyrion's arrest by my mother. And the Lannisters might incite violence."

He could here a sobbing out by the door.

"Who is that crying?" Torrhen said.

"Rose." Cleyton went to the door and bought her in.

Tears streamed from her face and she tried to stop the sobbing but her shoulders would not stop shaking in shock. She ran and hugged him, burying her face in his chest.

Torrhen hugged her back and patted her head. "Its fine, Rose. It was nothing, just a nightmare. I am sorry if it scared you."

Rose didn't say a word.

"She woke up from the screaming," Alys said. "I told her to go back to her room and shut her door. But she wouldn't leave." 

Torrhen patted her head. "You should not have witnessed this, Rose. It would be best if you slept with my sisters in the Hand's tower from the next night onwards."

She shook her head.

"I am sorry Rose," Torrhen said. "I can't let my nightmares disturb your sleep because of me. We will not speak of this to anyone. Do you all understand? Especially my family. I don't want to trouble them. Father has already more work on his hands being the Hand of the King."

Torrhen sighed. "Go to sleep everyone. We will discuss more tomorrow."

"Come, Rose," Alys said. "You can sleep with me today."

After they all left, Winter and Lady got onto the bed and lay next to him. With their warm fur providing warmth, he slept as exhaustion took over him. And so he slept through another sleepless night that did nothing to cure the exhaustion and tiredness he felt.

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