JAIME

For the first time in what seemed to be an eternity Jaime breathed fresh air, outside air. He felt stronger, no longer locked into that blasted room. The witch was an annoyance, but for now he would have to put up with that, just like he had to put up with that fat oaf who his father gave his sister. He missed her, even though he would never tell anyone. And he was going back to his sweet Cersei, to protect her. The only one in the world worth protecting. Far more so than the only other he had ever kissed. Luise was repulsive, her presence alone grated on his nerves more than the second king he should have killed had. But at least he had a sword now, and that meant that he was closer to being whole again.

Again he heard the woman's croaking voice: "Jaime, come, this way."

She pulled slightly on his sleeve, in a way that she must have considered to be romantic. He however didn't see things like that. He would have cut her down there and then, but he still needed her to escape. She pulled him towards the courtyard, Harrenhal's massive fields that could have contained a whole city without being crowded, he whispered: "Won't there be guards?"

"Yes, there should be hundreds. But the countess isn't watching, it's day. So they willnot intervene with me."

"Are there others?", he felt an idea forming in his head, "can we rescue the other knights?"

"She will notice that, and many are too weak to walk with us. We're safer alone."

She winked at him, and his heart turned to lead. He knew what she meant, and the mere idea made him sick. Fortunately he had learned to always hide his feelings, and now he put them behind his smile. He had things to look forward to, and he wouldn't be denied his desires. Even if it meant putting up with Luise. "And are there horses?"

"None that still live, the countess decided that we did not have the supplies for them. But I have animated one, which we can ride together. Isn't that romantic?", she smiled.

Jaime however didn't fully understand it at first, all the horses dead? But she could animate one? Then it dawned on the man with the sharpest smile in the seven kingdoms, Luise would turn one of the horses into a wight. "Can we ride this horse normally?"

"It can only be made for a specific rider, but this is my steed. And I have full control over it. The countess won't work able to take that away."

************

A short while later Jaime Lannister, son of the Lord Paramount of the Westerlands and kingsguard, was seated on what seemed to him as a completely unfit horse. No mighty charger or great steed, but a smallfolk's horse that he, even though he sat like a horseman, could not control. It felt strange, to sit on a horse, to react instinctively to it, but to see no reaction. It was almost as strange as feeling the warmth of a woman who was not his sweet golden Cersei.

That was the moment that he truly loathed himself, something in him stirred which should have remained firmly asleep, and Luise giggled: "Just wait until we're safely away from here, my handsome knight."

Cersei would kill him for this, he knew it, but tried to force his thoughts to something else, something to save himself for his one true love: "Yes", he started his lie, " it is a shame that we have to flee like this. I should have come riding to you in my armour, and after besting this countess I would have ridden off with you, to be happy."

Luise's moid turned: "You can't defeat her, not now."

"Any man can be defeated, or woman for that matter.", he knew that he could do it, he just needed to figure out how.

"Von Carstein is not any woman. She is centuries old, and mortal weapons can't harm her. And now she has her ring. Even if you destroyed her, she would return soon after."

"What sort of witchcraft is that?!", he exclaimed.

"The magic of death, which I study, and the curse of the vampire.", Luise replied sounding respectful.

"And what in the seven hells is a vampire?"

That question seemed to surprise the witch who held her arms around him. After a few moments she said: "Vampires are princes of the night and death. I don't know much about their kind, the countess never said much about such things, but there are many tales about them. Especially in Sylvania, where I was born. A vampire is not alive, but has died, and returned from that death in some way. I don't know how, I only heard stories. A vampire is not like a zombie or a skeleton, it retains its personality and body. And they drink the blood of the living. A vampire is much stronger and faster than a mortal man, I have seen the countess force an ogre to the ground with her bare hands."

"What is an ogre", Jaime interrupted.

"A monster shaped like a man, but twice as tall, and as strong as you would expect.", Luise explained, "but there is more to the vampire than that. They are faster than a running horse, they can turn into animals, control the weather and make people do things by looking at them."

That worried Jaime, but he knew some of it already, he had fought the monster before, and it had been a disaster. "But is there a way to harm her?"

"There are many tales about that, but I don't know which are true. Some say that vampires cast no reflection, which is true, the countess has no mirrors. A vampire can be harmed by an enchanted weapon, or one made of silver. Or by pushing a wooden stake through the heart, but I don't know if that is true, I have never seen any of those things happen. They are also said to be repulsed by garlic, which is true, the countess has completely forbidden garlic in her domains. Vampires also can't cross running water on their own, they need to be helped across them. Which might also be true. A man with true faith holding a symbol of Sigmar would also repulse the vampire, or perhaps those of other faiths too. I have never seen any try. And a vampire cannot enter sacred ground. She has never been inside a temple, and those are a safe refuge from the vampire."