Levi slumped against a half-broken fence, his breath coming in gasps. His arm bled freely now, the sleeve soaked dark.
Harwin tore a strip from his own tunic and pressed it hard against the wound.
"You came too close to the Old Gods today, boy."
All around them, Bogwater reeled from the fight. Smoke still hung over the huts, not from fire, but from the churn of wet dirt and spilled lanterns. Bodies were counted.
Three of the local guards lay dead. Two old men who'd stood with sharpened sticks would never rise again. One boy was missing. A refugee woman was found curled behind a barrel, her throat cut.
"It could have been worse," Harwin said. But his voice lacked conviction.
Mae came out at last. Her face was pale. She walked over to Levi and slapped his shoulder. Not hard. Just enough.
"You're not dead. Good."
Levi tried to smile. Failed.
The Stark knights moved through the village, dismounting, checking the fallen. One tall knight issued orders. Men peeled off in twos.
Then the second group arrived. More riders.
Two among them stood out. A girl with dark hair and stormy eyes. Her riding cloak was streaked with swamp-mud, but her bearing was unmistakable. The boy beside her looked younger, uncertain.
Lyanna and Benjen Stark.
A guard tried to hold them back, but Lyanna rode past. She dismounted and strode toward Levi.
She didn't speak at first. Just looked him over.
Her gaze paused on the blood-stained cloth on his arm.
"Most men your age in noble houses know how to fight," she said quietly. "Sword, bow, shield, spears."
Levi blinked at her, lightheaded.
"Im no noble my lady but i do have a knife," he muttered.
Lyanna didn't smile, but she nodded. "If you want to survive, find a teacher. Or you'll die next time."
Benjen caught up, flustered. "Sister, we should let Ser Gawen handle this."
Their lead knight, Ser Gawen Tallhart, stepped forward. "My lady, my young lord, best to stay close. We don't know if the swamp is fully cleared."
Lyanna looked over the villagers. The blood. The bodies. She finally turned away.
"We stay two days," she said. "Help them bury their dead. Then we go back to Winterfell."