Torvin
Prince Harmund's first arrow hit the fleeing man's horse in the leg, sending it to the ground. The man wasted no time and even man… moreaged to land on his feet as his horse collapsed below him. He ran with an agility that was incredible for his advanced age, as the hounds reached the horse, starting to tear the dying animal apart. If he would have chosen to sidestep, he would have lived, he would have managed to reach the forest, where the horses would have been unable to follow. But he chose to run in a straight line towards safety, at least until Rell Vessels managed to hit him in the leg with his arrow. Harmund lowered his bow, turned around and gave Rell a fiendish grin.
“Good shot”, he shouted. “Next time try to hit him in the spine, slightly above his arse. The sounds they make when they realize they can't move their legs anymore...” This statement caused laughter from his underlings, albeit Harlan laughed the loudest. “Priceles… [view original content]
I think that like this, she has 50% chance of being found, than raped and killed, and 50% of not being found at all. With other choice, I think she would be raped almost for sure, but probably not killed. Anyway, it will be interesting.
{Encourage to shoot}
{Talk with Nora}
So I'm guessing we saved whats her face by making her go into the woods, I need to start to learn everyones names
[Encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man] I wish there was a do nothing option. Torvin would do best to just stay away from any of that. Hopefully Harmund doesn't do anything crazy...-ier
[Offer to train the recruits] The only way to a woman's heart is by beating men sensely. This should help get Marak on Nora's good side.
Torvin
Prince Harmund's first arrow hit the fleeing man's horse in the leg, sending it to the ground. The man wasted no time and even man… moreaged to land on his feet as his horse collapsed below him. He ran with an agility that was incredible for his advanced age, as the hounds reached the horse, starting to tear the dying animal apart. If he would have chosen to sidestep, he would have lived, he would have managed to reach the forest, where the horses would have been unable to follow. But he chose to run in a straight line towards safety, at least until Rell Vessels managed to hit him in the leg with his arrow. Harmund lowered his bow, turned around and gave Rell a fiendish grin.
“Good shot”, he shouted. “Next time try to hit him in the spine, slightly above his arse. The sounds they make when they realize they can't move their legs anymore...” This statement caused laughter from his underlings, albeit Harlan laughed the loudest. “Priceles… [view original content]
Torvin
Prince Harmund's first arrow hit the fleeing man's horse in the leg, sending it to the ground. The man wasted no time and even man… moreaged to land on his feet as his horse collapsed below him. He ran with an agility that was incredible for his advanced age, as the hounds reached the horse, starting to tear the dying animal apart. If he would have chosen to sidestep, he would have lived, he would have managed to reach the forest, where the horses would have been unable to follow. But he chose to run in a straight line towards safety, at least until Rell Vessels managed to hit him in the leg with his arrow. Harmund lowered his bow, turned around and gave Rell a fiendish grin.
“Good shot”, he shouted. “Next time try to hit him in the spine, slightly above his arse. The sounds they make when they realize they can't move their legs anymore...” This statement caused laughter from his underlings, albeit Harlan laughed the loudest. “Priceles… [view original content]
Torvin
Prince Harmund's first arrow hit the fleeing man's horse in the leg, sending it to the ground. The man wasted no time and even man… moreaged to land on his feet as his horse collapsed below him. He ran with an agility that was incredible for his advanced age, as the hounds reached the horse, starting to tear the dying animal apart. If he would have chosen to sidestep, he would have lived, he would have managed to reach the forest, where the horses would have been unable to follow. But he chose to run in a straight line towards safety, at least until Rell Vessels managed to hit him in the leg with his arrow. Harmund lowered his bow, turned around and gave Rell a fiendish grin.
“Good shot”, he shouted. “Next time try to hit him in the spine, slightly above his arse. The sounds they make when they realize they can't move their legs anymore...” This statement caused laughter from his underlings, albeit Harlan laughed the loudest. “Priceles… [view original content]
And it has changed yet again, since I have found a picture I like even more
Yes, it's Oberyn. It turned out my true allegiances do not lie with our benevolent overlords in the North, despite the fact that no one wears treachery as stylish as the Roose. I should probably always wear a helmet from now on though. And I shouldn't taunt people who are twice my height.
Yes, it's Oberyn. It turned out my true allegiances do not lie with our benevolent overlords in the North, despite the fact that no one wears treachery as stylish as the Roose. I should probably always wear a helmet from now on. And I shouldn't taunt people who are twice my height.
I always though the Bastard of Bolton to be the superior, btw RamsayxSansa. Maybe even Lord Baelish would be a choice of mine.
And it has changed yet again, since I have found a picture I like even more
Yes, it's Oberyn. It turned out my true allegiances do not l… moreie with our benevolent overlords in the North, despite the fact that no one wears treachery as stylish as the Roose. I should probably always wear a helmet from now on though. And I shouldn't taunt people who are twice my height.
Torvin
Prince Harmund's first arrow hit the fleeing man's horse in the leg, sending it to the ground. The man wasted no time and even man… moreaged to land on his feet as his horse collapsed below him. He ran with an agility that was incredible for his advanced age, as the hounds reached the horse, starting to tear the dying animal apart. If he would have chosen to sidestep, he would have lived, he would have managed to reach the forest, where the horses would have been unable to follow. But he chose to run in a straight line towards safety, at least until Rell Vessels managed to hit him in the leg with his arrow. Harmund lowered his bow, turned around and gave Rell a fiendish grin.
“Good shot”, he shouted. “Next time try to hit him in the spine, slightly above his arse. The sounds they make when they realize they can't move their legs anymore...” This statement caused laughter from his underlings, albeit Harlan laughed the loudest. “Priceles… [view original content]
Torvin
Prince Harmund's first arrow hit the fleeing man's horse in the leg, sending it to the ground. The man wasted no time and even man… moreaged to land on his feet as his horse collapsed below him. He ran with an agility that was incredible for his advanced age, as the hounds reached the horse, starting to tear the dying animal apart. If he would have chosen to sidestep, he would have lived, he would have managed to reach the forest, where the horses would have been unable to follow. But he chose to run in a straight line towards safety, at least until Rell Vessels managed to hit him in the leg with his arrow. Harmund lowered his bow, turned around and gave Rell a fiendish grin.
“Good shot”, he shouted. “Next time try to hit him in the spine, slightly above his arse. The sounds they make when they realize they can't move their legs anymore...” This statement caused laughter from his underlings, albeit Harlan laughed the loudest. “Priceles… [view original content]
I also considered Littlefinger, but he always looks a bit weird on screencaps in my opinion and there aren't that many good fanart drawings of him. And Ramsay... well, he would also be nice, even though I like Roose a lot more. In the end I had to choose and I think I can never choose wrong with Oberyn. As long as I don't choose him as my champion or stuff like that.
Yes, it's Oberyn. It turned out my true allegiances do not lie with our benevolent overlords in the North, despite the fact that no one wear… mores treachery as stylish as the Roose. I should probably always wear a helmet from now on. And I shouldn't taunt people who are twice my height.
I always though the Bastard of Bolton to be the superior, btw RamsayxSansa. Maybe even Lord Baelish would be a choice of mine.
I also considered Littlefinger, but he always looks a bit weird on screencaps in my opinion and there aren't that many good fanart drawings … moreof him. And Ramsay... well, he would also be nice, even though I like Roose a lot more. In the end I had to choose and I think I can never choose wrong with Oberyn. As long as I don't choose him as my champion or stuff like that.
And it has changed yet again, since I have found a picture I like even more
Yes, it's Oberyn. It turned out my true allegiances do not l… moreie with our benevolent overlords in the North, despite the fact that no one wears treachery as stylish as the Roose. I should probably always wear a helmet from now on though. And I shouldn't taunt people who are twice my height.
Torvin
Prince Harmund's first arrow hit the fleeing man's horse in the leg, sending it to the ground. The man wasted no time and even man… moreaged to land on his feet as his horse collapsed below him. He ran with an agility that was incredible for his advanced age, as the hounds reached the horse, starting to tear the dying animal apart. If he would have chosen to sidestep, he would have lived, he would have managed to reach the forest, where the horses would have been unable to follow. But he chose to run in a straight line towards safety, at least until Rell Vessels managed to hit him in the leg with his arrow. Harmund lowered his bow, turned around and gave Rell a fiendish grin.
“Good shot”, he shouted. “Next time try to hit him in the spine, slightly above his arse. The sounds they make when they realize they can't move their legs anymore...” This statement caused laughter from his underlings, albeit Harlan laughed the loudest. “Priceles… [view original content]
Torvin
Prince Harmund's first arrow hit the fleeing man's horse in the leg, sending it to the ground. The man wasted no time and even man… moreaged to land on his feet as his horse collapsed below him. He ran with an agility that was incredible for his advanced age, as the hounds reached the horse, starting to tear the dying animal apart. If he would have chosen to sidestep, he would have lived, he would have managed to reach the forest, where the horses would have been unable to follow. But he chose to run in a straight line towards safety, at least until Rell Vessels managed to hit him in the leg with his arrow. Harmund lowered his bow, turned around and gave Rell a fiendish grin.
“Good shot”, he shouted. “Next time try to hit him in the spine, slightly above his arse. The sounds they make when they realize they can't move their legs anymore...” This statement caused laughter from his underlings, albeit Harlan laughed the loudest. “Priceles… [view original content]
And it has changed yet again, since I have found a picture I like even more
Yes, it's Oberyn. It turned out my true allegiances do not l… moreie with our benevolent overlords in the North, despite the fact that no one wears treachery as stylish as the Roose. I should probably always wear a helmet from now on though. And I shouldn't taunt people who are twice my height.
Generally speaking there is no right decision when dealing with Harmund Hoare, except maybe shooting him, but I can already tell you that things would have gotten very brutal for Torvin if he had decided to shoot the man himself. He got really lucky here, at least for now.
Marak will decide to talk to Nora and he will try to be charming
You know, since he got charm coming out of his ass and stuff like that
The new part is about halfway written. It will be a longer Lucas PoV and together with the next two parts it will mark the point where the chapter is halfway written. I hope to finish it later today!
And now I have a shout-out for a new story that could use a few more people participating. I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I assume some of you might like fantasy stories, am I right? Well, then you might like The Dawn of the Dragons, a new story by @TheFurryOne. Furry is the writer of several interesting and unique stories here on this forum, so I am pretty sure that this story will be amazing too and worth every reader it can get. It is a fantasy story centered around a war between humans and elves, with several other races participating. Currently it could use more readers and especially more characters, so if you want to give it a try, you should check it out here
The Voting is closed!
Torvin will encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man
Generally speaking there is no right decision when dealing with H… morearmund Hoare, except maybe shooting him, but I can already tell you that things would have gotten very brutal for Torvin if he had decided to shoot the man himself. He got really lucky here, at least for now.
Marak will decide to talk to Nora and he will try to be charming
You know, since he got charm coming out of his ass and stuff like that
The new part is about halfway written. It will be a longer Lucas PoV and together with the next two parts it will mark the point where the chapter is halfway written. I hope to finish it later today!
And now I have a shout-out for a new story that could use a few more people participating. I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I assume some of you might like fantasy stories, am I right? Well, then you might like The Dawn of the Dragons, a new story by… [view original content]
The Voting is closed!
Torvin will encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man
Generally speaking there is no right decision when dealing with H… morearmund Hoare, except maybe shooting him, but I can already tell you that things would have gotten very brutal for Torvin if he had decided to shoot the man himself. He got really lucky here, at least for now.
Marak will decide to talk to Nora and he will try to be charming
You know, since he got charm coming out of his ass and stuff like that
The new part is about halfway written. It will be a longer Lucas PoV and together with the next two parts it will mark the point where the chapter is halfway written. I hope to finish it later today!
And now I have a shout-out for a new story that could use a few more people participating. I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I assume some of you might like fantasy stories, am I right? Well, then you might like The Dawn of the Dragons, a new story by… [view original content]
The Voting is closed!
Torvin will encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man
Generally speaking there is no right decision when dealing with H… morearmund Hoare, except maybe shooting him, but I can already tell you that things would have gotten very brutal for Torvin if he had decided to shoot the man himself. He got really lucky here, at least for now.
Marak will decide to talk to Nora and he will try to be charming
You know, since he got charm coming out of his ass and stuff like that
The new part is about halfway written. It will be a longer Lucas PoV and together with the next two parts it will mark the point where the chapter is halfway written. I hope to finish it later today!
And now I have a shout-out for a new story that could use a few more people participating. I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I assume some of you might like fantasy stories, am I right? Well, then you might like The Dawn of the Dragons, a new story by… [view original content]
So, a little update: This part won't be finished today, but early tomorrow instead. While writing it, it just got longer and longer and I'm afraid the way I planned it it would either require severe cutting to fit into the post-length limit or I would have to split it into two posts. Since I hate cutting parts of my writing, I will choose the second option, which probably also means that I will put a second PoV at the end of this one to fill a second post worth of content instead of simply a few paragraphs that were unable to fit into the first post. Or I will expand the Lucas PoV up to the point where it easily fills two posts worth of content.
For this coming part I can tease that it will feature a lot of backstory for our favourite knights, Lucas and Leonard. Leonard's backstory in particular is part of the reason why the part got too long to fit into the post-length limit, since I really want to finally reveal more about him, but also because his backstory can't be just told in a few short sentences. After writing several paragraphs about Lucas' backstory, I had the choice of either postponing Leonard's backstory for another time or to write at least another page worth of content, well above the post-length limit. And I chose the second option, since postponing Leonard's backstory just felt wrong and a bit cheap. Since it's very late in my timezone I won't be able to write more for this part today. And since I will probably add a second PoV after Lucas PoV in the coming part or will expand the Lucas PoV a lot, I might still need a few hours of writing tomorrow, but I promise it will be out soon. Thanks for your patience!
The Voting is closed!
Torvin will encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man
Generally speaking there is no right decision when dealing with H… morearmund Hoare, except maybe shooting him, but I can already tell you that things would have gotten very brutal for Torvin if he had decided to shoot the man himself. He got really lucky here, at least for now.
Marak will decide to talk to Nora and he will try to be charming
You know, since he got charm coming out of his ass and stuff like that
The new part is about halfway written. It will be a longer Lucas PoV and together with the next two parts it will mark the point where the chapter is halfway written. I hope to finish it later today!
And now I have a shout-out for a new story that could use a few more people participating. I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I assume some of you might like fantasy stories, am I right? Well, then you might like The Dawn of the Dragons, a new story by… [view original content]
So, a little update: This part won't be finished today, but early tomorrow instead. While writing it, it just got longer and longer and I'm … moreafraid the way I planned it it would either require severe cutting to fit into the post-length limit or I would have to split it into two posts. Since I hate cutting parts of my writing, I will choose the second option, which probably also means that I will put a second PoV at the end of this one to fill a second post worth of content instead of simply a few paragraphs that were unable to fit into the first post. Or I will expand the Lucas PoV up to the point where it easily fills two posts worth of content.
For this coming part I can tease that it will feature a lot of backstory for our favourite knights, Lucas and Leonard. Leonard's backstory in particular is part of the reason why the part got too long to fit into the post-length limit, since I really want to finally reveal more about him, but also … [view original content]
Here is the part, at last. It was probably a good thing that I didn't finish it yesterday, seeing how it essentially doubled in size and now has the length of two full parts and seeing how it took me several hours to finish it today. Originally, the last third of this part was even planned as the start of the next Lucas part, but I think it works better as the finish of this part. I hope you enjoy!
Lucas 1/2
As they entered Archmaester Quent's chambers again, the old man seemed to notice that something was wrong. He looked Lucas in the eyes and shook his head. “What have you done?”, he asked. Before Lucas could answer, Leonard took a step towards the Archmaester and gave him a cold, determined look. “You are hiding something, Archmaester. You are lying. And we don't trust you. We will leave and we will take Dairon with us”, he proclaimed. It appeared to Lucas that Quent had suspected this, as he barely looked up. A joyless smirk formed around the old man's mouth. “You stupid child”, he muttered bleakly. “You stupid, ignorant child. You think this is a matter of sympathy? You think the truth has anything to do with it?” He looked at Dairon, who was standing in a corner. The boy had an intimidated look on his face. “You want to fight for the future of your city, against the whole world if you have to. You look like men, but you are nothing more than little boys, playing knights. You think your enemy will play with the same rules” He looked at Lucas again. “You are wrong”, he hissed. “And you are doing a terrible mistake”
“We're taking the risk, Archmaester”, Lucas answered. “Who knows what your plans for Dairon are? We won't keep him here and we certainly won't work with you anymore. Tomorrow we're on our way back to Raylansfair” This time, Quent slightly chuckled. “Tomorrow, Ser Lucas, you will be dead” With these words, he looked at Dairon. “If, by any chance, you survive this madness, return to the Citadel. But don't come to my quarters. It's a small miracle you were able to enter them undetected the first time. Enter the Mage's tower. It's the smallest tower of the citadel, but it's roof is alloyed with valyrian steel. Go to Archmaester Wulvren. He can keep you safe”, he explained and looked at Lucas again. “Better than these two at least. Wulvren is a bit eccentric, but he's the only man here whom I would fully trust”
“Come on, Dairon. We're done here”, Leonard said and with a hanging head, the boy started to walk towards them. “I'm sorry, Archmaester”, he mumbled. “But I know them and I trust them” Quent narrowed his eyes as he looked from Lucas to Leonard. “You damnable idiots”, he growled.
The Archmaester raised from his chair and his stare got slightly angry. “I took tremendous personal risks for my brother's sake. I was honest to you in a city full of liars. I was your ally in a city that wants to see you dead. And you reject my help” He shook his head. “Get out”, he growled. “Get out and don't come back!”
The sudden fury in his voice was enough to stun Lucas for a moment. Leonard seemed to be baffled too, but his anger seemed to help him to regain composure quickly. “We will”, he said and turned to the door. “Flowers, Dairon, come on. We've wasted enough time”
Lucas gave Quent a final look. The old man looked absolutely furious, but there was something else. Sadness? Anticipation? The Archmaester was hard to read. Trusting him was at least as much a risk as not trusting him. “Farewell, Archmaester”, he said, before stepping out of the room. Dairon followed, albeit a bit slower and visibly uneasy about the whole situation.
Leonard was waiting for him near the stairs. “You made the right decision, Flowers”, he said. “We made the right decision” As they were walking down the stairs of the Historian's tower, Lucas looked out of the small windows that were built into the wall at certain points. The sun was already vanishing, a dim, red light illuminated the streets of Oldtown. “Tomorrow we're going to talk to Mullendore”, he decided and Leonard let out a sigh. “I still think it's a mistake to get near this dog. Don't tell him anything about Dairon!”, he warned him. Lucas shook his head. “I won't. But I think Maester Quent was right about one thing. This city is dangerous and I don't know if we can make it out of here without help. I don't like working with Mullendore, but if it helps us in bringing Dairon and Lord Raylan's last will out of here and to the king, he is necessary”
They stopped talking as they stepped to the large entrance hall of the tower. Even now, plenty of novices and acolytes were passing through it. Most of them had hostile glares on their faces. And as they stepped out of the tower and breathed the cold evening air, Lucas was glad to leave this place behind him. “And now? What are we going to do now”, Dairon asked. Leonard gave him a small pat on the back. “Now we will go back to our little tavern, we'll get you a cold beer and a warm bed. And tomorrow, we will talk to Mullendore, so that we can leave this city behind” He sounded hopeful as he said this. Still, as they walked down the alleys of Oldtown, Lucas knew that Leonard was questioning their decision as well. Quent had an agenda of his own, it was clear to see. But this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps there was no right choice here...
They arrived at the Blind Helmsman inn a few minutes later. Judging from the noise, it was already crowded. Dairon gave Lucas a slightly sceptical look. The boy rarely spoke, something Lucas already noticed from his time back in Raylansfair.“You want to tell me I'm safe in there?”, he asked. Leonard nodded enthusiastically. “Nobody in this city is truly honest, but these people in here are good men nonetheless. Soldiers, guards, a couple of mercenaries. They are not honest, but they are straightforward and that is better than all the knives this snake Quent was hiding”, he explained. Dairon still seemed to be doubtful. “I trusted Quent”, he mumbled. “I mean, he is nothing like Eaton, but he is still his brother after all. Perhaps we should have worked with him” Leonard let out a small chuckle. “That's because you know nothing”, he grinned. “It's good that we are away from that guy. A Maester has no family, remember? And Quent has a lot of bitterness inside of him. We'll manage to keep you safe” Lucas knew, Leonard tried to reassure Dairon, but it also sounded as if he wanted to reassure himself.
As they entered the tavern, Lucas realized that it was very crowded indeed. Nonetheless, he noticed Lunett sitting at a free table. After a day like that, she was a sight for sore eyes and Lucas had to smile as he saw her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Leonard grinning at him, but it did not matter to him in this moment. He approached the table and Lunett finally noticed them. She raised her hand and beckoned them to come over to her.
“Lucas! Leonard!”, she exclaimed joyfully. “You're back and...” Her gaze fell on Dairon and in a single moment all the tension of the past hours fell off her face, replaced by a genuine smile. “And you must be Dairon!”, she exclaimed, jumping up from her chair. Lucas knew that she had suffered from the thought that her behaviour endangered Dairon and seeing her exuberant joy was truly refreshing. Before Dairon could say anything, Lunett hugged him. Lucas smile turned into a grin as he saw the boys face getting red.
“Ah, yes...”, he stuttered. “M... My na... I'm Dairon” Lunett sat back down on her chair, still grinning from ear to ear. “And this is Lunett Kawl”, Lucas explained. “She accompanied us to Oldtown” He looked at Leonard, before adding “She helped us a lot”
This caused Leonard to raise an eyebrow, while Lunett looked similarly baffled. But both stayed silent as Dairon respectfully bowed his head. “I am thankful m'lady”, he mumbled before sitting down, his face still red like a tomato. “But as I said, I don't believe I was in danger with Archmaester Quent”
“Perhaps not you”, Leonard said slowly. “I don't think the Historian is a man for physical violence. But in the long run his plans can't be good for Raylansfair. It's a good thing we got you and Lord Raylan's last will away from him” He leant backwards on his chair and raised his hand, signalling the barmaid, a middle-aged woman with a plump face and short brown hair, to come over. “Bring us four jugs of ale”, he ordered her. “I'm paying” With these words he leant forward again, looking at Lucas, Lunett and Dairon with a stern expression on his face. “We have a lot to talk about”, he explained.
Lucas gave him a short nod“I think Mullendore said the truth when he revealed that this Butterfly is searching for Dairon”, he stated and saw the boy shivering. “We have to leave the city tomorrow, waiting any longer would be foolish, but we still have to expect trouble”
Leonard closed his eyes for a moment. “And you think Maron Mullendore is our best bet when it comes to help, right?”, he asked. “You don't intend to leave after claiming that damned letter” He let out a sigh. “I don't like this, Flowers. I really don't like this. Maron Mullendore is Lord Hightowers little pet. If he suspects that we know more about Dairon, he will arrest us and he will question us very thoroughly. Do you think he's a risk worth taking?”
Lucas paused for a moment, but before he could answer, Dairon interjected. “For what it's worth, I was born in Oldtown and I have lived her for thirteen years”, he revealed. “I have heard a lot of good things about Mullendore. He's fair, as long as you stand on his side of the law” This caused Leonard to chuckle. “And what is 'his side of the law' exactly? The side that pays the most?”, he exclaimed and looked up as the barmaid returned, serving each of them a jug of ale.
Dairon shook his head quite furiously. “No!”, he explained. “Maron Mullendore is different. He opposes crime and corruption. Perhaps he takes it too far with his punishment, but as long as you abide the law he is a good man” Leonard took a deep gulp from his ale and grinned. “A good man in Oldtown...”, he chuckled and shook his head. “I trust him more than Quent, but only because he does not seem to be intelligent enough for treachery” He looked at Lucas. “You are sure about working with him? Do you think this is the best idea?”
Lucas shrugged. “I don't think we have a lot of alternatives. Quent isn't an option anymore. Trustworthy or not, we have angered him. There is Butterflies enemy, this so-called Burned Man, but I don't want to work with criminals just to get out of this city again”, he explained. “And Mullendore is at least a man who upholds the law instead of breaking it”
Leonard still didn't seem to be entirely convinced. “And what about bending the law? People in his position tend to do that a lot”, he said, before letting out a sigh. “But I see your point. I'm trusting you, Flowers. I'm trusting you to do the right decision here. It can't hurt to get that damned letter. And who knows, perhaps a closer alliance with Mullendore is the best thing. Perhaps I am too distrustful” He took another sip from his ale and Lucas did the same. He noticed that Dairon had barely touched his jug, simply staring at it, apparently unsure what to do. “Everything alright, Dairon?”, he asked kindly.
The boy shook his head and closed his eyes. “No, it's... I... Two weeks ago, everything had been so different. Maester Eaton was still alive, Lord Robert was still alive. I had been nothing more than a Maester's acolyte. Now I am in a place I never wanted to return to and I am hunted by a ruthless criminal. And for what? Just because I know about Lord Robert's last will? Is it so important? Why does Butterfly want this last will?”, he stuttered.
This question took Lucas by surprise and he exchanged looks with Leonard. “That is actually a very good question”, he mumbled. “Mullendore revealed that Butterfly wants you and the will, likely for the same reasons. But why?” He saw Dairon shivering. “I... am afraid”, the boy mumbled. “This city always had problems. But the problems it had in my childhood are nothing compared to Butterfly. The criminals who tormented this city years ago weren't that bad compared to him. Quent told me about... the things he does with his victims... it's like something out of a nightmare” He looked up and seemed to be paler than before “I don't want to be targeted by him”
Before Lucas could say anything, Lunett reached across the table and grabbed Dairon's hand. The boy shivered, as she gently patted him on the back of his hand. “Easy, Dairon. He may target you, but he won't get you. We'll make sure of that. Ser Lucas and Ser Leonard will protect you and I will do my part to keep you safe”, she comforted him and looked at Lucas. “We all do what's necessary to get you back home, right?”
Lucas gave her a nod and Lunett answered with a stunning smile. “We will”, he said and for a moment he was unable to look away, as he stared deeply into Lunett's dark blue eyes. For a moment, this was all that mattered. At least until Leonard let out a snorting laugh. “Seven Heavens, get a room you two, will ya?”, he exclaimed, trying to contain his laughter. Lunett blushed and Lucas was sure he did as well.
Leonard slightly shook his head. “You're adorable”, he grinned and Lucas gave him an angry glare. “Time to change the topic”, Leonard proclaimed immediately, with a big smirk on his face. “Dairon, you never mentioned that you were born in Oldtown”
Dairon took an unenthusiastic sip of his beer, grimacing as he tasted the bitter ale. “It's nothing I talk about very often”, he mumbled. “My mother was a potter, living in a small back alley not far from here. I've never met my father, but my mother told me he was a knight, or at least he called himself a knight” He looked up. “She never outright told me, but she implied a lot of things I only understood years after her death. My father, he... it wasn't consensual” He looked down again, apparently ashamed, leaving Lucas at a loss for words.
“You said your father was a knight”, he said after a short moment of silence. “No true knight would do that” Dairon gave him a glare, a mixture between anger and surprise. “I grew up in Oldtown, Ser Lucas. Maybe I haven't seen as much of the world as you have, but the things I saw taught me one thing. There are no true knights. Perhaps there have been, in the Age of Heros, thousands of years ago. But today, no knight is true”
Before Lucas could protest, Dairon continued. “That doesn't mean there aren't good knights. You are good. Ser Leonard is good. But a true knight is without flaws. Are you without flaws?” Leonard shook his head. “Nobody is. If that's what you see as a true knight, then you are right. If a true knight has to be without flaws, there is none. And there never has been”
“That's a pretty cynical view on knighthood”, Lucas protested, but Dairon shook his head. “Just because no knight is true doesn't mean all of them are false. There are good knights and bad knights and good knights who do bad things and bad knights who do good things. And then there are bad knights who do bad things. Try to live a few years in this city, Ser Lucas, and you will see that it's full of the latter” He took another deep gulp from his ale, grimaced again and put his jug down, before raising from his chair. “It has been a long day...”, he mumbled. “I would like to go to sleep”
As Leonard heard this, he put up a smile “Ah yes. I've made preparations in the morning. You'll sleep in my room, it's safer that way. You get the bed, I'm no stranger to sleep on the floor”, he explained and Dairon gave him a reluctant nod. “If... if you insist”, he mumbled. “I mean, are you sure? I don't want to be a burden!” Leonard shook his head and his smile vanished. “Boy, if you don't want to be a burden you should have stayed in Raylansfair”, he growled, causing Dairon to avoid any eye contact
He made an attempt to stand up, but Lunett was faster, still blushed from Leonard's earlier comment, albeit Lucas noticed a light smile on her face. “I'll go to sleep too. I can bring you to your room”, she proclaimed. Lucas tried to suppress the disappointment in his face, but he had no doubt that Leonard caught it and would mock him for it.
“Goodnight, Ser Leonard”, Lunett said with a short bow. “Try not to be a pain in the ass, please” This caused Leonard's smile to vanish, but Lucas had a hard time containing his laughter. Lunett looked at him and for a moment it appeared as if she wanted to say something. Instead she simply smiled at him before turning around, walking towards the stairs that lead upstairs. Dairon took a deep bow in front of the knights. “I want to thank you”, he mumbled. “For doing this. I know you don't do it for me, but still... if I make it out of here alive, I will do it because of you. And I can never repay this debt. I never meant to insult you. You are good men, both of you”
Before Lucas and Leonard could answer anything, Dairon turned around, going after Lunett. Surprisingly, Leonard wasn't smirking as he was looking from Lunett back to Lucas. “Well, this talk just got a lot darker than I intended. All I wanted to talk about was the psychopath out there who is probably hunting us”, he said and his smirk returned. “And now I have to deal with two lovebirds and a far too cynical acolyte in the most fucked up city in all of Westeros”
This caused Lucas to look up. “What are you implying?”, he growled. Leonard leant forward and grinned at him. “Oh, nothing, you know? Dairon is a nice boy”, he grinned. “And Lunett...” Before he could continue, Lucas cut him off. “No”, he hissed and raised from his chair. “I won't take your mockery now. I mean, what do you want to hear from me? Yes, I like her. Yes, I know this is not the best time or the best place for that. I know I am foolish. That's what you want to say, right?”, he growled angrily.
To his surprise, Leonard shook his head. “Absolutely not, Flowers”, he answered. “I'm not a man who scolds others for mistakes he made himself. Lunett is a wonderful young woman and you are... well, you are sometimes not a complete idiot” This caused Lucas to roll with his eyes. It was a long day and he had no nerves for Leonard now. “I guess I'm just leaving. If you have to be an ass, be alone”, he moaned
“Flowers, wait!”, Leonard exclaimed in a loud voice, causing Lucas to stop. “I don't mean to insult you, okay! There is nothing wrong with liking the innkeeper's daughter. Especially if she likes you too”, he said. “Please, sit down. There's one more thing I'd like to talk about. Nothing about Lunett. Nothing about Mullendore or Hightower. It's important”
The urgent tone in his voice caused Lucas to stop. He let out a sigh. “One word about me and Lunett or how foolish I am and I'm gone”, he warned him before sitting back down. Leonard raised his hands. “Sorry for offending you, Lady Flowers”, he chuckled. “Nothing about that, I promise”
He leant forward, his smile vanishing. “When we talked to the Historian, he said a lot of things I don't believe. But some of the things he said were true. Things about me I never wanted a snake like him to know. And because of that I have to ask, about the things he said to you. About your father”
Lucas slightly rolled with his eyes. Talking about this always filled him with anger. But he could see the curiosity in Leonard's face. And after what Quent said, he didn't want the other knight to get a wrong opinion about him. “You want to know if what Quent said is true, right? If I really poisoned my father. You want to know if you are travelling with someone capable of kinslaying”
Leonard almost looked a bit guilty as he gave him a nod. “I didn't want to say it like that. Kinslaying is an ugly word”, he mumbled. “No offense, but I have to know it. During our travels, I got a good opinion about you. I don't think you're capable of such a thing. But Quent... he knew things about me, so...”
Lucas interrupted him. “It's okay, Len”, he said bleakly, even though he felt slightly angry that he would even imply such a thing. Kinslaying, one of the first crimes a mortal could commit. Yet, he knew someone who would be capable of such a thing. He couldn't exactly blame Leonard.
“You know I was born in Darkdell, as the bastard son of Lord Leo Vyrwel. My father and his wife, Lady Selyse of House Fossoway, already had four children, but he was insatiable in his lust. And so he seduced a courtier and fathered a bastard son”, he explained. Leonard gave him a nod. “So far it's nothing new for me”, he said. “I met Lord Leo once a few years ago, while travelling to Darkdell. He seemed to be very strict, but honourable”
“Not honourable enough to avoid fathering a bastard”, Lucas interjected. “Trust me, I know my father better than you could ever do. I can't say a lot of good things about him, but he raised me alongside my older siblings. Of course I always knew that I was a bastard and of course people despised me for it, but it wasn't a bad life. I was especially close to my oldest brother, Petyr. Lady Selyse hated me of course. She always hated me and nothing I did could change her opinion”, he explained. Leonard gave him a short nod. “I can understand her”, he said and got a glare from Lucas. “No offense!”, he added quickly. “But I guess it was hard for her as well, always having proof of her husbands infidelity around”
This time, Lucas had to nod in agreement. “I think so”, he mumbled. “But I was a boy back then, not a man. I saw it differently and I protested harshly, probably too harshly. My father had no other choice but to side with his wife here. And so I was sent away, to squire for Lord Tarly's brother. In time, I was knighted myself and roamed the land. I spent a year in Essos, travelling the Free Cities together with John Gutten and his mercenaries. I fought in battles, I slew enemies and I won gold and glory”
He paused for a moment and closed his eyes. Now he came to the uncomfortable part of his story. “A year ago, I returned to Darkdell as a grown man. My siblings were overjoyed, especially Petyr. Or at least that's what I thought. He had grown into man too and he had changed more than I was able to see. Lady Selyse still hated me and urged my father to send me away again. And so he complied. The night before I was supposed to leave, I uncovered something, an attempt on my father's life”
He saw how Leonard narrowed his eyes, listening carefully. His voice shivered as he continued. “Petyr, my brother, attempted to poison my father to claim House Vyrwel for himself. I stopped him and confronted him about it. I revealed his plans to my father. And only then I realized that while Petyr failed in poisoning his body, he succeeded in poisoning his mind. He convinced my father that I had planned to poison him and Lady Selyse. He twisted the truth and urged my father to execute me. My father believed him, believed every rotten lie, but instead of executing me, he simply banished me and disgraced my name by making my supposed treachery public. No lord in the Reach wanted to deal with me anymore. No lord except the one man who was interested in the truth. Lord Raylan was kind to me when I needed it the most and I...”, he said and had to stop as his voice cracked.
“What a fucking weasel”, Leonard mumbled. “Your brother Petyr, I mean. He sounds like someone who deserves all of the Seven Hells” Lucas gave him a nod. “He does”, he agreed. “Even though I want to forgive him for what he did, I just can't. I trusted him and he repaid my trust with treachery”
“Sounds familiar”, Leonard answered and took a deep gulp from his ale. As he put his jug down, Lucas noticed that he had emptied it. “You think Dairon's going to be angry if I drink his ale too?”, Leonard asked. Lucas shook his head. “He didn't seem too amazed by it”, he mumbled, looking at his own ale. “And I'm paying, after all”, Leonard added, grabbing the jug and starting to drink from it. “What I want to tell you now is something I can't tell you while being entirely sober”
Lucas gave him a curious look. “It's about what Quent said, right? He said something about a whore trying to kill you” Leonard put down his jug and sighed. “Yes”, he answered. “But it's a bit more complicated than that. Still, the fact that Quent knew something about this made me distrust him more than anything else. I've told only a few people about this and this snake certainly wasn't among them. But he knew it and that made me think... about you...”
He paused for a moment, taking a deep gulp from his ale, putting down an empty jug. “Are you familiar with what I did before I entered Lord Raylan's service?”, he asked. Lucas shook his head. “Can't say I do. Should I?”, he answered. Leonard let out a sigh. “Maybe. Then again, I never had much business with Darkdell. I was in service of several lords after I was knighted and served as a high-ranking guard in several households, Lord Raylan's included. One of these lords was Tytos Rowan, the lord of Goldengrove. In his service, I met a man, Marcus Whitehead. I thought that we had a lot in common and we became good friends. In Lord Rowan's service we slew bandits and one day we even foiled an attempt on his life. Lord Rowan, Marcus and me were out for a hunt, when a man attacked him. He managed to wound Lord Rowan with a crossbow, before I could engage him in single combat”
He paused for a moment and moved his finger across the scar over his eye. “I received a rather permanent reminder of this encounter, but I managed to kill the assassin with Marcus' help. Up to this day I haven't found out who hired him, albeit I have a suspicion”, he mumbled, grabbing Lunett's jug of ale. The girl had barely taken a sip of it before leaving the room and Leonard seemed to be thankful for this.
“We brought Lord Rowan back to Goldengrove, where he rewarded us with a pretty huge sum of money. I was twenty years old at the time and you can probably imagine how foolish I was at the time”, he explained and the hint of a smirk got visible on his face. “A bit like you, Flowers” His smirk vanished before Lucas could answer anything. “Marcus told me that he knew exactly the right way to celebrate. He was two years older than me and I have to admit I looked up to him a bit, even though I was the better fighter and had the richer family. But Marcus... he always had this way to make people trust him and like him”
Leonard let out an audible sigh. “He brought me to this remote area at the shores of Red Lake and told me to enjoy the evening, before leaving me alone. Wandering around, I soon found a tent, not one of these small dirty things the Dothraki live in, but a tent worthy of a king. And out of it stepped a woman who was beautiful enough to be a queen”, he explained and his eyes got a dreamy stare for a short moment. “Her name was Celestial Sunder and she was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. We spent the night together and...”, he said and paused for a moment. “I'm sparing you the details, okay? I learned that she was a whore, quite famous in the area. 'Red Lady', they called her for the red dress she was wearing. In that moment, nothing of it mattered. I guess for me it was love at first sight”
This caused Lucas to smirk at him. “Really, Leonard? You fell in love with a whore?” His smirk vanished as he noticed that Leonard looked deadly serious. “I did, Flowers”, he growled. “And it was a fucking mistake. As soon as we were... done, I wanted to get some wine. She surprised me by grabbing my own sword and threatening me with it. And then she called out for Marcus...”
Leonard paused and Lucas saw helpless anger in his face. “It turned out that Celestial was his lover and this was their trick. The area was very remote, not entirely harmless. One out of ten customers was murdered by them, his possessions added to their ever growing fortune. Marcus had always been envious of my families wealth. And he saw me as a rival in Lord Rowan's favour. With me gone, he would have become Rowan's captain of the guard. But just killing me would have been too easy for him...”
He paused for a moment, finishing the next jug of ale, staring at the empty jug with sadness in his eyes. “So he beat me nearly into unconsciousness, just enough to stop any resistance from me. Then he tied me to a small boat and caused it to float to the middle of the lake. And then he shot a flaming arrow that was supposed to cause my death by fire. Luckily he was never a very good shot and managed to hit a spot near my hands. The fire burned the rope, as well as my arms, but I managed to jump into the water before any lasting damage was done. Still, I was more dead than alive when I managed to swim to the shore”
He paused again. “I wandered around the area for hours, naked, humiliated, freezing. My hands were burnt and it took me month until they were fully healed again. But even worse, my pride was hurt. I was betrayed by my best friend and the first woman I've truly loved. I was close to just giving up, laying down on the ground and waiting for death to claim me. But I refused to give up. I found a farmhouse after walking for nearly a whole day. The farmer and his family nursed me back to health and up to this day I owe them my life for it”, he explained and closed his eyes for a moment.
“I returned to Goldengrove as soon as my wounds were healed. Lord Rowan had already deduced that Marcus was behind my disappearance, but he failed to capture him. He and Celestial were smart enough to escape from Goldengrove. Up to this day, they are still somewhere out there”, Leonard mumbled and Lucas watched his hands shaking in anger. “I left Lord Rowan's service soon afterwards. Goldengrove was full of painful memories. After a few years of travelling, I finally entered Lord Raylan's service again. He had always been fond of me and offered me a place in his household, a place I gladly accepted”
Lucas gave him an understanding nod. “That's why you're so distrustful of strangers”, he said and Leonard let out a sigh. “I never mean to be like this. It's just natural for me. I just don't trust anyone immediately. And if they are even remotely shady, like Quent... so far it's been for the better not to trust anyone here”
“But you trust me?”, Lucas asked. Leonard nodded in agreement. “Aye”, he answered. “I trust you, Lucas. You've proven yourself in my eyes. Whatever you say about what happened with your father, I believe you. Whatever plan you think is the best in this whole mess here, I trust that you do what you think is for the best”
He raised from his chair. “Talking about this fucking mess made me tired”, he mumbled. “You mind if I go to my room? Sleeping on the floor, while that boy gets my bed sure sounds more fun than talking about Marcus and Celestial” Lucas shook his head and raised from his chair. “I'll do the same”, he answered. “Tomorrow will be a long day”
Together, the two knights climbed the stairs to the inn's second floor, where the bedrooms were located. Leonard walked straightly towards his room directly next to Lucas', but stopped as he saw Lucas stopping. “Anything the matter, Flowers?”, he asked. Lucas looked at one of the doors and for a moment he was unsure if he should knock or not. He liked Lunett, Leonard was right. But it was late. He probably should leave her alone...
“Do it, Flowers”, Leonard's voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked up and saw that Leonard had his usual grin on his face. “I know what you're thinking about and I say you should do it” He let out a small laugh. “Oh, come on Flowers. Don't give me that face!”
He took a few steps closer towards Lucas. “What you're going to do now is, you're going to knock at her door and you'll talk with her about what you feel. The girl likes you and you like her. A blind man could see it”, he urged him. Lucas gave him a surprised look. “What? Now? I mean, that's not the right time for it, don't you agree?”, he stuttered.
Leonard shook his head. “Now is the only good moment to do it. You said it yourself, we're leaving this city tomorrow. If things go well, we're leaving it alive. Afterwards, we have a few days on the road, where you two won't have any personal time. And when we bring her back to her fathers inn, we're going to be lucky if that ox of an innkeeper won't attack us on sight. Today's the best moment to do that”, he explained. “And trust me, you will regret it if you never even talk to her about it. Worst thing that could happen is that she's just as shy as you are and won't admit to anything. Trust me, Flowers, it'll be worth it”
All of a sudden, Leonard started to chuckle and Lucas noticed that his face had turned red. “Flowers, you're adorable”, Leonard said with a grin. “And now knock on her door or I'll have to force you to do it”
Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He looked back at Leonard who pointed at the door and slightly moved his wrist, symbolizing a knocking movement. And then he forced himself to knock at the door in front of him. As he looked back to Leonard, he saw that the knight had opened the door to his own room and gave him a short bow. “Thank me later, Flowers”, he grinned. “Have a good night”
Shuffling footsteps indicated that Lunett was walking towards the door. Lucas felt his heart beating up to his throat. Fucking Len! May the Stranger take him! Why had he done it? Lucas closed his eyes again, forcing himself to calm down a bit. She wasn't the first girl he was about to confess feelings to. But as the bastard of Vyrwel he had generally been shunned by the female population of Darkdell. And women in the Free Cities were a bit more... easy-going. At least one girl had made the first move before he even expressed any interest, something that would be unthinkable for a Westerosi woman. When it came to women like Lunett, women he genuinely liked, he was at a loss for words.
“Yes?”, Lunett said through the closed door. “Who is it?” Lucas took another deep breath before answering. “It's Lucas. Can we...” Before he was able to finish the door, she had ripped the door open. “Talk”, he finished his sentence, looking at her in surprise. From the keen look on her face it was clear that Lunett hadn't slept yet. But she had already loosened the short bun she wore her hair in and she wore a far lighter dress, something to wear in bed. Lucas forced himself not to look at her exposed skin. Apparently she noticed how fast she had opened the door and a shy smile formed on her lips. “Yes...”, she mumbled. “Of course! Please, come in”
With these words, she made way for him to enter her room. It was a small and dark room, albeit she had a candle lit. Besides her bed and a small chair there was nothing to sit down and she immediately gave him a handwave, signalizing him to sit down on the bed. “My apologies for how dark it is. “I wanted to go to sleep in a moment”, she said and let out a nervous chuckle. “Just caught me in the right moment. What is it you want to talk about?”
Lucas forced himself to take another deep breath, ignoring his wildly thumping heart. “Us”, he simply answered and cursed himself for how weak his voice sounded. Her face on the other hand lit up for a moment, albeit she tried her best to hide it. “Us?”, she asked surprised. “What is... what would there... is there anything not right?”
He quickly shook his head. “No, no, everything is good between us. It's just...”, he stuttered, looking at her deep blue eyes. For a moment, he almost lost himself in them. “Seven Hells, I'm sorry Lunett. Len basically forced me to do it. I never wanted to bother you”
He attempted to stand up, but was stopped as Lunett quickly grabbed his arm. “No!”, she exclaimed and immediately let go of his hand again. “I mean...”, she stuttered. “You're not bothering! What is wrong?”
Lucas closed his eyes again, taking all his courage together, before answering. “Nothing is wrong. It's just... I...”, he stuttered and paused for a moment. Her smile was breathtaking and she sat down on the bed, right next to him. “Yes?”, she asked almost toneless. Lucas gulped, before moving closer to her, leaning into kiss her. As soon his lips touched hers, she pulled away, her face getting bright red.
“I...”, she stuttered. “I didn't know...” Lucas let out a short embarrassed cough. “I am sorry Lunett. I shouldn't have done that...”, he mumbled. She shook her head. “No. That's not...” And then a smile formed on her face as she moved forward, kissing him again, this time with passion. For a short moment, time seemed to stop for Lucas.
“I feel the same”, she said. “I... I like you a lot. You have been kind for me, you supported me. You took me with you when I asked you for it. When Ser Leonard was angry at me, you weren't, even though I lied to you” She leaned in for another kiss, but in the last moment she pulled him in for a hug instead. “I mean, how couldn't I start to like you?”, she whispered in his ear. “And after all I did, you're still liking me?”
“I do”, Lucas answered and gave her another kiss. She wasn't the first girl he had kissed, but she was different from the others, from the way she made his heart beat faster just by looking at him, to the way she made him smile whenever she smiled. Seven blessings to Leonard for forcing him to do this! But now that he had confessed to her... he didn't want to push his luck. There was a long day coming and he felt tired from all that happened today. The Historian, Dairon, Leonard, but most importantly, this moment right now. Never before in all his life had he felt this sort of happiness. The joy he felt while being knighted was nothing compared to the feeling of holding Lunett in his arms. Everything that happened in the last weeks was worth it, as it lead to this moment. “I... I am glad... I am glad that we...”, he said. “I should probably get some rest now. Tomorrow will be a long day, hopefully the last we have in this city. We both should get some rest. We should leave it here, we should continue our talks tomorrow”
He raised and she gave him a bright smile. “Yes...”, she mumbled. “We should” She raised from the bed and gave him a hug. “Or you could stay for a little longer. Just a little bit...”, she whispered in his ear and Lucas started to grin. There was nothing he wanted more in this moment. But there was one thing that stopped him, one bad thought that remained. Even if they would all survive this, he would bring her back to her fathers inn. He would hardly ever see her again. But if he would stay now, if he would spend the night with her if he would... he would dishonour her by never seeing her again. In the worst case he would even father a bastard, another Flowers born out of passion, despised by gods and men... could he do this to her?
Lucas 2/2
Leonard almost looked a bit guilty as he gave him a nod. “I didn't want to say it like that. Kinslaying is an ugly word”, he mu… morembled. “No offense, but I have to know it. During our travels, I got a good opinion about you. I don't think you're capable of such a thing. But Quent... he knew things about me, so...”
Lucas interrupted him. “It's okay, Len”, he said bleakly, even though he felt slightly angry that he would even imply such a thing. Kinslaying, one of the first crimes a mortal could commit. Yet, he knew someone who would be capable of such a thing. He couldn't exactly blame Leonard.
“You know I was born in Darkdell, as the bastard son of Lord Leo Vyrwel. My father and his wife, Lady Selyse of House Fossoway, already had four children, but he was insatiable in his lust. And so he seduced a courtier and fathered a bastard son”, he explained. Leonard gave him a nod. “So far it's nothing new for me”, he said. “I met Lor… [view original content]
Glad you like it! And no need to be sorry for me writing that much, after all I have tremendous fun writing this. The backstory had to be written either way and now was simply the best moment to get deeper into it. In the end, I have the feeling Lucas backstory was at least as long as Leonard's from the amount of words. And including both of their backstories allowed me to put the whole Lunett stuff into this part as well, instead of putting it at the start of the next part. Ultimately it will work far better with the pacing of their storyline in this chapter.
Originally I had planned to reveal Leonard's backstory at a later point because of the length-limit, but I realized that I wanted to reveal it in this chapter and now would be the best possible way for it, maybe even the last time it would be possible in this chapter. And his original reason for not sharing his backstory felt really cheap and lazy for me. The part was originally supposed to end with a different decision of a highly nervous Lucas either knocking at Lunett's door or just going to sleep, but I realized I had a few thousand letters left before reaching the post-length limit a second time, so I decided to put it in. I guess that was for the better in the end.
[Stay] Fuck it, if she gets pregnant we're gonna regret this. But Lucas you sly dog you.
And her father is going to be so pissed.
OR, … moreshe dies and Lucas is heartbroken.
Excellent chapter. I am so sorry for making you write this much. I feel somewhat responsible.
By the way, love this:
“Try not to be a pain in the ass, please” This caused Leonard's smile to vanish,
Made me laughed.
Lucas 2/2
Leonard almost looked a bit guilty as he gave him a nod. “I didn't want to say it like that. Kinslaying is an ugly word”, he mu… morembled. “No offense, but I have to know it. During our travels, I got a good opinion about you. I don't think you're capable of such a thing. But Quent... he knew things about me, so...”
Lucas interrupted him. “It's okay, Len”, he said bleakly, even though he felt slightly angry that he would even imply such a thing. Kinslaying, one of the first crimes a mortal could commit. Yet, he knew someone who would be capable of such a thing. He couldn't exactly blame Leonard.
“You know I was born in Darkdell, as the bastard son of Lord Leo Vyrwel. My father and his wife, Lady Selyse of House Fossoway, already had four children, but he was insatiable in his lust. And so he seduced a courtier and fathered a bastard son”, he explained. Leonard gave him a nod. “So far it's nothing new for me”, he said. “I met Lor… [view original content]
Comments
(Shoot him yourself)
(Talk with Nora and be charming )
I think that like this, she has 50% chance of being found, than raped and killed, and 50% of not being found at all. With other choice, I think she would be raped almost for sure, but probably not killed. Anyway, it will be interesting.
[Encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man] I wish there was a do nothing option. Torvin would do best to just stay away from any of that. Hopefully Harmund doesn't do anything crazy...-ier
[Offer to train the recruits] The only way to a woman's heart is by beating men sensely. This should help get Marak on Nora's good side.
Shipping Marak and Nora? #Norak
[Encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man]
Hjalgar needs to know how to be less of a wuss if he wants to survive.
[Talk with Nora and be charming]
I love Marak xD
Okay people, nobody panic. Deep breaths, deep breaths, deep bre-I CAN'T TAKE IT!!!! LIQUID HAS A NEW PROFILE PIC!!!!!!
Holy shit.
Roose, where are thou?
Seriously, who is that XD, it looks like Oberyn Martell a bit.
And it has changed yet again, since I have found a picture I like even more
Yes, it's Oberyn. It turned out my true allegiances do not lie with our benevolent overlords in the North, despite the fact that no one wears treachery as stylish as the Roose. I should probably always wear a helmet from now on though. And I shouldn't taunt people who are twice my height.
I always though the Bastard of Bolton to be the superior, btw RamsayxSansa. Maybe even Lord Baelish would be a choice of mine.
Encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man
Offer to train the recruits
Fantastic
[Encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man]
[Talk with Nora and be charming]
The mighty Liquid has changed his profile picture! Now it will be hard to get used to it and see if a new part has been put out. ;_;
I also considered Littlefinger, but he always looks a bit weird on screencaps in my opinion and there aren't that many good fanart drawings of him. And Ramsay... well, he would also be nice, even though I like Roose a lot more. In the end I had to choose and I think I can never choose wrong with Oberyn. As long as I don't choose him as my champion or stuff like that.
It's Nothi- OMG LIQUID!!!! AHHHHHHH!!! THIS IS RAIDERS 2.0! MY EYES!!!!!!
(Jk about that, His new one's nice)
NNNONON THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE. ITHE MIGHTY LIQUID DID IT
B-B-But What about the Starks? Or the Greatjon! Anything but those tanned Dornishmen!!!
HEY!!! The Martells are the best!
[Encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man]
[Talk with Nora and be charming]
One cannot be the best if Jon Snow is in the same story.
This will bother me FOREVER!
Or, you know, for a few days until I get used to it again.
My favorite Bolton is no more. Long live the Martell! Or at least until he fights the Mountain.
Because it's a meme.
ok then
Oh hi, you changed your profile picture
Gotta change my soon!
Btw, finally read those last chapters, I've kinda been lazy about that, but now I read them all. Rell and Velmont, my baes
[Encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man]
Time to finally kill a man! You can't be a character in GoT and not kill anyone! Also, it would probably end bad for Alys if she went on the farm :S
[Talk with Nora and be charming]
Time to activate Marak's flirting skillz ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
[Encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man]
[Talk with Nora and be charming]
This must be a dream.. You've changed your profile pic :O
Aww man I'm gonna miss the Bolton swag, ah well. Show Oberyn is decent too.
[Shoot the man yourself]
[Talk with Nora and be charming]
Meanwhile my new avatar kind of makes my username ironic.
The Voting is closed!
Torvin will encourage Hjalgar to shoot the man
Generally speaking there is no right decision when dealing with Harmund Hoare, except maybe shooting him, but I can already tell you that things would have gotten very brutal for Torvin if he had decided to shoot the man himself. He got really lucky here, at least for now.
Marak will decide to talk to Nora and he will try to be charming
You know, since he got charm coming out of his ass and stuff like that
The new part is about halfway written. It will be a longer Lucas PoV and together with the next two parts it will mark the point where the chapter is halfway written. I hope to finish it later today!
And now I have a shout-out for a new story that could use a few more people participating. I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I assume some of you might like fantasy stories, am I right? Well, then you might like The Dawn of the Dragons, a new story by @TheFurryOne. Furry is the writer of several interesting and unique stories here on this forum, so I am pretty sure that this story will be amazing too and worth every reader it can get. It is a fantasy story centered around a war between humans and elves, with several other races participating. Currently it could use more readers and especially more characters, so if you want to give it a try, you should check it out here
Norak
Sooo, Marak is GoT version of Larry? That's a very good reason to despise him
Maraks awesome... I wish we saw more of him.
Yes, I agree, but I wanted to diss Larry a bit
Thanks for the shout-out Liquid!
So, a little update: This part won't be finished today, but early tomorrow instead. While writing it, it just got longer and longer and I'm afraid the way I planned it it would either require severe cutting to fit into the post-length limit or I would have to split it into two posts. Since I hate cutting parts of my writing, I will choose the second option, which probably also means that I will put a second PoV at the end of this one to fill a second post worth of content instead of simply a few paragraphs that were unable to fit into the first post. Or I will expand the Lucas PoV up to the point where it easily fills two posts worth of content.
For this coming part I can tease that it will feature a lot of backstory for our favourite knights, Lucas and Leonard. Leonard's backstory in particular is part of the reason why the part got too long to fit into the post-length limit, since I really want to finally reveal more about him, but also because his backstory can't be just told in a few short sentences. After writing several paragraphs about Lucas' backstory, I had the choice of either postponing Leonard's backstory for another time or to write at least another page worth of content, well above the post-length limit. And I chose the second option, since postponing Leonard's backstory just felt wrong and a bit cheap. Since it's very late in my timezone I won't be able to write more for this part today. And since I will probably add a second PoV after Lucas PoV in the coming part or will expand the Lucas PoV a lot, I might still need a few hours of writing tomorrow, but I promise it will be out soon. Thanks for your patience!
And to think Liquid that this is entirely because of me.
The Stately is the bomb.
Take all the time you need.
By the way:
Here is the part, at last. It was probably a good thing that I didn't finish it yesterday, seeing how it essentially doubled in size and now has the length of two full parts and seeing how it took me several hours to finish it today. Originally, the last third of this part was even planned as the start of the next Lucas part, but I think it works better as the finish of this part. I hope you enjoy!
Lucas 1/2
As they entered Archmaester Quent's chambers again, the old man seemed to notice that something was wrong. He looked Lucas in the eyes and shook his head. “What have you done?”, he asked. Before Lucas could answer, Leonard took a step towards the Archmaester and gave him a cold, determined look. “You are hiding something, Archmaester. You are lying. And we don't trust you. We will leave and we will take Dairon with us”, he proclaimed. It appeared to Lucas that Quent had suspected this, as he barely looked up. A joyless smirk formed around the old man's mouth. “You stupid child”, he muttered bleakly. “You stupid, ignorant child. You think this is a matter of sympathy? You think the truth has anything to do with it?” He looked at Dairon, who was standing in a corner. The boy had an intimidated look on his face. “You want to fight for the future of your city, against the whole world if you have to. You look like men, but you are nothing more than little boys, playing knights. You think your enemy will play with the same rules” He looked at Lucas again. “You are wrong”, he hissed. “And you are doing a terrible mistake”
“We're taking the risk, Archmaester”, Lucas answered. “Who knows what your plans for Dairon are? We won't keep him here and we certainly won't work with you anymore. Tomorrow we're on our way back to Raylansfair” This time, Quent slightly chuckled. “Tomorrow, Ser Lucas, you will be dead” With these words, he looked at Dairon. “If, by any chance, you survive this madness, return to the Citadel. But don't come to my quarters. It's a small miracle you were able to enter them undetected the first time. Enter the Mage's tower. It's the smallest tower of the citadel, but it's roof is alloyed with valyrian steel. Go to Archmaester Wulvren. He can keep you safe”, he explained and looked at Lucas again. “Better than these two at least. Wulvren is a bit eccentric, but he's the only man here whom I would fully trust”
“Come on, Dairon. We're done here”, Leonard said and with a hanging head, the boy started to walk towards them. “I'm sorry, Archmaester”, he mumbled. “But I know them and I trust them” Quent narrowed his eyes as he looked from Lucas to Leonard. “You damnable idiots”, he growled.
The Archmaester raised from his chair and his stare got slightly angry. “I took tremendous personal risks for my brother's sake. I was honest to you in a city full of liars. I was your ally in a city that wants to see you dead. And you reject my help” He shook his head. “Get out”, he growled. “Get out and don't come back!”
The sudden fury in his voice was enough to stun Lucas for a moment. Leonard seemed to be baffled too, but his anger seemed to help him to regain composure quickly. “We will”, he said and turned to the door. “Flowers, Dairon, come on. We've wasted enough time”
Lucas gave Quent a final look. The old man looked absolutely furious, but there was something else. Sadness? Anticipation? The Archmaester was hard to read. Trusting him was at least as much a risk as not trusting him. “Farewell, Archmaester”, he said, before stepping out of the room. Dairon followed, albeit a bit slower and visibly uneasy about the whole situation.
Leonard was waiting for him near the stairs. “You made the right decision, Flowers”, he said. “We made the right decision” As they were walking down the stairs of the Historian's tower, Lucas looked out of the small windows that were built into the wall at certain points. The sun was already vanishing, a dim, red light illuminated the streets of Oldtown. “Tomorrow we're going to talk to Mullendore”, he decided and Leonard let out a sigh. “I still think it's a mistake to get near this dog. Don't tell him anything about Dairon!”, he warned him. Lucas shook his head. “I won't. But I think Maester Quent was right about one thing. This city is dangerous and I don't know if we can make it out of here without help. I don't like working with Mullendore, but if it helps us in bringing Dairon and Lord Raylan's last will out of here and to the king, he is necessary”
They stopped talking as they stepped to the large entrance hall of the tower. Even now, plenty of novices and acolytes were passing through it. Most of them had hostile glares on their faces. And as they stepped out of the tower and breathed the cold evening air, Lucas was glad to leave this place behind him. “And now? What are we going to do now”, Dairon asked. Leonard gave him a small pat on the back. “Now we will go back to our little tavern, we'll get you a cold beer and a warm bed. And tomorrow, we will talk to Mullendore, so that we can leave this city behind” He sounded hopeful as he said this. Still, as they walked down the alleys of Oldtown, Lucas knew that Leonard was questioning their decision as well. Quent had an agenda of his own, it was clear to see. But this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps there was no right choice here...
They arrived at the Blind Helmsman inn a few minutes later. Judging from the noise, it was already crowded. Dairon gave Lucas a slightly sceptical look. The boy rarely spoke, something Lucas already noticed from his time back in Raylansfair.“You want to tell me I'm safe in there?”, he asked. Leonard nodded enthusiastically. “Nobody in this city is truly honest, but these people in here are good men nonetheless. Soldiers, guards, a couple of mercenaries. They are not honest, but they are straightforward and that is better than all the knives this snake Quent was hiding”, he explained. Dairon still seemed to be doubtful. “I trusted Quent”, he mumbled. “I mean, he is nothing like Eaton, but he is still his brother after all. Perhaps we should have worked with him” Leonard let out a small chuckle. “That's because you know nothing”, he grinned. “It's good that we are away from that guy. A Maester has no family, remember? And Quent has a lot of bitterness inside of him. We'll manage to keep you safe” Lucas knew, Leonard tried to reassure Dairon, but it also sounded as if he wanted to reassure himself.
As they entered the tavern, Lucas realized that it was very crowded indeed. Nonetheless, he noticed Lunett sitting at a free table. After a day like that, she was a sight for sore eyes and Lucas had to smile as he saw her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Leonard grinning at him, but it did not matter to him in this moment. He approached the table and Lunett finally noticed them. She raised her hand and beckoned them to come over to her.
“Lucas! Leonard!”, she exclaimed joyfully. “You're back and...” Her gaze fell on Dairon and in a single moment all the tension of the past hours fell off her face, replaced by a genuine smile. “And you must be Dairon!”, she exclaimed, jumping up from her chair. Lucas knew that she had suffered from the thought that her behaviour endangered Dairon and seeing her exuberant joy was truly refreshing. Before Dairon could say anything, Lunett hugged him. Lucas smile turned into a grin as he saw the boys face getting red.
“Ah, yes...”, he stuttered. “M... My na... I'm Dairon” Lunett sat back down on her chair, still grinning from ear to ear. “And this is Lunett Kawl”, Lucas explained. “She accompanied us to Oldtown” He looked at Leonard, before adding “She helped us a lot”
This caused Leonard to raise an eyebrow, while Lunett looked similarly baffled. But both stayed silent as Dairon respectfully bowed his head. “I am thankful m'lady”, he mumbled before sitting down, his face still red like a tomato. “But as I said, I don't believe I was in danger with Archmaester Quent”
“Perhaps not you”, Leonard said slowly. “I don't think the Historian is a man for physical violence. But in the long run his plans can't be good for Raylansfair. It's a good thing we got you and Lord Raylan's last will away from him” He leant backwards on his chair and raised his hand, signalling the barmaid, a middle-aged woman with a plump face and short brown hair, to come over. “Bring us four jugs of ale”, he ordered her. “I'm paying” With these words he leant forward again, looking at Lucas, Lunett and Dairon with a stern expression on his face. “We have a lot to talk about”, he explained.
Lucas gave him a short nod“I think Mullendore said the truth when he revealed that this Butterfly is searching for Dairon”, he stated and saw the boy shivering. “We have to leave the city tomorrow, waiting any longer would be foolish, but we still have to expect trouble”
Leonard closed his eyes for a moment. “And you think Maron Mullendore is our best bet when it comes to help, right?”, he asked. “You don't intend to leave after claiming that damned letter” He let out a sigh. “I don't like this, Flowers. I really don't like this. Maron Mullendore is Lord Hightowers little pet. If he suspects that we know more about Dairon, he will arrest us and he will question us very thoroughly. Do you think he's a risk worth taking?”
Lucas paused for a moment, but before he could answer, Dairon interjected. “For what it's worth, I was born in Oldtown and I have lived her for thirteen years”, he revealed. “I have heard a lot of good things about Mullendore. He's fair, as long as you stand on his side of the law” This caused Leonard to chuckle. “And what is 'his side of the law' exactly? The side that pays the most?”, he exclaimed and looked up as the barmaid returned, serving each of them a jug of ale.
Dairon shook his head quite furiously. “No!”, he explained. “Maron Mullendore is different. He opposes crime and corruption. Perhaps he takes it too far with his punishment, but as long as you abide the law he is a good man” Leonard took a deep gulp from his ale and grinned. “A good man in Oldtown...”, he chuckled and shook his head. “I trust him more than Quent, but only because he does not seem to be intelligent enough for treachery” He looked at Lucas. “You are sure about working with him? Do you think this is the best idea?”
Lucas shrugged. “I don't think we have a lot of alternatives. Quent isn't an option anymore. Trustworthy or not, we have angered him. There is Butterflies enemy, this so-called Burned Man, but I don't want to work with criminals just to get out of this city again”, he explained. “And Mullendore is at least a man who upholds the law instead of breaking it”
Leonard still didn't seem to be entirely convinced. “And what about bending the law? People in his position tend to do that a lot”, he said, before letting out a sigh. “But I see your point. I'm trusting you, Flowers. I'm trusting you to do the right decision here. It can't hurt to get that damned letter. And who knows, perhaps a closer alliance with Mullendore is the best thing. Perhaps I am too distrustful” He took another sip from his ale and Lucas did the same. He noticed that Dairon had barely touched his jug, simply staring at it, apparently unsure what to do. “Everything alright, Dairon?”, he asked kindly.
The boy shook his head and closed his eyes. “No, it's... I... Two weeks ago, everything had been so different. Maester Eaton was still alive, Lord Robert was still alive. I had been nothing more than a Maester's acolyte. Now I am in a place I never wanted to return to and I am hunted by a ruthless criminal. And for what? Just because I know about Lord Robert's last will? Is it so important? Why does Butterfly want this last will?”, he stuttered.
This question took Lucas by surprise and he exchanged looks with Leonard. “That is actually a very good question”, he mumbled. “Mullendore revealed that Butterfly wants you and the will, likely for the same reasons. But why?” He saw Dairon shivering. “I... am afraid”, the boy mumbled. “This city always had problems. But the problems it had in my childhood are nothing compared to Butterfly. The criminals who tormented this city years ago weren't that bad compared to him. Quent told me about... the things he does with his victims... it's like something out of a nightmare” He looked up and seemed to be paler than before “I don't want to be targeted by him”
Before Lucas could say anything, Lunett reached across the table and grabbed Dairon's hand. The boy shivered, as she gently patted him on the back of his hand. “Easy, Dairon. He may target you, but he won't get you. We'll make sure of that. Ser Lucas and Ser Leonard will protect you and I will do my part to keep you safe”, she comforted him and looked at Lucas. “We all do what's necessary to get you back home, right?”
Lucas gave her a nod and Lunett answered with a stunning smile. “We will”, he said and for a moment he was unable to look away, as he stared deeply into Lunett's dark blue eyes. For a moment, this was all that mattered. At least until Leonard let out a snorting laugh. “Seven Heavens, get a room you two, will ya?”, he exclaimed, trying to contain his laughter. Lunett blushed and Lucas was sure he did as well.
Leonard slightly shook his head. “You're adorable”, he grinned and Lucas gave him an angry glare. “Time to change the topic”, Leonard proclaimed immediately, with a big smirk on his face. “Dairon, you never mentioned that you were born in Oldtown”
Dairon took an unenthusiastic sip of his beer, grimacing as he tasted the bitter ale. “It's nothing I talk about very often”, he mumbled. “My mother was a potter, living in a small back alley not far from here. I've never met my father, but my mother told me he was a knight, or at least he called himself a knight” He looked up. “She never outright told me, but she implied a lot of things I only understood years after her death. My father, he... it wasn't consensual” He looked down again, apparently ashamed, leaving Lucas at a loss for words.
“You said your father was a knight”, he said after a short moment of silence. “No true knight would do that” Dairon gave him a glare, a mixture between anger and surprise. “I grew up in Oldtown, Ser Lucas. Maybe I haven't seen as much of the world as you have, but the things I saw taught me one thing. There are no true knights. Perhaps there have been, in the Age of Heros, thousands of years ago. But today, no knight is true”
Before Lucas could protest, Dairon continued. “That doesn't mean there aren't good knights. You are good. Ser Leonard is good. But a true knight is without flaws. Are you without flaws?” Leonard shook his head. “Nobody is. If that's what you see as a true knight, then you are right. If a true knight has to be without flaws, there is none. And there never has been”
“That's a pretty cynical view on knighthood”, Lucas protested, but Dairon shook his head. “Just because no knight is true doesn't mean all of them are false. There are good knights and bad knights and good knights who do bad things and bad knights who do good things. And then there are bad knights who do bad things. Try to live a few years in this city, Ser Lucas, and you will see that it's full of the latter” He took another deep gulp from his ale, grimaced again and put his jug down, before raising from his chair. “It has been a long day...”, he mumbled. “I would like to go to sleep”
As Leonard heard this, he put up a smile “Ah yes. I've made preparations in the morning. You'll sleep in my room, it's safer that way. You get the bed, I'm no stranger to sleep on the floor”, he explained and Dairon gave him a reluctant nod. “If... if you insist”, he mumbled. “I mean, are you sure? I don't want to be a burden!” Leonard shook his head and his smile vanished. “Boy, if you don't want to be a burden you should have stayed in Raylansfair”, he growled, causing Dairon to avoid any eye contact
He made an attempt to stand up, but Lunett was faster, still blushed from Leonard's earlier comment, albeit Lucas noticed a light smile on her face. “I'll go to sleep too. I can bring you to your room”, she proclaimed. Lucas tried to suppress the disappointment in his face, but he had no doubt that Leonard caught it and would mock him for it.
“Goodnight, Ser Leonard”, Lunett said with a short bow. “Try not to be a pain in the ass, please” This caused Leonard's smile to vanish, but Lucas had a hard time containing his laughter. Lunett looked at him and for a moment it appeared as if she wanted to say something. Instead she simply smiled at him before turning around, walking towards the stairs that lead upstairs. Dairon took a deep bow in front of the knights. “I want to thank you”, he mumbled. “For doing this. I know you don't do it for me, but still... if I make it out of here alive, I will do it because of you. And I can never repay this debt. I never meant to insult you. You are good men, both of you”
Before Lucas and Leonard could answer anything, Dairon turned around, going after Lunett. Surprisingly, Leonard wasn't smirking as he was looking from Lunett back to Lucas. “Well, this talk just got a lot darker than I intended. All I wanted to talk about was the psychopath out there who is probably hunting us”, he said and his smirk returned. “And now I have to deal with two lovebirds and a far too cynical acolyte in the most fucked up city in all of Westeros”
This caused Lucas to look up. “What are you implying?”, he growled. Leonard leant forward and grinned at him. “Oh, nothing, you know? Dairon is a nice boy”, he grinned. “And Lunett...” Before he could continue, Lucas cut him off. “No”, he hissed and raised from his chair. “I won't take your mockery now. I mean, what do you want to hear from me? Yes, I like her. Yes, I know this is not the best time or the best place for that. I know I am foolish. That's what you want to say, right?”, he growled angrily.
To his surprise, Leonard shook his head. “Absolutely not, Flowers”, he answered. “I'm not a man who scolds others for mistakes he made himself. Lunett is a wonderful young woman and you are... well, you are sometimes not a complete idiot” This caused Lucas to roll with his eyes. It was a long day and he had no nerves for Leonard now. “I guess I'm just leaving. If you have to be an ass, be alone”, he moaned
“Flowers, wait!”, Leonard exclaimed in a loud voice, causing Lucas to stop. “I don't mean to insult you, okay! There is nothing wrong with liking the innkeeper's daughter. Especially if she likes you too”, he said. “Please, sit down. There's one more thing I'd like to talk about. Nothing about Lunett. Nothing about Mullendore or Hightower. It's important”
The urgent tone in his voice caused Lucas to stop. He let out a sigh. “One word about me and Lunett or how foolish I am and I'm gone”, he warned him before sitting back down. Leonard raised his hands. “Sorry for offending you, Lady Flowers”, he chuckled. “Nothing about that, I promise”
He leant forward, his smile vanishing. “When we talked to the Historian, he said a lot of things I don't believe. But some of the things he said were true. Things about me I never wanted a snake like him to know. And because of that I have to ask, about the things he said to you. About your father”
Lucas slightly rolled with his eyes. Talking about this always filled him with anger. But he could see the curiosity in Leonard's face. And after what Quent said, he didn't want the other knight to get a wrong opinion about him. “You want to know if what Quent said is true, right? If I really poisoned my father. You want to know if you are travelling with someone capable of kinslaying”
Lucas 2/2
Leonard almost looked a bit guilty as he gave him a nod. “I didn't want to say it like that. Kinslaying is an ugly word”, he mumbled. “No offense, but I have to know it. During our travels, I got a good opinion about you. I don't think you're capable of such a thing. But Quent... he knew things about me, so...”
Lucas interrupted him. “It's okay, Len”, he said bleakly, even though he felt slightly angry that he would even imply such a thing. Kinslaying, one of the first crimes a mortal could commit. Yet, he knew someone who would be capable of such a thing. He couldn't exactly blame Leonard.
“You know I was born in Darkdell, as the bastard son of Lord Leo Vyrwel. My father and his wife, Lady Selyse of House Fossoway, already had four children, but he was insatiable in his lust. And so he seduced a courtier and fathered a bastard son”, he explained. Leonard gave him a nod. “So far it's nothing new for me”, he said. “I met Lord Leo once a few years ago, while travelling to Darkdell. He seemed to be very strict, but honourable”
“Not honourable enough to avoid fathering a bastard”, Lucas interjected. “Trust me, I know my father better than you could ever do. I can't say a lot of good things about him, but he raised me alongside my older siblings. Of course I always knew that I was a bastard and of course people despised me for it, but it wasn't a bad life. I was especially close to my oldest brother, Petyr. Lady Selyse hated me of course. She always hated me and nothing I did could change her opinion”, he explained. Leonard gave him a short nod. “I can understand her”, he said and got a glare from Lucas. “No offense!”, he added quickly. “But I guess it was hard for her as well, always having proof of her husbands infidelity around”
This time, Lucas had to nod in agreement. “I think so”, he mumbled. “But I was a boy back then, not a man. I saw it differently and I protested harshly, probably too harshly. My father had no other choice but to side with his wife here. And so I was sent away, to squire for Lord Tarly's brother. In time, I was knighted myself and roamed the land. I spent a year in Essos, travelling the Free Cities together with John Gutten and his mercenaries. I fought in battles, I slew enemies and I won gold and glory”
He paused for a moment and closed his eyes. Now he came to the uncomfortable part of his story. “A year ago, I returned to Darkdell as a grown man. My siblings were overjoyed, especially Petyr. Or at least that's what I thought. He had grown into man too and he had changed more than I was able to see. Lady Selyse still hated me and urged my father to send me away again. And so he complied. The night before I was supposed to leave, I uncovered something, an attempt on my father's life”
He saw how Leonard narrowed his eyes, listening carefully. His voice shivered as he continued. “Petyr, my brother, attempted to poison my father to claim House Vyrwel for himself. I stopped him and confronted him about it. I revealed his plans to my father. And only then I realized that while Petyr failed in poisoning his body, he succeeded in poisoning his mind. He convinced my father that I had planned to poison him and Lady Selyse. He twisted the truth and urged my father to execute me. My father believed him, believed every rotten lie, but instead of executing me, he simply banished me and disgraced my name by making my supposed treachery public. No lord in the Reach wanted to deal with me anymore. No lord except the one man who was interested in the truth. Lord Raylan was kind to me when I needed it the most and I...”, he said and had to stop as his voice cracked.
“What a fucking weasel”, Leonard mumbled. “Your brother Petyr, I mean. He sounds like someone who deserves all of the Seven Hells” Lucas gave him a nod. “He does”, he agreed. “Even though I want to forgive him for what he did, I just can't. I trusted him and he repaid my trust with treachery”
“Sounds familiar”, Leonard answered and took a deep gulp from his ale. As he put his jug down, Lucas noticed that he had emptied it. “You think Dairon's going to be angry if I drink his ale too?”, Leonard asked. Lucas shook his head. “He didn't seem too amazed by it”, he mumbled, looking at his own ale. “And I'm paying, after all”, Leonard added, grabbing the jug and starting to drink from it. “What I want to tell you now is something I can't tell you while being entirely sober”
Lucas gave him a curious look. “It's about what Quent said, right? He said something about a whore trying to kill you” Leonard put down his jug and sighed. “Yes”, he answered. “But it's a bit more complicated than that. Still, the fact that Quent knew something about this made me distrust him more than anything else. I've told only a few people about this and this snake certainly wasn't among them. But he knew it and that made me think... about you...”
He paused for a moment, taking a deep gulp from his ale, putting down an empty jug. “Are you familiar with what I did before I entered Lord Raylan's service?”, he asked. Lucas shook his head. “Can't say I do. Should I?”, he answered. Leonard let out a sigh. “Maybe. Then again, I never had much business with Darkdell. I was in service of several lords after I was knighted and served as a high-ranking guard in several households, Lord Raylan's included. One of these lords was Tytos Rowan, the lord of Goldengrove. In his service, I met a man, Marcus Whitehead. I thought that we had a lot in common and we became good friends. In Lord Rowan's service we slew bandits and one day we even foiled an attempt on his life. Lord Rowan, Marcus and me were out for a hunt, when a man attacked him. He managed to wound Lord Rowan with a crossbow, before I could engage him in single combat”
He paused for a moment and moved his finger across the scar over his eye. “I received a rather permanent reminder of this encounter, but I managed to kill the assassin with Marcus' help. Up to this day I haven't found out who hired him, albeit I have a suspicion”, he mumbled, grabbing Lunett's jug of ale. The girl had barely taken a sip of it before leaving the room and Leonard seemed to be thankful for this.
“We brought Lord Rowan back to Goldengrove, where he rewarded us with a pretty huge sum of money. I was twenty years old at the time and you can probably imagine how foolish I was at the time”, he explained and the hint of a smirk got visible on his face. “A bit like you, Flowers” His smirk vanished before Lucas could answer anything. “Marcus told me that he knew exactly the right way to celebrate. He was two years older than me and I have to admit I looked up to him a bit, even though I was the better fighter and had the richer family. But Marcus... he always had this way to make people trust him and like him”
Leonard let out an audible sigh. “He brought me to this remote area at the shores of Red Lake and told me to enjoy the evening, before leaving me alone. Wandering around, I soon found a tent, not one of these small dirty things the Dothraki live in, but a tent worthy of a king. And out of it stepped a woman who was beautiful enough to be a queen”, he explained and his eyes got a dreamy stare for a short moment. “Her name was Celestial Sunder and she was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. We spent the night together and...”, he said and paused for a moment. “I'm sparing you the details, okay? I learned that she was a whore, quite famous in the area. 'Red Lady', they called her for the red dress she was wearing. In that moment, nothing of it mattered. I guess for me it was love at first sight”
This caused Lucas to smirk at him. “Really, Leonard? You fell in love with a whore?” His smirk vanished as he noticed that Leonard looked deadly serious. “I did, Flowers”, he growled. “And it was a fucking mistake. As soon as we were... done, I wanted to get some wine. She surprised me by grabbing my own sword and threatening me with it. And then she called out for Marcus...”
Leonard paused and Lucas saw helpless anger in his face. “It turned out that Celestial was his lover and this was their trick. The area was very remote, not entirely harmless. One out of ten customers was murdered by them, his possessions added to their ever growing fortune. Marcus had always been envious of my families wealth. And he saw me as a rival in Lord Rowan's favour. With me gone, he would have become Rowan's captain of the guard. But just killing me would have been too easy for him...”
He paused for a moment, finishing the next jug of ale, staring at the empty jug with sadness in his eyes. “So he beat me nearly into unconsciousness, just enough to stop any resistance from me. Then he tied me to a small boat and caused it to float to the middle of the lake. And then he shot a flaming arrow that was supposed to cause my death by fire. Luckily he was never a very good shot and managed to hit a spot near my hands. The fire burned the rope, as well as my arms, but I managed to jump into the water before any lasting damage was done. Still, I was more dead than alive when I managed to swim to the shore”
He paused again. “I wandered around the area for hours, naked, humiliated, freezing. My hands were burnt and it took me month until they were fully healed again. But even worse, my pride was hurt. I was betrayed by my best friend and the first woman I've truly loved. I was close to just giving up, laying down on the ground and waiting for death to claim me. But I refused to give up. I found a farmhouse after walking for nearly a whole day. The farmer and his family nursed me back to health and up to this day I owe them my life for it”, he explained and closed his eyes for a moment.
“I returned to Goldengrove as soon as my wounds were healed. Lord Rowan had already deduced that Marcus was behind my disappearance, but he failed to capture him. He and Celestial were smart enough to escape from Goldengrove. Up to this day, they are still somewhere out there”, Leonard mumbled and Lucas watched his hands shaking in anger. “I left Lord Rowan's service soon afterwards. Goldengrove was full of painful memories. After a few years of travelling, I finally entered Lord Raylan's service again. He had always been fond of me and offered me a place in his household, a place I gladly accepted”
Lucas gave him an understanding nod. “That's why you're so distrustful of strangers”, he said and Leonard let out a sigh. “I never mean to be like this. It's just natural for me. I just don't trust anyone immediately. And if they are even remotely shady, like Quent... so far it's been for the better not to trust anyone here”
“But you trust me?”, Lucas asked. Leonard nodded in agreement. “Aye”, he answered. “I trust you, Lucas. You've proven yourself in my eyes. Whatever you say about what happened with your father, I believe you. Whatever plan you think is the best in this whole mess here, I trust that you do what you think is for the best”
He raised from his chair. “Talking about this fucking mess made me tired”, he mumbled. “You mind if I go to my room? Sleeping on the floor, while that boy gets my bed sure sounds more fun than talking about Marcus and Celestial” Lucas shook his head and raised from his chair. “I'll do the same”, he answered. “Tomorrow will be a long day”
Together, the two knights climbed the stairs to the inn's second floor, where the bedrooms were located. Leonard walked straightly towards his room directly next to Lucas', but stopped as he saw Lucas stopping. “Anything the matter, Flowers?”, he asked. Lucas looked at one of the doors and for a moment he was unsure if he should knock or not. He liked Lunett, Leonard was right. But it was late. He probably should leave her alone...
“Do it, Flowers”, Leonard's voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked up and saw that Leonard had his usual grin on his face. “I know what you're thinking about and I say you should do it” He let out a small laugh. “Oh, come on Flowers. Don't give me that face!”
He took a few steps closer towards Lucas. “What you're going to do now is, you're going to knock at her door and you'll talk with her about what you feel. The girl likes you and you like her. A blind man could see it”, he urged him. Lucas gave him a surprised look. “What? Now? I mean, that's not the right time for it, don't you agree?”, he stuttered.
Leonard shook his head. “Now is the only good moment to do it. You said it yourself, we're leaving this city tomorrow. If things go well, we're leaving it alive. Afterwards, we have a few days on the road, where you two won't have any personal time. And when we bring her back to her fathers inn, we're going to be lucky if that ox of an innkeeper won't attack us on sight. Today's the best moment to do that”, he explained. “And trust me, you will regret it if you never even talk to her about it. Worst thing that could happen is that she's just as shy as you are and won't admit to anything. Trust me, Flowers, it'll be worth it”
All of a sudden, Leonard started to chuckle and Lucas noticed that his face had turned red. “Flowers, you're adorable”, Leonard said with a grin. “And now knock on her door or I'll have to force you to do it”
Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He looked back at Leonard who pointed at the door and slightly moved his wrist, symbolizing a knocking movement. And then he forced himself to knock at the door in front of him. As he looked back to Leonard, he saw that the knight had opened the door to his own room and gave him a short bow. “Thank me later, Flowers”, he grinned. “Have a good night”
Shuffling footsteps indicated that Lunett was walking towards the door. Lucas felt his heart beating up to his throat. Fucking Len! May the Stranger take him! Why had he done it? Lucas closed his eyes again, forcing himself to calm down a bit. She wasn't the first girl he was about to confess feelings to. But as the bastard of Vyrwel he had generally been shunned by the female population of Darkdell. And women in the Free Cities were a bit more... easy-going. At least one girl had made the first move before he even expressed any interest, something that would be unthinkable for a Westerosi woman. When it came to women like Lunett, women he genuinely liked, he was at a loss for words.
“Yes?”, Lunett said through the closed door. “Who is it?” Lucas took another deep breath before answering. “It's Lucas. Can we...” Before he was able to finish the door, she had ripped the door open. “Talk”, he finished his sentence, looking at her in surprise. From the keen look on her face it was clear that Lunett hadn't slept yet. But she had already loosened the short bun she wore her hair in and she wore a far lighter dress, something to wear in bed. Lucas forced himself not to look at her exposed skin. Apparently she noticed how fast she had opened the door and a shy smile formed on her lips. “Yes...”, she mumbled. “Of course! Please, come in”
With these words, she made way for him to enter her room. It was a small and dark room, albeit she had a candle lit. Besides her bed and a small chair there was nothing to sit down and she immediately gave him a handwave, signalizing him to sit down on the bed. “My apologies for how dark it is. “I wanted to go to sleep in a moment”, she said and let out a nervous chuckle. “Just caught me in the right moment. What is it you want to talk about?”
Lucas forced himself to take another deep breath, ignoring his wildly thumping heart. “Us”, he simply answered and cursed himself for how weak his voice sounded. Her face on the other hand lit up for a moment, albeit she tried her best to hide it. “Us?”, she asked surprised. “What is... what would there... is there anything not right?”
He quickly shook his head. “No, no, everything is good between us. It's just...”, he stuttered, looking at her deep blue eyes. For a moment, he almost lost himself in them. “Seven Hells, I'm sorry Lunett. Len basically forced me to do it. I never wanted to bother you”
He attempted to stand up, but was stopped as Lunett quickly grabbed his arm. “No!”, she exclaimed and immediately let go of his hand again. “I mean...”, she stuttered. “You're not bothering! What is wrong?”
Lucas closed his eyes again, taking all his courage together, before answering. “Nothing is wrong. It's just... I...”, he stuttered and paused for a moment. Her smile was breathtaking and she sat down on the bed, right next to him. “Yes?”, she asked almost toneless. Lucas gulped, before moving closer to her, leaning into kiss her. As soon his lips touched hers, she pulled away, her face getting bright red.
“I...”, she stuttered. “I didn't know...” Lucas let out a short embarrassed cough. “I am sorry Lunett. I shouldn't have done that...”, he mumbled. She shook her head. “No. That's not...” And then a smile formed on her face as she moved forward, kissing him again, this time with passion. For a short moment, time seemed to stop for Lucas.
“I feel the same”, she said. “I... I like you a lot. You have been kind for me, you supported me. You took me with you when I asked you for it. When Ser Leonard was angry at me, you weren't, even though I lied to you” She leaned in for another kiss, but in the last moment she pulled him in for a hug instead. “I mean, how couldn't I start to like you?”, she whispered in his ear. “And after all I did, you're still liking me?”
“I do”, Lucas answered and gave her another kiss. She wasn't the first girl he had kissed, but she was different from the others, from the way she made his heart beat faster just by looking at him, to the way she made him smile whenever she smiled. Seven blessings to Leonard for forcing him to do this! But now that he had confessed to her... he didn't want to push his luck. There was a long day coming and he felt tired from all that happened today. The Historian, Dairon, Leonard, but most importantly, this moment right now. Never before in all his life had he felt this sort of happiness. The joy he felt while being knighted was nothing compared to the feeling of holding Lunett in his arms. Everything that happened in the last weeks was worth it, as it lead to this moment. “I... I am glad... I am glad that we...”, he said. “I should probably get some rest now. Tomorrow will be a long day, hopefully the last we have in this city. We both should get some rest. We should leave it here, we should continue our talks tomorrow”
He raised and she gave him a bright smile. “Yes...”, she mumbled. “We should” She raised from the bed and gave him a hug. “Or you could stay for a little longer. Just a little bit...”, she whispered in his ear and Lucas started to grin. There was nothing he wanted more in this moment. But there was one thing that stopped him, one bad thought that remained. Even if they would all survive this, he would bring her back to her fathers inn. He would hardly ever see her again. But if he would stay now, if he would spend the night with her if he would... he would dishonour her by never seeing her again. In the worst case he would even father a bastard, another Flowers born out of passion, despised by gods and men... could he do this to her?
[Stay] [Leave]
[Stay] Fuck it, if she gets pregnant we're gonna regret this. But Lucas you sly dog you.
And her father is going to be so pissed.
OR, she dies and Lucas is heartbroken.
Excellent chapter. I am so sorry for making you write this much. I feel somewhat responsible.
By the way, love this:
Made me laughed.
Glad you like it! And no need to be sorry for me writing that much, after all I have tremendous fun writing this. The backstory had to be written either way and now was simply the best moment to get deeper into it. In the end, I have the feeling Lucas backstory was at least as long as Leonard's from the amount of words. And including both of their backstories allowed me to put the whole Lunett stuff into this part as well, instead of putting it at the start of the next part. Ultimately it will work far better with the pacing of their storyline in this chapter.
Originally I had planned to reveal Leonard's backstory at a later point because of the length-limit, but I realized that I wanted to reveal it in this chapter and now would be the best possible way for it, maybe even the last time it would be possible in this chapter. And his original reason for not sharing his backstory felt really cheap and lazy for me. The part was originally supposed to end with a different decision of a highly nervous Lucas either knocking at Lunett's door or just going to sleep, but I realized I had a few thousand letters left before reaching the post-length limit a second time, so I decided to put it in. I guess that was for the better in the end.
[Stay]
AWESOME CHAPTER