Lucas
Lucas awoke to the sound of someone knocking at his door. No, not his door. The sounds were too muffled for that. Weak rays of ligh… moret fell through the window, illuminating Lunett's room. She was still sleeping, curled up next to him, her left arm laid over his chest. A smile flashed across Lucas' face as he barely dared to breath, fearing to wake her up.
“Flowers!”, a muffled voice shouted and the knocking continued. “We're late, get up!” Again, the sounds of someone loudly knocking at a door were heard. “Flowers! Are you even there?”, the voice shouted again. Yes, that was clearly Leonard and he sounded frustrated.
Lunett sighed and slightly moved, strands of her brown hair falling over her face. The sound of footsteps came closer and suddenly, Lucas heard someone loudly knocking at his door. “Lunett!”, Leonard called her. “Are you awake? Do you know where Lucas is?”
This was finally enough to wake Lunett, who raised her hea… [view original content]
Thank you, hearing this means a lot! I'm glad that you are a reader of this story. By the way, best of luck for the stuff going on at your house! I'm very excited for the next parts of A New Life
Hehe, thanks for the update. I did not know that this story has been moved to the dreaded Forum Games section. I think it was a good idea to… more inform all of us, although I doubt I'll be gone by next year, as I have my own story as you know and that this is definitely one of, if not the best story on this forum. I certainly love reading it and I hope I am able to keep track of it despite what's going on at my house.
Yeah, it feels a bit weird not to see this on the front page anymore. I guess that was a pretty recent change in the rules, since usually GoT and Borderlands fanfics have been permitted in the general discussions. But well, it could be worse, it could be way worse. This story has great company with all the other stories around and I guess the rules here are far more easy-going, especially when it comes to off-topic stuff. As long as I can keep a decent number of active readers interested, little will change. On a positive side, I no longer worry about receiving too many characters, since I doubt I will get a lot more than the current. Anyways, thanks for your support!
I feel kinda saddened by this new change, but there really isn't much we can do to oppose it. Either way I will actively follow this because I really want to see where this amazing story is going.
In the original draft, this post had no paragraphs. Would have been even worse XD
I'm glad that the notification thing has been a good idea. I wasn't sure about it, but seeing how you and SaltBro (and perhaps even more) got unfollowed from the story, I'm now pretty sure that I made the right decision.
Damn, that's a huge wall of text
But it's actually good, because my acc had unfollowed some threads (again), including yours, so I didn't know if you had posted another chapter.
So, I guess I'm going to name this post 'Holy shit, how many users can I actually tag in one post?', or 'Holy shit, how many readers do I ac… moretually have?' In order not to disappoint you: Both of these questions remain unanswered at the end of this post.
This is just a quick notification in case you don't have this story under your followed discussions for whatever reason and are just checking it by searching for it through the main page, or are just occasionally checking by. Is this post necessary? I hope not. It's just me being very cautious not to loose a reader as a result of the recent event. Maybe some of you are not reading this story actively at the moment, which is fine. In that case, just ignore this post and the notification it comes with. But in case you are following the story, but have not noticed it:
Before you spend time searching for the story in the general section: It's no longer there. It has now found a new home among… [view original content]
I'm just going to reassure you that I'm not going anywhere I love this thread too much obviously I haven't been here since the beginning but I've read through every single page it's a great story your doing.
So, I guess I'm going to name this post 'Holy shit, how many users can I actually tag in one post?', or 'Holy shit, how many readers do I ac… moretually have?' In order not to disappoint you: Both of these questions remain unanswered at the end of this post.
This is just a quick notification in case you don't have this story under your followed discussions for whatever reason and are just checking it by searching for it through the main page, or are just occasionally checking by. Is this post necessary? I hope not. It's just me being very cautious not to loose a reader as a result of the recent event. Maybe some of you are not reading this story actively at the moment, which is fine. In that case, just ignore this post and the notification it comes with. But in case you are following the story, but have not noticed it:
Before you spend time searching for the story in the general section: It's no longer there. It has now found a new home among… [view original content]
So, I guess I'm going to name this post 'Holy shit, how many users can I actually tag in one post?', or 'Holy shit, how many readers do I ac… moretually have?' In order not to disappoint you: Both of these questions remain unanswered at the end of this post.
This is just a quick notification in case you don't have this story under your followed discussions for whatever reason and are just checking it by searching for it through the main page, or are just occasionally checking by. Is this post necessary? I hope not. It's just me being very cautious not to loose a reader as a result of the recent event. Maybe some of you are not reading this story actively at the moment, which is fine. In that case, just ignore this post and the notification it comes with. But in case you are following the story, but have not noticed it:
Before you spend time searching for the story in the general section: It's no longer there. It has now found a new home among… [view original content]
So, I guess I'm going to name this post 'Holy shit, how many users can I actually tag in one post?', or 'Holy shit, how many readers do I ac… moretually have?' In order not to disappoint you: Both of these questions remain unanswered at the end of this post.
This is just a quick notification in case you don't have this story under your followed discussions for whatever reason and are just checking it by searching for it through the main page, or are just occasionally checking by. Is this post necessary? I hope not. It's just me being very cautious not to loose a reader as a result of the recent event. Maybe some of you are not reading this story actively at the moment, which is fine. In that case, just ignore this post and the notification it comes with. But in case you are following the story, but have not noticed it:
Before you spend time searching for the story in the general section: It's no longer there. It has now found a new home among… [view original content]
Lucas
Lucas awoke to the sound of someone knocking at his door. No, not his door. The sounds were too muffled for that. Weak rays of ligh… moret fell through the window, illuminating Lunett's room. She was still sleeping, curled up next to him, her left arm laid over his chest. A smile flashed across Lucas' face as he barely dared to breath, fearing to wake her up.
“Flowers!”, a muffled voice shouted and the knocking continued. “We're late, get up!” Again, the sounds of someone loudly knocking at a door were heard. “Flowers! Are you even there?”, the voice shouted again. Yes, that was clearly Leonard and he sounded frustrated.
Lunett sighed and slightly moved, strands of her brown hair falling over her face. The sound of footsteps came closer and suddenly, Lucas heard someone loudly knocking at his door. “Lunett!”, Leonard called her. “Are you awake? Do you know where Lucas is?”
This was finally enough to wake Lunett, who raised her hea… [view original content]
Again, thanks to everyone for the support! While it would be an obvious lie to say that I'm happy about the changes, I look at the bright side and I am very glad to have such a wonderful audience. Without you reading this story, it wouldn't be half as fun to write. I'm looking forward for the things to come in this story and I'm relieved that many of you will read it. Stay tuned, things are going to get intense very soon.
The Voting is closed!
Lucas won't reveal Dairon's position to Mullendore
That one was interesting, seeing how it was basically a repetition of the very first choice in this chapter. I was curious if you might change your opinion with the additional development in Lucas storyline. I also had to think about something related to Lucas storyline. In his parts, you chose to ally with neither of the two possible allies he could have in this chapter, to Leonard's delight. But if you absolutely have to choose for Lucas' to ally with one of them, would you rather choose Archmaester Quent or Maron Mullendore? Vote for the lesser evil here: http://strawpoll.me/4585708
The new part is halfway written. I will try my best to finish it later today. It will feature Alys after a long absence and it will feature John Gutten after an even longer absence. I haven't forgotten about him and his ragtag group of mercenaries, but his storyline in this chapter won't be very long, so I have decided to push it back to the last third of this chapter.
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise than out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in his early thirties, with short black hair and a plain-looking clean-shaven face, he was screaming the loudest, in obvious frenzy. Like wild dogs...
“You call that a shot, Hjalgar? I've seen you shooting that guy in the face without even aiming! Don't tell me you can't hit a moving target! Try harder, gods fucking damn it!”, he shouted and continued to hoot in her direction. “You give me good sport, bitch! I will cut you, I will hurt you, I WILL CUT YOU TO PIECES!”
This caused her to run even faster, ignoring the pain in her sides and suppressing her fear of tumbling over some root. Tumbling over some root, what a thought! Only stupid little girls in the stories tend to trip over something when being chased, so that the shining hero could save her. But she was no stupid little girl and there was no shining hero in sight.
The darkness was her friend and her foe in this chase. Sadly, it wasn't dark enough to allow her to vanish into the darkness. On the other hand, it hindered her persecutors even more than it hindered her. Jumping over roots was easy for her, but the men were armed and wore heavy leather clothes. At least one of them had already fallen over and was dragging behind.
For a moment, she did not pay attention to the ground below her and of course it took this opportunity to fall away sharply right below her. She suppressed a scream as she lost her balance, falling down face forward, at least two metres deep, landing in a knee-deep pool of water. The only good thing in this situation was, that she already had been soaking wet before, from the rainstorm earlier. And at least the water cushioned her fall enough to prevent injuries. She quickly realized that she had fallen into a stream and as she raised her head, she saw that the men were unable to see her as long as she kept her head down.
“Where is she?”, the pack leader asked. “She was here over there a moment ago”, a second voice answered. Alys gulped, ignoring her heavily beating hard as she looked behind her, seeing a small hole in the dirt that edged the stream. As silent as possible, she started to crawl towards it, trying her best to make no noise in the water. The hole was located slightly above water level and while it was anything but dry, it was a welcome change compared to the cold water.
“Where the fuck is she?”, the pack leader shouted and she heard footsteps above her. Tears were flowing down her face as she remembered home. Her little brother, as he ran towards her on his tiny legs, her father in the rare moments where he showed appreciation. Her mother, a distant memory from the past. She had died giving birth to her brother five years ago and still, Alys missed her dearly.
“Fucking stream...”, the pack leader growled right above her. From his current position he wasn't able to see her, she knew it. She was shivering as she heard the footsteps coming closer. He was standing right at the edge, right above her and she knew, if he would look down directly, he could see her.
“Must have ran down that stream”, he mumbled. “Hjalgar! You come with me, we go in that direction. Torvin and Gabin, you go in the other direction. She can't be far, she's tired and soaking wet, so I expect you to find her” She heard footsteps walking away from her position and let out a relieved breath. “When you find her, break her legs”, the pack leader shouted from afar.
Just as Alys was about to relax, a deep voice above her caused her to tense up again. “Fucking maniac”, a man said. “Hey, it was your suggestion to continue the hunt”, a second man said. “Harlan would have been fine with returning to Harrenhal”
“It's not Harlan I'm worried about”, the first one admitted. “His brother on the other hand... he was close to kill me and I guess he would have no problems in killing Harlan too. Disobeying him would be unwise”
“Aye”, the second one agreed. “I almost pity Harlan...” He was cut off by the first man. “No”, he growled. “If you ever pity him again, think about what he does in the dungeons, together with Holt. Perhaps he would have turned out different without Harren and Harmund. But the... monster he is right now doesn't deserve any pity”
“I hope he won't get her”, the second voice said again. “He won't”, the first man answered. “Why are you so sure?”, the second man asked. “Because he is walking in the wrong direction” With these words, she heard footsteps right above her and before she could do anything, a man jumped down into the water in front of her. He was tall, muscular, built like a warrior. His hair was black and fell over his shoulders, his massive black beard fell down to his chest. He looked at her out of his dark brown eyes and Alys started to shiver. She frantically shook her head in despair, trying to crawl further into the hole. “Because she is right here”, the man growled.
“Fuck”, the second man said from above. “What are we going to do? I... I can't watch this” The man in front of her shook his head. “Easy, Gabin”, he growled, before glaring at Alys again. “Under any other circumstance, I would do what I was told. But not for him. Today's your lucky day, girl”
She gave him a suprised look. “Wha... what? What are...”, she stuttered, but was cut off by him laying a finger on his mouth. “Run, little girl. Don't look back” He stepped aside and didn't need to continue. Alys gave him a look of confusion, mixed with heartfelt thankfulness. She didn't understand what just happened, but she ran, she ran for her life.
“She's not here, Harlan!”, the man shouted as she was out of sight. Tears of relief flew down her face as she ran. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to lie down, to sleep for a moment. But she pushed herself to continue running, jumping over roots, ignoring the pain.
And then she saw the end of the forest appearing in front of her. Without even thinking, she ran out of it, onto the moonlit road, collapsing in it's middle. It was only then that she noticed the riders that were slowly approaching her. For a moment, she froze in shock, her eyes wide opened, her body trembling with fear. She tried to stand up and her legs finally yielded, leaving her to collapse once more on the road. No, no, it mustn't end like this! Not now! She saw the riders approaching, slowly, carefully. No!
She counted three riders as she struggled to stand up and finally succumbed to her panic. The three men stopped their horses and one of them, probably their leader, descended from his horse. She got a closer look at him and saw that he was a handsome man, probably about thirty years old. His hair was tied to a short ponytail and as black as his well-trimmed beard. Across his left cheek, he had a noticeable scar that almost split his left ear. He was wearing elegant, black clothes and a fur coat, almost giving him the appearance of a nobleman. And what truly put her off was the polite smile on his face.
“Good evening”, he greeted her, offering his hand to help her up. She gave him a suspicious glare, unsure if she should accept his gesture or continue trying to crawl away from him. “Who are you?”, she hissed with a hostile tone in his voice. The man raised an eyebrow. “Is there a reason for your fear?”, he asked. “I hope it's not because of me. I can assure you, I mean you no harm”
She finally took enough courage to grab his outstretched hand, immediately being pulled to her feet. The stranger held her hand in a strong, but gentle grip, giving her a polite smile. “My name is Edward Anturion”, he introduced himself. “I am a traveller, currently on my way to the castle of Harrenhal. Could you tell me why you were running away?”
“I was...”, she panted. “I was being hunted...” She stopped, finally noticing her ruined clothes. The once fine leather was now stained with mud and soaking wet. Edward followed her stare and in a quick movement he took off his heavy cloak, laying it around her shoulders. It took her a moment to stop shivering, but she gave him a thankful smile.
“See?”, Edward said with a smirk. “Much better. You have a pretty smile, young lady. You should show it more often” His smirk vanished. “But I have to ask, why are you out here?”
As Alys started to speak, she noticed that her voice was still a bit cracking and she felt dizzy. Seven Hells, she couldn't afford getting ill now! “Do you know a man who is called Harmund Hoare?”, she asked carefully. Edward frowned as he heard this. “I've heard enough of him”, he answered. “Say no more. You're safe now. He won't dare to attack you while you are under my protection”
This caught her attention and her suspicious glare returned. “He is a king's son. Why would he refrain from attacking you?” Edward flashed her a quick smile. “Because I have business with his father and the king would be very displeased if something would happen to me and my men”
He raised a hand and the other two riders approached. “Ah, but excuse my manners. Here I am, talking to such a lovely young lady without introducing my bodyguards” As they came closer, Alys saw that one of the riders was a woman. She had boyish short hair in a common brown tone and even in the darkness Alys could see that she was not a very good looking woman. Her face was long and gaunt, with small scars giving away that she had seen a fair share of battles. The man next to her had very short dark brown hair and a matching stubble. While the woman had two swords strapped to her horse, the man was casually wielding a crossbow. Neither of them was looking as friendly as Edward, albeit they didn't look hostile either.
“To the left we have Carvin Granver, a good friend of mine”, he explained. “To the right we have Lady Alisa Karstark” This caused the woman to frown, while Alys froze in shock. Alisa Karstark! She knew her, everyone in the North knew her. Lord Karstark's thirdborn daughter, Alisa the Kinslayer, who ran away from Karhold after killing her own brother! And Alys even recognized her. It has been twelve years ago, when her father took her to a trip to Karhold. Back then, Alisa had long hair, no scars and a bright smile... for a moment Alys wondered what happened to her in the past twelve years.
“May I ask for your name, young lady?”, Edward asked politely and Alys realized that Alisa would recognize her name. What would she do? Surely she wouldn't send her back home, right?
[Tell them your real name][Tell them a fake name]
John
Out of the corner of his eye, John saw that Temari was checking out the barmaid. She was pretty in her own way, he had to give her that. No real beauty and he had never been a fan of short hair, but she had intriguing features and the way she moved... still, she was no Cass. She wasn't even close. No one was.
“Seven Hells, Tem”, Behara hissed, slightly punching her brothers shoulder. She immediately noticed what she did as Temari cringed and a pained expression flashed over his face. “Fuck, I'm sorry...”, she mumbled. Temari shook his head. “It's okay, sis”, he answered, giving John an apologizing look. Why did they all feel the need to pity him? Temari, Behara, even Aylard who had lost so much. But their attempts at consoling him came of as clumsy and he didn't need them. The only one who made him feel better was Janae and he loved her for it.
During the past days, they had travelled to Raylansfair, accompanying Aylard and his family. It had been a hard decision for the innkeeper to leave his beloved inn behind, but he had wasted no time to bring a load of stuff with him. His warhammer was leaning at his side right now and the room he had rented for himself, Sawyer, Gunel and Kyette was filled with their belongings. Among them was the large harp that had belonged to Aylard's wife. On their first evening at the inn, Cass had played for him and he had immediately taken a liking to her.
“John”, Janae softly said and he noticed that he was staring bleakly at the wall. “Drink something” Even though he still felt like shit, on the outside and on the inside, a smile found it's way on his face. She knew exactly what he needed right now. He raised his hand, giving a signal to the barmaid. His wounds had healed well, albeit he would keep a number of scars on his face. Well, it hadn't been a pretty face anyway. Still, as he raised his hand, he was still able to feel Bear's knives in his shoulders. Behara had been certain that no permanent damage was done, but it sure as hell felt like it.
“What can I get you?”, the barmaid asked as she approached them. Temari gave her a big grin, much to Behara's visible annoyance. “Well, good evening”, he said with a voice that was probably supposed to be charming. Just like she did for Gutten, Behara had tried her best to patch Temari up. John had insisted to give Temari the rest of the Milk of the Poppy they bought in Pentos a few months ago. The effect still hadn't worn off completely and the mercenary was more jovial than usual and far more usual than he should be, all things considered.
The barmaid narrowed her eyes. “What can I get you?”, she repeated in annoyance. “My name is Temari Keys”, he answered. “What is yours?” The barmaid gave Janae a short glare, apparently viewing the woman as the one with the most authority on the table. She wasn't exactly wrong.
“That's enough, Temari”, she growled and the mercenary focused his attention on her. The barmaid let out a small sigh. “Ilish”, she answered. “My name is Ilish Granver. What can I get you?” She paused for a moment. “And that's the last time I'm going to ask”
“Seven jugs of ale”, Janae answered, looking at Aylard and his family, who sat across her. The innkeeper gave her a short nod. “Yes, seven jugs”, she confirmed again. The barmaid nodded before leaving, politely ignoring Temari staring at her ass.
“I'm going to punch you again, Tem”, Behara mumbled, forcing her brother's attention. Janae grinned as she heard this, albeit her grin vanished again as she noticed that Gutten was still looking sullenly. “Seven fucking Hells, John Gutten”, she moaned. “You want to look like that when we're going to meet that self-proclaimed lord?”
“Won't make that much of a difference”, Temari interjected. “Jaro and I'Lian are still somewhere out there and Sammy is in Oldtown. He hired six of us, he got three. John is hardly in a condition to fight and I've been better. The lord is not going to be pleased”
“Pleasing the lord is not my intention”, Janae answered. “Fulfilling the contract on the other hand... Do you even realize that we can get into serious trouble because of that?” John raised his head, but before he was able to answer, Aylard spoke. “John did the right thing”, the innkeeper said. Janae rolled her eyes. “Of course you see it that way. But Sammy is an important part of our team and she's out there getting your daughter back”
“Enough, Janae”, John growled, causing her to go silent. She understood immediately that she has almost crossed a line and he could tell that she felt sorry for it. “Sammy is not in Oldtown for Aylard or for me. She's there for Cass” This was enough to silence both, Janae and Aylard.
“She is going to bring her back to you”, Behara said after a moment, softly touching Aylard's shoulder. The innkeeper forced himself to smile at her. “I know”, he answered, even though John could tell that he was worried. “I just can't stop thinking about what's going to become of us”
“What do you mean?”, Behara asked kindly. Aylard let out a sigh. “A few days ago I owned an inn on a central road in the Reach. It wasn't an easy life, but it was nonetheless a good one. Lunett was going to take over one day. Sawyer was destined to support her as good as he could. Kyette and Gunel had a steady work. What's left of that now?”
“Bad things tend to happen”, Janae answered, staring at the table in front of her. “No need to let them drag you down” She looked up to Aylard. “You're alive because we saved you. Now do me the favour and spare me a tale of all the things you've lost. This is Raylansfair, I'm sure you'll find work here”
“Enough, both of you”, John groaned, looking for the barmaid. He really needed to drink a lot now. Of course, he had thought about the meeting with the lord during the past days, but he had other things on his mind right now. As soon as he closed his eyes, he saw her again, lying on the ground. He knew, her last look before the life vanished from her eyes would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life.
“We have to concentrate on the tasks at hand. Aylard, I wish you the best of luck for the future. I hope Sammy finds your daughter, but that's going to be the last time we will deal with each other. Build a new life, for you and for your family”, he explained and the innkeeper gave him a nod. “I will, John”, he promised. “It's going to be hard, but we will manage. Perhaps Kyette can find work here at the tavern, while I think about joining the city guard”
“You should do that”, Behara said with a sweet smile. “Perhaps we could even help you!” This caused Janae and Temari to look up immediately. “What do you mean by that, Hara?”, Temari asked carefully. Janae let out a sigh. “You got to be kidding me...”, she mumbled. “We've done enough”
Behara shook her head. “You might see it that way. But these people lost their home and a good part of their belongings. They have nothing, while we have the opportunity to help them out”, she insisted. “And why should we do that?”, Janae asked. “Because it's the only decent thing to do”, the girl answered. Janae chuckled. On moments like this, John envied Behara a little bit. Sure, she proved once again that she had more of a child inside of her than her eighteen years of age showed. But she also proved that she had remained a good person, despite all the things she had witnessed. John stopped being a good man years ago, on Orkmont. And on some days he suspected that Janae had never been a good person in her life. Not that he could blame here. Still... he slightly envied Behara for being better than he could ever be.
“Come on, John”, she said. “I'm not asking for you to give them all of our money. But we could pay for their room, at least until Aylard or Kyette found work” Janae gave her a cold glare, before looking back at John. “Can you please just order her to stop being ridiculous?”, she said with a frown.
“I'm ridiculous?”, Behara asked and her voice gained some sharpness. “Compassion is not a bad thing, you should try it” She looked at John again. “Just let us pay the rent for their room. We can afford it easily, we have more money than we need and it would help them a lot. Think about it, what would you do if Cass would sit with you at this table” “Hara...”, Janae hissed immediately, shooting an apologizing stare to John, who stared bleakly at the girl again.
[Pay for Aylard's room][Don't pay for Aylard's room]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Hi Liquid, I'm sorry that I miss a vote and your thread was moved, I probably wasn't be and join to the story if this thread wasn't in the Game of Thrones general discussions and we hope you won't lost any readers, because you're one of the amazing writers out there. I personal like this chapter and poor Alys, glad that she was lucky, [Tell them your real name], they are maybe her heroes, also we [Pay for Aylard's room], but this isn't a compassion and it's more like a charity, you'll need to do something better for John to know what's compassion mean.
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Of course you can! But... ualexen, did you just got banned literally the same moment you wrote this? Now that is bad timing... but once you're unbanned you can join of course!
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise t… morehan out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in … [view original content]
I'm very surprised about the outcome for both choices and was certain a majority of you would pick the other options. But especially the outcome of the first choice will make some things a lot easier for me to write.
I also checked both of the polls and I am amazed that you almost managed to avoid a clear answer for both questions. In poll 1, Maron Mullendore won by a narrow margin, having one vote more than Archmaester Quent. I'm glad that this poll has a pretty ambigous outcome, because that was exactly what I aimed at. Both, Mullendore and Quent have clear disadvantages and a few (hopefully) clear advantages, both are supposed to be pretty shady in their motives (or in Mullendore's case, the motives of his lord), albeit I can tease that in coming chapters one of them will prove himself to be a slightly better choice than the other. The canonical answer to the second poll will also be revealed in future chapters, albeit both options would be completely in line with Aylard's character.
On another note, it appears my worries about a decline of activity after this story had been moved have been unfounded. Thanks a lot for voting, I'm very relieved that you all continue to follow the story. The new part will feature Maya and Drent should be up either very late today or at some point tomorrow. I will be busy for a majority of tomorrow, so I will try my best to finish the part today. If I don't manage to do that, expect it to come out pretty late tomorrow.
The canonical answer to the second poll will also be revealed in future chapters, albeit both options would be completely in line with Aylard's character.
The Voting is closed!
Alys will tell Edward her real name
John will pay for Aylard's room
I'm very surprised about the outcome for … moreboth choices and was certain a majority of you would pick the other options. But especially the outcome of the first choice will make some things a lot easier for me to write.
I also checked both of the polls and I am amazed that you almost managed to avoid a clear answer for both questions. In poll 1, Maron Mullendore won by a narrow margin, having one vote more than Archmaester Quent. I'm glad that this poll has a pretty ambigous outcome, because that was exactly what I aimed at. Both, Mullendore and Quent have clear disadvantages and a few (hopefully) clear advantages, both are supposed to be pretty shady in their motives (or in Mullendore's case, the motives of his lord), albeit I can tease that in coming chapters one of them will prove himself to be a slightly better choice than the other. The can… [view original content]
The man walked closer to her position, slowly and completely unaware of her presence. He still hadn't spotted her, albeit it was only a matter of time until he would. Maya knew, trying to hide deeper in the bushes was no option, as the danger of being spotted by Rodrik and Bear was too high. Still, it took her a lot of courage to give Irving a nod. What if he would miss? Oh, dear gods, she put her life in the hands of the most useless person she ever encountered!
Irving's arrow hit the man at the right temple, digging deep into his skull and killing him immediately. He didn't even had time to scream, albeit his body made a muffled sound as he fell to the ground, causing Rodrik to listen up.
“What was that?”, he growled. Bear chuckled slightly as he turned his head towards the bushes. Maya could see the thirst for blood in his dark eyes and for a moment she feared that he would see her. “I told you I have a man out there”, he answered, turning his head back to Rodrik. Maya let out a sigh of relief, before looking at Irving, who put his thumb up, grinning widely. She gave him a thankful nod and turned her head back to the fire, so that she could continue to listen what Rodrik and Bear might say.
“So, Anturion is in the Riverlands?”, Bear asked. Rodrik gave him a nod. “Two of my men, Carvin and Alisa are with him”, he explained. “To protect him, but also to keep an eye on him. I don't trust pirates”
“You got a man who's fucking name is Alisa?”, Bear asked, grinning widely. Rodrik gave him a slightly irritated nod. “One of my mercenaries, a woman and one of the best damn fighters I know”, he answered. “You got a problem with that?”
Bear shook his head. “Not at all”, he answered. “But you really give an important task to a woman? You're fucking crazy!” He let out a short laughter, that got even louder as Rodrik frowned. The fallen knight stayed silent until Bear's laughter stopped as suddenly as it started. “Back to business”, he proclaimed as the other man went silent. “A hundred golden hands for you, seventy for each your five highest ranking underlings, fifty for the rest and you can keep everything you pillage. That's Anturion's offer”
“Generous fucking offer”, Bear growled. “And all we have to do is to burn that puny town to the ground?” Rodrik gave him a nod. “With help from my mercenaries and hopefully with additional help from Harren Hoare”
The mentioning of the dreaded tyrant caused Maya to shiver. What kind of conspiracy did she just stumble upon? Mercenaries, bandits and now a king, all conspiring to destroy a small town? She noticed that her hands were shaking as she was trying her best to understand what the two men were talking about.
“And Blacksails?”, Bear asked. “What's his opinion about Anturion's ambition?” Rodrik shrugged. “Aeron Blacksails has more important things to worry about. He does not care what his captains plan as long as he gets his share of the loot”, he answered.
“Fucking hate pirates”, Bear growled and spat on the ground. Rodrik gave him a nod. “Fucking hate pirates”, he confirmed. “Blacksails will get a sizeable part of the loot, in exchange for his help” He looked towards the bushes and for a moment, Maya was sure that he narrowed his eyes. “You will travel to the Riverlands. Meet up with Anturion at Harrenhal. He has more detailed orders for you and your men”
“And what are you going to do?”, Bear asked and slightly raised from the ground, looking towards the bushes. Looking at Maya. Startled, she started to crawl back, trying to make as little noise as possible. “What is it?”, Rodrik asked, putting a hand on the hilt of his sword.
“Something's not right”, Bear growled. “Kevan!” He took a step towards the bushes and this time he looked a bit longer at the bush Maya was still hiding in. “Hey, Kevan! Where the fuck are you?” He looked once again at the bushes and Maya knew immediately that he had seen her this time. “What the...”, he started to say but cut himself off as Maya jumped up, running away from the small camp.
“Intruder!”, Bear shouted behind her. “Get them!” She heard the sound of weapons being drawn and ran faster towards Irving, whose triumphant grin vanished the moment he saw her. “What's...”, he started, but Maya cut him off by grabbing his shoulder. “We need to get out here”, she hissed. “Stay silent, move fast”
“What... what have you done again?”, he moaned. His face went pale as he looked over her shoulder. “Fuck!”, he shouted. “What the fuck have you done?” And then he started to run. Maya had to change her earlier opinion on him as she saw him running. He wasn't useless, not entirely. He was a good shot with a bow, but he was even better at running away from danger.
While she was running after Irving, she took a quick glance over her shoulder herself, seeing two men chasing after her. The darkness worked to her advantage now, as she wasn't able to see Bear or Rodrik, just as they weren't able to see her. On the other hand, she had Irving, who was able to see far better in this darkness, running safely through the darkness. She only had to follow him. Slowly she realized that she had been saved by Irving... Seven Hells, she could only hope that Gregar would never learn about that. He would ridicule her for weeks!
In front of her, Irving let out a short scream and fell to the ground, causing her to nearly trip over him. He lay on the ground and even in the darkness she was able to see the pained expression on his face as he put his hands on his knee.
For a short moment, Maya thought about leaving him here. It would be easy. Irving, as pathetic as he was, would probably be able to hold them off for a while, in a desperate attempt so safe his life. She would be safe...
And then she realized what she was thinking and her cheeks turned red in embarrassment. She stopped in front of him, turning around to face the two men chasing her, pulling out her daggers. “Can you stand up?”, she hissed over her shoulder, in Irving's direction. “Y... yes”, he stuttered, slowly getting back on his feet again.
The men chasing her had almost reached her position. They were tall and buff, looking as if they had lived on the roads for quite some time. One of them, a dark-skinned man with long dark hair, was armed with a spiked club. His companion, a slightly smaller fair-skinned man with a crooked grin on his face, was armed with a hatchet.
“Look who we have here”, the dark-skinned man said. “A cunt and a little fatty” He looked at his companion. “Dibs on the pretty one. You can take fatty if you want to” The smaller man shook his head, his grin still on his face. “Bear is going to want her”, he stated as he started to walk around Maya at an appropriate distance, while she was carefully eyeing them, her daggers raised.
“Oh gods...”, Irving mumbled. “We're going to die. We're both going to die. This is all your fault!” He jumped up, pulling out a small knife, desperately looking at the men. “Please, don't take me! I have nothing to do with that! Take her, leave me alone!”
Maya narrowed her eyes as she looked at him, while the men started to laugh. “We got a brave one here”, the smaller man said. “I'm going to gut you like a pig, fatty” With these words, he jumped in Irving's direction, trying to embed his hatchet in his skull. Irving let out a scream as he staggered backwards and Maya knew he wouldn't survive this attack if she wouldn't intervene. She took a quick step past him, getting between him and his opponent, while pushing him to the ground and dodging the strike at the same time.
Her opponent let out a frustrated groan and Maya noticed that the dark-skinned man behind her charged at her. She quickly jumped to the side, trying to evade the attack, barely parrying a strike from the hatchet in the process. Before she could do another move, she heard a surprised scream coming from the dark-skinned man. She and the smaller man both looked in his direction at the same moment, seeing him slowly sinking to the ground. An arrow was sticking out of his chest and Maya was able to see a figure standing a few metres behind him, a bow in his hand.
“What the...”, the smaller man said, ignoring Maya for a moment. This was his last mistake, as she quickly rammed one of her daggers into his ribs and pressed the other one under his chin. “No!”, he managed to exclaim before she slit his throat.
Next to her, Irving staggered back to his feet, looking from her to the archer in front of them. Maya pointed her daggers at the stranger, unsure how to react at first. As he slowly walked forwards, Maya noticed that Irving was slowly moving behind her. “That's close enough!”, she shouted, prompting the man to stop. She saw that he was younger than she thought, with black hair and a short beard. He was armed with a bow, albeit he had raised his hands, indicating that he wasn't a threat.
“Easy”, he said. “I don't intend to harm you” He had a soft voice and the look in his dark eyes sounded honest enough to cause Maya to lower her daggers. “Who are you?”, she growled, still suspicious of who this man might be.
“My name is Christian Thomas”, he introduced himself. “I'm a ranger in service of House Raylan. You're on Lord Raylan's land” He pointed at the dead men. “I have encountered these men a few hours ago and followed them, trying to find out their intentions. And while doing that, I witnessed you fleeing from them” A smirk appeared on his face. “You stirred up quite the hornet's nest back there”
Maya frowned as she heard this. She and Irving exchanged a quick look. “Then we should leave immediately”, she concluded, looking back at Christian. “I... thank you for your help. I doubt any of us would have survived without your help” She hesitated for a moment, pressing her lips together. “Perhaps... you are a ranger, right?”, she asked. Christian gave her a nod, raising an eyebrow. “Perhaps, would you be willing to lead us out of here? We have a two friends at the eastern edge of the forest. Together we plan to travel to Raylansfair”
Christian's smirk turned into an honest smile and he took a quick bow in front of her. “Mylady, it would be an honour to be your guide. In exchange, I'd like you to tell me what you know about the plans these people made”, he offered. Maya gave him a nod. “We have a deal”, she answered, as she suddenly remembered something. No, someone.
“Shit”, she muttered. “I almost forgot Dimitri” She looked at Irving. “They are searching this forest because of us...” “You”, Irving cut her off. “They never saw me” He gave her a proud smile, ignoring her irritated frown. “Anyway, you are telling me you want to go back for that philosopher guy? He's not our problem. Let's just follow the friendly man over there, to safety. Besides, he was annoying and I don't want to spend any more time with him”
Maya raised a brow in mockery as she heard this. “You're telling me he annoyed you?”, she asked and Irving gave her a nod. “Yeah, are you implying something? Now come on and get the hell out of here, he's not our problem”
[Go back and try to find Dimitri][Agree to leave Dimitri behind]
Drent
“Pig pens for me”, Drent exclaimed. “I'm not missing that opportunity!” Montclair's mouth formed a rare smirk and he gave him a nod. “Then I'm going to search for the Maester. Wouldn't want the noble ambassador to bleed to death” Both of them looked to the honour table, where Ambassador Celtigar was still lying unconscious. Princess Argella had slightly moved her plate away from him, so that she could continue to eat without having to worry about blood on her dress. Her father gave Drent a pleased look as he started to walk towards the table.
“You want to escort our guests?”, Argilac asked. Drent gave him a nod. “Yes, your grace”, he answered and the Storm King quickly patted him on the back. It felt like a horse walking over his spine. “Good man”, he complimented him. “What's your name?”
“Drent Golton, your grace”, Drent answered. “Then make sure to put them into the dirtiest and smelliest pig pen we have. Should remind them of home”, Argilac growled and a quick smile flashed across the princess' mouth as she looked up from her plate. Her deep blue eyes looked at Drent and for a moment it appeared as if she was looking right through him.
“Make sure that they have it comfortable. Give them some pigs to mate with, or whatever they do all day on their puny island”, the king snarled, causing Drent to look back at him. Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw the Storm Princess smirking.
Drent saluted in front of him, before walking towards the Valyrian table. The four men around it were slowly raising from their chairs, apparently unsure what was about to happen to them. “You... you can't mean to...”, their leader stuttered, but Drent cut him off. “The Storm King can, mylords”, he answered, pointing at the doors of the Great Hall. “Now, if you could please follow me. Behave and nobody gets hurt”
A quick glance towards the mutilated ambassador was enough to destroy any thought of resistance the Valyrians might have. Still, their glares were more than hostile, mainly towards Drent. He noticed that they didn't even look towards Storm King and Princess, presumably out of fear. They were indeed more clever than the ambassador.
Slowly and carefully, they walked towards the Great Hall. Drent saw the smirking faces of the soldiers and he caught himself grinning more than once. But for every dozen smirking faces, he caught one worried face. These were the clever ones, he realized. The ones who knew what this could lead to. Argilac Durrandon was a proud man and his daughter was an even prouder woman. But Aegon Targaryen was the last dragonlord of Old Valyria. He wasn't someone who would react kindly to the events that happened today. And unlike any other potential enemy the Storm King could make, Aegon had dragons. He had the means to pose a serious threat to the Stormlands, even if Argilac the Arrogant saw it differently. Drent loved and respected the Storm King, but the man had clearly overreacted today. Even his daughter would have most likely been satisfied if he had simply knocked the man out. But what he did today could have dire consequences.
The Valyrians complied and followed him out of the hall peacefully. It was not as if they had any choice. They silently descended the stair that lead from Storm's End's tower down to the courtyard. About fifty men were still standing guard at this late hour and barely anyone paid attention to him. However, as Drent was slowly leading the men towards the pig pen, a large wooden building located on the western side of the castle, he noticed one man who slowly approached him.
Drent let out a sigh. He knew this man and he did not like him at all. It was a tall man, muscular, with a handsome face and the silver blonde hair those of valyrian descent typically displayed. A scar on his left temple went down next to his eye towards his chin. “Evening, Drentie”, he greeted him. Drent slightly rolled his eyes. “Garen”, he muttered. Garen was a mercenary in the Storm King's service, a personal confidante of Argilac's good friend Ser Baron Schodek. In Drent's eyes, he was little more than a ruthless cutthroat, like all mercenaries were. But even more than his profession, Drent hated his constant mockery.
“I see you got some pretty pigs to keep you company”, the mercenary said with a big grin. “I heard quite the turmoil in the Great Hall. You want to tell me what happened?” Drent shook his head. “No”, he simply said, continuing his walk towards the pig pens. Unfortunately, Garen remained stubborn. “Come on, don't leave me hanging here. What happened?”
Drent tried his best to ignore him, but one of the Valyrian's answered instead. “Your king did something terrible”, he explained and Drent rolled with his eyes. Garen raised an eyebrow and pressed his lips together. “Something terrible, I see. Care to explain what exactly?”
“He cut off the hands of the noble Corilyan Celtigar, Lord Aegon's ambassador and personal friend”, the man continued to explain and Garen's grin got even wider. He slightly chuckled. “He mutilated an ambassador? That's stupid, even for him” He quickly looked around, smirking at Drent. “With all due respect, of course”
“Lord Aegon will hear of this”, the valyrian threatened as Drent entered the pig pen, looking for the dirtiest and smelliest of them. “He won't leave this unpunished! He will call his bannermen and he will take this castle, with fire and blood!”
This caused Drent and Garen to chuckle in unison, a rare moment. “The gods of storm and sea couldn't bring this castle down”, Drent said as he opened the door to one of the pig pens. The pigs inside gave him only a mildly interested look as they lay in the mud, oinking curiously as the first of the valyrian's reluctantly entered the pig pen. “What makes you think Aegon will succeed where even gods failed?”
“Your old gods are not here, soldier, they are not even real”, the valyrian answered defiantly. “Lord Aegon on the other hand is a week's flight away, on Dragonstone. And I can assure you, his dragons are very real and their fire will burn through your halls. It will consume you, it will consume your king, his army and his Storm Bitch of a daugh...” He didn't manage to continue as the shaft of Drent's spear hit him in the face, sending him falling into the mud.
“I thought you've learned a lesson about insulting the princess. Consider yourself lucky that I'm not her father”, Drent growled, turning around and walking towards the door. Garen followed him, grinning like an imbecile. “So, he cut off the hands of a peaceful ambassador?”, he asked and Drent gave him an annoyed nod. “He did”, he answered shortly, trying to keep his conversation with Garen as short as possible.
“As much as I enjoyed seeing that pig in the mud, I have to agree with him. That was a dangerous move”, Garen said and his ever present smirk vanished. “He can do this with that dornish toad, he can do it with the Gardener king, perhaps even with Harren the Black. But insulting a man who rides a dragon large enough to swallow half a dozen men at once? What was the terrible thing the ambassador did?”
“He insulted the princess”, Drent answered. “Offered her a bastard as a potential suitor” Garen started to chuckle again, to Drent's annoyance. “He offered Argella Durrandon a bastard? I always thought the dragonlord was a cunning man. No wonder the Storm King overreacted”
His smirk vanished and for a moment he looked genuinely worried. “But in all seriousness, why would a man as savvy as Aegon Targaryen do such a thing? That was to be expected, wasn't it? Or perhaps he expected it indeed, only looking for an excuse to start a war against the Stormlands”
He let out a frustrated sigh. “If we burn to death, I know who I should blame. You agree with me, Drentie?” His infuriating smirk returned as he slightly patted Drent on the shoulder. “Or perhaps you want to be a good little soldier, agreeing with everything your beloved king does”
Drent narrowed his eyes. “What are you implying?”, he asked slowly. Garen shrugged. “Nothing, Drentie. But you have to admit that it was a bit extreme, right? I mean, punching him, okay, but cutting off his hands? That's pretty much a declaration of war, all because someone said something mean about his precious daughter”
Drent pressed his lips together. He had a strong dislike for Garen's attitude, especially towards the king. It was a good thing that the mercenary had never talked to Argilac before, or else his head would have probably ended on a spike long ago.
[Agree with Garen][Disagree with Garen][Stay silent]
The canonical answer to the second poll will also be revealed in future chapters, albeit both options would be completely in line with Aylard's character.
Lucas/Lunett survive confirmed?
Maya
The man walked closer to her position, slowly and completely unaware of her presence. He still hadn't spotted her, albeit it was onl… morey a matter of time until he would. Maya knew, trying to hide deeper in the bushes was no option, as the danger of being spotted by Rodrik and Bear was too high. Still, it took her a lot of courage to give Irving a nod. What if he would miss? Oh, dear gods, she put her life in the hands of the most useless person she ever encountered!
Irving's arrow hit the man at the right temple, digging deep into his skull and killing him immediately. He didn't even had time to scream, albeit his body made a muffled sound as he fell to the ground, causing Rodrik to listen up.
“What was that?”, he growled. Bear chuckled slightly as he turned his head towards the bushes. Maya could see the thirst for blood in his dark eyes and for a moment she feared that he would see her. “I told you I have a man out there”, he ans… [view original content]
Maya
The man walked closer to her position, slowly and completely unaware of her presence. He still hadn't spotted her, albeit it was onl… morey a matter of time until he would. Maya knew, trying to hide deeper in the bushes was no option, as the danger of being spotted by Rodrik and Bear was too high. Still, it took her a lot of courage to give Irving a nod. What if he would miss? Oh, dear gods, she put her life in the hands of the most useless person she ever encountered!
Irving's arrow hit the man at the right temple, digging deep into his skull and killing him immediately. He didn't even had time to scream, albeit his body made a muffled sound as he fell to the ground, causing Rodrik to listen up.
“What was that?”, he growled. Bear chuckled slightly as he turned his head towards the bushes. Maya could see the thirst for blood in his dark eyes and for a moment she feared that he would see her. “I told you I have a man out there”, he ans… [view original content]
Maya
The man walked closer to her position, slowly and completely unaware of her presence. He still hadn't spotted her, albeit it was onl… morey a matter of time until he would. Maya knew, trying to hide deeper in the bushes was no option, as the danger of being spotted by Rodrik and Bear was too high. Still, it took her a lot of courage to give Irving a nod. What if he would miss? Oh, dear gods, she put her life in the hands of the most useless person she ever encountered!
Irving's arrow hit the man at the right temple, digging deep into his skull and killing him immediately. He didn't even had time to scream, albeit his body made a muffled sound as he fell to the ground, causing Rodrik to listen up.
“What was that?”, he growled. Bear chuckled slightly as he turned his head towards the bushes. Maya could see the thirst for blood in his dark eyes and for a moment she feared that he would see her. “I told you I have a man out there”, he ans… [view original content]
Maya
The man walked closer to her position, slowly and completely unaware of her presence. He still hadn't spotted her, albeit it was onl… morey a matter of time until he would. Maya knew, trying to hide deeper in the bushes was no option, as the danger of being spotted by Rodrik and Bear was too high. Still, it took her a lot of courage to give Irving a nod. What if he would miss? Oh, dear gods, she put her life in the hands of the most useless person she ever encountered!
Irving's arrow hit the man at the right temple, digging deep into his skull and killing him immediately. He didn't even had time to scream, albeit his body made a muffled sound as he fell to the ground, causing Rodrik to listen up.
“What was that?”, he growled. Bear chuckled slightly as he turned his head towards the bushes. Maya could see the thirst for blood in his dark eyes and for a moment she feared that he would see her. “I told you I have a man out there”, he ans… [view original content]
Comments
[Don't reveal Dairon's location]
Thank you, hearing this means a lot! I'm glad that you are a reader of this story. By the way, best of luck for the stuff going on at your house! I'm very excited for the next parts of A New Life
Yeah, it feels a bit weird not to see this on the front page anymore. I guess that was a pretty recent change in the rules, since usually GoT and Borderlands fanfics have been permitted in the general discussions. But well, it could be worse, it could be way worse. This story has great company with all the other stories around and I guess the rules here are far more easy-going, especially when it comes to off-topic stuff. As long as I can keep a decent number of active readers interested, little will change. On a positive side, I no longer worry about receiving too many characters, since I doubt I will get a lot more than the current. Anyways, thanks for your support!
In the original draft, this post had no paragraphs. Would have been even worse XD
I'm glad that the notification thing has been a good idea. I wasn't sure about it, but seeing how you and SaltBro (and perhaps even more) got unfollowed from the story, I'm now pretty sure that I made the right decision.
Oops I think I had been unfollowed, will start catching up now!
I'm just going to reassure you that I'm not going anywhere I love this thread too much obviously I haven't been here since the beginning but I've read through every single page it's a great story your doing.
I was absent on the forum for a couple of days so I didn't read, but i Will catch up
Don't worry, I still read everything. Sometimes I'm just too lazy to vote
This is a really hard one! But I'll go [Reveal Dairon's location] because I think they'll need the protection
Again, thanks to everyone for the support! While it would be an obvious lie to say that I'm happy about the changes, I look at the bright side and I am very glad to have such a wonderful audience. Without you reading this story, it wouldn't be half as fun to write. I'm looking forward for the things to come in this story and I'm relieved that many of you will read it. Stay tuned, things are going to get intense very soon.
The Voting is closed!
Lucas won't reveal Dairon's position to Mullendore
That one was interesting, seeing how it was basically a repetition of the very first choice in this chapter. I was curious if you might change your opinion with the additional development in Lucas storyline. I also had to think about something related to Lucas storyline. In his parts, you chose to ally with neither of the two possible allies he could have in this chapter, to Leonard's delight. But if you absolutely have to choose for Lucas' to ally with one of them, would you rather choose Archmaester Quent or Maron Mullendore? Vote for the lesser evil here: http://strawpoll.me/4585708
The new part is halfway written. I will try my best to finish it later today. It will feature Alys after a long absence and it will feature John Gutten after an even longer absence. I haven't forgotten about him and his ragtag group of mercenaries, but his storyline in this chapter won't be very long, so I have decided to push it back to the last third of this chapter.
Alys
The arrow hit the tree right next to her, digging deep into the wood with a loud thud. Alys let out a scream, more out of surprise than out of actual terror. She wasn't someone who easily panicked, even though she had to admit that she was pretty close to breaking down right now. By lucky chance, the four men had found her as she was sitting down to eat a small loaf of bred. While she was able to gain a small advantage by being far lighter than the men, they were obviously better runners. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to escape her persecutors and up until now she was pretty sure that she made a good job. And then they started to shoot at her. Great. Fucking great. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse.
Even though she had barely seen them, she had seen the man who was obviously their leader. At least back home, packs of wild dogs had an alpha male as their leader, the one who barked the loudest. And this man, in his early thirties, with short black hair and a plain-looking clean-shaven face, he was screaming the loudest, in obvious frenzy. Like wild dogs...
“You call that a shot, Hjalgar? I've seen you shooting that guy in the face without even aiming! Don't tell me you can't hit a moving target! Try harder, gods fucking damn it!”, he shouted and continued to hoot in her direction. “You give me good sport, bitch! I will cut you, I will hurt you, I WILL CUT YOU TO PIECES!”
This caused her to run even faster, ignoring the pain in her sides and suppressing her fear of tumbling over some root. Tumbling over some root, what a thought! Only stupid little girls in the stories tend to trip over something when being chased, so that the shining hero could save her. But she was no stupid little girl and there was no shining hero in sight.
The darkness was her friend and her foe in this chase. Sadly, it wasn't dark enough to allow her to vanish into the darkness. On the other hand, it hindered her persecutors even more than it hindered her. Jumping over roots was easy for her, but the men were armed and wore heavy leather clothes. At least one of them had already fallen over and was dragging behind.
For a moment, she did not pay attention to the ground below her and of course it took this opportunity to fall away sharply right below her. She suppressed a scream as she lost her balance, falling down face forward, at least two metres deep, landing in a knee-deep pool of water. The only good thing in this situation was, that she already had been soaking wet before, from the rainstorm earlier. And at least the water cushioned her fall enough to prevent injuries. She quickly realized that she had fallen into a stream and as she raised her head, she saw that the men were unable to see her as long as she kept her head down.
“Where is she?”, the pack leader asked. “She was here over there a moment ago”, a second voice answered. Alys gulped, ignoring her heavily beating hard as she looked behind her, seeing a small hole in the dirt that edged the stream. As silent as possible, she started to crawl towards it, trying her best to make no noise in the water. The hole was located slightly above water level and while it was anything but dry, it was a welcome change compared to the cold water.
“Where the fuck is she?”, the pack leader shouted and she heard footsteps above her. Tears were flowing down her face as she remembered home. Her little brother, as he ran towards her on his tiny legs, her father in the rare moments where he showed appreciation. Her mother, a distant memory from the past. She had died giving birth to her brother five years ago and still, Alys missed her dearly.
“Fucking stream...”, the pack leader growled right above her. From his current position he wasn't able to see her, she knew it. She was shivering as she heard the footsteps coming closer. He was standing right at the edge, right above her and she knew, if he would look down directly, he could see her.
“Must have ran down that stream”, he mumbled. “Hjalgar! You come with me, we go in that direction. Torvin and Gabin, you go in the other direction. She can't be far, she's tired and soaking wet, so I expect you to find her” She heard footsteps walking away from her position and let out a relieved breath. “When you find her, break her legs”, the pack leader shouted from afar.
Just as Alys was about to relax, a deep voice above her caused her to tense up again. “Fucking maniac”, a man said. “Hey, it was your suggestion to continue the hunt”, a second man said. “Harlan would have been fine with returning to Harrenhal”
“It's not Harlan I'm worried about”, the first one admitted. “His brother on the other hand... he was close to kill me and I guess he would have no problems in killing Harlan too. Disobeying him would be unwise”
“Aye”, the second one agreed. “I almost pity Harlan...” He was cut off by the first man. “No”, he growled. “If you ever pity him again, think about what he does in the dungeons, together with Holt. Perhaps he would have turned out different without Harren and Harmund. But the... monster he is right now doesn't deserve any pity”
“I hope he won't get her”, the second voice said again. “He won't”, the first man answered. “Why are you so sure?”, the second man asked. “Because he is walking in the wrong direction” With these words, she heard footsteps right above her and before she could do anything, a man jumped down into the water in front of her. He was tall, muscular, built like a warrior. His hair was black and fell over his shoulders, his massive black beard fell down to his chest. He looked at her out of his dark brown eyes and Alys started to shiver. She frantically shook her head in despair, trying to crawl further into the hole. “Because she is right here”, the man growled.
“Fuck”, the second man said from above. “What are we going to do? I... I can't watch this” The man in front of her shook his head. “Easy, Gabin”, he growled, before glaring at Alys again. “Under any other circumstance, I would do what I was told. But not for him. Today's your lucky day, girl”
She gave him a suprised look. “Wha... what? What are...”, she stuttered, but was cut off by him laying a finger on his mouth. “Run, little girl. Don't look back” He stepped aside and didn't need to continue. Alys gave him a look of confusion, mixed with heartfelt thankfulness. She didn't understand what just happened, but she ran, she ran for her life.
“She's not here, Harlan!”, the man shouted as she was out of sight. Tears of relief flew down her face as she ran. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to lie down, to sleep for a moment. But she pushed herself to continue running, jumping over roots, ignoring the pain.
And then she saw the end of the forest appearing in front of her. Without even thinking, she ran out of it, onto the moonlit road, collapsing in it's middle. It was only then that she noticed the riders that were slowly approaching her. For a moment, she froze in shock, her eyes wide opened, her body trembling with fear. She tried to stand up and her legs finally yielded, leaving her to collapse once more on the road. No, no, it mustn't end like this! Not now! She saw the riders approaching, slowly, carefully. No!
She counted three riders as she struggled to stand up and finally succumbed to her panic. The three men stopped their horses and one of them, probably their leader, descended from his horse. She got a closer look at him and saw that he was a handsome man, probably about thirty years old. His hair was tied to a short ponytail and as black as his well-trimmed beard. Across his left cheek, he had a noticeable scar that almost split his left ear. He was wearing elegant, black clothes and a fur coat, almost giving him the appearance of a nobleman. And what truly put her off was the polite smile on his face.
“Good evening”, he greeted her, offering his hand to help her up. She gave him a suspicious glare, unsure if she should accept his gesture or continue trying to crawl away from him. “Who are you?”, she hissed with a hostile tone in his voice. The man raised an eyebrow. “Is there a reason for your fear?”, he asked. “I hope it's not because of me. I can assure you, I mean you no harm”
She finally took enough courage to grab his outstretched hand, immediately being pulled to her feet. The stranger held her hand in a strong, but gentle grip, giving her a polite smile. “My name is Edward Anturion”, he introduced himself. “I am a traveller, currently on my way to the castle of Harrenhal. Could you tell me why you were running away?”
“I was...”, she panted. “I was being hunted...” She stopped, finally noticing her ruined clothes. The once fine leather was now stained with mud and soaking wet. Edward followed her stare and in a quick movement he took off his heavy cloak, laying it around her shoulders. It took her a moment to stop shivering, but she gave him a thankful smile.
“See?”, Edward said with a smirk. “Much better. You have a pretty smile, young lady. You should show it more often” His smirk vanished. “But I have to ask, why are you out here?”
As Alys started to speak, she noticed that her voice was still a bit cracking and she felt dizzy. Seven Hells, she couldn't afford getting ill now! “Do you know a man who is called Harmund Hoare?”, she asked carefully. Edward frowned as he heard this. “I've heard enough of him”, he answered. “Say no more. You're safe now. He won't dare to attack you while you are under my protection”
This caught her attention and her suspicious glare returned. “He is a king's son. Why would he refrain from attacking you?” Edward flashed her a quick smile. “Because I have business with his father and the king would be very displeased if something would happen to me and my men”
He raised a hand and the other two riders approached. “Ah, but excuse my manners. Here I am, talking to such a lovely young lady without introducing my bodyguards” As they came closer, Alys saw that one of the riders was a woman. She had boyish short hair in a common brown tone and even in the darkness Alys could see that she was not a very good looking woman. Her face was long and gaunt, with small scars giving away that she had seen a fair share of battles. The man next to her had very short dark brown hair and a matching stubble. While the woman had two swords strapped to her horse, the man was casually wielding a crossbow. Neither of them was looking as friendly as Edward, albeit they didn't look hostile either.
“To the left we have Carvin Granver, a good friend of mine”, he explained. “To the right we have Lady Alisa Karstark” This caused the woman to frown, while Alys froze in shock. Alisa Karstark! She knew her, everyone in the North knew her. Lord Karstark's thirdborn daughter, Alisa the Kinslayer, who ran away from Karhold after killing her own brother! And Alys even recognized her. It has been twelve years ago, when her father took her to a trip to Karhold. Back then, Alisa had long hair, no scars and a bright smile... for a moment Alys wondered what happened to her in the past twelve years.
“May I ask for your name, young lady?”, Edward asked politely and Alys realized that Alisa would recognize her name. What would she do? Surely she wouldn't send her back home, right?
[Tell them your real name] [Tell them a fake name]
John
Out of the corner of his eye, John saw that Temari was checking out the barmaid. She was pretty in her own way, he had to give her that. No real beauty and he had never been a fan of short hair, but she had intriguing features and the way she moved... still, she was no Cass. She wasn't even close. No one was.
“Seven Hells, Tem”, Behara hissed, slightly punching her brothers shoulder. She immediately noticed what she did as Temari cringed and a pained expression flashed over his face. “Fuck, I'm sorry...”, she mumbled. Temari shook his head. “It's okay, sis”, he answered, giving John an apologizing look. Why did they all feel the need to pity him? Temari, Behara, even Aylard who had lost so much. But their attempts at consoling him came of as clumsy and he didn't need them. The only one who made him feel better was Janae and he loved her for it.
During the past days, they had travelled to Raylansfair, accompanying Aylard and his family. It had been a hard decision for the innkeeper to leave his beloved inn behind, but he had wasted no time to bring a load of stuff with him. His warhammer was leaning at his side right now and the room he had rented for himself, Sawyer, Gunel and Kyette was filled with their belongings. Among them was the large harp that had belonged to Aylard's wife. On their first evening at the inn, Cass had played for him and he had immediately taken a liking to her.
“John”, Janae softly said and he noticed that he was staring bleakly at the wall. “Drink something” Even though he still felt like shit, on the outside and on the inside, a smile found it's way on his face. She knew exactly what he needed right now. He raised his hand, giving a signal to the barmaid. His wounds had healed well, albeit he would keep a number of scars on his face. Well, it hadn't been a pretty face anyway. Still, as he raised his hand, he was still able to feel Bear's knives in his shoulders. Behara had been certain that no permanent damage was done, but it sure as hell felt like it.
“What can I get you?”, the barmaid asked as she approached them. Temari gave her a big grin, much to Behara's visible annoyance. “Well, good evening”, he said with a voice that was probably supposed to be charming. Just like she did for Gutten, Behara had tried her best to patch Temari up. John had insisted to give Temari the rest of the Milk of the Poppy they bought in Pentos a few months ago. The effect still hadn't worn off completely and the mercenary was more jovial than usual and far more usual than he should be, all things considered.
The barmaid narrowed her eyes. “What can I get you?”, she repeated in annoyance. “My name is Temari Keys”, he answered. “What is yours?” The barmaid gave Janae a short glare, apparently viewing the woman as the one with the most authority on the table. She wasn't exactly wrong.
“That's enough, Temari”, she growled and the mercenary focused his attention on her. The barmaid let out a small sigh. “Ilish”, she answered. “My name is Ilish Granver. What can I get you?” She paused for a moment. “And that's the last time I'm going to ask”
“Seven jugs of ale”, Janae answered, looking at Aylard and his family, who sat across her. The innkeeper gave her a short nod. “Yes, seven jugs”, she confirmed again. The barmaid nodded before leaving, politely ignoring Temari staring at her ass.
“I'm going to punch you again, Tem”, Behara mumbled, forcing her brother's attention. Janae grinned as she heard this, albeit her grin vanished again as she noticed that Gutten was still looking sullenly. “Seven fucking Hells, John Gutten”, she moaned. “You want to look like that when we're going to meet that self-proclaimed lord?”
“Won't make that much of a difference”, Temari interjected. “Jaro and I'Lian are still somewhere out there and Sammy is in Oldtown. He hired six of us, he got three. John is hardly in a condition to fight and I've been better. The lord is not going to be pleased”
“Pleasing the lord is not my intention”, Janae answered. “Fulfilling the contract on the other hand... Do you even realize that we can get into serious trouble because of that?” John raised his head, but before he was able to answer, Aylard spoke. “John did the right thing”, the innkeeper said. Janae rolled her eyes. “Of course you see it that way. But Sammy is an important part of our team and she's out there getting your daughter back”
“Enough, Janae”, John growled, causing her to go silent. She understood immediately that she has almost crossed a line and he could tell that she felt sorry for it. “Sammy is not in Oldtown for Aylard or for me. She's there for Cass” This was enough to silence both, Janae and Aylard.
“She is going to bring her back to you”, Behara said after a moment, softly touching Aylard's shoulder. The innkeeper forced himself to smile at her. “I know”, he answered, even though John could tell that he was worried. “I just can't stop thinking about what's going to become of us”
“What do you mean?”, Behara asked kindly. Aylard let out a sigh. “A few days ago I owned an inn on a central road in the Reach. It wasn't an easy life, but it was nonetheless a good one. Lunett was going to take over one day. Sawyer was destined to support her as good as he could. Kyette and Gunel had a steady work. What's left of that now?”
“Bad things tend to happen”, Janae answered, staring at the table in front of her. “No need to let them drag you down” She looked up to Aylard. “You're alive because we saved you. Now do me the favour and spare me a tale of all the things you've lost. This is Raylansfair, I'm sure you'll find work here”
“Enough, both of you”, John groaned, looking for the barmaid. He really needed to drink a lot now. Of course, he had thought about the meeting with the lord during the past days, but he had other things on his mind right now. As soon as he closed his eyes, he saw her again, lying on the ground. He knew, her last look before the life vanished from her eyes would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life.
“We have to concentrate on the tasks at hand. Aylard, I wish you the best of luck for the future. I hope Sammy finds your daughter, but that's going to be the last time we will deal with each other. Build a new life, for you and for your family”, he explained and the innkeeper gave him a nod. “I will, John”, he promised. “It's going to be hard, but we will manage. Perhaps Kyette can find work here at the tavern, while I think about joining the city guard”
“You should do that”, Behara said with a sweet smile. “Perhaps we could even help you!” This caused Janae and Temari to look up immediately. “What do you mean by that, Hara?”, Temari asked carefully. Janae let out a sigh. “You got to be kidding me...”, she mumbled. “We've done enough”
Behara shook her head. “You might see it that way. But these people lost their home and a good part of their belongings. They have nothing, while we have the opportunity to help them out”, she insisted. “And why should we do that?”, Janae asked. “Because it's the only decent thing to do”, the girl answered. Janae chuckled. On moments like this, John envied Behara a little bit. Sure, she proved once again that she had more of a child inside of her than her eighteen years of age showed. But she also proved that she had remained a good person, despite all the things she had witnessed. John stopped being a good man years ago, on Orkmont. And on some days he suspected that Janae had never been a good person in her life. Not that he could blame here. Still... he slightly envied Behara for being better than he could ever be.
“Come on, John”, she said. “I'm not asking for you to give them all of our money. But we could pay for their room, at least until Aylard or Kyette found work” Janae gave her a cold glare, before looking back at John. “Can you please just order her to stop being ridiculous?”, she said with a frown.
“I'm ridiculous?”, Behara asked and her voice gained some sharpness. “Compassion is not a bad thing, you should try it” She looked at John again. “Just let us pay the rent for their room. We can afford it easily, we have more money than we need and it would help them a lot. Think about it, what would you do if Cass would sit with you at this table” “Hara...”, Janae hissed immediately, shooting an apologizing stare to John, who stared bleakly at the girl again.
[Pay for Aylard's room] [Don't pay for Aylard's room]
Awesome very amazing writting liquid
Oh and btw sorry for skipping the last act to read this first hopefully you understand
[Tell them your real name][Pay for Aylard's room]
[Tell them your real name]
[Don't pay for Aylard's room] We already sent Sam to Oldtown for him he'll manage
It seems we're getting quite a few Karstarks in the story I'm excited!
[Tell them a fake name] He don't need it.
[Don't pay for Aylard's room] No.
What if in the meaning with that bastard Harris, they mention Lucas and Leonard? Intriguing.
http://strawpoll.me/4592831
[Tell them your name] and [Pay for Aylards room]
Hi Liquid, I'm sorry that I miss a vote and your thread was moved, I probably wasn't be and join to the story if this thread wasn't in the Game of Thrones general discussions and we hope you won't lost any readers, because you're one of the amazing writers out there. I personal like this chapter and poor Alys, glad that she was lucky, [Tell them your real name], they are maybe her heroes, also we [Pay for Aylard's room], but this isn't a compassion and it's more like a charity, you'll need to do something better for John to know what's compassion mean.
(Tell them your real name)
( pay for Aylards room)
You notice me sensei, you are amazing! BUT I AM BACK NOW.
Welcome back! It's good to see you back here at last
[Tell them your real name][Pay for Aylard's room]
[Tell them your real name]I'm only doing this because I want to see Torvin's reaction when he realizes that Alys is a noble.
[Pay for Aylard's room]It's never a bad thing to have a friend in the guard to help you out
[Tell them your real name] No reason to really lie.
[Pay for Aylard's room] He might be able to help us later
[Tell them your name]
[Don't pay for Aylards room]
[Tell them your real name]
[Pay for Aylard's room]
[Tell them your real name]
[Pay for Aylard's room]
[Tell them your real name] agreed with like NightShroud18, why should we lie?
[Pay for Aylard's room] and I think this is charity.
Finally caught up again...
[Tell them your real name] Nice to see Alisa, lets make it interesting with this choice.
[Pay for Aylard's room] Let's be nice
[Tell them your real name]
[Don't pay for Aylard's room]
[Tell them your real name]
[Pay for Aylard's room]
The Voting is closed!
Alys will tell Edward her real name
John will pay for Aylard's room
I'm very surprised about the outcome for both choices and was certain a majority of you would pick the other options. But especially the outcome of the first choice will make some things a lot easier for me to write.
I also checked both of the polls and I am amazed that you almost managed to avoid a clear answer for both questions. In poll 1, Maron Mullendore won by a narrow margin, having one vote more than Archmaester Quent. I'm glad that this poll has a pretty ambigous outcome, because that was exactly what I aimed at. Both, Mullendore and Quent have clear disadvantages and a few (hopefully) clear advantages, both are supposed to be pretty shady in their motives (or in Mullendore's case, the motives of his lord), albeit I can tease that in coming chapters one of them will prove himself to be a slightly better choice than the other. The canonical answer to the second poll will also be revealed in future chapters, albeit both options would be completely in line with Aylard's character.
On another note, it appears my worries about a decline of activity after this story had been moved have been unfounded. Thanks a lot for voting, I'm very relieved that you all continue to follow the story. The new part will feature Maya and Drent should be up either very late today or at some point tomorrow. I will be busy for a majority of tomorrow, so I will try my best to finish the part today. If I don't manage to do that, expect it to come out pretty late tomorrow.
Lucas/Lunett survive confirmed?
Maya
The man walked closer to her position, slowly and completely unaware of her presence. He still hadn't spotted her, albeit it was only a matter of time until he would. Maya knew, trying to hide deeper in the bushes was no option, as the danger of being spotted by Rodrik and Bear was too high. Still, it took her a lot of courage to give Irving a nod. What if he would miss? Oh, dear gods, she put her life in the hands of the most useless person she ever encountered!
Irving's arrow hit the man at the right temple, digging deep into his skull and killing him immediately. He didn't even had time to scream, albeit his body made a muffled sound as he fell to the ground, causing Rodrik to listen up.
“What was that?”, he growled. Bear chuckled slightly as he turned his head towards the bushes. Maya could see the thirst for blood in his dark eyes and for a moment she feared that he would see her. “I told you I have a man out there”, he answered, turning his head back to Rodrik. Maya let out a sigh of relief, before looking at Irving, who put his thumb up, grinning widely. She gave him a thankful nod and turned her head back to the fire, so that she could continue to listen what Rodrik and Bear might say.
“So, Anturion is in the Riverlands?”, Bear asked. Rodrik gave him a nod. “Two of my men, Carvin and Alisa are with him”, he explained. “To protect him, but also to keep an eye on him. I don't trust pirates”
“You got a man who's fucking name is Alisa?”, Bear asked, grinning widely. Rodrik gave him a slightly irritated nod. “One of my mercenaries, a woman and one of the best damn fighters I know”, he answered. “You got a problem with that?”
Bear shook his head. “Not at all”, he answered. “But you really give an important task to a woman? You're fucking crazy!” He let out a short laughter, that got even louder as Rodrik frowned. The fallen knight stayed silent until Bear's laughter stopped as suddenly as it started. “Back to business”, he proclaimed as the other man went silent. “A hundred golden hands for you, seventy for each your five highest ranking underlings, fifty for the rest and you can keep everything you pillage. That's Anturion's offer”
“Generous fucking offer”, Bear growled. “And all we have to do is to burn that puny town to the ground?” Rodrik gave him a nod. “With help from my mercenaries and hopefully with additional help from Harren Hoare”
The mentioning of the dreaded tyrant caused Maya to shiver. What kind of conspiracy did she just stumble upon? Mercenaries, bandits and now a king, all conspiring to destroy a small town? She noticed that her hands were shaking as she was trying her best to understand what the two men were talking about.
“And Blacksails?”, Bear asked. “What's his opinion about Anturion's ambition?” Rodrik shrugged. “Aeron Blacksails has more important things to worry about. He does not care what his captains plan as long as he gets his share of the loot”, he answered.
“Fucking hate pirates”, Bear growled and spat on the ground. Rodrik gave him a nod. “Fucking hate pirates”, he confirmed. “Blacksails will get a sizeable part of the loot, in exchange for his help” He looked towards the bushes and for a moment, Maya was sure that he narrowed his eyes. “You will travel to the Riverlands. Meet up with Anturion at Harrenhal. He has more detailed orders for you and your men”
“And what are you going to do?”, Bear asked and slightly raised from the ground, looking towards the bushes. Looking at Maya. Startled, she started to crawl back, trying to make as little noise as possible. “What is it?”, Rodrik asked, putting a hand on the hilt of his sword.
“Something's not right”, Bear growled. “Kevan!” He took a step towards the bushes and this time he looked a bit longer at the bush Maya was still hiding in. “Hey, Kevan! Where the fuck are you?” He looked once again at the bushes and Maya knew immediately that he had seen her this time. “What the...”, he started to say but cut himself off as Maya jumped up, running away from the small camp.
“Intruder!”, Bear shouted behind her. “Get them!” She heard the sound of weapons being drawn and ran faster towards Irving, whose triumphant grin vanished the moment he saw her. “What's...”, he started, but Maya cut him off by grabbing his shoulder. “We need to get out here”, she hissed. “Stay silent, move fast”
“What... what have you done again?”, he moaned. His face went pale as he looked over her shoulder. “Fuck!”, he shouted. “What the fuck have you done?” And then he started to run. Maya had to change her earlier opinion on him as she saw him running. He wasn't useless, not entirely. He was a good shot with a bow, but he was even better at running away from danger.
While she was running after Irving, she took a quick glance over her shoulder herself, seeing two men chasing after her. The darkness worked to her advantage now, as she wasn't able to see Bear or Rodrik, just as they weren't able to see her. On the other hand, she had Irving, who was able to see far better in this darkness, running safely through the darkness. She only had to follow him. Slowly she realized that she had been saved by Irving... Seven Hells, she could only hope that Gregar would never learn about that. He would ridicule her for weeks!
In front of her, Irving let out a short scream and fell to the ground, causing her to nearly trip over him. He lay on the ground and even in the darkness she was able to see the pained expression on his face as he put his hands on his knee.
For a short moment, Maya thought about leaving him here. It would be easy. Irving, as pathetic as he was, would probably be able to hold them off for a while, in a desperate attempt so safe his life. She would be safe...
And then she realized what she was thinking and her cheeks turned red in embarrassment. She stopped in front of him, turning around to face the two men chasing her, pulling out her daggers. “Can you stand up?”, she hissed over her shoulder, in Irving's direction. “Y... yes”, he stuttered, slowly getting back on his feet again.
The men chasing her had almost reached her position. They were tall and buff, looking as if they had lived on the roads for quite some time. One of them, a dark-skinned man with long dark hair, was armed with a spiked club. His companion, a slightly smaller fair-skinned man with a crooked grin on his face, was armed with a hatchet.
“Look who we have here”, the dark-skinned man said. “A cunt and a little fatty” He looked at his companion. “Dibs on the pretty one. You can take fatty if you want to” The smaller man shook his head, his grin still on his face. “Bear is going to want her”, he stated as he started to walk around Maya at an appropriate distance, while she was carefully eyeing them, her daggers raised.
“Oh gods...”, Irving mumbled. “We're going to die. We're both going to die. This is all your fault!” He jumped up, pulling out a small knife, desperately looking at the men. “Please, don't take me! I have nothing to do with that! Take her, leave me alone!”
Maya narrowed her eyes as she looked at him, while the men started to laugh. “We got a brave one here”, the smaller man said. “I'm going to gut you like a pig, fatty” With these words, he jumped in Irving's direction, trying to embed his hatchet in his skull. Irving let out a scream as he staggered backwards and Maya knew he wouldn't survive this attack if she wouldn't intervene. She took a quick step past him, getting between him and his opponent, while pushing him to the ground and dodging the strike at the same time.
Her opponent let out a frustrated groan and Maya noticed that the dark-skinned man behind her charged at her. She quickly jumped to the side, trying to evade the attack, barely parrying a strike from the hatchet in the process. Before she could do another move, she heard a surprised scream coming from the dark-skinned man. She and the smaller man both looked in his direction at the same moment, seeing him slowly sinking to the ground. An arrow was sticking out of his chest and Maya was able to see a figure standing a few metres behind him, a bow in his hand.
“What the...”, the smaller man said, ignoring Maya for a moment. This was his last mistake, as she quickly rammed one of her daggers into his ribs and pressed the other one under his chin. “No!”, he managed to exclaim before she slit his throat.
Next to her, Irving staggered back to his feet, looking from her to the archer in front of them. Maya pointed her daggers at the stranger, unsure how to react at first. As he slowly walked forwards, Maya noticed that Irving was slowly moving behind her. “That's close enough!”, she shouted, prompting the man to stop. She saw that he was younger than she thought, with black hair and a short beard. He was armed with a bow, albeit he had raised his hands, indicating that he wasn't a threat.
“Easy”, he said. “I don't intend to harm you” He had a soft voice and the look in his dark eyes sounded honest enough to cause Maya to lower her daggers. “Who are you?”, she growled, still suspicious of who this man might be.
“My name is Christian Thomas”, he introduced himself. “I'm a ranger in service of House Raylan. You're on Lord Raylan's land” He pointed at the dead men. “I have encountered these men a few hours ago and followed them, trying to find out their intentions. And while doing that, I witnessed you fleeing from them” A smirk appeared on his face. “You stirred up quite the hornet's nest back there”
Maya frowned as she heard this. She and Irving exchanged a quick look. “Then we should leave immediately”, she concluded, looking back at Christian. “I... thank you for your help. I doubt any of us would have survived without your help” She hesitated for a moment, pressing her lips together. “Perhaps... you are a ranger, right?”, she asked. Christian gave her a nod, raising an eyebrow. “Perhaps, would you be willing to lead us out of here? We have a two friends at the eastern edge of the forest. Together we plan to travel to Raylansfair”
Christian's smirk turned into an honest smile and he took a quick bow in front of her. “Mylady, it would be an honour to be your guide. In exchange, I'd like you to tell me what you know about the plans these people made”, he offered. Maya gave him a nod. “We have a deal”, she answered, as she suddenly remembered something. No, someone.
“Shit”, she muttered. “I almost forgot Dimitri” She looked at Irving. “They are searching this forest because of us...” “You”, Irving cut her off. “They never saw me” He gave her a proud smile, ignoring her irritated frown. “Anyway, you are telling me you want to go back for that philosopher guy? He's not our problem. Let's just follow the friendly man over there, to safety. Besides, he was annoying and I don't want to spend any more time with him”
Maya raised a brow in mockery as she heard this. “You're telling me he annoyed you?”, she asked and Irving gave her a nod. “Yeah, are you implying something? Now come on and get the hell out of here, he's not our problem”
[Go back and try to find Dimitri] [Agree to leave Dimitri behind]
Drent
“Pig pens for me”, Drent exclaimed. “I'm not missing that opportunity!” Montclair's mouth formed a rare smirk and he gave him a nod. “Then I'm going to search for the Maester. Wouldn't want the noble ambassador to bleed to death” Both of them looked to the honour table, where Ambassador Celtigar was still lying unconscious. Princess Argella had slightly moved her plate away from him, so that she could continue to eat without having to worry about blood on her dress. Her father gave Drent a pleased look as he started to walk towards the table.
“You want to escort our guests?”, Argilac asked. Drent gave him a nod. “Yes, your grace”, he answered and the Storm King quickly patted him on the back. It felt like a horse walking over his spine. “Good man”, he complimented him. “What's your name?”
“Drent Golton, your grace”, Drent answered. “Then make sure to put them into the dirtiest and smelliest pig pen we have. Should remind them of home”, Argilac growled and a quick smile flashed across the princess' mouth as she looked up from her plate. Her deep blue eyes looked at Drent and for a moment it appeared as if she was looking right through him.
“Make sure that they have it comfortable. Give them some pigs to mate with, or whatever they do all day on their puny island”, the king snarled, causing Drent to look back at him. Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw the Storm Princess smirking.
Drent saluted in front of him, before walking towards the Valyrian table. The four men around it were slowly raising from their chairs, apparently unsure what was about to happen to them. “You... you can't mean to...”, their leader stuttered, but Drent cut him off. “The Storm King can, mylords”, he answered, pointing at the doors of the Great Hall. “Now, if you could please follow me. Behave and nobody gets hurt”
A quick glance towards the mutilated ambassador was enough to destroy any thought of resistance the Valyrians might have. Still, their glares were more than hostile, mainly towards Drent. He noticed that they didn't even look towards Storm King and Princess, presumably out of fear. They were indeed more clever than the ambassador.
Slowly and carefully, they walked towards the Great Hall. Drent saw the smirking faces of the soldiers and he caught himself grinning more than once. But for every dozen smirking faces, he caught one worried face. These were the clever ones, he realized. The ones who knew what this could lead to. Argilac Durrandon was a proud man and his daughter was an even prouder woman. But Aegon Targaryen was the last dragonlord of Old Valyria. He wasn't someone who would react kindly to the events that happened today. And unlike any other potential enemy the Storm King could make, Aegon had dragons. He had the means to pose a serious threat to the Stormlands, even if Argilac the Arrogant saw it differently. Drent loved and respected the Storm King, but the man had clearly overreacted today. Even his daughter would have most likely been satisfied if he had simply knocked the man out. But what he did today could have dire consequences.
The Valyrians complied and followed him out of the hall peacefully. It was not as if they had any choice. They silently descended the stair that lead from Storm's End's tower down to the courtyard. About fifty men were still standing guard at this late hour and barely anyone paid attention to him. However, as Drent was slowly leading the men towards the pig pen, a large wooden building located on the western side of the castle, he noticed one man who slowly approached him.
Drent let out a sigh. He knew this man and he did not like him at all. It was a tall man, muscular, with a handsome face and the silver blonde hair those of valyrian descent typically displayed. A scar on his left temple went down next to his eye towards his chin. “Evening, Drentie”, he greeted him. Drent slightly rolled his eyes. “Garen”, he muttered. Garen was a mercenary in the Storm King's service, a personal confidante of Argilac's good friend Ser Baron Schodek. In Drent's eyes, he was little more than a ruthless cutthroat, like all mercenaries were. But even more than his profession, Drent hated his constant mockery.
“I see you got some pretty pigs to keep you company”, the mercenary said with a big grin. “I heard quite the turmoil in the Great Hall. You want to tell me what happened?” Drent shook his head. “No”, he simply said, continuing his walk towards the pig pens. Unfortunately, Garen remained stubborn. “Come on, don't leave me hanging here. What happened?”
Drent tried his best to ignore him, but one of the Valyrian's answered instead. “Your king did something terrible”, he explained and Drent rolled with his eyes. Garen raised an eyebrow and pressed his lips together. “Something terrible, I see. Care to explain what exactly?”
“He cut off the hands of the noble Corilyan Celtigar, Lord Aegon's ambassador and personal friend”, the man continued to explain and Garen's grin got even wider. He slightly chuckled. “He mutilated an ambassador? That's stupid, even for him” He quickly looked around, smirking at Drent. “With all due respect, of course”
“Lord Aegon will hear of this”, the valyrian threatened as Drent entered the pig pen, looking for the dirtiest and smelliest of them. “He won't leave this unpunished! He will call his bannermen and he will take this castle, with fire and blood!”
This caused Drent and Garen to chuckle in unison, a rare moment. “The gods of storm and sea couldn't bring this castle down”, Drent said as he opened the door to one of the pig pens. The pigs inside gave him only a mildly interested look as they lay in the mud, oinking curiously as the first of the valyrian's reluctantly entered the pig pen. “What makes you think Aegon will succeed where even gods failed?”
“Your old gods are not here, soldier, they are not even real”, the valyrian answered defiantly. “Lord Aegon on the other hand is a week's flight away, on Dragonstone. And I can assure you, his dragons are very real and their fire will burn through your halls. It will consume you, it will consume your king, his army and his Storm Bitch of a daugh...” He didn't manage to continue as the shaft of Drent's spear hit him in the face, sending him falling into the mud.
“I thought you've learned a lesson about insulting the princess. Consider yourself lucky that I'm not her father”, Drent growled, turning around and walking towards the door. Garen followed him, grinning like an imbecile. “So, he cut off the hands of a peaceful ambassador?”, he asked and Drent gave him an annoyed nod. “He did”, he answered shortly, trying to keep his conversation with Garen as short as possible.
“As much as I enjoyed seeing that pig in the mud, I have to agree with him. That was a dangerous move”, Garen said and his ever present smirk vanished. “He can do this with that dornish toad, he can do it with the Gardener king, perhaps even with Harren the Black. But insulting a man who rides a dragon large enough to swallow half a dozen men at once? What was the terrible thing the ambassador did?”
“He insulted the princess”, Drent answered. “Offered her a bastard as a potential suitor” Garen started to chuckle again, to Drent's annoyance. “He offered Argella Durrandon a bastard? I always thought the dragonlord was a cunning man. No wonder the Storm King overreacted”
His smirk vanished and for a moment he looked genuinely worried. “But in all seriousness, why would a man as savvy as Aegon Targaryen do such a thing? That was to be expected, wasn't it? Or perhaps he expected it indeed, only looking for an excuse to start a war against the Stormlands”
He let out a frustrated sigh. “If we burn to death, I know who I should blame. You agree with me, Drentie?” His infuriating smirk returned as he slightly patted Drent on the shoulder. “Or perhaps you want to be a good little soldier, agreeing with everything your beloved king does”
Drent narrowed his eyes. “What are you implying?”, he asked slowly. Garen shrugged. “Nothing, Drentie. But you have to admit that it was a bit extreme, right? I mean, punching him, okay, but cutting off his hands? That's pretty much a declaration of war, all because someone said something mean about his precious daughter”
Drent pressed his lips together. He had a strong dislike for Garen's attitude, especially towards the king. It was a good thing that the mercenary had never talked to Argilac before, or else his head would have probably ended on a spike long ago.
[Agree with Garen] [Disagree with Garen] [Stay silent]
Very few deaths are predetermined, so it's certainly possible that both of them survive, that's all I can say now.
That's what they said about Eddard Stark......
[Agree to leave Dimitri behind] Nah he's fine. Good to see rangers. More soldiers for Leonard to command when he returns.
[Disagree with Garen] Nah nah we all know what's gonna happen but we can pretend like it's not going to.
[Agree to leave Dimitri behind] He'll be okay. He has that pigeon who can fly him away to safety.
[Disagree with Garen] Dragons?!?! No such thing! Dragons are just fairytales old milkmaids tell their children to scare them into obedience.
ill go with....
Agree to leave Dimitri behind
Disagree with Garen
Great Writing as always
[Agree to leave Dimitri behind] I doubt they could find him if they wanted to and I'm not that bothered over Dimitri.
[Agree with Garen] The King is a tyrant!
[Agree to leave Dimitri behind]
[Agree with Garen]