Chapter 9: The Spark
NOTE: I wrote this chapter days ago, and is been published in my p @t reon for almost a week now, so the ink is been dry for a while.
I say this cause some of you asked me to be kinder with the characters and not screw them that badly, sorry but is a bit late for that. This is Westeros and here you suffer, that is the reality, also Gawain needs a good reason the become Vengeance incarnate again.
WARNING: This chapter contains sensible scenes (cant say what cause is a spoiler) This novel is rated +17 for good reasons
***
"Why are they here?" Gawain looked at the two peasants with a frown.
"I don't know, boy." Mullin replies with a shaky voice. "We were working in the fields when they came up the east road. They looked around and one of Lord Roxton's men recognized your father and called out to him, and us because we were close."
"What did they want from father?" Gawain tightened his hold on the twins, who didn't seem to realize what was happening and began to play with his hair.
"They asked him about the crops and such, then the prince said he was hungry and, well, Greenwood is closer than Lord Roxton's castle." Adam looked down at his feet in embarrassment. "When we got back, a knight asked about the path that leads to your house and I said that you can get to the village faster that way."
"Why the hell did they have to stop at my house?!" Neither of the two men answer the redhead's question.
"Everything will be fine, boy. They'll fill their bellies and leave."
"Aye! They won't do anything else." Adam looks at Mullin and nods.
"Why are you so angry, brother? And who are those people?" Galahad looked at him curiously and Gawain shook his head.
"We have to get to Uncle Ralof's house, I'll tell you later."
The rest of the walk passes in a tense silence, even the babies realized that something is happening and began to fidget in Gawain's arms.
After arriving at the sawmill, the peasants say goodbye and quickly go home.
"Boys! Why are you here? Did something happen?" Ralof looks at them with concern and Gawain tells him what happened, his uncle's expression changes to something the redhead never saw; to a grim seriousness that is even scary. "Go into the house, we'll wait for your parents inside." The old man's tone leaves no room for arguments.
Gawain looks into the distance, towards his home, before entering Ralof's house, the frown never leaving his face.
***
Marian watched as the prince and his companions ate their food and drank their wine. Between the nobles and knights they ate all the food they had for 3 moons, all while laughing and joking with each other.
They treated her house as an inn and she and her husband as their servants. Despite the anger she felt she kept her head down and entertained those men without protest as she knew what would happen if she didn't obey. She could see the evil glint in the eyes of Roxton`s men.
`Those bastards are waiting for a slip to take it out on us, damn bastards!`
She felt miserable as she watched the so-called most noble and honorable men in the realms eat themselves to bursting.
`Knights are supposed to be symbols of honor and justice, a prince is supposed to be righteous and just. These men are just animals!`
"These damn chickens have hardly any meat on their bones!" Baratheon complained, picking up a chicken in his hand. "My cock has more meat than this!"
The men began to roar with laughter and Marian clenched her fists.
`My family will starve for the rest of the year because of you and you laugh?!`
"What's up peasant? Isn't Lord Baratheon's joke funny?" Lord Roxton looks down on her husband.
"Of course it is, lord. Hilarious." Gareth fakes a laugh.
"I thought so." Lord Roxton snorted and filled his mouth with bread and meat.
After what seemed like an eternity, those men finished eating and left her humble home.
Marian sighed with relief as she saw the last of the knights leave.
`Leave, leave and never come back.`
She and Gareth exchanged a relieved look.
"Woman," Lord Roxton turned to her with a malicious smile. "The prince is still hungry."
She felt her stomach sink, she knew what was going to happen.
"T- there is no more food, my lord." Gareth looked at him humbly. "I can go buy more food at the market!"
Lord Roxton and the other men began to laugh, clearly amused.
"Not that kind of hunger," Steffon Baratheon chuckled.
Marian saw the fire in her husband's eyes start to burn as he realized what they were up to and she knew she had to do something before he did something stupid.
"Gareth! Don't!" She whispered to him under her breath. "Think of the boys, think of them. If you act stupidly they will pay the price too! So no, don't you dare Gareth! I know you love me and I know you would kill for me but you can't kill all of them. I will do this, I will pay the price and make that skinny prince feel like a dragon and then he will leave. They and their filthy men will leave and we can go back to our lives. We will raise our boys and grow old together and everything will be fine."
***
Gawain watched as the wood crackled in the hearthfire with a frown. Around him Galahad was playing with the twins while Gertha watched over them from her rocking chair. Ralof is still working at the sawmill.
`How can he be working knowing that-` He clenches his fists. `They'll just eat and leave, they'll just eat and leave.` He keeps repeating it trying to convince himself.
`I cant!` The bad feeling swirls and swells within his chest like something too big to fit in his skin, and Gawain rose from the ground.
"Where are you going, boy?" Gertha frowned at him.
"To piss," he lied through his teeth and left the house before his aunt could respond.
He looked around him and not seeing his uncle, he ran towards his house, Gawain did not follow the path but ran through the forest. When approaching his house, he is careful to step carefully and not make noise.
When he arrives, he hides behind a tree that is close enough to the house to hear the noise from inside the cabin. Outside the cabin there are several knights with food in hand, but no lord.
`Those idiots are inside, eating my family's food.` Gawain clenches his jaw and watches the house from his hiding place.
After an hour or two, those men left his house and the redhead felt that he could finally relax a bit.
`Go and never come back.`
"The prince is still hungry." Hearing those words Gawain felt his heart rate increase, he looked up at Aerys and recognized the look in his eyes.
'Lust' He clenched his fists and watched as his mother whispered something to his father before entering the cabin with Aerys.
Gawain felt his entire body shake with anger as he listened to his mother being raped by Aerys. After half an hour they both left the house, Marian had part of her skirt torn and her hair was messy, Aerys's clothes were impeccable but he had messy hair and he was flushed and sweaty like a pig.
***
"You have a good wife," Aerys chuckled as he fixed his hair. "The gods blessed you with a good wife and maybe will bless you with the seed of a true dragon."
Gareth clenched his jaw and swallowed his pride, honor and whatever form of dignity he had left and thanked Aerys for his words.
"I am truly grateful to you, my prince, for your generosity and protection."
"And for finally satisfying that woman of yours, eh?" Steffon Baratheon intervened with a laugh. The other men also began to laugh.
"Answer Lord Baratheon, peasant, don't be silent." Lord Roxton looked at him with his nasty eyes.
"Yes, for doing what I myself haven't been able to do." Gareth responded almost trembling with anger.
"Hah!" Baratheon shouted. "You smallfolk know their place, you are lucky Roxton."
"Enough with the small talk," Aerys says. "It's about time we leave."
Gareth thanked the gods as he saw them mount their horses.
"Wait, my prince." Said Ser Harlan Grandison, a knight of the kingsguard with a nasty grin. "Should we not bring the woman, in case you happen to be hungry again later on? It is unlikely that we will find such pretty girls at the inn where we will spend the night."
Aerys looks at Ser Harlan with a raised eyebrow.
"A peasant will not satisfy a blood prince twice, Ser Harlan." Aerys looked at Ser Harlan with a smirk.
"But this one is rather special, wouldn't you say that, my prince? Just look at that crimson hair of hers, is like the flames. Very fitting for a dragon`s cow."
"Ser Harlan-"
"Seven hells, Aerys." Steffon said already tired of waiting and wanted to leave already. "Bring the damn woman, she can entertain the men while you fuck someone else."
"I have no further use for her but maybe you are right," Aerys looked at his men. "The men have heard me fuck dozen of women but haven't had the change of wetting their swords in quite a while. Ser Harlan bring her with us, I am a generous prince after all."
Gareth tried to move but soon found a sword pointed at his neck.
"Think of your children, good man." Ser Barristan Selmy looked at him with regret in his eyes. "Act against the prince and they and all the village will bleed."
Gareth's fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh and blood began to flow. He watched as a knight put his wife on a horse while he trembled with anger, he watched as they took her away and he did nothing.
For their boys, he kept repeating himself in his head.
***
Gawain felt two hands hold him from behind, one hand covering his mouth and the other holding him so that he does not move.
"Shh, is me." Ralof whispered in his ear.
Gawain growled and tried to break free.
`They are taking my mother!`
Ralof is much stronger than him and no matter how hard he struggles he can't break free. A red mist covers his sight and in his mind he sees the corpse of a little girl.
`I can't fail! I can't fail! Not again! Noooo!`
Ralof tightens his grip on him and Gawain feels how he is having a hard time breathing but he continues to struggle with all his might. The rational part of his brain knows that it is useless, that he will not be able to do anything against all those knights, that he would only be walking into his own death. But that part of his brain is being drowned out by Damian Artois's regrets, by Gawain of Greenwood's anger, and by the pain of both.
The air does not reach his lungs and his face turns very red and then it acquires a bluish tint, he continues to ignore the burning in his lungs. Gawain continues to struggle against his uncle's grasp, even as the horses disappear from his line of sight he continues to struggle, he continues to struggle until he finally falls unconscious.
`Mama!`
***
The hours after waking up are a haze, Gawain remembers his father's face, he remembers yelling at him but he doesn't remember what. The redhead has vague memories of walking somewhere, of someone following him trying to call his name. Gawain ignored that person and kept walking until he reached the neighboring village.
He ignored the stares and went straight to the inn, on the outskirts of the building there was a group of people looking at something. Gawain roughly pushed the people out of his way and made his way to the gates of the inn.
`No`
The door was open and a metallic and sweet smell came from inside.
`Please no!`
The journey to that village may be a blur that he barely remembers but the scene before him burned into his memory with fire and blood, he will never forget what he saw, what he smelled or what he felt.
His mother was lying on her side on the wooden floor, her dress was torn and her entire body covered in blue and purple bruises.
Not far from her corpse was another, a man he would later recognize as Tobias, but in those moments everything but the corpse of his mother disappeared. Gawain staggered and fell to his knees beside her, he brought a trembling hand to her bloody cheek.
"Mama." He whispered with a broken voice, he caressed her cheek gently. Her skin was already cold and stiff, even the blood had dried.
"Wake up, please mama." He begs and tears begin to fall from his eyes. "Please!"
Gawain's body began to tremble.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH" He let out a scream filled with anguish, pain and rage.
***
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH"
Ralof watched his great-nephew scream in pain with tears in his eyes.
`I am sorry Marian, I am so sorry.` He looks at the corpse with regret and is slightly consoled when he sees her broken and bloody nails. `She fought, a brave girl until the end.`
The old man crouched down next to his great-nephew and placed a hand on his back.
"Shhh, let it all out." He whispered to him sweetly.
"They will pay." The whisper was so low that Ralof barely heard it.
Ralof looked at Gawain and his expression terrified him: those eyes, that fury... It was too familiar.
"They will pay!" Gawain's tone is dark and full of rage, is the eclipse that covers the sun.
Those words are a declaration and a promise, and somehow Ralof knew it. He knew that today they lost not only Marian but also Gawain, for in those dark blue eyes none of the light of Gawain of Greenwood remains.
***
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Also there are advanced chapter in my p@ tre on if you are interested.
p a t r e o n. com /EdenofKovir
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