Kapitel 129: Ned 3
293AC
Ned had to admit, the victory was not as great as he would have liked.
Certainly, the army of Maegor was broken, it's core was shattered, as Robert continued to brag, and now perhaps forty-thousand unpaid sellswords were running south into the heartland of Volantis. It would surely be a plague worse than the willing for the towns and villages in the region.
Still, he felt it difficult to call it a victory when he saw the corpses of his own men, gored, or trampled to near unrecognizability by the charge of the Volantene elephants. He had lost a tenth of his men, decimated as the Valyrians would say, in just a few moments. Some of the most loyal and honest warriors of the north killed.
Even the hero of the day, Lord Renly, who had performed the admittedly impressive feat of slaying the greatest of the beasts, seemed to feel the same way, blaming himself for his close vassal and friend Ser Loras' injury, and likely for the deaths of several other reach men as well.
The rest of the high lords were in good cheer though, and Robert was leading the pack as far as that was concerned, drinking and eyeing the barmaid as he always did. Though he at least took some time to appreciate his son, an eleven-year-old who had now seen far more of battle than a child ought too.
He had intended to keep him far from the actual proper bloodshed, but unfortunately, the elephants had changed all that, and the boy had only been saved from their initial charge by a quick tackle from Ser Wendel. Something he would be sure to reward House Manderly appropriately for.
And speaking of rewards, Robert seemed to be running about promising Kingly ones this evening, some of which might cause a scandal.
Indeed, the reason he now found himself heading towards Prince Joffrey's tent was that Robert had promised to buy the boy a whore after his first battle, and anyone who was not so deep in his cups could see the type of trouble that might lead to.
So when he found the boy alone he was a bit relieved, up until just about the time that he saw his face. The boy had obviously been crying, and after a moment admitted that something was indeed wrong. So he sat down beside him with a sigh. There was an obvious weight on his shoulders, one that he had always hoped to keep Robb from.
"So, what's got you crying?"
"I wasn't-" the boys face contorted. It was interesting how that happened with him as if he was tearing himself between two different minds, though Ned hoped he was not mad.
Joffrey's sighed deeply. "I'm sorry for my outbursts Lord Stark, it is just hard to admit these things while keeping my pride."
'Pride?' Ned thought, raising an eyebrow, that seemed a bit odd for a child to have in such degrees, certainly wasn't his father's instruction. Perhaps it was the Lannister blood. "You haven't particularly harmed me with them, what's important is that the actual issue at the root of it be addressed."
The boy looked towards him for a moment with wide eyes before nodding ever so slightly. "Well, it's just… everyone is saying I was brave today, whereby all my own thoughts I was a coward."
Ned felt his eyebrows shoot up. "And why do you think you were a coward?"
"Well isn't that obvious?" The boy blinked "All I even did was cling to your side and when the elephants came I couldn't even move for fear of them. How is that not cowardice?"
"Oh," Ned said plainly, then nodded while shaking his head. "That would be cowardice in a man double your age Prince Joffrey, and even then most men are cowards when faced with a beast that can stomp them underfoot."
"But not my father, or my uncles, or even my cousin, who sailed past the edge of the world and has come back despite only being a little older than me." The boy had a tone of bitterness in his last statement, but Ned could understand why. The Mummers seemed to already be praising that boy as some sort of golden prince, at least the southern ones with his army. And Lord Manderly spoke favorably of him.
"Do you think your cousin is never terrified? I doubt that greatly, he is what, twelve? Thirteen?" Ned asked plainly. "I guarantee you he is at times, after all amongst even my own sons the youngest think the older one invincible. I suspect the same is true here. How many times have you met your cousin?"
"Once," Joffrey admitted.
"And how did he appear to you?"
"Disgustingly ugly, but confident in himself."
Ned sat back a bit at the tone of anger in his voice, but then after a moment he smiled anyway, there was a hook there.
"Alright, well you aren't ugly, so what you need to beat him is confidence then. Not pride born of your position, but of your abilities."
"I don't have any," Joffrey said plainly. "I'm a coward and I lose every training fight that the other person isn't faking."
Ned smiled shaking his head. "You don't have any, yet, but you're eleven, and that can be fixed with time. Your father and your Uncle in the Kingsguard both are great warriors, and you share their blood, I'm sure with proper education, and not some fools throwing their matches to please you, that you can become a fine one too in time."
The boy looked up at him with big eyes, and Ned felt a wave of pity come over him. He really was in a hard spot.
"Well," Ned said. "I'll see about it in the morning. For now, you should get some sleep."
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
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Stein