Capítulo 8: The Negotiator
I walked into the dingy inn with a disarming smile on my face, a noble lady slung over my shoulder and her younger sister walking with me of her own volition.
It would've looked like some weird kidnapping if not for the fact that I was dressed like a noble too... minus the few drops of blood that spilled on my white tunic from the men I'd cut down in the castle.
"Nice place." I commented, looking around curiously.
Admittedly, it wasn't all that 'dingy' for the time period we were in.
The place was clean, the furniture was chipped in places but plenty and well maintained. The most desirable aspect for me personally though, was that there weren't that many people inside.
A few travellers were huddled together on one of the corner tables under a window, most of their bodies hidden by plain cloaks... The only other visitor seemed to be a drunk lying face down on the counter, passed out.
"T-Thank you... m-m'lord..." A teen serving girl in plain tunic greeted me nervously with a lowered head, but with an odd professionalism to the way she stood, "Welcome to Ivy Inn... How can we serve?"
It made sense, this is a main road, they should be used to entertaining all kinds of pompous nobility.
I cast a glance at Arya, "I like how they all arrive at that conclusion by themselves."
It was great for me, because I didn't have to spend time spinning tales about who I was.
In medieval societies, questioning what seemed to be a noble was akin to signing your own death warrant.
"Food and drink for two right now." I spoke calmly, "We'll talk about the rest later."
The serving girl nodded hesitantly, stealing one final glance at Sansa before running away as fast as she could, probably hoping she didn't catch my fancy.
Shrugging, I carefully put down Sansa before plopping down on the table nearest the counter, "Come on, let's have some food."
Arya nodded and sat down across from me as I prepared myself for her strange line of questioning.
"My father, is he... safe?"
I... honestly wasn't expecting her to ask that question, but it did bring a smile to my face, "He's fine."
"You're lying."
Oh?
I leaned on the table, resting my chin in my hand, "Why do you think that?"
"Why did we need to run away in the night then?" She prodded with narrowed eyes, putting both her hands on the plank table between us, "And why did you kill Ser Meryn Trant?"
Who the fuck was Meryn Trant?
I considered my options for a bit, scratching my chin, "It doesn't really matter, I guess. The Crown Prince is a bastard."
"I knew that already. He killed Mycah and Lady, he's rotten." She spoke annoyedly, brows furrowed.
This was about what I'd expected from a guy born of direct incest between humans, did they think he'd turn out alright?
"Mycah...?"
"The butcher's son, he was my friend and Joffrey had him killed."
I guess royalty never changes...
"The thing is, since he's a bastard. He can't be King." I gave it to her straight, making sure to separate my opinion from the facts of the matter, "And Stannis Baratheon knows... he'll raise an army for his rightful throne."
"Will he win?" She asked curiously.
"I mean, the contender is a boy who hasn't fought once in his life while Stannis held off a siege several times his own number for a year." I smiled slightly.
I didn't know much about the heroes of this world, maybe there was some great general serving the crown that could equal Stannis' military genius, "Renly Baratheon is also making a claim and from what he sounded like, I reckon he has backers too."
"He looked like he was good friends with Loras Tyrell." Arya noted with furrowed brows.
"Tyrell...?"
"The Lords Paramount of the Reach, from Highgarden."
So there was a host to be raised there too.
Hm... I wonder which side has the most to offer me.
I mean, armies couldn't amount to much when the opposition could simply nuke those numbers out of existence... It happened a lot in the Lands Between.
Godefroy the Grafted and Godrick tried to siege Leyndell together and all it took to break that whole rebellion was a handful of Dragon Cult knights... and a small anonymous gift in the form of a flame-lightning storm, courtesy of me having a grudge against Godrick because he threw a cup of wine at me.
"You're really not from here, are you?" She prodded with excited eyes, squirming slightly, "Are you from one of the Free Cities?"
Considering I spent twenty or so years on Earth and then millennia in the Lands Between, "I'm from a place called the Lands Between."
Her eyes lit up with a renewed excitement, since this was the first time I answered one of her questions, "Where are they?"
"Between."
"..."
I snickered at her deadpan face, putting my mouth in my hand, "They're called that, they lie across the fog... That's all I know. I don't even know how I came here."
I had no reason to hide my origins, they could believe me or write me off as a madman... I didn't have any need for their approval or acceptance.
"Hm..." She backed away, steely eyes still filled with an excited curiosity, "And what did you do there?"
I tilted my head slightly, "I hunted dragons and ate their hearts. The younger ones first, and then the ancient ones... Eventually their Kings too."
"Dragons are real?"
Where an adult might have laughed at me for saying this, Arya only absorbed my words with a naive child-like excitement, "Do you think I can see one?!"
"Maybe one day." I smiled slightly, making a small throwing gesture, "That's how I did what I did back then."
She seemed to pause for a few moments, lost in deep thought before she inhaled deeply and spoke again, "Can you teach me?"
"No."
Arya deflated with disappointment and lowered her gaze, "Because I'm a girl?"
"No. I couldn't care less." Malenia was a so-called 'girl' and she killed me enough times when we fought for me to not even consider that notion, fucking bLAdE oF MiQUElLa, "Just, I don't think there's dragons to eat... or that people could handle eating them."
There were others like me, those who partook in Dragon Communion but they ate only a few hearts before some sort of curse took hold and transformed them into landbound Magma Wyrms, like Mykar.
I, however, ate just about all dragons and exhibited no real side-effects besides the dark eyes.
"Hm." She seriously considered my words as I looked out the nearby window, passing the time.
That food was taking too long.
"Then swordplay?"
"Never been too good with one." I shot her down with an amused smile... because I wasn't interested in being a teacher.
I tried with the Tarnished and it ended in disappointment.
Before Arya could ask anything else, the serving girl came back, holding a wooden tray. She carefully placed it down between us along with three cups, "Ribs, roasted. Parsnips. Ale for you m'lord and milk for the little one."
She looked a lot less nervous than before... maybe seeing me talk with Arya had put her at ease?
"Cheers." I flashed her a smile, "And Arya, should we wake up your sister?"
"She's going to mouth off as soon as she does, better to let her sleep." Arya shot me down with a straight face, "Let her dream about her prince a while."
"You're just worried it'll be hard for her to handle the news."
"Am not!"
-
The food was... unexpectedly delicious, or maybe I was saying that because I hadn't eating anything except grapes since I came here.
The ale was sweet, and washed down the meal nicely.
I was just waiting for Arya to finish up her portion when the door was thrown open by Lannister men who barged inside like they owned the place, laughing amongst themselves and jeering at the serving girl.
"Hail King Joffrey Baratheon!"
Civil war it was then.
They were fully armoured, brandishing weapons, so everyone was understandably intimidated, including Arya.
"Eat your food... they're not doing anything to us." I reassured her, glancing at the soldiers from the corner of my eye.
"Do you need anything else, m'lord?" The serving girl came up to me with pleading eyes, stealing looks at the excited soldiers.
I smiled politely, "Could you tell me the way to Winterfell?"
"You're on the Kingsroad, m'lord... it passes through Winterfell, I think."
"Thanks... do you have some bread or something I could take for the journey?"
"Mm." She nodded and hurried away.
Realistically, there was nothing I could do to help them here.
Yes I could cut down all the soldiers before they could blink but that would only implicate the innkeep and his staff... I could knock them all out but again, they'd just kill these poor folk for it.
At the same time, this was medieval society.
I'd know those faces anywhere.
They'll rape whoever they want and kill anyone that resists, the Lannisters even seem to have a particular reputation for it if the whispers at the Red Keep were true.
"Hmm..." I considered my options with pursed lips.
What to do? What to do?
The optimal path is to just leave... except they're stealing glances at the 'pretty' lady sleeping by my side.
"You're going to abandon her?" Arya asked quietly.
What would Lord Godfrey, the one Elden Lord I respected, have done in my place?
It wasn't even a question.
I stood up with a bang, grabbing the nearest soldier by his helmet and ripping his head clean off his shoulder. With a kick, I sent his corpse flying into his fellows... Fellows I cut down with a single swipe of my hand by virtue of sheer force and speed.
A series of thuds rang out as several mutilated corpses fell to the ground, their expressions the same as they'd been before... unaware that their hearts were sliced apart.
"Consider that your payment... Ditch the corpses in a lake or river, they were going to rape your daughter." I spoke to the innkeep without turning around. Instead, I crouched down and took the coin pouches from the dead soldiers and stuffed them in my pants.
He nodded dumbly as I moved to pick up Sansa, "Come on, Arya. We're going."
I took the bag of rations from the frozen serving girl and made my way to Roach.
I'm quite curious about the regions we'll pass on the way to Winterfell.
-
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