Chapitre 68: Sunny day
I couldn't make the decision if she should die till the last moment, but thinking about it her death was necessary.
"Mama look!" Little Bri was pointing at one of the melted towers of the once great Harrenhal castle.
The little girl with a ponytail kept together by a yellow ribbon and in her new yellow dress that was ordered from the best tailor in King's Landing was pulling Lady Dustin's hand excitedly.
Yes. They were outside, but since everyone already knew about how Lady Dustin doted on the child and treated as her own, they didn't see anything wrong with it.
Never in Neverwinter did they meet with discrimination based on class or upbring, at least not from the native inhabitants of the lands.
Of course there were cases when a wealthy merchant or some noble from nowhere tried to express his superiority, but nothing that few days in a dark, cold cell or a good beating wouldn't solve.
The more stubborn ones had a tendency to disappear never to be heard of again to Qyburn's joy.
"Yes yes I see it as well." the guards chuckled seeing their Lady so... motherly again, earning a stern look from her.
"I think Ser Hadrian needs to retrain you all." she cunningly said while a wide smile was hidden in her heart, the guards knew what she meant and begged for mercy as a barrage of "My Lady please not that!" was sent her way one after another.
It was a beautiful day with the sun hanging high in the sky giving the feeling of first days of spring, with the chilly winter breeze and the warm rays of the sun on everyone's faces, making even the laziest person energetic again.
"Mama! Is it true that the dragons did this?" the child asked while hugging her leg with stars in her eyes.
Bri just loved her brother's and foster mother stories and was always fascinated by them.
"It is, the first Lord of the castle was a bad man that did a lot of bad things." she tried to educate the child about wrongs and rights even during the short walk.
"Then does it mean that the dragons are good?" Bri asked curiously.
"No child... let me put it this way. If Ser Bryce holds a sword" she pointed at her guard. "Is it a good sword or a bad sword?" her simple question made the child wonder.
"Ser Bryce is a good Knights so it is a good sword!" she was so confident and cute with her answer that the knight almost blushed and misplaced his step as his fellow guards laughed and joked at his extent.
Lady Barbrey looked at the knight for a second longer and softer than usual said "We should do something with her naivety..." while grabbing the child's hand and moving on in the direction of the tent and the table that would soon be prepared for them to eat outside while enjoying the view and beautiful weather.
"My Lady? My Lady... My Lady!" Ser Bryce followed them not letting go of the chance to joke around as the woman and the girl ignored him giggling.
"Little Bri, your answer was good, but not correct. It's important what the owner of the sword does with it that defies if it's good or bad. Your point of view in the situation is important as well." the girl looked a bit troubled as she did not exactly understand the lesson.
Before she managed to ask they walked by, catching a glimpse of one of Barbrey's girl servants close to their dining place to the east of the gate.
The woman was with a knight asking a group of men that looked like beggars to move away.
"What's the meaning of this?" Lady Barbrey asked presenting her authority on full display making the group cower.
"My Lady," said the knight turning to her to meet everyone's eyes. He could see some movement behind his back, but decided it was nothing "they came up to ask for coins." he lowered his head.
"My Lady... we are hungry. Please find it in the goodness of your heart and spare some coins for the poor..." the apparent leader of the group asked before a knight blocked his way again.
Lady of Neverwinter felt a light tag on her dress and looked down to see the watery eyes of her foster child.
"Feed them, give them some coins and let them leave." she ordered and turned back in their original direction not paying attention to the group of six beggars anymore.
"Thank you mama!" Bri hugged her again making Barbrey smile a bit with a warm feeling in her chest.
After they arrived, Loki and Laika joined them. The wolves grew exceptionally during the trip.
Lady Dustin assumed it was because of their frequent excursions that the twins did to the nearby forests to hunt wherever the convoy traveled.
When the table was being set inside the tent, Bri separated from her foster mother and started to run around with Loki doing everything possible to annoy the calm and stoic or maybe just lazy Laika.
Lady Dustin wasn't worried as the closest location was sternly guarded by 200 of hers and the sworn to them houses 750 in total knights around the clock.
Only when the table was being covered by a great amount of food, did the child came back with her two hungry companions.
Seeing the familiar face of the woman servant, the child waived at her earning herself back a smile.
Seeing Bri reach out for some cheesecake with her hand Lady Dustin reprimanded her sternly.
"Take a fork young Lady." hearing her voice the child straightened her back and looked around the table.
Ser Bryce came up to Lady Dustin and whispered. "My Lady, news from our merchants..." he moved away.
Lady Dustin took one last protective glance and smiled seeing how young Bri took her plate and fork as it was the closest one to the child before she stood up to follow the knight.
"Our merchants confirm the increase in the contracts amount. They are asking for a reason as we are loosing out a lot more than what we can afford, would you like for me to inform them about Ironborn?" Ser Bryce looked at his Liege Lady and waited while she thought about the issue.
"No. The loss will not even take place because of the attack. Tell them to do as they were told, especially since the New Lhazar convoys will arrive again shortly. Make sure the clause are strict for breaking even one shipment delivery with a threat of compensation and termination of contract." she almost could imagine Tywin Lannister panicky expression when his fleet burned.
"Mama..."
"How about the other Houses? Where are they?" she asked curiously, the king should have already send his men to pick up the four million dragons from Ser Hadrian. It was better to do it outside Lannister's eyes.
"M-m-ma..."
"They should have left the North by now my Lady." hearing him Lady Dustin nodded approvingly.
"MA-M...A!" turning around and looking back inside the tent they could see Bri...
Her young, 5 name days old, childish face that usually had a bright smile, now had just a look of fear and terror on it.
Loki and Laika were using their noses to nudge on the child feeling her despair.
She held her hands close to her mouth, but even so blood seeped between her fingers, her face was almost as white as a ghost loosing its color with every harsh breath the child tried to take with extreme difficulty.
Lady Barbrey froze thinking the worst 'poison'...
"Guards! Guards!" Ser Bryce was the first to move before his Lady did.
Thanks to his powerful voice every man in the proximity was alarmed and sped as fast as the legs allowed them to in the tent direction.
"Ma...m...a" the child even when trying to catch a breath which was now almost an impossible feat for her still reached her small hand in her mother's direction.
The soft voice waking Lady Dustin up from her state as she rushed to her darling.
"No no no no no no no..." was the only thing she could say, bringing the baby girl into her embrace as she watched the child's tears streaming from her eyes down the gentle, young face.
Bri struggled and fought for every breath, the unnatural, wheezing sound made the knight and his Lady lose hope as the sounds sped up signaling the dire situation as the little girl was slowly loosing the fight for her life.
Ser Bryce teared down the dress on the girl's chest and stomach to make more room for her lungs to move, even when Bri was frantically struggling, he opened her mouth and looked inside, yet the anxious, panicking child just coughed blood with clots on his face.
How thankfull the knight was for the first aid lessons that the young Lord made every fighting man go through rigorously under the experienced doctors supervision.
"Help her!" Lady Barbrey shouted just as the rest of the men entered the tent.
"Get my doctor! It's poison!" she didn't care if they saw her in such a state, she just wanted her baby to live.
"M...mam-a" Bri held her hand strongly, afraid to let go.
Some of the men turned and sped up to get the doctor, even the armor that they had on them didn't dwindle the swift movement.
While running each one of them raised the alarm making the old castle look like an ants nest during fire.
"I'm here baby, calm down and it's going to be alright..." she was crying... she! One of the most powerful people in the kingdom!
Her face turned to the side not wanting to show her daughter how really terrified she was.
Barbrey saw the table, the piece of cheesecake on the plate and the fork on the ground.
The food was not poisonous, of that she was sure as her most trusted men were during the whole preparation process and the chefs were even checked by her son directly before he left... then what?
She looked at the table again and played the scenes from the day in her mind.
'My Lady... we are hungry. Please find it in the goodness of your heart and spare some coins for the poor...'
The way he spoke... peasant beggar... 'My Lady not M'Lady...' the thought change to the young woman servant and little Bri waiving to her... The same person...
She still wasn't sure, but then her eyes again felt on the fork that Bri used... her fork...
"Catch that servant girl and the beggars from before! I want them all alive! All! You hear me! If they escape I will have your heads!" the shout as a wrath from Stranger mobilized every knights that was there, except for Ser Bryce that was still trying to save the child by helping her to breath, by getting the clotted blood from her throat and in worst scenario preparing to do mouth to mouth, if or when it would come to this, yet he prayed to the Old Gods it would not.
The struggle continued as the man did everything he could to extend the time of the young child demise until the doctors arrived, he could hear Lady Dustin frantically shouting "Where are they?" expecting the professionals, but time will not stop for anyone.
"Mo-mommy p...p-plea...se I don't w...wan...t to di...e..." the small hand felt limply to the ground.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone