章 23: Memory of Home
Thankfully, my worries about Roach outright exploding if I blessed him turned out to be largely unfounded, instead, it made him go from a dark brown to a much lighter, his size increased exponentially and his already thick legs bulged with veins and muscles.
Another, less noticeable change, was the colour of his eyes which had gone from a dumb brown to a wiser red, with pupils shaped like a dragon. The MOST drastic change was in its teeth, which had changed into rows of sharp fangs that could bite through metal.
Oh and it had apparently gained the ability to-
"Roach, I swear to Marika, if you burn my food again, I'm going to eat your leg." I chided the animal, slapping it on the hind... It answered by releasing a small steady stream of flames directly onto my fish before neighing in defiance, "Alright, if that's how you want to do it."
I drew the large steel axe I'd sequestered from Jason's great hall, figuring no one was really going to miss a piece of decoration, and held it over my head.
Roach neighed innocently and cocked it's head.
Except I knew the damn thing had gotten much smarter after I blessed it so that wasn't going to work at all.
"I'll do it. I know how to butcher animals, you know?"
One tended to pick up such skills after millennia spent travelling.
Though, admittedly, most of my skill came from my time in Leyndell, handling the litter of eccentric demigods that eventually destroyed the whole realm in their struggle for power and sovereignty.
Thankfully, I'd decided to camp for some time in a forest along the way so I was saved from the shame of having an audience to the fact that I was arguing with an animal, a larger, smarter animal but an animal all the same.
We'd made good time.
After I blessed him, Roach quite literally rode like the wind, leaving a trail of dust behind it as we passed another swamp, Hag's Mire it was called, which convinced me that Miyazaki might have had some hand in creating the world.
It would make sense.
I spent much of my time cursing him for all my misfortunes.
We'd entered a forest after that, and I decided to camp along the edge since the Sun had set by then... I'd continue on my way to the Golden Tooth a few hours later.
Roach neighed and I recalled that he'd run through swamps and rivers for me, so my gaze softened and I lowered my axe... My thoughts almost changed when it neighed again in ridicule.
"Wait..." I looked between his eyes and the roasted fish on the campfire, "Could it... You want one?"
The animal neighed again.
"Why didn't you say so then?"
It just stared at me blankly.
I furrowed my brows but ultimately sighed and tossed one in the sky... Roach moved and caught it with expert precision, with litheness one wouldn't expect from an animal its size.
Nodding in admiration, I took a fish for myself before removing bottled salts and pepper from my satchel, along with a handful of herbs reminiscent of mint... Ideally, I'd have salted them beforehand but a campfire in the middle of a forest wasn't quite the best environment for such a thing.
I had my meal with plain water in enjoyable, lone silence.
Unlike the ironborn, I didn't have a single bone to pick with the Lannister host I'd agreed to hold off so there was no need to slaughter them.
So I would simply rout them.
Humming, I pulled out my map and got to work, etching in every minute detail I could recall from the hasty journey here. Then, I put my pen back into my satchel and took a loot at the map again, the Golden Tooth to be specific.
House Vance was a sizable house, able to field more men than their Lord leige at times of war due to the sheer size of their lands, with proper vassal lords serving under them. Combined with House Piper, their numbers would exceed ten and four thousan- er... fifteen thousand according to Jason.
Their loyalty and honour was commendable.
The only problem was, the Lannister host was possibly marching towards them in full force, with men possibly triple that.
This wasn't the Lands Between where a single person could shift the tide of battle by slaughtering tens of thousands, the rivermen would be crushed by stampede.
Unless...
I narrowed my eyes and tapped the Golden Tooth.
The defense point was a hill pass overlooked by a castle under the Lannisters.
It was... a hill pass.
A small, involuntary grin crossed my lips.
Oh... This gave me quite the interesting idea.
-
The journey from the forest to Wayfarer's Rest, my final stop before I entered the pass that served as the border between the Riverlands and the Westerlands was arbitrarily only slightly more distance than was between Seagard and The Twins, but where the latter took us the better part of a day, this one took less than two hours.
Thankfully, the weather was cool, with grey skies that promised light rains.
Licking my dry lips, I called out to a traveller on a cart, "Hail, friend!"
"..." The stranger paused, raising his brow, and looked me up and down in confusion.
I could understand him... my current attire wasn't one folks from this kingdom would be used to.
I sported a thick black coat that went to my knees over a red, lined cotton doublet with the sigil of the Erdtree sewn into the back, dark leather breeches completed heavy boots and most importantly, a cane.
The tailor seemed to be estranged by my taste so I supposed the same could happen with a random passer-by.
"What in the name of the seven is that thing?"
Or... he was surprised by Roach.
I pulled down my hat, taking advantage of the shadow it cast to hide my eyes...
"A rare breed of horse, from a different land." I offered a brief explanation, then cut him off as soon as he opened his mouth to share his doubts, pointing to the castle in the distance, "I notice Wayfarer's Rest is empty."
I hoped I was in time.
"Oh... Didn't ya hear?" The man started, tilting his head and gulping down something from his leather flask, "Lord Vance went off into the hills with his men... It's happenin' I reckon... Gods help us, war with the Lannisters."
I nodded in affirmation, "Yeah, thanks, man."
"I'd steer clear of the pass if I were you."
I just smiled slightly before riding off, "Go, Roach, fast as you can. I'll give you all the fish you can eat."
Roach neighed loudly, his voice bordering on a roar, and picked up the pace, leaving deep marks in the wet road.
-
I arrived upon a vast array of tents, with flags of two different kinds flapping above them in great numbers, with steep hills on two sides... Their defense was rudimentary, only a flimsy wooden fence with spearmen standing at certain junctures.
"I guess most of their focus would be on the other side."
They didn't exactly have anything to fear from their own homeland.
At the same time, I also spotted a contingent of riders in chainmail and boiled leather getting ready to ride out my way but what mostly cast my eyes were the sigils of the two Houses.
One was fine, great even, a quartered sigil with a black dragon on one side, with golden eyes encircled by gold on the other... The other was... odd.
It was a naked woman with her breasts hanging out, dancing on blue with a strip of white cloth covering her other delicate parts.
Letting out a small chuckle at the audacity, I pulled on Roach's reign, "Come on boy, let's go."
A small trinket that Robb Stark's Maester had given me by the boy's orders would come in extremely handy at this point... A small sigil of a direwolf, the size of a coat pin.
He called it something insignificant compared to how much I had done for him and who was I to deny the kindness?
"...The Northerners are a little too trusting." I mused as we rode up.
One thing I'd learnt over the course of my long life was that people often tended to overlook those that strode in naturally like they belonged there... and the same happened here, with such a great number, the guards at the entrance barely even considered my passing.
Once inside, I couldn't help the smile that crawled onto my face.
War was, in a way, the only thing I truly knew.
I'd spent much of my life in war camps, either waging war or battling foes I had no right to according to all else.
I smiled at the familiar clangs of steel, the hustle of marching footsoldiers and sergeants shouting orders at men, even the stench of sweat and shit brought me nostalgia... I looked down at the steps in the wet soil, and smiled more.
Admittedly, it felt like I had returned home and the feeling was... a welcome one, for the most part.
I dismounted Roach, and pulled my cane from the saddle before tapping it on the hind, "Go off, boy. Make yourself scarce, but be back when I call."
The horse neighed loudly and shot off outside the camp, startling any poor soldiers that had the misfortune of being in its way.
Once he was gone, I inhaled deeply, "I'm back."
It was time to wage war once more, for a purpose like any.
Time had taught me no purpose was too flimsy, and no purpose was too grand.
The end was always victory or defeat, death and destruction, no matter the justification, war itself was 'evil' in the eyes of humans.
But in my eyes, it was a clash of wills and ideals, and something I looked upon fondly.
As Lord Godfrey did, might made right... All opposition had to be completely eradicated.
But, the Lannisters weren't opposition, so I would be lenient.
I pointed to a young boy, barely out of his teens, with naive grey eyes and a puffed chest that told me he had no idea what war was like for the common man, "You there."
"Y-Yess, m-lord!" Startled from his fantasies, he bowed his head but let go of his spear and it fell on his own head, "W-What can I do for you?"
Again, I enjoyed their misunderstandings to no small degree.
"Lead me to Lord Vance."
"Y-Yes! Of course!"
I smiled and followed after him.
-
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