บท 8: Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold
294 AC, Wolfswood…
After burying the old man, Rodrik insisted on Jack telling him about his encounters with the bandits again. He listened to him with attention as he searched for each little detail in his story. However, the clues he learned were limited to the black fletchings on the arrows and the southern accent in their voices.
They were probably vagrants that came from the South seeing a vacancy in the region. The North was a huge place and bandits were scarce compared to the South so opportunistic people coming up North was natural.
In the end, Rodrik pushed aside these restless thoughts and focused on the present. Rodrik didn't know what he was going to do now. After all, the reason why he stayed here was to look after the old man.
Jack invited Rodrik to stay with his family in Wintertown but Rodrik refused his offer. Jack didn't want to leave Rodrik alone but there was nothing he could do as he needed to return to his family and Rodrik didn't want to return to Wintertown as living in the past was no use to him.
Rodrik insisted on Jack spending the night in the house as the night travels were dangerous with the bandits still out there. In the end, Jack relented and spent the night in the house.
While Jack was sleeping, Rodrik stayed awake as he couldn't sleep thinking about the death of the old man. He stayed with Duncan for at least four years and he considered the old man as his family.
Although he forced himself to appear strong on the surface, he felt like he lost his father for a second time. Maybe if he didn't fool around Wintertown talking with his friends, they could have arrived earlier to save the old man.
Nevertheless, the old man was dead and there was no return from the grave. The only thing he could do for him was to avenge him.
As Rodrik's thoughts drifted to the things he was going to do to those bandits, his eyelids became heavy and the promise of death lingered on his lips.
…
Come the morning, Jack left Rodrik behind and went on his way to Wintertown with heavy steps. He also took the sacks of grain with him as Rodrik told him he was not planning to stay here so there was no use in keeping them in the house.
Jack promised to alert the guards as he hoped that no other would fall victim to these bandits. However, Rodrik had nope regard for the guards because he did not believe they were even going to lift their fingers. Nobles and their people did not care about the lives of the smallfolk and this was a lesson he learned the hard way.
As Jack was lost in the eyes of Rodrik, the silence took over the place. Rodrik went back inside and looked around. The walls were still dyed with blood and Rodrik had no heart to clean them as he was also planning to leave.
Rodrik gathered the swords and the armour they took from the bandits. He tried each of them on himself and made a set from them. Although the leather boots were of low quality, they were a perfect fit for him.
Then, he took out a crude but sharp dagger from the pile and hid it inside his boots. He also took one of the sharp swords and sheathed it into his new scabbard.
He dug a small pit and buried the rest as he thought of selling them later. As Jack took the grains, his share was the armours and the swords so he was not going to let them waste away. Though he had another job for now so they had to wait in that pit for a while.
Rodrik gathered the remaining food in the kitchen and stuffed them in a sack. He also took another set of clothing for himself and the necklace of his mother from his chest. He brought the rest of his belongings to the back of the house to hide them, lest they get stolen by some bad people.
He threw his sack which was filled with food to his back and set out on the road. He was planning to go towards the South following the Kingsroad. After all, according to what Jack said, the bandits had a southern accent so they were bound to stay closer to the South as the north of the White Harbour was a cold hell for those who come from the South.
His first day on the road was without any mishap as he did not see anyone. However, on the second day, he met a fat merchant coming from the South with a caravan. The fat merchant offered him a job as his bodyguard seeing Rodrik carrying a sword and wearing armour.
The other guards escorting the merchant looked at Rodrik with disdain in their eyes as them being a Southron was apparent from their gazes. However, Rodrik noticed one of the guards had an arm with cloth wrapped around it and another sitting on the cart with blood on his face.
Rodrik refused the offer kindly and asked how his guards came to be wounded. The merchant told him that several bandits cut their road half a day before and tried to extort coins from them. Apparently, the merchant was a hard nut to crack as he ordered his guards to attack without even negotiating with the bandits.
Rodrik did not have any proof about these bandits being the ones who attacked the old man but his guts were telling him otherwise. He stayed at the merchant's camp and spent the night peacefully sleeping. By the morning, he bid farewell and thanked the merchant as he continued to walk.
However, this time, Rodrik stayed away from the road because he did not want to get ambushed by the bandits. There were no woods nearby and only the vast tundra was visible to the eyes. If not for the small hills, Rodrik would have nowhere to hide and would be seen from the road.
After half a day of walking, the sun was slowly going down. Finally, Rodrik saw a horse and three men armed with bows and swords walking towards a big hill to his right. A body was thrown over the horse but it was still as the snow on a dark night.
Rodrik waited for a while and then followed the road downwards. What greeted him was a sight that would come to haunt him for days. An old man with hair of white and a babe in his arms was lying on the ground.
A deep gash was adorning the man's broken body as his bloody hands caressed the baby's head. However, no sound was coming from the baby.
Rodrik came close to the old man as he saw him raising his pale face to look at him. However, Rodrik ignored his gaze as he knelt to look at the man's wound. The wound was a killing blow as the bone was protruding over it.
"No use robbing me, young man. They already took all I have…" the old man's grunts sounded in Rodrik's ears.
"I'm no robber… However, I would be grateful if you could tell me what happened here." Rodrik asked the obvious question as he eyed the rigid body of the baby.
A single tear left the old man's eye as a deep agony gushed out of his face, "There were three of them… three bastards! If I had been younger I would have dealt with them myself!" The old man thumped his fist onto the rock just beside him as he coughed blood.
"I saw them going to the east. They were carrying a body on a horse. Who was it?" Rodrik asked as he rose to his feet.
A pang of sadness took over the old man's face as his gaze turned to the baby in his arms, "My daughter… they took her. If only I had paid the coins they asked for, she would have been here now."
Rodrik was sure now these bandits were the ones he was searching for. He was on the right track and he knew which way they were going.
Seeing Rodrik attempting to leave, the old man grabbed Rodrik's arm and asked with begging eyes, "Will you grant this old man a favour?" Rodrik's hesitating face made the old man frantic, "You will find a golden dragon in my left boot, you can take it. Just listen to me."
Rodrik shook off the old man's hand and grunted but waited for him to finish his words.
"My son-in-law is a guard in Winterfell… His name is John. Please tell him what happened here, that is the only thing I will ask of you." With each word, a drop of blood left the old man's mouth. His pale face was already as white as the snow and his words were coming out weaker with each passing second. By the time he uttered his last word, his eyes were empty as the sky.
Rodrik looked at the old man's dead eyes and closed them while wishing him a peaceful death. The old man wished for him to inform his son-in-law but Rodrik was planning to do something better than that.
He needed to go after the bandits, lest he loses their trail. However, he also couldn't leave these two dead bodies out on the road as they would be desecrated by the wild animals.
In the end, Rodrik decided to leave the old man's body here but to bury the baby. That was the least he could do as the grave he needed to dig was not a big one. Besides, he could take time off to do that.
It took him half an hour and by the time he was done with it, he took the gold coin in the old man's boot and followed the trail of the bandits.
Rodrik was already tired from walking half a day without any rest but, still, he unwaveringly followed the trail. By midnight, he arrived at a village.
The village was surrounded by a palisade but it was in disrepair as several parts of it were broken down and only the gate was in perfect condition.
Men were standing before the gate and chatting with mugs in their hands. However, he did not let them see him. He went inside the grove which stood just beside the village.
He dropped his sack before a tree and waited for the moon to fall behind the clouds. He stripped his sword and left it beside the sack as he was planning to sneak in and the sword was just a hindrance. Besides, his dagger was more than enough in this case.
He slowly crept into the village through the broken side of the palisade. There were only a few shabby houses in the village but what caught his attention was the dry blood stains all around the village.
This place did not look like a proper village and Rodrik was beginning to have doubts about the people living here.
There was no one around so he went behind one of the houses and looked inside. Two beds were inside the house and both of them were occupied by two grown men.
Rodrik took out the dagger he hid in his boot and slowly went to the backdoor of the house. Rodrik tried to open the door discreetly and to his surprise, he found that the door was not locked.
He went inside with light steps but he creased his brows at the sight that greeted him. Before him was laying a naked body. A pool of blood was gathered between her legs and her black hair was covering her face.
Rodrik knelt on the ground and pulled aside her hair. He put his hand before the mouth of the woman but he felt no air coming out of her lungs.
His gaze hardened, this woman was most probably the daughter of the old man and the mother of the baby he found on the road.
He rose to his feet and looked at the two men laying on their beds. One of them was holding a mug in his hand and it was obvious that he was dead drunk.
He turned to the other man and saw him in the same state. His gaze turned back to the naked body laying on the ground and a plan formed in his head.
He looked around and saw a dagger on a stool. He picked it up and unsheathed it. It was not very sharp but it was enough for what he was going to do.
He held the dagger tightly and picked up a crude pillow from the ground. He went beside one of the men and looked at his sleeping form.
A happy smile was adorning the man's face but it was a face that soon was going to be filled with horror.
Rodrik took a deep breath and readied himself. He smothered the man with the pillow while stabbing him in his throat.
The man struggled only for a second before succumbing to his death. The colour drained from Rodrik's face. Accidentally killing his aunt was one thing, killing a man on purpose was another.
However, these men were murderers, rapists and thieves. They did not deserve any mercy. After all, they were the ones who killed Uncle Duncan and the old man's family.
Rodrik turned his head to the other guy sleeping on the bed. This scum deserved to die like his friend but Rodrik was a smart guy so he was not going to kill it.
He put the bloody dagger just beside the man and put the pillow on the other side of the bed. It was the best ploy he could think of.
After all, he couldn't catch all of the bandits unaware. A dead woman was laying on the ground and two drunk men were laying on their beds. If someone came in and have seen the dagger and pillow beside the man, the first thing they would think of would be the murderer was the other drunk man.
Rodrik did not touch anything else and left the village from the way he came in. He took out a rope from his sack and gathered his belongings.
Rodrik climbed the top of one of the trees and tied himself to one of its branches. There was nothing in a kilometer around so sleeping around here was dangerous as there was a risk of getting caught by the bandits.
He was tired from all the walking and the stress put on his mind by his first real kill was beginning to grow inside him. His eyelids were fighting to close themselves and Rodrik did not resist much.
He was in a safe place and out of sight. As long as the ropes that tied him to the tree did not get loose, there was nothing to be afraid of so he drifted to sleep with the thoughts of vengeance still vivid in his head.
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