บท 9: Rotten Plan
294 AC, A Village Near The Kingsroad…
Rodrik woke up to the shouting coming from the village. His first thought was that he was discovered by someone. However, soon he realized that the reason for the shouting was not him.
A man only wearing his pants was dragged out of the house Rodrik entered last night. He was brought before a man of small stature.
Rodrik watched all the ongoings with bated breath but what he was expecting did not happen. Instead of killing the man, they tied him to a pole and gagged his mouth.
They brought out the dead bodies of the woman and the man and threw them in a pit just outside the village. It was apparent that this pit was where they were burning the bodies.
Rodrik wondered what was wrong with his plan as it did not go as he planned. Nevertheless, the deed was done and the bandits were tipsier than before.
He took out some food from his sack and ate them while watching the village. Their numbers were twelve, including the one tied to the pole. Considering the seven of them were killed by the old Duncan, and one of them by Rodrik, their old numbers should have been twenty. That was a number higher than what Jack told Rodrik.
Rodrik did not have any intention of attacking them during the day so he spent his day watching them from the tree. Idling on the tree all day was tiring on a different level but Rodrik had his purpose so he did not mind staying there without moving for a day.
During the day, he made a plan. This time, he was going after the big fish. The stout man was most probably the leader of the bandits.
Rodrik watched the stout man all day. He was staying in the biggest house in the village so Rodrik knew where to go during the night.
Killing the stout man in his sleep would create a bigger problem as he was the leader of the group. With his death, there was going to be a vacancy of power and a fight amongst them was sure to break out.
Using the enemy's weakness against them was the first lesson he was taught by Uncle Duncan. Although he did the same thing last night, he was sure this night was going to be more fruitful.
By evening, Rodrik saw a long man with light armour on him standing amongst the trees on the other end of the grove and watching the village.
The man stood there for a few minutes and then went away with running steps. Rodrik thought the man was probably a guard for one of the lordlings passing through the Kingsroad as it was common for the nobles to send a man forward to scout for any danger. However, during the day the village was very ordinary, except for the lack of any woman so not finding anything extraordinary, they would probably just consider it normal.
Rodrik waited until midnight again. When the moon was covered by the clouds, he untied himself and climbed down.
Like the night before, he sneaked inside through the broken part of the palisade but this time, he did not stop to look around and directly went to the biggest house in the village.
The house was not in shambles unlike the others in the village and it was only occupied by the stout man.
Rodrik looked around to find a way to get inside and to his surprise, there was an open window just behind the house. He wondered which idiot would leave a window open in the North. Nevertheless, he considered it his luck so he used it to get inside.
The inside was like a trophy room, from animal pelts to barrels of alcohol and from swords, to shields everything was lined before the walls. This place was most probably the treasure trove of the bandits.
There were three rooms inside the house so Rodrik slowly looked at each of them. In the last room, he saw a man laying on a bed with his back turned to the door.
Rodrik knew he found the person he was searching for so slowly unsheathed his sword. He was planning to stab the man several times with his sword to make the others believe that it was the job of more than one person.
However, his plans came short as someone grabbed him from behind and threw him to the wall. At the same time, the man sleeping on the bed threw off the blanket and rose to his feet.
Rodrik tried to pick himself up but a fist crashed into his face. Someone grabbed his collar and lifted him up and began to beat him into a bloody pup.
"Enough! We can't get any answers if you kill him." said the stout man.
"Got it, boss." The man threw his last punch and rose to his feet to kick aside Rodrik's sword.
The stout man knelt beside Rodrik and grabbed a fistful of his hair. "Who sent you boy, was it Earcut Darren, or Whitebeard Rony? You must be one of the green ones recruited by them, uh?"
Rodrik spat out blood on the stout man's face and laughed with his bloody mouth. He pitied his own intellect. He thought himself smart and capable but here he was, beaten and caught.
However, he was not going to let himself be killed without at least taking one of them down but first, he needed to find a chance.
"I'm telling you nothing," Rodrik said while laughing.
The stout man threw a few more punches and yelled to Rodrik's face, "Tell who is it!?"
Rodrik played the role of a tough boy for a few minutes and only then did he let his mouth spew out lies. "It was Whitebeard Rony, he swore to give me the lion's share…"
The stout man snorted and picked his sword from a chest nearby. "The bastard had one of the weasel brothers killed and tried to push the blame onto another. Now, he attempted to kill me. This night blood will be shed but it will not be mine."
"You stay here and deal with this boy." said the stout man, "I am going to deal with that bastard."
"As you wish, boss. Leave some slack for me, I never liked that bastard." The other man grinned from ear to ear while dreaming about the things he was going to inflict on his sworn enemy.
While the stout man was leaving the room, Rodrik's hand went to the small dagger hidden in his boot.
He pulled his hand back as soon as he realized the other man was turning around.
"Now, what should I do with you boy? Maybe I should just kill you?" The man grinned while looking at Rodrik, "Nah, that is too boring. I will carve a smile on your ugly face so you won't have to smile every time."
The man picked up Rodrik's sword and threw it to the other side of the room. Then, he turned around to pick out a small carving knife from the chest just beside the bed.
However, there was something the man ignored and that was Rodrik's state. Rodrik's face was bloody enough because of those punches but his limbs still had enough strength to fight for the last time.
He slowly took out the dagger hidden inside his booth and hid it inside his sleeve.
The men turned around and came beside Rodrik. He had a mischievous smile on his face as he showed his carving knife to Rodrik. "Do you see this? The boss hides this for special occasions but, sometimes, I also use it and today is your lucky day because…"
As the man began to talk through his ass, Rodrik slowly let the small dagger, hidden from the man's sight, fall into his hand.
Rodrik never knew he could be so quick as he repeatedly stabbed the man on his neck. The words spoken by the man slowly turned into gurgles and blood coming out of his mouth.
The surprise was evident on the man's face as, apparently, he considered Rodrik just a toy just like the others he carved before.
"That's the only thing you will get from me." Rodrik spat upon the man's corpse as he got up to his feet. He kicked the man's corpse several times to vent his anger.
He took a deep breath and wiped the blood from his face with the sheet of the bed. Then, he picked up his sword and gripped it tightly.
The last night when he entered this village, he was intending to create discontent amongst the bandits by killing one of them and laying the blame on another. However, one thing he left out of account was the two men being brothers.
He couldn't see their faces due to the darkness of the night so he did not think that they were brothers and this was his first mistake.
His second mistake was of this night. He thought the bandits would sleep as usual but considering the happenings of the last night, they were more alert than ever. He did not even think about the open window. This was North and the nights were colder than a frozen lake so he should have thought that this was a trap.
It was Rodrik's mistake to not plan out every little detail and his slacking cost him greatly. Although he tried to use everything to his advantage such as lying to the leader of the bandits about the one behind the plan, he was still at a disadvantage.
And now, he did not know what to do… His ruse was going to be revealed in the coming minutes and he was not even close to his purpose.
Rodrik did not linger too much and went to the window to see what was happening.
There were two distinct groups gathered in the centre of the village. They were quarrelling amongst each other while pointing toward the house Rodrik was in.
A few seconds later, they all turned towards the house. Two men began walking like they were going to get in so Rodrik quickly looked around to find somewhere to hide.
There was already a dead man laying on the ground so they were surely going to assume that he was the one who did it.
Rodrik hid in the closet and waited for the two men to come in. He did not have to wait long as the two men barged in but faltered seeing their dead friend on the ground.
They looked at each other and one of them went to inform the others with running steps while the other one looked around for any clues.
It was at that moment Rodrik realized his folly, there were bloody footsteps on the ground leading to the closet he was hiding in.
Just like Rodrik, the man also realized this so he looked at the closet. Seeing that everything was going downfall, Rodrik rushed out and cut the man down with his sword before the other party could unsheathe his sword.
The man screamed while falling to the ground but Rodrik did not give him any chance and stabbed his heart with his sword.
He quickly went to a backroom with the intention of jumping out of the window and escaping back to the grove. However, as he opened the window, he saw two men standing in the backyard and looking at him with vicious looks on their faces.
At that moment, Rodrik came to realize that escaping without a clash was not possible.
"You have a minute to come out or your death will be slower than the Mander, you whoreson!" A yelling voice came from outside of the house, "No one messes with me and gets away!"
Rodrik relaxed his fingers around the sword and tightly grabbed it again. He looked around and grabbed a shield from the stand.
He weighed the shield and threw it to the ground and grabbed another. Finally, after another try, he found one to his liking.
He looked at the front door and after a moment of hesitation, his feet took him out of the house.
What greeted him were seven men standing with swords in their hands. Rodrik saw the one tied to the pole was nearly frozen to death as he was shivering because of the cold.
However, none of them had leather armour on them as they were woken up from their sleep and didn't have a chance to wear it properly. On that end, Rodrik was lucky as he was wearing leather armour.
His chances of escape were slim considering the numbers but Rodrik was sure he could cut down their numbers to half.
"You asked me to come out, here I am!" Rodrik yelled while trying to sound strong.
Before the leader of the bandits could utter any word, an old man who was old enough to be his grandfather and had a long white beard came forward, "This is the whoreson who tried to blame me, eh? He is mine to kill, none of you will touch him!"
The others grumbled in annoyance but none of them objected as it was his right to kill the bastard. Of course, Rodrik also did not say anything other than to smile slightly. If he could take one of them down before clashing with others, it was better for him.
As Rodrik and the old man began to stare at each other, two men came beside the others from the back of the house. They were probably the ones Rodrik saw in the backyard. Now, every one of the bandits was in front of him so he was confident to say none of them could backstab him.
The first move came from the old man as he swung his sword. Rodrik quickly sidestepped but before he could counter the old man swung his sword again. For a man of his age, he was pretty fast. However, Rodrik had another advantage in his hands and that was his skill.
Although the old man had experience, his skill with the sword was not up to Rodrik's standard.
Rodrik blocked the old man's sword with his shield and attacked with a fervour none would ever dare to stand against.
The old man tried to block several of Rodrik's sword attacks but, in the end, he succumbed to them. After the last swing of Rodrik's sword, the old man fell to the ground with a horrified look on his face.
"Enough of this farce, kill the boy!" yelled the stout man who was the leader of the bandits.
Just as Rodrik prepared himself for the inevitable, the sound of hooves came from the entrance of the village. All of the bandits turned around to look at the source of the sound.
It was only a few seconds later they were greeted by men on horses who wore steel armours surging in.
Rodrik took advantage of the situation and stabbed the leader of the bandits from behind and began attacking the others.
None of them had any armour on them so the horsemen quickly cut them down. Seeing most of the bandits were down, Rodrik decided to get towards the house, lest he gets treated as a bandit like the rest.
Only three of the bandits were still alive, albeit with some wounds but none of them was fatal. Some of the men with armour unmounted their horses and looked at Rodrik with swords in their hands.
"In the name of Lord Eddard Stark, surrender or you shall be judged and executed right here!" One of the riders yelled while the others checked the bodies of the bandits.
"I am no bandit…" Rodrik raised his sword and empty hand to the air, "You will see that there are two corpses of the bandits in the house behind me."
"Liar!" One of the bandits with only an ear yelled, "He is one of us."
The riders looked at Rodrik with a frown on their faces while the bandit grinned slyly.
"If you are not a bandit, then there is no reason for you not to surrender. Lord Stark would release you if you are right." said the apparent leader of the riders.
Rodrik snorted and threw his sword to the ground and let the man tie his hands. At least he was going to live for another day as without these men, he would have died and been forgotten in this village…
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