Chương 17: "32 golden dragons, 9 moons.....and...2 pennies"

POV: Captain Tom;

7 days before the delivery of a message....

Battle of the Trident...

"RESIST!!! COMBAT!!! THEY MUST NOT ADVANCE!" Shouted Tom commanding his 500 men vanguard to hold their ground.

Tom and his garrison were facing the center-right wing of a Targaryen army led by the Barristan Selmy Royal Guard.

The Tallharts' army, along with those of the Mormonts, Dustins, and Boltons, served as the vanguard of that Legion of the Rebel army.

Baratheons, Starks, Arryns, and Tullys had managed, in that short period, to muster some 35,000 men.

Targaryens, Tyrells, Martells and other lesser houses about 40,000.

The 5,000-strong legion led by Roose Bolton, in which the Tallharts were fighting, was holding back an 8,000-strong legion led by Ser Barristan Selmy.

Their job was to hold them back as much as possible so that they would not be able to join the forces of Raeghar Targaryen who was facing Robert Baratheon.

The battle had been raging for over two hours, neither side wanting to give ground.

'Where are those damned Boltons!!!' thought the Captain as he pierced an inexperienced Targaryen soldier.

'At this rate we won't even last half an hour!!!' Tom cursed inwardly as he continued to cleave his blade.

Severed limbs, blood, and various other body parts and secretions floated down this side of the river.

The water was up to a foot high, it was difficult to move.

Squeals, screams, and metallic screeches hovered everywhere.

'Where is Peter?! He thought urgently, looking for his son Peter who until 5 minutes before was at his side.

"'WE MUST REACH THE PRINCE!!!! MEN ADVANCE!!! WE BREAK THROUGH THE LINE!!!! Shouted General Ser Barristan. "UUUAAARGHH!!!" Replied the men following him.

The Royal Guard personally led about 1000 of his men, to attack a weak point in the Mormont-Tallhart-Dustin forces.

Barristan was able to break through, personally mowing down the men he encountered without hesitation. The men didn't even have time to realize how they had been hit that the knight was already on another opponent.

Then they came...

A volley of arrows from above, striking both allies and enemies.

"ARGH!" , "NOARGH!", "HELP ME!", "SHIELDS!". Countless voices shrieked similar expressions simultaneously.... it was a carnage.

It had to be said that the flow of arrows concentrated mainly on the enemy forces, but for every 3 enemies hit at least 1 ally was hit.

Many generals would consider such an act 'a necessary price for victory', others would not. Roose Bolton belonged to the first group.

A few minutes later...

Enemy forces had managed to penetrate inside, and Tom and his men were on the verge of giving up. At that moment, the Bolton forces arrived and, slowly but surely, managed to surround the vanguard led by Barristan.

The bait of Roose Bolton was launched...and Ser Barristan Selmy took the bait. Now it would only be a matter of time.

Roose Bolton had realized that the Royal Guard was in a hurry to get to the side of his sworn protégé, and he used the opportunity. He had used the weak vanguard forces to entice him to break through before surrounding him.

About twenty minutes later...

Ser Barristan continued to hold out as best he could...they were surrounded and of the 1000 men at his side, there were now barely 300 left.

"PETER!!! PETERR!!!" Tom shouted as he finally got a glimpse of his son.

'No him no! Don't do it! you'll get yourself killed!!!' Thought the father instinctively as he watched his son, less than 50 feet away from him, charge with a couple of men towards the tired and wounded General.

"NOOOO PETEEERRRR NOT HIMMM!!!!" He screamed as loud as he could but his voice was muffled by dozens more screams.

The boy had already started the fight. The only thing the desperate father could do was...'try to get to him with all the strength he had!'

Tom shoved both enemies and allies, some falling to the ground, others moving along with the flow of the fight.

He even had to kill what looked like a poor, poorly armed Targaryen loyalist farmer from behind to finish the last stretch of road as quickly as possible.

In the end he was only a few steps away from the fight, and what he feared most was about to happen.

His son Peter was on his knees holding his injured armpit. He groaned in pain and was unarmed. Ser Barristan was about to deliver the last blow for the enemy who, along with his companions, had dared to face him....

"STRIIINGHH!!!" a bastard sword stopped the slash.

Barristan took a single step backwards to regain his balance and stared at his new target.

"Get him and get him out of here now!!!" Tom ordered to his loyal remaining men who would never leave their captain's side.

"Fath....Father! you can't this..." Peter was interrupted.

"SILENCE!!! TAKE HIM AWAY!!! NOOOWW!!!" He yelled and two men dragged the still stunned boy away. Ser Barristan was watching the scene. It was over for them now and he knew it. He might as well take his time for a more glorious end.

"I beg your pardon Ser...it was your right to claim his life and I interfered. I will repay the insult to you myself." Said Tom, bowing his head in apology.

Not many dared to approach Ser Barristan...dozens of bodies surrounded him. He had at least 10-15 feet of clear radius around him.

"No offense." Ser Barristan replied briefly, paying respect to the apology offered. He raised his guard in acceptance of the requested duel.

Tom went against his marked fate. He had dozens of years of combat experience, and although the knight was visibly tired and wounded, he knew he would have little chance of making it out alive.....but he did not flinch....a debt of blood had to be paid...

'And I'll be damned if I were to let another man pay that debt!' He thought for a moment before charging in.

The two men crossed the guards...a slash from above parried by Ser Barristan was deflected to one side. Tom was not surprised and changed the shot to his side.... "Stinghh" Barristan rotated his hip slightly to let the metal of his armor parry the blow.

Shot....after shot....after shot....

The fight had been going on for over a minute, the flow of the blades creating a cloud of steel sparks.

Tom was giving it his all, sparing nothing. A few seconds earlier he had avoided a winning lunge by sheer luck, and he knew that Barristan was holding back. Not because he didn't think he was up to it...but because he wanted his opponent to use up all the stamina he had before a significant opening.

Tom's instincts told him it was only a matter of time before his demise. None of his assaults, even one with a 'dirty' move, had managed to find an opening in Ser Barristan's seemingly perfect defense.

The two men caught their breath for a few seconds, when they both heard....

"RHAEGAR HAS FALLEN!!! WE WON!!!" This and similar shouts echoed everywhere. Ser Barristan visibly frowned in silent pain....but turned his focus back to the fight.

"You can still save yourself Ser, there is no need to die here. After you are done with me, lay down your weapon and surrender. The battle is over now." Said Tom.

"Thanks for the advice Ser...but no, I will follow the prince wherever he goes..." Ser Barristan.

"I'm not a knight Ser, just Tom if it pleases you. I respect and honor your choice. I wish you both a glorious and honorable end." Tom.

"I wish the same...Tom." The confrontation resumed, Barristan was no longer holding back any effort. Tom tried to resist, parrying every blow he could foresee...small wounds began to appear on the Captain's body...and then came....a total lunge towards the man's stomach...

Barristan, whether from exhaustion or surprise, widened his eyes, realizing only a moment later what had just happened. Tom had voluntarily taken the lunge he could have dodged, to attempt a surprise blow towards Ser Barristan. The sword was blocked by the body and the right hand of the brave-crazy man...but a dagger entered the knight's right side.

"Urghh!" Barristan groaned and stepped back releasing the sword held by his opponent's body...his vision was beginning to blur...he would still hold out but not for long.

Tom was on his knees...a sword was running through him from side to side...with a huge effort he raised his head to look at the sky one last time....'A good life...and a good...death...' He thought making one last bloody smile. He tried to express one last thought towards his loved ones but...everything went black for him...

End POV.

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POV Qyburn;

Torrhen's Square

On the very evening of that day of mourning....

Qyburn stared at his young lord, the one to whom he had sworn eternal loyalty. Duncan stood on the balcony of the same attic where they spoke at their first meeting, staring out over the lake illuminated by a last glow of twilight.

Qyburn himself had first informed his poor trusted assistant, Ronan, Tom's second son, of his father's death on the battlefield.

The boy had shown incredible restraint in holding back his emotions in front of the serving maester, and asked for permission for a short leave of absence, before resuming his duties...

Qyburn ordered the boy not to return to his duties and studies for three days, and to concentrate on his own care and that of his younger brother Brywen (2 years younger than Ronan).

The boy agreed and thanked the maester before taking his leave.

The silence was broken by the little lord.

"I could have stopped this from happening Qyburn....I could have prevented this war if I really wanted to...it's my fault. Tom and hundreds of men who swore to follow us, died because of me..." Said Duncan with a deep sadness in his tone of voice.

"You once asked me 'if I was able to bear the weight of the calamities I would inevitably bring'....well my friend, today I will answer you by saying that 'I don't know if I will really be able to bear that weight.'" Said Duncan as he continued to stare at the horizon.

Qyburn took a step forward to stand by his lord's side.

"No my lord, you are wrong.....' You don't know if WE, will really be able to bear that weight.' "' Qyburn replied searching the child's eyes with his own.

Only after hearing the reply did, Duncan, turn to meet the face of his fellow knight.

Both individuals, exchanged a look of understanding accompanied by slight nods of a smile.

End POV

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POV Leobald Tallhart;

The same evening an hour later....

''Tock! Tock! Your nephew my lord" I heard Leobald. The man quickly wiped his eyes erasing that memory of the past in his head.

"Let him come in!" Leobald.

The door opened and a little boy, with the same tired, reddened eyes that Leobald had, entered. He paused for a moment to stare at his uncle's study. It had changed; many objects, which had previously furnished the study, were missing.

"I'm sorry Uncle, I went too far by unleashing Mother on you. All the trouble you've had to endure in the last while is because of me." Said Duncan looking at his uncle with deep sincere sadness.

Leobald stood up and walked over to his nephew putting both hands on his shoulders.

"Don't you dare!....don't you do it, don't you ruin our damn 'game'." Said Leobald staring at the boy with a small smile.

Duncan hugged his uncle as hard as he could, Leobald returned the hug. A few seconds of silence passed...and then Duncan said:

"I'm going to miss him...I'm going to miss Uncle! Sniff..."

"I know, I'll miss him too...Tom raised me too...he was the one who taught me how to fight...as much as he could ahah" Duncan laughed a moment between small sobs.

A couple of minutes later...

"Now that we've vented, back to business little leech! I know you came with the intent of asking me for something that will drain the castle's coffers....spit it out!" Leobald.

End POV

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POV Author;

4 weeks later...

God's Wood in Torrhen's Square.

Duncan was carving one of the last names on the huge marble slab behind a statue of the same material that was also being completed.

He had asked his uncle for a considerable sum of gold and the possibility of hiring jewelers and sculptors from Winter Town and White Harbor.

The same family that had been responsible for the statues in the crypts of Winterfell for hundreds of years arrived a week later. Luckily for them, a supply of fine marble from the Valley resided in the warehouses of White Harbor.

During that week Duncan, with the help of Tom's sons, spent every moment trying to draw and paint, as best he could, Tom's features. In the meantime, Qyburn had the task of surveying and tracking down every possible attainable family of the fallen soldiers.

Each family would be welcomed into the temple to witness the engraving of the name of their family member who had died in battle in the service of the Tallhart family, on the marble slab attached to the walls surrounding the inside of God's Wood. In addition, the families would receive a copper and steel pin forming the symbol of House Tallharh and the form of the trident or bells. Along with it was a reward (in gold and silver) worth 10 Golden Dragons and the possibility of a grant of 2 Golden Dragons year for the next ten years. A small coded number was concealed in each pin to reduce the possibility of future theft and fraud.

Of the 712 fallen, over 600 families came for the awards. The remaining names were either orphans or none of their families were alive anymore. The unclaimed awards were put into a fund to help orphans on the Tallhart lands.

Duncan, with the help of Peter, Ronan and Brywen, welcomed the families and gave out the award thanking the family for their service, then engraved each name himself. He had asked permission from his father and Master Zick to temporarily stop training so that he could fulfill this duty full time. Both agreed without complaint.

Myllard and his son (the hired sculptors) had repeatedly tried to stop the little lord from doing the work that was theirs to do.

"No, I have to do it. I don't want to forget any of those names." He replied each time, thanking them for the thought.

Many families touched the engravings of their loved one's name repeatedly. Most of them could neither read nor write, they wanted to try by all means to remember those strange and incomprehensible symbols that represented the person they had lost.

Helman Tallhart gave the order to keep the doors, of the castle and of the temple, open day and night for the entire award ceremony. The men of the Torrhen's Square garrison voluntarily took extra shifts to increase defenses and surveillance from possible dangers.

On the sixteenth day after the arrival of the artisans and families....

"My Lord the statue is complete...all that is missing is your carving." Warned the head sculptor Myllard. Duncan nodded and finished carving the rest of one of the last names on the wall.

A short time later...

Duncan, with Tom's sons assisting behind, took the small hammer and chisel and approached the six-foot-tall statue. It depicted Tom in armor (Studded Leather plus chaps, armbands and steel ruff) who was half hunched bent from the on one leg cleaving a sword stroke (his bastard sword) from bottom to top, his face bore incredible resemblance to the original subject. The expression expressed combative fury. The work was magnificent...

Duncan began engraving the words on a slab, rectangular 2 feet high and 3 feet long, at the bottom of the statue's base. Each blow of the hammer was a pain for the boy, but he resisted with all the willpower he had to concentrate on the task that required extreme precision.

Four hours later the inscription was complete, and it read:

[Here lies Captain Tom, First Guard in the service of Torrhen's Square. An orphan from the North who served House Tallhart for over 36 years. A man who, over the course of his merit-filled career, refused knighthood three consecutive times, as he did not want to renounce his faith in the 'Old Gods' in which he believed. Loving father and husband, faithful and loyal until his last breath. He died fighting in the Battle of the Trident to defend the North, House Tallhart and his family. Here we thank him today and commemorate him for his service and sacrifice.]

As Duncan worked, he was unaware that three individuals, on the walls surrounding the park, were watching him arguing with each other....

End POV.

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POV Helman Tallhart;

Helman stood on the walls of God's Wood, at his side were his brother Leobald and Qyburn. He watched his son Duncan with a look that expressed pride and concern. He had been back at his home for about ten days, after over a year of military campaigning.

He had been shocked to learn of the events his son had accomplished and his new nickname. After a week, he still had to be able to process the new facts.

"So brother, do you finally want to explain to me why you organized that parade for your nephew? Why did you want the rumors about that nickname 'Bloody Snow' to spread far and wide?" Helman asked. The poor man had been tortured by his Lady wife who demanded retribution against Leobald.

"What did our father say about blizzards? 'If an enemy chases you and pushes you into a blizzard, you must lay false tracks, follow the direction of the wind, and find shelter if you want to survive." Leobald.

Helman stared at his brother for a moment reflecting on his words.

"The spread of those rumors was inevitable...so you followed the wind to use them to our advantage." Helman continued, arriving at the key point himself. Leobald nodded making a small grin.

"Maester Qyburn." Helman called to the maester who took a step forward in response.

"Regarding that project to create an espionage and counterintelligence unit...you have my permission. You have free access to the funds necessary to accomplish it. I will personally thank Master Zick and his partner Ramas for their help in training the unit. Do whatever you must to protect my family." Said Helman in a low but authoritative tone.

"It shall be done my Lord." Said Qyburn bowing.

"Soon the great minds of Westeros and Essos will set their eyes on Duncan. Both for what happened at 'Snow Mill' and what is happening here...we will need to be ready." Both Leobald and Qyburn nodded in response.

That same evening.....

Helman raised his head at the knock on the door.

"Master Sculptor Myllard my Lord." Said a guard.

"Show him in, thank you Ubett." The guard nodded and made way for the craftsman to enter.

"Master Myllard please take a seat, you don't know how grateful and honored we are for the magnificent work you have done to my House and Torrhen's Square." He said to Myllard.

"No my Lord, the honor has been ours. Your son and the sons of the hero Tom have helped us enormously in our humble task. This was the first time ever that we sculpted a statue of a person without noble titles." Said Myllard that a proud and respectful tone.

"Here is the reward for the services of you, your son and your employees. Please accept it." Said Leobald opening a small casket. Inside were at least 150-200 gold coins.

"No my Lord I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your reward but the only amount we can accept will be 32 golden dragons, 9 moons and 2 pennies." The master craftsman replied, bowing.

Helman was quite surprised, he knew for sure that he would have to pay at least 50-60 g.d. ...he had tripled that sum because he was really satisfied with the work he had created and the future benefits his house would receive from it.

"I don't understand Master Myllard, why that amount?" Helman.

"Yes my lord I will clear up your doubts at once. The 32 golden dragons and 9 moons will cover the cost of materials, transportation and pay for my employees. The two pennies are compensation for my service and that of my son."