Ryker wanted to confront the men but the last thing he needed was for the Lannisters to be after him so he decided to wait silently ,after going through the stuff they had around camp they decided to leave so Ryker went back to sleep
In the morning he was woken by the sound of Tom cursing
Tom-"Dammit we've been robbed those cunts probably took some of our food"
Ryker-"calm down Tom nothing was stolen just Lannister's men poking around at night"
Tom-"it seems like every year there is more of them roaming around "
Ryker-"we should just go home things are getting a little too active and I wanna be prepared for the madness"
Tom-"yeah that would be best for your safety milord"
Tom told the men to pack there things and they all headed home to Blackhelm which is a magnificent sight to see even though Ryker knew he just lifted the design off a castle he saw one time
his arrival caused a bit of a stir because small folk rarely actually see their lord he took the opportunity to wave and display his dashing smile for his people until he reached the doors of his castle where ruby was waiting for him
Her stomach was huge which made it hard for her to walk so Ryker jumped off his horse and ran to his wife
Ryker"wow you must be due any day now "
Ruby"i think I know that Ryker now please get me to a seat"
Ryker walked her to the drawing room and sat down next to her in the private room Tom and the other guards went off to do they're own thing so it was just ruby and Ryker alone together
Ruby-" I think they'll be boys"
Ryker-"really that would be nice"
Ruby-"maybe they'll be tall like you or maybe taller"
Ryker-"I doubt it but Robb Stark is 6'0 at 15 so who knows"
Ruby-"ooooo what are the starks like"
Ryker-"they're good people sadly their son took a bad fall"
Ruby-"maybe one day our kids will be named Stark, I should send a letter(she said with a laugh)"
Ryker-"not anytime soon we have two castles our first born takes this one and the younger one takes the other"
Ruby-"hmm but the other one is worth more"
Ryker-"but this castle is our new "ancestral home" and its walls are strong"
Ruby-"well it doesn't matter who gets what as long as they get along"
Ryker-"I couldn't have said it better myself, it's getting darker we should get some rest"
Before they could get up to leave a Tom knocked at the door
Ruby-"come in"
When he entered to his side was a small boy with him with a soft cute face,blue eyes,black hair,and tan skin
He was dressed in yellow silk and had a silver chain around his neck with a pendant that appeared to be copper
Ryker-"Tom you have a son?"
Tom-"No ,you do mylord he's a quiet fellow"
Ryker turned to look at ruby who didn't seem upset but intrigued then continued to speak to the boy
Ryker-"what's your name?"
???-"Adrian Sand (he said with the tone of a mouse)"
Upon hearing his last name Ryker knew immediately where this boy had came from meaning he had to be atleast three years old
Ryker raised from his seat and approached his son embracing him with open arms
Ryker-"We have a lot of catching up to do,but right now it's bed time"
They lit some candles and headed to the bed chamber to get some sleep after a couple hours ruby went straight to sleeping while Ryker read to Adrian till he went to sleep then slipped out of bed and headed to Tom's house which was outside the guard barracks when Ryker knocked on the door he heard dragged foot steps and was greeted by Tom who seemed to be out cold before hand
Tom-"something wrong lord Ryker?"
Ryker-"not really I just need soldiers and plenty of them trained and ready in a couple of weeks "
Tom-"I'll try my hardest hopefully it'll fall together"
Ryker-"I look forward to it have a nice night Tom"
Ryker returned to his bed chamber and went to bed
Tom woke up in a great mood dark and early
So he hopped out of bed and got dressed in his uniform (which wasn't too plated like war or tourney armor but not just plain clothes)
he ate a roasted chicken with eggs and headed out
Tom went to the barracks and woke up Ryker's men
They snapped out of bed immediately when they heard the door open
Tom-"ok men for the next few weeks all non security detail will be doing recruiting,anyone older than 16 but tall 15 is fair game make sure to inform them of room and board ,dismissed "
And the men fell out to go recruit but some went to the castle to do the security detail after they got dressed
Tom stood at the door and contemplated what he was going to do today he had plenty of time sense the sun was just coming up
Tom-"(I could go see lord Ryker but he might be busy, work on my reading with measter will, court some women I am getting old, maybe I'll visit my sister )"
Tom-"(I haven't seen her in a while I should stop by)"
Tom rode his horse north west towards his sister's cabin ,he arrived with plenty of sunlight to spare
Her cabin seemed to be in disrepair it was directly off the side of the road so plenty of people must have saw it while passing by
Tom dismounted his horse and entered the cabin slowly
her furniture was ruined , cabinets open and empty,and also her dressers were empty but her fire place was lit with a burnt rabbit inside
So he started looking for signs of struggle after some looking he found drag marks on the wooden floor leading out the back door of the cabin towards the King's wood (a forest) so Tom went to lord Cafferen at Fawnton
(A small castle at the edge of the river nearby)
When Tom reached the gates he requested a audience with Lord Cafferen they let him through and led him to the lord
Lord Erys Cafferen is a 30 or 40 something year old man not tall at all and doesn't seem like a fighter compared to his long dead older brother
Tom-"Lord Cafferen there are bandits somewhere in the King's wood and they've taken my sister"
Lord Cafferen-"that's not good,did the abduction take place on my land?"
Tom-"yes directly down the road from your castle "
Lord Cafferen-"well pick three men to deal with those scum , but if they refuse you're on your own"
Tom picked 3 guys who looked like they could handle themselves and headed to the tracks outside his sister's home ,Tom and the men followed the tracks until they found a camp where screaming could be heard Tom asked 2
of the men to head over to the other side of the camp then close in for a pincer maneuver
They crept over to the three tents and prepared there weapons but were spotted by a bandit who was using the bathroom in the woods that alerted the others who ran out of the tents Tom went after the potty bandit who started sprinting into the forest Tom struggled to keep up because of his uniform but managed to keep his eyes on the potty bandit eventually the both ran out of breath and were far away from the camp
Tom-"stop trying to run"
Potty-"We both know i ain't going ( he said displaying his disgusting yellow teeth )"
Tom charged hold the blade of his sword and swinging the pummel at the bandit's patchy head
After a slim miss the gross bandit bit Tom's arm but cracked his teeth on Tom's chain mail which caused the potty bandit's mouth to fill with blood
The bite left the bandit wide open for a pummel strike to the ribs which cracked several and allowed him to get bashed in the jaw dislocating it
Tom dragged the potty bandit back to the camp and saw that one of the men he came with was bleeding out next to a died bandit and the other two were getting closed in on by 4 other bandits so Tom took out one of them with a throwing knives to the back which must've punctured a lung giving a opening for the cornered men
Then drew his sword and stabbed at another bandit but it was dodged and countered with a axe swing towards Tom's left arm burying it inside going deep into the bone
The pain was unbearable but also was the sight of it but the axe was stuck so he took the opportunity to slay the bandit with a fatal slash across his liver which didn't kill him quickly but gave him some time to suffer
Tom ,due to blood loss planted his sword in the ground and flopped onto the ground
Tom-"(hopefully they can handle those 2)"
He thought as he lost consciousness