The Mountain and The Hound
Chapter 1
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It is summer when he is born.
The dogs bark loudly, as his mother screams and the child breathes his first. She names the boy Sandor, defender of man. He will do great things, she says. His father laughs, she has said the same of all her children, but he is nevertheless pleased to have another son and holds the babe high in his arms, smiling.
His sister Eleanor is six now, but she climbs upon the bed with ease and snuggles the newborn, smiling with the rest of them at the Keep's newest addition.
Uncertain, a boy of five lingers at the door looking upon the scene with confusion and hesitance. His mother beckons for him, and he walks to her side. His father lifts him up onto the bed to join them, and he looks at the odd, pink creature in front of him. Its eyes open briefly, and he stares into them, gray like his father's and like his own.
"He looks like you, Gregor." His mother coos, softly kissing the tuft of black hair on the babe's little head.
Gregor looks at the creature with disdain and at his mother with confused disbelief and childish disinterest. "I'm not that ugly." He says plainly, and scrambles off the bed, out the door, already bored of the newcomer. He does not know how long this thing will stay, but he hopes it is not long.
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Mother says it isn't fussy for a babe, but Gregor doesn't think so. When it does cry, it is loud and long, wailing like a dying animal.
On some quiet nights, he sees his mother with the tiny thing. She is always smiling and singing to it. It is always at her breast, always in her arms, always on her lap. She never puts it down, not even when Gregor asks to be held. Sandor is hungry, she says, or Sandor is lonely, or Sandor is cold. Gregor thinks that this Sandor should take care of its own problems and give Gregor his mother back. But his mother only laughs when he tells her this, kisses his head, and sends him on his way, telling him he'll understand one day. They will spend time together soon, she promises, but it is a lie and Gregor knows that.
Soon, the babe is old enough to sit up on it's own, and Mother finally sets the plump little thing down on the floor beside her now while she sews in her chair by the fire. Some nights when he has been a good boy and his lessons are going well, he is invited to sit with them, his mother and sister and the babe. She tells them stories sometimes, and sings, but never as she used to. She is tired much of the time now from caring for the babe, too tired for Gregor. Even Eleanor would rather dangle her ribbon in front of the babe's face as if she was playing with a kitten.
Father is the only one that tends to him like before. So Gregor spends most of his time with him and the other men of the keep, watching them train in the yard together, and occasionally joining the younger ones in a game of roughhousing.
Sometimes Father takes him to the village with him, and Gregor gets to play with the children there. But one day, while Father talks to one of the merchant's, Gregor gets into a fight with a boy. He thinks it funny, the way he bends the peasant boy's arm back until he screams and the limb hangs in a strange way, but his father does not laugh at all.
Gregor is not brought to the village for a long time after that.
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The babe learns to crawl soon, and suddenly, he is everywhere. Sometimes Gregor will find him chewing and drooling on his toys like a pup. It makes him angry, and he yells at the pup to stop. It only blinks up at him with those wide gray eyes and squeaks out a laugh, smiling toothlessly at his older brother.
His mother, his sister, and the maids all fuss at him not to yell at little Sandor. That only makes him angrier. Once, he punches Eleanor right in the stomach for scolding him, and she falls right down, crying as he stomps away. His father finds him in the stable, gives him a beating, and it is not spoken of again. But he sees that Mother is frowning when he's brought back inside to apologize. That makes him angry too, for now she is cross with him, and it is all the pup's fault.
Sometimes, when Mother or his sister or a maid is not looking, he reaches out to take the little thing's tiny arm and gives its soft skin a sharp pinch between his finger nails until the babe is wailing and Mother comes running.
"What happened?" Mother always asks, worried, and Gregor only tells her he does not know.
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Gregor has turned six by the time the pup reaches his first nameday. It has begun to walk about on his own two legs, plump and stubby as they are. His steps are clumsy, and he falls right on his rear more times in one day than Gregor can count. Still, Mother and the maids praise the child for being so clever, and Mother spends hours getting him to walk unaided towards her. Gregor does not see the cause for such fuss. He himself had been walking for as long as he could remember, and no one ever gave him such congratulations.
One day, after he finishes his lessons with the Maester, Gregor follows his mother with the babe on her hip to the kitchens. Eleanor has been sick the past few days, and Mother tells the cook to fix her something warm for her aching throat. The kitchen girls, who would coo over Gregor not long ago and give him sweets, surround the pup and pat his little head and stroke his fat cheeks as he grins up at them. Gregor rolls his eyes and pouts as he leans against the wall, looking away. But then, he feels something clutching at his leg and looks down to find his little brother's small arms wrapped around him.
The kitchen girls smile and comment. Oh, how sweet, Sandor really loves his older brother. Gregor frowns. I do not love him back. "Go away, pup." He growls, but Sandor does not let go.
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Everyone says the pup has grown so big for his age, but Mother says Gregor had been bigger at his first nameday than Sandor was now. That makes Gregor happy.
Father says the babe won't be a babe much longer. True enough, he walks more often without falling and in a straighter line now as well. A few words have even started forming on his lips. Again, they all call him clever, but Gregor thinks the babe must be a halfwit. 'Dog' is what he calls everything he sees that happens to have four legs, even the cats, swine, and horses. For Mother, he can only manage 'Ma'. He tries to say his older brother's name too, though every time he does, Gregor glares at him. "It's Gregor, not Gregaw." He corrects each time, but the pup doesn't fix its mistake, only laughs and is oblivious as always.
Sometimes Gregor goes with Mother and Eleanor when they take walks with the pup around the yard. They like to say words, and giggle when the babe points to what they're talking about. Where's Mother or Where's the dog, they ask. And the tiny hands lifts a little finger to show them where it is, and they laugh happily, even when he points to a horse when they ask him the location of a dog. Where's Gregor they sometimes ask, and the pup grins and points, and Gregor looks away scowling. He soon starts declining his mother's offers to join them on these walks, preferring to spend his time with his father and the soldiers.