A/N: So I'm back playing in the Game of Throne universe. I'd like to thank all of you who had read part 1 of the Prisoner Series. Your support has greatly inspired me to continue writing here. Also, it's ridiculously fun writing the episodes from Gendry's point of view.
Just to clarify, there will be some things that will not correspond directly with Prisoner: I'd Follow Her Anywhere because I had filled in some information (obviously) before this season, so there may be some backtracking. i.e. Their conversation about where they're headed. Also, I had Gendry initially only steal daggers from Harrenhal, which is why...well, you'll see when you get there. :)
Happy reading!
Disclaimer: I have no legal affiliation with Game of Thrones nor A Song of Ice and Fire.
We've been trudging in the woods for a few days now, trying to stay off the map. Trying to head north after the shit that's happened at Harrenhal. Harrenhal. Arya's finally told us how she managed to get Jaqen H'ghar to help her escape. Turns out, she didn't fuck him. Good. She just saved his life and in turn he owed her three deaths.
Stupid girl. I remember the day that we found the Tickler dead on the ground with his head spun all the way around. That was one. Good fucking riddance. But still. That was one death she wasted. Apparently one other was on some soldier who almost blew her secret. Either way, still another waste of a death. The last grant from Jaqen was to free us. Alright, that was a good idea.
But, because this trek is long and there's nothing to talk about, I like to bring up her stupidity every now and then. It's nice to know that even high-born ladies carry this trait like the rest of us gutter rats.
"I'm just trying to understand."
"Would you please, shut up about it?" Her voice is laced with embarrassment and also, dreariness because I still haven't let it go.
I ignore her and continue. "Jaqen H'ghar offered you three kills." I can't help but think that he would have offered her more if she fucked him. Wouldn't put it past that fucker. I saw the way that he looked at Arya. He left out three swords for us down the road from where he and Ayra parted. Ass. Probably his way of getting her to owe him for something down the road. Good steel too. Probably stole it from Harrenhal.
"I'm not listening." She clearly is. She has no choice.
"But, just explain it to me. He offered to kill you any three people you wanted." Might as well act like it's a confusion to me. I'll toss in a few gestures to make it more authentic. "Dead. All you have to do was give him the names. Anyone." I throw over my shoulder as we continue to move. "You could have picked King Joffrey."
"Shut up." She's so embarrassed now.
"Could've picked Tywin Lannister," I continue without missing a beat.
"Jaqen got us out of Harrenhal, so why are you complaining?" She knows what I'm trying to do, but she won't bite. Instead she's going to point out the only decent decision she made with the three grants.
I'll just have to point out the most obvious fact. "But, you could have ended the war."
She stops. "Where are we going?" She asks, exasperated. I hide my smirk. She knows she's just lost the argument. One point for the gutter rats.
I turn to look at her. I thought it was agreed. "North."
"If we were going North, we should have come to the Red Fork River by now." I don't think Arya knows how to lose gracefully. If she can't win a fight, she'll pick another one until she does.
"Well, maybe we already passed it," Hot Pie offers, slightly breathless.
And there goes the gutter rats' edge. Arya looks at him. "It's a hundred feet wide. How could we have passed it?" Hot Pie and me turn our faces. Arya continues speaking. "If we hit the Red Fork, we could follow it west to Riverrun. My mother grew up there. My grandfather's a lord, he'll protect us." Of course her whole family is fucking high-born.
We hear something coming from a distance. What the fuck is that? Singing?
"Could be a minstrel," Hot Pie whispers as we get behind the tree.
"Shut up," Arya's favourite words slip quietly through her lips.
"Minstrel's got gold, sometimes. We could jump him, tie him up, steal his gold and buy some⎯"
"Shhhh!" Arya hushes him.
Soliders. Lots of them it sounds like.
An arrow comes out of nowhere, nearly taking Arya's life. We all turn around, hitting the tree hard. Not the manliest thing I've ever done. Fuck. The surprise got me was all.
"What's lurking behind that wall?" The singing has stopped.
"A Lion? A Wolf? Just a dirty little covert thing?"
"Loose a few more shots." Shit. Shit. We're going to die.
"Don't." Fuck, Arya. She gets out and faces the men with her sword held hesitantly. Meanwhile, I'm still standing behind the tree with Hot Pie. I can't fucking move my feet. That should be
me in her position.
"Put the sword down, girl."
"You go on down the road. Just keep on singing so we know where you are." Arya. Tough little shit. I need to fucking move. "Leave us be, and I won't kill you," Arya sneers. Oh fuck. How can she not realize that she can't threaten a group of men. She's a child. A girl child. They would rape and kill her in a blink of an eye.
Just as I suspect. laughter and chuckling fills the forest air.
"Generous. You're a dangerous person. I catch a finger pointing at her. "I like dangerous people. Why are your friends so shy?" Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I have no idea how they know, but they know. And my fucking feet still can't move. Hot Pie looks at me, too bewildered at their knowledge.
I can feel Arya's eyes before she looks back at them. "What friends?" She's afraid. Afraid for us. I've never heard her sound more like a little girl.
"The fat one to your left, and the lad beside him," a deeper voice rings out. How the fuck can they see past the tree? Witchcraft. It has to be witchcraft.
Doesn't matter now, our cover's blown. And finally, my feet can move. Guess it doesn't mean much after a girl child had to defend my honour. I step out from behind the tree, grabbing Hot Pie. We have to protect Arya. Hot Pie takes one side, and I take the other. Time to use this fucking sword. I know how to fucking make one, but wielding it is a completely different story. I swing it around anyway, for good measure. Don't know what good it'll do, but it's worth a shot.
The leader suddenly jumps down and we begin to shuffle, not allowing him near us, but not taking our eyes off him. Two other men follow him.
"Three young ones on the run. Carrying castle-forged swords. You escaped from Harrenhal?" The man asks in slight awe. He doesn't have to know the details, let him be wary of us.
"Who are you?" Arya asks, defiant as ever.
"Thoros of Myr. And the fella here with the bow is Anguy." He gestures to the man who almost killed Arya.
"No. Who do you fight for?" Arya continues questioning.
"The Brotherhood without Banners." Fuck. It's them. The ones that the Tickler was looking for. "Now, come along." Thoros moves towards us. "I wanna hear how two boys and a very dangerous girl escaped Harrenhal." He looks at us in amusement. We have no fucking chance. We're going to die.
"I'm not going with them." Hot Pie lets out. "The Brotherhood? That's who the Mountain and all of 'em were looking for." Even stupid Hot Pie remembers who they are. Then again, I was almost clawed out by a rat because of them. It's hard to forget something like that. "They'll bring us back and put rats in us." Seems like Hot Pie remembers that part too.
"You've got nothing to fear from us, son. The Lords of Westeros want to burn the countryside. We're trying to save it. Now, come on. We'll talk more about it over brown bread and stew." He probably thinks that he can get to us with our stomachs. Hot Pie, maybe, but I doubt Arya will give in. She'd rather eat worms. Ah, cue glance from Hot Pie. I knew it.
"And then you can go on your way." Thoros ends.
Hot Pie shuffles his feet. He's tempted but he isn't lowering his sword. Thank gods, he still has some sense of loyalty to us.
"Here's the thing, fat boy," the man named Anguy shoots an arrow into the sky causing the three of us to look up. "When I'm done talking, that arrow is falling down on your fat head. So I'd advise you to move, because I'm done talking." Hot Pie shifts out of the way just as the arrow hits the ground exactly where he was standing.
We all look back at them. Who the fuck were these people? Thoros moves. It's done. They'll kill us if we don't go with them. Arya knows it too. It's why she's leading again.
"I never liked the skinny ones. Like drinking from a puddle. Not that I'm adverse to drinking from a puddle every now and then," Thoros says drunkenly.
They've done what the said they would and brought us to an inn to feed us bread and stew. Might as well eat a full meal before they kill us.
"I don't drink ale," Arya replies.
"There's no story so good, a drink won't make it better." Thoros holds up his mug. The other men sitting in front of me cheer his words, muffling his next statement.
"Now," he says more loudly so I can hear, "how do three children⎯"
"We're not children," Arya interrupts him.
"How do three young persons, such as yourselves," Thoros starts again, "untrained in the art of war, escape from Harrenhal."
I look at Arya. She's faster at words than I am. Might as well let her explain. Arya glances at me.
"Gendry's a smith," she answers like it explains everything. Fuck. What is she doing? "He was apprentice in the armoury."
"A smith, eh?" Thoros looks at me. I nod with my mouth full. "Where'd you train?" Fuck. Fuck. What the hell do I say? I look at Arya who's looking at me. Hot Pie just keeps eating.
"King's Landing." First fucking thing that pops in my head pops out of my mouth. "Tobho Mott's shop." What will telling the truth hurt? Arya looks bewildered. Shit. Shit. The Gold Cloaks. They wanted my head. Who knows what these guys will do if they find out that I'm wanted.
"That criminal. He charges twice as much as any other armoury in the city."
"That's because he's twice as good." Tobho pretty much raised me. This man has no fucking right insult him.
"Ha! A smith and a salesman."
Arya gets back to the topic at hand. "Gendry stole us weapons."
"Ah. Fought you out of Harrenhal, I see," Thoros mocks. Arya stops eating, her eyes flashing.
"He knows how to use a sword." Fuck if I do. "And so do I."
The men burst out laughing.
"My brothers taught me," Arya continues, causing them to laugh even more. She stands up, indignant. She draws her sword and points it at Thoros.
Thoros nudges it gently with his ale, and then quickly knocks the steel out of Arya's hand with his own. She backs up quickly. He brandishes it a few times before turning and grabbing another mug of ale. He raises it.
"To your brothers."
Arya steps back in and quietly grabs her sword from the floor. She returns to her seat, keeping her eyes on Thoros.
"You can finish your meals before you go," Thoros states. He believed Arya's story. Or maybe he thinks that we wouldn't last two more days on the road anyway. It's probably the latter. I mean, all we are, is a girl, a fat ass, and a coward. I still can't believe that I let Arya stand up for us.
"It may be a while before you see another." Or not at all.
"You'll free us?" Arya asks, unsure.
"I give you my word," he answers, still with that bloody mug in his hand.
Thank the fucking gods. We get up from the bench.
"But, before you go, allow me to raise a cup to s..." he starts chuckling as Anguy steps into the inn.
They have a hooded figure with them. A giant of a man.
"That," Thoros wobbles towards them, "is an uncommonly large person. How does one manage to seduce such an uncommonly large person?"
"One way, through drink, until he passes out." Anguy replies.
"Poor man. You have my sympathies." He unmasks the giant. I see Arya turn around quickly.
I look at him. It's the Hound. One of Arya's fucking names.
"Aha. Not a man at all. A hound," Thoros bellows towards the end.
Thoros says something to him that I can't catch. Wish he learned how to speak louder when he's drunk. The Hound on the other hand, has a voice that booms across the inn.
"Thoros? The fuck you doing here?
"Drinking and talking too much. Same as ever." Arya pushes Hot Pie towards the door. We need to get out of here before they notice. I follow quickly. Her hand gently nudges me as I pass. "A pretty prize, lads."
The others cheer in agreement.
We walk slowly out. Almost make it before the Hound calls to Arya. "Girl." He turns to Thoros. "What in seven hells are you doing with a Stark bitch?" Fuck. He knows it's her. He fucking knows it's Arya.
Thoros quickly signals to Anguy and the others to push us back to our seats.
They hood the Hound again and push him further into the inn. Thoros leans over the table thinking about what he has just learned.
"Why didn't you tell us who you were?" Thoros asks, peering at Arya much more soberly.
"It wasn't important," Arya defends immediately.
Thoros looks over at Anguy. "I'm afraid, Lady Stark, you're going to have to stay here a little longer than expected."
"You said we could leave."
"Aye. I did. But that was before I knew you were Ned Stark's daughter. And that makes a difference between three young persons, and a Northern princess with two young persons. Now, Anguy here is going to show you to your rooms. Make yourselves comfortable for the night."
Arya looks at me, and I do nothing but look at her. If we stay, they could kill us. If we leave, they will kill us. Fuck. Seems we just can't catch a break. Always a prisoner, one way or another.
A/N: Well, I hope you all liked it. Just to note, most poor grammar in Gendry's thoughts are intentional. Others are just mistakes that I probably haven't caught in my editing.
So, from my earlier note, I know that Gendry was the one who was supposed to steal the swords from Harrenhal, but because I had previously written that it was daggers, I figured I should try to keep some consistency to avoid as much confusion. Also, I thought that I could potentially get away with it because they never actually said how they got the swords in the show.
Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for reading,
Dawnindanite