Brienne inhaled and exhaled slowly as the squire finished clasping her armor around her back. Lord Tyrion had been adamant that she would receive the aid of a real squire, his squire, before the fight.

As if she ever needed a squire , it was a nice gesture. The lad was named Podrick.

How did it come to this? she asked herself

If I'm walking to my death let it be clean one.

The squire had finished his work. She was ready. Any minute now, a man from the court you come and escort her to the arena. As Brienne gave herself a last look in the looking glass, she let her mind wonder back to the events that led her here, today…

She remembered every detail of it.


A few days ago

Brienne had walked in on Jaime, sparring alone with a mannequin, the sort one would use when learning to fight. It was a strange sight to see Jaime alone because he usually sparred with her in order to train his left hand.

He had tried at first with Lord Tyrion's sellsword friend, a man named Bronn, but Jaime didn't like him. But Brienne didn't mind. She owed it to him. No one knew that Brienne felt very responsible for what had happened to Jaime; the cutting of his hand had been a direct consequence on him saving her from being raped.

She approached their training ground near the sea; already she could hear the sound of the sword hitting the dummy and Jaime's grunts and loud breathing.

"You should have told me you wanted to train." She said loudly, but Jaime didn't stop what he was doing, nor did he answer her.

"Jaime is something wrong?" she asked again

It still felt strange to call him by his first name. When there were among other people Brienne was always so formal and polite, but Jaime had insisted she call him by his name when they were alone…just like at Harrenhal he had said.

"Jaime!" she said again "JAIME!" This time she was shouting.

Brienne moved quickly towards the mannequin and stood behind it, facing Jaime in order for him to finally answer her.

"My brother is going to die the day after tomorrow." he said in a solemn voice, before hitting the mannequin again."No one wants to be his champion, not even his sellsword acolyte. Bloody ingrate." He added " I can't do it because of my hand, my sister wants my brother dead, my father wants him dead, Oberyn Martell wants the Lannister family dead, the whole bloody world wants every fucking Lannister dead…"

A blow on the training mannequin had followed every one of Jaime's sentences. Brienne had to admit that he was starting to be better with his left hand but it didn't take a seasoned knight to know that it would never be the same. Jaime was still beating at the mannequin, trying to go harder and faster every time.

"Stop, stop!" said Brienne "Please. It won't change anything."

Now, Brienne was holding the dummy with both her hands and she was staring deeply at Jaime. He finally stopped, dropping the sword on the ground, panting. He gave her a quick look.

"I don't care." He said "I don't care and I'll do it anyway."

"Jaime you can't mean that…" she started

"Yes I do. I'll be my brother's champion because it is right and if I die trying, then so be it." Said Jaime as he picked up the sword on the ground and put in away. He also took a water skin that was next to it and took a good long drink…Brienne wondered if it was really water in there. He didn't sound like his usual self.

"You know how the sellsword came to my brother service?"

Brienne simply nodded in rejection.

"He volunteered to be his champion at the Eerie when Lisa Arryn and Catelyn Stark trialed him. He named me his champion at first, but Lisa Arryn decided it needed to be immediate so…Bronn volunteered. I won't miss this chance again." He said "In fact, I'll go see him right now to tell him the news." Said Jaime " Then I'll go to my father…No, that's a bad idea. I won't go to my father; it will be a surprise, a surprise for them all, and the fight of the century. Ser Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer fighting Ser Gregor Clegane, the Mountain that rides. What a great song it will make!" Jaime didn't look back at her for an instant and started up the stairs to leave.

"Wait!" she said as Jaime was walking away

It didn't take long for Brienne to think of a solution. Actually, she had been thinking about it for some time now.

"Wait…" she said again "What about me?"

Jaime turned around slowly in his footsteps, looking at her from afar. His expression had suddenly changed too. Was it fear? Was it anger? Was it relief? As if he somehow knew what she was going to say.

"I'll be Tyrion's champion, I'll fight the Mountain."

"Brienne," said Jaime, coming back down the stairs to stand in front of her. "Brienne no, I can't ask that of you. Besides, it should be me."

"You are not asking me anything, I'm volunteering which is what a champion does."

"I can't let you do that." He said

"And you can't fight the Mountain, you'll lose!"

Silence suddenly filled the air.

Brienne hated herself for having said that out loud. But Jaime couldn't be that blind, could he? He couldn't be that ignorant of the outcome of this fight? Or, maybe revenge and guilt were clouding his judgement…Either way she couldn't stand on this side and let him forfeit his life just like that. He had been through so much. They had been through so much together.

"Please let me fight him…Let me kill him"

"Brienne…" he answered back, softly, his voice breaking a little

"I can do it." She said, "You know I can."

Jaime's silence meant everything to Brienne because she knew he would keep arguing with her if he didn't believe her.

'I trust you with my life Brienne, you know that." Jaime said

"But…"she added

"But you don't know what you are getting yourself into. You won't come out of this alive. The Mountain, he's…ruthless, he almost killed Loras Tyrell at the tourney for Ned Stark. If Sandor Clegane hadn't intervened..."

"I've beaten Loras Tyrell. I can do it. " Said Brienne "I want to do it"

By then, Jaime realized there was nothing more to be said.

"I'm not doing it for your brother." Said Brienne

And those were the last words she said to him on that day, before leaving their training grounds.


So, this is a tryout chapter...This idea has been in my head for some time and I've finally decided to give a go. Hope you've enjoyed. And if you did and want to read more, please follow the story or review it. It'll keep me going :)

Cath