Rodner wiped his brow as he finished nailing another board to the building he and his father were constructing. His father, the village carpenter, had been hired by the local tanner to construct a new workshop. It was grueling work for only two people, and Rodner could feel the sun pounding down on them.

Taking a small rest on a nearby stool, Rodner looked out at their village. The village of Gent was situated near the heart of the Riverlands. Ruled by Ser Devran Whent, it was small and humble with only a few travelers coming through.

Born and raised in Gent, Rodner had never truly seen the outside world. While they did receive news from the occasional passerby, they were mostly isolated. Now, nearing his twentieth nameday, Rodner was longing to experience more in life than just Gent and the surrounding countryside.

"Rodner!" his father's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

He looked up. "What is it?"

His father's greying hair glistened with sweat as he spoke, "I need you to go grab some more nails from the smith."

Rodner nodded quickly and stood from his stool. "I'll need a few pennies for that."

"Mhmm…" His father fiddled around one of his pouches before finally finding three copper pennies. "That should be enough. Get back here as soon as you can, I want to make some more progress before the sun goes down."

"Right…" Rodner muttered as he started walking to the smith.

"And Rodner!"

He looked back towards his father.

"Quit daydreaming, if you stay focused, we'll be done with this in a couple of days," Rodner's father advised.

Rodner rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright…"

Walking through the village, Gent looked to be unusually active. Rodner supposed that was because there was going to be a festival later in the day. All the farmers from the countryside had come in to celebrate and sell their goods.

"Hey Rod!" one of his friends, Paye, waved and walked over to him. "You busy right now?"

Rodner shrugged. "My father wants me to buy some things from the smith, we're trying to finish up the tanner's new house," he replied while walking.

Paye nodded, clearly not listening. "Have you heard the news?"

"Hmm?" Rodner's head tilted in confusion.

"Robb Stark beat the King Slayer at the Whispering Wood, and now the Lannisters have been driven back to Harrenhal!" Paye relayed in excitement.

"Really, where'd you hear that from?" News of the war was sporadic. Last Rodner had heard, the Lannister army was three times as large as the Stark army, there was no way the Starks could have defeated a host that large.

"It's true! Rylon said that he managed to actually talk to one of the Lannister soldiers while they were retreating!"

Rodner rolled his eyes at that. Rylon was known for making up stories and passing them as real events. "What, did he also tell that dragons had returned? Don't believe a word out of his mouth."

"Oh yeah, well Ser Devran believed it," Paye retorted. "He's gathering men together to go to Riverrun and fight for Lord Edmure."

That caught Rodner's attention. "Is Ser Devran taking volunteers?"

Paye nodded enthusiastically. "Aye, any man able to hold a spear. Me and a few of the lads were thinking about joining, you should too."

"I don't know if my father would allow that," Rodner said with a sigh.

Paye groaned. "Come on, think of the adventure and glory! You don't want to sit around here all your life do you?"

Rodner resigned, "Alright, I'll see if I can convince him, but don't expect anything."

"Great!" Paye said with a smile. "I'm going to find Aldo and Jares, I'll see you at the festival tonight."

His friend ran off before Rodner could say goodbye. What have I gotten myself into? While the prospect of fighting in a war was appealing, he also knew that his father would certainly disapprove. Still, this was the perfect opportunity to experience more than just Gent. Sighing, he continued on his way to the smith.

The smith in Gent was a middle aged man named Tarik. Rodner had always thought he was a bit strange. Unlike the rest of the village, Tarik worshipped the Old Gods rather than the New. While Rodner wasn't particularly devoted to the Seven, worshipping trees just seemed odd.

Approaching Tarik's smithy, he could see the man working on what looked to be the beginnings of a horseshoe. His daughter, Lannia, was working on carving some sort of ornament off to the side.

"Rodner, what brings you today?" The smith greeted.

"Father needs some nails for the tanner's house," Rodner said while holding out the pennies he'd been given.

Tarik nodded and accepted the coins. "Lannia! Get a bag of nails from inside the house!" he shouted to his daughter.

The girl nodded and Rodner watched her head into the building. His gaze probably lingered a little too long because Torik began to glare at him.

Rodner shifted uncomfortably. "So are you and Lannia going to the festival tonight?" Fuck, that's a bad question.

"Yes," the smith said tersely. Rodner could feel his glare burning into him.

"Good…" Rodner decided it would be best for him to just shut up and stay silent.

Tarik grumbled and went back to hammering away at his horseshoe. In the corner of the smithy, Rodner spotted a pile of spearheads. If he had to guess, he'd say it was related to what Paye had told him. I guess Ser Devran really is recruiting men to fight.

"Here you are, Rodner." Lannia drew his attention away from the spearheads. She held out a bag of nails for him.

He smiled. "Ah, thanks."

The girl returned his smile. "Seven save you, Rodner."

Rodner raised an eyebrow at that. He'd expected Lannia to take after her father and follow the Old Gods. Opening his mouth, he tried to formulate a response.

Torik didn't let him. "You'd best get back to your father, boy."

Not wanting to anger the smith further, Rodner turned to leave. "Same with you…" he muttered to Lannia as he fled Torik's glare.

He's going to fucking kill me one day.

Rodner brushed off the thought and started heading back to his father. He tried to figure out how he was going to convince the old man to let him go out and fight in a war. Rodner just couldn't imagine his father allowing it. Guess I'll just have to try and see what he says.

He passed by several villagers in the village center, there were definitely more people than usual. It was going to be a busy festival.

Approaching the house, his father stood waiting for him. "What took you so long?"

Rodner scratched his head. "I uhh, got caught up."

"I'm not even going to ask on what," his father said with a sigh. "Come on, let's get to work."

Nodding dully, Rodner picked up a hammer and a couple of nails. As he worked, he tried to muster the courage to ask his father about leaving. After several minutes had past, he decided to just go for it.

"You know, I hear Ser Devran is mustering up men to fight in the war."

His father didn't look up from his work as he spoke, "Is that so?"

"Aye, he's taking on any man who can hold a spear. Paye and a few others said they were going to join."

His father continued working, muttering something that Rodner couldn't hear.

"I uhh… I was thinking about joining myself." Rodner prepared himself for his father's reaction.

The sound of his father's work died down instantly. Rodner's father straightened his back, making him several inches taller. He looked over at Rodner with a stern gaze and uttered a single word, "No."

Rodner had expected that response and immediately retorted, "Why not?"

"Because it's dangerous and you'll get yourself killed," his father shot back. "I've already lost your mother, I can't lose you too."

He'd also expected that response. "But didn't you fight for Robert Baratheon against the Targaryens? Why can't I do the same for Ser Devran?"

His father sighed and gripped his head with one hand. "That's exactly the reason why I don't want you fighting. I made the mistake of running off to fight and I'm trying to make it so you don't do the same."

Rodner groaned in frustration. "Well, I-"

His next words were cut short by a scream coming from the village. Both men snapped their heads towards the source of the noise and saw a woman sprinting into Gent.

Shortly after, the largest man Rodner had ever seen rode after her on a horse. He ran down the woman with his lance, silencing her screams. Behind the giant rode in men with red and gold armor, carrying the banner of a lion with them.

Rodner narrowed his eyes. "Are those…?"

"Lannisters," his father confirmed.

More screams sounded out from the village as the Lannisters began to cut down people standing in the village center. Rodner stood in shock of what was happening. He watched the soldiers ride down men and women alike with their lances and swords, giving no chance for mercy.

His father was quick to act. "Rodner, head to Ser Devran's manor and tell him what's happening!"

Rodner snapped out of his daze. "What about you? What are you doing?"

"I'm going to our house to gather a few things we can't leave behind, now go!"

Nodding quickly, he ran towards Ser Devran's manor. Being on horseback, the Lannisters had already spread throughout the village and began to pillage it. Rodner couldn't avoid them, so instead he chose to just run as fast as he could and hope for the best.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins and Rodner sprinted faster than he'd ever ran before. To his side, Lannister soldiers kicked open homes, looting valuables and murdering the inhabitants.

Suddenly, Rodner saw a woman screaming as a man held her down. It was Lannia, desperately trying to escape from her attacker with a small dagger. The man easily disarmed her and pinned her to the ground.

All logic in Rodner told him to keep running and to ignore the scene. Dozens of people were already being murdered, saving one wouldn't help. It would be better instead to get Ser Devran to aid them.

But Rodner wasn't thinking logically.

Charging forward, he tackled the man off of Lannia, knocking his helmet off in the process. Lannia quickly made it to her feet and started running, leaving Rodner to deal with the Lannister soldier.

Taking advantage of the soldier's surprise, Rodner got on top of the man and tried to pin him down. Years of hard work were evident in Rodner's strength as he was able to successfully wrestle the soldier down to the ground.

Unfortunately, the surprise soon wore off.

The soldier, with more experience and skill, easily was able to throw Rodner off of him. Rodner found himself in the same position he'd just had the soldier in nearly moments ago.

Grabbing at his neck, the soldier tried to strangle Rodner with an iron grip. Unable to free himself from the hold, Rodner desperately shoved one hand into the man's face while he reached around for some sort of weapon with the other.

His fingers dug into the soldier's eyes and nose, weakening the grip on his neck slightly, but not enough. Rodner panicked as his lungs burned in pain from the lack of air. He was suffocating.

Then he found it.

His free hand clasped around some sort of metal object. It had a decent weight to it and felt sturdy. Gripping it firmly, Rodner smashed the object into the Lannister's head.

Immediately, the man's grip loosened. Rodner was able to throw him off and scramble onto his hands and knees. The other man, still dazed from the blow he'd received, barely reacted when Rodner climbed on top of him.

Bringing the object up, Rodner slammed it down onto the soldier's face. The man was still moving, so he smashed the man's face in another time. That still didn't end him so he did it again and again and again.

Eventually, nothing remained but a mess of blood and bones.

It was only then that Rodner realized the object he'd used to bludgeon the soldier to death with had been the man's own helmet. Adrenaline started to wear off, and he staggered to his feet, dropping the helmet in the process.

He dared a glance back at the bloody pile that remained of the man he'd just killed. Did I just… Rodner felt sick to his stomach. He felt dizzy and stumbled while trying to remain standing.

Looking back at the village, Rodner could see it had been set on fire. The Lannisters finished slaughtering everyone in the village center and were now chasing after those who had fled. At their lead, Rodner saw the large man earlier dismounted from his horse.

On foot, the man showed his true size. While Rodner had known a few large fellows in his life, this man towered over them all. There was only one man Rodner knew of that it could possibly be, The Mountain.

Suddenly a club impacted Rodner's back. He hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings and had missed the Lannister soldier coming after him.

Rodner gasped for air. He crawled on the ground in far greater pain than he'd ever felt before. The Lannister stood over him with his club raised, preparing to deliver a final blow.

Closing his eyes, Rodner waited for the blow to end his life. There wasn't any use in trying to resist, he couldn't do anything if he tried. Rodner had already gotten lucky with one soldier, he wouldn't be able to best another.

A sickening cutting noise sounded out, like the when the butcher would chop a slice of meat. Warm liquid sprayed across Rodner's face followed by a thunk next to him. He opened his eyes confused.

Beside him, the corpse of the Lannister soldier who'd nearly killed Rodner lay face down in the dirt. Ser Devran stood above him, sword in hand. Several other of Ser Devran's men followed, charging at the Lannister soldiers.

"Get up!" Rodner was shocked out of his daze by Ser Devran's command.

Quickly, he complied with the order and pushed himself onto his feet. Rodner opened his mouth to thank him, "Milord I-"

"There's no time for that!" Ser Devran barked. The knight looked around briefly before grabbing a sword from a dead soldier and shoving it into Rodner's hands. "Take this and head east of here to Riverrun! We'll hold them for as long as we can, just run!"

Ser Devran didn't give Rodner a chance to respond before he charged forward with his men at the mountain. Deciding to do as he was told, Rodner started to run, the sword in his hand.

Screams from behind caused him to glance back. The Mountain cleaved through one of Ser Devran's men, gambeson and all, clean in half with his greatsword. Rodner kept running.

Another man attempted to spear the mountain in the back, that served only to anger him. The Mountain immediately backhanded the man, causing him to fall to the ground groaning in pain.

Ser Devran came at The Mountain from behind. He gripped onto the middle of his longsword's blade with his free hand as he charged him.

Using the additional power and precision his grip granted him, Ser Devran thrust the tip of his sword into an opening in The Mountain's plate armor at the armpit. It pierced through the mail that protected it, causing The Mountain to roar in pain.

Ser Devran pulled his sword free and backed away. The Mountain immediately swung his greatsword at the knight. An attempt to block the blow failed as Ser Devran's longsword was simply battered away by The Mountain's immense strength.

Rodner looked away before The Mountain's greatsword could impact Ser Devran. A cry of pain soon followed.

I need to keep moving.

Breathing hard, Rodner continued to run from the Lannister soldiers. There was no way he would be able to outrun the Lannister, they had horses and he was on foot. Instead, he needed to lose them before continuing his journey.

Heading off the road, Rodner entered the forest on the outskirts of Gent. Thick with trees, he knew that the horses wouldn't be able to follow him through. The shouts of Lannister men reminded him of the impending danger.

He dashed through dense bushes and overgrown bits of forest, trying to lose the Lannisters. Fear gripped at his heart as he moved deeper and deeper into the trees.

Eventually he heard nothing but the wildlife in the forest and his own movements.

Looking around, Rodner soon realized that in the process of losing the Lannisters, he'd also lost his sense of direction. There was no way he'd be able to find his way to Riverrun.

His eyes also felt heavy, the constant running and fighting for his life had drained all energy from him. Rodner's hands trembled slightly, but he was too tired to care. With no clear path to follow, Rodner chose to sit down against a tree and rest.

He could figure out what to do after he gained back his strength.

So this is an idea that came to me randomly. There's some influence from a game called Kingdom Come Deliverance (if you haven't played it I highly recommend it) and I'm going to try and do more weapons, armor, and fighting techniques in the story based on my prior knowledge and whatever information I can dig up. This is my first ever attempt at writing for Game of Thrones (and one of my first attempts writing anything) so I can't promise it'll be great. But stick around, who knows how it'll turn out.

Please review if you think this is a good idea, have some ideas, think I'm stupid, or want to just tell me to stop writing.