I'm not sure why I wrote this. I looked at a GoT scene with Locke and Roose, and figured that I might as well do something.
Quote of the day:
"I wouldn't call him immoral so much as amoral, he has no morality whatsoever. He doesn't even have a concept of morality."
— Stephen Fry, describing Reaver, Fable
"Our blades are sharp." Roose Bolton whispered, the Lord of the Dreadfort then shoving his knife into his opponent's heart.
The sinking of his blade had been satisfactory enough, had been exhilarating even, but the rush he felt in piercing his enemy's chest didn't stop Lord Bolton from frowning, something feeling not quite right with the situation. Roose gave a heavy sigh, pulling his long knife out of the body of straw that he had set up in the center of the room. He turned to the loyal and brutal man that Roose had found in his hunter named Locke, and as he watched Locke sharpening his dagger from his spot across the room, Lord Bolton knew that he could count on his subordinate to answer him honestly.
"How was that for a memorable thing to say for when I kill Robb Stark?" Roose asked, the words of his House being something that the Boltons had earned in blood and horror, but even so, was perhaps something that didn't quite fit with murdering the King in the North.
Locke bit his cheek for a moment, giving his shiny new dagger a twirl before he answered. "It's a pretty badass line," the hunter paused, taking a moment to admire the blade in his hand, "but are you sure that's what you want your last words to the Cunt in the North to be? Your House motto works more as a threat than as killing words."
Roose couldn't help but frown at the way that Locke had referred to Robb as, but he did concede that his bloodhound of a soldier at least had a point. Had Robb Stark been a trifle less arrogant, had he kept his sacred vow to Walder Frey and had at least the tiniest fraction of Tywin Lannister's political savvy, there was a good chance that he would have stayed loyal to the Young Wolf. He had been the first one to answer House Stark when they called for their banners, and Robb had chosen him as a leader in the War of the Five Kings, but the boy had been stupid, and had let his emotions get in the way of doing what needed to be done. The boy had chosen love over his honor, over the honor of the Northmen and of everyone who bent the knee to House Stark, and Robb had lost the war long before Roose had ever received that fateful letter from Tywin Lannister, Hand of the King.
Rickard Karstark was right when the now dead Lord had said that Robb had lost the War of the Five Kings the moment that he married some foreign whore, instead of the daughter of Walder Frey that he had promised his hand to. What's more, Robb had brought doom to himself and to everyone who fought under the Direwolf the moment that he chopped off Lord Karstark's head for treason. What man could follow a King that breaks his holy vows and murders his own bannerman? It was often said that a Lannister always pays their debts, and even now as Roose and Locke were alone together, nothing but the cold Northern air to keep them company, he knew exactly how Tywin Lannister would pay his debts to the Starks. Robb often claimed that the Lannisters would pay him back in blood for the execution of his father, but as Roose's breath chilled in the howling wind, as he remembered Lord Tywin's letter, his promise, he wondered on just whose blood exactly would be the payment.
Ned Stark was dead. Arya Stark had been missing since Lord Eddard's execution, with the most that anyone could hope for her being that the girl had at least been killed swiftly instead of raped and left behind wherever she was with her throat cut open. Bran and Rickon Stark had been murdered by Theon Greyjoy and had their corpses displayed for all the North to see. The only ones that Robb still had left in this world was his sister Sansa, now a Lannister, his mother, and a bastard brother wasting his life guarding the frozen pile of shit called the Wall. Only two Starks had survived Robert's Rebellion. Perhaps this time around the same would prove true once again, only with a Lannister and a Snow.
"Lord Bolton," Roose's thoughts and cold hard gaze soon turned to his bloodhound when he heard Locke speak, "about the Kingslayer-"
Before Locke could saying anything further, Roose interrupted him. "You're lucky I didn't send your head to Tywin Lannister when I found out what you did to his son. You won't be punished for what happened to Jaime, but tread lightly with mentioning his name again."
The Lord of the Dreadfort rarely threatened people, because a man with the title of Lord of the Dreadfort rarely needed to. Locke didn't seem to flinch at the threat however, because Locke knew the kind of person that his Lord was, knew that the Boltons lived up to their House Words more than any other did. The Boltons had hearts darker than their shadows, and the man simply continued to twirl his dagger again, his own heart being a similar shade of black.
"I was just wondering," Locke began, pausing for a moment as he relaxed a bit in his spot by the window, "maybe the Kingslayer said something to you before you let him go."
Roose thought for a moment, before he remembered just what exactly Jaimie's parting words were. "He told me to tell Robb Stark that the Lannisters send their regards."
Locke only gave a twisted smile, and the man didn't have to say another word when a dark flicker danced against the cold ghost eyes of the Lord of the Dreadfort. Another moment later, Roose once again sank his knife into the heart of the straw man in the center of the room. Unfortunately, Roose's training would have to be cut short for the day.
There was a letter he had to send, and a wedding to prepare for.
Til next time. I have more ideas, but we'll see.
