Game of Thrones: Hearts in the Forest
Chapter 9 of my Game of Thrones story, enjoy.
Reviews
ckahaki: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, well, read on and find out, you're right though, it was pretty close.
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks.
Veridissima: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it, yeah, it was pretty close; but at least she was indeed rescued.
Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin.
Chapter 9
Arya watched carefully for any signs of danger. The group that had rescued her stopped a short distance away when they saw her. The man up front, a large men dressed in a red robe, noted the sword in her hand. He made a gesture to his men, sheathing his own sword. The others all lowered or sheathed their weapons too. The man then stepped towards her, holding his hands out to show he wasn't carrying a weapon in them.
"Easy, young lady, we mean you no harm." He explained carefully. "We did just save you after all."
Arya glared. "How do I know you weren't saving me just so you could have me?"
The man sighed and shook his head. "I suppose we should have expected that. But in truth, if that was our intention, we wouldn't have sheathed our weapons would we. There's enough of us to overpower you…I don't expect you to trust us yet, but please, take that as a sign of our good intentions."
Arya frowned; this man seemed familiar to her, she felt she had seen him before somewhere.
"Why save me?" She asked, stalling for time.
The man raised an eyebrow in surprise. "We weren't about to let those thugs get away with harming an innocent. I don't believe we've met, I am Thoros of Myr."
It was then Arya realized where she recognized the man. Even if she couldn't reveal it to him.
It was Thoros, the winner of the melee in the tourney held to honour her father's appointment as Hand of the King.
"So what are you doing here then, Thoros?" Arya asked; curious.
Thoros smiled. "We heard of a disturbance, these bandits, and came to try and put a stop to it. It's something we do as the Brotherhood without Banners."
Arya just looked at him. "Who?"
"The Brother without Banners." Thoros explained. "We were initially a force sent by Lord Eddard Stark to stop Gregor Clegane from attacking the Riverlands. But following the disaster that occurred at King's Landing…We deciding to continue following Lord Stark's orders, by defending the lands we are in from those that would threaten it. We don't technically serve a King, but we act on behalf of the throne. In effect, we're doing what should be done. Not an easy task; but, no good endeavour is."
Arya nodded slowly; just then Thoros looked at her carefully. "Actually, I feel I've seen you somewhere before, have we met?"
"No, no we haven't." Arya replied quickly.
She suddenly was distracted from her conversation by the sounds of a pained groan from inside the homestead.
"Shit." She cried before turning and rushing back inside. She could hear Thoros ordering his men to bury the bodies, before he followed her inside.
Arya hurried to the bedside, Gendry looked worse; the sweat was running freely, his fever was clearly worse. His breathing was more laboured than ever, Arya felt certain his heartbeat would be erratic. His expression suggested he was in agony.
"That's why you were facing them off alone." Thoros remarked sadly. "There's no way he could fight, not in this condition."
Arya nodded. "I…I don't even know what's wrong with him. He's…"
She explained all Gendry's symptoms and everything that happened. To her surprise Thoros seemed to realize right away, what the problem was.
"Blood poisoning. You didn't clean the wound out properly and you were in the forest." He explained. "That allowed infection to set in."
Arya groaned, cursing herself, but then it happened. She heard Gendry's voice and, as she feared, delirious with fever, he said what he shouldn't.
"Ugh, Ar...A...Arya?
Thoros started at that. "What was that?"
Arya bit her lip, she had done it do much lately her lip had started to bleed, the coppery taste filled her mouth. 'Shit, you idiot.'
Although she wasn't sure if she was cursing Gendry or herself with that.
"Arya." Gendry's words came out weakly, but still audible.
Thoros turned to her. "Arya…I thought I recognized you…Arya Stark."
She sighed; she had been found out. "Yes, it's me."
Thoros sighed heavily and then spoke. "Listen, we have medicine and the means to save this young man."
"What's the catch?" She asked, immediately suspicious."
Thoros then explained. "You let us take you to Winterfell…Immediately."
Arya froze as she heard those words.
Thoros was offering her a chance to go home, a chance to make it there safely. But the price, abandoning Gendry. It all raced through Arya's head and then, finally, she made up her mind.
"If that's the case, forget it."
"Excuse me?" Thoros remarked.
Arya looked at him seriously. "I'm not abandoning Gendry, if you try and make me come I'll fight you."
Thoros was just as serious as he replied. "You are outnumbered, fighting won't get you anything."
"You try to force me, I'll escape, you try to prevent my escape, you'll be delivering a corpse to Winterfell." She said resolutely. "I'm not abandoning him and if you leave him to die…I'll die with him."
Thoros gaze was flinty as he looked from Arya, to Gendry and back. "Do you even know who he really is?"
"I can make a pretty good guess." She replied; she had noted similarities between Gendry and King Robert, how could he possibly be anyone else.
"You would return with him to Winterfell."
Arya nodded. "He's my friend and I refuse to abandon him."
There was a stony silence and then finally Thoros sighed; his gaze kindly once more.
He smiled. "So be it Arya Stark, if only more women had the strength and steel in their souls as you do. It might make for a more interesting world."
He then turned and called out orders to the men still outside. Informing them to get ready to leave.
He turned back to her and reached into his robe. He then handed her a small cloth sack and then quickly wrote something down and handed that to her.
"That's the medicine that will counteract the blood poisoning. These are instruction, how to use it properly, what to do afterwards, everything." He told her. "Just make sure you thoroughly clean out the wound too, to stop this coming back. It may hurt him, but it must be done."
Arya nodded, taking them. "I…Thank you."
He nodded and then departed. Arya walked over to the window and watched as they left.
'It…It's over; I don't believe it.' She thought with wonder and relief. 'Guess they weren't as bad as they seemed, now, time to do this. Just hold on Gendry.'
She turned and immediately got to work. She read the instructions carefully and administered the medicine, she removed the bandages and began to thoroughly clean the wound. Following the instructions, she had also prepared an appropriate salve, which now covered the fresh pad as well as the cloth she used to clean the wound. Gendry yelped and jerked a few times as she cleaned the wound. But that was it; once she was done, she pressed the pad onto the wound and bandaged him up again. She quickly checked and noticed, just as the instructions said; Gendry's fever was already going down.
She managed a weak smile as her mind registered this. 'That's a good sign, according to the instructions, that means he's healing, but there's also a chance we were too late…I'm so tired but, I can't sleep, not yet, not until he opens his eyes and tells me he's okay.'
So, she pulled up her chair next to the bed and waited; hoping that she had indeed caught this in time, that it wasn't too late.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.
