Chapter 13: Broken Bones

The Mountain let out another cry as Cregan continued to pull his arm further from his shoulder, with each pull Rodrick, Sansa, Harold and Triston could hear yet another crack in his bones. It was a strange sight to behold, in all his years Rodrick always saw the Mountain as nothing now but a monster under his grandfathers chain but now he couldn't help but slightly sympathize for him. While Sansa, Harold and Triston looked on in shock Rodrick stood still, his logical side made him calmer that usual and that same side lead his eyes towards the Mountains two lackeys.

The two drew their swords and went to defend their lord but before they could reach said lord Rodrick grabbed his training sword and charged towards the two. In the span of two seconds Rodrick ran up to one of the henchmen and, with all of his force, he struck the man in the head. He was wearing a helmet so Rodrick could feel a lot of knockback from his strike but due to the sheer force of the strike insted of being blown back the blow sent the henchman falling to the ground while at the same time the blade itself broke with tons of small wooden splinters flying in the air flying from the impact.

The other henchman jumped back a bit from the sudden attack by Rodrick, however, before he could attack Rodrick Harold was quicker to the draw as he did the same as Rodrick, he grabbed his own training sword and charged towards him, instead of a full on frontal attack however Harold attacked from behind, using the butt of his hilt to knock down his opponent. When the henchman fell down he was still concious, Harold didn't hit the man hard enough so to make up for it he jumped on his opponent to knock him down, pinning his legs and arm in place with his own to restrain the henchman from moving.

Rodrick and Harold looked at each other as Rodrick nodded as a sign of thanks before turning towards the Mountain and Cregan who had not moved from their position during the whole debacle.

"How many bones do you think we are at now, I believe we've reached 24." Cregan said as he let go of the Mountains arm.
"Aaaaaaaaagh... my arm... you damn bastard... I'll gut you like a rat..." Clegane said through his heavy breathing as he gripped him broken arm.
"Cregan, stop this, he's had enough already." Rodrick said, trying to calm down the tension, as impossible as it seemed at this point.
"My lord, the prince is right, you don't need to do this." Triston supported Rodrick's words, to the suprise of both Rodrick and Cregan by the looks of it.
"Is that so?" Cregan asked as he raised his brow towards Triston, "Tell me Triston, this man threatened you for basically nothing. Do you really have no malice towards him?"
"No... of course I would hate someone like him. But I would never wish something like this upon anyone." Triston said, staring right at Cregan while doing so.
"Hmm... well, that's quite the interesting thing to say." Cregan said in a... weird tone... as he placed his fingers on his chin and rested his elbow on the other hand.
"Oh, are we going to stop fighting now? Because that would be greaaaaat..." Harold said, already tired from trying to keep the henchman down.

Everything seemed to calmed down, the noise had died down and everyone seemed to have started thinking straight again. All expect the Mountain and the henchman who was still concious, Rodrick could still hear him grumbling towards Harold about how he was going to snap his neck. Rodrick turned his head towards Triston and Sansa who were standing beside each other, slightly far away from both Cregan and Clegane, with both of their expressions seeming much calmer. Time seemed to slow down for a moment however as Sansa's expression changed drastically and it seemed Rodrick was the only one to notice while Sansa herself seemed to see something no one else saw.

"CREGAN WATCH OUT!" she yelled out to warn her brother.

"Wha-" that was all Cregan could let out as he opened his eyes to look at his sister again before being hit full force by the Mountain in the gut. Cregan's arms blocked the punch slightly however in the moment all of those things happened the hit itself looked to be extremely painful. After the hit Cregan was almost sent flying by it, the block however made him just step back about two feet. Despite the fact he blocked though Cregan feel down onto his knees and gripped the part where he was hit in pain.

"Cregan!" Sansa and Rodrick yelled out in shock, both caught paralyzed.
"My lord!" Triston yelled in both shock and fear.
"Oh well that's just great now isn't it." Harold said in sarcasm with a layer of fear.

"Ahhh..." Clegane let out a grunt of pain and doing something that made everyone become even more paralyzed in fear. He grabbed pieces of his arm and then broke every single piece of it back into place, yelling out in pain for every bone he tried to put in place, "... you really are an annoying little shit aren't you. But now I can enjoy tearing you limb from limb, as slowly as possible". After he said that the Mountain slowly started to walk towards Cregan as he finally broke his entire arm back in. Cracking his knuckles Clegane towered over Cregan as he struggled to regain his breath from the impact to what Rodrick could only assume was his ribs and lungs.

Just before the Mountain started to swing at Cregan he felt a hand grabbing his shoulder. "Would you to like to repeat that you son of a bitch?!" Rodrick yelled out as he violently swung the Mountain towards him and punched him straight in the jaw, effectively knocking him out in the process. As everyone saw what happened Rodrick could only think about what he had just done but sadly that was not time for that. He then turned towards the last remaining member of the Clegane household and walked right in front of him.

"Listen to me very closely now. Your lord has just attacked a future member of the Royal Family and for that he should be either put to death or have his hand cut off. That punishment would include you and your friend over there as well. Because I know that my fathers punishment would be much, much worse, I will let you all go this time. You shall never return to King's Landing and if I see you return then I will personally cut off all of your heads by myself. Am I understood?" the henchman on the ground stood silent as he heard Rodrick talk about all of the things he said before Rodrick grabbed him by the hair and forced him to look at him straight in the eyes. "Am. I. Understood?"

"Y- yes, Prince Rodrick, I understand." the man said reluctantly as Rodrick let go of his hair and Harold got off of him.
"Good, then get out of my sight and remember, you are all never to return here again." Rodrick said.

The henchman nodded meekly as he got up from the ground and then with all the strength he could muster he struggled to drag both his fellow henchman and the Mountain, which, given only the sheer size of Clegane, Rodrick could imagine was more than a handful seeing how much the man was going to have to drag his companions. After the henchman managed to slowly drag away the Mountain and the other henchman Rodrick and everyone else rushed towards Cregan who seemed to be losing more and more breath with every passing moment.

"Cregan are you alright?!" Sansa asked her brother, placing her hand on Cregan's back as he coughed more and more.
"I'm-... I'm fine, it's just that... he caught me off guard..." Cregan managed to speak out through his coughing and heavy breathing.
"Well you certainly don't seem fine to me, that blood really isn't helping your argument either." Harold said, pointing to the blood on the ground.
"Since when did you begin coughing up blood?!" Rodrick asked in a panic, really only joining in around Cregan just now.
"Oh I don't know prince, maybe the time my ribs almost crushed my lungs." Cregan said in a now much more clearer voice.

"Well then we don't have any time to just lay about now do we? Harold, Triston, go and find me Maester Pycelle and tell him Cregan needs help, right now. Me and Sansa will help carry him to his room so he can lay down." Rodrick gave Harold and Triston orders and the two followed them immediately, standing up and running towards the Maesters Chambers as fast as they could. After they left Rodrick and Sansa went to pick up Cregan but he refused, pushing both of them with as little force as possible as to not have them trip.

"I don't need your two's help, I can stand on my own damn feet." Cregan said, his tone being muffled through his grunts of pain. That attitude had a drastic turn however when Sansa suddenly slapped her brother so hard it seemed to have left a red mark on his face.

"This is no time for you to be stubborn Cregan." Sansa said firmly, "Now let us help you, because I'm not letting you drag yourself all the way through the Red Keep like this.". After saying that Sansa reached her hand towards her brother, her face and expression softening as the twins eyes locked for a moment before Cregan sighed and gave in, taking her hand and letting Sansa throw it over her shoulder.

As Rodrick looked at the whole situation that was unfolding in front of him his brain couldn't help but dissect all that had just happened. In some way it almost reminded Rodrick of the relationship between his own siblings, but, entirely different at the same time. The slap didn't seem to do much at all and that didn't really suprise Rodrick but while Cregan's initial reaction seemed to be that of shock Rodrick couldn't be entirely sure that it was that. It seemed that his sisters words had much more impact than anything else. But not wanting to waste any more time Rodrick went in to help Sansa carry Cregan before being stopped in his tracks by Cregan's stare.

"You stay away." Cregan put it simply, staring towards Rodrick with a perhaps ironically uninterested look.

Rodrick looked at Sansa in confusion as to what he was supposed to do. Cregan was always a mystery to Rodrick, always not being able to read him made Rodrick constantly nervous around him as he couldn't really figure out what he was thinking or what he was going to do. "Just play along with it for now Rodrick. It's the best we can get from him right now." Sansa said, her expression being a stark contrast from her brothers. Rodrick looked first to Sansa, then to Cregan and then back to Sansa. Both were standing still and looking at him, both of them with different expressions as well. After a few moments Rodrick merely shrugged and took a step back.

"Very well then, by all means you two go along and I'll just be following from the side."

A Few Hours Later...

The wounds Cregan had sustained didn't seem to be of any great danger since Maester Pycelle estimated that he would up on his feet in less than a week. To survive a hit from the Mountain himself was no mere feet by itself but at this point Rodrick was used to being suprised. It was strange really, ever since he met the Starks Rodrick just couldn't stop getting into all kinds of trouble. First the bear and now the Mountain, the next thing Rodrick expected to happen was him being forced to take down a dragon or two like it's no big deal.

Lord Stark was furious when he had heard what happened and even more so was Rodrick's father. The difference between the two were how they handled the whole debacle. Lord Eddard kept his calm and decided to wait until he could properly gather his thougths while his father, on the other hand, sent out a search party for Clegane. In a somewhat of a cruel twist of irony the leader of the search party was Sandor Clegane, the Hound himself. Rodrick once again couldn't help but feel bad for Gregor, he's been outlawed by the king and to be honest whatever Cregan was going to do to him must have been far more mercyful than whatever Rodrick's father was going to do to him.

'Ah well... at least Westeros is going to have one less warmongering tyrant walking free.' Rodrick thought to himself. King's Landing was the perfect nest for Clegane's kind, the scum of the earth, and Rodrick was all to familiar with those kinds of people. Taking care of one of those kinds of people won't make Westeros a much safer place as there will always be someone to take their place but perhaps it could ease the minds of many a weary traveler.

He walked through the hallways of the Red Keep, passing many servants, handmaidens, squires and so forth on his way to Cregan's chambers. Eventually he made it to the front door but just as he was about to enter Rodrick could hear people talking inside. It sounded like a woman's voice talking so Rodrick presumed it would have been Cregan's family but something was off. They all visited Cregan two hours ago and he himself saw all of them leave the room. He would have taken more time to think about this but at this point Rodrick was just too tired so he decided to get on with it and opened the door to enter. Inside the room were no other Margaery and Garlan Tyrell, the former of the two currently giving Cregan what Rodrick assumed to be the lecture of the century.

"Has all that time in the North made you thick or have you finally given in to your own ego and grown arrogant?!" Margaery yelled at Cregan who constantly kept his calm.
"I'm sorry but shockingly I thought that breaking his arm would perhaps discourage him from attacking me." Cregan said calmly, a contrast to who he was talking to.
"She's right Cregan, it wasn't smart for you to be so careless." Garlan said, siding with his sister on the argument not quite suprisingly.
"Once again Garlan, I broke his arm. Not really the greatest incentive to keep fighting now is it." Cregan continued to try and explain his actions, his tone and expression constant.
"It doesn't matter! You let your guard down and you of all people should know better than to ever grow too confident." Margaery shut down Cregan.

Rodrick watched the scene from the entrance in silence as all three of them didn't seem to notice that someone entered the room. He hated to admit it but Rodrick actually found some glee in seeing Cregan being lectured the way he was, not for any ill reason, he didn't have any resentment towards the Stark but sometimes his way of acting so high and mighty ticked Rodrick the wrong way but unlike most people who had quite the bark Cregan packed enough bite to actually back up that awkward silence of his.

Another thing Rodrick noticed other than the obvious argument currently going on was Cregan's direwolf, Sif. He was laying down on the floor in what Rodrick assumed was a blistful slumber. How anyone could sleep in this kind of enviroment was beyond him but something told Rodrick that Sif wasn't the one to skip out on some sleep, no matter the situation.

'Oh... right, those three are still doing their thing...' Rodrick thought to himself as he looked back to Cregan, Margaery and Garlan. It was bad manners for someone to interrupt a conversation but from what he could see both Cregan and Garlan were praying for nothing but that.

"Um... ahem?" Rodrick awkwardly coughed to stop the current argument.

As soon as he did that all three of them turned their heads towards the sound. Margaery with the expression of suprise, Garlan with the expression of confusion and Cregan with the expression of... Cregan. Unintentionally, Rodrick made the whole situation just more awkward and uncomfortable as Margaery and Garlan were caught in a state of shock as they presumably were trying to think up of an excuse as to why they were acting to the prince's future Brother-in-Law.

"Your Grace, um... w-we were jus-" Ser Garlan tried coming up with an excuse on the go but was interrupted by Rodrick.

"Please Ser, spare me the details of what just happened. You would not believe the headache I am having right now. As much as I would love to see where this convesation could lead I will have to beg you two to leave me and Ser Cregan alone for now as I have something I want to discuss with him." Rodrick explained to the two in a tired tone. His words making Cregan raise his brow in curiosity.

At first, Margaery seemed to be hesitant to leave but it seemed that Rodrick's assumptions of her being able to read a situation was correct. "Of course Prince Rodrick, we apologise of the intrusion." Margaery said as she bowed, nodding at her brother to do the same. As soon as she said that both Margaery and Garlan walked out the room without saying another word.

Now the two were alone, both in silence as the only sounds that could be heard were the clashing of waves upon the rocks of the shore. Out of all the things Rodrick could have said at that moment, none of them were coming out of his mouth, absolutely nothing. Cregan didn't help that situation as he just layed in his bed watching Rodrick, using that soul piercing gaze that Rodrick still wasn't used to. Yet despite him not being able to say something, he was still able to think, and at that moment there was just one particular thought in his mind...

'I immediatelly regret this decision...'

Note:

After about 8 months of waiting I AM BACK BABY! Only to probably dissapear for another 8 months... yyyeaaaah.

So as an explanation for what has forced me to dissapear and stop updating stories for a long ass time I would like to tell you all that after the Winter holidays my computer broke down. I wrote this entire chapter on a friends computer that he let me borrow for the time being due to me needing it for work. I do have a laptop but that I use solely for work and I don't like to tamper with it if it's not necessary.

And there you have it. I made this chapter just so you can all have some information and for the fact that I would like to say NO. None of my stories are dead and I will continue writing them... I've just kind of hit a major pay wall (literally). So until I manage to get a new computer and continue writing both of my stories I would like to make a shameless advertisement to one of my friends who just started writing his own story and who is the one that let me borrow his computer to write this chapter.

His username is KnightOfSaints and if it's not too much to ask I would like for anyone who still cares enough to read these notes to go over to him and read his story and make up their own conclusions if they like it or not because I think he would like the support.

Well that's about it. As always I hope you guys enjoyed reading, please leave your reviews if you want to give your opinion, thank you to all the people that followed and favorited this story and I will see you all next time.