Chapter 24: Death in the family
The meele had passed and Cregan has been declared the winner although he accepted no prize much to everyone's suprise. The meele had finished and Cregan was returning to his tent to finally get some rest. In the tent he took of his armor and left his blades near his bed. As Cregan took a water skin to drink from he heard someone opening the drapes of his tent, it was Lady Brienne, who was still recovering from the battle. "Lady Brienne, to what do I owe this unexpected visit", Cregan filled his cup with water as he sat down on a chair.
"I wanted to come and congratulate you on your victory Ser"
"Thank you my lady, although I doupt that is the only reason for your visit"
Cregan's words made Brienne stop for a second, caught off guard by how quick she was figured out.
"It seems you have found me out Ser"
"Very well, would you then humor me and tell me why your here"
"I wanted to find out why you joined King Renly's Rainbow Guard"
"Why did you join King Renly?"
"Excuse me?"
"You joined because of the love you have for Renly"
Brienne was dead silent now, her face showing signs of nervousness
"Am I wrong?"
"Y- yes"
"I joined Renly's cause because of the love I have for Margaery"
"The queen?"
"Aye, the queen"
"But Margaery is married to Renly"
"And Renly is married to Margaery yet you still joined his cause"
The two exchanged glances before Cregan got up from his chair and approached Brienne. "Lady Brienne I mean Renly no harm, I am charged with protecting him and that is what I will do, you may have no fear in that", Brienne let out a small smile, "It seems I have underestimated you good Ser". Cregan reached his hand out as the two knights exchanged a handshake, "I look forward to figthing alongside you Lady Brienne", the smallest hint of a smile could be found on Cregan's face as the two stopped shaking hands "As do I Ser Cregan". With that Brienne left the tent, satisfied with the answer she got.
The following day went as normaly as it could, Cregan had spent the day guarding Renly and Margaery, following them throughout the camp and participating in the meele which had become a daily routine. It had been a normal day but then evening came and a suprise visitor came into the camp.
The sun was finally setting and Renly was in his tent accompanied by Margaery, Loras and Cregan. "Your grace, if I may ask, why was I called here" Cregan turned to Renly, who was sitting at his desk and eating a fresh peach. "We have a certain visitor coming and I thought you would want to hear this out" Cregan raised an eyebrow at Renly's statement before turning to both Loras and Margaery who were as clueless as he is. After a few more moments of silence the guest had finally arrived to reveal it was Peter Baelish.
"Your grace" Littlefinger said in his usual sly and deceitfull voice before noticing Cregan and emediately stiffing up. Cregan's eyes were pinned on Baelish the second he entered the tent, using every single of ounce of his restraint not to strangle the man. "Ser Cregan! I did not-" Baelish tried to calm Cregan but to no avail, "Spare me your lies Baelish" Cregan told the man, almost growling at him in a sense. "Well, now that we have our pleasantries out of the way, would you care to tell us why you are here Baelish" Renly's tone was mocking towards the master of coin who then started to retort."Well your grace, I actually wanted to meet with Ser Cregan, but I did not expect him do get here before me"
"What do you want Baelish?"
"To pay my respects Cregan"
With that Petyr Baelish snapped his fingers for two servants to bring a chest. "What's this?" Cregan raised an eyebrow in suspicion while walking slowly towards the chest. "I think it's best for you to see for yourself Cregan", Petyr's face was serious which made Cregan even more worried.
Cregan slowly opened the chest to see a pile of bones inside. "What... what is this..." despite his face showing no emotions, his tone was cracking, something everyone noticed. "Cregan... these are your fathers bones... I'm... I'm sorry" Petyr's words seemed to be sincere but everyone knew better. The tent was silent before Cregan stood up and spoke, "I'm sorry your grace... you will have to excuse me", "Of course Cregan, your excused".
As Cregan made his way to the tent he could feel tears wellip up in his eyes but refused to cry, he refused to let it get to him. Many of the men gave their condolences to Cregan, often bowing their heads whenever he would pass them. Cregan finally got to his tent and sat on his bed. "This can't be happening-This can't be happening-This can't be happening..." Cregan continued to mutter to himself, finally cracking. He just couldn't keep his mask on anymore, no matter how hard he tried. Tears started to stream down his cheeks as he continued to ramble like a madman...
'Cregan...'
'No, it's not happening'
'Cregan...'
'Shut up! It's your fault! He's dead because of you!'
'Cregan calm down...'
'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...'
'Cregan!'
'This can't be happening... It's not happening'
'CREGAN!'
The yell semingly snapped Cregan's sanity back into him, his tears stopping and his face instantly becoming emotionless again.
'This is only the beggining Cregan, more will die, you must know that if our plan is going to succeed'
'You... you knew?'
'No, I didn't'
'Then how do you know more will die?'
'I've seen the coming winter Cregan, I've seen what it does, I've seen what it will bring'
'What?'
'Winter is coming Cregan, and the dead come with it'