Bran
When Bran awoke, his legs still felt sore, even though they hadn't even begun riding for the day. Eight days past they had crossed the Red Fork near the Inn of the Kneeling Man, where his ancestor, King Torrhen had bent the knee to King Aegon the Conqueror. After riding for eight days along the Riverroad, and now they were close to the Ruby Ford, where they would cross in two days, and then the next day they would stay in Lord Harroway's town, before continuing south along the Kingsroad. But they wouldn't be going anywhere until the day of their crossing since the King wanted to hunt and they were going to wait for the two councillors coming from King's Landing.
Bran managed to get out of his bed, and began to put on his riding clothes. Arya had already awoken and was out of her bed and was already dressed, while Sansa still slept in her bed. Father had assured them that when they made it to King's Landing they would be allowed their own separate chambers, but for the nonce when they stayed at small inns they had to sleep in the same room together.
"Hurry up Bran," Arya chided him while he was dressing himself.
King Robert had slain Prince Rhaegar at the Ruby Ford, Bran knew, and he and Arya had been told that sometimes you could still find some of the rubies from his armor and so they had both decided to look for them before it was time to cross.
The sun had just begun to rise, and when Bran was done dressing himself, they opened the door to their room in the Inn they were staying at, and left.
Nobody tried to stop them on their way out, and they quickly found Summer and Nymeria, while they also got their horses from the stables. Bran quickly mounted Dancer, while Arya mounted her own horse, and afterwards they rode out from the little camp that had emerged around the inn they were staying at.
While Summer and Nymeria oft scared other horses, Bran and Arya's horses had spent enough time around them that they didn't get scared around the wolves.
When they got to the clearing where they had been told the Battle of the Trident was fought, they dismounted. Bran couldn't help but take in the scenery. He was further south than he had ever been in his life, and as they had journey south, Bran had gotten to see so new plants and trees that he had never seen before.
The two of them wandered the battle field a little, and went further down to the Riverbank to look for rubies, but shortly afterwards they gave up. When they were done, they drew the wooden broom handles they had stolen much earlier in their journey and began to practice with each other.
They swatted back and forth at each other in their great 'battle' as Jon and Robb or Aegon and Daemon were want to do sometimes. They practiced for what felt like the whole day, though Bran knew it could not have been more than a few hours, and when they were done, Bran could feel that he had picked up at least a few new bruises to add to the collection that he already had. He only could hope that he had given Arya a few as well in return.
When they had finished, Bran saw a figure must have been watching them for a while. As he looked at the person more he quickly realized it was their father, who looked upon them with a smile, though Bran could also see a bit of sadness in his eyes.
"Father!" Arya exclaimed a little surprised and with a tinge of panic in her voice Bran noted. The last thing they needed was to have been spotted, for father was like to take away their swords and forbid them from riding out again.
"You are not in trouble." Their father replied, clearly having noticed the panic in Arya's voice and Bran's look of quiet submission.
"We're not?" Arya said.
Father chuckled a little before responding. "No, of course not, you are still welcome to practice swords with each other. It is past time that I make suitable arrangements for you to be trained at arms anyways."
Bran did not fail to note that for most of that his father had been looking at him.
"Really?" Bran asked a little suspicious.
His father nodded. "Now, come and follow me." He said gesturing.
Both Bran and Arya did as they were bid, yet to their surprise, he did not lead them back to the Inn, but instead began to show them around the clearing a little more. He pointed out spots where he had fought, and recounted his memory of the battle. He even pointed them to where he had seen the King slay Prince Rhaegar, where he had smashed his great warhammer so hard into Prince Rhaegar's chest that rubies had flown everywhere, and afterwards how the Prince's forces broke afterwards, with those closest to Rhaegar trying to catch rubies, while the rest fell quickly or surrendered after seeing the battle was hopeless. Bran took it all in with awe, and promised himself that he would one day perform great feats like King Robert had.
It was not yet even midday, when their father had finished recounting his tale, and telling them of what had happened. Afterwards, their father lead them back to the mouth of the clearing near where their horses were. Their father mounted his horse, and told them to not remain too long, but said they could continue their battle they had been fighting before.
Again they practiced with the wooden swords, but shortly afterwards both of them felt tired, and hungry and so they decided to return to the inn. It was a quick ride back to the inn, and they found themselves just in time for lunch. Despite being dirty from riding, and their practicing earlier, they ate next to Prince Tommen and some of the others.
They ate fresh trout that had been caught from the river, and even were able to drink some wine.
When he finished eating, Bran found Summer and Dancer, and set off again, this time on his own.
Rather than going to the battle field, he explored some of the caves near the Riverbank, climbed some of the tall trees that he saw, and at one point he and Summer even tracked a shadow cat all the way back to it's lair, and later, Summer went off, and shortly afterwards returned his mouth red with blood, and bid him follow. Summer lead him to a dear that he found and killed.
Bran hadn't been sure what to do at that, but he queerly felt a taste of blood in his own mouth that made him feel hungry. He tried to drag the doe back to the inn, but found it was too heavy. Ultimately, he was able to drag the it back to the path that he had been on with some help from Summer as well. Luckily, Summer had only taken a bite out of the animal's neck, and hadn't begun to devour it, so they didn't ruin any meat by dragging it.
Shortly after making it to path, one of the men at arms, Harwin, came upon him.
"Did you do some hunting yourself Bran?" he asked.
"Summer did." Bran told him.
"Well, then we had best get it back to the Inn. The sun should be setting soon, and the King hasn't returned from his hunt, so perhaps he'll be pleased to find out at least someone killed something."
Harwin bid Bran hold the dear a certain way, then took out a knife and cut the deer's stomach open, before he began to take out some of it's guts. Bran had never seen a deer be dressed before, and looked on with morbid fascination, while Summer happily ate some of the parts that Harwin cut out.
When Harwin was done, the two together slung the dear over his horse, and tied it on with some rope, before returning back to the Inn, though Summer did not follow, content to finish eating what he wanted.
It was almost time for dinner by the time they made it back, and some seemed a little shocked to see that they had brought a deer back with them. The King had yet to return from his hunt he heard, so the doe made a decent consolation . Only Arya seemed particularly displeased as all Nymeria had caught was a rabbit.
Dinner came and went before the King had returned from his hunt. Bran learned that Prince Joffrey and Sansa had adventured out as well, though they had gone without Lady, who Bran had seen earlier still at the Inn when he returned for lunch.
Bran quickly ate his dinner before he left the table.
When he went outside, he saw that Summer had finally returned, but the king had not.
Bran looked up to the top of the Inn. It was higher than most the tree around here, and perhaps he would be able to see where the king was he decided. And so Bran began to climb.
When he finally reached the top, he looked around. The view around him was not quite as good as what he had expected. Standing atop the Inn, he couldn't see too far out. His father had gone out to join the King later in the day, but he didn't know which was his father had gone, nor where the King went, and so he tried to scan in all directions. When he looked at the road to the east, he could see some riders were coming towards the inn and weren't far from either. One even looked like the king and they flew the King's standard. Yet, he could only see one man wearing a white cloak and not the two that he did not doubt went with the King, and the rest didn't look like anyone Bran knew. His father wasn't among them.
He climbed down though to see meet them when they arrived. Hardly long after he had made it back to the ground, the riders came entered the yard around the Inn. Bran saw there weren't many around, and most those around weren't highborn like him, so he would need to greet them properly. Summer was at his side as well, which meant they would no doubt know who he was.
The first man was almost as tall as the King, with the same black as coal hair, and blue eyes, though he was hardly what could be called fat, and wore fine clothes that he had never seen the king dress in before.
When the white knight removed his helmet, Bran could see he had a head and beard of blond hair with blue eyes, and some pockmarks marred his face. Even ahorse he did not seem even close to as tall as the man next to him.
The third man wore iron-grey chainmail over boiled leather with a large greatsword worn over his right shoulder. His face was also pockmarked, but he was a thin man, with sunken eyes so pale they had no true color. He scared Bran more than the other two quite easily.
Bran stood there for a moment before he remembered his courtesy. "My lords." He greeted at first before he remembered that the man in the Kingsguard armor was a knight and not a lord, "Ser," he blurted out as well.
"And who might be you lad?" the white knight asked with a tinge of arrogance in his voice, as though he didn't realize who he was speaking to.
He opened his mouth to begin to speak, but the man who looked like the King spoke up first. "I think you ought to be able to guess Ser Richard. Perhaps you might notice the direwolf next to him." He said before turning to Bran. "You must be one of Lord Eddard Stark's sons, are you not?"
"Yes... My lord. I'm Bran, Lord Eddard's second son." Bran stammered out.
"Well met my lord. And could you perhaps identify me?"
Bran thought for a moment. He realized who the man next to him was when his name was said, so he first looked at the White Knight. "You must be Ser Preston Greenfield, of the Kingsguard." He stated, to which he got a nod from him.
"And me?" The man in the middle asked.
Bran considered him for a moment. He looked so much like the King that Bran had at first thought he was the King from a distance, yet now he realized who he was speaking to. "You look so much like the King, that I mistook you for him from a distance, and you wear his sigil, yet you are not the King that much I can plainly see. I think you are Renly Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End and Master of Laws."
The man smiled and gave him a little clap. "Well done, that is indeed who I am."
Bran turned to the third man, the one who scared him. A man can only brave when he is scared, Bran thought to himself, and one day he would deal with far worse, so he forced himself to look at him. "And who might be you?"
The man only stared in response, which unsettled Bran.
Lord Renly laughed a little at that. "Payne has not been one to talk for some time. He's Ser Illyn Payne, the King's Justice, who the Mad King had his tongue ripped out with Hot Pincers."
Bran looked at the man more closely. Bran thought he seemed fitting to be a King's Justice, though he also thought about what his father had taught him, and that a man ought not to hide behind an executioner.
He looked back to the other two men.
"Tell me, do you know where I might be able to find my brother at this time?" Lord Renly asked.
"His grace is still out hunting," Bran told him.
Lord Renly exchanged a look with Ser Preston. "Well, we had best be off to settle ourselves until my brother returns."
And so they left. The rest of their party began to file into the yard, but most paid him no heed.
Bran didn't know what to do, so he began to wander around the camp that had been made around the inn in thought. He remembered how Jeyne had told him to be good while they were apart when they said goodbye, yet Bran far too often found himself climbing simply because he had nothing to do.
Yet as he wandered, he turned around a corner only to find himself before Prince Joffrey.
"My prince." Bran said nervously.
Summer growled a little at the Prince.
"Is that you treat your prince?" The older boy asked. He was quite tall, Bran knew, taller than even Robb and Jon, which made him a little scary. "You tell your dog to growl at me?"
"I never... Summer didn't." Bran replied.
"Spare me. I've seen you go off with your silly sister to go practice with swords. Only a fool should entertain such notions. Perhaps I ought to have you replace Moon Boy when I'm King as my fool." Said Prince Joffrey.
Summer growled a little more at that.
"Mayhaps I ought to send the Hound to kill your wolf, I doubt that you would even notice he were gone, you have so many, and I should find myself able to sleep again at night." He chuckled a little. "Send a dog to kill a dog. Maybe I will."
"No!" Bran shouted. He wouldn't let him hurt Summer. His wolf was baring his teeth at the Prince now.
The stood there for a moment, with Joffrey holding his hand upon his sword, while Summer remained growling at the Prince before they heard trumpeting near the edge of the camp. The King had returned, they knew at once.
While the prince was not looking, Bran took the opportunity to run.
Luckily, Summer followed close after him. Bran ran in the opposite direction of the trumpets for a little, before he turned around to go around Prince Joffrey.
Eventually, he came to find the location where the trumpets had been blown, and he could see the King and his hunting party had returned. Among them was his father as well.
His father spotted him, and while Bran didn't want to he ran toward his father, and gave him a hug. His father embraced him as well, though before there was a look of surprise on his face.
"What is it Bran?" His father asked him.
Bran didn't want to say it though, not now, with the King so close.
His father must have taken his silence for meaning Bran didn't want to speak of it there as well, because after a few moments of waiting he said, "come, we'll speak of it elsewhere."
He then began to take Bran into the woods a little. Eventually, the came upon a stump, that his father sat on, and Bran sat on his lap.
"Tell me Bran, what happened while I was away?"
Bran was still a little nervous, but he spoke anyways. He told his father of how the Prince had mocked him and threatened to name him the royal fool and kill Summer, all of which his father listened to.
When Bran finished, his father sat a little silent for a moment considering what Bran said, before he spoke to him.
"Robert told me he worried about Joffrey as well, in the Barrowlands. Perhaps I ought to have not agreed to betroth Sansa to him, but I do not know, he seems to treat her well enough. For now, I want you to stay away from him as much as you can. His grace told me there is to be a tourney shortly after we make it to the capital. Before we arrive, or during the tourney I will look to arrange for you to squire with some great knight or lord." His father told him.
He nodded. If he were to be a knight of the Kingsguard one day, he out to squire for someone he knew, and he had wanted to go on an adventure.
"Okay." He told Lord Eddard.
His father gave him a little smile. "Now, we ought to return before they send men out looking for us."
And so they both rose, and began to head back towards the inn, with the sun setting behind them in the distance.
Author Notes:
And here we have one of those chapters that was pretty rough to map out, but easy to write. And when I say that it was hard to map out, I mean stupidly hard, and when I say it was easy, I mean ridiculously so. Hopefully the next chapter doesn't take this long, but who knows.
We don't have a fully accurate geographical location of Raventree (it doesn't appear on any of the official maps that can be found in the original books), however most maps have it North of the Red Fork, and I went with that as it's geographical location, though I did see one that had it south of the Red Fork. However, I also have Lord Harroway's town being across the Trident after one crosses at the Ruby Ford, and not North of the Red Fork.
A note on timelines: I am playing fast and loose at the moment, mostly because I still have the original structure and sequence of events in AGOT to follow. At some point, I will likely begin to have a full timeline with every event mapped out, however at the moment, things are still fast and loose.
Thank you for reading this far, it means a lot.
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