Chapter Five: Wolves in the Woods

For the next two to three weeks, Duncan Westford, appointed leader by majority vote, and his small band of well-meaning men traveled throughout the Riverlands and near the border to the Crownlands in search of honorable work that sellswords were able to do. Such work was solely with the peasantry, of the men and women who filled the countryside of those regions of Westeros, and Duncan refused to enlist his band with any potential jobs from the nobility or those connected with the Houses of the seven kingdoms, both minor and large. He believed that involving himself and his comrades with the houses could and would lead to dangerous events that would be out of their control. That, and Duncan still remembered what his Uncle Mors had told him to do. If the Westford boy involved himself with the nobility, that may draw the attention of the "Spider" or maybe even Tywin Lannister's eyes onto the young man. If what Hof said about his Uncle was true, then Duncan needed to keep the Westford name quiet so it would not draw the lions to him.

As such, Duncan and his band did jobs that the peasantry, and only the peasantry, gave them. The young man would be lying if he didn't find some of the jobs he took to be rather annoying as the peasants that gave him the task could have done it themselves. One such task had him and his men lead a herd of cattle to a nearby village, not even an hour away, to sell them and then come back to return the money. He sold those cattle for over three hundred Stags, but only got fifty as payment for the job after returning them. What kind of sense was that? Another task similar to that involved him and his men helping out the local lumberjack with carrying a group of cut down trees to their local sawmill for twenty Stags, which they did as it was an honorable thing to do. Really, the only reason why Duncan and his men did such annoying tasks was due to the Westford boy's sense of honor. "Death over Dishonor" was House Westford's motto, and Duncan lived by that motto as best as he could. If it meant cleaning the latrines of a village, then no matter his complaints he would do it.

Eventually Hof, who was essentially the second-in-command in the band as Duncan looked to him for advice, told Duncan that they needed to get more numbers if they were to do some of the more dangerous jobs; especially those that are combat based. As such, Hof suggested they start hiring out of work laborers, unhappy farmhands, and other men willing to join their band of sellswords. But they had no way to pay such men a proper wage, which caused Duncan a great amount of discomfort at such an idea. Hof agreed so the two spent nearly one of those weeks figuring out some kind of system to pay the men of the band, both old and new, some kind of wage while keeping a budget for the band's general expenses such as food, clothing, weapons, etc.

They did figure out a system near the week's end. The band would pay all of the men, including Duncan, exactly three Stags per week; which was apparently more than what a person in King's Landing or in one of the unnamed unknown villages earned in one and a half weeks. The men could loot any corpses of men they had killed, only after the battle they found themselves in. Hof warned Duncan, however, that the more men they picked up, the wage would increase in both salary and how much needed to be paid. But for now, they went with this system as it was simple enough for the simple band.

As such, Duncan's band grew to twelve men by the end of the period of two to three weeks. That meant seven men, twelve if you counted Duncan, Hof, and the three volunteers, were willing to work hard for their generous wage after their recruitment to the band. Which leads to the present day on the band's trek through a dangerous stretch of a forest.

A day ago, when the band arrived at a small village, more like a hamlet for twenty people, by the beginning of the night; Duncan accepted a rather interesting job from the elder of that village. Recently, one of their village maidens was kidnapped by a group of villagers from a nearby hamlet to wed her to one of their men. According to one of the villagers, the wedding day would be by next day's evening. They would have gone to save her, but the forest was the home to a dangerous pack of wolves that were willing to hunt and kill any human that walked in the forest. So the elder asked if the Westford boy and his men could save the girl and bring her back to the village; the only place in all of Westeros where she rightfully belonged. Duncan was a bit put off by how possesive the elder was acting towards the girl, but figured that seeing she had been kidnapped; it would be the honorable thing to go save her and bring her back to her home. Not to mention the elder promised to pay a jaw dropping amount of two hundred silver Stags for the job, the most money the band had ever been offered as of the current day.

With honor and Stags on the line, Duncan and his men accepted the job and swiftly left the following morning to save the young maiden from her unwanted marriage.

The sounds of heavy stomping on hard ground and of weapons swinging back and forth was in the air as a single file column of armed men marched down a small dirt trail through a Riverlands forest. Well it was near the famous "Crossroads Inn", where many major roads met with the Kingsroad, so it wasn't really part of the Riverlands all that much. If anything, they were on the side that was closest to the Riverlands.

Still, Duncan and his band of men were marching towards their intended destination as best as they could. Duncan wished for them to run through the forest and to the hamlet, but the threat of wolves, accidental injury, and Hof's advice forced the group to steadily march instead of what Duncan wished to do. Despite this setback, they would be able to reach the hamlet by the beginning of the evening sun; which would be near the start of the wedding they had to prevent. That meant that all of the kidnappers and the maiden would be in one place at the same time. That meant the young man and his men could swiftly take care of the threat and save the girl with ease.

As they marched, Duncan listened in on what his men were talking about as Hof silently walked behind; always second while the Westford boy was always first. The three original volunteers were talking about what may be going on at their home village now that they were gone, of how they were going to live without the bandits and if they could rebuild into a better life than the ones they had been subjected to. Duncan found that a bit touching and slightly confusing that they still loved the village that had so coldly and cruelly exiled them for standing up against those of evil intent. They still considered such a place a home even with the dishonor it had, which Duncan hated. It was a strange hypocritical situation, it was...

Another group of four of the men they had hired was talking about many different topics. They spoke of their new lives, of the families they have or had, of jokes they heard, of people they had become friends with, and the strangest of all for the young man; of the whores they have slept with. Duncan knew what a whore was thanks to his Uncle Mors. He knew they were women, and sometimes men, who sold their bodies to those craving sex and those indulging in their lust. The Faith hated the idea and practice of prostitution, but they did nothing to stop it. Seven hells, if his Uncle was speaking the truth, some holy men even indulge themselves in the practice; some going as far as to mock the Seven while doing so with twisted games! Such a dishonor upon the Gods! It was a strange concept to the Westford boy, even though he knew it had its place in society as almost everyone visited some kind of brothel once in their life. He has never had sex with anyone in his life, and he didn't really understand why people would just have sex for money. Wasn't sex designed for procreation between lovers? How did most of the whores not get pregnant from all of the sex they performed? Did they eat or drink some kind of strange concoction to stop from getting pregnant? Duncan could only wonder…

As for the remaining three men, two were whispering amongst themselves while the last man just silently marched at the very back of the column. Those three rubbed Duncan the wrong way if he were to be honest. He had the sense that they were dirty for different reasons unlike the others. Instead of actual soil and toil, those three were covered in a different kind of dirt that couldn't be seen. But, much to Duncan's displeasure, Hof hired them as they needed men who were willing to join the band. So they were here to stay until they left the band; either through death, desertion, leaving after service, or some other form of disbandment from Duncan's band of men.

"It's up ahead, Duncan. Let's get into battle positions, shall we?" Hof suddenly said, grabbing Duncan by the shoulder to stop him before he walked into the hamlet's sight. Hof had been a real valuable person, and friend, these past few weeks to Duncan. Without him, the Westford boy would not have been able to gather such numbers, create a wage system, and probably not even make or join a band of men! The Westerlander had earned his place in the band, and at the young man's side as his friend.

"Alright. Everyone! Form up in the bushes and wait for my call. Stoin: ready your bow as you will be supporting us. Let's move!" Duncan ordered, pulling out his Valyrian Steel sword and getting his Sarwyck shield into his hand to get ready for battle. One of the men, Stoin, unshouldered a hunting bow and knocked an arrow. It had been pure luck that Hof was able to find someone who knows how to use a bow good enough to kill a bird in mid-flight. The man himself was a stoic person with ginger hair and green eyes, fiercely loyal to the Riverlands and House Bracken as they were the liege lords he had been born under. Hopefully, Duncan will find much use in the stoic archer of his band.

It didn't take long for the twelve men to form up in the treeline, crouching in thick bushes as they examined the hamlet before them. It was certainly a small place, like the other villages that had given them their task. In the center of the village was the wedding that was just about to start as seven men dressed in finery and a septon stood waiting for the bride, Duncan and his band's target. The men didn't seem to be armed from what they could see, nor did the septon have anything that could be used as a weapon. If anything, the metal candlesticks that outlined the borders of the marriage ceremony could be used as makeshift weapons. They wouldn't kill any of his men as long as they didn't mess up too badly in combat.

"Let's wait until the bride had arrived, then we attack." Duncan said, looking at Hof to see if that was a solid plan. The Westerlander nodded in silent agreement, pulling out one of his daggers from his belt as he turned his attention back to the wedding party ahead. Stoin aimed his bow at the groom of the wedding, a rather young man nervously standing next to the septon. He narrowed his eyes as he waited for the next set of orders as he kept his target in view of his sight and his arrows.

The band of men waited for a good twenty minutes for the bride to appear, to which their patience was rewarded when their target emerged from a nearby hut. There was another woman beside her, one that was clearly a child barely beyond ten and three moons of age, and it seemed she was leading the bride down the aisle and to the groom. Was she another kidnapping victim? She was so young… Why would they do such a thing?! Duncan felt sharp anger blossom in his chest as his mind began to think dark things about what the kidnappers may have done to the young girl. He was going to enjoy cutting down those who resisted for the dishonor they may have done to these women…

"When Stoin fires his arrow, I want everyone to charge and overrun the enemy. Take down any who tries to resist and grab the girl. She needs to be alive and safe, not dead. We will fail if she dies or gets very wounded." The Westford boy nodded at Stoin for him to fire his arrow when he was ready. The stoic man hummed as he drew his arrow back a bit further, standing up as he did so, and shot. The arrow flew through the air, straight and true like a hawk in the sky, and slammed into the groom's back right as he placed his cloak over the bride's shoulders.

The groom fell like a sack of logs, slamming into the ground lifeless to the world as the arrow pierced through his heart. Once the corpse had hit the ground, Duncan and his men let out yells and screams of battle as they rushed from their hiding spots and towards their enemies. It was chaos on the enemy side as men either ran away, stood there in shock, or swiftly grabbed one of the metal candlesticks and counter-charged. The septon was one of the few who ran away, his robes flapping comically in the wind as he fled. The bride and the girl also ran away, the bride running into a nearby house while the girl ran towards what appeared to be some kind of blacksmith's hovel. That was good in Duncan's mind as they wouldn't be in any danger from the short battle ahead.

Only three enemies fought back, one of which Duncan took care of while Hof and one of the other men took care of the others. Duncan's opponent tried to swing the candlestick at the young man's head, only to have his attack be blocked by Duncan's shield. The Westford boy answered this attack by ramming his sword into the man's chest, killing him right where he stood before the young man wrenched his sword out and pushed the corpse onto the ground with his shield. Hof took care of his opponent with a simple toss of his dagger, the man dropped to the ground before he even reached the Westerlander. The final enemy and Duncan's man fought for a bit, but Duncan's man won out in the end by taking his hatchet to his opponent's throat.

While Duncan's men took care of the men who didn't resist but remained, the young man began to head towards the house where the kidnapped girl had gone into. As he did so, he noticed that silent vagabond from earlier heading towards the blacksmith's hovel. He must be going after that young girl, who may be another victim of these kidnappers if Duncan's new hunch was correct. He would have to congratulate that man later. Maybe that feeling Duncan had towards those three men wasn't worthy of though after all!

As he neared the house's door, he sheathed his sword back into its scabbard and shouldered his shield to show that he wasn't going to show any harm to the young woman. He slowly opened the door, saying in the best soothing voice as he could "It's okay… I'm here to save you! You can come out. I'm not going to hurt you…" He slowly walked into the house, the door gently closing behind him due to its hinges and the wind.

As he cleared the entrance, he looked around to find where the bride had gone to. Suddenly, hiding in a small corner behind him, the bride jumped onto the Westford boy's back with a scream. Using her nails, she tried to claw the young man's face apart in a heated rage as Duncan let out a yelp as he used his hands to cover his face and block the clawing. The young man snarled as he felt the skin on the back of his hands be ripped open as he blocked the woman's assault. Using one hand, Duncan smacked the young woman off of his back.

The woman tumbled over a dining table with a sharp yelp; spilling food, drink, and utensils everywhere as she landed on the opposite side of the table with a bruise on her side from Duncan's attack. As she stood back up, knife in hand, Duncan was crying out as he examined his bloodied hands. "What in the Seven Hells is wrong with you?! I'm here to save you, not harm you!"

"Die you murderer!" The woman answered as she charged towards the Westford boy, stabbing her knife at the young man's throat. The young man stumbled back as he caught the woman's wrist, trying his hardest to disarm her before the knife hit its target. She fought with the strength of five men in one body, and had the passion of a raging dragon as she screamed once more for Duncan to die. Eventually the combination of the woman's weight and Duncan's stumbling forced both of them to fall onto the floor, the woman landing on top of Duncan.

Duncan snarled as he lifted his arms up and used his vambraces to defend himself against the woman's attempts to ram her knife into the young man's throat. Eventually, Duncan had enough and smacked the knife out of the woman's hand after one of her failed stabs. He then used his other hand to smack her across the face which threw her off of him. The young woman's head met the dining table's edge, knocking her out into cold darkness.

The Westford boy panted and shook as he sat himself up with his elbows, looking at the bride completely confused and surprised at what had just transpired. Why did she fight him?! He was here to save her, not harm her! Why on earth did she fight back so fiercely against someone that was trying to save her?

Whatever the case was, Stoin entered the house Duncan was in with his hatchet out; ready to fight in need be. The stoic archer saw Duncan, breathing heavily with his hands bloody, and swiftly went to the young man's side; stowing his hatchet away as he did so.

"What happened?" Stoin asked Duncan, kneeling down beside the boy as he took out a skin of water to clean the blood from the young man's hands.

"I… I don't know?! She just attacked me like her life depended on it. I said I was here to save her, but she just told me to die while trying to stab and claw me to death!" The young man hissed as he felt his wounds sting as cold water washed through him to get rid of the blood they spilled. He was going to have to have help to take care of them later, but for now they had a task at hand. "Stoin. Find some rope and bound her hands. I don't want her attacking us while we're returning to her village."

Stoin silently nodded at the command, putting his water skin away as he stood up and began to search the house for the item. He eventually found it in the bedroom of the hut, which he swiftly tied the bride's hands together and lifted her over his shoulder. Duncan admired the archer's sense of diligence and obedience. He followed orders and did them effectively and immediately, something that the young man's Uncle Mors was like in some ways.

The two, Stoin picking up and hoisting the bound girl over his shoulder, left the hut, Duncan leading as he held his wounded hands out front while Stoin followed behind him. They came to the scene of Hof cleaning his dagger, and the men looting the dead and the unconscious that made up their enemies. Duncan had no qualms with the looting. Their enemies won't have any need for their possessions, so it made sense for his men to have a need for them.

"You're hurt!" Hof noticed the two and swiftly came to Duncan's side, grabbing his wrists to examine his wounds. "I had Stoin go in when I heard the screams, but I didn't expect you to be hurt or anything! Did she do this?"

"Yes. She did. I don't know why, but I'm going to need help mending them properly later." The young man growled out as Hof let go of the Westford boy's wrists.

"Stoin and I will help out. I'm sure we can clean your wounds easily with the supplies we have, and will get with all of the loot our men are gathering." Hof patted Duncan on the shoulder as he led the boy towards his men. As he did so, the young man noticed that out of everyone here; there were only a total of eleven. Where was the twelfth man?

Suddenly, the shrill screams from a woman pierced the air. Duncan felt the breath catch in his throat as he remembered the twelfth man having chased after the young girl at that blacksmith's hovel. He unsheathed his sword, ignoring the protest of pain that his hands gave, and swiftly began to run towards the location, followed by Hof and some of his men who had finished looting. The screaming sounded like they were outside, so all they needed to do was get to the hovel to find the man and the young girl. As they rounded the corner of the blacksmith's forge, Duncan felt a sharp sense of dread and rage slam into him from what he saw.

He saw the man, his twelfth member of his band, violently raping the young girl that he had chased after. The young girl's clothing was in tatters, had fresh bruises covering her body with a cut across her side, and her vagaina was covered in and dripping out blood and semen as the man continued to rape her. The man himself had unbuckled his pants and had tossed his sword, sheath and all, off to the side to give him room to have his way with the young girl as he thrusted his penis, drenched in blood and semen, into the girl nonstop. He had one of his hands holding her down by her neck, pushing her face into the dirt as she screamed in pure pain and anguish, while the other hand violently beat the young girl like she was some kind of training dummy.

"What the fuck?!" Duncan shouted out as his emotions became an even more violent whirlwind of disgust, anger, despair, surprise, and confusion. The shout snapped the man out of his trance, stopping mid-thrust to turn his head to see who was here. He gasped in surprise when he saw Duncan with Hof and some of the men behind the young boy, who had expressions of either rage or disgust on their face after witnessing the scene before them. The man pulled out and began to babble something, something that Duncan did not listen to as swung his Valyrian Steel sword at his head.

The man wasn't able to say a single word before the young man's sword sliced through his head, spilling blood like a butchered pig as he fell to the ground lifeless as the top half of his skull landed a little bit away from the rest of the body. The young girl, her screams lessening in volume, curled up into a ball on the ground and began to sob uncontrollably. Duncan breathed heavily as he looked at the scene before him, his mind desperately trying to stop the whirlwind of emotions inside him at the moment. After a few moments of trying to calm himself down, the Westford boy turned to look at his men and said "Get to the others. We're leaving. Now!"

The men scrambled away to obey the young man's orders, almost as if they were thankful for the chance to leave such a disgusting and evil situation committed by one of their own. Once they left, Duncan turned to look at the violated young girl near him. She had to be ten and three moons, and yet her young age didn't stop the man from raping her. Why did he do such a thing? Duncan was alright with looting as that made sense. Most items could be replaced easily and coins will always be there. But rape?! That had no value at all! It was some cheap fulfillment of sexual lust born of scars and trauma. Where was the value in that to the band?!

What was Duncan going to do now? He killed the offender, sure, but what will happen to the victim? She was forever dishonored, and she will carry that dishonor for the rest of her life. There was no way she would be able to overcome such dishonor at such an age or in the future, if Duncan's thoughts were correct. The only path for her to take now was death. Death over Dishonor…

As such, Duncan whispered out a small apology to the sobbing girl before stepping over to her and, without hesitation, stabbed his sword into the girl's skull.

When they left the village, they only numbered eleven minus their captive. Duncan's blade had fresh blood on it which he needed to clean. It almost seemed sated with the blood of enemies, and victims, that Duncan had given it…

Duncan leaned against the tree in the forest, bathed in moon and dusk as the faint light of campfires glowed behind him. They had left the village swiftly after the terrible incident at the order of Duncan, and were now camping in the middle of the wolves' forest. They were about halfway to their destination, halfway to the hamlet that desired the return of the woman that was a captive of Duncan's band. She had woken up a while ago and screamed curses and threats at the men while sobbing. She kept it up for over an hour before falling into a tense and fury-filled silence.

Duncan still didn't understand why she was so against them. They were here to save her! They had defeated her kidnappers and were now returning her back to her rightful home! So why was she so violently against going back?! The Westford boy didn't understand, but he knew he had to ask if his curiosity was to be sated. But he had to think. Think about many things that have happened lately.

He still hasn't properly grieved over his Uncle Mors. He hasn't even gone back to give him a proper burial, nor has he even cried like a baby over the man who raised him. Duncan didn't feel like that, he just felt sad. But not sad enough to cry. Just sad… Why didn't he grieve like most would? He wanted to show the Seven that he felt sadness for his Uncle, but the young man couldn't express it at all. All he could do was just feel his heart hurt and his chest squeeze whenever he thought about his Uncle. He wanted to cry… He really did…

Another thought was about how his nameday was coming up in the coming weeks. Once that day arrives Duncan would be ten and six. According to Westeros' law on age, that meant Duncan was truly a man in both law and culture. He could do anything he wished to do and be seen as an adult while he does it. Hof had tried to cheer the young man up a while ago, asking him about personal things like what his favorite food was or if he had ever drank wine before. When revealed that Duncan was still a virgin, Hof declared that when his nameday neared in the days; they would go to King's Landing to celebrate by having Duncan deflowered at one of the best brothels in town. It was some brothel on the Street of Silk, owned by a woman called Chataya. Apparently it was a brothel the King himself went to, and one that rivaled a man known as "Littlefinger'' own brothels! Stoin, of all people, said that he could have Chataya hook him up with a girl like Marei, who was said to be very pretty with porcelain-like skin and long white-gold hair.

Duncan refused such a thing. He would not dishonor his future wife, whoever she may be, by laying with a whore. And he will not be going to King's Landing as that was the lair of lions and spiders.

Duncan let out a sigh as he began to unbuckle his pants. He had enough of thinking and seeing how he was out here, he might as well release the urine that has been building up throughout the day. As he did so, he looked at his bandaged hands and cringed at how Hof and Stoin had helped him dress his wounds. They boiled some wine and poured it over the cuts before covering them with bandages, much to Duncan's displeasure due to how painful the boiling wine was. Why didn't they just use water? It was far less painful than pouring hot wine over wounds just to clean them.

The young man spent the next few moments relieving himself onto a bush, making sure not to get any urine on his bandages as they would have to put new ones on if that happened. As he did so, he heard faint rustling coming from somewhere nearby. It sounded like an animal of sorts, until he heard people yelling. He swiftly finished, buckling his pants back up, and gripped his sword's handle as he readied himself for an encounter as the noises and yelling got closer.

Suddenly, a small wolf cub ran-limped into the clearing and stopped when it saw the Westford boy standing there. It pitifully whined at the young man, one of its front paws limp, as he looked back at the sounds of yelling coming closer. Duncan looked at where the pup was looking before making a split-second decision. He swiftly ran over and grabbed the pup by the back of its scruff and picked it up. He then tossed the pup into the bush he had just pissed on, much to the pup displeasure from a yelp in response to the young man's action.

"Stay there and don't move!" Duncan hissed out at the pup as the yelling grew nearer; turning back to see two Lannister soldiers, with torches in their hands, come into the clearing. Duncan swallowed as the men looked at him, their faces covered by their helmets, and shone their torches at the Westford boy.

"You there! Have you seen a wolf pup? Dark on its back while light on its belly?" One of the Lannister soldiers essentially yelled at Duncan, pretty much demanding that the young man reveal the wolf pup he had just hid.

"No. I haven't, though I did hear this forest was a wolves' forest. Why do you ask?" Duncan heard the soldier sigh, shaking his head while his friend seemingly rolled his eyes.

"Lady Arya Stark of Winterfell's direwolf pup, supposedly named Nymeria, attempted to maim Prince Joffrey Baratheon just a few short hours ago. We have orders by the Queen to find the animal and bring it to her and King Robert the First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm." Duncan blinked in surprise at the information. He was hiding a direwolf pup, much less a direwolf pup that belonged to the Stark family? Better yet, the pup he was hiding had tried to maim Prince Joffrey?! What had he gotten himself into over a small animal?

"That is a very serious situation! However, I have not seen such an animal so I wish you good luck on your ventures." Duncan nodded at the Lannister soldiers, who nodded back before leaving the clearing. The yelling kicked up again and eventually went away, to which the direwolf Nymeria slowly limped out of her hiding place. She shook itself clean of the urine she had been thrown into before looking at Duncan, panting as she keenly watched the Westford boy. The young man kneeled down in front of the pup, sighing as he took Nymeria's limp paw in his hand and checked it. There was a rather nasty splinter stuck in her paw, but Duncan could easily pull it out as long as the direwolf didn't move.

"You are certainly one troubled animal, huh Nymeria?" Duncan asked as he began to pull out the splinter, which Nymeria cocked her head to the side as if she understood what the Westford boy had said. The direwolf began to whimper from the pain as the splinter was pulled out, but swiftly stopped once the item had been removed from her paw. As thanks, Nymeria licked Duncan's cheek which earned a laugh from the young man.

"Thanks… I needed that after today. Now get out of here! They're going to keep looking for you and I sadly can't afford to take you along with me. I want to, but I can't afford having lions hunting me. I wish you luck, though- What am I doing?! I bet you can't even understand me… Whatever the case is, have a good and long life wolf." Duncan rubbed Nymeria's head before lightly patting her towards the woods, earning a sad whimper from the direwolf before she trotted away. After she was gone from his sight, the Westford boy stood back up and began to head back to his camp.

The Butcher's Ward just gave mercy to a direwolf, something lions nor stags would not have.

"Ya screamed like a girl, ya know? What kind of man screams like a little girl losing her doll? Apparently ya, ya scum of moss!" Duncan sighed with a crooked smile on his face at the woman's words, humored by her now calm-ish attempts to insult the young man. It was the dead of night, the time when most living things are asleep. Duncan's men were asleep, save for Stoin who watched the perimeter of the camp in case any wolves attacked the camp. The Westford boy, meanwhile, decided to speak with the woman they had "saved" earlier that day.

Now that everything had calmed down, Duncan could really look and see who he had been tasked with finding and bringing back. The elder's description was rather accurate with how he described the young woman bound to the tree. She had shoulder length brown hair with matching eyes. Her body was slender, but plump in all the right places. From what the elder creepily said, the "Perfect Woman." All Duncan saw, however, was someone who had wounded him and tried to kill him for no reason known to him. The bandages covering his hands was proof of his thoughts about the young woman in front of him after all!

"Indeed I do. But I wonder, who gave me the wounds to have boiling wine poured over them?" Duncan responded, earning a bark of a laugh from the captive.

"I did, and I'd do it again if I had the chance with ya! Ya killed the love of my life, ya killed my friends, and ya taking me back to be raped and eaten by some cannibal assholes!"

"I'm sorry, but what did you just say about cannibals?" The young man was very confused and surprised at the sudden twist in the conversation. He didn't like that her kidnappers were her friends and that she loved the man she was going to marry as that made him want to ask what she meant. But the introduction of cannibals was far more important than what he wanted to ask about her friends and lover.

"Yeah! That village is full of cannibals, led by that freak of an old man. I ran away before I turned twenty moons as that is when he rapes women. Likes them 'ripe' apparently, which is disgusting, let me tell you!" The woman growled back, clearly full of growing anger at the man that had hired Duncan and his band of men.

"Really?! How can you prove this?"

"Why should I tell ya? Ya working for him! Ya killed my friends! Ya killed the man I loved! Why should I tell ya?!"

"I… Want to know so I can respond accordingly."

"Ya going to kill him?"

"Yes, if what you said was true." That earned Duncan a blink from the woman as he looked at her with a serious expression. Duncan was not going to help a cannibal rape and eat a woman he had tricked the young man into kidnapping if everything that was said was true. If everything that had been done was a falsehood told to the Westford boy, then he had dishonored himself by doing it. He would rather die than dishonor himself, so he had to correct the wrong he had done with the death of her friends. Especially the girl who had been dishonored…

"...Ya say that, but I need to know something before I tell ya." The woman eventually spoke after a few moments of silence, her voice seemingly about to crack as she spoke. "What happened to my friend, Meria? What did ya do to her?"

"...She is dead. That is-"

"Ya raped her, didn't ya?!" The woman suddenly surged forth, full of fury as she tried her hardest to rip Duncan's throat out with her teeth. The young man scrambled back a bit, scared that such a thing may happen after she suddenly lunged at him with so much force that the ropes keeping her in place groaned. After calming down a bit, he knelt back down and let out a sigh.

"She was raped, but I killed the man who did it. I then killed her to save her from the pain and anguish she had and would continue to have the rest of her life after being dishonored like that." Duncan revealed, trying to keep his voice even as he remembered the girl's lifeless corpse after he had driven his sword into her skull. She died instantly, which was a blessing of the Seven compared to choking on a gallon of blood.

The woman struggled for a bit more before slumping back, tears brewing in her eyes as she spoke with a quivering voice. "Y-Ya can find the meat in the old man's basement… There is a hatch under some sacks of corn, in the farthest corner in his filthy home… What do you plan on doing now?"

"Fulfilling what my honor dictates I do."

They arrived at the village in the morning, walking into a rather silent place void of life. The band of eleven men, their weapons out, looked carefully around as Duncan and Stoin led their captive to the elder's home. Duncan was almost as stoic as Stoin was, his hand gripping his sword's handle tight as he led the way for the group of three. Once they arrived at the door, the young man banged on the wood and shouted out "It's me, Ser Westford! I have the girl."

The door opened to a rather old and disgusting man, not even out of his night-clothes as he rubbed his hands together with a gleeful smile on his face. "Excellent! Bring her in, why don't ya? I'll pour us some ale, yes?"

"Just Stags please. We plan on leaving as soon as we can." The Westford boy said as the three walked into the elder's home, who simply shrugged and went to fetch their money. Stoin and Duncan looked at each other, sharing a knowing glance as the young man's grip on his sword tightened even more.

Eventually, the old man retrieved and handed over the bag of silver Stags, all two hundred of them, to Duncan. Duncan made sure to count them and make sure they were real by biting on them, to which they prove to be real. This would feed and pay the entire band for the next few months if their expenses remained as low as they were now! But, this much for one woman? Certainly strange… The young man handed the bag over to Stoin who put it into a bag he had on his belt, who then drew a knife and began to cut the bonds that held the woman's wrists.

"W-What are ya doing?!" The elder asked, to which Duncan drew his Valyrian Steel sword from its sheath and held its point near the old man's throat. "W-What is the meaning of this?!"

"Lead us to your basement, and you won't die by my hand." The Westford boy coldly responded, earning a shocked gasp from the elder as he pressed his steel against the old man's neck. The old man stumbled back, to which Duncan just kept up with him. He kept up with him all the way to what the woman had described was the entrance to the basement.

"M-Mercy! P-P-Please!" The elder begged, only to be punched by Duncan as he gestured with his blade to move the sacks and reveal the basement. The old man complied, sobbing like a baby as he moved the sacks of corn and opened the basement's entrance. The young man didn't even need to go down there as the light shined on the gutted remains of a human corpse hanging from a meat hook, blood dripping into a barrel while other pieces of meat hung nearby. That was the only thing Duncan saw, and he didn't want to see anymore.

"L-Let me go now! Ya said I could live!" The elder begged, earning a cold look from the Westford boy.

"I didn't say that. I said you wouldn't die by my hand."

"W-What?" Before the old man could say anything else, the woman grabbed the knife that Stoin was holding and lunged at the elder. She rammed her weapon into the man's throat and face, relentless as she turned everything above his collarbone into a bloody meat. Once she finished, letting the corpse fall to the floor, she turned to look at Duncan. Her brown eyes blazed with fury as she spat out:

"My name is Dyra. I will join ya band of murderers and rapists as ya have let me avenge the very men and women that I loved with all of my heart. The very same people ya have killed. And there is nothing you can do about it!"