Chapter 7: Bravely Running Away
"Brave Ser Marq bravely ran away. Bravely ran away!"
All things considered, getting out of the Red Keep was surprisingly easy. He just walked out. It wasn't as if he were confined to the keep, nor did anyone have any reason to try to keep him confined there. So he just left without any trouble.
It took him an hour to find Torrhen and explain the situation, and all the boy had questioned was, 'when do we leave.' The most challenging part was actually getting a ship out of the city. Torrhen didn't exactly have much spare gold, and Marq only had a small allowance from the King.
Which led to their current situation, sitting in a small boat with a sail black as night on its way to the Wall, The Soggy Crow. Apparently, back in these days, the Night's Watch was still manned and wealthy enough to have a small fleet of transports, which would regularly sail south and empty the dungeons of significant cities like Gulltown, Duskendale, and King's Landing. So Marq and Torrhen bravely volunteered to act as extra help on the ship in exchange for transportation.
Marq was also forced to pull double duty of keeping the prisoners onboard in line, which more or less consisted of him standing around in his armor, holding his war hammer. With his height and armor, he could more or less pull off looking like an actual threat.
Today, however, he and Torrhen were for the first time relaxing. Captain Crow, no, that isn't his actual name, but he refused to give his real name, had been working them hard, and figured the two deserved a brief break.
So there they sit, below deck, with a deck of cards Torrhen had gotten and refused to answer how, two barrels acting as chairs, and a table with a mess of cards in front of them. Playing an intense game that Marq had taken from his past life. A game so complex and challenging, Marq had even hesitated to tell Torrhen about it. A game so dreadful-.
"Got any kings?" Torrhen's voice breaks him out of his thoughts.
"Go fish," Marq smirks a bit.
"Bullshit, you've said go fish for the last three cards. This game is lame." Torrhen throws his cards down on the table.
"It is not lame! It's a great game." Marq stands up in outrage at Torrhen's disrespect of the time-honored game of go fish. However, the sounds of a scuffle interrupt him.
"It's probably Jack again. I've gotta deal with this, but this isn't over." Marq turns around and follows the sound of fighting until he comes across a rather sorry sight.
Jack Seagull, the self-proclaimed best pirate the world has ever seen, is getting beaten down by the twins. Addam and Tybolt, former gold miners from the Westerlands, turned bandits and then most recently watch recruits. Addam, a giant of a man with a veritable mane of golden hair, holds Jack up by his arms while Tybolt, a man just tall enough not to be considered a dwarf, throws rather wimpy punches into Jack's stomach.
"Alright, cut it out!" Marq grabs out his hammer, smacking it against a wooden beam. The loud thud gets the attention of the three, and Addam quickly drops Jack. Who then promptly scrambles over to cower in front of Marq.
"That little rat stole my rations!" Addam speaks in a low rumbling voice.
"I did not! You ate too many of your rations, you piece of lard!" Jack retorts in his higher-pitched nasally voice.
Addam nearly advances, but a quick nudge from Tybolt prevents him from attacking Jack again. Instead, he just points at Jack. "Search him, Marq! I ain't no liar."
"Alright, alright, settle down." Marq reaches down and hauls Jack to his feet, giving him a quick pat down and searching his pockets. Eventually, after searching him for a while, he finds nothing. He lets go of Jack, who steps back a few times.
"He doesn't have anything on him, Addam." Marq gives the twins a glance, and both look outraged.
"I swear I wasn't lying. He stole from me!" Addam stamps his foot in rage.
"Well, he doesn't have anything on him, and all I have to go on is your word. Can't exactly punish him just on your word." Marq shrugs.
"Come on, Marq, ya gotta believe us." Tiny Tybolt finally speaks up.
"Even if I believe you, I can't just punish him on a belief and a hunch. That's not how justice works." Marq retorts.
"If justice worked, I wouldn't be here!" Jack interjects, drawing all three of their attention to him.
"Jack, you bragged about being a pirate yesterday." Marq rolls his eyes
"Well, yes, but it isn't just for me to be here, stuck with you." Jack continues, seemingly unaware of how Marq found any flaw in his logic.
"I uh… I can't exactly argue with that." Marq shrugs and leaves, walking back to Torrhen to continue their revolutionary debate over Go Fish.
However, as he is walking. A sudden and loud crack and thud rings over the ship as the entire boat is forced to the side. Marq is thrown onto the ground. His head cracks against the floor, and his vision goes dark.
When he comes to, he scrambles to his feet. Above deck, he can hear the sounds of many footsteps running around. He turns to the three prisoners.
"You three stay down here!" Marq shouts and then runs over to Torrhen. Who had also fallen to the ground. However, unlike Marq, he seemingly managed a softer landing and just started to make his way to his feet.
"What the hell was that?" The skinny boy questions.
"I don't know. I'm going to check the above deck. You stay down here with those three." Marq turns to point at the three, only to find it is only two now.
"Fuck! Just stay here." Marq leaves Torrhen and scrambles above deck to find chaos. A second ship had rammed into The Soggy Crow. From what he can see on their deck, it looks like they are getting ready to board.
However, the strangest thing is Jack, standing at the edge of the ship, arms wide, seemingly awaiting the pirates. All while gleefully shouting.
"Oh, my ship! That's my ship! I knew they'd come back for me!" The madman shouts.
Eventually, the first pirate jumps aboard, holding a simple piece of metal that can barely be called an arming sword, and Jack rushes toward him. "Oh, I knew you would-"
Jack's gleeful shouting is cut short by the pirate stabbing his blade into the chest of the former pirate captain, who drops to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut, blood pooling around his body.