ARYA
She stifled a yawn as she made her way out of the Eastern Tower of the Twins with Nymeria hot on her heels. Words could not describe how good it felt to have her wolf back at her side after such a long time they had to spend apart, and now reuniting in the aftermath the battle of the Twins it was like they were attached at the hip and were rarely seen apart from one another.
Arya glanced at Nymeria, who was looking back at her with her intelligent golden eyes. She reached out her hand and gave the direwolf a soft rub on the top of her head, which made her wolf waggle her tail happily like a massively overgrown puppy.
The sun was barely rising on the horizon and the courtyard was still lit with torches, but it was already alive with activity as the men were making everything ready for the departure to the castle of the Tully´s.
It was easy to see that the men were in high spirits now that those responsible for the Red Wedding had now faced justice, and Arya found herself sharing that mood as she watched stableboys ready the horses all around the large courtyard.
It was like a weight had been lifted of her now that the men who had planned her mother´s and brother´s murder were all dead and had paid for their crimes with their lives.
But there was still one name left on Arya´s list that needed to be crossed.
In all honesty, it was the only name that Arya cared about now that the Freys and the Boltons had been dealt with, and that name was Cersei Lannister.
Just thinking about the woman made Arya burn with anger, but she was careful that the men around the courtyard didn't see her rage.
She could still remember that self-satisfied look on her face when Fat King Robert had sentenced Lady to die because Nymeria had injured Joffrey when he had threatened her and injured Arya´s friend, and that woman had allowed Joffrey to murder her father in front of the cheering crowd in King´s Landing as Sansa was forced to watch on.
"Lady Arya." Her name being called from behind her, pulled her out of her thoughts of vengeance. Which was for the best as Cersei would have to wait.
She looked back into the entrance hall of the Eastern Tower and spotted Ser Jasper and his Vale friends following him.
The young knight had a wide smile on his face as he waved at her with as much enthusiasm as a young child being offered a lemon cake.
Ser Roland was trying and failing to hide a grin that was pulling at his face, and Ser Harry looked like he wanted nothing more than to burst into laughter.
"Lady Arya, it is good to see you." Ser Jasper continued smiling as he spoke. "I hear you will be joining us on the march to Riverrun."
Arya nodded. "Yes, I will."
When Arya said nothing more, the young heir to the Redfort looked a little nervous.
"Have you ever been to Riverrun, Lady Arya?" Ser Roland asked and discreetly elbowed his friend in the side after a moment of awkward silence.
"No, I cannot say that I have." Arya was now starting to hope that the other lords would arrive shortly, as the looks that Ser Jasper was sending her were making her uncomfortable. The young knight was looking at her like a lost pup and it didn't sit right with her.
This was the sort of look boys and men should send her sister Sansa, and not her.
Never her.
"Not even when you traveled south with your lord father and Robert Baratheon?" Asked Harry Hardying.
Arya looked the blond man quickly over; Jon had told her that he had been hoping to marry Sansa when he arrived at Winterfell with Littlefinger, and she had the distinct feeling that Jon was not Ser Harry´s biggest admirer.
She was glad that Sansa hadn´t been forced to marry the blond in front of her, as the tall young man did little else but try and get under any girl´s skirt that caught his fancy, and it was abundantly clear that he wouldn't stop once he was married.
"No, we didn't have time, as Robert Baratheon was in a hurry it seemed, to get to the capital."
Ser Roland let out a laugh. "Yes, I imagine that he was in a hurry to get back to his drinking and whoring."
As soon as his words left his mouth, he seemed to regret them. "I am sorry my lady. I should not speak of such things in front of a lady of your standing."
Arya crossed her arms across her chest, and Nymeria gave an annoyed huff on her behalf. "And why is that?"
Ser Roland looked to his friends for support, but they remined silent as they waited for Roland Waynwood´s answer to her question.
"You are a lady of a great house and the King´s beloved cousin. I shouldn't speak of such things in front of you."
Arya stared at him for a few long moments, making him squirm nervously before she let out a little laugh. "I am hardly going to swoon because you mentioned whores. In fact, I think that you had the right of it, it seemed like it was the only thing that he did in the capital anyway. Well besides drinking."
The three knights seemed relieved that she hadn´t taken offence at Ser Roland´s words, and Ser Harry let out a nervous laugh before speaking up.
"My lady, if I may ask, what are you doing out here?"
"I am waiting for lord Royce; he is to arrive shortly." Arya buried her hand in Nymeria´s fur and she was awfully glad to see the lord of Runestone make his way out of the Tower alongside Ser Wylis Manderly like he had been summoned by having his name called, and after them trotted Ser Wylis´s new squire, the new lord of the Crossing, Bryan Frey.
The three young knights hurriedly gave the lord of Runestone respectful bows as the older men made their way over to them. "Ah, lady Arya I am sorry for keeping you waiting like this, but I do hope that it wasn't for long."
"I have only just arrived lord Royce and it is no trouble waiting for you, after you agreed to allow me to shadow you."
"Shadow him?" Asked Ser Jasper faintly and looked between her and the lord of Runestone.
"Yes, King Jon asked me if she could shadow me while on the march to Riverrun so that she could learn about military command." Lord Royce gave them all a proud smile. It was clear for all to see how proud the man was for having been trusted by Jon, to teach Arya the craft of military command.
Even though he was a little unsure that it was wise to allow a woman to learn the craft of battle command, but the man tried his best to not let his feelings show. The man seemed to try and keep an open mind after having worked with lady Mormont and Arya herself during the trial of the Twins.
Arya herself was proud as well, that her brother wanted her to learn something that was always reserved for men.
It was something so like Jon to do, to ask the best military commander under his command to teach her. Jon had always been the one to believe in her and her dreams of becoming a warrior of great renown, rather than some lady who did nothing but sew and gossip her day away like so many wanted her to do.
Even her father, who had allowed her to keep Needle and practice water dancing, had only been indulging her and most likely been hoping that she would eventually grow out of it and take up interests similar to those Sansa enjoyed.
Arya could see that the young men were stunned speechless at this revelation and young Bryan Frey was staring at her with wide blue eyes that were much alike his cousin´s, Ser Harry Hardyng.
When the young boy caught her looking at him, the new lord of the Crossing hid himself behind Ser Wylis, with a blush covering his face as he peered at her from behind the heir to White Harbor.
"You will be joining us, will you not Wylis?" The lord of Runestone asked the Northern man with a jolly smile on his weathered face.
"Oh, aye and lord Edmure expressed a desire to join us when he has finished speaking with the King."
"Excellent." Bronze Yohn called for the horses to be brought for them so they could ride out. A young man offered Arya the reins to a grey courser that carried himself as regally as a King. The horse tossed his head, shaking it´s long flowing mane with it as she noticed that the horse seemed oddly calm with Nymeria so close to him.
"That is King Robb´s horse." The heir to White Harbor said in a sad tone. That explained why the horse seemed so calm in Nymeria´s presence; the stallion had been used to being around Greywind.
She felt a lump form in her throat at the very thought that this horse had belonged to her brother Robb as she took the reins from the stable boy and gave the beautiful horse a soft rub on the nose.
She had to wonder why she was being handed the horse that Robb had used. Shouldn't he have been given to Jon or maybe even sent to Winterfell and be given to Rickon as the new lord of Winterfell?
"Does he have a name?" Arya asked Ser Wylis and looked at the man over her shoulder.
"Quicksilver, I believe." That name made something in Arya´s mind ring with recognition but for the life of her she couldn't pin down where she had heard that name before. Had her father´s old horse been named Quicksilver?
She shook her head of the thought and mounted the horse as the lords and knights followed suit and made their way out of the courtyard as lord Royce started to explain to Arya everything that they needed to do and why they needed to do them.
The three young knights, Sers Jasper, Roland, and Harry all begged to be allowed to follow them around so they might learn a thing or two from Bronze Yohn, and while Arya wasn't all that thrilled that they would be tagging along, she made sure that they couldn't see her thoughts on the matter on her face.
They spent a long time helping the other lords overseeing the marching out of the Twins, and Arya had listened dutifully to lord Royce as he offered her and the three young knights' advice and explained how and why they did the things they were doing.
Arya found herself in awe of the man´s knowledge, not only was he a brilliant tactician but he also seemed to have a keen interest in human nature and seemed to think that studying people and how they reacted to certain situations was crucial to winning battles.
The three young men following them seemed shocked how much actual work was involved in just moving such a large army from one place to another.
It seemed to her that their fathers were a little amiss in teaching them, as both Robb and Jon had learned from both her father and maester Luwin the necessary things a lord and an army commander needed to know when they had been young children.
As the sun was mid-way to its zenith in the sky, her attention was drawn by Nymeria who looked toward riders coming their way.
The first and clearly the most important rider was clad in the red and blue colors of house Tully with the silver trout leading proudly on his breast and he was surrounded by a few guards in the Targaryen-colored armor, signaling their allegiance to Jon.
Arya´s uncle rode towards them with a tried grin on his face with the Targaryen guards flanking his sides and seemed happier than he had been last evening and that was saying a lot. "My lords, dear niece it is good to see you all this morning."
"And you as well, lord Edmure. How did your talks with the King go?" Asked Lord Royce, not being able to contain his curiosity.
"Very well, I think that his plans have merit, and if it all goes according to his plans and the Western men have a half a brain, they will agree to his terms." Edmure said as he pulled his horse beside her and Nymeria.
"And are you all right with that, uncle Edmure? To make peace with Jaime Lannister after he threatened to catapult your son on to the walls of Riverrun?" Arya asked with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.
Anger flashed in his Tully blue eyes and his happy smiled fell of his face as everyone waited for his answer. "No, I will never forgive the Kingslayer for threatening my son´s life like that." Arya noticed that his knuckles turned white as he gripped the reins of his horse hard. "But I agree with the King that we need the Western army to help fight the dead, so I am willing to come to the negotiating table, especially after his grace freed me and my family from the Twins and made sure that lady Maege could save my son from Lothar Frey and Walder Rivers."
"Wouldn't it be better if the King rode his dragon to Riverrun and burned half the Western Army to warn them not to cross him and force them to bend the knee?" Harry Hardyng piped up, and Arya could almost smell the arrogance in his voice.
"If he did that," Lord Royce spoke up. "It would be that much harder to win their loyalty in the long run rather than if he had just sat down with them and tried to make peace."
Arya could see the young knight´s face flush with embarrassment as the older man continued. "And the fact that his grace is trying to negotiate peacefully rather than just using force even though he has the bigger army and massive dragons, shows that he is a man of reason; something that has been lacking in the Kings of the Iron throne since the days of Jaehaerys the second, until now."
It took all the training she had not to smirk at Harry Hardyng, who looked like a scolded child.
Ser Jasper and Ser Roland were wisely silent and looked like they wanted to silence Ser Harry when he spoke up again. "But what about showing strength? A King must always be seen as strong."
Arya could almost feel the guards that were tasked with keeping her uncle Edmure safe, stiffen and shoot the young man furious looks, and it took a lot of effort from keeping Nymeria from snarling out at Ser Harry in anger like Arya herself wanted to do.
Ser Wylis stared at Ser Harry with an angry look that looked out of place on his normally jolly face that she remembered when he had come to Winterfell on his father´s behest when she had been a child. "The man that broke the Boltons and rescued lord Rickon and avenged the Red wedding by executing all those guilty for murdering his cousin and the Northmen who following him with his own sword, is weak now is he?"
As Ser Wylis growled angerly at him, the young knight seemed to have realized his mistake. As the young man tried to stutter his way out of the hole that he had dug himself into, the heir to White Harbor continued defending Jon´s honor. "The man who was murdered for trying to save us all from the dead, only to have come back to life with four dragons and called two other dragons from across the sea to him and now rides one of them like the dragonlords of old is weak now is he?"
It was such a strange thing, seeing the man so angry. Arya had never associated anger with anyone named Manderly, and even she had to admit that the heir to White Harbor was rather terrifying in his wrath.
"Never speak of King Jon in that manner in my presence again." The man finished with his flashing eyes fixed on the young man, as lord Bryan Frey was shrinking back as he stared at the angry man before him, with his blue eyes darting between the knight he served and his scolded cousin.
Before the awkwardness could choke them, her uncle spoke up and addressed the lord of Runestone. "Didn't lord Eddard, want to meet prince Rhaegar and negotiate with him in the Rebellion?"
His words made Arya stare at her uncle in surprise. She had never once heard that her father had wanted to talk to the Silver prince instead of doing battle.
"There was a rumor when we were camped at Riverrun just before we headed off to do battle that lord Eddard and Jon Arryn wanted to talk to prince Rhaegar, but I never heard either man confirm or deny those rumors." The man looked thoughtful and rubbed his beard covered chin. "There was also a rumor that lord Eddard suggested that they should send out a rider with terms of peace, and then shortly afterward we started hearing those rumors Robert Baratheon announced for all to hear that he was claiming the Iron Throne for himself and that they would only know peace when Rhaegar and all the Targaryens were dead."
"Do you think that there is any truth to those rumors?" Arya asked, hungry for more information.
"I don't know to be honest, there were so many rumors running around that time; but I think that we shall never truly know the truth of the matter."
"You are most likely right on that account, my lord." Her uncle spoke softly. "I was so young at the time that I remember very little, only that Brandon left Riverrun in a fury, only hours after having arrived, claiming to kill someone, and my sisters were both devastated when he left."
As she looked at her uncle´s face that seemed lost in thought, his words nagged at her like what he had just said was strange. She understood that her mother had been devastated by Uncle Brandon´s departure from Riverrun, as Arya knew that he had arrived at the castle to marry her, but why in the seven hells had aunt Lysa been upset?
Silence fell over them for a moment until it was broken by now a familiar sound of thundering beat of leathery wings, and a shrieking roar of a dragon, putting a halt to any further conversations.
As one, the marching men stopped and looked to the sky. They could see the cream and gold dragon, Viserion fly overhead. Seeing the pale dragon caused the men to start cheering loudly for the dragon who had cracked open the Eastern Tower so surgically and without damaging the gate, making it possible for them to enter unharmed.
But as Viserion flew overhead, even louder roar was heard that made even the ground shake and tremble and it was almost like for a moment the world came to a standstill.
Until her horse gave a low whiny of protest that it wasn't allowed to bolt from the source of the sound, but most of her attention was captured by the bigger dragon as he rose to the sky, only to land on the Western Tower.
On the enormous dragon´s back, sat her brother Jon and even from so far away she could see the rubies of Aegon´s crown wink at her in the morning sun. She couldn't make out his facial expression, but Arya imagined it to be his normal stoic one that was so much alike her father.
As Rhaegal let out another deafening roar, the men started to cheer even louder than before, and she could hear them chanting Jon´s name.
From all directions, echoing of water and rocks she could hear them shout; King Jon, White Wolf and Father of Dragons, making her involuntarily grin as the men cheered for her brother.
She felt a small gust from the North caress her face, and she was almost sure that she heard her father´s words like a whisper on the wind. "Winter is coming."
SAMWELL
He sneaked into the storage room that held the healing supplies and grabbed one of the trollies and started to fill it with everything he would need to try and cure Ser Jorah Mormont.
Sam felt that he owed the old bear to at least to try to save his son´s life. No matter the anger the old bear felt at his son for shaming house Mormont, Sam was sure that he didn't want his son to die a horrible death of having greyscale slowly covering his body and stripping away at his sanity before he succumbed to death.
Sam shuddered to have to think about having this terrible disease that ate away at one's body and soul until nothing remained of what had made that person themselves.
"Sam, what are you doing?" A soft voice whisper-shouted at him, making him turn around so fast he almost fell over.
Alleras was standing in the doorway, staring at him with his big brown eyes open wide in surprise.
Sam opened and closed his mouth, trying to formulate words to explain his presence.
"Sam, how did you get past the guards? And what are you doing with healing supplies?" Alleras asked once again as he hurried into the room and closed the door.
"I…I…I…" Sam stuttered nervously. He had to stop himself from fidgeting and to remember Jon´s command to him before he had left for the citadel.
I cannot command you to be brave, but I can command you to hide your fears.
Sam stood straighter and looked Alleras directly in the eyes. "I…I am going to heal Ser Jorah Mormont."
His voice sounded so much stronger than he was feeling right now as the Dornish man gaped at him.
"Sam, the Northerner has greyscale, he is doomed to die, and we cannot help him." The other boy tried to reason with him.
"I have to try, I served under his father at Castle Black. And I cannot just let his son die without trying to help him."
Alleras crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at Sam. "The man sold slaves; he deserves to die."
"I am not doing this for Ser Jorah, I am doing this for lord commander Mormont, now if you are not going to help me, then…" Sam trailed off, suddenly not sure what he should say to make sure that the other boy didn't tell anyone what he was up to.
Jon would have known what to say, Jon always knew. All he would have to do was to give Alleras one of his stern looks and the Dornish man would have caved.
Alleras gave Sam a searching look. "Alright, I will help you."
He then made his way to one of the shelves and started to search through them with critical eyes, while Sam could only stare at him in surprise. "Really? Why?"
Alleras stopped and turned to look at him with one of his soft smiles painting his face. "I am hoping to earn a silver link in my chain Sam, having helped heal a man with greyscale can only help with that."
Then his smile turned into a smirk. "And I suppose that helping you will earn me a little favor with your friend, King Jon."
Sam felt a blush heat up his face at the Dornish man´s remark. Ever since the rumors started people here at the citadel had started to treat him differently.
Sam was grateful for Alleras, who was one of the few who didn't treat him with suspicion or fear for being Jon´s friend. Which was strange as Alleras was a Dornish man, and Jon was the son of the woman that had come between prince Rhaegar and his dornish wife, and Sam himself was of the Reach.
But Sam wouldn't give up being Jon´s friend for anything in the world. Jon had been his first friend in the night´s watch, and in the world. He had made the others stop tormenting him, with Ghost´s help and he had stood up for him without asking for anything in return.
Without Jon and his kindness, Sam was sure that he would have died a long time ago.
"So, what is he like? Your friend King Jon?" Alleras asked dragging Sam out of his thoughts, making Sam realize that he hadn´t answered the Dornish man´s quip.
"He is the best man I know." Sam replied with a smile as he grabbed tongs and scalpels from one of the shelves. "He is also a great swordsman and very intelligent."
He turned to smile at the Dornish man who was looking at him in interest. "He didn't need to be nice to me, to help me but he did it anyway. Even though I am a coward, he befriended me and made the other recruits stop treating me like dirt."
"Do you think that it is true what they say?" Alleras said, barely above a whisper. "That he died and came back with four dragons?"
Sam could feel the letter from Edd burn in his pocket and he had to fight the urge to place his hand on the letter to assure himself of its contents and that they were indeed true.
He knew that while Edd had a dark and weird sense of humor, the man was not a liar and he would never tell Sam a lie about something this serious.
But to read about Jon´s murder at the hands of Alliser Thorne and his cronies, and how Jon had risen back from the dead with four dragons to his name was so unbelievable that if this letter had been about anyone else, Sam would never have believed these words to be true.
However, this was about Jon.
Jon who could control his giant albino direwolf with his thought alone it seemed, and who could enter into the mind of a dragon on the other side of the world that he had never even met.
If anyone could do half the things that Edd had described in the letter, then it was Jon Snow; or Jon Targaryen as many people seemed to believe.
"I just hope that he is alive." He said honestly, not wanting to talk about this subject anymore. Just the very thought that his friend had maybe died was horrifying and made his insides want to shrivel up.
The other boy seemed to sense his mood and dropped the subject and they worked in silence until Alleras broke it again. "You know there was a raven from Bandallon."
Sam turned to face his Dornish friend with wide eyes. "And what did it say?" He, like everyone else in the city had been hungry for news from the western coast as the Iron fleet was raiding at the shores there.
The other man looked sorrowful before speaking. "Apparently they saw Greyjoy sails on the horizon and were preparing for a battle or a siege if they were defeated in the field which is the most likely outcome."
"But the Ironborn aren't good fighters on land, they could have been defeated by lord Blackbar."
The other boy snorted. "Balon Greyjoy and his children managed to take many of the castles of the western shore of the North, along with Moat Cailin and Winterfell itself, why wouldn't the Iron born be able to sack Bandallon?"
"Well, the Reach lords are all in the Reach with their armies mostly intact, but the Northern lords were almost all in the Riverlands, fighting with Robb Stark and they only took Moat Cailin because they managed to take it from the North, where it is a lot easier than taking it from the south and Theon Greyjoy lived in Winterfell most of his life, so he knew the castle much better than the Iron born know Bandallon." Sam tried to reason with Alleras.
"Perhaps you are right." Alleras said and grabbed bandages from one of the shelves. "But the ironborn don't have to sack the castles. They only have to attack the towns and villages close to the shores then retreat back to the sea where they are strong."
"But they won't get much gold or riches with only sacking towns and villages." Sam countered. He found it hard to believe that the Ironborn would attack the mainland in such a manner without sacking the rich castles of the Reach and Westerlands.
The risk of the lords of the two regions retaliating for the raids would be too high for such little rewards, but perhaps the Ironborn having attacked the North without much consequence had made them bolder than before.
"Roone told me that he heard that the Seneschal thinks that the Iron born are on their way here to sack the city." Alleras said quietly.
Sam frowned in worry at his words. He had to stop his hands from shaking with worry and fear for Gilly and her babe; he would never forgive himself if anything happened to either one of them.
"What do you think?" Sam asked his friend after a moment of fearful silence.
"I think that they would be mad to try and attack the city. But they do say that Euron Greyjoy is leading them now and it is said that he is quite mad these days." Alleras said and Sam could hear the disgust in the other man´s voice as he said the Iron born man´s name.
But Sam was a little confused. "But isn't Theon Greyjoy ahead in line of suggestion to the lordship of Pyke?"
Everyone that had spent an hour in the North knew of Theon Greyjoy and his deplorable acts, and Sam knew that Jon hated the heir to the Iron Islands with such passion after everything that he had done to house Stark.
Alleras seemed to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. "Sam you need to spend more time at the Quill and the Tankard with us so that you can hear what is happening the world."
Sam opened his mouth to defend himself from his friend´s good natured jape but Alleras was quicker. "One needs to know what is happening in the world to succeed Sam, but I will let it slide this time."
Alleras placed two bottles of wine that they could use for disinfecting on the trolley before speaking. "Theon and Asha Greyjoy have apparently fled from Westeros when their uncle Euron took control of the Iron Islands and won the King´s moot. Some say that they fled to Daenerys Targaryen in Meereen to try and get her support in ruling their desolate rock."
"Do you think that she will help them?"
"I don't know to be honest." It was clear that Alleras didn't like it that he didn't know if the last sibling of Rhaegar Targaryen would help Theon and Asha Greyjoy in taking back the Iron Islands. "But if I were a betting man…which I am, I will bet on her helping them if they offer her something that she wants, like the Iron fleet."
"But doesn't Euron Greyjoy have the Iron fleet?"
Now the other boy smirked a little. "You really need to spend more time at the Inn Sam. Apparently Asha Greyjoy, who seems to want to rule Pyke even though her brother is ahead of her in the line of succession, stole around half of the Iron fleet and all of the best ships from her uncle right before she sailed off east."
Sam had to admit that even though he really didn't like the ironborn on principle, he had to admire Asha Greyjoy for stealing the Iron fleet right from under her uncle´s nose.
His thoughts turned to the Valyrian steel sword that was hidden in the room Gilly and he shared at the small inn that she worked in.
But stealing a sword was not nearly as daring as stealing half a fleet, even if that sword was made of Valyrian steel. But they needed that sword to fight the dead and he knew that his father would never believe that the Others and the dead were marching to the Wall at this very moment.
Sam knew that not many people would believe that the dead were coming without proof, and he could understand that very well. If someone told him that the dead were coming for them all and didn't have any proof on hand, he would not have believed them.
Again, he could feel the letter in his pocket burn at him and he wished that he had gotten it before he had taken the sword. It was hard to believe their luck that Jon had manage to procure proof that the Others were coming and again he hoped that the letter from Edd was completely true, as most of the people of Westeros would think them mad for even suggesting it that the dead were rising beyond the Wall.
"But whatever happens, I hope that Euron Greyjoy and his reavers don't come here to try and sack the city." Alleras said quietly.
Sam couldn't agree more with his friend, even though it would be madness to try and take the city especially with the Redwyne fleet so close and completely unspent even after the war of the five Kings.
"But even if he did, he would have a hard time taking it." Sam said with a nervous smile, not sure if he was trying to assure his friend or himself. "I mean the Tyrell army will be here soon."
Alleras rolled his eye. "Yes, the Tyrell army, I feel safer already."
Sam should have known that mentioning the Tyrell´s wouldn't assure the Dornish man one bit. "Well according to Leo Tyrell, he was told by Grand maester´s Walgrave´s assistant, Pate that Ser Garlan Tyrell himself is leading the army and will help lord Hightower to defend the city if the Ironborn try to attack."
Depside himself, Alleras seemed a little impressed that Ser Garlan Tyrell would be coming with an army at his back. Even in Dorne the second Tyrell brother was respected for his military prowess.
"Lord Willas won't be leading it himself, now that his father has gone and gotten himself held hostage by the Golden Company?" There was a hint of glee in his tone when he mentioned Mace Tyrell´s absence from the Highgarden. "And please don't talk to me about Lazy Leo, I don't trust a thing that idiot says or thinks."
Sam could well understand Alleras and his anger at Leo Tyrell. The blond-haired boy had always rubbed Alleras the wrong way, but after the Sand Snakes had taken over the rule of Dorne by killing their uncle and trying to murder princess Arianne Martell, the rightful ruler, Leo had been a terror.
It was like the unrest in Dorne had given the blond a permission to torment the Dornish man endlessly, and he never let Alleras forget it that it was bastards like him that had caused the civil war to begin with.
Leo Tyrell seemed to have taken this as a sign that everything bad said about bastards were true and it was his duty to remind Alleras that it was in a bastard's nature to be evil.
"Sam are you ready?" The soft voice of Alleras broke through his thoughts, bringing him to the present.
Sam looked over the trolly that was now filled with all manner of medical supplies that they thought that they had any use of. "Yes, I think that we have all we need."
He looked up at the other boy. "Thank you Alleras, for helping me. I know that it can´t be easy since Ser Jorah sold slaves and all."
Alleras gave him a tight but kind smile. "It´s fine, but I am not doing it for him; I am doing this for experience and for my friend Sam, who has a serious saving people problem."