Chapter 2
The bandits didn't bother to knock them out, considering their hands were bound, and they had bags over their heads. Gendry didn't try to fight, which was a good thing. The last thing they needed was him throwing himself onto another sword. Her husband had too many scars as it was, and the last thing he needed was another one. Not for some former gold cloaks that were running around thinking they were doing good in the Lannister name. So a long rope was tied to their hands, and they were pulled through the forest blind. If she looked carefully, Arya could see the ground enough to keep from completely falling on her face, but it wasn't easy.
The bandits made them walk, without stopping, for the entire night without stopping for any breaks. Arya had good boots that were made for walking, but even her feet were aching by the time the bandits called for them to stop. She didn't quite collapse onto the ground, but it was a near thing. She was exhausted, and she just wanted to get some sleep. One of the bandits removed the hood from her head, and Arya winced as the afternoon sun blinded her. That meant they walked throughout the night and the entire morning without stopping; no wonder she was so tired. She glanced at Gendry, who was sitting next to her, and he looked just as tired and was also wincing from the sun after being in the darkness from the bag for so long.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'll be fine, you?" Arya replied, and Gendry flashed her a brief smile.
"As you well know, I've certainly been better, but I've also been a lot worse," he said.
"Shut it the two of you," one of the bandits said as he knelt down in front of them and smiled. Arya could see the broken and battered state of his armor and clothes. This man was a knight at some point, a man of rank, and now he looked like a common bandit. "I never thought I'd get so lucky to snag a Princess of the North and her bastard knight husband. I spent a long time looking for you years ago."
"Yeah? And how many of your friends did I kill during those days too?" Arya asked with a smirk. She knew she was baiting this man, but she wanted to see how he reacted. If he was reckless, that would make it easier to manipulate him. He snarled but didn't hit her like she expected. Instead, he glared at the two of them and then smiled.
"You're both much more valuable now," the man said. "I have to wonder what would happen if I turned up at Winterfell and demanded a ransom from your bastard king of a brother." Arya blinked because she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing; a ransom?
"You want to trade us for a ransom," Arya said. "You sure that's a good idea?"
"Seems like a bad one to me," Gendry said, and the bandit glared at him, but, thankfully, he still didn't lash out at either of them.
"He'll pay anything to get you back. I could walk up and name my price," the bandit said, and he looked so smug that Arya had to laugh. "What is so funny?"
"Sure, go ahead, ask my brother for my ransom, and see how that goes. This is the same brother that sacked Winterfell to take it back from the Bolton's and cut off the head of the Night King. The same brother that has a white direwolf at his side at all times and a dragon that is keen to keep my family alive. Yes, you should go make an enemy out of him."
"Arya, be fair, King Jon is hardly the most terrifying person in your family," Gendry said, and he smirked when the bandit started to turn a little pale. "Princess Sansa, the Hand to the King, fed her husband to his own dogs to get eaten alive. Prince Bran has powers beyond the scope of a man, and that dragon and him her very close. Princess Meera, Bran's wife, is a crogwoman who killed a White Walker with a spear and could put a spear through your eye at any distance. Prince Theon of the Iron Isles is your sister's paramour, and he knows how to drown a man and make it look like an accident." Gendry shook his head as he looked at the bandits who were all listening to this conversation and didn't look as sure of themselves as they used to. "Doesn't sound like the kind of people you'd want to make enemies of."
"You're a Baratheon," one of the bandits said, and he tried to look proud of that revelation. Arya glanced at Gendry, who was smiling like he just heard a joke. The bandit in front of them nodded and turned back to them with a self-satisfied look on his face until he saw the way Gendry was smiling.
"The Queen put the Baratheon's back in charge of the Stormlands, there are three of them, aren't they your bastard siblings?" he asked, and Arya mentally gave her husband credit for not reacting to this man calling his siblings bastards.
"Oh, they are," Gendry said. "My younger brother is the lord of Storm's End, and do you know what he did to a Northern Lord who insulted the Stark's when we were staying with them not even a year ago? He attacked that man and broke his nose and his arm. My older sisters have taken to being older siblings very well and are extremely protective. My sister Bella could take one look at all of you and figure out your deepest secret. My other sister Mya would find a way to make it legal for Edric to kill you all as slowly as possible. They wouldn't take to someone threatening my life or Arya's life very well, so if you want to anger my family by all means."
"You sell yourself short, Gendry," Arya said, and she knew all of the bandits were paying attention to her. "Queen Daenerys considers you and all of your siblings to be her cousins. She has a dragon and a loyal army at her back. Queen Daenerys and my brother King Jon are also very close and consider each other family as well. I imagine she wouldn't take too kindly to someone trying to ransom us either."
"This is true," Gendry said as he pretended to think about it for a moment. "I suppose these men could try to ransom us to your Uncle Edmure at Riverrun."
"They could, but after the death of my lady mother and seeing how terribly the Riverlands suffered under bandits and Lannister soldiers, he isn't too keen on mercy these days. He would be furious if someone tried to ransom me, and he's rather fond of you as well. What about my cousin Robin the Eyrie? I don't know him that well, but we are family. He might be willing to pay."
"He might, but Lord Royce, who commands the Knights of the Vale, is a dear friend," Gendry replied. "He wouldn't be too happy about someone trying to ransom family anymore. What about Queen Yara?"
"Well, Queen Yara is rather fond of me because I'm the sister of the woman that her brother loves. She's fond enough of you to not only commission a crown that will be passed on through generations at the Iron Isles but also because you gave Prince Theon the ability to walk away after he lost his leg in the battle against the dead," Arya said.
"And we both know what kind of reputation the Iron Borne have when it comes to revenge and pillaging. I don't think Queen Yara would be very happy to a bunch of bandits trying to swindle money out of her," Gendry said. He stared down the bandit leader who was now looking a little green around the edges as the magnitude of their alliances, friends, and family hit him. "So, it sounds like you have a decision to make about which enemy you'd like to make but, unless a treaty was broken, all of those people mentioned are allies and would come to help the others if need be."
"We could kill you both where you sit," the bandit leader said.
"And then you'd have all of those same people tearing Westeros apart until the right person was found and put to justice for our deaths," Arya said as she shifted in her seat and looked at the bandits around her. "My advice would be to let us go."
"I will do no such thing," the bandit leader snapped, but Arya shrugged, or at least she tried to with her hands tied in front of her. "I need to go talk to my men." The leader stood up and walked over to his men just far enough away so that she couldn't hear what they were talking about.
"You know, if we manage to talk our way out of this, it will be the first time we've won a fight with our words," Arya said.
"Sansa will be proud of our diplomacy," Gendry deadpanned, and Arya smiled at him. She could see that the bandits were beginning to panic as the reality of the prisoners they had was starting to dawn on them. Arya could tell that the leader very much underestimated what he had when it came to the two of them and what he could get away with. It also made her feel a little loved as she thought about all of the people throughout Westeros that would get revenge for her if the worst should happen.
The bandits talked amongst themselves for quite a long time, and Arya could feel her legs starting to fall asleep. They kept glancing at the two of them like they could somehow figure out a way to get around all of this, but Arya knew she had them. There was no way they were stupid enough to try and ransom them, there just wasn't, and they needed to realize that sooner rather than later. The leader walked up to the two of them and stared.
"We have decided that it would be in the best interest of all us if we let the two of you go for now," he said, and Arya had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the "for now" like they were doing her a favor.
"A wise decision," she said. "And while it isn't one we're going to forget, I would like to remind you that execution by dragon might be quick, but it isn't pleasant. If you're smart, you and your friends should get on a ship and go somewhere else. Next time you might not get as lucky." The bandit leader glared at her and looked like he wanted to say something, but all of his men behind him started making noises. The leader pulled out a dagger and cut the ropes from Arya's wrist and then did the same for Gendry. All of their weapons were still attached to their horses, which were across the clearing. They might not have ropes around their wrists anymore, but they were still very unarmed. One of the bandits kept a crossbow on them as they all climbed on their own horses and began to ride out into the afternoon. The leader glared at her but eventually took off with the rest of his men.
"I'm honestly a little surprised that worked considering our luck," Gendry said as they walked over to their horses. It didn't appear that the bandits had even taken any of their coin, which was a little surprising. Arya could only assume that they just didn't have the time. "Are we going to let them go?"
"We're going to follow them and see if they actually get on that ship. If they don't, then maybe it won't work out so well for them," Arya said, and she smirked. There were rope burns on her wrists, but she ignored them. They were both exhausted, but if they slept, they would lose the trail of the bandits, and if the bandits attacked another village while they were sleeping, Arya wasn't sure how she would live with herself. So she climbed onto her horse, and they began to follow the very obvious tracks through the forest of the Westerlands.
The bandits were heading west, which could have been an indication that they were going to get on that boat, but Arya didn't trust them. These were men that were still loyal to Cersei Lannister and thought she was right. There was no possible way they would do the sensible thing. She made sure that they weren't near the men and kept a good mile or more away from their camps. The first night that the bandits stopped, Arya nearly fell off of her horse. She barely remembered eating some of the rations that they brought from Storm's End, and Arya wasn't sure she was even lying down when she fell asleep.
The next morning she felt more like herself, and the dark circles around Gendry's eyes were less pronounced. The bandits were still heading west, but Arya still wasn't sure if they were listening to her advice. While they were going west, it didn't seem like they were going to Lannisport, and even then, they were former gold cloaks, and the current Lannister's might not accept them. It took a little work to get close enough to their camps at night to hear them talking, but Arya knew she needed a definitive answer. She got one on the third night when she listened to the leader that taunted them, saying he wasn't afraid of her or Daenerys or any dragon. He was a knight of the Lannister army, and he was going to fight for the rightful queen even in death.
Arya joined Gendry back at their camp and sighed as she looked at him. He frowned but nodded. They both knew that these bandits were not going to stop hurting people, and that meant they needed to be taken care of. There were a dozen of them, which meant that they were going to have to find a way to split them up. There weren't any settlements nearby, and then bandits looked like they were setting up a camp for an extended stay, which gave them both a little time to try and figure out a way to stop them.
The two of them sat around their own small camp and tried to think of ways to thin their numbers, but there weren't any easy ways that she could think of. Arya looked around the immediate area surrounding them and managed to find a root that she knew would poison men if it was burned. It was something that she learned about from the villagers in the Riverlands years ago. If they could get the root into the fire, then the smoke would make the bandits sick and maybe even kill some of them. The problem was getting it into the fire. Gendry glared at her when she insisted that she could get in and out of the camp while the bandits were sleeping, but eventually he relented and let her do it.
It wasn't easy sneaking into the camp, but Arya was lucky that the horses remembered her and didn't startle when they saw her. They didn't bother to have anyone keeping watch because they didn't seem to think that anyone would dare harm them. Arya dropped the root in the fire and got away from the smoke as fast as she could. She got back to Gendry and made sure to tie pieces of cloth around their nose and mouth to keep from inhaling the root if the worst should happen. They stayed in the brushes far enough away if the wind should shift direction but close enough that Gendry could shoot someone with his crossbow or Arya with her bow if they woke up. She sat back and watched.
The smoke did what it was supposed to do; the men that were the closest to the fire began to choke, and by the time their eyes were opening, they already couldn't breathe. At least four of them died instantly while three others stumbled to try and get away from the smoke but eventually fell to the ground. There were only five left as Arya raised her bow and took aim. It wasn't hard to shoot four men that were mostly poisoned and could barely breathe, and between her and Gendry, they killed them quietly. The leader, the one that threatened them, stumbled away from the camp and tried to catch his breath. He looked up when he saw them approaching.
"I should have known a Northern bitch couldn't keep her word," he rasped.
"I told you to make for the boats and get out of the Westerlands. You had no intention of doing that, and I wasn't going to leave you here to pillage more villages that can't fight back," Arya said. The bandit leader sneered at he looked at them.
"We were going west. We were going to go to the boats like you told us to," he said, but Arya scoffed.
"I heard you say that you weren't going to go," she said.
"It would be in your best interest not to lie to us," Gendry said as he circled the man. He had his sword in his hand, and his blue eyes looked like they were nearly glowing from the light of the moon. Gendry looked like a warrior that people would write songs about.
"You're going to regret this," the bandit leader snapped.
"I'm not going to regret anything when it comes to men like you who rape and pillage and kill defenseless small folk, and I cannot think of another person in the world that would mourn your loss," Arya said as she pulled out Needle. She didn't want to listen to this man beg for his life for another second; she knew what kind of man he was. She fought and killed them for years during the war, and men like this one didn't change. Even if he did get on that ship, he would just take his raping and killing and pillaging to another town and another country. Arya wouldn't be responsible for unleashing that on another town that couldn't defend themselves. She stabbed the bandit leader in the stomach and left him to bleed out alone. It was a kinder death than he deserved for what he and his ilk had done.
It was too dangerous to try and take their things because of the smoke, but Arya managed to cut loose the horses and hoped that someone would find them and could use the supplies. She didn't want to stay in this area any longer than she needed to.
"Let's head for the King's Road," Arya said as she walked with Gendry back to their horses. "I bet Hot Pie would love for us to stop by the Crossroads again. Maybe this time, we can convince him to come north with us."
"He'll just say that it's not called Winterhell for no reason and why would he want to go somewhere called that," Gendry said as he packed his horse. He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips. She knew he didn't enjoy the blood on his hands from raids like this, but Gendry had a strong sense of justice that wouldn't let men like that get away with what they were doing, and Arya loved that about him. They climbed on their horses and began to make their way northeast to try and put as much distance between them and the bandits as possible. It was time to start heading home.
