The Bastards: Volume Two

All the Distant Ships

Somewhere along the King's Road, past Moat Cailin and the Whiteknife river fork, two men sat in a pub, piss drunk and shouting belligerently at each other, though neither were particularly interested in what the other had to say. But drunk men have opinions. And drunk men shout.

"Why would Tywin Lannister attack the Keep?"

"Nah, I said the Reach, 'ell attack the Reach!"

"Why would Tywin Lannister, Lord o' Casterly Rock, attack the Reach when 'e's working so hard to marry that bastardly little grandson of his off to the Tyrell girl's cousin?"

"He's not gonna physically attack it, he's gonna attack it with family. He's gonna try an git at their gold."

"Why would the Golden Lion of Lannister want Tyrell gold?/" The second man yelled before lifting his ale and nodding at his companion "'E shits it don't ya know." He said in full earnest.

"E's got nothing. The crown's in debt up to its crowny bits. And the Tyrells are gonna try an take over the Capital now that they got that Queen Margaery and 'er grandmother in there."

"The Lannisters? Broke?"

"Of course ther broke!" The man guffawed nearly falling off his chair. "Why else would he not 'ave traded 'is gold for 'is one son and heir?"

"Now yer talkin nonsense."

"Robb Stark's up in the North. 'E's captured Jaime Lannister, and 'e wants ta trade 'im for the Stark sisters being 'eld in the Capital. But the Lannisters don't want no trade."

"Why in the Seven Hells not?"

"Because Jaime Lannister can escape on 'is own. Mark my words 'e will."

"Yer a blitherin idiot."

It was at this point that a third man interjected.

"The Starks are all damned liars." His voice boomed, silencing the other two men. "They have no Lannisters. Robb Stark does not ride a wolf into battle and Sansa Stark is not stuck in King's Landing. Same as the young Stark boys, they weren't burned to crisp in their home at night."

"Oi, what's on yer face, there man?"

"And that little Stark wolf bitch, she sure as the seven hells isn't in King's Landing. The only honest one among them is that Ned Stark and that's only cuz his damned head is stuck on a spike in the Keep."

"And 'ow the hells would you know all this?"

The man grabbed his drink and swallowed it in one gulp. "Call me a soothsayer for all the fucks I give." He said, wiping his mouth. He stood and wobbled across the tavern to the stairs of the inn, then promptly passed out on them.

"They'll never move that fucker." One of the drunks said with a laugh.

"A large man indeed." The second said. "But he's right, those bloody Starks are liars."

A raven stared down at a fat man in black. Next to him was a direwolf, white as the undisturbed snow around him.

The man patted the wolf's head as above the raven circled.

"He'll be back soon, Ghost. Not to worry, nothing could take him down." He said.

Bored, the raven flew on while the man stared south.

Brienne stared into fire, the coals burned red hot within.

"You trying to find R'hllor?"

She looked up across the fire to find Jaime Lannister at the other end. Brian rolled her eyes and stood up, continuing to prepare the camp. Her hostage was already growing on her nerves.

"You'll have better luck with that than you will finding either of those Stark girls." Jaime said.

"It's not about luck." Brienne growled, staring into the coals. "It's about.. my duty." She decided finally.

"Well, in that case, Catelyn Stark must hate you quite a bit to give you the two worst tasks in the whole of the Seven Kingdoms." Jaime laughed, and sat back, his suave demeanour remained though his wrists were chained together in front of him. "You should've sworn yourself to me instead, at least I could make you rich for your troubles."

"Yes, but I'd rather work for someone with integrity, Kingslayer."

"You're words, they wound me Lady Brienne." He said. "Look down on me, if that is what would please you, but tonight we sleep on the same ground, eat the same food, drink the same wine, and guards are looking for you just as much as they are searching for me. After all, it was a treasonous act in the eyes of the Great King Stannis, to join allegiances with Renly." He rolled his eyes.

As he spoke, Brienne stood, doing busy work to distract herself from his words. Words she knew were wrong and that she didn't need to bother listening to anyways.

"You won't eat if I don't bother to give you any food." She said, the game she'd caught sizzled next to her on the fire, and though she knew the threat to be a lie she liked the way it felt on her tongue. But it was easier to walk next to a Lannister than it was to carry on, so she divided the meal evenly an offered him his half.

"Eat." She commanded.

He held the food clumsily up to his mouth, "If only it wasn't so hard with these shackles on, perhaps they could come off for just a few minutes?"

"No chance in the seven hells." She said, she stopped as she heard a noise out in the forest. A careless snap of a twig, then a brush along a branch. Her hand immediately moved to the hilt of her sword.

"Now will you talk these things off?" Jaime whispered through gritted teeth.

Brienne shushed him. Her sword moving from it's sheath inch by inch at the pull of her wary hand.

She noticed the fatal flaw, Jaime Lannister's sword, lying at the other end of their makeshift camp. her eyes met Jaime's blue ones and together they knew the fate of their lives relied on getting that sword in the Kingslayer's capable hands.

Brienne pulled him up by the thick rope holding his wrists together and in a single move sliced it open as he went charging past the blade of her sword to his own. He dove, a figure emerging from the bushes at the same time, Brienne only heard the beginning of the fight as she turned to face whoever else was attacking. She couldn't even recognize her enemy before she felt the edge of his blade slice along her armour-less stomach. She collapsed to the ground, a pair of boots kicking her and sending her rolling in the dirt. She was facing them, Jaime kneeling on the ground, sword in hand, as they swarmed around him.

"Look at that, we caught ourselves a Lannister." The leader said, met by a round of boisterous laughter.

A river of red wound down the soil past her eyes and mixed with the flame of the fire. And then it all went black.