Chapter 9

Gendry collapsed to the ground panting, legs shaking his heart pounding so hard it hurt. They hadn`t stopped running until it was dark. Arya was leaning against a tree her chest rising and falling rapidly as she stared in the direction of the dark mass that was Gendry.

"I don`t …think that…. they... will find us …here." Arya panted.

Gendry tried to respond but couldn`t so he just shook his head.

"I`m going to start a fire."

It wasn`t easy finding fuel for the fire in the dark but somehow Arya managed it.

"Gendry are you going to help or just lay there."

"Look Arya we aren`t all 95 pounds and have wolf blood. I don`t run."

Gendry sat up leaning against a tree his breath finally getting back to normal.

"I need to eat, I`m starving." Gendry tried to stand but his legs gave out and he fell back to the ground.
"Shit!"

"You stupid… don`t move." She made her way over to Gendry and sat down beside him.

"Just sit still we can find food in the morning, there is no point now while it`s dark."

Gendry grunted and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You want me to die don`t you."

Arya just glared at him.

"Yes you found out my plans Gendry, I want to kill my only friend."

"Friend." Gendry shot a glance at Arya. "Do you kiss all of your friends the way you kissed me back there?"

Arya felt her face go red and her heart begin to race as her mind went back to earlier.

"I was just keeping those guards distracted, don`t flatter yourself."

Gendry fell sideways laying down on ground the next to Arya.

"Well it was definitely distracting."

Arya punched him hard in the ribs making him laugh instead of cry out in pain.

.

Within minutes Gendry was sound asleep. His dreams took him back to the cart Arya`s lips crushing his own. The way she pulled her body hard against his. His heart was pounding and his head was spinning but he refused to pull away thinking this could possibly be the last time he ever saw her, who he was the fact he was a lowborn bastard didn`t matter. He was content for a moment.

His dream was interrupted when he received a kick in the leg and he heard her calling his name.

"Gendry get up now!"

He could hear the panic and alarm in her voice, he sat up his ribs still in pain and his legs stiff. He staggered to his feet as quickly as his body would allow him to.

"What is it?" he asked her through gritted teeth.

"Hush" she held her hand up indicating him to be quite as she listened hard. Gendry heard nothing but Gendry had always sworn Arya Stark was part wolf she could hear, see and smell things before they were anywhere near her.

"Voices, I can hear voices, we have to go now. Can you walk?" She had turned and noticed he had propped himself up against a tree.

Gendry was embarrassed at being so sore from running he was a large muscled man and yet he could barely stand on his trembling legs but he had to be strong for her.

"I can. They don`t really hurt today." He lied pushing himself off the tree taking his place beside her as she sheathed Needle and started off into the trees. Arya knew very well that Gendry`s legs were still causing him pain. She could see his face masked in agony and noticed how lightly he was trying to walk. She appreciated his strength and the fact he did not complain. He had always been that way she remember thinking how different from Hot Pie he had been. Had it been Hot Pie that had been forced to run all night he would have just sat under those trees all day refusing to move, but Gendry pushed on, he was strong and stubborn. Two things Arya admired about him.

They walked most of the day in silence. Partly because of fear that if Arya spoke Gendry would mention the kiss again and she didn`t want to talk about that, partly because of Gendry`s aching body keeping his mind pre-occupied and partly because of the truth they had just learned about who Gendry really was and neither one of them was entirely sure how to talk about any of it. Arya wanted to say something to him but knew that his mind was probably elsewhere and he would prefer the silence. After a few hours of walking Arya broke the silence by telling Gendry to sit and rest. Gendry happily did as he was told and sat down heavily on the hard ground. Arya sat down beside him laying back on her elbows. She watched Gendry rub his legs wincing now and then. He looked up at her meeting her eyes.

"What?" he asked her finally.

"I was just thinking of what the witch lady said. About you being a Baratheon." Arya never looked away from him but Gendry was now staring at the ground in front of him.

"It`s probably a lie, that woman was bad like you said, her Lord probably just needed a smith and she found me for cheap. She knew Beric would let me go no problem if she told him their lord of light needed me."

"No Gendry I believe her. Why else would the gold cloaks have been looking for you? It all makes sense, your master sends you away just as King Robert dies and Jofferey takes the Iron Throne. She was going to kill you so no one could come between that shit son of hers and the crown that he is not entitled to. You even look like a Baratheon, that jet black hair and blue eyes I can`t believe no one noticed it before."

Gendry looked up at her. The look on his face was sad, and angry and lost.

"I don`t want to be King, I don`t want to be a Baratheon, I just want to be Gendry a smith. That`s all I have ever wanted."

"As long as Cersie and her son are alive it matters not what others want, only what they want. They proved that the day they severed my father`s head." The memory pained her but she pushed it out of her mind and smiled at Gendry. "Lucky for you though highborn bastard or lowborn bastard you will always just be Gendry to me."

The smile that stretched across his face made her stomach turn in a good way.

"You will always be Arry to me then." Gendry tossed a small stick at her playfully and sighed deeply.

"We should get going again. The sooner we get to that inn the better." He got up much easier this time, like a weight had been lifted from him.

Arya stared up at him for a moment before doing the same and standing up stretching. She smiled at Gendry before walking past him, their hands brushing against each other. Arya felt her insides turn and saw Gendry`s face blush red.

She was walking a little ways ahead of him, Gendry wasn`t sure why but he appreciated it. It kept him from having to hide his weakness. He limped along watching her walk. Noticing the way her hips swayed and the way she seemed to just float along the ground. It made him imagine how she would feel in his arms how her hands would feel on him.

"Stop it." He growled to himself shaking his head.

"What`s that?" Arya turned around.

"Oh nothing I stepped wrong that`s all."

"Ah well you will be able to rest soon the town is just there." Gendry caught up to her and looked to where she was Arya was pointing. Sure enough there was a small town with only a brothel inn and a few other buildings. Arya remembered Rowan telling her not to stay at the inn but she knew that the only accommodations she would get from the villagers would be to sleep in a barn if they were lucky and they both needed food and a good night's sleep, so she had decided they would risk it and stay at the inn. She reached into her pocket feeling the coins she had stolen from the whore that had come to the camp. She figured that the whore had it coming for kissing Gendry.

"Bout damn time." Gendry threw his arm over Arya`s shoulder and looked down at her.

"You think I will get the kings accommodations, with me being royalty and all." Gendry grinned as she rolled her eyes and walked away from him. Throwing a sarcastic comment over her shoulder at him.

"Oh I`m sure they will give you the prettiest whore and the softest feather bed they have, and hopefully a bath full of flowery water."

"It is good being me I must say." Gendry heard her let out a loud laugh and stop waiting for him to catch up.

Arya and Gendry stepped into the crowded building the smell of wine and sweat filling their nostrils. Arya scanned the crowd searching for the inn keep. She found her standing behind the bar serving ale to a group of rough looking men. There were half naked women on almost every lap. Arya turned to Gendry.

"Wait here, I will get us a room and see what I can do about food."

Gendry nodded at her and watched her disappear into the crowd. He stretched his tired legs and shivered at the warmth of the inn. He watched as the men fondled the woman and spoke loudly to one another. Some were disappearing up stairs with the women. Arya was talking to the woman he watched her hand the inn keep some coins. He wondered where she had gotten those from but he decided he probably didn`t want to know and let him mind dream of a warm bed and food in his belly.

"Hello handsome." Gendry looked up a women only a few years older than he, was standing before him, her long black hair hung past her shoulders loosely her breasts completely exposed. Gendry felt his face go red and he looked down at his hands.

"What are you doing sitting here all alone, you`re a young one and handsome strong one at that, I can`t imagine why you are sitting here all alone." Without warning she sat herself down on his lap throwing her arms around Gendry`s neck.

"I`m waiting for someone, and I`m sure you are good at what you do but…"

"Well whenever you are done with your friend we have the room at the top of the stairs. It`s the only door." Arya glared at him and shot a disgusted look at the woman on his lap. He quickly tried to push the woman off and stand but she was clinging to him like a child clings to their mother.

"Arya please, wait I will go with you."

"No please stay have your fun, you`ve earned it." Gendry thought that he saw her eyes beginning to moisten but as quickly as the tears sprang into her eyes she blinked them away.

"Don`t worry girl I will take good care of your friend here." The woman smiled at Gendry but he was watching Arya as she stared at the bare breasted woman pressing herself against him.

"Treat him well." Arya`s voice was cold and dead as she said it. Before Gendry could even reach out for her she was weaving through the crowd of men, and he lost sight of her.

Gendry turned his attention back to the woman latched onto his side.
"Look I am not interested but thank you." He peeled the woman off of him and walked away from her making his way through the crowd of men.

Arya was nowhere to be seen. Gendry was irritated to the point of screaming. She never listened to him she always just reacted and believed the worst. After a few more minutes of looking for her he assumed she had gone to their room. Gendry knew Arya well enough to know she would want to be alone so he took a seat at the bar. The inn keep came over to him,

"Can I get you an ale, your friend has already paid for you to drink your fill." The old woman smiled a wide toothless smile at him.

"Yes thank you."

He spent most of the night drinking, filling his stomach with stew and talking to the other men enjoying their company and ale. He turned away all of the women that kept throwing himself at them. Several of them offered their service to him for free, but he denied even those women. He could not bring himself to even think of enjoying their company with Arya being there, she would probably never speak to him again.