RICKARD
He didn't know what to say about Prince Viserys nor did he have a clue about his motives. He was grateful to him nonetheless. Although the niggling thought at the back of his mind kept reminding him that an 8 namedays old slip of a child simply shouldn't have the intellect to the things the Prince had done. Nevertheless, Rickard shoved those thoughts for the future, there were more important things to focus on right now. The Lannister kingsguard had freed his son Brandon from his cell and his appearance worried Rickard greatly. Gone was the cheerful demeanour and the handsome face, there were bruises all along his face and his whole body appeared far thiner than before. Just what had they done to his son? He consoled himself with the thought that at the very least, his son still had that glint in his eyes for a desire of revenge. He came up to Brandon and embraced him fiercely, they said no words, none were needed, such gestures were enough.
"So', said Lannister,'what now?"
"Now, we get the hell out of this place", intoned the Prince.
"Wait a minute, where do you think you are going, my prince?"
"Believe me Lannister, by the morning the King will raise a shitstorm and let's face it, he's a madman-"
"You shouldn't say those things about your own father, your grace", intoned Rickard.
"Why not, I know what he is and the world will be a better place without him, besides what do you think will happen now, Lord Rickard, saving you was the saner thing to do, but the shitstorm-'
The Prince had a disgusting mouth for someone his age
'- my actions will awaken is something I am well aware of, what do you think my father will do after he hears of your escape, by now I am sure your other son has at the very least alerted his banners, the war will come even if we try to prevent it, my father is a insane paranoid, he sees enemies and plots everywhere and this maybe very well the tipping point. And I don't want to be here to witness it, No, I'll come with you and-"
Lannister jumped in to say," And why do you think I'm going to let you go with them, your grace, the consequences would be grave, if that happens."
The Prince looked at Lannister and said,"You can come with us if you want to, be my sworn shield or something like that-oh no don't go on about those oaths, I know you wanted to leave the service the day you heard my Mother getting raped by my father, while you yourselve were helplessly standing guard, unable to do anything.."
Lannister seemed alarmed and so did Rickard, he didn't know about the Queen's predicament but this simply wasn't the sort of things to be heard from a little boy, the Prince was simply so strange, it was like hearing the words of a grown up trapped in a child's body.
Lannister seemed to be in a dilemma when Brandon enquired about his companions," What about Elbert Arryn and the rest of the lot, they must be somewhere here, we must free them too."
Rickard had a intuition that something terrible was to be revealed next, and he was right.
The prince had a sad expression on his face but Lannister showed no such hesitation replying,"They are dead, killed shortly after their arrest, I don't remember the manner of their execution but at the very least it was not by wildfire."
His son seemed to shudder after hearing the news before simmering with a visible rage,"All of them?"
"Not all of them, Chelstead surprising begged the King to spare a young boy, said it was inhuman to kill a boy so young."
"Young…', his son mulled over the words,'it must certainly be my squire, Ethan...Ethan Glover, we must save him, it's the least I can do in the memory of Elbert and the rest, they came with me because they believed in me, where is his cell, we must release right now."
"I am sorry", the Prince seemed genuinely saddened,"But we can't, there simply is no time to spare."
His son appeared to reply with a heated word or two but Rickard put a firm hand on his shoulder, escaping with leaving his squire behind was not honourable, but it was needed to be done for the future of House Stark. Brandon reluctantly quieted down after, the gesture.
As he led the Prince by the shoulder, Brandon tagging behind them, the enigmatic little lad looked behind to Lannister and said,"You should really come along you know.."
Lannister appeared to hesitate when a voice suddenly cut in menacingly," Come along to where?"
The prince looked terrifed as a Kingsguard emerged from the shadows along with a couple of Targaryen guards, the boy turned to Lannister,"Who is that?"
"Darry", hissed Lannister,"He was on patrol duty."
"And you convinently forgot to mention that, I suppose?", let out Viserys.
"What do we have here,the Prince, two traitors and a potential oathbreaker", Darry sneered.
"Your grace…go", said Lannister
"You know what Jaime, this the shittiest time to show your bravado, perhaps we can still escape togh-"
Rickard grabbed the boy by his shoulders, even with his still cheery was exterior, the boy seemed terrified right now, that was perhaps the most normal thing the boy had done so far, acting like the child that he really was. " Bravado it might be, your grace, but he is right, we must go, now."
As Darry crept closer alongwith the guardsmen, Lannister unsheated his sword, glanced back towards the Prince once before letting out,"For all the annoying shit you seemed to be today, you are by far the most sane of your family that I have met, Farewell your grace, go on, 'save the world', or whatever that means", he said before going forward to meet Darry in battle.
Rickard didn't stay to witness the Young Lion's skill, he took the Prince's hand and sped off through the other end of the corridor, as they were seemingly descending down, the Prince stopped dead in his tracks.
"Perhaps, we should go back, save Jaime."
Brandon threw a frustrated look to the boy,"Didn't you just say we have no time, we should be be going towards the gates, now!"
"And what do you know of King's Landing, Darry is not a foolish man, he had alerted the Keep guardsmen, the City Watch must be on alert eitherway, thats not my point though, saving Jaime brings us in good grace with Lord Tywin, say a war really did break out would you like to be with him or against him?"
"The Prince has a point son, I don't completely agree with him but he's right, moreover the only person who has a clue about how to weave through this city is the Lannister lad, it's the most rational thing to do."
Brandon cut a frustrated figure as he said," We don't even have swords."
"Take some from the fallen guardsmen that Lannister felled earlier."
And so they went back upstairs to see Lannister greatly struggling against Darry, he had somehow fended off one guard, slicing his whole limb off, with the guard retreating back towards the entrance in agony, while Darry intensified his barrage of slashes furthermore.
Thankfully for Lannister, his weakened self and his son were enough to subdue Darry, the latter might have been one of the best swordsmen in the Kingdom, but he couldn't expect to fend off three highly trained combatants.
They killed the other guardsmen and sooner Darry was brought on his knees when Brandon slashed low on his knees, lodging halfway through his bones, the kingsguard didn't scream out in agony, but he appeared pained nonetheless, when he knelt down Brandon switfly followed up by severing his head of his shoulder while Lannister looked on in shock.
"Why..did..you come back", said the young lad in between exhausted breaths.
"T'was the prince, said something about being in your father's favours", replied Brandon.
"You must come with us now, Lannister, the king will not let you live after Darry's death."
CLANG!!CLANG!! CLANG!!
"What was that?",Brandon said as he looked around.
"The bells of the Great Sept', murmured Lannister and the looked towards the entrance to find the mutilated guard missing.
Rickard seemed to know what Jaime meant to utter next,"Aye, that man went and alerted his brother in arms, along with the city watch by the looks of it."
Brandon suffled off to the extremely small window adjacent outside entrance door and came visibily pale,"There are about two score men gathering outside."
Lannister unsheated his sword and wondered,"Perhaps we should fight and-"
"Are you insane Lannister? or do you not know your numbers properly, there are about a fourty men coming from each side of the corrider, each of them hardbred men at arms, not the puny goalers you boasted about killing in dozens", remarked Brandon.
"Are you afraid to fight, Stark?", taunted the kingsguard
"I have had more fights than the number of hairs on your chest, a good fighter knows when to back down and admit it's impossible and right now it very much is impossible."
While his Son and Lannister bickered with each other Rickard swore he heard the little Prince murmuring something along the lines of ,"But where did Varys take Tyrion through…the fourth level..ah yes..!"
"Listen!, Everyone turned to look at the Prince as he spoke,' I read it in a book from the keep library that there is another level below this one, a seldom used level of the black cells known to few, there's a tunnel at the end of it which leads to a defunct Fleabottom sewage which further leads to it ceasing outside the city walls, perhaps it will work!"
"Long shot even if possible, said Brandon before he heard the rapid footsteps descending down the building,' but then again there's no other choice."
And so they went further below, Lannister adding to their ranks this time, they reached a blocked door soon, Brandon and Lannister broke down the door to find nothing but complete darkness on the other side, along with a familiar smell, the smell of death and torture. Where the black cells had failed to frighten him, Rickard felt a slight shudder go through. The darkness, smell and silence was defeaning and terrifying. It seemed straight out of the tales of the Dreadfort flaying chambers which Old Nan would say to him when he was a kid.
"I can't see a thing', muttered Lannister,'and where's this tunnel now, your grace?"
"Straight..we go straight', guided the Prince,' to another hole blocked by a rock."
And so they went further in a straight line with Brandon at the foremost, himself and the Prince in the middle and Lannister at the rear, he could feel all four of them were unnerved by this fourth level, they dared not step even a foot sideways but straight.
They finally reached the end of the level, a solid wall, the boys felt around the wall for a rock and the Prince discovered it by his feet, they moved the rock blocking it to reveal the tunnel and it really was there!
"My word! your grace, exactly which book did you read?", exclaimed the Lannister
"That does not matter now lads', he felt himself muttering,"Not a word till we reach the other end of the tunnel."
A tunnel it barely was, a hole more like, only a dwarf could perhaps stand upright through it, or a boy, like the Prince, the others swore at the pain in their backs but went further nonetheless, Brandon was at front again and almost fell down a deep hole inside the tunnel itself, it seemed the tunnel went much further than it seemed, thankfully though, there was a ladder and they went down it with Rickard firmly holding Viserys to make sure he didn't fall off.
Their ordeal was finally over after descending down the ladder to another crawlspace before reaching what seemed like an intersection of sewage tunnels.
As they looked around, Lannister asked the Prince,"I thought you said we'd see Fleabottom by the end of it, but what is this place?"
The Prince had no words for either of them, He seemed confused as he said,"Did we miss an entrance, somewhere along the ladder?"
"Please no", groaned Lannister,"Spare me, for the love of the Seven, I would prefer not to go back though that shithole trying to find another hole."
"Well, this…is an intersection, by the looks of it, two sewage entrances on right and left, believe me Jaime, our odds of finding that other hole again are better", said the Prince.
Brandon seemed dead tired when he added his piece,"You know what, let's just take the right one, I would prefer anything next to standing in this pile of shit." And with that he moved forward into the entrance on the right side, Viserys following behind him confidently enough while Lannister hesitated between looking at the duo and at Rickard, perhaps hoping the eldest one in the group could give some sage wisdom. But for the life of him Rickard simple didn't know what to do other than hope to the old gods and new that they'd get out of this den of vipers somehow. He ignored Lannister and followed his son through the right sided entrance, the boy finally sighing exhaustedly and following behind.
As they treaded through the sewage, the golden haired kingsguard fell in step with him, his expression was exhausted. He looked at Rickard and exclaimed,"I wish I didn't sign up for this."
He himself agreeing,"So do I."
(FEW MINUTES LATER)
Rickard was pleasantly surprised when the came out of the entrance to find the walls of the city, just few paces behind.
"Gods, Stark! You were right!"
"We still have no horses."
"I know a village nearby…"
As their conversation continued, Rickard looked towards the Young Prince, who was looking towards Rickard with a tired but broad grin on his face.
He could find only two words to express his gratitude,
"Thank you."
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