Small Village, Kingswood, CrownLands – The Next Day - Early Noon
The following day, our heroes woke up without any trouble. While having something for breakfast, Visenya quickly told them about the plan she and Arthur had devised the night before.
At first, some of the soldiers were not persuaded. They did not expect the villagers to change their minds just like that. They expressed their opinions, knowing that Visenya always appreciated honesty over fake lies.
Ultimately, they decided to give it all a chance, and thus, they returned to the village.
Once again, they were met with cold looks, and the villagers clarified they did not want them around. Those aggressive stares made some soldiers uneasy more than once, but none dared to make a move or even draw any weapon, Visenya having made clear where that scenario would lead them.
After gathering them in the same Inn they had visited the day prior, the villagers awaited to hear why they had been summoned there. Their faces already gave the impression that they had chosen a side, and any offers or words would not truly move them.
Ser Arthur hesitated for a moment until he felt a hand on top of his shoulder. While shorter than the knight, the Dragoness had a distinctive aura that was hard to ignore.
"You got this. Trust yourself. All you ever did since I met you was follow your heart," she advised the noble knight, motivating him like a close friend would.
They might not be close, considering Visenya had spent years around Ser Barristan, but she knew all the knights and respected them. In addition, she almost always seemed to know what to say to them in a way that few could genuinely not get influenced by her words.
The knight nodded and stepped forward, drawing the small crowd's attention.
At first, the speech did not elicit the kind of expressions and reactions Visenya had in mind; it slowly changed as it all became a discussion. The Villagers dared to point out the negatives and bring up the hardships they had to endure and the negligence they received from the Crown.
Visenya had not honestly expected it to that degree. When she heard them, she parted her lips, realising she did have some severe talk to do with both Rhaegar and the Small Council.
A hand on her shoulder snapped her from her thoughts, making her focus on the owner of the said hand while Arthur kept trying to strike a favourable deal with the villagers.
"Are you okay, Visenya?" he asked in a hushed tone after having observed her reactions and understood each expression.
She motioned with her head for them to walk further away, stopping close to the door while the rest of the knights listened to the Sword of the Morning.
"I will be. I did not expect things to have been that bad, let alone in a village so close to King's Landing," she confessed, her red-flecked amber eyes glancing occasionally at the gathered villagers.
"You can't be everywhere at once," the wise knight told her. "You are already stretching yourself thin to please everyone and do everything", he continued, and she parted her lips to argue, but he did not let her. "You are very good at what you do, but you are still human at the end of the day. Don't forget that."
For a moment, Visenya thought back to her early years growing up. How often did she hear the famous Targaryen words that her family was above ordinary men? That the Targaryens were closer to gods than humans.
Once upon a time, when Dragons flew across the sky, perhaps that was the case. But those glorious days were long gone, having felt a bloody red mark on the pages of history and almost driving her house to extinction.
She never genuinely thought of herself as different from the rest, constantly reminded of her mortality with each bruise that formed on her body and each time she saw her blood staining her clothes.
However, she had promised to be better than others before her, to learn from her ancestors, and to fix their mistakes. She had taken on a lot of weight, but she never stopped to think about it or let it bother her.
"You have a point there, old friend", she confessed, her lips pressed into a thin line. "Many changes will have to occur once we are done."
She dared look at the villagers, seeing their expressions had changed and softened faintly. They seemed to reach a common ground with Ser Arthur, and it was the first sign that things were about to change.
The first sign was that their mission was about to end.
For now, they would get the support of the villagers. They had to deal with the Brotherhood and then return victorious as expected.
After they got the villagers on their side, Visenya and the knights' situation improved slightly, but the Brotherhood's situation became more difficult.
Now, the outlaws no longer had the support of the common folk. Without them, they did not have provisions or a place to stay, let alone hide. Instead, they were pushed away from the small village, much to the men's display.
And that was only the beginning.
Without support, the outlaws were outnumbered and exposed, a prey easy to take down, or so one would think. Despite being a band of outlaws, it did not mean they were amateurs or young squires who did not know how to hold a sword.
Over the past few days, Visenya and her group have gotten a good idea of who they are up against.
Simon Toyne was a descent swordsman but a good leader, actually forming plans that did help even the footing between the two groups.
However, the men he had recruited had made them a formidable opponent.
One of them was Fletcher Dick, a man with such prowess when it came to the bow that it surprised Visenya, who took personal pride in her skills. His protégé, Ulmer, was not far behind in terms of skills, and the two archers proved to be a nuisance for our heroes since they had the distance advantage.
There was Big Ben, whose heavy war hammer could dent most armour and, despite his size, was a formidable opponent to bring down.
Yet, the biggest and most dangerous threat was an unnamed man who went by the nickname 'The Smiling Knight'. Based on the reports from the villagers and the first faint encounters between the two groups, Visenya and her group got a good idea of what they were up against.
If one could call him that, this man was a force to be reckoned with. He was a madman; cruelty and chivalry all jumbled up together, and he did not know the meaning of fear. He was always too eager to be the best man in combat, taking pride in each man he took down, including Ser Victor Tyrell when the outlaws first attacked Elia's escort.
Eventually, after tries, traps and plans... the two groups met in direct combat.
None held back, and soon, chaos unfolded around them as the battle took place deep within the royal woods, which served as a hunting ground for the royal family.
They had started together as a group, trying to protect one another, but soon, they realised they couldn't, not if they wished to take down the tricky opponent who knew the woods better than them.
"Scatter!" was all Visenya had ordered, knowing it was not the wisest decision but was also the only one they had left if they wished to put an end to this group.
Thus, as the brotherhood members tried to flee or retreat, the noble knights of King's Landing went after them. Some remained close to one another, but others, like Ser Barristan, chose to chase after the enemy, taking the risk of getting further and further away from their group.
Visenya fought on top of her stallion, taking advantage of the animal's strength and height advantage to take down any opponent she faced. It was not easy, but it did help her in this fight.
That was until she heard the sound of a man's cries and the falling of a body against the floor. Turning her head and looking above her shoulder, she saw Ser Will on the floor, clutching his shoulder where an arrow had pierced at the small gap between his armour plates.
"Ser Will!" she called out his name as her horse kicked an outlaw to the stomach, who had tried to attack while she was distracted.
"I am fine... we need to find the shooter," he said through grunts of pain, feeling the rather long arrow pinned into his flesh.
"Don't remove it!" she ordered, knowing he would bleed out relatively fast if he dared to remove the item.
The length of the arrow indicated that the shooter used a longbow, which was why it struck with such force and precision. It also meant the shooter could be further away than usual since that specific bow offered them that advantage.
Either way, she knew that her loyal knight was right. They needed to take down the shooter or were at a significant disadvantage.
Ser Will managed to get up and chose to carry the sword in his other hand, even though it was not his dominant one. He remained close, trying to help his lady pinpoint the archer or protect her if any outlaw tried to attack her.
The rest of their group had scattered, some closer and others further away, but the outlaws had also done the same, evening the playing field for both sides.
Suddenly, Syrax made a noise and shifted the weight between his legs, indicating he was becoming uneasy. These signs drew Visenya's attention, who had long learnt to trust the instincts of her horse.
She observed how the horse looked around as if the animal tried to pinpoint the archer's position. In the end, following his uneasy gaze, Visenya saw movement between some bushes, and she swore she saw the shadow of a man flickering for a moment before disappearing.
Her heart started to beat faster. She could not see the enemy but knew he was moving, trying to get a better angle to shoot them down. The horse was still uneasy, moving slowly in a circle as if trying to find the enemy stalking them like a menacing predator.
Sheathing her sword, she grabbed her bow, and her hand went into her quiver by the side of her saddle. All her arrows were regular except for three, whose tail feathers were pitch black instead of the typical white.
The feeling was also different. It was how she could pick them amongst the other arrows without ever looking at them. She placed one on the bow and pulled the string halfway back to see if she could spot the shadow again.
Suddenly, Syrax got up and leaned on his back legs; his front legs held mid-air while a powerful neigh sound was heard from him.
Visenya used the strength of her leg muscles to hold tightly and even leaned forward, doing her best not to fall from the saddle. She ordered a command in high valyrian, her voice stable while she did her best to keep her balance on top of her steed.
At that moment, just as she was trying to calm down the horse, she glanced down and noticed the bleeding front leg. An arrow had pierced itself on the ground where the horse was a moment ago, an evident sign that it was meant for her loyal companion. Still, her veteran horse had dodged and avoided getting seriously injured.
A few steps back, and the horse fell on all four. The bleeding wound did not seem to affect the strength of the non-castrated veteran stallion. And it was then that Visenya managed to get a better glimpse of the enemy.
Wasting no time, she pulled the string back and aimed, ignoring the faint movement of her horse. Her body remained stable, her hand even more so as she waited.
Some passing clouds moved and stopped, casting shadows on the ground, allowing the sun above them to shed more light into the forest. With fewer shadows and darkness around them, Visenya spotted the archer's face, and the archer saw her as well.
Both arrows were released in seconds and heading for the enemy, respectively.
However, the two arrows had the same trajectory and angle, making them head-first against one another. In that case, one would expect the two arrows to collide and fall to the ground, but Visenya was one step ahead.
Before she left King's Landing, she talked with the White Bull and got a few details about the mysterious archer. She also inspected the arrow the Kingsguard had removed from his shoulder and a plan formed in her mind during the following hours.
When she married, the news had travelled across Westeros and even Essos, where many of her trade acquaintances lived. She had also received gifts from them, a sign of goodwill and a letter hoping the trade would continue, and it did.
One of those gifts was a box with seven arrows inside, sent to her by a relatively wealthy lord from Meereen. They were made of local wood, but what was different about them were the arrowheads. Unlike the ordinary arrows, whose heads were made of metal, those arrowheads were made of valyrian steel. They were primarily meant to be decorative, a sign of goodwill and partnership, but for that battle, they were just what she needed.
The almost indestructible tip of her arrow pierced right through the competitor's common metal and even ripped through the wooden body. Losing no momentum or any of its original strength, the arrow continued flying straight before it embedded itself through the opponent's leather chest armour.
And just like that, Fletcher Dick collapsed on the ground; his bow still held in his hand, but his era of terror was coming to an end once and for all.
Visenya lowered her bow, and only then did she remind herself to exhale and breathe properly, having almost forgotten it while she was aiming for the enemy archer.
Her moment of peace did not last long as the bushes rustled. Immediately, she grabbed a normal arrow while Ser Will moved to stand in front of her and her horse, ready to defend them until his last breath.
Someone moved from the bushes a few agonising seconds later, but it was not the enemy. Instead, it was the young squire Merrett Frey. Despite his age, he had yet to make it to knighthood but had been accompanying the group for days, being a squire to Jaime and her.
He was a decent fighter, and the last time he had seen her was when the battle had begun. He was fighting alongside Jaime since both were closer in age and had started as squires around the same time.
Merrett was walking oddly, barely able to keep his balance. His helmet was poorly dented, so it seemed to press his skull in all the wrong ways. His sword was missing, and his hands were bloody, but no one could tell at that moment if the blood was his or not.
"Merrett, where is Jaime?" she asked him as the first signs of fear and worry started to settle in the pit of her stomach.
She had ordered the boy to stay close but only realised he was gone. If Merrett was not with him, then who was?
The young man tried to speak but could barely form a sentence. His head spun, and it was a miracle he was still standing. He barely managed to point towards the direction he had come from, his hand feeling heavy and shaking from shock.
He collapsed right after, fighting to remain conscious with his latest injuries.
Visenya's blood ran cold, the unsettling feeling in her stomach intensifying, and she could not ignore it. She jumped off her horse in record time, knowing that Syrax would not move quickly through the narrower path; plus, he did have his leg injured, and she would not risk it.
"My Lady-" Ser Will tried to argue as he seemed to have read her mind.
She unsheathed her sword, her valyrian steel blade reflecting the rays of the sun passing through the tree canopies above them. "Stay with him and Syrax, Ser Will", she ordered the loyal knight.
As she started to walk towards the direction Merrett had pointed out, Ser Will extended a hand to stop her.
"Where are you going, my lady?" he dared to ask, fearing for her safety.
She glanced at him above her shoulder, her face solemn and covered by blood specks that had been thrown at her whenever she sliced an enemy. "I am going to find my son", and without another word, she started to spring down the path, not letting her armour, the heat or anything slow her down.
[A/N] - Guess who got a new writing app to help her with her stories? That's right, me! :D
I'm still getting the hang of it, but I do hope this app will help me correct mistakes I make, use fancier words, and just make your reading experience much better.