United we Stand – Divided we Fall
Volume II Chapter 2– part 2
Nunn's Deep
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Characters:
Lucas (alias Benjamin before dying) : 9 years old
Oly / Captain Hook : unknown age
Mina:12 years old
Guards:
Grange : leader, 35 years old, related to Ser Chewrick
Pat: youngest, speak the Old Tongue, curious.
Plaut: son of Red Town's smith
Stow: deceased
Lomas: sings sometimes with Mina in the evening
Brett : miner, alcoholic
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Stackspear's lands, 198 A.C., third moon, second fortnight
Lucas POV
When morning came, we buried Stow after Grange recited a prayer to the Stranger.
The mood was sombre.
We had been lucky enough until now to avoid any injury. We had made sure to make a detour and not cross the lions' territory, thus not doubling the number of persons standing watch. In hindsight, it had been a mistake. It was too late to correct it and Stow had died, probably falling asleep during his watch.
We couldn't stay however and before midday, we were back to hiking and mapping.
I asked myself who could help me measuring the distances by counting the steps. The answer was simple. Grange and Mina were now the only two who could count their steps correctly and Grange had to concentrate on looking for threats.
When we divided what Stow had been carrying, Grange told me to keep Stow's bow.
"Did he have a family" I heard Mina ask Lomas.
"Aye, two children."
"What a mess."
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Days passed swiftly. We were heading back westwards to the Stack with one less man.
The day after the attack, we found one of the deadly injured lionesses, the one Pat had injured with his spear, just before setting camp. Two of my arrows were still embedded in her body, one at its leg, the other had hit her on the belly.
The guards had carefully approached and made sure the beast was dead before Pat began to skin it. A lioness' hide was worth several silver tags, after all.
Our journey had been successful, but the mood had changed. It would be wrong to say we were carefree before, but the following days, there wasn't any chit-chat – only the necessaries order were given. It affected Mina and myself less as I had to concentrate on the survey and the map.
After three days, the mood improved however and things almost returned to the way it was before Stow's death.
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Each morning, I would train with Stow's bow. Grange had encouraged me to train daily. My technique was right – years of practising it back on Earth made sure of it, as had several trophies I or James, my nephew, had won. But my young body needed hours and hours of training to build the necessary muscles and reflexes. Besides, it never hurt to know how to use such a weapon, as our incident with the lionesses had proved.
I had been lucky with the shots and the beasts had been very close. I was working on range accuracy as well as swiftness – something I never had to train for in my previous life as archery had almost always focused on accuracy, not speed.
Here, however, my life might very well depend on whether I would be quick enough one day to lose several arrows at a moment notice.
So, I trained, and trained. Even when I felt like I could fall asleep standing up.
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Stackspear's land, four miles to the east of Red Town, 198 A.C., last day of the sixth moon.
Summer
Seven days later
"Where exactly does it hurt?"
"At the ankle."
I carefully took Mina's leg in my left hand and her foot in my right hand and moved it a bit.
"Does it hurt when I'm doing this?"
Her negative answer put my mind at ease.
"I don't believe you broke anything. But you probably sprained your ankle when you slipped. We will make you a splint, but you should avoid to put any weight on it."
Mina's face fell. She was probably wondering what would happen next.
We were on our way to the Stack to report what we had found. Two areas had drawn my attention. After reporting to the Stack, I intended to go on with a more thorough survey at these two locations – but I was far more interested in the one near to a Sept named Nunn's Deep.
"We have almost reached Red Town. We can leave Mina at my parent's house, they will look after her" said Plaut.
After a short discussion, we decided it would be indeed the best course of action, even though I didn't like the idea of leaving Mina alone. I would speak with her and Oly about it.
The Captain and the guards carried Mina to the village. My sister had earned their respect by never complaining about the long hikes or the harsh conditions the survey was imposing us. Her wit had entertained us and some evening, she proved to be almost as good as Grange when it came to playing with words.
She had learnt several songs at Banefort and almost every evening, she would sing together with Lomas, who had a nice baritone voice.
Four miles later, we arrived at Red Town.
Plaut was leading us towards one of the smithies. Many people recognized him and welcomed us.
Finally, we arrived at the smithy, where Plaut's parents welcomed us warmly.
Plaut's mother led the Captain carrying Mina to a bed where he put her down.
"Thank you, Mam'. "
"Think nothing of it. How are you feeling, dear? How is your ankle?"
"Tired, but fine."
Plaut's mother was insistent about taking care of Mina. She had grey hair but kind eyes, although her expression had this hardness people who saw many people die have. As a midwife, she had seen more than one birth go wrong.
The next day, when we departed for the Stack, the Captain stayed at Red Town with Mina. With Brett staying at the village too, we all felt better knowing he would always be at her side.
Plaut and his family had assured us they would look after Mina, but despise their promises, we decided against leaving her alone. The Captain used his tiredness as an excuse and offered to make shafts for the tools Plaut's father and brother were forging.
As it turned out, the local woodturner had left to serve under Lord Roger in the civil war more than a year ago and he had died without anyone to replace him.
Captain Hook's help was gladly accepted.
As I left Red Town with Grange, Pat, Lomas and Plaut – who would have preferred to stay but had to come to the Stack – despite knowing Oly would look after Mina, together with Plaut's family, I couldn't get rid of an impression that something was about to go wrong.
But seeing as there was nothing else, I could do, I tried to stop worrying over nothing more than a vague feeling.
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Stackspear, Lord Roger's solar, 198 A.C., seventh moon, first fortnight
Summer
Alyn Breckeneck POV
"… with your leave, I would like to look more into this region."
"Nunn's Deep? You believe there might be gold in Nunn's Deep?" Maester Corus' tone was very doubtful.
"In one word: yes" stated the boy.
I looked at him, still not sure what to think of the boy.
The Lord of Castamere had wanted to have his own expert at the Stack to report the progress made regarding the potential gold mine.
He had sent me, his most senior miner, to the Stack, to hear what came out of the almost four moons long survey the boy, Lucas, had led.
After all, if Lucas was successful in finding gold on House Stackspear's lands, Lord Rolland would tie his family with Lord Roger's. It was understandable that my Lord wanted to be sure that there wouldn't be any nasty surprise.
Like everybody, I had had doubts, moons ago, when I learnt that a boy of barely nine nameday would come to Castamere to help find a solution to the flooding catastrophe and the fissures that hat appeared on Castamere's walls.
At the time, nobody had been able to fix the fissure, and even less how to stop the flooding. Had it been any other mine, it would have been abandoned, as flooded mine were very dangerous, even after the water had left. Castamere's castle and the wealth buried below its foundation had however been the reason for Lord Rolland's perseverance.
After several fortnights of seeing the boy inspect the galleries, listen to the miners as they described the galleries and the fissure, then work and be successful where I and the other miners, mason and builder had failed, I had learnt to expect the unexpected from young Lucas – as well as some humility, I must admit.
Naturally, at first, I had resented him – he was so young!
But Lucas had shared his methods and knowledge quite freely – more so than any other miner I had encountered or worked with and who clutched to their knowledge like starved leeches. I had been the only miner of Castamere to back his plans up once he explained to me what he wanted to do and why he suggested it.
When the water in Castamere's mine began to disappear, and the fissures stopped spreading, I became Lord Rolland trusted miner, just for having spoken in favour of Lucas plan.
For this reason, I must confess, I was a bit biased when it came to Lucas as I felt I owned my new position to him to some degree.
Like at Castamere, however, while I understood most of Lucas' explanations, the calculation's part went miles over my head – and from Maester Corus expression, I wasn't the only one. The latter was visibly not liking it one bit and tried to hide it.
Contrary to how most children would have reacted should they notice that the Maester didn't understand what seemed to be something they took as basic, Lucas, didn't point it out and explained again with different words, but without looking at Maester Corus, no doubt to avoid drawing the attention to him. Quite clever, as the scholar would have been offended had Lucas done otherwise.
Lord Roger himself, Ser Gilrock - his Steward -, Maester Corus and I were listening to Lucas's report regarding the survey of the eastern part of House Stackspear's lands – the poorest part. If Lucas was to find gold there, this would change quickly and for the best, however. One of the guards, Granger or something stood silently to the side.
"Your thoughts, Alyn?" asked Lord Roger.
I wasn't used to be spoken to by a Lord directly. Usually, I took my orders from the steward or the Maester at Castamere.
Moreover, Lord Roger seemed tensed for an unknown reason – something that hadn't escaped Lucas' attention either if I read his behaviour correctly.
But the importance of this survey meant that Lord Roger was taking an active part in this meeting. If gold was found on Lord Roger's fief, his House would gain wealth and social status - in one word it would become more powerful and Lord Roger would be remembered as the Lord who started it.
I looked hard at the map Lucas had drawn as well as at the samples he had arranged on the desk before answering carefully, not wanting to let him wait for an answer too long – nobles weren't used to wait.
"I believe that young Lucas may be onto something, even if I wouldn't bet on the chances that it turns out to be successful. Half a dozen of miners went through this region since Aegon's Conquest and no one found any trace that could point to the presence of gold" I started.
Lucas looked at me, his face devoid of any emotion but his eyes were looking at me as if he was trying to read my mind.
"But on the other hand" I continued before they could interrupt me, 'they didn't come back with maps as detailed as the ones which lay on this table. Nor did they use the same methods. While I won't pretend that I understand young Lucas calculations, his knowledge was the key to our flooding problem at Castamere. And the samples he brought back are consistent with what one would find around a golden seam."
Two parchments in front of me were covered with numbers and letters, some of them unknown to me, despite being one of the few miners at Castamere who were able to read.
They kept looking at me. They wanted me to say it plain and simple, it seems. So much for neutrality.
"In other words, I believe we should give young Lucas the opportunity to continue his survey around Nun's Deep. Even if it were to be unfruitful, his maps and the localisation of several unused natural resources are already worth the costs and will profit House Stackspear in the next decades to come."
Indeed, Lucas had indicated several points where ocre or ore could be found.
I noticed young Lucas relax a bit. No doubt he felt better now that I had spoken in favour of his conclusions.
"Where is the miner, Brett? He should have been here" said Lord Roger, changing the subject abruptly and turning towards the guard with disapproval in his voice.
"Brett hasn't be very helpful, my Lord. His accident in the mine has deeply unsettled him. I would advise against calling on him again."
The way the guard spoke had all of a rehearsed answered.
Lord Roger stared at the guard for several heartbeats. Then, without adding any comment, he took a scroll laying on his desk.
"This message arrived two days ago. It comes from Deep Den" he showed us the broken seal. I was able to recognize House Lydden's badger with ease.
"Do you know what news it brought?"
Lucas was the one Lord Roger had asked his question. Lucas became paler. But the former didn't wait for Lucas to answer.
"Lord Lauros informed me that a mine caved in near Deep Den. Dozens of miners perished. House Lydden wants you to be brought to Deep Den and that you face justice."
Everybody turned to face the younger participant. Lucas' face had gone as white as snow.
"Any comment, Lucas?"
The young man was shocked.
"That's tragic. So many lives… just for a few stags" he stammered.
"What do you mean, a few stags?" scolded Lord Roger.
The young miner took the time to breath in slowly before explaining.
"Ser Argos and Lord Lauros wanted to cut the cost as much as possible. I told them times and times again not to use the cheapest beams, but only oak or pine. If they didn't follow my advice… it has been several moons, the dampness of the air in the mine will have speed up the putrefaction of the beams."
Maester Corus looked at me.
"Would this explain why a gallery would cave in?"
"Yes, most assuredly."
"Be that as it may, I can't do as if I hadn't received this message."
Lord Roger was no doubt about to say he had to send Lucas to Deep Den – where Lucas would be hanged no matter what, if not for the collapse, then for escaping - when I did something I had never done before. I cut Lord Roger in.
"If I may, my Lord?"
Lord Roger shot me a black look, not liking to be interrupted like this.
"I better be important for you to speak out of turn so rudely!"
"My deepest apologies, my Lord" I said, bowing slightly to show my respect.
"I remember distinctly Lucas showing the oaken beams at Castamere to Ser Argos once and telling him that it was of upmost importance to use good quality supplies if one wanted to avoid the gallery to cave in. Ser Argos dismissed it. Later, when we implemented Lucas' solution at Castamere, he made sure the beams we used were suitable and didn't have any flaw."
Nobody said a word for several heartbeats before Lord Roger spoke.
"No doubt Lord Lauros will want to punish you, Lucas. I fear he will soon know where you are. He will ask me to hand you to him and I would be hard pressed to refuse."
The boy opened his mouth to answer, but he was interrupted before he could say a word.
"We all know however how greedy Lord Lauros is and I haven't forgotten how Ser Argos spoke to me. I won't hand you to him, but you can't come back to the Stack."
He turned his head and spoke to the Maester.
"Have you spoken of this message to anyone, Maester?"
The scholar shook his head from left to right.
"No, milord, I did as you ordered and spoke to no one about House Lydden's raven reaching us.
Lord Roger looked directly at the young miner.
"You will leave my castle tonight, discreetly, through the postern and you will go back directly to Nunn's Deep. You will avoid every village or settlement. I give you six moons to find if there is indeed gold in this region. I you succeed, I'll help you leave the Westerlands alive. If you don't, you will have to do it on your own."
I thought the boy would gladly accept it, but to my surprise, he asked about the hundred golden dragon that were promised to him for his success.
A hundred golden dragon! I almost whistled! This was more than what most people could hope to earn, even in several lives!
The highborn Lord seemed annoyed at the question.
"I keep my promises. I may have however to pay you later as you won't be able to come back to retrieve your gold."
Lucas didn't seem convinced but he was wise enough not to press further.
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That was the last chapter in the Westerlands! Next chapter will take place in the Riverlands!
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