A few days later, the commander arrived back at the Company of Rose with a wide smile on his face as if he had gotten very good news on his venture to the city of Myr.
But on the very next day that he returned a party of seven consisting of Jon, Sam, Oberyn, Obara, Commander Gared and a few others from the company, left the Camp on the fastest steeds that the company could provide towards the nearest port city.
And on that very same day, the Company of Rose also began to dismantle their camps under the supervision of young Bran, their Commander's son. The boy had been tasked by his father to begin transporting all of the company's warriors to a deserted coastline nearby where there would hopefully be ships ready to pick them up.
Since the Company travelled mostly on foot they would be a lot slower than them so Jon hoped that he would have enough time to make a trip to the city of Braavos, and then arrive back at the pickup location with all the ships in his company before the warriors reach there.
...
The first thing Prince Oberyn noticed about the boy during their travel was that unlike other Noble lads his age, Jon seemed to actually know what he was doing... instead of just pretending.
He always had this look of absolute surety on his face when guiding them as if he had never even considered that he could be wrong and while Oberyn knew quite a lot of young people with that unflinching confidence he could see that unlike others Jon's was one born out of conviction and self-assurance rather than arrogance.
Even Oberyn with his years of experience would sometimes get confused with which path to take and would have to stop every now and then to get his bearings. But not Jon... the boy was so sure of his path that it was almost uncanny.
In the beginning, he was quite sceptical when it was revealed that Jon would be the one to lead them and that too through a so-called shortcut.
He had imagined that in his haste to cut the time the boy would take a wrong path and would lead them in a circle or into a dead end and then they would have to backtrack and waste even more time.
But then he began taking them through all kinds of convoluted paths some were well trodden while others were deserted, sometimes they had to take a trek through a small forest while other times they had to go through the middle of a field of tall yellow grasses the height of men...and ever so slowly Oberyn began to feel that maybe he was wrong.
Because never once did the boy hesitate...
He was like a sure-footed Dothraki scout who had roamed the wilderness for decades. Except for the fact... that the boy was barely more than a decade old. So it was quite a conundrum for Oberyn to understand.
Even the commander of the company of Rose whom Oberyn had befriended along the way, was in awe of this and said that Jon was gifted by the Gods.
'Well... his ancestors considered themselves to be the Gods of the sky so maybe they were showing him the path through their 'magic'...' Oberyn mused before snorting at his absurd inner thoughts.
But then they reached the city of Myr in almost half the time according to Gared, and it made him question if there really was magic involved in this...
Oberyn couldn't have imagined how close he was to the truth there...
And that wasn't even the end of surprises.
When they entered Mry, they were greeted by a forty-year-old man, who called Jon Captain and was waiting for them with a carriage right outside the city.
Not only had the man prepared the carriage so that it could directly take them to the port, but he had also purchased tickets for all of them to a ship that was leaving for Pentos that very same day in just a few hours... which was just insane.
How in seven hells did he even know that they were going to reach the city at that time on that day... or did he fucking purchase so many tickets to Pentos every single day while waiting for them. Because no one could be that stupid and rich...
'Well... unless their surname's Lannister...'
And the same fucking thing happened when they reached Pentos, they had a man waiting for them at the port with seven tickets booked for them on the fastest ship that was leaving for Braavos the morning next day... it was just fucking mind-boggling.
After all, they had to know the exact date and the exact time the ships they were sailing on were going to reach that port... which he hadn't thought was possible for sea travel until then...
And how in the seven hells did he even get the message to them...
Anyway, the sheer logistics associated with doing something like this was something Oberyn didn't think possible for a bastard all alone in Essos because you would need to have a lot of money and a lot of ever-alert subordinates situated in all of the big cities who were ready to do your bidding at all times...
And whatever happened to travelling from city to city, staying at shit inns... arduously searching for the right ships while making sure that the captain wasn't a slaver or a pirate in disguise who would loot and sell you the moment their ship left the port.
Travelling the world of Essos was supposed to be hard, adventurous... and not this constant jump from ship to ship... He didn't think that even Essosi noble could have travelled like this...
Thankfully Braavos was their final destination so at least that would be the end of travelling on the sea for a while...
Or at least that was what Oberyn had hoped.
The moment their ship docked in Braavos, Oberyn wasn't much surprised to find that they once again had people waiting for them... and this time there was a whole group of them.
Most of them looked like sailors and almost all of them were Northerners. And Oberyn could somewhat understand that as from what he could gather, Braavos was the main base for Jon's shipping company.
"Good to see you, Uncle Sam," Jon said with an exhausted but warm smile on his face at seeing the familiar face of his Merchant friend after such a long time.
"You too, Captain. It's been too long." Merchant Sam replied while shaking Jon's hand.
"And these two must be Jarl and Nal," Jon said while looking towards the two young boys who stood out a bit amongst the burly rough sailors around them. They were both about 15 years old with brown hair and had common Northerner features with one of them being thin and tall while the other being short and thick.
"Ah! Yes, these are the—Er—helpers that Lord Robb sent us," the Merchant said changing his words midway after a quick glance at the unfamiliar faces behind Jon. "Come on, Lads, come greet him. He is the Jon Snow I was talking about, the owner of our shipping Company and Lord Robb's brother."
"Y-Yes," The boys immediately nodded and quickly forward to awkwardly bow to Jon, "Greetings, Milord."
"Don't be so nervous, and both of you can just call me Captain like the rest of them," Jon said with a small smile on his face and both of them immediately nodded their heads. Jon then turned back to Sam, but with a serious expression this time, "Where is he?"
The Merchant instantly understood what Jon was implying and replied with an equally grim expression, "At the shop. I told him to take some days rest but the boy is too stubborn and says that he was used to the shop during the last few months and that he couldn't stay in the room any longer..." he finished with a wry smile.
"Very well, then. We'll go straight to the shop," Jon nodded his head before he suddenly remembered something and turned towards his companions, "Ah! If you're tired then all of you can head towards the mansion first... It'll be a bit cramped with all of my sailors but it's still a lot more comfortable than an inn."
The only thing Jon had told Oberyn was that he had run afoul of some pirates and that they were going to retaliate using the Company of Rose but other than that, he was in the dark... So the prince was quite curious about who Jon was going to meet and how he was related to this venture, but then again he was also very tired from all the Sea travel...
"Perfect! A bed is exactly what I need," Obara nodded with a hint of relief in her voice, "Let's go, Father," she said making the decision for both of them.
Oberyn smiled wryly at that before nodding towards Jon and then followed Obara towards the two carriages that had already been prepared for them by Merchant Sam.
"Well, then boys. Let's follow them," Gared slammed his palms on the back of his two 'guards' who looked a lot smaller and weaker than him, "I want to go to this mansion and see our boss's as rich as he says he is..." he said with a wink at Jon before he chuckled and moved with his subordinates towards the other carriage.
"I know it from your letters but are you sure that this man has really not been in North all this time," Sam asked in a weird tone while watching the massive man who wouldn't look out of place amidst Umbers or Mormonts.
Jon shook his head in answer to that before turning to Sam, "Sam you should go with them, and make sure that no one... fights anyone." Jon had wanted to say 'kill' instead of fight but Sam had already gone pale at the thought of handling a group of people consisting of a Dornish prince, Essosi sellswords, and Northern sailors, so he didn't want to scare him too much.
"Yes," The Tarly boy nodded with a heavy expression on his face before going towards the carriage with Oberyn in it.
"Let's go, then Uncle Sam." He said turning towards the Merchant who nodded and they immediately began walking towards their shop.
The shop was situated in the prime location near the dock where everyone who landed in Braavos would have to pass through so it wouldn't take them more than ten minutes to reach it.
Along the way, Jon decided to ask in detail about the incident because of which he had to come here in such a hurry.
"...And since I wanted the new wargs, Jarl and Nal, to improve themselves and get their birds used to Braavos, I was having them make regular trips to Braavos every other day just for the sake of it. And that is how I knew that something was wrong immediately when the shop remained empty and closed during midday."
"After searching for him and not finding him even at the mansion, I began to worry that something had happened and immediately alerted Darrio through a letter straight to his table in the Bank..." Merchant Sam said before an impressed look appeared on his face, "And I have to give it to that banker, the man managed to find him that very same night using his resources and I guess the pirates not being the subtle sort had a lot to do with it too..."
"He is related to one of the most powerful men in Braavos so it is somewhat expected of him..." Jon said while nodding in a nonchalant manner. "Anyway, what happened to the pirates, did you manage to catch them alive?" he said with a dark expression on his face
"Sadly, no. The pirates were too good at fighting to capture them alive and they managed to kill five of Darrio's guards before they were eventually felled..."
"It's alright. I already know who pirates belonged to. So that's not much of a problem," Jon said with narrowed eyes, "Tell me about the ships. Are they all ready?"
"Yes, I had them begin repairing and stocking them the moment we docked here. I am also having the lads get used to the new galleys and Warships that Darrio managed to deliver to us, and even though the Warship is giving the boys a bit of trouble, they shouldn't have any problem after a few months of practice..."
"Good, then. Have them practice and be ready by the time we come back so that they can immediately come with us on our next trade trip."
"Huh? So we aren't taking the warships along with us to deal with the pirates..."
"No," Jon answered while shaking his slowly, "On this trip, I only want speed and efficiency and besides this is not going to be the naval battle you're thinking about, so don't worry."
"Oh..." The Merchant said with a confused expression on his face since according to what he knew, they were about to get into a confrontation with a pirate fleet that had a lot of ships... so if not through naval battle, then how else were they supposed to defeat them?
But alas they reached the shop at that exact moment so he could only suppress his curiosity inside him.
"Huh? Looks like those people still don't that the company has arrived back in Braavos..." Jon said after seeing that the shop was empty of customers lining up to ask about the date of their new shipping excursion as he had expected.
"Ah, no. They do know," Merchant Sam said shaking his head with a wry smile, "In fact, most of them already knew from the moment we stepped foot inside the port that we had arrived and they have all been hounding our shop and filling it to the brim for the whole last week, and they would still have been if Gill hadn't sent more than a dozen of our sailors to all of our important merchant customers to tell them that the ticket sales would begin in a month's time... so their curiosity has already been satisfied now that an exact date has been given..."
"Good then, this should also give us enough time to see if everything went smoothly with our trip to Stepstones and send back the message to prepare for the next trade excursion..." Jon nodded before he opened the wooden door and entered the shop.
The shop was simple, clean and big with plenty of space for a dozen people to stand around comfortably, which was more than anyone could say about any other shop on this street. There were a couple of beautiful paintings of ships, sailors and sea hanging on the wall and on the left side, there was a wooden desk counter behind with sat an empty chair.
"He must me in the back," Merchant Sam murmured before shouting towards the back room, "Gill, come out here, boy!"
"Coming!" came the shout of a young boy whose voice had barely started to deepen, "What happened, Uncle? Why did you come—Ah! Captain! You're back!" he abruptly exclaimed in a surprised tone when he caught sight of the man standing beside Merchant Sam.
"Gill, how are you—" Jon abruptly died in his throat when he fully laid eyes on the exact condition of the boy in front of him and almost immediately his eyes widened and his mind went numb.
Of course, he had expected that it wouldn't be a pretty sight but he didn't think that they would be this cruel to a child who was barely 16...
The boy had dark purple bruises all over his face, his left eye was swollen shut and it seemed to have only just begun to heal, a few of his fingers were swollen as if they had been broken and healed...
All the nails in his left hand had been plucked brutally and he was limping when he walked out so he could imagine the same had been done to his leg... and these were the injuries that could be seen on the outside, so he couldn't even fathom what the rest of his body looked like...
When Gill saw where Jon was looking at he immediately tried to hide his hand behind him as if he was a child who had been guilty of wrongdoing... and that sight immediately broke something in Jon.
Jon rarely felt anger.
In fact, he couldn't even remember the last time he had been genuinely angry.
But this time... after seeing the bruised and beat-up look on the young boy's face he felt rage like never before...
He had been the one to recruit the boy and he had been the one to bring him all the way from North to here in Braavos, so he had always felt that it was his responsibility to take care of him...
But he had failed in that...
He had let this young boy not only get captured but also get tortured and almost killed and that thought made his blood boil and sent him into such a fury, that he couldn't control it...
He wanted to bring those dead pirates back to life and then torture them himself... he wanted them to suffer the same pain that boy had...
And then he wanted to find all the pirates that had been involved in this and tear them apart piece by piece with his own hands... and then...
His left hand was tightly gripping the sword at his waist while his right hand was making a deathly fist so tight that he could it become wet with blood... and his urge to kill became stronger and stronger...
"Jon...Jon...JON!" Uncle Sam yelled in an alarmed tone suddenly bringing Jon back to the present.
"Huh? Wha..."
And just like that the haze in his mind cleared and Jon felt as if his mind was hit with a splash of cold water.
It was then, that Jon realised that he was shaking, sweating and breathing heavily as if he had trained for hours in the training yard and his heart beating so fast that he felt as if people would be able to hear it from a mile away.
'What happened to me... Why did I...' Jon had never felt like this, he had never lost control like this, ever. He was not a person prone to anger, not in this life especially not in his previous... In fact, this was the first time he had felt so...
"A-Are you alright?" Sam asked in a concerned but also slightly scared tone, his eyes flickering between Jon's face to his left hand with something akin to amazement.
"Huh? Oh, no, I am fine. It's just..." And that is when Jon noticed where the Merchant was looking and lowered his head to see a sight that dumbfounded him.
The sword handle he was gripping with his left had been completely bent and was almost on the verge of cracking...all because of how tight Jon was holding it. Which was humanely impossible, "Ah, this...hmm... I guess the sword..." Jon replied, shaking his head and removing his hand from the sword, deciding to leave this mystery for a later time. "It must have been from a defective product."
'But it had been made by the best blacksmith in Winterfell...' Sam wanted to say but kept it in. He wasn't sure what exactly had happened but he heard plenty of stories about the so-called wolf blood, and since the boy already had an ancient magical ability in him that was supposed to be a part of legends... it wasn't too out of the realm of possibility that he had other abilities too...
"Anyway, How are you now, Gill?" Jon asked after taking a deep breath.
"I am fine now, Captain." the boy replied while scratching his head before he flinched in pain and looked at his tremoring nail-free hand with a wry smile, "Well mostly, fine..."
"Tell me everything, from the very beginning..." Jon asked in a very solemn tone.
"Well, I closed the shop early that day and was on my way back..." He immediately began telling the story with a practised tone as if he already told it to others countless times.
"...Hehe, and since I knew that Merchant Sam and the other were going to arrive in Braavos in just a few days. I was sure that I would be saved by them, so I didn't panic and resist them instead I gave them the wrong information that you were in Pentos for a meeting with Magisters about some goods so that they would leave me alone..."
Gill then shook his head with a wry smile, "But I guess they didn't like that I gave them the information too quickly or maybe they were just bored while waiting for a ship to take them away... anyway, even though I gave them the information, they still came by every few hours to ask the same question to see if I crack and change my answer... But I didn't. Not even once."
"That..." Jon didn't know how to reply to the hint of pride in the boy's eyes and could only say, "I... am very proud of you Gill. You are the bravest boy, no Man that I know."
"Hehe, I didn't do that much," the boy said shyly but his chest swelled with a surge of happiness at that and even though he knew that Jon was almost the same age as him and that he could be only saying those words to comfort him but still... those words almost made him feel like he was praised by his...parents.
"Now, Tell me, Gill. Are you fit enough for long-term sea travel, or do you need some more rest?"
"Eh? Oh, Yes, I am completely fit." Gill replied enthusiastically to Jon's question, "Maybe I can't fight for a while but I can still help around the ship and..."
"You misunderstand," Jon said shaking his head, "I don't want you to come with me for those things. I want you to come with me because I am going to destroy all those Pirates belonging to that group..." Jon said in a dark tone, "and I want you to be there to witness that. So do you want to come with us?"
"I..." Gill was flustered for a while on how to answer this before he abruptly remembered what it had felt like staying inside that closed room with no windows, getting starved, tortured, screaming with no one there to hear him, feeling so helpless, so weak... and almost immediately a resolute expression appeared on his face and he replied, "I want to."
"Good." Maybe Jon was wrong and maybe the boy would be better off with some therapy or even retiring from this job but this wasn't Earth and here in this world, it was believed that revenge was the best therapy, "Then let's go catch some pirates..."
/