[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV.
King Road.
...
...
A group of young men with prisoners departed from King's Landing, traveling through the Crownlands and entering the Riverlands, while Yoren led the future members of the Night's Watch. Some had no choice—it was either this or losing part of their body, as they were condemned criminals. Others saw the Watch as a chance to get food in times of war; after all, it was no secret that war had come, and everyone would suffer because of it. And others were simply running from something.
"Come on!" Yoren said as the group of young men marched alongside other men of different ages. Behind them, two wagons full of prisoners were driven by men paid for the task.
"We'll stop to rest," Yoren said at the end of the day. It had been a week since they had left King's Landing, and now the group was moving through the beginning of Riverlands' territory.
Quickly, they began setting up camp. The younger ones busied themselves gathering wood and tending the fires, while the adults organized supplies and reinforced the perimeter. Everything seemed fine on another quiet night.
The next morning, they were having breakfast calmly when they heard the sound of horses coming from the same path they had traveled.
Yoren tried to remain calm, believing they were just travelers wanting to pass along the river road. However, as the riders approached, he realized they were coming straight toward them.
"Halt!" The riders shouted orders, making some in the group stand up in alarm, especially those who had been fleeing from King's Landing.
"My lady, it's them!" one of the riders exclaimed.
A hooded woman moved to the front of the group and, as she approached, removed her hood, revealing her red hair. It was Melisandre, dismounting her horse.
Although no one there really knew who she was, everyone felt uneasy in her presence. There was something about her that made anyone feel unsettled. Her gaze landed directly on one of the young men, who felt a chill run down his spine.
The guards followed closely behind, protecting the woman as Yoren stepped forward.
"Who are you? What do you want?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
"We are looking for someone, and it's best if you stay out of this, man," one of the guards responded harshly, already threatening to draw his sword.
"You can't do this! They are prisoners and men heading for the Night's Watch!" Yoren retorted seriously, refusing to be intimidated.
"Big words, but they won't save your life, man of the Wall," the guard shot back as the others drew their swords from their scabbards.
Melisandre, however, paid no attention to the exchange of words. Her eyes had already found the one she was searching for. A small smile formed on her lips.
The boy, realizing he was the target of her interest, felt a deep chill run through his body.
And just as Yoren was about to fight the soldiers of Dragonstone, another sound of horses coming from the road took everyone by surprise. The knights of Dragonstone's Guard turned, frowning as they saw another group approaching.
Yoren hadn't thought the situation could get worse, but there was the City Watch, advancing toward them with a group of twelve men. The twelve soldiers who had come with Melisandre quickly prepared to fight.
Melisandre, who had so far seemed indifferent to the situation, suddenly looked at the city guards, frowning. There was something about them that deeply unsettled her.
The man leading the new group approached, stopping in front of the others.
"Who are you?" the leader of the City Watch asked.
"It doesn't matter!" replied one of the Dragonstone soldiers, already preparing to fight.
"Prepare for battle!" the leader of the City Watch shouted, and the city guards began to unsheathe their swords.
Suddenly, someone emerged beside the leader, and the leader couldn't even respond. For some reason, he fell silent upon seeing that man riding to the front of the group. His gaze landed directly on the red-haired woman.
"Leave the boy, witch. Otherwise, your men will fall, and you won't meet a very good fate," the stranger said in a severe tone.
Melisandre fixed her gaze on him, hearing the nickname the man had given her. Everyone around tensed up, with no clear projection of what would happen next.
"Who are you?" Melisandre asked, her intense eyes analyzing the knight. Her instincts screamed at her to flee as quickly as possible.
"It doesn't matter now. Leave this place, or you will meet a death you did not expect since you left your lands to seek this boy," the stranger warned, his voice carrying a threatening tone.
Silence took over the place for a few seconds.
"We are leaving," Melisandre suddenly said, surprising her men. Then, she turned toward her horse.
"Let's go!" she ordered, drawing the attention of all those still stunned. Her soldiers quickly nodded, following her orders and mounting their horses again.
Before leaving, she frowned and cast one last look at the stranger in red armor. "I don't know who you are… but I can feel the fire. A very powerful one inside you. More than any other," she murmured.
"Well, even so, you know nothing about me, and I could be more than that…" the stranger replied, watching as the group departed.
"What was that?" the leader of the City Watch approached the armored man with some frustration—after all, he was supposed to be the one in charge.
The knight shrugged.
"We don't need to worry about that now. Let's move on," he answered, turning toward his leader.
The commander frowned, clearly displeased with the response, but soon shook his head and simply mounted his horse, signaling for the others to do the same.
"What do you want?" Yoren couldn't help but murmur as he watched the city guards approaching.
"Someone here is a target the king wants dead, so don't take it too personally," the leader responded as he began scanning the group.
He looked around until, finally, he spotted Gendry—the king's bastard—and knew at once that he was the one they were searching for, seeing the image of the late King Robert in the boy, just as the red woman had.
"It's him!" one of the guards exclaimed as the other men started to move in.
However, before they could advance, someone stopped them, placing a sword between them and their target.
"Not so fast! I won't let the queen kill children again while I'm around."
The firm voice made everyone freeze.
"What? Do you know what you're doing? Drop that sword now!" the leader of the City Watch yelled, incredulous that one of his own subordinates was acting this way.
But the stranger moved forward, and with a single swift motion, he slit the throats of two guards who had tried to pass. The rest of the group was shocked by the brutality and speed of the attack.
"You bastard! What do you think you're doing?" the leader of the patrol roared as the soldiers prepared to fight.
That was when the stranger removed his helmet, revealing his identity.
It was Jon Snow, who had infiltrated the City Watch and made his way there.
"He's the sorcerer! Jon Snow!" one of the soldiers shouted, recognizing Jon's black hair and violet eyes.
Yoren was once again surprised to see Jon there. The group merely watched as the city guards ran toward him, waiting for each one of them to try and attack.
Jon didn't hesitate. He killed them one by one with quick and precise strikes, hitting the weak points in their armor. Almost all eleven guards were swiftly taken down.
The leader, seeing the massacre, attempted to flee, but Jon drove his sword into him before he could escape.
The man fell to his knees, screaming and begging:
"Please! Don't kill me! I'll do anything!" he begged.
Jon, however, simply shook his head before moving his sword, decapitating him without hesitation. After all, if these men were here to kill the king's bastards, why would he have mercy on them?
When Jon turned his gaze to Yoren, the group behind him seemed stunned by what they had just witnessed.
"It's been a long time, Yoren… what? A week?" Jon spoke with an amused tone, but his attention soon fell on someone else in the group.
And it wasn't Gendry.
"You're here…" Yoren murmured, unsure if it was luck or misfortune. After all, Jon Snow had always been someone difficult to read.
"I'm here to take someone from your group. Don't take it the wrong way," Jon said, stepping closer. "It's no innocent man," he added as he advanced toward the wagons.
"What do you mean?" Yoren asked, watching Jon stop in front of the cages where the prisoners were locked.
"This man is a Faceless assassin. He's here to kill me," Jon said, pointing to one of the prisoners.
"I defeated him, and he was captured during our days in King's Landing. But I didn't have time to deal with him…"
The prisoner in question, upon seeing Jon, raised an eyebrow and let out an ironic smile. "The man knows me," he said in the typical speech pattern of the Faceless Men.
"Yes… and the man intends to kill you," Jon responded calmly, leaving everyone around him perplexed.
Jon raised one hand, and the lock on the cage opened on its own, as if moved by an invisible force. Before the assassin could react, he was pulled out of the cell by a force he couldn't comprehend.
The other prisoners, who shared the same cage, quickly moved away, shocked by what they were witnessing.
"Witchcraft…" someone murmured, and the entire group looked at Jon with a mixture of fear and fascination.
Jon didn't seem to care about their stares. He simply lifted the assassin into the air, keeping him suspended as he stepped away from the wagon.
"Well, I'll continue from here alone. I won't help you anymore, so be careful," Jon said, casting a glance at Yoren.
"The Lannister army is nearby, so watch out," Jon added.
Without saying anything else, Jon turned and began walking toward the forest, carrying the assassin still floating in the air. Soon, the two disappeared among the trees.
Yoren was stunned but quickly nodded and ordered the cell to be locked again. Without hesitation, he led the group away from that place as fast as possible, avoiding the Kingsroad. After the massacre of the City Watch guards, it would be dangerous to continue along that path.
Meanwhile…
Jon distanced himself from the group and found an isolated spot where he could interrogate the Faceless assassin.
The prisoner, named Jaqen H'ghar, tried to maintain his cold and imperturbable demeanor, but Jon discovered some rather interesting information.
In the end, the assassin no longer seemed so courageous after Jon threatened to capture his soul, preventing him from finding his place beside his God.
Faced with this threat, Jaqen H'ghar began to talk.
After obtaining the information he wanted, Jon killed him without hesitation, snapping his neck.
He burned the corpse, erasing any trace of the encounter, and then headed east toward the Riverlands.
His next target: Gregor Clegane, the Mountain.
Jon knew he needed to deal with the murderers of his brothers before returning to the North.
Thus, he left the place, disappearing into Riverrun, where the northern and Lannister armies were about to clash, while searching for clues on the whereabouts of the Mountain and his men, who were surely still terrorizing villages and towns wherever they passed.
-------------Nexts Chapters ----------------
Chapter 100 - Cleaning out the Tully vaults.
Chapter 105 - Another Targaryen Playing the Game of Thrones?
Chapter 115 - Westeros hears about Braavos.
Chapter 124 - Hunting 02.
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