Chapter 16: Act 1: Chapter 11

Twenty-first day, First Moon, 235 AC

I woke suddenly. I felt my wife beside me and could hear my daughter just a few feet away. What woke me?

Barking sounded from outside. My dogs had found something then. Damnit. More wolves. This long winter was really driving them towards farms and villages in the area.

I shook Nyra awake as I quickly climbed out of bed put on my clothes while Nyra grabbed my weapons. The dogs were still barking, so I strung my bow and bid Nyra to stay with Violet.

I slipped out of my house quietly and paused to listen to the situation. I poked my head around the corner, but I didn't see any movement in front of the barn doors. It didn't look like anything was trying to get to the animals in the barn.

It was a cloudless night, with a full moon, so it was quite bright out with the light being reflected off the snow. The air was biting cold and creating a crust on the top of the snow, meaning it would be hard to sneak around without causing noise.

All the sudden a loud noise reverberated through the night! My alarm for the upper barn doors!

That meant men!

I sprinted silently over to the barn and quieted down the dogs and let them out. I had trained my dogs to be guard dogs as best I could. So, I bid them to stay until I whistled for them.

I went the long way around the barn and put as much space as I could between the upper barn door and myself. As I came in view I could hear the men talking amongst themselves. I couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but they clearly didn't know how to react to my alarm.

When I first built my barn, I wanted to make it secure, but I didn't know how to make a lock, nor were there any locksmiths nearby. So, I did what I could to delay and alert any thieves. I built a large beam to lay across the door, like you would see in the movies for a castle door, and made huge weights chained to it to make it difficult to move. Then, while the thieves would be distracted with that, I tied a simple string to back of the beam so that if the beam moved, it would pull the string.

That string was tied to a stick, which when pulled, dropped a stone on a makeshift bagpipe. Thus, alerting me to any thieves.

Which worked perfectly. I smiled to myself.

There was four men around the door, none had any type of armor. One had a wood axe and a torch, another had a pitchfork, another a fishing spear, and the final one had a wood axe, a dagger and another torch.

I prepared my arrows, no sense in rushing them outnumbered. The one with the haybale spear stood a bit apart from them and a little closer to me, so he would be first. Then the one with the fishing spear, since I needed to get those that could outrange my sword.

I mentally prepared myself while the thieves tried to disengage the chain attached to the beam. I had only ever killed, when those bandits attacked my all those years ago. I felt a sudden cold sweat at the thought of killing again. Last time, I had attacked without letting myself really think. I needed to do the same before my thoughts spiraled out of control. My family depended on it. These men, these men would let my family starve. I would not let them.

I looked around at the scene once more to ensure that I had not missed anything. I could see their tracks in the crisp snow and saw no other tracks. They went straight to the barn doors - they must think I store all my food in there. I could see by the moonlight the rest of the clearing, and saw no others lurking in the trees, though the moonlight did not penetrate very deeply in the forest.

Finally, I reached for my first arrow and calmed myself. I felt the cold air biting against my hands but did not let it distract me. I drew back my first arrow, aimed quickly and let loose.

The twang of the bow snapped through the cold night. All the men snapped their heads in my direction, but by then the arrow struck the first man in the chest and he went down in a cry of agony.

The others froze unsure what to do. I did not hesitate and reached for another arrow. I let out a loud whistle for my dogs to attack.

At the sound of the dogs I could hear one of the men exclaim, "Shit! He killed Karl! Gots t' get out o' here!"

The second went to respond but my second arrow cut him off as it narrowly missed him.

The man looked shocked then shout out, "Get him!" He started to run forward but his companions had other ideas.

The first one shouted back, "Fuck that! 'm leaving!" He started to run away with the torch.

The second one cursed and started to run away as well.

The third one however, remained rooted to the spot. He looked terrified, but as his friend ran past him he tried to look confident.

He started to back up and shouted out to me, "You'll regret this you bastard! You theivin' bastard! We'll be back, and you'll pay! You and your family!"

He turned to run away, but my blood was boiling. This little bastard was threatening my family?! He comes in the night to steal from me?! AND dares to threaten my family!?

I drew back my arrow, straining against the weight of it and let loose. The arrow released high into the sky, and the third one turned his head while running to look at the sound.

He never saw the arrow. The arrow dropped from the sky and hit him in the back near the left shoulder blade. He went down without a sound.

Like the first time I killed, my senses rushed back into me and overwhelmed me. This time, I held on and suppressed it as best I could.

I pulled another arrow and examined the scene. I could hear the moaning of the first man I hit on the ground, as he lay curled in a ball. I could hear my dogs barking in the distance, clearly chasing the two men who ran away.

I approached the first man carefully, trying to keep an eye on the other man I shot at the same time. The first man was moaning and making a keening noise, and when I came closer I could see the blood dripping out of his mouth and nose. It looked like I punctured something, probably a lung or something. He was going to die but would likely live for a few hours yet. I decided to put him out of his misery and pulled my dagger across his throat.

I stood back up and then approached the other man I shot. He lay still on the ground, with his face in the snow. Now that I was closer I could see that I likely shot through his heart. A lucky shot. I turned his head and put my hand beneath his nose but felt no breath. I went to feel for a pulse but found nothing either.

I went to stand back up but stumbled a bit as my foot sank a bit through the crust of the snow. It saved my life.

The next thing I knew, I was on my side on the ground with a huge pain on the side of my stomach with a huge weight on top of me.

I could see that it was the second man that was atop me. The one who tried to rush me. He clearly looped back and tried to kill me from behind.

I rolled over while underneath him and quickly grabbed his wrist so that he could not hit me with the dagger again.

I tried to pull his arm away from me, but he grabbed the dagger with both hands and tried to push. I held him off, for I was stronger than him but he had the leverage. I began bucking my body trying to throw him off me.

He quickly let go of the dagger with one hand a sucker punched me in the face. He used my momentary distraction to maneuver the knife closer but was only slightly successful.

He went to punch me again, but I pulled on the dagger down and away from me, so that he stabbed the ground beside me. This brought his body down to mine and I tried to headbutt him, but I barely glanced his chin.

He readjusted himself and brought himself to kneel above me. He started to punch me in the face, while I grabbed my own knife with my free hand.

As he brought his own knife in front of my face again and tried to push down, I used my own knife to stab his wrist.

He reared back and roared in agony.

I used his momentum to finally throw him off me, and I scrambled away from him.

My right side was burning with pain, and when I pulled my hand away from it, it was covered in blood. It didn't look very deep, but a gut wound was no joke.

Meanwhile, the second man pulled the dagger from his wrist while weeping. I picked up his dagger from the ground and unsteadily got to my feet.

I started to walk over to him slowly, but by the time I got there he had his senses back and was on his feet as well.

He made a few jabbing motions to try and make me keep my distance.

It didn't look like either of us knew what we were doing. I made a discrete glance around me, but noticed my bow was too far away and my arrows scattered on the ground.

I still had my sword at my waist, but as I moved a hand toward it the man took a step towards me trying to prevent me from pulling it. It would take to long to get it clear of its sheath before he could rush me.

I remembered the old saying that the only winner in a knife fight is the one that dies on the way to the hospital. And I didn't have a hospital handy.

Diplomacy it was then. I ground out in a hard voice, "Leave. You aren't taking anything tonight. Your friends are dead. Run while you can."

The man just narrowed his eyes and started to circle me. I started to move with him but quickly realized I would tire out much quicker than him with my side wound. It didn't look like I hit an artery with my attack on his wrist, though he did keep it close to his body, unmoving.

We continued to circle each other in silence, underneath the winter moonlight.

Once I was opposite of the man I had killed I noticed he still had his axe beneath his body. The handle was sticking out, but I might be able to pull it free easily enough.

I started to walk back from the man as we circled, trying to put some space between us and the body. We were both angry and had our blood up, but it seemed neither of us wanted to be the first to attack.

When we were both far enough from the body, and I had my back to it, I sprinted to it while the other man let out a curse.

I quickly pulled the axe from underneath the body and spun.

I found myself bowled over from the man's body and the axe ripped from my grip.

I could smell him clearly. He stank of dirt and shit, but I could also smell blood and lots of it.

I struggled to prevent him from stabbing me again, but quickly realized that he wasn't moving.

I pulled myself out and looked at him. It seemed as I turned the axe buried itself into the man's neck as he tried to tackle me.

I let out a sigh of relief.

I tugged the axe from the man's neck and stood up straight. My side was still bleeding and hurt something fierce.

My dogs came trotting back into the clearing, their muzzles were reflected clearly in the moonlight, revealing them to be covered in blood.

Hmm, looks like they got their man then. I really hope they didn't eat him or anything. I was kind of winging it when it came to training guard dogs, but I figure letting any domesticated animal a taste for human flesh was a bad idea.

I followed the dogs back to the man they downed, and it looked like he got somewhat far. By the time we reached him, my side was burning, and I was getting a bit lightheaded.

The body was backed up against a tree and was torn up, the one leg looked mangled. It looked like the dogs bit down on a leg to bring him down, and then started to tear at his arms and finally his throat.

Damn.

Now that I confirmed he was dead, I started to head back to the farm.

Once I neared the house I called out to Nyra to let her know it was safe.

She burst out of the house and hugged me. I explained what happened while she bandaged my wounds. I had scratches and bruises all over my body, but the stomach wound wasn't too bad. She cleaned them out and bandaged them for me, they probably could have used stiches, but we didn't have any.

"I am going to try and sleep for a few hours before sunrise. Can you make sure I wake at dawn? I need to collect the bodies and bring them to the village. I don't recognize any of them, but I need to track down their families. Make sure this doesn't happen again."

Nyra looked worried, "I will, but you grab my brothers okay? I don't want their families to try and retaliate against you alone."

I nodded my assent and climbed gingerly into bed. Waking up was going to be rough.

xxxx

The next morning, I managed to drag myself out of bed with the help of my wife and put the bodies of the thieves on a sled. I harnessed up my dogs to it and went off to collect my goodbrothers. After explaining what happened, they grabbed an axe and a knife each and came with me to confront the thieves' families.

One of the fishers in the village down the road recognized the one thief as someone who lived in the village to the south.

We headed off right away and made good time over the snow.

It was a bright sunny day, without a single cloud in the sky. The crisp winter air mixed with the salt from the ocean, creating that particular feeling of home for me.

When we arrived in the southern village, we could tell from a distance something was happening. We could see a lot of people moving about in the center.

We approached cautiously, and by the time we were close someone finally saw us approaching and called out to greet us.

When they saw what was on the sled they became uneasy and quiet.

One man pushed his way through the small crowd of people and stumbled forward with a cry, "My boy!"

I cleared my throat and spoke with a loud clear voice so that all could hear me, "These four men tried to steal from me last night. I defended my property, and they paid the price. I have no quarrel with anyone here and consider this to be done."

The man that had approached earlier shouted out, "Fuck that! You thievin' bastard! You stole our food! We got none now!"

I was bewildered, what is he talking about? "I think you have the wrong man. I've never stolen anything."

The man started to stumble around a bit and waving his arms, "No! I know! I know ev'thin'! He's the one! He's why winter is so long!"

What? People in the crowd began muttering. "Look, I have no idea what you are talking about. I haven't done anything to you, nor do I have any power of winter."

"He stole our boys! Made them not farm 'n fish! Then the first winter he's here it's a long one?! I say no! It's his fault!"

"What are you talking about?! This is my second winter here! And I haven't stolen any boys! I have a wife!"

The man became more irrational, "No! I know! I know!"

I looked around the crowd for support, but they seemed to be staying clear of us. I addressed them, "Can anyone make sense of this fool?"

An older man came forward, "Aye, this is Bart." The man spit on the ground and continued, "Few years past, you came and gave some of the boys some jobs for coin. He took the coin from his boy and bought wine." The man shrugged, "Found a likin' for it."

A town drunk. Wonderful. "And how does this mean I stole them or his food?"

The man shrugged, "Sold off his food stores for wine. Lost his wife a few years past. Wouldn't 'av been so bad if this winter ended when it should 'av. His boy believed 'im and gathered some o' his friends."

"How is that my fault?!"

The man - Bart, now that I looked closer, had bloodshot eyes and was swaying a bit; he looked malnourished and his clothes threadbare. He definitely looked like a drunk with no more wine or food. And a dose of crazy. Perfect.

Bart shouted, "I hear you! I do! I know! It's you! You!"

Fine. Be like that. "This matter is solved. I won't seek out anyone's families, nor demand coin. But this is over. Tell the families not here that."

Bart shrieked, "No! My boy! I know!"

I signaled for Koryn and Zane to unload the bodies while I kept my eye on Bart.

Once the man saw his son on the ground, he collapsed and started weeping and mumbling, "I know. I know. I know."

I looked to the old man again and said, "Make sure he doesn't come near me or mine again. When I came here I hired lots of people, paid good coin too. Made sure that they worked when they were free to do so. No one's farms were hurt. You all just had more coin. This winter should have been easier for you, but I can't control it's length. I was kind, but I will not be stolen from."

I turned and grabbed the sled and left with Koryn and Zane.

The sun shone high in the sky, with not a cloud to mar it.

Another wonderful day in Westeros.