6 The passing of seasons

Gertha is cutting some logs when she sees Gawain with Galahad in his arms walking towards the sawmill with the dogs following close behind. She narrows her eyes and sees that both dogs are limping and have red-stained coats.

She drops the ax and runs to the children.

"Gawain! Galahad!" Gertha looks at her nephews with alarm. Galahad doesn't look any different than usual but his older brother... Gawain's eyes are red and have tear-stained cheeks, the boy is trembling and hugging his little brother like a man fallen into the river grabbing a log.

She kneels down and softens her gaze to reassure the boy.

"What happened, little one?" She caresses his cheek and the redhead throws himself into her arms sobbing. She moves him a bit to take the baby in one arm and embrace Gawain with the other. As she strokes his curls she hums an old lullaby.

After a while the child stops crying and mutters something intelligible against her shoulder.

"Let's go inside, after crying so much you must be thirsty." Gertha gets up with both children in her arms and walks towards her house, she motions for the dogs to follow but they seem happy lying down on the grass.

Once inside her house, she sits the children on a bench and prepares them a mug of hot milk with honey. As the milk warms she glances at Gawain out of the corner of her eye, he hugs his little brother again and hides his face in Galahad's dark hair.

`What the hell happened? I brought them their lunch just a while ago...`

She first gave Gawain a mug of warm milk sweetened with honey and while the child drank she took the baby in her arms and gave him his own mug. Galahad enjoyed the sweet milk and tried to tip the mug to drink faster, she managed to push the mug away before its contents stained both of them. Gertha sighed and placed the baby on the floor, on top of a rug, and turned to Gawain.

The redhead barely took two sips of milk and stared into the whitish liquid.

"What happened, Gawain?" She makes sure to keep her voice low so as not to scare him.

"T- there w- were-" He stutters and tears fill his eyes. Gertha hugs him and gently strokes his back.

"Sshhh. Take your time."

After a while the boy rubs his eyes wiping away the tears and speaks again, his voice is soft and breathy.

"I- I was trying to fix a pitchfork I found in the attic when Loki and Thor started b-barking." He fiddles with the sleeve of his robe as he speaks. "There were three men outside, t- they were armed a-and attacked my dogs."

Gertha gasps and tightens her grip on the redhead.

`He is alright, Galahad is alright.` She remembers the blood on the dogs' fur and now she knows where it came from.

"What happened to those men?"

"Loki and Thor, t- they killed them." Gawain stammers and sobs again.

"They were protecting their family, Gawain. They did a good job." Gertha comforts him gently.

"I-I." He sniffs loudly. "I plunged the pitchfork into one of the men." He finally says.

Gertha blinks and looks at the boy, not believing what she has heard.

"W-what?"

"He kicked Loki and he was about to stab him with a dagger so I- I took the pitchfork and run towards him. It happened so fast and- I- I killed him!" Gawain sobs and hides his face on her shoulder.

She hugs him tightly out of instinct, her mind repeating Gawain's words over and over again.

`Curse them, curse those evil men! To force such a good child to- Unforgivable.`

"Gawain, listen to me." She takes him away from her shoulder and she looks at him seriously. "You did the right thing, you protected your home and your brother. There is no shame in it."

"B- but I killed a man." Gawain sobs. "Septon Umbert said murderers go to the Seven Hells!"

"You are not a murderer!" Gertha says with conviction. "You are a brave boy, a very good brother and son. You fulfilled your duty, that is all. Duty is never easy, child. Most times it is difficult and painful."

Gertha looks at him intently and after a few moments Gawain nods.

***

`Acting is too exhausting ...` Gawain lay down on his aunt's bed with his little brother in his arms. After treating the wounds of his dogs, the redhead thought carefully about his next step.

Thing is, he's got three dead bodies in his front yard, one of them with a pitchfork stuck in his stomach. Finding a plausible explanation for that disaster was quite a headache, in the end Gawain came up with a lie very close to the truth.

The hard part was acting like a terrified child, Damian Artois was very good at acting even able to fake tears at will but Gawain of Greenwood never practiced those skills.

`Is good to see I still have it.`

After the spectacle of tears and sobs, Gawain said that he was tired and his aunt took him to her bedroom, she tucked him into bed and told him to go to sleep, that she would take care of everything.

Galahad decided that he wanted to stay with his brother rather than go with his aunt and Gawain prefers it that way, cuddling the baby is a great remedy against stress.

While his little brother started playing with his hair, the redhead looked at the ceiling with boredom.

`I'll have to keep this act up for a few days and then slowly pretend to get back to normal.`

"Ouch!" His brother tugged at a lock of hair, and Gawain looked at him annoyed.

"Stop pulling my hair."

***

After the incident with the thieves, his mother decided to take them with them to the meadow everyday, saying that she would rather lose the animals than lose her children if something like that happens again.

Gareth and Ralof did some research and found out those three men were serfs who escaped and resorted to robbery to survive.

Serfdom had been legally abolished by Aegon V in 250 AC, but not all lords accepted that decree. Most lords did not change the way they treated the serfs who live in their lands and now with the power of the Targaryen dynasty plummeting there is not much Aegon can do to force his vassals to do his bidding.

Serfs are slaves in all but name, they are tied to the land they work in and are not allowed to leave. If they escape and are captured the punishment is very severe, such that it is even worse than death. Pieces of serfs that have tried to escape are hung from villages and castles to warn others of what will happen if they try to flee.

The life of a serf is very hard because they do not have any law that protects them, nor do they have any rights or income (the serfs are paid with a small percentage of the crops, barely enough to survive). A lord can do whatever he wants to the serfs living in his lands, from torturing them to killing them (Technically the law says that a lord cannot castrate or kill a serf but there is no one to enforce that law: if a lord wants to slaughter a dozen serfs, no one will stand in his way). Such is the cruelty of the world that a serf is not allowed to even marry without the permission of the local lord, and all children born of that marriage will also be serfs doomed to the same fate as their parents.

The lord of the lands from which those thieves escaped sent some guards for the corpses, the guards said loud and clear what they were going to do with the corpses: they were going to hang them as a warning so that other serfs would not dare to try to flee .

At the thought of that Gawain felt a bitter taste in his mouth and he could barely suppress the urge to punch the smug guards who continued to mock the dead men.

His mother, who was holding his hand, tightened her grip a lot, Gawain winced and looked at Marian. Her emerald eyes were locked on the guards and burning with anger, the boy saw her clenched jaw and realized she was biting her tongue to keep from saying anything.

That day he learned a well-kept secret: His mother was born a serf.

He found out overhearing a conversation between his parents while he got up in the middle of the night to pee. Gawain didn't know what to do with that information so he didn't do anything, he kept his mouth shut and his parents don't even know that he knows.

Apart from that, not much happened during the last days before the deadline, a deadline that they were able to meet with two days to spare thanks to the new plow. After finishing the work in the meadow, the villagers returned to their routines while eagerly awaiting the payment: 60 Golden Dragons. To Gawain it seemed very little for how much they worked, with the number of workers barely coming out at 60 Silver Stags per worker.

Gawain learned that Lord Roxton is very stingy and unreasonable.

Another thing that happened after the incident with the thieves is that Gawain started training, the redhead realized danger lurks around every corner and he was naive to think he could relax during his childhood. Not knowing when another thief would decide to make his home his target Gawain decided to prepare for the worst, he knew how lucky he was that time and he does not want to depend on luck.

He made a wooden sword and began to practice his swordsmanship. He also started training his body, mostly his speed, dexterity, agility and flexibility since if he were to seriously train his strength it would only damage his young body.

Damian Artois was a skilled swordsman, having practiced a wide variety of styles from a very young age. He was also very good at hand-to-hand combat and knife combat. Fencing was initially a means to win the love of his parents but over time it became one of his passions. Melee and knife combat on the contrary were not something he learned for personal enjoyment, they were some of the many things he had to learn to fulfill his goal.

The years went by and his parents had two other sons, Garth and Godric, the redhead sighed with relief when he found out the twins are both boys. He still didn't feel ready to have a little sister, not then and not ever. The wound Elysia Artois's death left in his heart never healed, not even after he was reborn into this world.

Shortly after the twins were born Gawain became Willem's apprentice and before he knew it he was nine years old.

The events in Westeros were the same as he expected: Aegon V died in Summerhall along with his eldest son, prince Rhaegar was born, and the Blackfyre rebellion took place.

The war barely affected them, none of the men from the village were recruited and life went on.

***

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