13 Chapter 12 - Melee

~ Sansa POV ~

As I sat amongst the other nobles of the room, I noticed that Orys was still wasn't here since the chair beside me was empty. I could see my father conversing with Renly Baratheon and the Master of Coin, Littlefinger I think. Orys warned me about both of them and I could see why. Orys' lessons on the matters of the court had helped me a lot these past few days.

I could finally see what Septa Mordane used to tell me was nothing more than a fairy tale. And if Orys is to be believed, then the root cause of this is my mother who wanted me to be a southern lady and find a good lord for me to marry. Though I understood that my fiancé was a straight forward person when it came to our lessons, I did not expect him to tell me that if I was a naïve girl with no hope of becoming the type of Queen he desires, he would not have agreed to our marriage even if I was the last woman in Westeros.

That hurt me more than anything ever had before. Arya's rude comments, Mother and the Septa's constant ranting and even when I had to part with Lady; none of those compared to the words Orys told me that evening. But… he did say that I was becoming the Queen he desires and he proved it to me as well.

Seven Hells, had father heard my m..moaning that time, I believe he would have strangled Orys to death!

I was broken out of my thoughts by the sound of the herald's drums, gaining not just mine, but the attention of everyone. "Lords and Ladies, the melee is about to begin. In a few moments, 100 seasoned warriors and knights shall fight each other in an attempt come out on top and the one who does, shall be awarded with a prize of fifty thousand gold dragons! Without waiting any further, let us finally begin," he announced and the entire stadium thundered with the cheers of the small folk and different lords and ladies.

Even I clapped politely, while I chuckled watching Arya get excited looking at the women who were also about to participate in the competition, the most famous of them being the Sand Snakes. They were the bastard daughters of Oberyn Martell and from the looks of it, the three who were the eldest were participating, Obara, Tyene and Nymeria Sand.

But my mind was occupied by the fact that Orys was still not here. The melee had already started and I could see why Orys called these events brutal. Even with the use of blunt weapons, hitting a person with hard enough strength can cause them to feel a lot of pain.

Many famous knights were participating, including Ser Loras Tyrell, Ser Barristan Selmy, the son of Lord Randyll Tarly, and a few members of the King's Guard, Meryn Trant, Aerys Oakhart, Boros Blount and Ser Jamie Lannister, the Queen's brother. Orys had drilled all of this information in my head and I could see why. Knowing the person would make a good first impression on them and not make me seem like a 'savage', that the people in the North are known for being here.

But one warrior caught my eye. He was wearing a very high-quality armor that was as dark as the night and had a green cape attached to the back. He was hacking through a lot of knights by either slamming the sword against their chests or punching them in the face. Either way, even with the armor all it took was one punch from the man to make them lose consciousness.

Who was he? He looked familiar. His height matches with…oh! I cannot believe that…that… goofball! He didn't tell me he was fighting today! If I knew I might have made him a good luck present. But even after all that I couldn't help but smile. I had always wanted to meet my knight in shining armor, and it seems I will be marrying one after all.

I was interrupted out of my fantasies by the nasally voice of Petyr Baelish tempting my father into betting a hundred gold dragons on the knight he thought would win most likely. My father politely declined the bet, most likely due to the fact he did not have that much gold on him, but I could see he was getting annoyed when Baelish began throwing snarky remarks at him. Renly Baratheon broke Baelish out of his speech and bet a hundred gold dragons on Ser Loras while Baelish bet on Ser Barristan, the Bold.

The two were arguing between who would win in a fight between the two, but I decided to have some fun of my own as well. "I will bet a thousand gold dragons on the knight in black," I spoke in the voice Orys told me to use when I would be dealing with the court as a Queen.

My father, Arya, Baelish and Renly, all four of them turned to look at me with shock evident in their eyes. Baelish was about to say something but my father spoke up first, "Sansa, what are you doing? Do you even have a thousand gold dragons?"

"I do father. Orys gave me two thousand gold dragons to use however I saw fit," I said with no visible emotions on my face. I could see the shock in the eyes of all four of them. My father looked as if he had stepped in horseshit, and I could see why. The Houses of the North aren't as rich as the other houses down south after all.

"Very well, Lady Sansa. I will humor you. It's a shame though that my nephew isn't here to see his wonderful future bride lose his money," Renly spoke up as he chuckled, treating me as a young child. I just showed him a small fake smile, something Orys told me I had to perfect if I wanted to stay alive in King's Landing.

Baelish was about to say something but my father interrupted him by asking, "Where is the prince actually? Shouldn't he be here?"

"Lord Stark, the prince finds these tourneys a waste of time and money since in the past it was the main reason that the crown was in debt. Which is why he only attends tourneys organized by other Lords and only attends the first day of the tourney to show his face. Otherwise, he uses this time to expand his businesses due to the many people coming to King's Landing for the tourney. He has also started expanding into Essos now.

Back to our discussion, if both of you are sure then who am I to back off, I shall bet a thousand as well, Lady Sansa. Have I ever told you that your just as beautiful as your mother, Lady Sansa?" he spoke up, and I could feel the lust in his voice. It made me feel sick to my stomach.

My father was worried but I just gave him a smile that carried my message that everything will be okay. Now, let's see if Orys will help me win the bet or not.

~ Third Person POV ~

It had been thirty minutes since the start of the melee and things had entered the final stage. Only ten knights remained. Ser Loras, Ser Barristan and the members of the King's Guard, the three sand snakes and the mystery knight in black armor. All of them circled each other for a good minute, reading their opponents before going up against them.

Obara was facing off against Meryn Trant, a blunt spear versus a blunt sword. Meryn Trant tried to get the upper hand using his strength, but Obara slithered past him, before hitting him twice in his knees and using the tail end of her spear she hit him hard in the head, which had surprising force in it as it caused his headgear to fall off. Meryn Trant was reeling in from the shock of what a bastard girl did to him, when he suddenly blacked out. Obara had hit him in the head once more and was now resting against the walls, waiting for another to finish off their opponent. This just proved how pathetic the King's Guard had become.

Her sister, Tyene who was proficient in using daggers, had been struggling against Ser Aerys Oakhart and after a few minutes of dueling with each other, Tyene was finally disarmed. The skill between the two was simply too great. Ser Jaime achieved what his fellow brother had achieved and won against Nymeria Sand and her spear. The two had seemingly not been happy with their matches and began clashing swords against each other soon, which resulted in another win for the Lannister.

Ser Barristan might be old, but he proved he could still fight as he easily beat Boros Blount using his skills and waited for his next opponent.

The match between Ser Loras and the mystery knight had been the most shocking however. While Ser Loras had tried to land a hit on his opponent multiple times, he never could as the knight easily dodged all of his hits and even taunted him a few times. That made Loras lose his cool and he wildly charged at the knight, but that didn't work out in his favor as the knight simply side stepped and punched the Tyrell heir, the force behind the attack made everyone pity him since a loud crack was hear. Renly looked furious though.

It was now a match between 4 people only. Ser Barristan quickly decided to test the mystery knight, as he had figured out the identity of the knight the moment, he saw the lion and the stag on his shoulders. He wanted to see how far his pupil had come since it had been a while since they last sparred.

On the other hand, with Jaime and Obara, the two had been clashing against each other for a while now and had been insulting each other ever since. Though everyone could see that Obara had given in to her anger and due to her emotions clouding her mind, she was in a tough situation. It didn't take much time before Jaime's sword broke off the spear handle of Obara's spear and he had his sword at her throat. She didn't have much choice except for yielding.

Though the audience did not care much about their fight when they were seeing two gods of war dancing against each other on the other side of the stadium. Ser Barristan and the mystery night looked as if they had each been possessed by the Warrior, as the two of them tried to overpower, out-maneuver and outsmart their opponent.

The two continued clashing swords and parrying for more than 10 minutes, but finally, Ser Barristan's age caught up to him as he began getting tired and Orys capitalized on that by finally using his full strength and disarming his opponent and placing his sword at the neck of his mentor.

Ser Barristan just smiled and yielded before, whispering to Orys, "I'm proud of you, my prince. The student has finally surpassed the teacher, and I couldn't be happier. I hope you win this thing." That was what the old man said before dispersing, something that brought a smile on his face. Orys loved the guy like a grandfather and he was happy he had finally beaten the man with his skills rather than swordsmanship.

Orys then turned around to face his arrogant uncle, who looked more cautious then usual but still had an arrogant smirk on his face. He never liked him cause Orys believed he was arrogant for nothing. He might have become the youngest member of the King's Guard but everyone knows that Aerys Targaryen only did it to spite Tywin. The only real battle the man has faced was against Rossart and the King he swore to protect.

Yet he was still that arrogant and Orys decided to mend this once and for all. How? It is simple, to annoy a person who believes himself to be one of the greatest swordsmen in the world, you simply beat him up without a sword. So, Orys sheathed his sword and simply looked at the Kingslayer.

This caused him to scowl and say, "Are you mocking me boy? Pick up your sword!" he was agitated as the mystery knight was insinuating, he did not need a sword to beat the likes of him. Him?! Jaime Lannister?!

Renly's comment did nothing but add fuel to the fire when he said, "Of course he wouldn't fight the Kingslayer, a man who has only won his battles by stabbing people in the back." This caused rage to flood Jaime and he roared before charging at the knight in black.

He took out his sword and went for an overhead slash, but was too slow to react to the unnatural speed of the knight who caught his hands before he could bring the sword down and punched him twice in the gut, causing him to spit out blood. He was then punched in the face and his nose was broken. Jaime Lannister, the Golden Lion, could barely stand now and before he could move, he was punched once again, before he lost consciousness.

Everyone was stunned for a few minutes before cheers erupted from every corner of the stadium with many giving the knight a standing ovation. Ser Jaime was carried off for treatment and the King called the Knight forward.

"Well done, boy. You have proven that you are a capable warrior and deserve the reward for your victory. You not only beat the shit out of the golden-haired shit but even beat Ser Barristan, the Old?! I'm happy to give you this reward. But before that may we know who you are," Robert spoke up, drunk as hell but more lively than usual. All this fighting must have aroused him awake.

The knight stood still for a few moments as the arena quieted down, before he reached up and took off his helmet, revealing him to be…

To be continued.

A.N – I know a lot of you might be thinking why I didn't have more people participate and why didn't Orys' Royal Guard participate. Truth be told I have never written a fight scene before and I wanted to keep it simple. Plus, it's really difficult to remember the names of the number of people in Game of Thrones.

As for the Royal Guard, they are seasoned warriors. Orys doesn't have them fight tourneys since he wants them to be veterans in the battlefield, which is why they go around cleaning up bandit camps and other operations through out the crownlands. Only archers are allowed to participate since they don't get to fight as often as the swordsmen and the spear users.