There is No Escape From Death

299 AC, Stoney Sept…

Last night was a noisy one and Rody did not have a good sleep. Hunter's wife screamed all night and there were even some neighbours who came to bang their door to make them silence the woman.

Rody regretted telling Hunter to go beside his wife. The woman was screaming endlessly and Rody was surprised to hear that her throat was still intact after all that screams.

He yawned and stretched his arms as he gathered himself up from the hard ground. He looked towards the bedroll and saw the boy still sleeping with his back turned towards him. However, his blanket was pushed aside and his shirt was gathered up to his chest.

He felt a cold breeze slapping his face and shivered. The window was open and the sounds of the birds were getting in.

He probably opened the window during the night to feel some fresh air and forgot to close it. He slowly rose to his feet and felt a backache. The floor was really hard and he was eager to leave this room to return to the road. At least, he could sleep on soft grasses on the road.

He went beside the boy and pulled up the blanket on him. The last thing he wanted was him getting sick.

After that, he quickly wore his breeches and his other clothes. They were all smelling like he had fallen in a pit of dunk but there was nothing he could do.

He let the boy sleep as he left the room. While passing by the kitchen, he saw Serena boiling some eggs but did not go to bother him. Serena also looked at him sideways but quickly reverted her eyes back. He went outside and washed his face using the water in a bucket on a stool.

He scratched the scar on his face as it tingled. He looked around but other than some people sauntering around he did not see anyone. Unlike the other southern towns, this one was rather desolate. It was probably because of the recent raid.

"Oi, you awake?" A voice made Rody return to reality as he looked towards its source and saw Hunter carrying some woods.

His eyes were all red and he probably did not sleep last night as he looked tired. Rody went beside him and took some of the woods he was carrying to help him.

"Good mornin'." Rody said. "Didn't have any sleep?"

Hunter wryly smiled like he was remembering the last night. "Aye, it was tough but I guess you were right. Though we probably did not let you boys sleep…"

"No worries about that, we slept like a log." Rody laughed as he lied. Sleep was foreign to him last night but it was rude to throw it to the man's face. "Well, I hope she gets better. These are hard times, death is lurking around and without a family to look after you, you might die any second."

Hunter nodded his head but did not say anything. They entered the house and put the wood beside the oven.

The table was set and ready for them to break their fasts but Serena was nowhere to be seen.

"She probably went upstairs to give some to my wife." Hunter said seeing Rody was eyeing around.

"Ohh," Rody nodded his head in understanding. "I will get the boy up so we can leave quickly. We still have a long way to go."

"If you think I will let you go without eating anything, you are greatly mistaken." Hunter slapped Rody on the back. "Go get the boy, my sister's bread is one of its kind in this area."

"You won't see me refusing hot bread and fresh eggs anyday," Rody laughed and went towards the room they slept in yesterday. "I will wake the boy, he slept enough anyways."

Rody went into the room and shook the boy but seconds later he creased his brows. His back was soaking wet. He rolled the boy on his back and looked at his face which was in a similar state. He put his hand on his forehead and felt the burning sensation. The boy was burning hot and his breath was faint.

"Fuck," The prince, certainly, became sick because of him as he left the window open last night.

He quickly opened the door of the room and called Hunter. Hearing about the boy's state Hunter did not hesitate to go in and check him.

"It is indeed a fever. Go outside and bring the water bucket here. Then go upstairs and tell my sister to bring some of her shirts for the boy. These are soaking wet, if we leave them he would get worse." Hunter did not take his eyes from the boy and quickly ordered Rody.

Rody didn't question him and quickly went outside to bring the water bucket to him. He grabbed a piece of cloth he saw in the kitchen on his way. Then, as Hunter told him, he went upstairs with quick steps.

There were three different rooms and two of them had their doors closed. Rody went towards the one with the open door and looked inside but did not see anyone.

It was a plain room with a bed, a wardrobe and a small table. This was probably where Hunter was sleeping due to his wife's condition.

Rody did not dally around, went towards the closest room and banged the door. He did not hear any sound coming from inside and just as he was going to leave, the other door at the end of the corridor opened and a small head reached out.

"Hunter said for you to bring a shirt of yours down. The boy is sick, we need to change his clothes." Rody didn't beat around the bush and told it directly.

Serena frowned and nodded her head. She quickly went beside Rody and opened the door of the empty room. He picked a shirt from her wardrobe and left the room. She did not bat an eye to Rody and went down the stairs.

Rody snorted and followed her down. They went inside the room and saw Hunter undressing the boy. He turned his head back and told Serena to bring the shirt.

While they dealt with it, Rody was standing beside doing nothing. He didn't know how to handle this. The boy was in this state because of him and all he could do was seek help from these people.

"Don't stand there doing nothing!" Just as he was contemplating, he heard a voice barking at him. He turned, looked up and saw Serena. "Go call the old woman living at the end of the road, she lives in an old house with a rotten door."

"Rotten door?" Rody frowned.

"Aye," Hunter snorted and said with an ugly face. "That old hag wouldn't come even if the boy had pox."

"I will go," Rody said with a resolute face and left the room. "I will bring her here."

Sitting without doing anything was not like him. He quickly left the house and went down the road. Most of the houses were in shambles and after searching for a bit, he finally found the house with the rotten door. A third of the door was nowhere to be seen and some parts of it were broken.

Rody tried to look inside through the openings but could not see anything. He banged the door and waited but seeing no one coming he banged it again.

A moment later, he heard some coughing from inside and realized that the person was trying to ignore whoever was before the door.

"If you don't open the door, I will continue banging it!" Rody yelled.

"Stop, stop!! What do you want?!" Finally, the door opened, an old and short woman with a face full of wrinkles came out. "What an ugly scar is that!?"

Rody ignored the old woman's remark and said, "Hunter and Serena sent me to call you, we need your help."

"I already told them, there is nothing I could do with that woman." The old woman scoffed.

"It's not the woman. My brother and I are staying with them. My brother fell ill, they told me you know some healing and could help." Rody spoke exasperatedly.

"Hmph, I'm busy and have no time to help some boy." The old woman said and tried to close the door.

However, Rody put his foot between the door and forced it to open. "I don't care what business you have but you will help the boy."

"What?" The old woman backed away in frustration and let him open the door. "You think you can force me to treat the boy?"

Rody clicked his tongue. He knew even if he forced the old woman to come with him, there was no guarantee he could make him treat the boy.

"What do you want?" That is why Rody tried to play along and offer the only thing that was valuable to people. "How about some coins?"

The old woman's eyes grew wide as Rody took out a golden coin and held it between his fingers to show her. However, the woman quickly put out the light in her eyes and said, "Ten golden dragons."

"Ten golden dragons?!" Rody exclaimed. "I can hire a maester with that amount!"

"Best of luck to you," The old woman smirked. "The nearest castle is a few days out and even then which maester would venture out during these times."

Rody gritted his teeth, the old woman was right. He could not find a maester and bring him here with just ten golden dragons in these times. This amount was enough to fill the belly of a family for at least a year.

Rody untied the pouch hanging from his belt and threw it to the greedy old woman. The woman tried to grab it but it fell to the ground.

With a swiftness not expected from a woman as old as her, she took it from the ground and untied it. She began counting the coins and after some time, she tied the pouch and stuffed it into her clothes.

"Come inside," she said. "I need to pick some herbs first."

The old woman went inside and picked some dry herbs hanging from the wall. She stuffed them in a sack. Then, she went to the shelves attached to the wall and tried to pick a jar but she couldn't reach it.

"Take that jar, the one in the middle." She turned her head and looked at Rody. "Since you paid so generously, I will use my miraculous potion for your boy."

Rody did not think too much on what the woman said as he took the jar and asked, "Anything else?"

"You are an impatient one, aren't ya?" The old woman said but seeing Rody not giving any reaction after getting robbed of all of his coins, she scoffed and threw the sack to him. "Aye, that was the last one, let's go."

Rody followed the woman out and they went up the road to Hunter's house. As soon as they got inside, Rody took the woman to their room.

Serena was squeezing a piece of cloth after wiping the boy's forehead while Hunter was sitting beside the closed window and watching them.

However, Rody noticed his sack which should be in the corner was laying on the ground and the shiny head of a spear could be seen. He eyed Hunter and met with a stoic look.

"Is this the boy?" The old woman asked the obvious as both Serena's and Hunter's eyes turned towards them.

"Aye," Rody said, ignoring Hunter.

"Get off, young woman." The old woman said as she pushed Serena aside. "Leave it to me or you will make the boy worse than he is."

"You, big boy," The old woman sat on the ground and said, "Take out the jar from my sack."

Rody opened the sack and took out the jar. It had some greenish yellow water in it. He did not know what it was made from but Rody was sure it was not going to taste good.

The old woman took the jar and opened it. A smell of shit and piss spread around the room. Rody wanted to gag but he held himself back.

"Girl, make the boy sit." the old woman said.

Serena followed her words without complaint like she knew the old woman was the real deal. The prince was not conscious. As Serena made him sit up, he groaned but did not open his eyes.

The old woman gripped the boy's nose and squeezed it. The prince opened his mouth and the old woman forced him to drink a mouthful of the liquid. She forced the jar into Serena's hand and quickly closed the boy's mouth with her hands so he would not spit it out.

After the boy gulped all of it down his throat, Serena let him go. "Let him rest until evening. Then, mix these herbs with hot water and let it wait for a few minutes and give it to him. He will have nothing left the next day."

The old woman gathered her things and was readying herself to leave but stopped after looking at Rody.

"Want me to look at the stitches on your face, boy?" the old woman asked.

"I don't have any coins left." Rody said warily.

"Huh," The old woman laughed. "After that ten golden dragons you gave, I would whore myself to you for a whole night without any payment!"

Rody stiffened upon hearing the old woman's words. However, the reason was not the woman was implying but rather he was speaking about the amount he paid openly. His eyes wandered to Serena and Hunter briefly and saw the frown on their faces.

He put his hand on the old woman's shoulder and gently squeezed, "Did the age get into you, old woman? I gave you ten silver coins, that's all."

"Whatever you say, boy." The old woman remarked snidely. "Now, let's leave the room so I can clean that wound properly."

"Hmm," Rody nodded his head.

"I will stay here to look after the boy," Serena said while Hunter followed them out.

Rody sat on the table with the old woman while Hunter leaned on the wall and watched them. The old woman took out a needle, some thread and a pocket knife.

"Those are some nasty wounds, I bet the other side does not fare well either." said the old woman as she looked at the wound and the scar forming on it closely.

"You bet!" Rody said with a smirk.

"Stop speaking," said the old woman. "I need to cut those stitches and stitch them again. I don't know who treated you but this is worse than what maesters do."

"You have some hard drink for the boy?" asked the old woman turning her head to Hunter.

"Hmm," Hunter nodded his head and brought some wine from the kitchen.

The old woman took the wine and cleaned her tools with it. Then, she passed it to Rody as he took a gulp down his throat.

It took them an hour and a bottle of wine to handle it but the only difference was that the tingling sensation on Rody's scar was more than ever.

Rody thanked the old woman as he bid her farewell. However, with the departure of the woman, Rody was left with Hunter. He tried to ignore him and go beside the prince but Hunter stopped him.

"Would you sit down for a talk, Rody?" Hunter asked.

Rody sighed and reluctantly sat down. He knew that Hunter was suspicious about something the moment he saw his sack. However, he was not in the mood to talk about these things.

After a long escape, he was finally in Riverlands, just a few days away from his people but now, he was stuck in this small town. And all of these were because of him leaving a window open during the night.

"If it is about the rent, I am willing to pay for another night, Hunter." Rody tried to play it off despite knowing what Hunter was going to ask.

"I am not enough to throw out a sick child. However, I would like to learn about your story." Hunter shook his head and said, "As you can see, I have to look after two women and I need to protect them but I cannot do that while letting dangerous people inside my house."

"Dangerous people?" Rody creased his brows. "If you think I am dangerous, why did you let us stay last night?"

"You played it good by saying you were escaping from Lannisters but I want the truth. A young man and a boy with a sack of weapons roaming around?" Hunter snorted, "I was thinking that you belonged to a group of bandits but after hearing the words of the old woman, I changed my mind."

"No bandits would carry ten dragons in a pouch. Besides, the boy has no inkling of resemblance to you. I bet you are not even his brother." Hunter squinted his eyes and looked at Rody. "Now tell me, who are you?"

"Do you really want to know the truth?" Rody asked while looking at Hunter's cold-looking eyes. "Neither the boy is my brother, nor I am a bandit. I was tasked by a noble to bring the boy to him and those weapons you saw, they were loots we picked up on our way to sell."

"And why did you lie about it?" Hunter spoke with a questioning look.

"You cannot know whether someone is an enemy or friend these days. There are people who would kill to capture the boy and that is something I cannot allow." Rody said, trying to hide as much as he can.

"Why would they try to capture the boy?" Hunter frowned.

Rody silked his shoulders and said, "Probably some noble wants to hurt another one, who knows."

"Where does this noble of yours hail from?" Hunter let everything sink in before asking.

"Some noble from the North, you probably didn't even hear their name." Rody tried to undermine the situation as much as possible. He was already giving too much information to the man. "I already spoke too much, more words would endanger you and your family so don't force me to say more."

"Aye, I thank you for your honesty." Hunter nodded his head. "However, I have one last question, if you allow me."

Rody noticed the sudden change in Hunter's way of speaking as the cold words left their way to friendly ones like before so he nodded his and let him ask whatever the question was.

"There is word that another raid will come from Lannisters soon. We are behind the frontline and there is no Riverlander lord who could help us." Hunter looked a bit hesitant, his eyes were wandering around, instead of looking at Rody. "I was wondering… Would you allow us to travel with you towards the North?"

"You want to come with us?" Rody's eyes grew wide as this was the last question he was expecting.

"Aye, my sister was lucky during the last raid. Even if I'm here, I don't think we will have any chance when they come again." Hunter sighed and looked Rody in the eye. "That is why I want to leave this place before the roads are taken by Lannister patrols."

Rody did not know what to say. He had enough trouble already while traveling with the boy and now, Hunter and his family were intending to come with him.

"What about your wife?" Rody asked. "She can't leave her room, what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm sure, I can solve that with my sister. The question is would you travel with us?" Hunter said. "Don't take me wrong, we could travel alone but the more our numbers are the more chance we have of surviving on the road."

Rody felt the wound on his face tingling, he wanted to scratch it but remembering the new stitches, he confined himself to only licking it.

"You talk with your wife and solve your problems. When it comes to it, we could talk about it again." Rody said, trying to slip away from giving a definite answer. After all, the man was opening the doors of his house to him during these tumultuous times so he did not want to refuse him outright.

However, the look on Hunter's face was obvious to Rody's meaning. Nevertheless, he did not say anything and nodded his head. After all, this was expected. No one would want to travel with women on the road during these times. There were too many bad chances of facing bandits who would do anything to get their hands on them.

"I will watch the boy for a bit, if there is nothing else." Rody said.

"Hmm," Hunter nodded his head. "We already spoke, no need for more words."

Rody's feet took him to the room while Hunter went into the kitchen to get himself something to eat. After all, they did not break their fast because of the boy's sickness.

When Rody got into the room, Serena was sitting beside the prince and watching over him. She raised her head when she heard Rody's steps. Only a brief look later, she turned her head back to the boy.

Rody did not know what he had done to the girl but he did not care about what a girl from a small town in Riverlands thought about him. He went beside his sack and stuffed the exposed parts of the weapons inside.

"Do you want me to bring anything?" Rody asked the girl.

Serena shook her head and said nothing. She did not even raise her head to answer.

"You can go if you want, I can look after the boy." Rody said. "You should be hungry."

Finally, the girl raised her head and looked at Rody but her face was marred by a frown. "I will come back after eating." She rose from her seat and went out of the room.

Only Rody was left inside with the boy. He sat beside him and watched his rising and falling chest.

When he was living with his father in Wintertown, he would have never imagined about all of these. His dreams were just like his father's and his friends', serving Starks, finding a wife and raising children.

However, his family and his home were taken from him. His dreams were shattered into pieces but he gathered those pieces together and he was back on his track to making his dream into reality.

He didn't know what the Northerners were doing or were going to do. Were they going to come South to war against Lannisters, or were they here just to support Riverlanders?

Nevertheless, he was probably a dead man in their minds. Still, the only thing that mattered was returning.

Until he found this boy lying in a bed in the Red Keep, he did not know whether he was going to ever leave that place or not. And now, he was dragging the boy along with him and that nearly cost the prince's life.

It was actually a funny thing, they killed their way here. Bandits, bounty hunters, patrols and many others tried to kill them but it was always the other side that ended up buried in the ground. However, a small sickness caused by a small mistake nearly stole the boy from him.

Although he did not treat the boy well, he did care about him a bit. After all, they were traveling together for months and they only had each other to talk. Despite the occasional beating, he would wish evil upon him.

…

Rody did not know when he dozed off but by the time he was awake, the sun was nowhere to be seen and there was a thin quilt on him.

He groaned as he moved because of the ache he felt on his back. He looked around but was only greeted by silence and a lone boy lying on a bed.

The boy's face was like a plant sprouting from the ground and gaining life. Rody put a hand on his forehead but did not feel the burning sensation like in the morning.

The potion was really a miracle like the old woman said. If he ever saw that woman again, he was going to kiss her on the face.

Rody decided to take some fresh air and left the room. Everyone was asleep, darkness and silence was afoot in the house.

Rody wore his boots and donned a cloak to fend off the cold and stepped outside. Grasshoppers were chirping arduously and there was a barking dog in the distance but that was it.

No one was outside and aside from the occasional torches hanging around, darkness was the only thing eyes could see.

Rody decided to stroll towards the gates of the town, hoping to find some guards to chat with. And indeed, two guards were sitting beside the closed gates and talking amongst themselves.

Seeing someone coming, one of them put his hand on the spear leaning against the wall but a few seconds later, he relaxed seeing who it was.

"Aren't you the one staying at Hunter's house?" asked the guard. "I was guarding the gates when you came, remember?"

"Aye, you were the one asking about my scar, weren't you?" Rody said tersely.

"Hehehe," the guard awkwardly laughed, "No bad feelings, brother. We may lose our heads if we don't question everyone who comes to our town."

Rody licked the scar on his face to suppress the itchy feeling. "No worries, friend. You did the right thing, I might have been a Lannister spy or a bandit."

"Sleep must have left you this night, eh? Or else, what would you do outside with the air freezing." said the other guard. "It is better if you go back to your home."

"Let him sit with us, Gerold." said the guard who spoke with Rody first. "Come friend, have a sip of our wine. Gods knows, I am already bored of this guy's chattering."

Gerold snorted and said, "I will go outside to take a piss. You continue letting your mouth loose, Dennet."

Gerold put his spear against the wooden wall and strolled away, passing through the gates. Dennet turned towards Rody and extended the wine cask on his hand.

Rody did not mind the grumpy fellow and grabbed the wine cask and took a sip. It tasted like piss but he did not care as he needed to blow some steam off.

"So what took your sleep away friend, eh?" asked Dennet, taking the wine cask back and taking a sip.

"Well, my brother got sick and I had to stay with him. So I slept the whole day beside him." Rody said, silking his shoulders.

"Ahh, so it was your brother who forced the old witch out of her hut!" said Dennet.

"Old witch?" Rody knitted his brows but came to a realization after a while, "Ohh, you mean the healer. Aye, I gave her all of our coins so she would treat him."

"Aye, the old witch demands high but you can be assured that her skills are real." Dennet nodded his head wisely. "I tell you, she treated a cousin of mine once, and the boy came back from the Stranger's grasp. He even told me in secret that the Stranger showed himself before him."

"Stranger?" Rody raised an eyebrow and asked with interest. "Did he say what it was like?"

"He said it wore a robe that drowned the light and beckoned for him to follow him." Dennet spoke in a hushed voice, trying to create a disturbing air.

However, Rody was not a devout follower of the Seven and he did not believe anything he said so all he did was laugh loudly and say, "Horse shit, your cousin must have been dreaming."

"What would you know," Dennet snorted, "Besides, even the local septon said that the Mother must have saved my cousin from the clutches of the Stranger. You should show some respect, or else when the time comes the Mother might not save your sorry arse."

"Peh, there is no escape from death. When the time comes, even your Gods won't be able to save you." Rody said, grabbing the wine cask from Dennet's hand and taking a sip.

"My Gods?" Dennet squinted his eyes. "You never told where you were coming from… So what Gods do you believe in then?"

Rody forced down the wine through his throat. He realized that he got carried away while drinking the wine and having a decent talk finally after a few months being on the road with a small kid.

"You guess." Rody said, trying to buy some time to make up a story.

"Your accent is like you are from the Northern Riverlands but you told us you came from the south." Dennet scratched his chin while thinking. After a while, his eyes grew wide and he spoke like he discovered the greatest secret. "You came from God's Eye, right? I heard there is a Northerner village there. That is you said 'your Gods', you do not believe in the Seven, you pray to the Old Gods."

"You caught me," Rody wryly smiled. He didn't even need to exhaust himself to make up a story. Imagination was really a scary thing. Jokes aside, Rody was glad the man did not say he was from the North. The last thing he wanted was getting discovered.

"You know, I had a friend whose family was also a follower of the Old Gods. I always found it weird that they were praying in a little hut to a statue made from a white tree. Is that something you guys do in your village too?" Dennet asked.

"Worshipping statues?" Rody knitted his brows. It was probably some local ritual, created only after mixing up with the religion of the New Gods, as this custom did not exist up in the North. "Nah, we do not do that in the village. Are you sure they worshipped Old Gods?"

"Aye, he told me himself. Anyways, what is with the sword hanging from your belt, eh?" Dennet asked with wonder. "I never saw one with a handle like that."

Rody grabbed the handle and pulled it out of its scabbard. "It is a family sword. My father told me that it was gifted to him by a lord."

"Aaah, that is why it looks so good. You must be looking after it like your wife." Dennet tried to touch its edge but he pulled his hand back before he touched it. "Look at its edge, it is sharper than my mother's tongue."

"Why did you leave your village and come all the way here?" Dennet asked. "You must have some family you left behind, right?"

"It's a long story…" Rody did not want to lie so dodged the question. "I need to return home, it was good to talk with you Dennet. Maybe we can talk it over tomorrow while having a real drink."

"That would be great, it is difficult to see a new face during these times." Dennet said. "While on your feet, can you look behind the gates? The pisspot Gerold did not come back yet, I told him to not eat that rotten cheese but would he listen to me, no. Now, he can't keep his shit in his pants."

"Aye, aye, I will go over and take a look." Rody did not want to listen to the details and smiled in grimace.

He gave the empty wine cask to Dennet and rose to his feet. Although Dennet called this a gate, it was more like a big wooden door with iron plating. Even though it offered some protection, it could not stop a real attack from an army.

Just as Rody put his hands on the gate to push it, someone else pulled it from the other side. The ugly face of Gerold greeted Rody.

Rody turned to look at Dennet and said, "Here is your friend. Just as…"

As Rody was talking, he felt something splash on his face and saw Dennet's eyes grow wide. He touched his face and looked at his hand, realizing that it was a red liquid.

He turned his head towards the gate and saw a tip of an arrow protruding from Gerold's mouth. He was gagging and splattering more blood on Rody's face.