The bandits
Three years later
Stefan POV
'What is it this time' I thought as I was walking towards the small council chamber with Sandor trailing behind me, after Lord Arryn called for a meeting, as I entered the chamber I look at the faces present in the meeting Jon Arryn the hand of the king, Uncle Renly Master of laws, Uncle Stannis master of ships, Littlefinger Master of coin the man I trust least, Varys Master of whispers, Pycelle and finally Ser Brynden Tully an advisor on the council that i invited three years ago, immediately they all stand and bow uttering a quick "My Prince" once they finished i told them to sit down which they did, finishing the formalities I take my seat next to Jon.
"Why has this meeting been called Lord Hand" I ask the aging lord, "Apologies my Prince but it seems that a village in the Crownlands has been pillaged by a a large group of bandits, normally the King would deal with this but as you know he is on a hunt" I nod at that understanding why the meeting was called "Lord Varys what do we know of this bandit group" I ask the eunuch "I am afraid not much Prince Stefan all my little birds could sing to me was that they possess no more than 50 men" he replied in that feminine voice of his.
"Very well I'll gather the thunder brigade and deal with them" I announce to Which Jon responded "Your mother wouldn't like that Stefan" "She wasn't happy the first five times and yet I still went" seeing my response the old Lord nods his head at me "Now if there isn't anything more my Lords we have a few men to kill don't we Ser Brynden" "Aye we do" seeing no further comment i stand up and leave the room with the Blackfish and Sandor behind me "Ser gather the men i'll meet you at the courtyard" nodding the Blackfish leaves to do as instructed while I go to the room and grab my hammer and armor a rather simple looking one with the banner for house Baratheon on the front and a large antlered helm.
Entering the courtyard I see the thunder knights, my personal retinue of two hundred men, there were 40 foot soldiers, 50 were knights, sixty cavalry men and the rest archers.
Some of the more renowned people in my retinue were Ser Balon Swann, Ser Robar Royce, Ser Anguy (Robert knighted him after he saved Stefan by killing a bandit that wanted to stab him in the back), Ser Arron Waters a bastard from the Riverlands, Ser Jacelyn Bywater, Thoros of Myr, Lord Beric Dondarrion, someone nobody would expect Brienne of Tarth, Ser Brynden Tully, Sandor, and joining us representing the Kingsguard my uncle Jaimie.
"Alright let's get moving" I ordered the Thunder brigade "Aye lets get killing" slurred a drunk Thoros making most of us smirk.
After about an hour of marching we find a place to set up camp, as I and the rest of the important people gather around i start speaking "Alright we know from the survivors that the bandits took the village for themselves, Ser Anguy and Ser Brynden take some men and scout ahead I want to know everything possible" nodding they stand up to gather some men and leave, while the rest of us sing some songs.
About two hours later the scouting party returns "Your Grace" I nodded at their greeting "What did you find Ser's, any losses on our part" "No your grace the gods kept us safe, regarding the information we believe that they are all gathered up in a tavern with some hostages near the center of the town, they have two men on the entrance to the tavern and four on the main, they change shifts every hour" the Blackfish reports.
"We should surround them and box them in" Ser Arron suggests "That won't work they'll just use the hostages to keep us from moving in" Uncle Jaimie counters to that the river bastard just grunts and says "What do you suggest then Kingslayer" something which angers me "We're here to fight the bandits not ourselves Ser" I tell him making him mutter a quick apology to us "Uncle why did you kill the King you never told me" "You never asked" he responds "Well then you'll tell us after we're done with this" he looked surprised at that but nodded nonetheless "Now this is what we'll do Ser Anguy and a few archers will bombard the men on entrance with arrows, once the guards are dead the cavalry will ride into the village causing noise making the bandits come out of the tavern once that happens the rest of us will kill the bandits, any objections" seeing nobody opposed the idea we start preparing.
Whoosh that's what I heard as the plan we agreed upon starts, as the cavalry lead by Lord Beric enter the town killing the guards and some of the bandits that decided to come outside for air or whatever, "OURS IS THE FURY!!" I yell charging with hammer in one hand and a gold painted shield with the Baratheon crowned stag embezzled upon it on the other one, as i approach the enemy y notice Sandor, my uncle and Brienne alongside me, the first enemy to come close to me is a fat man with a cheap steel sword yelling at me as he swings his sword from above towards me which i block with my shield I hit him on the chest with the top part of my hammer, as the man stumbles back i do an overhead swing splattering blood and brain all over 'Parry, swing, block' is all i could think about as all the lessons from Xahalo come back to me. This goes on for a couple more minutes. By the time it was done only six bandits were left while we did not suffer casualties other than a few wounded.
"Tend to the wounded, and bring me the surviving enemies" I order to which my men comply.
As the survivors are brought before me one begs "Please my lord mercy please" in response Ser Brynden punches him in the face while saying "That's your Prince not a Lord" making all the prisoners widen their eyes at that "Bring me the villagers" with that ser Robar leaves to get them, once they arrive 'they looked like they've been through the seven hells' I thought looking at how injured and scared they were all of them women 8 to be precise which leads me to believe they were been raped making me clench my fists in anger "You need not worry you're safe now they wont hurt you" making them somewhat relax due to my words and the knights around me.
"Now then did any of these men r**e or hurt you" I ask them to which two of them nod and point at four of them saying they r**ed them having my answer i order Brienne to escort them away so their injuries can be tended to by my personal Maester or ex Maester Qyburn, ar the Lady of Evenfall leads the towards Qyburn, I ask for a chopping block which Ser Jacelyn already has in hand, placing it on the ground my men force the first struggling man to kneel in front of the block i start reciting "In the name of Robert Baratheon first of his name, King of the Andals and the first men, Lord of the seven kingdoms and protector of the realm, I Stefan Baratheon crown Prince of the seven kingdoms sentence you to die" finishing that i take the four rapists heads repeating the words for all of them, "Mercy Your Grace i beg of you we didn't hurt anybody we just watched" the same man from before begs of me "I guess your punishment will be too look after the realms of men in the wall, but first two fingers on your right hand for both of you" grabing my dirk gifted to me from my grandfather y proceed to carry out their punishment, as for why i delivered the punishment myself it is because something Lord stark told me the first and only time i met him after the Greyjoy rebellion, I remember those words clearly "If you can't look a man in the eye and hear his last words then maybe he doesn't deserve to die".
Two days later we return to the capital we are immediately being summoned to the throne room by my father who returned from his hunt earlier in the day, before going i order some men to escort the two prisoner two the black cells so they can later be sent to the watch, and also ordering for the surviving girls to be taken to the kitchens where they decided they wanted to work as a thank you for saving them.
While walking towards the throne room i think back to when my uncle told us the story about the Mad King's death (Same story as in cannon) when i asked my uncle to tell the story to my father he said that it wouldn't matter, but i think differently deciding to make sure my father knows.
Arriving in the throne room with the rest of the important people in tow I see my Father seated on the throne with a big smile on his face, with the rest of the small council and royal family beside him, after reaching the appropriate distance we all kneel in front of the throne until my father beckons us to rise which we all do.
"Well done son you remind me a lot of myself back in the day HAHAHA isn't that right Jon" father says to me "It is your Grace" Answers Jon with a proud smile on his face lookin at me, after he says that i see Ser Barristan walking up to my father and whispering in his ear once he pulls back I see father smile and nod, walking towards me Ser Selmy says "If you would kneel your Grace" widening my eyes so much i thought the would fall out of my sockets i proceed to kneel, the last thing i see before doing so is my mother, father, uncle Renly and surprisingly the ever stone cold faced Lord of Storm's end (Stefan convinced Robert to grant Stannis the Storm lands after the Greyjoy rebellion) smiling with pride at me, Tommen and Myrcella smiled not knowing what was happening while Joffrey as always looked jealous and angry.
"Prince Stefan of house Baratheon sword on the left shoulder in the name of the Warrior i charge you to be brave sword switches to right shoulder In the name of the Father i charge you to be just Sword on left again in the name of the Mother i charge you to protect the young and innocent right shoulder in the name of the Maid i charge you to protect the innocent, do you swear to uphold these vows" "I swear" "Then rise Ser Stefan knight of the seven kingdoms" doing so i see Ser Barristan with a large smile on his face, after i rise i could hear all the applause from the lords and ladies of the court.
Sandor POV
Watching my charge be knighted gave me mixed feelings on one hand i was glad that i wasn't serving a prick of a prince like Joffrey, but on the other hand my prince took the same vows as my damned brother, no, i realise that the Prince isn't like that he is a better person than that and will be and even greater King one i would gladly and happily serve.