Merchant Girl

Damian stared in disbelief at the naked girl being swept away by the current.

"What the actual hell?"

"Ahh!" The girl's screams brought him out of his stupor and he didn't think twice before starting to run in the same direction in which the current is dragging that poor girl. After getting a little ahead of her he jumps into the water and starts swimming towards her.

Damian's heart is pounding as he pushes his body to the limits, the current wants to drag him away from her but the redhead fights against it and with each movement of his arms he feels his energy slowly fading away. In truth the resistance and strength of his teen body is his biggest weakness in situations like this, but he doesn't let that stop him from saving the girl. The adrenaline runs through his body with more speed and ferocity than the current of the river and after a few minutes he finally approaches the girl.

Unfortunately, in the time it took to reach her, she lost the last of her strength and fell unconscious, the force of the river submerged her and she was lost from Damian's sight. The redhead couldn't tell why he's so intent on saving a random girl from drowning. Maybe it is a heroic impulse typical of a superior morality. Maybe it is that the idea of someone dying in front of him, without him doing anything, brings back memories that he prefers to remain deep in his memory. He doesn't know it, he only knows that something drives him to save her.

That same impulse led him to take a deep breath and dive under the water. The swift current muddies the water and visibility is abysmal, Damian barely seeing a brown mist around him. After spending two minutes looking for the girl, he has to return to the surface because his lungs are burning like an oven.

"Argh." Damian grunts and takes another breath, stubbornness keeping him from giving up. This time he dives until he touches the bottom of the river, calculating the most probable direction that the water has carried the body, he swims as fast as he can.

Luck is on his side and he sees a faint golden glow in the distance, as he gets closer he realizes that it is from a gold pendant that the girl has around her neck. Damian grabs the unconscious girl and holds her tight before starting to swim to the surface. The added weight makes it a very arduous and demanding task, his muscles are on fire and screaming for him to stop.

Upon reaching the surface he takes a few much-needed breaths and quickly begins swimming towards the nearest shore, which luckily is the same shore where his horses and supplies are.

As soon as he lifts her out of the water he starts making chest compressions, he makes sure to push hard but not too hard.

`It will hurt when you wake up but better in pain and alive than dead.` After doing thirty chest compressions Damian places a hand on her chin and tilts her neck back opening her airway. After which he pinches his nose and begins mouth to mouth.

Damian repeats the process so many times he feels like he's been doing that for hours by the time the girl starts vomiting water, he moves her to the side so she doesn't choke on her own vomit and finally takes a relift breath.

His arms, legs and back are on fire and he knows that tomorrow he will pay the price.

"W-what? Who are you?" The girl stopped vomiting water and turned to Damian, as soon as she saw him, her face turned redder than his hair and she widened her eyes.

Damian ignores her reaction and finally takes notice of the girl's appearance. She is a teenager of perhaps fourteen or fifteen, with hair black as night and eyes a brilliant green reminiscent of spring grass. She has a heart-shaped face with proportionate lips and high cheekbones. In his opinion she would be very beautiful if she wasn't looking at him as if he were some kind of exotic creature.

`Oh, right, I am naked. And so is she.' Damian's eyes unconsciously lowered to the girl's chest and when she realized it she let out a high-pitched cry and hugged her body, covering herself as best she could with her arms.

"Y- you pervert!"

"Pervert? I wasn't aware that is the correct term for someone who saved you from drowning." Replies Damian rolling his eyes. As soon as he saw her blush, he already anticipated all the possible reactions she could have, all clichés in this kind of situation, and he doesn't intend to play that game.

"Huh?" The girl looks at him confused and Damian watches with almost amusement as realization dawns in those bright grass green eyes. "Oh." She whispers and tightens her grip on her knees, which are hugged against her chest. She begins to shake a little and looks at the river with a lost look.

"Oh indeed." Damian picks himself up off the ground and stretches his back unashamed of his state of nakedness. "Now you are awake and alive, I am going to continue with my day." Without waiting for any answer, he begins to walk along the river bank.

`I wonder how far I am from my horses? It will be a long walk I think.`

"W-wait!" The girl gets up and as soon as she does, she begins to wobble.

Damian is quick and grabs her before she hits the ground.

"You are still weak, you shouldn't make sudden movements."

"If you know that you shouldn't leave me here alone! Wherever 'here' is." She mumbles the last part.

`Not knowing where she is is not surprising, who knows how long the current was dragging her.`

"Well, I am not a knight in shining armor, my lady." He answers sarcastically.

"Obviously not." She snorted and looked at his undressed state. Damian grins a bit, liking her sense of humor. "And I am no lady."

"Oh?" That does surprise him, apart from the paleness of her current state she is obviously well fed, her hands are soft and do not have the calluses that girls her age part of the smallfolk tend to have . There is also the matter of the gold pendant that she wears around her neck, the quality of it is good and Damian is sure that it is worth at least two or three golden dragons.

"A merchant's daughter then." He is almost sure of his guess and from her surprised expression he is correct.

"How did you know?"

"Your hands are soft, it shows you haven't worked a day in your life. You're well fed and that pendant is worth more than most smallfolk earn in a year."

Her green eyes sparkle with surprise and then intrigue.

"I am Alysanne."

"Damien."

"Well, Damian. You are no knight and I am no lady, and since you saved my life I must repay you but I won't be able to do so If I die, now can I?"

`So that is your game, merchant girl. Not bad, let's hear your offer.`

"That's true, merchant girl."

"Merchant girl? Nevermind." She shakes her head but looks somewhat annoyed by the nickname.

`Smart enough to not let her temper get the better of her once she realized her situation.` Naked, weak, and lost. Alysanne's situation is not enviable, and to get out of it, she must depend on Damian. They both know that.

"Then, to receive your reward you must accompany me to my father`s caravan." She looks at him almost with satisfaction, and again Damian feels his lips tremble. From his point of view, Alysanne is a kitten trying to negotiate with a tiger.

`I played this game for far longer than you, merchant girl.`

"I'm sorry, Alysanne but-"

"Wait!" Alysanne grabs his arm as he starts to walk away. "My father will be very generous! He has a big caravan and is quite rich!"

"And where is he going?"

"Bitterbridge."

Bitterbridge is not only in the direction he is heading but also the Roseroad, which leads directly to Oldtown, passes through the town. Traveling alone carries many risks, on one side are wild animals and on the other are men. In recent years the number of bandits has been increasing in Westeros, and now, at the end of summer they are most active. Like all other men and women, they have to prepare for winter, a season in which hardly anyone travels and the number of possible victims is very low.

Damian has dodged at least a dozen bandits in the last week, and while the encounter he couldn't dodge was very beneficial, he knows it was due to the poorly trained bandits and the cover of the night. If he were to be surrounded by half a dozen bandits in broad daylight his chances of getting out unscathed are slim to none. Getting injured in the middle of his journey would be disastrous, which is why the prospect of joining other travelers is very attractive.

"It just so happens that I'm also heading in that direction-"

"You can travel with us!" She interrupts him with shining eyes.

`Hook, line, and sinker.`

Damian pretends to think about it for a while before nodding, pretending to still be doubtful.

"It is safer to travel with more people!" Alysanne adds. "Bandits abound these days."

"Yes, you're not wrong there. Well, merchant girl, let's get going. Nightfall will be upon us at this rate."

The walk up the river was slow, because Alysanne is still weak and she can't walk very fast. During it the girl held onto his right arm and kept alternating between looking at him with curiosity and at the river with fear.

ʻI wouldn't be surprised if she were to develop potamophobia, or even hydrophobia. Almost drowning has that effect. Speaking of-`

"Alysanne, how did you end up in that situation?" he asks.

"That situation?" She looks at him curiously and Damian looks towards the river. "Oh. I was taking a bath. I didn't realize how strong the river's current was and as soon as I got a little further from the shore I found myself at the mercy of the river. And you?" She looks at his naked body and blushes but keeps her gaze for a few seconds.

Damian doesn't feel ashamed or upset about it, in fact he is quite amused by her reactions.

"I was taking a bath and I heard you scream."

"You saw a girl drown and your reaction was to jump into the water." She snorts and looks at him amused. "And you say you're not a knight in shining armor."

"Well, I wear no armor." He answers dryly.

Alysanne laughs, her laughter interrupted by a cough.

"Carefull, you are still weak."

"You already told me that." She responds with annoyance, pouting and Damian is sure if she wasn't leaning on him she would have crossed her arms too.

Damian just smirks in response and they continue walking in silence. It took them almost an hour to get to where he had tied his horses. Seeing them he sighed with relief, he hadn't been away for too long but there was still the possibility that someone had stolen them.

"Five horses?" Alysanne looks in surprise at the number of horses. "Are you traveling with someone? Your family perhaps?"

"I have no family." The redhead's expression darkens as he says that. That's not far from the truth, right now Damian is truly alone. "And I am traveling alone."

The redhead starts to get dressed and throws one of his spare robes to Alysanne. The black-haired girl opens and closes her mouth twice before shaking her head and putting on the robe in silence.

"Now let's find your father`s caravan."

***

NOTE: There are advanced chapter in my p@ tre on if you are interested.

p a t r e o n. com /EdenofKovir

Also please leave a review if you are enjoying the story.