118 Ch 54 Disputed Lands... Part 2

In a prime location near the ever-crowded port of Braavos where people fought with their lives for even the smallest parcel of land, there lay a sanctuary, a luxurious villa with a massive open space filled with a garden of foreign flowers. In the middle of congested shops, residences and inns this symbol of pure vanity stood out like a sore thumb.

Everything in this house, from the expensive carpets laid on every inch of the floor to the numerous silk drapes hanging all over and the windows made of intricate Myrish glass, as well as the numerous oil paintings of naked ladies, everything screamed wealth.

Inside the top-most room of this villa, which also serves as the study, stood two men. One was a young man in his mid-twenties reading a thin piece of white paper in his hands while the other was a well-groomed middle-aged man, with white hairs growing out of his temples, standing in front of the young man with his head bowed silently.

"What is this?" Nyrio asked quietly with an indifferent look on his face.

"That is the list of all the merchants who want our protection during the voyage—" The servant began but was immediately cut off.

"Do you think I can't read?" Nyrio asked with a smile that was almost a sneer but not quite, "What I want to know is why there are so few of them this time. And why is Big Mario's company not on this list? Did the old pervert go bankrupt or something?" The man scoffed, "He was always pestering us to increase the number of trips..."

"I am not completely sure of the cause, Master," The old man replied in an even tone, "But as far as I know the main reason is because of the recent trips of the new shipping company called the Northern Wolf Shipping. Many of the merchants seem to have completed their orders during this company's recent trips."

"Northern Wolf Shipping?" The young Master asked with a puzzled look on his face, "They're still operating?"

"You were in Pentos, so you may not be aware, Master." The servant replied cautiously, his master was the grandson of a member of the Secret Council and had many rich tastes that couldn't be fulfilled in Braavos so he was a frequent visitor of Pentos, "But this fleet has been very successful in its ventures so far. All three of the voyages that it had partaken in had been safe and successful and mighty profitable for everyone who was a part of it—"

"Yes! Yes! Enough with the praises already," Nyrio interrupted while waving his hand impatiently, "What I want to know is why their ships have not sunk beneath the sea yet. Have all the pirates gone soft or are they on some kind of a collective family vacation?"

"I don't think that is the reason—"

"Of course, that's not the reason. I was being sarcastic, you idiot." The man rolled his eyes at his idiot servant before he began thinking about this thorny problem with a calculative look in his eyes, "Hmm... Tell me, when is their next voyage going to be?" It wouldn't be very hard for him to make this competition disappear into the open sea without making it too complicated.

"As far as I know, there are no new voyages for a while..."

"No new trips?" Nyrio asked as his eyes narrowed, "And when was their last voyage?"

"Just a week ago,"

"...It seems they are smart enough to know that they can't face us head-on so they halted their operations for a while so as not to appear as a direct competition..." Nyrio murmured with a frown on his face, 'It seems we won't be able to deal with it the simple way...' He thought for a while before raising his head, "Call the owners of this shipping company. Let's see if we can buy them out..."

"That would be difficult, Master. One of the owners is from Westeros and is not in Braavos at the moment, and the other one..." The servant shook his head, "I don't think it would be possible to buy them out, Master."

"Why?"

"While it is not well-known, I managed to find out that Darrio Zalyne is a part owner of this company."

"What? Darrio Zalyne? The nephew of that new upstart who got lucky enough to snatch a seat at the secret council?"

"The very same."

"Ugh! That makes it even more tricky. That Zalyne is a bother even for Grandfather." Nyrio groaned with a grimace as he pondered on the issue for a while before raising his head, "No matter! We'll still give the one from Westeros the option to switch. If he's smart enough to make the right choice then fine otherwise... while we may not be able to touch Darrio, it won't be very hard to deal with a nobody from Westeros."

"If I may, Master. That may not be the best course of action—"

*SMACK*

A harsh slap cut the servant's advice short, "Do I need to remind you that my Grandfather sent you as a servant and a servant's only job is to listen to his master and execute his orders, not to give him advice."

"I apologize, master," the servant bowed without a change in his expression, "I spoke out of turn,"

"See that it doesn't happen again," Nyrio said before tuning his head away in disgust, "And while you're at it tell the Captain that I will not be joining him on this voyage this time and don't bother sending all the warships either. Half of them should suffice for this number of merchants."

The servant didn't speak his mind this time and just bowed and went away silently to execute his orders... no matter how stupid they may be.

....

"We should make a camp here," Jon suddenly said while looking at the sun that was almost in his line of sight and was about to set.

They had entered a clearing that was surrounded on all sides by tall yellow grasses almost the height of men. Flatlands like this consisted of most of the land that surrounded the western Essosi cities such as Pentos, Myr and others.

Jon could vividly remember the scene from the second episode of the first season of that series where the Dothraki made camp after leaving Pentos... this landscape looked exactly the same. There were sparsely any trees around here so even normal horses like the one that Sam was using could easily traverse the wilderness.

"Finally," Sam groaned in relief as he disembarked from his horse with an exhausted look on his face. He quickly dragged his feet towards a comfortable shade under a nearby tree before falling on the barren ground like a slab of rock.

Jon shook his head at Sam before leisurely taking out some feed from the bags to feed Peggy and the other horse. He didn't need to tie the horses as they wouldn't run away with him here so he left them to roam before taking a seat on a nearby rock while taking out a book. It was a diary of a famous captain about his journey to the smoking sea.

"That's enough rest, Sam," Jon said about five minutes later while taking a sip from a small pouch of water, "You should begin preparing for food before your muscles freeze up..."

"Do we have to... I think I can skip dinner," Sam said stalling lazily, "I am still quite full from the apple we ate in the afternoon," He had never even thought that there would come a time when he would even refuse food, but now...

"Tut! Tut! Tut!" Jon clicked his tongue with an amused look on his face, "We had a deal, Sam. If you lose a bout in the morning, then you prepare the dinner in the evening."

"Ugh! I hate that deal," Sam groaned before slowly staggering to his feat. He trudged over to take out pots, ladles, and other things from their luggage.

"If you hate the deal, then you just need to win the bout to change it,"

"As if that is possible," Sam grumbled to himself in a low voice, "Ah! I wish we had taken some dry ration with us when we passed through Pentos."

Both of them had left Braavos on a merchant ship going to Pentos. And after they reached their destination they spent a night there before taking a small fishing vessel the next morning which had deposited them on a nearby shore from where they began their journey on horses.

From the very beginning of their trip Sam didn't have a moment of rest, he was either training or fighting mock battles or riding the horse. This was also the reason his body felt like lead and he felt so sore.

"I don't like eating cold hard ration," Jon shrugged while turning a page of his book, "Besides you sleep much better after having a fulfilling meal,"

"You're just too spoiled," Sam grunted while lighting a small fire and placing the pot of water on the makeshift stove, "When is the game going to be here," he said while taking out the salt, spices and the few vegetables that he had to put in the pot, "I am almost done here,"

"Don't worry, she'll be here any minute now," Jon said without lifting his head from his book

And sure enough, exactly a minute later, Sam felt a huge gust of wind above his head and looked up to see a blue flash pass above him. He quickly turned his head to see the strikingly beautiful bird standing on a rock that could barely contain its claws.

Sam looked towards Jon with an imploring look on his face but received no reaction even after a while so he mustered up his courage and got up to go towards the mighty bird Frost.

"Thank you for the meal," he bowed solemnly towards the magnificent creature before taking the fat rabbit from its grasp. The creature nodded magnanimously towards the boy before taking back to the sky to go who knows where.

Sam skillfully prepared the delicious rabbit stew and a few minutes later both of them were sitting beside the fire with steaming hot bowls in their hands and gulping the contents heartily.

"Aren't you glad that you prepared the food now, Sam," Jon asked with a smirk on his face.

"Hmm..." Sam just grunted his assent as he was too busy gorging himself on the feast to respond.

"This may be the last good meal we have since we will reach the Disputed lands in less than a day, so you may have to—" Jon abruptly stopped mid-sentence and raised his head towards the sky as if someone had called him. "Sam." he called out in serious voice a few seconds later, "I think you should wear your armour."

Sam didn't question the order and after hastily gulping the remaining food in his bowl, he quickly got up to go towards his luggage to wear all the parts of the leather armour that he had carried all the way from Winterfell, "Is it a wild animal again?" This wasn't the first time they had come across the local predators on this trip and Sam had already killed a few of them on his own so he wasn't scared at all.

"No... It's humans."

///