Ch 60 The Final Surprise... Part 1
Rickard has always hated his name more than anything...
Because it had been given to him not by his parents... but by their killer.
So his name was a constant reminder that he was a prisoner... even though there was no jailer.
He had been born to a slaver father and a slave mother, which wasn't too uncommon in most parts of Essos. His father was a cruel heartless man who didn't care for him much since he was a slave's get and his mother also didn't care for him because he was her slaver's gift.
So from the very beginning of his life, Rickard had the odds stacked against him and had always had to fend for himself. But he never hated that part of his childhood, because that was what made him stronger and smarter than the rest, and it was through these hardships that he understood the most fundamental rule of life...
That the Strong always preys on the Weak... That the Strong will forever remain on top and The weak will always crawl underneath...
This was also why he respected his Father as he was strong, and hated his mother as she was weak...
He had always admired the way his father commanded his slaves, the way he whipped them, cursed them, starved them... without them being able to do anything to retaliate. That in his young mind was... the ultimate power. And he wanted that more than anything.
And since his father was the only powerful man he saw during his younger years, he had always assumed him to be the strongest, and wanted to emulate him when he grew up... but that delusion of his got destroyed very soon after...
He was only seven years old when his father decided to raid the caravan of a Pentosi merchant, who had short-charged him.
The raid went very successfully... he had ambushed them during the night, and instead of indulging in killing them, he had looted all the valuables that he could and fled from there before reinforcements could arrive.
But... while his father was smart about the raid, he had made one simple mistake.
The mistake of revelling in his victory instead of preparing for retaliation... and that mistake cost him his life.
The furious Merchant had immediately hired the nearest sellswords company, to get his revenge, after hearing about the misfortune of his caravan, and his father, drowning in his arrogance, didn't even get a chance to pick up his sword before being killed along with all his men.
And that was the last day he admired his father...
Usually, when a sellswords company finds any children with their targets, they do one of two things, either they immediately take care of them to pull out all the roots... or they leave them to die on their own...
But fortunately for him, the previous commander of the Company of the Rose was too much of a hypocrite to do that. The previous commander could kill the father but he couldn't stomach killing his son... so he was spared, and not only that he was also given the 'mercy' of joining his company.
And so his name was changed to Rickard, to show that he was now a part of them... whether he wanted to or not...
A naive child would have been grateful for the Commander's mercy, but Rickard knew better than that...
He knew that even if a butcher spares a lamb for a day, it didn't mean that the lamb should be thankful, because, after all, the butcher could still decide to change its mind the next day and kill it...
So, he decided that he would bide for time, he would sheathe his fangs, hide his ambitions, hide his hatred, until... he was ready to take his revenge.
Even though he was not the best in Martial might, Rickard shot through the rankings very quickly using his charisma and his cunning, which stood even more amongst the brutes surrounding him.
He was making significant and insignificant achievements in every single battle and was quickly climbing the ladder towards the top... but sadly all of it went down the drain when... before he could get his petty revenge... the previous commander got crippled during an insignificant battle, as sellswords frequently do in Essos, and got retired to Pentos.
But neither his anger nor his ambition went away with him... no, his departure only made them burn even more fiercely.
He decided that the next best thing to killing the commander would be to take over the Company he had worked his whole life for...
But that was easier said than done... especially for someone like him who was an outsider without any of the Northern Blood. But that didn't mean he gave up...
No, to achieve what he desired, he went to extreme lengths, not sparing any method no matter how vile it may seem, whether it be bribery, intimidation, blackmail or even poisoning, he did everything, not leaving a single stone unturned, until finally... he became the Second in Command of the Company.
And now the last obstacle in front of him was the new commander... Gared Hornwood.
Gared was the type of person that Rickard hated the most. He was stubborn, he was headstrong and had more muscle than brain in his body, and not to mention his self-righteous talks and tall tales of his Barbarian ancestors from the North that made Rickard want to puke.
But... Unfortunately, those exact same things are what made him immensely popular amongst the warriors of the Company.
They admired his straightforward nature, and they adored his martial might even more... Even if his so-called honourable decision led the company into financial ruin, they would still happily(foolishly) follow behind him.
But Rickard knew that his greatest strength, his 'honour', was also his most glaring weakness...
The one and only reason why so many young newcomers from Westeros and even from Essos, joined the Company of Rose despite its meagre salary, was... its absolute abhorrence of Slavery.
The Company of Rose had a very impressive record of never in its centuries-old existence, directly or indirectly dabbling in Slavery. This meant that it was somewhat of a safe haven for people who hated slavery to the bone, which was surprisingly... quite a lot.
So, Rickard's goal became very simple... he just had to somehow associate the Commander with someone who was selling people into slavery and profiting from it, and the moment he did he knew for sure no matter the reasons behind it, the Commander's reputation would crumble like a sand castle and everyone would abandon him.
And Rickard was willing to sacrifice anything to achieve his goals, whether it be the Commander's kin or his own... anything...
But now at the most crucial moment, this up-jumped bastard had appeared out of nowhere and was going to ruin all his intricate plans.
"...Or should I call you Rattlesnake."
But Rickard wouldn't let him get his way, "What are you insinuating here?" he asked Jon with an unchanged expression in a calm tone, "Are you saying that I am a spy too?"
"I-Is he mad? Is he really calling the second in command a spy?"
"Yes, how can the second in command be a spy?"
"It must be a mistake, right? Right?"
Almost immediately a series of murmurs ran through the crowd as everyone stared at the centre in disbelief over the new revelation, which was the most shocking one of the evening. This news even shook awake those who were getting sleepy because it was getting past the bedtime of medieval people.
"Oh, no, no. I'm not insinuating that you're a spy, " Jon quickly shook his head with a smile on his face, "Because that would be completely absurd. After all, why would someone of your stature do something as low-level as spying,"
Almost immediately sighs filled the ground at that, some were relieved while others were disappointed at missing out on potential drama.
"So I am not calling you a spy, but... I AM calling you a Traitor!"
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