Assassins

The walk back to camp took twice as long as the group struggled to drag the giant boar back. Even with Jason helping out, the sheer bulk of the animal was just too difficult to heft about. Renly was sent ahead to get more men, who arrived when the group was halfway there. Soon everyone was back in the camp and the boar set on a massive table in a large tent to be skinned and chopped up.

Jason took the time to get some water after the long trek before check up on Robert, thinking this may be the best chance to talk privately with the man. Entering the main tent, the Surgebinder found Robert already cutting his knife deeply into the boar as he'd carefully work on gutting the creature while Lancel stood by with a wooden bucket to collect the gory entrails.

"Mind the bladder boy. That thing's burst and you'll stick of boar piss for a week." Robert warned as he handed over the bloody sack to the squire, who seemed pale with the gross details. The King's attention shifted to Jason when he stepped in, giving a big welcoming smile to the Surgebinder. "Come to help Surgebinder? If anything Lancel here looks like he'll need a bucket for his own guts."

"A-Amusing your grace." The squire muttered, seeming a bit green with nausea as he careful deposed of the foul organ.

Robert sighed and shook his head. "If a gutted pig has you this sick, you'll never have the balls to slice a man in a real battle. Get those guts thrown out and gather up some water, going to need plenty to clean up here."

"But the nearest stream is…"

"Far off…which means you best get moving then!"

Lancel quickly nodded before he hurried off, nearly fumbling with the gut filled bucket as he left the tent. Jason stepped up beside the skinning table as Robert continued his knife work, grunting and cursing as the hide was held tightly together by the dense muscle.

"Think you're being a bit too tough on the squire?" Jason questioned.

"Have to be. Show him being a…ugh…knight isn't as simple as it looks. Need's to understand there is hard work and commitment to matter how lowly the task is." Robert muttered back between cuts.

"Fair point." For a while the Surgebinder just silently watched the King cut away at the boar body before speaking. "Hide tougher than it looks."

"Heh, should have scrounged up a valyrian steel knife from the vault…guh!" The knife got stuck in the thick muscle which forced him to roughly yank it out.

"Have a dagger, though it's not meant for this kind of work." Jason reached to his hip, holding up the sheathed curved blade.

When Robert glanced at it, then did a double-take, a hint of recognition showing in his eyes. "Where did you get that?" He questioned sharply.

"So you have seen this weapon before?"

"Aye. I won it a month before our trip to Winterfell during Joffrey's naming day tourney. Lord Baelish betted it."

"Huh…guess he wasn't lying on that detail." The Surgebinder remarked lowly.

Robert's expression became more stern. "Again where did you get that dagger?" He demanded.

"Guess even Eddard didn't tell you yet. This dagger was in the hands of some vagrant hired to murder Bran back in Winterfell. The man nearly killed the boy and Lady Stark with it."

Confusion and shock now hinted the King's eyes. "What? How can that be? I gave that thing to Joffrey day after his naming day…boy treasured that dagger over everything else."

"So you admit Joffrey was the last owner of the dagger?"

"Aye. Now care to explain how some lowly assassin got hold of it?"

"If anything you just told me who gave it to him."

Robert growled lowly, making Barristan tense slightly in the tent corner. "Watch yourself, Jason. You saved my life back there yet that doesn't give you the right to say such things about my family!"

"I'm stating what the clues tell me, sire."

"What you're implying is that my son tried to kill my best friend's own child."

"Because it's damn obvious. I know the Starks have plenty of enemies, but do you really think any of them are this clumsy?" Jason countered back. "Hiring a desperate criminal and arming him with a traceable weapon like this? Only a child would be foolish enough to do something like this."

The explanation had Robert pause, glancing between Jason and the dagger. "Why then? Joffrey didn't even talk with the boy…has no reason to want him dead."

"True. Yet he doesn't think reasonable like most kids his age." The Surgebinder countered back. "Think back to the days after Bran's fall. I remember a few people say you claimed the boy was better off dead considering he was crippled."

Again the King was silent, seeming to be thinking back to all those months. "I…may have said such things. The drink made me loose-tongued with my thoughts."

"Thoughts that Joffrey may have overheard. You may not show much attention to the boy, but he listens closely to everything you say. Overall he didn't do it out of a cruel intent, only out of a lack of common sense."

"I don't want to believe it…" Robert muttered in a low voice.

At this point, Jason could tell there was the conflict in the man's mind as if he had some knowledge that something was deeply wrong with Joffrey. This seemed like the right moment to give the full truth.

"I know this is a lot to take in, but there is more troubling news to share."

Robert slams his fist against the table in showing frustration. "Damn it, Jason! I came out here to escape the stresses of court, not be drown in more intrigue!"

"Trust me, Lord Stark and I hate it just as much, but this is a matter that wasn't safe to speak at the Red Keep. It involves Jon Arryn's death and his activities beforehand. Mainly-" However Jason paused, head tilting as he swore he heard something odd outside, a pained grunt that seemed out of place.

"Mainly what Surgebinder? Come on out with it!" Robert cursed, seeming not to realize something was wrong.

Barristan seemed to notice as well as he paced to the tent flap to glance outside as the servants seemed to speak out in shock. At that point, the old knight looked back at Jason and his King, a dead serious look in his eyes. "Sire, take cover now!"

Robert was confused yet Jason didn't hesitate as his sharp ears heard the whishing sound coming from above. Grabbing hold of King, he dragged him down low just as arrows pierce through the tent top and sunk into the ground where they had just stood. Shocked and pained cries followed outside as the servants and guards were picked off by unseen archers. Barristan reached behind himself as he drew out a light heater shield. It was small enough to conceal onto his back and under his white cape without hindering his movement. He raised it overhead to ward off more falling arrows before rolling forward under the table, armour hardly hindering him.

"Bloody hells is going on!?" Robert cursed as more arrows struck the table, the half-skinned boar and heavy wood shielding the three.

A few moments later the small rain of arrows stopped, as outside there low wailing cries of whoever had survived the barrage yet was wounded. For a long, while the three men were silent, Jason being the first to slowly crawl out from cover and towards the tent flap to peak out. Outside the guards and servants were strewn around the campgrounds, dead or dying from what he could tell. Scanning the area, he couldn't see Renly, making him worry something had happened to him.