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[RIVERLANDS]
[The Night's Watch recruits sleep. LADY ARYA STARK sharpens Needle. YOREN enters.]
"How do you sleep?" Arya asked
"Same as most men, I think." Yoren replied
"But you've seen things, horrible things." Arya said
Ned and Catelyn both felt their shoulders drop at the question. No parent wanted their daughter to be exposed to such things. They had failed to do that duty.
"Aye. I've seen some pretty things, too, but not nearly so many."
"How do you sleep when you... when you have those things in your head?"
[YOREN raises his head and looks at her.]
"You didn't see that. I made damn sure."
"I close my eyes and I see them up there. All of them standing there. Joffrey, the Queen and... and my sister."
"Arya..."
"I know it's not her fault" Arya muttered.
[ARYA is close to tears. YOREN thinks for a bit before responding.]
"You know, we've got something in common, me and you. You know that? I must have been a couple of years older than you. I saw my brother stabbed through the heart right on our doorstep. He weren't much of a villain which skewered him. Willem, the lad's name was.
He ran off before anyone could spit. And I just stood there, watching my brother die. Here's the funny part. I can't picture my brother's face anymore. But Willem, oh, he was a nice-looking boy. He had good white teeth, blue eyes, and one of those dimpled chins all the girls liked. I would think about him when I was working when I was drinking, when I was having a shit. It got to the point where I would say his name every night before I went to bed. Willem. Willem.
Willem. A prayer almost. Well, one day, Willem came riding back into town. I buried an axe so deep into Willem's skull, they had to bury him with it. Willem's horse got me to the Wall and I've been wearing black ever since. Well... That'll help you sleep, eh?"
"Vengeance" Brandon the Elder leaned back, "it's both satisfying and hollow."
"How is it hollow?" Robb asked his uncle.
"You never get back the person you avenged. And that feeling of never seeing or hearing them... that's hollow."
Robb nodded somberly.
[YOREN gives a little laugh as he takes a drink from his wineskin. Horn blasts ring out from outside. YOREN rises quickly in response and starts rousing the sleeping recruits.]
"Those bastards are back" Gendry muttered.
"I believe so" Varys mused.
"Ho! Get up, you lazy sons of whores! Arm yourselves."
[YOREN comes back across the room to address ARYA and GENDRY.]
"Keep out of sight, both of you."
""No, I'm not afraid."
"I can fight."
"Keep out of sight. If things go wrong, you run. Do you hear me? You run along north and don't look back."
[YOREN quickly retreats from ARYA and GENDRY, heading to the door to usher out the recruits. ARYA and GENDRY look at each other and then begin to move.]
"Hey, there's men out there who want to fuck your corpses. Outside, now!"
"Come on, move, move!"
[LOMMY is about to stand when he sees GENDRY's golden bull helmet. He picks it up.]
"He's going to be mistaken for me, isn't he" Gendry muttered.
"Likely so. The men at arms are not well known for their brains" Varys sighed.
[Gold Cloaks ride up to challenge the Night's Watch recruits. The recruits run out wildly, some with weapons and some without. One runs into a tall torch stuck in the ground and knocks it over, setting the grass on fire near the cage where the Night's Watch prisoners are being kept. The recruit scrambles away from the fire and runs off.]
"Gold Cloaks!"
"Everyone out!"
"Aren't the Gold Cloaks supposed to protect the city and only the city?" Shireen questioned.
"They are. But it would seem Joffrey had other plans for them" Stannis explained.
"His days are numbered" Robert grunted.
"Hey, you! Open the damn cage!"
[LOMMY picks up a piece of wood to use as a weapon and runs off. YOREN and a few other members of the Night's Watch approach the mounted Gold Cloaks, led by SER AMORY LORCH.]
Elia's eyes widened before she snarled. The memory of that man came to her in an instant, pinning Rhaenys down and...
Rhaegar grabbed her hand and she squeezed it hard.
"Where's the bastard, crow?"
"Got more than a few bastards here. Who's asking?"
"Ser Amory Lorch, sworn bannerman to Lord Tywin Lannister. These men from the capital requested our assistance. Drop your weapons in the name of the King."
"Just drop it" Catelyn muttered with worry. They were here for Gendry, not Arya. They wouldn't even know Arya if they caught sight of her. Just let them take the bastard and be done with it...
[ARYA and GENDRY watch from behind a bush.]
"Now, which king would that be?"
"This is your last chance. In the name of King Joffrey, drop your weapons."
[YOREN looks around at the Gold Cloaks and spits.]
"I don't think I will."
Catelyn held back a frustrated scream. All he had to do was hand over the bastard!
[A Gold Cloak shoots YOREN in the shoulder with a crossbow. He falls but then rises in anger. ARYA tries to go to him but GENDRY holds her back.]
"I always hated crossbows. Take too long to load."
[YOREN swings his sword and slashes the throat of a nearby Gold Cloak. He battles and takes down a few more of them before being subdued. ARYA gasps as she watches with GENDRY behind the bush. The Gold Cloaks hold YOREN up between their spears. AMORY LORCH rides over and pierces YOREN through the top of his head with his sword, killing him.]
"Even now he needs to be fed his kills" Jaime spat. He remembered Amory Lorch well, a stain in the name of Knighthood.
[The recruits rush out from behind the bushes, led by GENDRY. HOT PIE, however, stays behind.]
"Boy, come here. Boy! Sweet boy, help us."
[ARYA pauses, unsure of what to do. The Gold Cloaks set upon the recruits in battle.]
"Come back here! Help us, boy! A man can fight! Free us!"
[ARYA spies an axe and runs to retrieve it. She comes over to the cage. ARYA hands JAQEN the axe, then runs back towards the fighting. BITER and RORGE yank the axe away from JAQEN and begin trying to free themselves. JAQEN watches ARYA run back to the battle. The fighting continues. HOT PIE watches from the bushes as GENDRY, who had been successfully fighting several Gold Cloaks, is overpowered and knocked out. The other recruits are similarly outmatched.]
"The boy fights well... for someone who has never fought in his life" Stannis complimented. A rare thing for those who knew the man.
Robert looked over at his bastard son thoughtfully.
[ARYA tries to run from the encampment. POLLIVER, seeing her running up on the path, steps out of the darkness and hits her with the butt of his sword. ARYA falls to the ground.]
"That bastard" Robb swore, eyes ignited in anger.
[He takes ARYA's sword as she lies gasping on the ground. HOT PIE is pushed forward by soldiers, encountering ARYA, who is still on the ground.]
"I yield! I yield!"
"So much for him being in fights" Tyrion snorted to himself.
"Round up any survivors. We'll take them back to Harrenhal."
"You heard him. You're coming with us."
[POLLIVER yanks ARYA up from the ground by her shoulder and pushes her forward. He pushes HOT PIE as well. The Gold Cloaks corral the remaining recruits and begin to march them back through the camp. They come across a wounded LOMMY with a crossbow bolt in his leg. The group stops walking and POLLIVER crosses over to LOMMY.]
"Something wrong with your leg, boy?"
"Look at it."
"Can you walk?"
"No. You got to carry me."
"All right."
[POLLIVER extends his hand as if to help pull LOMMY up, but stabs the boy through the throat with Needle instead. LOMMY spits up blood and dies.]
"Carry him, he says."
[The Gold Cloaks laugh. ARYA is in shock at the murder of her friend. AMORY uses his sword to knock over the kneeling corpse of YOREN.]
"We're looking for a bastard named Gendry. Give him up or I'll start taking eyeballs."
[No one says anything. Several recruits look down and subtly towards GENDRY, who looks at AMORY out of the corner of his eye and begins breathing heavily. ARYA looks around quickly and gets an idea.]
"You want Gendry?"
[GENDRY subtly turns his head to stare at ARYA, nervous about her next move.]
"You already got him."
[ARYA turns away from GENDRY to look over at LOMMY.]
"He loved that helmet."
[The scene shifts over LOMMY to show GENDRY's golden bull helmet lying on the ground above the boy's head.]
He hadn't realized it until then, but Robert released the breath he'd been holding. Trust Ned to get his ass out of danger in some way or the other, be it his son and Ned's daughter.