"Heh, how dare you, a lowly commoner, lay a hand on a noble lady!" Joffrey roared angrily.
Mikael turned around and saw the furious prince. He was startled, his face instantly changing color. He immediately dropped the sharpened wooden stick in his hand and said tremblingly, "Your Highness... it was Arya... she forced me to practice swordsmanship with her..."
Joffrey was pleased to see Michael's fear of him. He leaped off his horse, and Sansa's worried cry of "Watch out!" made him feel even better. He landed steadily, a smile playing on his lips, and with a whoosh, drew his sword from his waist, the tip pointing at Michael: "Pick up your sword!" he commanded sharply.
Mika was terrified. He wanted to turn and run, but he didn't dare move. Naturally, Mika didn't dare pick up his'sword' either!
Arya shouted from behind Joffrey, "Joffrey, get out of the way! We're practicing our swordsmanship!"
Sansa, having just dismounted, was taken aback and exclaimed, "Arya, how could you be so rude to the prince? Quickly apologize to him!"
"I'm not apologizing to him!" Arya spat.
Sansa whipped the two horses away, then turned to Joffrey and apologized profusely, saying, "Your Highness, please forgive my sister's rudeness!"
Joffrey was extremely pleased. He and Sansa were deeply in love, and he laughed, "Miss Sansa, as a prince, I will not hold a grudge against Arya." He turned to face the terrified Michael, "Boy, pick up your sword and I'll show you what real swordsmanship is." He flicked his wrist, and the sword swept past Michael.
The butcher's son was terrified. He was usually very wild, but he only dared to play with noble ladies like Arya. He didn't even have the courage to talk to Sansa or the daughters of other knights.
Mikael instinctively repeated, "...Your Highness...it was Arya...who forced me to practice swordsmanship with her!"
"Is Arya's name something you can call out? She is Miss Stark, your lord. You lowly dog, who gave you the audacity to strike your lord's daughter?"
"Joffrey, this is none of your business!" Arya shouted angrily.
Arya's rude use of Joffrey's first name made Sansa feel extremely ashamed: "Arya, how can you be so rude? I'll tell Father."
"Go ahead and tell them I hate both of you, Sansa, take your prince and get out of here!"
Sansa was so angry at Arya's rudeness that she trembled all over!
Joffrey didn't hold it against Arya; he was a prince, a gentleman, and had to maintain his composure in front of the lady Sansa.
Joffrey wore a mocking smile as he pointed his sword at Michael's face: "You little bastard, if you don't dare pick up your sword, then I'll leave a mark on your face. This is the prince's punishment for you."
The sword was thrust at Mika's face, the tip piercing his cheek, drawing blood.
"Don't move. Let me carve a cross on your face, and I'll spare you!" Joffrey's lips curled into a smug smile.
Snap!
With a loud thud, Arya's training sword struck Joffrey on the back of the head, causing him to stagger and completely dazed. Sansa, too, stared wide-eyed in astonishment, unable to believe that Arya had attacked the prince from behind.
"Mika, run!" Arya shouted.
Mika immediately turned and ran!
The Demon Mountain, hidden behind the bushes, knew that tonight, the butcher's son would be caught and beheaded by his own brother, Sandor Clegane.
Michael dared not return to the town of Harroway, knowing the consequences of offending the prince. He ran along the river, leaping over bushes, until he saw a burly man lying lazily on the grass, watching him. This man was incredibly strong; Michael had never seen anyone so powerful. Not far from the man, at the edge of the woods, three very tall horses were grazing with their heads down.
Without hesitation, Mikael knew that escaping was the priority. He rushed around the Demon Mountain, not knowing where he should go, and ran desperately along the river.
The Mountain noticed that Mikey was barefoot.
It's normal for a butcher's child to be barefoot, especially in the summer!
On Ruby Beach, Joffrey reached up and touched the back of his head. He saw blood. His eyes widened in disbelief.
"Blood!" His voice was filled with terror. "Blood!" he said, looking at Arya, his handsome face contorted. "You cut me!" His eyes couldn't hide the fear.
Arya was also frightened. She had just struck in anger, but then began to regret it: "Mika is my friend, you shouldn't have hurt him with your sword!" she shouted.
"I'm going to kill you!" Joffrey suddenly remembered his noble status as a prince. "I am a prince, heir to the Iron Throne, and I'm going to kill you!" He brandished his sword and lunged at Arya.
Snap!
Arya flashed and countered, her training sword striking Joffrey's wrist.
Joffrey roared in fury, "I am a prince! How dare you hit me!" He gripped his sword with both hands to increase his strength and swung it wildly at Arya. Arya nimbly leaped around, practicing her sword strikes horizontally, and *crack*, it struck Joffrey's arm. Although Joffrey was only twelve years old, he was taller than fifteen or sixteen-year-olds. Neither fifteen-year-old Jon Snow nor fifteen-year-old Robb Stark were as tall as Joffrey.
Joffrey was very strong. He fought back despite the pain, raising his arm sharply and knocking Arya's training sword away.
Joffrey was overjoyed and excitedly brandished his sword, slashing wildly at Arya. Arya stumbled backward and fell to the ground with a thud.
Sansa Stark was terrified and shouted to stop him, but Joffrey could no longer hear her cries. He raised his sword to strike Arya's face as she lay on the ground, but amidst Sansa's screams, a dark shadow lunged forward, knocking Joffrey down and biting his wrist where he was holding the sword.
Joffrey's scream rang out!
Arya scrambled to her feet and shouted, "Nameria, let him go!"
Arya's pet direwolf, Nymeria, released the prince's wrist, which was now covered in blood, having been bitten by the direwolf.
Arya yelled at Joffrey, "Joffrey, you got yourself into this mess! We were practicing swordsmanship here, and you came to hurt my friend!" The little girl was furious. She picked up the prince's sword from the ground and threw it forcefully into the river!
The Mountain felt a slight pang of regret. The prince's sword was forged by a master craftsman, the hand of Master Tob Mort, and was named Lion's Fang. The blade was crafted from fine steel, gleaming with a blue light, double-edged, with a leather-wrapped hilt and a golden lion's head at the end. The Mountain decided to retrieve the sword later; his bartender Bernie was missing a good sword, and that Lion's Fang was it.
"Arya, you've done something terrible! How dare you yell like that!" Sansa exclaimed in alarm, rushing over to help the trembling prince to his feet. The direwolf is an extremely ferocious beast; an adult direwolf is as large as a foal and can fight lions and shadow lynxes; it is the king of wolves.
The six children of House Stark each owned a direwolf. Within a few months, the direwolves had grown to the size of hounds, but they were still juveniles, far from being fully grown.
Sansa helped the prince onto his horse, and the two then rode away from Ruby Beach.
Arya knew she had caused trouble and dared not go back, nor ride away on the soldiers' warhorses. Each warhorse was meticulously trained and quite valuable. The horses knew their own horses and would return on their own. Even if they didn't return, the squires would find them.
Arya remembered the direction Michael had fled in, and with her direwolf, she also fled upstream along the river. She ran across a large meadow, jumped over bushes, and then saw a giant-like man sitting in the grass, smiling at her.
Arya stopped abruptly, her eyes fixed warily on the Mountain. Her Nymeria also stared at the Mountain, making threatening growling sounds.
The Mountain laughed, "Arya, where are you planning to run off to? Your direwolf bit the prince, and your friend Michael offended the prince. Tsk tsk, you've really messed up this time. Michael can't escape; he'll be beheaded. You can't keep your Nymeria either; the prince will ask his father to kill her. However, if you need witnesses to prove that Joffrey provoked you first and attacked you, I'm willing to stand up and testify for you. How about it? Do you dare come with me?! Tonight, we'll go see the king together."
"Who are you?" Arya's heart skipped a beat.
But from the way the Demon Mountain looked at the little girl, he knew she was very wary and didn't easily believe him.