Morning Outside MarshendIndex | HomePage | GameLogs | MarshendGameLogs | Morning Outside Marshend (Continued from Left at the Cottage: Niko Returns) Despite the heavy guard placed around Mariam's cottage, there were no more disturbances from Wildings, bandits or mercenaries that night. No did Keary return from Marshend. Indeed, everything seemed almost eeriely quiet when they gathered to break their fast the next morning, on a wholesome porridge flavoured with the Septa's own honey. Derron woke with a start, and bumped his head on the bottom of the wagon. Lancer actually started as well at the sudden noise and movement. They had all been on edge, waiting for trouble, but it never came. After one final change of the watch, he decided to rest his eyes, and promptly fell deeply asleep. Catriona and Master Hextall had not returned, so he was worried, but only a little. They had already displayed their deftness at surviving the wilds. Hopefully the aroma of breakfast would draw them out. He rolled out from beneath the wagon, stood and stretched. Binnder was already making sure the men about to go on watch ate first. Derron wryly noted the stout man was directing them with one large bowl of porridge in one hand, pointing with his spoon between mouthfuls. Derron headed towards the gathering, scanning for the hedge knight and his man, as well as the minstrel and his charge. "Good morning, I guess," he said as Binnder handed him a bowl, brimming with oats and honey. Lancer looked disappointed there was no meat being prepared. "Thanks, Binnder. If you could scare up a few bites of horse, Lancer would appreciate it. I think we all would. And I hope you all slept better than I did." "There's a bowl of scraps for Lancer in the kitchen," Mariam told him. I bade Aerin prepare it when she fed Shade - she's taken him out to get some water from the river with one of your men. I don't want to risk the well running dry with so many extra people using it. Derron nodded in appreciation. "A good idea, milady. If they don't appear soon, those going off watch can check for them before eating their food. Oh, and Lancer thanks you from the bottom of his stomach. If you truly wish him to be forever your friend, let him follow you in and place the bowl down for him. Though it might be a chore for me to get him to leave after that." (Continued from Hex Seeks Catriona) Hex had spent the night alternating between patrol and rest. He kept the cottage in sight but otherwise ranged throughout the surrounding area. When he paused to rest, the dornishman had wrapped himself in his travelling cloak both to stave off the night chill and to break his sillhouette. In the morning he squinted against the dawn as he removed his barbute and raked his fingers through his hair. After replacing the helmet, he unstrung his bow against the morning dew. After wrapping the old bowstring around the leather cuff of his glove, he bent the stave and restrung the weapon. The dornish slid the bow over his shoulder, automatically checking the position of the quiver and brushing against the fletching of the arrows in their case. He removed a piece of dried meat from a pouch at his belt and sliced a chunk off with his boot knife, Lipping the meat off the blade, he began to slowly chew while he again surveyed the area. Once satisfied there were no further intruders, he raised the bow over his head waving slowly to Cariona's location then used the weapon to point towards the cottage. He slipped his shield over his arm, flexed his hand until it settled into a comfortable grip and slowly made his way down towards the septa's cottage. As he approached the cottage, he saw the hedge knight from the day before, deep in conversation with his squire, slightly out of sight of the others behind the stables. The dornish changed direction slightly and moved towards the stables. As best as he was able, Hex kept out of the newcomers' direct line of sight by keeping either the cottage or the stable itself between himself and the knight and squire. In the meantime, the Maester of Clearwater had not had a restful night, either. The words and secrets revealed by the Septa troubled him, and even when he went to his place of rest, finding sleep was difficult for Merivel. He rose with the dawn, and satisfied that all of the other occupants were not overly stirring themselves ahead of him, walked to the entrance of the cottage and to its doorstep to greet the new day with bleary eyes. Mariam looked up from here work with the porridge label and saw him, and then gestured for him to come and break his fast. "Good morrow, Maester!" she called. "Good morrow, Mariam." Merivel said, fighting down the weariness he felt from his hair to his toes. He gave a nod at her gesture and walked toward her. "Porridge sounds wonderful right about now." Derron nodded a greeting to the Maester, his mouth already full. Merivel turned to the nod from Derron and smiled. "Good morrow to you, Steward" he added. Mariam helped them both to porridge. "The night was quiet enough," she told them, "but early this morning, I heard the hedge knight and his squire talking. There's ... something not right there. The Squire seemed to be giving commands, not taking them." About this time, Niko crested the hill, steadily loping back towards the cottage. Clad only in his tunic cinched at his waist, and sandals laced up his legs, only his arms and calves showed, but both were covered in a sheen of sweat from his exertions, though he did not seem out of breath at all. His ever present blades hung on their weapon belt, slung over his shoulder. Coming to where the others ate, he came to report to the Steward. "I know that the rules of formality can be somewhat loosened by some Hedge Knights," Merivel allowed, eating small portions of his porridge as he regarded Mariam. "However for a Knight and a Squire to act in such reversed roles is something beyond those bounds." he said, rubbing his chin with his free hand. He took another spoonful of porridge, and glanced around and gave Niko a nod of greeting as he approached. Derron's eyes narrowed at Mariam's news about the hedge knight. He was mulling what to say to them when Niko appeared, obvious wishing to speak. "Morning, lad. Grab yourself some porridge 'fore Binnder finishes. Now, do you have news?" Niko nodded. "I checked all of the watches, and there was no sign of trouble in the night. Awakening early and needing to stretch out some after all of this riding, I left word and ran a wide perimeter, but saw nothing of interest." He waited for the Steward's reply before taking him up on his offer and settling in for porridge beside the others. Derron nodded. "Good work." He shoveled a last few mouthfuls of porridge into his mouth, then swallowed after chewing. "Delicious, milady. Now if you'll excuse me, I will see if I can nudge our guests on their way." He stood and stretched, then walked towards the knight and his man. He did not move stealthily, but he did not go to any effort to make himself known. Maybe he would overhear something as he approached. "Good luck with that." Merivel murmured as Derron departed, as if a prayer to make it so. (Merivel and Niko's conversation continues in Morning Outside Marshend: Niko and Merivel) The Squire was on the watch. He said something to the Knight who broke off what he was saying and came towards Derron, smiling broadly. Hex was close enough to here the Knight saying, "I told you that the Riverwolf was the ..." And the Squire cutting him off. "Say nothing. Give nothing away." The Squire stayed where he was, watching intently. Derron nodded and tried to smile affably. "Good morning. I hope you've had some of Mariam's excellent porridge." He glanced in the direction of the road to Marshend. "I think you'll find the road safe to travel now." He waited for reactions to his lack of subtlety in suggesting they move on. "Thank you," said the Knight. "Are any of your people travelling into Marshend today? We'd be happy enough to provide an escort." Derron shrugged. "Not at this time. We might be coming into town later." He tried to smile as he added, "You can put in a good word for us." He paused, then asked, "Is there anything else you would ask us? "NO," said the Knight, almost too quickly. "No," he repeatted. "Nothing at all." He smiled, too tightly. "We'll be riding on then, shall we?" Derron tossed a coin in his head, then whispered, "Is there something you do not wish your squire to hear? We could talk inside." The Knight looked startled - and half looked towards the Squire. Then he looked back to Derron and spoke in a swift undertone, "You'll need a good excuse." Derron tried not to display his surprise at the remark. He could only think of one reason a knight, even a hedge knight, might worry about what his squire might hear him say. The man should be able to order the squire away without any consequences. Unless of course they were each pretending to the other's station, or neither was a knight, or some other strange game. As usual, once he tried thinking of all the possibilities, he found himself faced with too many choices. He usually would take things at face value. It made his decisions simpler. In this case, he would still assume the knight was a knight, until proven otherwise. Derron also spoke very softly. "Does the squire actually have allegiance to some lord or other? Is that why you wish him not to hear?" Meanwhile he racked his brain for a reason to take the knight inside and leave the other man outside without arousing suspicion. The Knight shot him a half glance and then gave a little, abrupt nod. The Squire glanced across at then=m from where he was checking the horses' tack. Derron finally said in a normal tone, one the squire might or might not hear, "Very well. Come inside and I will have the Septa fix you and your man some travel rations, and I will write a note you can show anyone saying Lord Draupaud has given you leave to move across his lands." He turned and headed for the cottage door. "My thanks!" said the hedge knight, a little too heartily as he followed the Steward. Clearly, deception did not come easily to him. Once inside he was careful to shut the cottage door and then looked earnestly at Derron. "Are we safe here?" he asked in a hoarse whisper. Derron managed to peer out between the slats of the shutters. "For the moment. He's still by the horses, but if we take too long, no doubt he'll come for you. Talk quickly." As the man began, he rooted about for something with which to write, and some parchment or paper. "I'm what I seem," said the man, almost wryly. "A hedge knight - and nothing more. But the man with me ... he's no squire. He stands high in the regard of the highest in the land. And he has come to the North to find ... a treasure that was lost." Derron looked up sharply, then closed his eyes a moment and sighed. "So he works for King Baratheon? Or someone close to him? And he seeks what? Come, you obviously need to tell me something more." His patience was thin enough this morning. The hedge knight swallowed. "He works for the King's adviser - the Spider himself. And he ... he seeks to gather all those precious jewels that the King has so carelessly let slip away over the years ... before someone else can find them." Derron knew little of the so-called Spider. He had heard the name mentioned, but just assumed it was another greedy advisor who enjoyed exercising his influence too much. Nothing unusual there. "Jewels? Well, it sounds as if this has nothing to do with us. Unless you mean this Spider wishes to cause harm to people of the North, especially House Draupaud." "It's not jewels that we were sent to seek," said the hedge knight. "It's ... it's a child. His child." Derron began scribbling on parchment and said, "What child? Is there a name, or description you have?" Baratheon having children out of wedlock? Derron was not shocked. Men had been doing it for generations. "A girl," said the hedge knight. "That's as much as I could learn. Born to a noblewomen - but the child was taken from her at birth, and she was told it died." He looked even more worried. "I'm not even meant to know that much." Derron fixed the hedge knight with a look and said, "So you are helping conduct a secret search for important people. Why are you worried? And why tell me about it?" "Because of what we've seen here in the hills," said the hedge knight. "There's secrets here ... and death. Too much death - you've seen that yourself, haven't you?" Derron nodded. "Aye, plenty of mercenaries about, so plenty of killing. As for secrets, everybody has them." He paused and his eyes narrowed. "Do you mean something specific?" The hedge knight hesitated - and then nodded. "A couple of years back," he said, "a fellow knight and a friend of mine was travelling in these parts. He was killed - murdered. There were rumours that he died at the hands of one called the Riverwolf. "His name was Ser Fuchon." Derron nodded and said, "I have heard of this Riverwolf, though I can't say I have ever met him. Do you simply wish information of him that your 'squire' does not hear? I have none. Do either this man or the Riverwolf know you seek...whatever you seek?" The hedge knight shook his head. "He carried a map," he said. "I don't know what became of it, but I promised myself if ever I came this way again, I'd do all I could to find it. If you'd heard of him, it might have given me a place to start. But he had nothing to do with my ... squire." At this moment, the door opened, and Merivel was seen. (Continued in Morning Outside Marshend Merivel Joins Derron) |
