"What?!" Both of the men inside barked while turning to look at the guard with an incredulous look on their faces as if he had just told them that the sun was falling from the sky.
"Y-Yes, Bran!! He is standing right outside the tent with—"
"Are you drunk, Karr? How can Bran—" But Gared didn't wait for Rickard's sceptical interrogation and immediately dashed outside, almost ripping the tent's flap in his haste.
The moment he came out, Gared was caught off guard by a not-so-small crowd of sellswords gathered in a circle right outside his tent.
Even with his height, Gared could not make out much of what they were encircling. But after a few seconds, he could vaguely make out two horses and two unfamiliar faces in the middle of the crowd. One was a handsome man curiously looking at someone talking to the sellswords, while the other one was a boy in half-plate armour clutching his axe nervously.
Abruptly he caught sight of the last member of the group who was laughingly talking to a few sellswords and almost immediately Gared recognised who it was even though he could only see the back from his position.
"Bran!! Bran! Argh! Get out of my way!! Let me through!!' Gared thundered as he half-pushed and half-trampled the crowd in his rush to get to the middle. It only took a few flying men for the rest of them to understand that their commander was coming through and to open a path for him.
"Father!!" Bran turned around with a delighted grin on his face after hearing the familiar booming sound.
"Bran!!" Gared finally pushed and immediately jumped on Bran, almost crushing the boy in his hug. The crowd looked on with warm smiles and chuckles on their faces as they saw the father and son reunite after the short but painful separation.
"Bran?! You really are my Bran!!"
"Yes, Father! I am," Bran replied with a stupid grin, "I know that I've got a lot of bruises on my face, but I am really your son,"
While the father and son were having their moment, most of the sellswords left them alone as they were much more interested in the unfamiliar newcomers.
"That man looks like he's a Northerner, doesn't he?"
"He really does...Do you think he's another one who came here to join our company all the way from the North?"
"Humph! I don't think that's likely. Can't you see how pretty he is? I bet he's like one those man whore from Lys," another replied with a bit of jealousy in his tone.
"Are you really this stupid? Don't you see the horse by his side? Do you think someone other than a warrior could have a horse like that? I can say with certainty that I've never seen a more majestic war horse in my life."
"Yes! Yes, he's definitely a Northerner, I can guarantee it because the wolf insignia on his breast means that he may even be related to the Starks!!" someone said in an excited whisper, sending waves through the crowd.
"S-Starks?! Really!!"
"N-No! You're wrong! I've only left North less than three years ago and as far as I know, the Stark family's symbol is a brown wolf, not a white one... Though this one looks eerily similar."
While the sellswords gossiped about Jon's identity, the father and son finally separated from their hug.
"You—What happened to you, Bran? I thought you were captured—" Gared choked a few times before he took a deep breath and asked the question in his mind, "How did you escape? I-I thought I had lost you..."
"I did get captured, father." Bran nodded his head solemnly, "But luckily Jon and Sam happened to pass by and managed to save me, otherwise..."
"Jon? Sam? Are you talking about them?" Gared asked as he looked up at the two unfamiliar faces patiently waiting a bit away from the two, "I am in their debt then, if they were the ones to save you—Wait! Why does that Northerner have a wolf on his chest? I-Is he a Stark? Is he here to join the Company?" he asked the same question in everyone's mind, while incredulously looking down at his son.
"Yes, No! I mean he is almost a...Stark." Bran explained while scratching his head but after seeing the confused expression on his father's face sighed, "It is very complicated, Father and will take a while to explain so why don't we get inside first and then I'll tell you everything..." he said while looking around at the crowd.
"Right! You're right!" Gared quickly nodded his head before turning towards the gathering of Sellsworeds with a stern expression on his face, "What the fuck are you lazing around for?!! Get the fuck back to training before I beat the shit out of all of you!!" He thundered furiously, immediately sending the sellswords scurrying away like rats.
"Let's go, Bran,"
"Yes, Father," Bran nodded before turning to Jon and Sam and beckoning them, "Jon! Sam! Come one, both of you, follow me,"
While the crowd dispersed and the father and son duo went inside Gared's personal tent, there was one person who looked very disappointed and angry at seeing Bran return back safe and sound.
...
"...So you mean to tell me that... the reason you ran away was because you thought that you could earn the bounty by capturing a lion cub... all on your own..." Gared asked as he gawked at his son with an incredulous look on his face.
All four of them were inside Gared's personal tent at the moment. While it seemed a little cramped with all of them, especially with the size of Gared, it was still manageable.
Jon and Sam were sitting at a table nearby eating soup and bread that Gared had ordered his cook to bring, while watching Bran explain what had happened to him to his father.
"Y-Yes..." Bran answered with a flushed look, "I know that it was stupid and irresponsible—"
"Stupid?! You Idiot!!" Gared bellowed angrily while slamming his knuckle on his son's head, "Ow!!" hard enough to make his eyes water, "That wasn't just stupid!! That was suicidal!!"
"B-But I could have done it—NO! Don't hit me!!" Bran immediately cowered when Gared raised his hand once again. His father's massive fist felt like a hammer on his head and only once was enough for him to see stars.
"How could you be this stupid!!" Gared continued berating uncaring about the watching audience, "Did you really think that if there was such a bounty out there, you would even have a chance to win it? Huh? You didn't think that an amount like that would attract the attention of all the money-hungry sellswords of Essos?"
"W-What? Y-You mean it was false news?"
"Of course it was!! There's no name day celebration of any son of Pentosi Magister and even if he was celebrating it and his son wanted a lion cub, did you not think that he would send his own unsullied and other soldiers before putting up a bounty for sellswords?" Gared said in a frustrated tone before he closed his eyes and sighed, "Ah... How could I have such a stupid son... Why did you only take after your mother in your looks and not your mind..." he said in a lamenting voice.
"B-But I heard that guard talking about this with his friend clearly..."
"A guard? Can you remember who it was? Do you know him?"
"N-No... I was very drunk and I didn't clearly see, but—"
"Then it was probably a spy," Gared sighed while shaking his head, "It was probably a trap especially set for you or it could even be just some boasting of a drunk sellsword... there's no way to tell since you already killed your assailants..."
"B-But..." Bran stuttered while having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that he had fallen for something so stupid, "But w-who—why would someone do something like that?"
"It doesn't matter," Gared said, losing most of his anger at seeing his son looking down, "Bran, I know that you care for Lea and did all this for her... But you can't lose your cool like this..."
"I-I am sorry, Father. I j-just really thought that if I just got the gold Lea would become better." Bran said without looking up, "I just can't see her like that knowing that I could have done something...But it was all for nought anyway and now she's going to die and I couldn't do anything..."
"Bran—"
"Ahem!" Jon suddenly cleared his throat interrupting the Father and Son duo and stood up after getting their attention, "I know that I shouldn't interrupt you but I just wanted to say that my friend here—" he pointed towards Sam who abruptly stopped and looked up wide-eyed with his mouth stuffed with food, "—is a healer and maybe he could take a look at Lea..."
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