Chapter 68: Ch 58 A little patience...Chapter Text
A few minutes later, Jon and Sam were finished with their food and then all of them quickly went towards the healer's tent.
The only company healer, a 50-something-year-old man was not inside the tent at the moment so they were the only ones there.
The tent wasn't too fancy with only three beds laid on the ground, and a small wooden worktable nearby stocked with about a half-dozen various-sized pots filled with all kinds of herb mixtures.
Bran, Jon and Gared watched from a few feet away as Sam diagnosed the thin young girl, Lea, who was the only patient inside the tent at the moment. The girl looked unusually pale and bloodless, and she couldn't seem to be able to keep her eyes open for very long. Her breathing was heavy and laboured and her frequent coughs sounded dry and painful.
"I didn't know Sam was a Maester, Jon," Bran asked in a soft tone, trying to distract himself from getting anxious after seeing the miserable state Lea was in.
"Oh, he is not." Jon said with a shrug while watching the boy nervously taking Lea's pulse, "Though he always wanted to be one, he never really took the training..."
"What? B-But didn't you say that he was a healer?"
"And he is. He's probably got more knowledge about the healing arts than most Maesters out there and has read dozens of books about it, so you don't need to worry about his skills," Jon said confidently, "Plus he paid special attention to the Essosi diseases, herbs and healing books before coming here so he may be even better than your company's healer."
"I-If you say so..." Bran replied with a confused look on his face but didn't ask any more questions because he was already at the end of his rope regarding Lea and as long as Sam could give him some hope that Lea could survive he didn't care whether he was a Maester or a hedge witch.
There was silence for a few minutes after that before Jon suddenly felt a big hand on his shoulder and turned around to find Bran's father, Gared gesturing to him with his head to move towards the corner, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Sure." Jon nodded and both of them left behind Bran, who was too preoccupied with Sam and Lea to pay them any mind, and went a few feet away.
"Er... Jon Snow right?" Gared asked in a low tone which seemed out of character on a big man like him.
"Yes and you're called Gared Hornwood," Jon said with a smile as both of them shook hands, "Your son told me a lot about you."
"What? What did he tell you?" he asked with narrowed eyes, "Don't tell me he whined to you about how I am a big brute who is too violent and that I take advantage of my big size to bully him and that he would take his revenge and beat the shit out of me when he grows larger..."
"Umm, no, nothing like that..." Jon replied while looking at Gared with a weird look on his face, "He only told me that you're a good father and an even better commander and that you've always kept to your roots and still consider yourself a Northerner..."
"Oh...That's fine then," Gared said with a sigh of relief before shaking his head, "Anyway, the reason I called you out here was to express my gratitude to you for going out of your way and saving my son. I'll always be in your debt because of that and as long as it is in my hands, I will try to help you in any way that I can to repay this debt. And while Bran told me that you're the son of the Lord Stark—"
"Yes, the one who has the blood but not the name," Jon clarified just for the sake of it.
"Doesn't matter. Out here, a son is a son," Gared said seriously while shaking his head, "Anyway, while I know that you probably grew up in a castle and that you may not be lacking in anything, but still, if there's anything I can help you with, anything at all, then don't hesitate—"
"Actually, there is something that you can help me with."
"Really? What is it," Gared asked with an interested expression on his face before his eyes suddenly widened, "Wait, don't tell me, do you and your friend want to join the company? Is that why you came here? Because if that's the thing then it's no problem at all." he said thumping his chest with his fist, "While most people who come here from the North, to earn money, fame or battle experience, start from the very bottom, I can make sure that you won't have to do that and can even get you good positions—"
"Umm, there's a misunderstanding here," Jon interrupted with an amused smile, "We didn't come here to get hired.... we came here to hire you."
"What? You want to hire...me?" Gared asked dumbfoundedly while pointing at himself.
"Well, not you especially, but your whole company. I want to hire your company for a long-term job of protecting my shipping company and some other things,"
"Oh..." Gared said with a blank look on his face as he was having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that the young man in front of him, who couldn't have been older than his own son, not only wanted to hire a whole sellswords company, he also wanted it for a long term contract.
While he knew that one shouldn't judge a client by how they look... Gared felt that he was quite justified in being sceptical here even if the man in front of him was the son of Lord Stark. "W-Who do you mean 'I' here, is it actually you or your..."
"No, just me and no one else," Jon shrugged with a calm smile on his face as if there was nothing absurd about what he just said.
"Er... I don't mean to be rude but do you know how much it costs to hire us for the—"
"Of course I do, I already scouted the costs of hiring all the sellsword companies in the area before coming here. While yours was not the cheapest, it was definitely the most compatible with my requirements and what's even better is that you're from the North so it would be a lot more comfortable for my sailors, than if I hired another Essosi sellswords company. In fact, if you agree to terminate your current contract and set off with me immediately, I can even agree to pay you one and a half times your usual rates." Jon said with an eager gleam in his eyes, "So what do you think? Shall we write a contract immediately..."
"Um..." Gared just blinked stupidly as he was quite overwhelmed by the sudden offer and his instinct was to immediately accept the delightful proposal which couldn't have come at a better time considering their financial condition. But he controlled himself at the last moment, because for one thing, it felt too good to be true, especially considering how young the client was and secondly..."I am sorry, Jon, while I am very tempted, it would be against my principles to terminate my contract just because I got a better offer."
"But what if—"
"Are you done, Sam? What did you find? Is Lea going to be fine?" Bran's anxious voice interrupted Jon and Gared's conversation and after a quick look both of them decided to shelve their conversation for later and went towards Sam who appeared to be quite overwhelmed with Bran's barrage of questions.
"Let him breathe, Bran," Gared rebuked gently, "I am sure whatever happens, Sam here tried his best so you shouldn't pressure him like that,"
"Yes, Sorry, Father," Bran said before taking a deep breath, "So what did you find?" he repeated, making Gared shake his head helplessly.
"Well...after diagnosing Lea and recording all her symptoms, I tried to remember if any of the normal Essosi diseases that I've read about resembled her symptoms... but no matter how I tried to recall, there was no disease that came to mind... that either means that she's got a very rare disease which would make it almost impossible to save her or..."
"Oh..." Bran and Gared said as their faces fell simultaneously at the familiar answer that they had already heard from their own healer. While they had been prepared for it, it still hurt to have their hopes dashed like that, "D-Don't worry Sam, I am sure you tried your best and—"
"Or maybe... it's not really a disease," Sam suddenly interrupted Gared's consolation with an uncertain look on his face.
"W-What? What do you mean?"
"Well... I am not completely sure about it, but there was a book that details the exact symptoms that Lea is sporting almost word to word but it's just that..." Sam said while scratching his head, "It's just that, that book was completely unrelated to healing,"
"What book are you talking about, Sam? Where did you read about Lea's symptoms?" Bran asked hurriedly, his hopes igniting once again as he knew that knowing the disease was more than half the battle.
"I-In a book about poisons."
"What?!" Bran and Gared cried simultaneously with a shocked look on their face, as they wouldn't have thought of poison in a hundred years, but there was someone there who sported a completely unchanged look as if he had expected it.
"From the book we got from Oberyn, right." Jon stated, rather than asking, and when Sam nodded his head in confirmation, his eyes narrowed as he murmured, "I was afraid of that..."
"W-What do you mean, Jon?"
"Yes, What do you mean by that? Did you know that Lea was poisoned?"
"No. I didn't know...at least not for sure, but I suspected something like this when you told me that she had suddenly fallen sick..."
"What? Why?!"
"Well... because there were too many coincidences involved in him leaving the camp," Jon said while jerking his head towards Bran who still had a wide-eyed look on his face, "Lea suddenly getting ill, you falling for that lion cub scam, and then being immediately getting caught by those Gallant Men sellswords the very next day...it all felt like someone's plot— as if someone was deliberately trying to lure you out of the camp to capture you..."
"B-But why would—"
"Argh! Fuck! It must be those same cunts again," Gared suddenly cursed while scratching his head fiercely with a frustrated look on his face, "That must be how they were able to send the ransom letter so quickly, it must have all been pre-planned..."
"Ransom letter? What are you talking about, father?"
"The one I got just before you arrived..." Gared explained everything before shaking his head, "Before, I had assumed that it was just a coincidence that it arrived so quickly, but now... now it seems to be the work of those damn spies once again," he said before he gritted his teeth angrily, "They are getting on my damn nerves now,"
Jon involuntarily raised an eyebrow at the overzealous response before saying, "It doesn't seem like a rare occurrence from the way you reacted..."
"Yes, it isn't," Gared replied in a frustrated tone, "There have been more than a few times where my company has been ambushed or lost a good opportunity because of these spies leaking the news... but to think that they've become so brazen as to poison someone and even try to abduct my son. If only I could somehow get my hands on them... then I'll show them the consequences of crossing me," he said ferociously while twisting his hands in the air as if he were squishing someone's head, before sighing, "But the thing is that no matter what method you use, there's really no way to root them all out. In a company like ours with almost 500 fighters, it is almost impossible to find who is a spy and who is not,"
"Hmm, Maybe... Maybe I could help you out with your spy problem..." Jon said slowly, a distracted expression on his face.
"You could? How?"
"Well... I would need your cooperation and a few days to scout all your fighters before I can say for sure... But it shouldn't be too much of a problem to root out most of the rats... but I think that is a discussion for later, for now, let's get back to the patient," Jon nodded to Gared before turning back towards Sam, "So tell us Sam, can you cure her, now that we know what she's suffering from..."
"Er... I guess, I mean it's not like it's a rare poison so the antidote should be quite easy to make and... I think that I can find most of the required ingredients right here," he said pointing towards the pots of different herbs on the healer's workstation, "And if any herb is missing, I am sure that Frost can easily find them in the nearby forests..."
"Frost? Who's Frost?"
"Well... she's just a very helpful friend," Jon shrugged with a mysterious smile, "Maybe you'll get to meet her someday..."
...
About a week later, the atmosphere of the Company of Rose had completely changed, all the lethargy and laziness seemed to have simply evaporated from the air, and everywhere you looked you would only see alert and vigilant sellswords, who were either going about their training or clearing their worn equipment and weapons religiously. The company appeared as if they were preparing for a war... which they were, in a way.
The Company commander had passed down an urgent order about a week ago, that they were going to launch a full-force attack on the Gallant Men campsite very soon, so all of them had to prepare to the best of their abilities as they could set off at any time.
The order had left almost everyone bewildered and confused, and all of them agreed that this order didn't make any sense... mostly because of two reasons.
Firstly, it came completely out of the blue, without any indications whatsoever which meant that they didn't have enough preparation, and secondly, the Gallant Men were not some small-sized sellswords that they could attack and destroy at any time, no, they had almost the same amount of fighters as them, and were even considered better off than them with higher quality weapons and armour.
Most importantly, large-scale rarely happened in the Disputed Lands, especially between similar-sized companies... as anything more than skirmishes almost always meant huge losses for both sides, which no one wants.
So whenever a battle occurs, the losing side is usually very quick to disengage and retreat (run away) to minimize their losses. After all, they were sellswords and not a peasant army of Westeros.
So even with more than a few dozen companies active in the Disputed Lands at all times, battles rarely happened here, which might seem a bit ironic but it was the truth. Everyone here followed an unspoken rule of never participating in decisive fights and just quietly leeching off of the three free cities safely by offering protection to their occupied lands for the long term.
But even though the order was unusual no one objected or hesitated to follow it... which spoke quite well of the Commander's prestige and reputation.
Anyway, the atmosphere inside the healer's tent was a lot more peaceful, unlike the excitement outside.
"S-Sam, you are a fucking genius," Bran cried while shaking Sam's hands enthusiastically.
He had seen Lea's complexion improve with every passing day due to the cure that Sam had brewed. While before she had been constantly suffering from dry painful coughs, now she was sleeping almost peacefully. Looking at her now it was almost impossible to believe that she'd been so close to death before, "I don't know how I'll ever repay you, my friend. No matter what happens, I'll forever remain in your debt."
"I-It's fine. I didn't help that much, I just made the antidote so..." Sam replied while rubbing the back of his head embarrassingly, before turning away from Bran's genuine adoration towards Lea who had fallen asleep after taking some milk of poppy, "A-Anyway, while she might be out of mortal danger, Lea still needs plenty of rest for her body to recuperate from the damage the poison had done on her body, so you need to let her have a lot of rest and take good care of her, and..."
While Sam was giving Bran some basic instructions, Jon was standing with Gared a few feet away watching the scene with a smile on his face.
"I should beat the shit out of our fucking healer," Gared cursed abruptly in a low voice, "That bastard kept telling me that there's nothing we can do about Lea and that any new medicine is useless and... that we'll only kill her faster with this antidote. Thankfully I chose to believe you, otherwise..." Gared shook his head with an angry look on his face, "Where the hell is he anyway, I haven't seen his ugly mug in two days, is he hiding in embarrassment from his failure..." he scoffed before looking towards the entrance with narrowed eyes as if contemplating immediately running out to find the company healer to give him a piece of his mind.
"Don't bother," Jon said calmly with a distracted gaze, "The healer is long gone by now, in fact, he is just about to reach the river halfway through Pentos at the moment..."
"W-What? He ran away!!" Gared asked in a bewildered tone, "But why? There was no need for him to take such drastic measures if it was just a mistake. He should know that I wouldn't blame him too much..."
"Maybe because it wasn't a mistake..."
"What?! What do you—" Gared's eyes abruptly widened with comprehension as he realised what Jon was insinuating, "You mean he was a FUCKING SPY!!"
"No." Jon shook his head calmly, "But he probably worked for one..." he continued in a low voice in contrast to Gared's agitated one, "I think he was probably also the one who administered the poison so that it only harmed Lea but not killed her..."
"Who is it? Who was the one that ordered him? Just tell me their fucking names?!" Gared growled with his eyes spitting fire.
"No, can't do that," Jon shook his head indifferently, "I've only caught two rats till now and we still need to wait for the Merchant's supply run tomorrow to lure out the rest of them, and I don't want you to spook the nest before that happens so you'll just have to wait..."
"Ugh! You're killing me, Jon," Gared said in a frustrated tone, "I've already staked my reputation by giving that absurd order on your behalf. So you should at least tell me their names, a-and I promise that I will control myself..."
"Hmm..." Jon looked scrutinizingly towards Gared for a few moments before simply shaking his head, "No. I don't believe you're the kind of person who would be able to control yourself after finding out the spies' name... especially since one of them is quite a big fish..."
"Argh!! I just want to kill those fuckers with my own hands as soon as possible!!"
"Oh! Don't worry, you'll get your chance in two days... Just have patience my friend...just a little patience..."
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