Jaime sighed as waited in the armory, checking the straps on his armor before running a hand over his longsword for the tenth time. As always, the edge was razor sharp. He had no helmet, but that didn't matter to the former knight. That just meant that his vision would be unimpaired when he fought. The rest of his body was clad in functional, but simple steel plate that he had taken from the armory in King's Landing. It was a far cry from his golden armor that he had worn as a member of the Kingsguard, but it would keep him safe all the same.
Across from him, the Green Man ran a whetstone over the edge of his axe. He wore a studded leather breastplate under his green cloak and a wooden buckler reinforced with an iron boss leaned against his legs. Jaime was a strong man, but he looked weak compared to the tall, broad-shouldered, blacksmith-looking man across from him. The axe and shield should both cause quite a bit of damage to their opponents. He also looked like he knew how to use them. He had a warrior's confidence.
Not for the first time, Jaime wondered how he got himself in this situation.
Flashback
After leaving King's Landing, Jaime had traveled to Storm's End, meeting with two of Robert Baratheon's bastard sons. Edric, the lord of the castle, was the perfect picture of a charming and welcoming host. He was friendly and genial, asking Jaime about his fight with the Kingswood Brotherhood. The other one, the one that was a spitting image of a young Robert, was very quiet and reserved. In fact, Jaime spotted him working in the forge when he arrived.
But when he saw him on the training field, wielding a large, ancient-looking axe, it was like Robert was reborn before him.
Edric told Jaime that the Green Man had ridden south towards Dorne. Said that he wanted to visit an 'old friend' in Starfall. Jaime was traveling that way when he heard rumors of a strange, green-cloaked man making his way north towards Highgarden. The former knight immediately began heading northwest, hoping to cut the man off somewhere along the way.
Instead, Jaime followed his path straight to a castle settled close to Horn Hill. He didn't recognize the device on the banner, and by the size of the stronghold, he guessed that it belonged to some minor lord who wasn't even good enough to sit in the same hall as the king. There were no guards protecting the main gate, allowing Jaime to simply stroll right into where a trial was being held.
The Green Man was the one on trial, and from the looks of it, the judges didn't want to make a big affair out of it so that there were no eyes on them. It was clearly a false trial. The men judging just wanted a chance to gloat before killing the Green Man.
"How do you answer these accusations?" the man in the middle, a sniveling, rat-faced man asked.
He, along with two others, sat on three thrones on a raised platform. The other two men didn't look much more intimidating than the first. They looked like merchants, accountants, people who would be more concerned with how much gold was in their pockets than what they were actually doing to others.
There were a dozen guards around the room, each armed to the teeth. A smug septon stood in the background, watching the trial proceed.
"Not guilty." the Green Man answered calmly. His hands and feet were bound, and his clothes showed that he had been roughly handled, but he looked completely at ease with the entire situation.
"A lie," the man on the right growled to his friends. "He'll do anything to continue to live."
"Send him to the Stranger and be done with it, Horan." the one of the left said with a vague wave of the hand.
The middle man, Horan, glared hatefully at the Green Man. "You killed holy men in broad daylight, and yet you deny it?"
"I defended myself and my home." the Green Man said with a shrug.
Jaime hid in the back of the room in the shadows, watching and waiting. He would step in when he knew who he was dealing with and why they had taken the Green Man prisoner. Until then, he was outnumbered and would remain in the dark.
"From godly men with a holy task." the man on the left said. "You live among paganism that must, no, deserves to be wiped from the face of this land."
"Who are you to say that it does?" the Green Man challenged. "Last I remember, the King is the king of the Andals and the First Men. The majority of the latter are followers of the Old Gods."
"He is also supposed to be the Defender of the Faith," the man on the right snarled.
The Green Man snorted. "It seems you are behind the times, my lord. The king is no longer the defender of the Faith. They must answer for their own actions now. The Crown will not protect them."
"I hope you die a thousand deaths in all Seven Hells," Horan spat, going very red in the face.
"Oh, I'll die when I die," the Green Man said simply, almost conversationally, "but it certainly won't be in this decrepit place and not by your hands. Now, why my I die?"
"Our most holy septon, Septon Crassus, tells us so." Horan snapped.
"Have I offended you in some way, Septon Crassus?" the Green Man asked curiously, turning his gaze on the white-robed man.
"Your very existence offends me, pagan." the man snarled. "You and your isle of trees should have been burned centuries ago."
Jaime now understood what was happening. The three men, lords he assumed, were extremely holy fanatics under the direction of the septon in the back. They had kidnapped the Green Man and put him on trial for defending the Isle of Faces from the High Sparrow. While it was undoubtedly the former High Septon who had committed the crime, the fanatics probably saw him as a martyr and the Green Man his executioner.
"Now I will ask you once more: How do you plead?" Horan asked.
"He said that he pleads not guilty," Jaime said, striding into the center of the room.
There were looks of surprise and fear on the faces of every man in the room. They obviously knew who he was and knew his reputation. What they didn't know was why he was there and how he had managed to find them.
"Jaime Lannister, how did you come to this place?" Horan asked, trying to keep his voice from wavering.
Jaime gave them his trademark smirk. "I've come for my friend here," he said, jerking his thumb towards the bound Green Man. "Now, if you don't mind, we'll be going."
"We mind quite a bit, actually." the septon said, stepping forward. "He is our prisoner and he won't be going anywhere until the trial is finished. In case you haven't noticed, he's on trial for murdering holy men."
Jaime raised an eyebrow. "Are you truly trying a man who is protected by the king?" he asked before crossing the room to the priest, standing chest to chest with him. "I'm not sure what rock you've been hiding under, but the king isn't very happy with you people. You have balls for a celibate man."
"The trial must be seen to completion!" the septon insisted.
Jaime smiled, but there was no humor in the expression. "Is that right? Well, we demand trial by combat."
"Impossible!" the man on the right sputtered, his face red with rage. "He is not a lord!"
"Well, if you are trying him for killing 'holy men', then I must be tried as well. I distinctly remember putting my sword through a number of, what were they called? Poor Fellows? Since I am the brother to the Lord of Casterly Rock, making me a noble, I demand trial by combat." Jaime said confidently. "We'll both fight whoever you set against us."
The room was deathly silent as the three lords tried to figure out a way to get out of their current predicament. None of them wanted to fight Jaime. He had lost his knighthood, not his right hand. Jaime leaned against the Green Man with a bored expression on his face as he gazed up around the room, seemingly appreciating the architecture. After a long moment, he added:
"Any time within this century would be great."
"Very well, you'll both fight men of our choosing," Horan said.
"Champions?" Jaime scoffed. "I thought men who were so devout would trust that the Warrior would help them defeat two rogues such as ourselves."
"We'll fight you pagans." the man on the left snarled, erupting from his chair as he was unable to control his anger any further. "Reinforced by our best man. Is that enough for you, Kingslayer?"
"Outnumbered three to one." the Green Man muttered, although he didn't seem at all intimidated.
"No," Jaime muttered back. "Six dead men against us."
Flashback
That was a day ago. Jaime had learned more about who he was antagonizing later in the night from the Green Man. The three minor lords; Horan, Wylan, and Borum, were all devout followers of the Faith of the Seven. The septon, Crassus, had been in the ear of each man, encouraging them on as they plotted to kidnap the Green Man.
The castle they brought him to belonged to Wylan, the weakest of the three lords. He could barely muster a hundred men, and his debts to other lords meant that he could only employ a dozen guards and about twenty servants. The six knights who had helped Crassus capture the Green Man had been hedge knights looking for some quick coin. As soon as they had realized the importance of the man they had helped kidnap, they had taken their money from the other two lords, Borum and Horan, and wisely left.
Jaime had thought that the three lords were trying to keep the trial as minor as possible so that they wouldn't draw the eyes of Lord Tarly's son, Dickon, the new lord of Horn Hill. The truth was that the three men couldn't put together a big, public trial even if they wanted to.
"Let's go." a soldier grunted, opening the door. Jaime and the Green Man rose to their feet and followed the man outside.
Their opponents didn't look as bad as Jaime thought they would. They looked well armored and armed. They knew which end of the sword was which, though that meant little to Jaime. He knew that a lot of people could hold swords and look fearsome doing so, but that didn't mean that they knew how to use them.
Horan raised his visor when Jaime and the Green Man emerged from the keep.
"Did you forget to protect your head, Kingslayer?" he called.
"Did you forget that you're committing suicide?" Jaime replied calmly. Horan looked confused.
"What are you babbling about?"
"You stepped onto the field of battle with me," Jaime said, smiling fiercely as his blood began to pump faster and faster. "That means certain death."
Horan growled and lowered his visor. "Crassus!" he shouted.
The septon appeared from where he had been hiding by the wall, protected by a small trio of soldiers. He seemed to gain confidence now that he saw the disparity in numbers. He smirked and looked towards Jaime.
"I will give you one chance to plead guilty."
"I believe you start by asking the Father for something," Jaime said sarcastically.
The septon scowled and gave the usual blessing, asking the Seven to bless the battle so that the 'right' outcome is achieved. After he was done, he stepped back behind the protection of the soldiers.
Jaime felt in his element as the six men charged. His instincts were heightened and he was already envisioning how he would kill his first opponent. He held a large, two-handed mace in his hands, whirling it around his head, ready to smash Jaime's head to a bloody pulp.
As he envisioned in his head, Jaime stepped to the side and slashed the first man's neck, causing a waterfall of red to run down the front of his armor as he stumbled back into Wylan, who was right behind him. The lord of the castle had only a moment to shove his dead ally out of the way before Jaime was on him, forcing him back with an onslaught of blows. The reachman was simply outmatched against his opponent, unable to keep up at sword blows rained down on his sword and shield. Jaime finished the fight when he parried Wylan's strike and drove his sword into the lord's knee, sending him to the ground and taking him out of the fight.
Borum and his man attacked at the same time, forcing Jaime to defend himself from two sides. They pushed him back, never giving him a moment to mount his own offensive. Borum's attacks were weak and sloppy, but his friend was a decent fighter. They had almost pinned Jaime against a wall when disaster struck. Wylan, in an effort to wound Jaime, had pulled himself towards the three fighters. Borum's man stepped on Wylan's arm, crashing to the ground and foiling Wylan's attack at the same time.
Jaime immediately took advantage of the confusion. He swiftly disarmed and cut down Borum before turning to his fallen ally, casually slaying him where he lay before slamming his heel into Wylan's face, knocking the man unconscious. That was four men Jaime had cut down. All that remained was Horan and his second.
The Green Man had taken care of that.
Horan's second was lying face-down in a pool of his own blood while the lord dueled the Green Man alone. The battle was a one-sided affair. The green-cloaked was taller, larger, stronger, and faster than Horan. The smaller man wasn't a bad fighter, but he was terribly outmatched. If he had been waiting for the Warrior to imbue him with some sort of strength to defeat the Green Man, then he would be dead long before it happened. Horan's shield was bent out of shape and his sword had plenty of marks from where it had slammed against the Green Man's shield.
Jaime took a moment to look around. The soldiers who had been previously watching the fight had fled, probably fearing for their lives. Jaime didn't care about them. He continued to look around until he found who he was looking for. The blasted septon who had started all this nonsense.
He found him hiding behind the barrels that held wooden practice weapons. He was on his knees, hands above his head, facing the stone wall. His ass was the only thing not hidden by the barrels. The decision was almost too easy.
"Ahh!" The septon cried out as his face was smashed into the stonework, Jaime's boot propelling the man forward.
The septon turned around, his face a bloody mess and his nose smeared across his face. His eyes widened in fright as he brought his hands up to defend himself, but Jaime's sword carved off his fingers before it was plunged into his neck, pinning him to the ground while he died painfully.
"As I said," Jaime murmured to himself as he withdrew his sword, cleaning it on the white robes of the dead septon. "Certain death."
"Jaime Lannister." the Green Man said, standing over the slain body of Horan. The lord laid lifelessly on the ground, blood oozing from a terrible blow in his chest. "We must go."
Line Break
After the two men retrieved their mounts, they began to ride towards Horn Hill. They needed supplies and Jaime didn't feel like stealing from the frightened servants and guards who watched them as they departed. The Green Man didn't argue. In fact, he hadn't said a word since telling Jaime that they needed to leave. All he said was a few murmured words to his elk.
"Why have you come after me?" the Green Man asked after the castle was long behind them.
"The queen was attacked," Jaime explained. "Euron Greyjoy, Balon's banished brother, and his crew snuck into the castle and attacked her and the prince. The man was most certainly possessed, but we did manage to kill him when Lord Tarly cleaved into his shoulder with Heartsbane."
"Possessed how?"
"Glowing eye, ink-black blood, unable to be killed by steel," Jaime said, listing off the characteristics of the man. "The Grand Maester said that the corpse has turned completely black. The queen and my brother asked me to track you down so that you could examine the body and see what exactly happened."
"He was possessed by the Drowned God." the Green Man said grimly. "He most likely gave up his soul so that he could be unkillable."
"How was he able to do that?" Jaime asked.
"Did you ever find a shrine to the Drowned God?"
"The Onion Knight found one aboard the man's ship," Jaime answered, "but the ship was burned on the Queen's orders."
"As it should be." the Green Man said. "The Drowned God was once referred to as the Mad God by the First Men of Westeros before the Andal Invasion. Some of his most devout followers, usually warriors or raiders, would give their souls to the Drowned God in exchange for power and unlimited life."
"They gave up their humanity?" Jaime asked.
"Yes, making them no longer human." the Green Man replied. "That's why only valyrian steel could kill the man."
"How was the Drowned God able to do this?"
"To understand that, you must know how the Drowned God was created." the Green Man explained. "He was once a member of the Old Gods, those that created life and our world. But in a war against the Great Darkness, he became obsessed with death and went mad. The other gods cast him out into the black depths of the ocean, hoping that he would fade and be forgotten. Instead, he lured his own twisted followers out to sea and created the ironborn. You know their motto."
"What is dead may never die, but rises again harder and stronger," Jaime said easily. "It's a tribute to their god."
"Exactly." the Green Man said. "Now, the Drowned God was able to do this because he learned it battling the Great Darkness. It's the ancient enemy of the Old Gods that retreated to the far north after being nearly destroyed. It's what created the First Other."
"Euron was essentially an Other than," Jaime said, connecting the dots. He wasn't the smartest man, but the Green Man wasn't beating around the bush with his explanation.
"A sad, weak, excuse for one, yes." the Green Man confirmed. "There's nothing we can gain from the body, I'm sure of that. It's best just to burn the remains and be done with it."
"Should we worry about more Euron Greyjoy's showing up?"
"What do you know about Euron?" the Green Man asked, changing the subject.
"He was banished from the Iron Islands by Balon. Traveled the world after that." Jaime said. "My father had a particular dislike for him. It was his plan that saw the fleet at Lannisport burned."
"Euron Greyjoy was a mad man, just like his god. He traveled the world and probably saw ancient texts on how to conduct the ceremony." the Green Man said. "I doubt there will be any more like him for centuries."
"I hope you're right." Jaime sighed as Horn Hill came into view. "It seems we have bigger things to worry about in the North."
"Yes, the Others are another beast entirely," the Green Man agreed. "Thank you for your help."
"Killing is what I do best," Jaime said with a shrug. "What did you mean back there? That you wouldn't die to them?"
The Green Man hesitated before answering. He didn't look happy about it, but Jaime wanted to know the answer. There was no way he could have heard Jaime's approach. There were sixteen other people in the room and three were talking. No one could have heard him and so the Green Man shouldn't have known that Jaime was there to save him or if it was Jaime at all.
"I was told long ago how I would die," the Green Man answered. "It's a depressing thought, but it oddly puts life in a different perspective."
"How so?"
"Have you ever gone into battle wondering if you're about to die?" the Green Man asked.
Jaime thought about it before shaking his head. "I've always known that I'm better than my opponent."
"You've never been scared of a stray arrow or a knife in the dark?" the Green Man pressed.
"I wore the best armor money could buy and I was the son of a man who brought two houses to ruin without losing an ounce of sleep," Jaime deadpanned. "I was worried about some things, but death was never one of them."
The Green Man snorted and smiled. "Then my analogy means nothing. I would have told you to imagine going into battle knowing that you would not die then and there."
Jaime thought about what he said before shrugging. "I see your point. How do you think you'll feel when you know that you've reached the day of your death?"
"I've made my peace with it," the Green Man grunted. "No man runs from fate. It certainly wouldn't look good for me to try. Not when the king believes that I can hear the Old Gods speak to me."
"Can you?"
The Green Man chuckled. "We've had our conversations."
"Have they ever spoken about me?" Jaime asked, mostly joking.
"You've proven many people wrong, Jaime Lannister," the Green Man said, clapping his heels into his elk as he began to move away, "the Old Gods are not among them."
Jaime frowned and spurred his horse on as well, wanting to catch up to the man. He had even more questions now.