New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

2017, 10-16

Game of Dreams – Faceoff at the Inn

I am riding on a donkey with other people. There are two wagons in our group. Not far up ahead I see an inn. The man in charge, Yarin, says we can afford hot meal and they also have a bath house, so if any of us would like to bathe we can do that, too. The horses and donkeys are taken away to be given food and water, and most everyone else heads into the Inn. A cloaked man stays outside in one of the wagons, and the three chained man stay in the other. The food is quite good. It looks like some kind of pot pie. They’re also baked apples. The ale is pretty good, though it’s not my favorite. I eat while everyone around me is talking and telling stories. One person has a story of a giant wolf that came into a town and stole a baby from its mother‘s arms to eat it. Wolves don’t eat babies! I tell them that. One of them asked me what I know about wolves. I say I know as much as anyone around here. At this point Yarin for some reason grabs my arm. He tells everyone there not to pay any attention to me, I’m just a stupid boy. Yarin takes me out in front of the inn, and he tells me to go make sure that the animals are being cared for. I tell him I’ve had enough of that crowd anyhow.

I am walking past the wagons when one of the chained men tries to get my attention. He talks about himself in the third person, referring to himself as a man. He displays that his tankard is empty and says he still thirsty. He wants me to go get him some more ale. The other two with him are rude. One is fat and bald. He doesn’t talk. He does hiss. He has really sharp teeth. The other guy there has no nose. I immediately start thinking of him as Voldemort from Harry Potter. He is yelling at me, he throws his empty tankard at me, but I dodge it. The decent one of them tells me his name is Jaqen H'ghar. He apologizes for the others, “A man does not choose his companions in the dungeons. So a man must apologize for his companions.“ Voldemort tells me to come closer. I have no desire to get any closer to his ugly face. I focus my response on the nice one. I tell Jaqen H'ghar that I will talk to someone about getting him more ale. He responds with, “A man would be grateful.“ I am about to keep going when I see another of our group out there. It is a boy who everyone calls The Bull. He asks what I’m doing? I’m about to answer when I see The Bull staring behind me.

When I look behind me, I see that there are gold cloaks coming. Those are the queen’s guards. They must be after Arya. I pull The Bull behind a hedge where we won’t be seen. He seems confused by this. We watch as the leader of the gold cloaks comes up and confronts Yarin. He says they are there to collect one boy. He says they have a warrant issued by the queen. Yarin is not quick to cooperate. He says all of the boys with him are now in the Knight’s Watch. He says whatever we’ve all done in our past is now irrelevant. Yarin says that there are laws about such things. The gold cloak pulls out a sword and declares that it is his law. Yarin says that’s no law, that’s a sword. He’s got one too. He draws his sword. The gold cloak says he has five soldiers with him. Yarin reports that he’s got 30. So the two of them are facing off against each other like a couple of dogs fighting for dominance. It wouldn’t have surprised me to hear them start growling at each other. The gold cloak says that the people Yarin has with him are green boys, not worthy to fight. He says if they’re going to fight, who is first?

The goal cloak no doubt expected to be answered with silence, but he gets immediate responses. A couple men sitting outside the inn stand up and announce they will fight. They all have weapons. One guy was just coming out of the bathhouse with his clothes in a bundle in his arms. He drops everything except for his dagger, and announces he will fight. Apparently he intends to fight naked. Even one jerk, we’ve been calling Hot Pie, picks up a large rock and looks like he’s ready to brain someone with it. The strange cloaked figure in the back of the wagon gets out and just stand there and watches. Jaqen H'ghar says, “A man would fight if he was free and had a weapon.” I decide not to hide while everyone else is preparing to fight. So I come out in the open, and I draw my sword which is called Needle. The gold cloak calls all of us little girls, and tells us to put the weapons down. While he’s looking at me, he has given Yarin the perfect opening. The next thing I know he’s got his sword at the gold cloak’s throat. He makes a few threats, makes the guy drop his sword, and then swatted horse on the behind making him run away. The other gold cloaks follow.

With the threat passed I look over and see the strange cloaked guy get back in the wagon. Apparently he was only going to act if it was absolutely necessary. Or maybe he’s a chicken wuss. I don’t really know. Yarin is quite annoyed at us all. He says that if we think will make it to the wall without more trouble then we must be idiots. He says he will tell us all this right now. If they come back, and there is fighting, we need to hightail it for the wall and not look back. He is talking mainly to both me and The Bull. I’m wondering why they want to capture The Bull. I ask him what his name is, and he says it’s Gendry. I don’t know why the queen would want him, he’s just a bastard. A blacksmiths bastard. We get ready to move out that same night, we want to put some distance between us and the gold cloaks in case they come back. It is here that I wake up.