The Men in the Cage

The rider drew his sword and thrust. Yoren answered with a feint so light it almost looked careless. The gold cloak's sword flew from his hand, and Yoren's point stopped at his chest.

"See? You lot can scare smallfolk, but you are not half so dangerous as you think."

He climbed back onto the wagon, cracked the reins, and prepared to leave. Then a bowstring creaked.

A young voice shouted a warning. Yoren twisted aside just in time to avoid the arrow.

He had not expected the gold cloaks to be so persistent. If he had not been alone, he would have finished the lot of them on the spot.

There were no ifs. One arrow missed, and another followed. The remaining gold cloaks spurred their horses forward.

Yoren did not panic. He rolled from the wagon and cut across a horse's leg as it passed. The animal screamed and threw its rider.

This time, Yoren held back nothing. These men had clearly come prepared.

The boy they wanted, Gendry, was no ordinary prisoner. Eddard Stark himself had entrusted the lad to Yoren, and the boy was said to be Robert Baratheon's bastard.

Since Yoren had accepted the charge, he could only try to see it done. After killing one gold cloak, he took the bow from the fallen horse and loosed a clean shot.

He was no common black brother. Against men who looked fine but fought poorly, he was more than enough.

What he had not expected was that the gold cloaks, knowing they could not beat him cleanly, would seize the girl who had warned him. Yoren's heart sank. She was more important than Gendry.

The little princess of the North.

"Black brother," the gold cloak shouted, "drop your weapon, or she dies."

At first, taking her had been an act of desperation. When the man saw Yoren's face change, he realized he had found the right hold.

The gold cloak Yoren had humiliated earlier used the moment to stab him from behind.

Arya Stark did not think. She drew Needle and drove it into the man holding her.

Yoren seized the chance, turned, and killed the one who had stabbed him. Then he took three arrows in a smooth, brutal rhythm, and the remaining gold cloaks who tried to flee fell from their saddles.

The danger passed for the moment, but Yoren was clearly failing.

"Are you all right?" Arya asked, worry in her voice.

Yoren smiled. Perhaps this was a black brother's fate. Dying in the south was not the worst end.

At the edge of death, he still reminded Arya, "Run. Stay off the roads if you can. They'll send more. Get as far away as you can. Reach the North."

The man who had cared for her on the road died there.

Arya was heartbroken, but she did not collapse. She had to go home. She had to tell her mother what had happened to her father and sister. The Lannisters had murdered the king.

As Arya prepared to leave, a voice from the cage wagon called her back.

"Let me out. I can help you escape."

"Why should I trust you?"

Arya had little good feeling for caged criminals, especially the foul men who had been leering at her since the road began.

"Hey, little girl," one prisoner jeered. "Let your grandfather out. Otherwise, once I get free..."

Arya answered that sort of filth with a thrust of Needle. She was no longer the naive girl she had been. Reality had made killing familiar. Hooves sounded closer and closer.

The man who had spoken first grew urgent. "Quickly. They are coming. Release me, and I can help."

Perhaps he truly was different from the disgusting men beside him. Arya cut the chain and let him out.

Once free, the man said, "A man is Jaqen H'ghar. A girl gave a man his life. Three lives are owed in return."

His mismatched gaze settled on Arya. "Speak the words Valar morghulis and name someone you want dead, and a man will kill that person for you."

Then he slipped into the trees and vanished. He felt like a liar to Arya, but she had no time to decide whether Jaqen H'ghar's words were true. She could already see riders.

Arya hurried after Jaqen and, while running, saw someone curled beneath the roots of a tree.

"Are you still hiding?" she snapped. "If they find you, they may kill you as Gendry."

The person under the roots jolted at his own name, scrambled up, and ran. His speed was no worse than Arya's.

Once they entered the woods, the hoofbeats behind them finally grew less clear. Jaqen, however, was gone.

It seemed they would have to rely on themselves.

"Hey," Arya asked, breathing hard. "What is your name? Where are you going?"

The boy looked lost, because he did not know where he was going either. Still, he answered.

"I'm Gendry."

He kept a careful distance from Arya. The road out of King's Landing had been terrifying. He had no idea whom he had offended, only that the gold cloaks were desperate to kill him.

Arya saw his caution and mocked herself a little. "You don't need to fear that I'll sell you out. They are looking for me too. If you don't want me dragging you down, stay away."

Gendry shook his head. "No. I will go north with you. The people here will not spare me. You are a northern lord's daughter. You shouldn't kill me, right?"

"Of course not. Why would I kill you?" Arya looked him over with curiosity. "I wonder why they want you dead. You do not look noble, but you do not look like some terrible criminal either."

Gendry remembered the fragments the men had let slip while hunting him.

"Maybe they think I am the king's bastard."

Arya's eyes widened. "You are Robert's son? Tch. Then the people trying to kill you are those Lannister bastards too."

Two people chased by the same enemies had a way of finding trust quickly. Their luck, unfortunately, was not so generous.

They had not gone far before familiar hoofbeats closed in again. This time, the gold cloaks had come prepared.

Arya had studied swordplay under Syrio Forel for a time, but she was still a girl and far from finished in her training. Surrounded by several gold cloaks, she was captured quickly. Gendry, who tried to help, was taken with her.

Arya was furious, but no one cared about her anger. Out of desperation, she tried to bluff.

"You have the wrong people. I know where Gendry is. He was with us just now."

"Oh? And where is he now?"

Only then did Arya notice the man among the gold cloaks. He seemed to be their leader. That gave her a sliver of hope.

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