Game Of Thrones: House Bracken

Chapter 8: The Kings Tour



It didn't take long before the King arrived, only 4 days after the letter arrived. Luckily my men had gathered in time and we were currently hunting down bandits throughout our territories. Similarly we had prepared bedding and food for his entire entourage.

And soon enough he arrived.

I was standing on top of the wall watching the entourage come slowly, on the Kings Road, thousands of men was marching down the road creating a gigantic line. And their carriages were even more exaggerated, the carriage line extended till as far as the eye could see.

The Inn of the Crossways had recently gotten a lot of new defenses. The walls had been increased to about a total of 5 meters in size and 1 1/2 meter wide. I stepped down from the wall and began walking back to the keep. I would reach it before they arrived.

And sure enough, I arrived 2 minutes before they did. I had Jon and Jorgen station themselves on either side of me. I didn't have a family nor any cousins here so I had my Commanders and keep staff around me.

They entered the keep gates, 2 Kingsguars Knights arrived first before the main carriage arrived. The King was riding a Horse alongside Jaime Lannister and Ser Barristan Selmy.

As he stepped of his horse we all bowed.

"Greetings, My King!" I said as I bowed.

When I said that the Queen left the carriage with Tommen and Myrcella Baratheon who joined the journey. Alongside Joffrey who went down from his horse. The Hound at his side.

"Please stand, Lord Bracken." Robert said.

As I stood up he approached me and put his hand out for a shake. I smiled and shaked his hands.

"Greetings, My Queen." I said as I turned to Queen Cersei Lannister and bowed again by going on 1 knee, same as with Robert.

"Greetings, Lord Bracken." The Queen said.

After that I quickly said hi to all of the royal children before ordering Jon to direct them towards their sleeping quarters. We would let them relax before the food was served.

The Keep quickly went into chaos as the kitchen focused on making food for a unit much larger than the small kitchen could handle. We had to use other kitchens outside the keep like in the military barracks.

2 Hours later the Feast started. We were placed similarly to the Stark Feast, I sat beside the Queen and the King, both of us sitting on either side of him. Though it didnt stay that way, after 10 minutes of talking to me he got bored and went down to the place where everyone was sitting, mostly their entourage's soliders and a lot of maids and a few prostitutes I hired, it didn't take long for him to begin smooch with one. I decided to take this time to talk with the Queen.

"How is the travel suiting you, My Queen?" I asked

"They are suiting me just fine, Lord Bracken. Not exactly comfortable but it's fine." She said.

"I see, where will you be stopping on the way?" I asked

"I do not bother much with it, but we will be stopping at the Twins and Moat Caitlin." She said.

"I see, and what's your current view on Lord Eddard Stark?" I asked.

"He's a fine man, but he will not fit into the political landscape of King's Landing."

"Aye, he is a true man, but he is not fit in the treacherous lands of the Red Keep, he's too honourable and trustingly." I said.

"Indeed, you know a lot about politics?" She asked, being a bit more intrigued.

"Aye, I will not lie, I do. I learnt a bit from my Father, and I wouldn't have managed to annex all this land if it wasn't for House Brackens long line of politics." I said.

"Indeed, Brackens have always favoured rites and politics, opposite of the Blackwood who wants numbers and might."

"Aye, the Blackwoods are something for themselves." And with that we began talking about the different Houses in both the Riverlands, The Crownlands, Westerlands and a few Reach Houses.

As the party was coming towards the end I finished my talk with the Queen.

"It has indeed been a comforting task." She said

"Indeed, well my last warning shall be, the political landscape of King's Landing. The Starks will undoubtedly challenge the current ways of ruling, he's too honest." I said.

"Indeed, it would seem so." She said as she went into deep thoughts.

"Well, if you are to ever require it, my loyalty will stay with you My Queen and the Baratheons. We all will require each other in the near times, trouble is brewing. And especially with that type of King." I said as I sent a look towards Robert Baratheon.

"Indeed, perhaps I shall take you upon your loyalty, Lord Alexander." She said as she turned around and left.

It was time to Join the Game Of Thrones. No more focusing single handily on the Riverlands.

And with that, everyone went to sleep. The next day I woke up and left towards the training grounds and began training. I mostly did physical exercises before I began training a bit with a sword and then a bit with the spear. I had grown recently, I was 17 and standing at 5,9 and I was still growing.

I had similar hair to that of Jaime Lannister in the first episodes. My hair colour was similar to that of Jaime Lannister, with blonde hair. My armor was similar to that of Daemon Targaryen in HOTD but instead of Dragon Symbols it was horses and it wasn't dragon scales but instead similar armor the rest of the set. I also did not wear a helmet and the shoulder guards didn't point upwards. I used a Longsword crafted by a Master Blacksmiths and a middle sized spear.

I quickly began training, firstly focusing on the sword then the spear. I then began sparring with Jon and Jorgen. They were both more skilled than me but I managed to hold on for quite some time.

However that's when Prince Joffrey and Tommen arrived, they were escorted by 4 Lannister men and the Hound.

"Those are some strong men, however I bet tbey would struggle against our men." Joffrey said.

"It may be so, but I don't know if I could beat them." The Hound said.

"Let's see if that's true." Joffrey said as Tommen stepped back.

"You there!" He screamed at Jon and Jorgen.

As they turned he screamed again.

"One of you two spar this man." And he pointed at the hound.

"Sorry My Lord, but we are sparring with Lord Alexander." Jon said.

"Puh, I assumed so, I bet any of our men at arms can beat your sorry asses." Joffrey said.

"Ooh, the prince believes his men are that good?" I said as I stepped forward.

"Very well, how about Jon and Jorgen here spar the Hound and let's say... 6 of your men?" I asked.

"Very good! I shall have my men show you true strength." As he said that he turned around to one of the guards.

"Bring our 6 best men." He said and with that the guard ran off.

I decided it was time to socialise a bit. While Joffrey was bragging to everyone around him. I went to Tommen Baratheon and began talking to him. I began telling him stories about great Kings and history of the realm.

Quickly enough the guard came back with 6 men.

However as we were about to start Jaime Lannister came out.

"Oooh! What an interesting fight." He said as he stood beside me. I was standing a bit away from the training ground where they were about to fight.

"Indeed, my 2 personal guards against the Hound and your 6 best men." I said

"Oooh, very well. I will oversee this fight." He stated. And with that he walked down before starting the fight.

Quickly enough Jon and Jorgen spilt up. Jon went to the 6 men while Jorgen immediately engaged the Hound. Jon began releasing a fury of assaults to keep any of the men from going to help the Hound.

They weren't the elites of the Lannister for no reason, they all managed to block the assault. Jon whom was dual wielding was extremely skilled at fighting multiple people.

They began surrounding him and stabbing towards him. They all used shields but luckily no spears. And soon enough, during the fury of blocks and slashes one of them out too much power into their sword and the sword got stuck in the ground.

Jon immediately took advantage of this and slashed the dull sword towards his head. The guy out his oval shield to block the slash, but Jon used his right foot to kick his legs, kicking his legs off the ground, he also pushed extra power into the slash so the poor guy landed on his neck.

Jon then stabbed around him and kicked him in the helmet, finally putting him down. The five others got out of their initial shock of loosing one man and began attacking again. This time they were much more careful. Jon realised this and knew he wouldn't get another opportunity for a long time.

Understanding this he began walking closer to one of the guy on his right. He slashed his sword towards Jon's head but Jon ducked under before taking the handle of his sword and hitting it hard against the guys elbow, the arm quickly bent the wrong way and he fell to the ground in pain. Luckily the Maesters could fix it, but it was now a 4v1. This continued for another 5 minutes of only blocking and slashing. Until one of the tripped.

Jon utilised this change to kick the guy while he was falling. The poor guy didn't manage to block with his arms and fell unconscious. Jon then immediately turned to the guy in the middle of the last 3, during this battle he was arrogant and had been spending a lot of energy. Jon immediately began launching a flurry of assaults with both his swords. He stepped outside the encirclement but never stopped barraging the poor guy. And soon enough, his arm couldn't take it anymore and it fell dead, unable to be lifted anymore. Jon used the chance to use the flat side of his sword like a baseball hitting the guys head and knocking him unconscious.

Turning around Jon looked towards the remaining 2 and engaged in combat again. In less than 2 minutes the 1st guy fell and 30 seconds later the 3rd. In less than 10 minutes Jon had incapacitated 6 of the best Lannister men.

He then turned towards Jorgen's fight and saw that it was currently equal. Jon then sat down to rest a bit.

Jorgens battle was a bit more boring. It was simply a battle of stamina. For more than 15 minutes now they had been simply hitting each others shield, however that's when the unthinkable happened, Jorgens shield broke. However instead of falling back. Jorgen increased his power and repeatedly slashed at the Hounds sword until it as well, broke. And soon enough the battle turned into only sword. And Jorgens superiority in only using swords quickly shone and 10 minutes later the Hound was pushed to the ground and a sword to his neck.

The battle was over.

"Your Men ain't all thag high and mighty are they, My Prince?" I said to Joffrey as I nodded to Tommen and Jaime before turning around and left. Jon and Jorgen followed after soon, and 3 hours later the Baratheon Entourage finally left and The Crossroads returned to normal.

**

Sorry for not publishing anything lately but here they are, likely won't be able to do one tomorrow but we'll see.


Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.