2,289Chapter 42: Interlude: Six
Thirtieth day, Ninth Moon, 250 AC (several hours before the last chapter)
A loud bang disturbed the night.
Bronn sat upright in his bed, listening for the source of the noise.
A feminine shriek sounded from a nearby house.
Bronn leapt from his bed, urging his wife to get the children and prepare to run into the forest, before running outside with his spear.
A quick look around showed his neighbor, Jax, also holding a weapon looking around for any danger.
"Where'd the scream come from, Jax?" Bronn said quietly.
Jax indicated his head towards the center of the village. "Smoke," he said, with a quiet focus.
Laughter echoed out over the village, and shouts and bangs increased in frequency.
"RAID! TO ARMS!" Jax shouted.
As he and Jax ran towards the middle of the village in the pre-dawn light, he saw his wife and children, along with Jax's family run out of the village.
Turning around a corner, they saw a three men break down the door of a house and enter it with whooping laughs.
Bronn's heart sank at the scene. Many of the doors along the street also had broken doors, and the screams. One of the homes had caught fire, which was quickly spreading, and bathed the street in a demonic glow.
Jax pointed to the house the group just entered and said, "Let's get 'em. Only three of 'em, I reckon with surprise on our side we can get 'em easy enough."
Bronn nodded. Any plan at this point, was a good plan.
Bronn led the way with his spear, while Jax moved behind him with his axe at the ready.
Bronn cautiously entered the house but didn't see anyone immediately. There was mud leading to the back rooms, but also a single set of footprints leading to the kitchen. Indicating to Jax that they would go to the kitchen first, the pair quietly moved through the house.
Peaking his head in the room, Bronn saw a man in patchwork armor going through the food stores, seemingly ignoring his surroundings. The man was wearing a chainmail vest, with a helmet and shoulder guards, but had sheathed his sword and placed his shield on the ground beside him.
Bronn took an involuntary swallow at his daring but took a calming breath to fortify him for what he knew he had to do.
Sneaking up behind the man Bronn braced himself and stabbed forward with all his might, into the back of the man, pinning him to the wall.
The spear did not break all the way through the chainmail, but Jax quickly rushed forwards and swung his axe at the man's neck.
The body fell to the floor in a thump, that seemed to echo throughout the house.
Bronn and Jax stood silent for a moment, wondering if they had been discovered.
When a shriek from Maddy, the woman of the house, sounded from the bedrooms they knew they remained unheard.
Jax quickly stripped the dead man of his armor and equipped himself.
This time Jax took the lead with the armor and shield, while Bronn followed behind watching his back.
Jax edged along the wall to the bedrooms, and carefully poked his head around the corner.
What he saw most have been horrifying, as he immediately stilled with rage.
Jax whispered to Bronn, "Two men. One on the bed, facing the other way. Other is going through their storage chests. I'll take the storage one, you take the bed. Bed has no armor on. Remember, nice and quiet."
Bronn nodded his agreement and waited for Jax to make the first move.
Jax slipped into the room, but a squeaky floorboard gave him away. The man going through the storage chests glanced up, expecting to see his comrade but was shocked to find armed villagers.
Jax surged forward, while Bronn sprinted to the bed, where a naked man had a shocked look as Bronn barreled towards him.
He jabbed forward with his spear, impaling the man in the gut sending the man backwards onto the bed.
Bronn quickly leaped onto the bed and ripped the spear out of the man, while the man screamed in pain, and thrust forward again into the man's screaming mouth, silencing him.
A quick look showed that Jax had been able to kill his man as well.
Jax caught his eye and nodded. "Grab their armor," he said. Jax cautiously approached Maddy and eyed her dead husband's body. "Maddy? You need to grab your children and run into the forest, okay?"
She gave a teary-eyed nod, adjusted her ripped nightgown, and ran out of the room, seeking her children.
Once Bronn had armored himself, the two of them took off and moved to the next house.
It was empty by the time they arrived, so they left to investigate another house when they found another, larger, group of raiders.
The group easily surrounded them. "Put 'em down, boys," one of the men said, in a mocking voice.
Jax and Bronn glanced at each other, not seeing any other options.
They placed their weapons on the ground and put their hands up in the air.
The raider who spoke nodded in satisfaction. "Smart," he said, "Take 'em to Marion."
They were led to the village center, where a large group of villagers had already been gathered. A few raiders had herded the group into a small circle, while others emptied out the nearby buildings, including the tax barn a street over.
Over the next few minutes, a few small groups of villagers were escorted to them, but there remained frightfully few villagers before him.
Bronn hoped that meant that most, like his family, had been able to escape into the forest.
Once it became apparent that no more villagers were coming, a man approached the group of villagers, accompanied by two other armed men.
The man eyed the group with disdain and said, "Listen up. I don't give a shit about you, or your shit village. I am looking for one thing. But the longer I look, the longer my men will stay. The longer they stay, the more they will take."
His gaze swept over the huddled group of villagers. "Where is the golden farmer?"
The villagers glanced at each other.
Bronn was just confused. What was this man talking about? It looked like no one else knew either, but everyone was too scared to speak up.
The apparent leader of the Ironborn, for now that the rising sun had started to lighten the sky, their features became plain to see, scowled at our silence.
He nodded towards one of the men behind him. "Follow the roads out of the village, Barrick. Find him. If you come across any villagers, kill them; we don't have time to fool around with them. We have enough hostages here to get any information."
The man, Barrick, nodded once and jogged away calling for some men to follow him.
The leader spat at us and walked back over to the rest of his men who were dumping their loot in the village center.
Bronn and the others sat, huddled together as they watched their livelihoods get ripped from them just as some of their loved ones had been earlier.
A few minutes later, Barrick returned and started talking to the leader again.
Bronn strained listened in, curious as to their apparent goal here.
"Two roads leading out o' the village, Marion. One looks more heavily used, t' the south, but no farms right next t' the village."
"Follow the heavily used one, Barrick. The Golden Farmer would have a lot of people going t' him," replied the leader, Marion.
"But the Golden Farmer is smart, you said. Won't he be on the less used road? Trick anyone from finding 'im?"
Marion glared at Barrick. "Don't be a fool. No one thinks like that."
Barrick raised his chin in defiance. "You said he is a tricky man. Hiding in stories and the like. Sounds like a tricky thing to do."
Marion scowled and turned to one of the Ironborn that was standing behind him. "Grab one of those villagers."
The man approached our group and grabbed Tyn from the group. Her husband leapt to his feet to defend her, but one of the guards hit him in the head with the hilt of his sword, knocking the man unconscious.
Tyn was dragged over to Marion by her hair and thrown onto her knees before him.
"Where," Marion growled, "Is the Golden Farmer?"
Tyn trembled in fear. Marion backhanded her across the face. "Answer me!" He shouted.
"I- I don't know what 'yer talking about." Tyn stuttered out.
"THE GOLDEN FARMER!" Marion roared. "I've put it together! I'm no fool and will not be treated as one! Where is the rich farmer?"
"'Ye- 'ye mean Michael?"
"Is he rich, you fool woman?"
"Y- Yes."
"Where?"
"The so- south road. Then east, he's the la- last farm on the road."
Marion gave her a cruel smile. He looked up to Barrick and said, "You heard her. Off you go. Find the gold and bring the man back here."
Barrick nodded and jogged back to his men, and they left the village.
Bronn prayed that all the farmers would be able to escape.
Marion shouted out to the rest of the Ironborn around him, "Put the rest o' villagers in the large barn over there and lock 'em in!" He paused for a moment and looked right at Tyn. "You best hope we catch him, bitch. Or we'll take it out on you first."
As the door to the barn was shut in our faces, and the events of the day finally began to sink into the shocked villagers, Bronn prayed for these Ironborn to get what was coming to them.
A/N: Per a reader recommendation, I wrote this interlude in third-person. Let me know if you like it and think I should continue or go back to first-person.