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Ch 59 Find The Mole... Part 1
🕑 Added 2024-04-15 12:28:59 +0000 UTCIt was the time just before evening... when the bright red sun was almost horizontal to the eyes and was slowly sinking into the sea of earth.
Normally this would be the time when all the sellswords would finish up with their evening training and wind down their muscles before dragging their heavily exhausted bodies towards dinner.
But today it was different...
Today, not only had the commander called off their usual evening training, but he had also commanded the cooks to give the men their dinner very early, and even though the food was the usual spread, it still felt like a feast to sellswords as it was perhaps the first time in forever that the men didn't have to work so hard for their food and they even had the spare energy to taste their food and talk to each other.
So safe to say that the atmosphere inside the camp at the moment was almost... festive.
This meant that when the commander ordered about a hundred-something sellswords to gather in the training grounds for a meeting... none complained and all of them were very happy to oblige.
"H-Hey, Terrek, do you know why the commander called all of us here for..." one of the new recruits asked his only friend nervously as they, along with all the sellswords who had been called by the commander, began slowly converging towards the huge bonfire in the middle of the training ground.
"Don't know, lad. But if I had to guess... then I think it's probably to talk about that attack on the Gallant Men..."
"You think so..."
"Of course, otherwise why would he only call the important people of the company..."
"Important people?"
"Yes, look around you. Almost everyone you see around here has some kind of a position or a responsibility of some kind in addition to being a fighter..."
"Really..."
"Yes. Look! See them! They are the only five blacksmiths in our company—and them! They are all the unit leader who leads our fighters in battle, and that man—he is the one in charge of our supplies and he..."
"But then... why am I here? I-I am just a new recruit who joined just a month ago... I am not one of the higher-ups..." asked the young boy, with distinct Essosi looks, nervously.
"So what if you're new? Aren't you the one who is in charge of our horses, so of course, you would—"
"What in charge of the horses!! Don't fill the kid's head, Terrek," an unpleasant voice suddenly interrupted them from behind, "He is just a guy our commander took pity on and just gave him the duty of washing the horses, that's all. Humph!!"
"Oh, Daryn... the commander called you too, huh," said Terrek with a disappointed look on his face.
"Of course, he did," Daryn replied pompously, "Because, unlike some people," he said while giving a nasty glare towards the young Essosi boy, "I am someone who has got the noble blood of—"
"Yes, Yes, you have the blood of the Ryswells of North in you. You should just write it on your forehead, instead of telling it to every person you see," Terrek scoffed at Daryn before turning back to the timid boy, "Karr, he is Daryn, the one in charge of handing out our salaries or as everyone calls him, The Sleeping Piggy... you know because you can always find him either pigging out or sleeping," he ridiculed to the immediate burst of laughter from the surrounding sellswords.
"You!!" Daryn immediately went red at the dastard name that he hated more than anything in the world. But just when an angry Daryn was about to lunge and a fight was about to start, they were interrupted.
"Enough!!" barked one of the grim older sellswords with white hair and white beard making everyone there flinch, "Get going now, Don't make the commander wait," he said in a low gravely tone and the sellswords immediately nodded like docile puppies.
"Y-Yes!!"
Except for that short conflict, nothing else happened and everyone slowly gravitated towards the centre where the almost hundred-something sellswords huddled against each other with a huge bonfire in the middle.
Standing close to the fire were five people, two of them were the most well-known people in the company, the Commander and the Second in Command, and standing right behind the commander was his son, Bran, who had recently gone missing. And the last two were newcomers, who had joined them a week ago. No one knew anything about them except for the gossip circulating that one of them was the son of a Stark from the North.
"Is it time, Jon?" Gared asked in a low tone that disappeared under the chatter of the sellswords.
"Hmm..." Jon took a cursory look around at the gathered sellswords, and after checking with the thin list in his hands replied with a nod, "...Yes, all of them are here so you can begin now."
Gared grunted his assent before taking a few steps forward to stand in front of the fire.
"MEN!!" he bellowed with the full might of his lungs, "SHUT THE FUCK UP!!" the effect was almost immediate as the whole crowd of gossiping sellswords came to complete silence instantly.
Gared took a slow methodical look around the crowd, and only when he saw that every single eye was on him was he satisfied and began to speak up.
"My friends, most of you know that I am not one for long speeches and that If I try using flowery words, it would make your skin crawl..." a smattering of laughter burst out from here and there, "so I'll get straight to the point. I have gathered all of you out here today for one thing and one thing only... to clean all the filth out of our company," Gared said, his abruptly turning so dark that it sent a shiver through the crowd, "once and for all,"
The atmosphere in the training ground instantly changed at those words as the mood of the gathering went from light and festive to anxious and tense as the sellswords began to wonder what their commander was talking about.
"Some of you are newcomers who have only been with the company for a few months, while others have been with us since before they could swing a sword, some of you I have watched grow up, while others have watched me grow up," he said while looking at the few of the older looking sellswords, "But no matter who you are I have always placed my complete trust in you, in my company... and I would leave my back to any one of you in a battle without hesitation... and I know that you would do the same, WON'T YOU?!"
"WE WILL!!" came the collective shout from the crowd.
"Well, I thought so too...But sadly some of you don't agree with that sentiment..." Gared shook his head with a disappointed look on his face, "There are a few among those standing here today, who think that when their comrades present their back to them, it is an opportunity... an opportunity to stab them in the back to earn a few more coppers..." he said as his mouth curled up in disgust.
"They don't care that we've been through thick and thin, they don't care that we've been through so many life and death battles, they don't care if the information they are sharing with the enemies is going to betray everyone in our company, that it is going to result in their brothers being ambushed, they don't care... as long as they can make some money. After all, what is a brother's life worth compared to a few pieces of that shiny yellow metal..."
A hush immediately fell up the crowd as the commander finished his speech and all of them began to wonder about whom the commander was talking about.
"W-Who is it, Commander?!!"
"Y-Yes! Tell us their names, Commander!! We'll take care of these bastards!!"
"Traitors should just go die!!!"
"Yes!! We'll kill them for you, Commander!!! Kill them all!!"
"Kill!!" "Kill!!" "Kill!!" "Kill!!"
As the crowd began to get slowly riled up and started chanting together, swearing to kill these imaginary backstabbers. There were a few hidden faces in the crowd who became very uncomfortable with the hate coming from the sellswords surrounding them.
"Very Well," Gared shouted, the moment the chants died down a bit, "I hope all of you remember this hate you feel a few moments later when the names of these rats are being called out..." he said before taking one final look at the crowd with a complicated look on his face, before going back towards Jon, "It's time for your part, Jon..."
"Yes, Of course, Gared," Jon nodded his head before going to stand in the spot that Gared emptied in front of the fire. He looked at the crowd of waiting sellswords and began, "Not many among you know me, but my name is Jon Snow... and I am the one who was tasked with finding the rats amidst you by the commander but... I hope you don't hate me too much if the ones I am calling out are your friends..." he said with a smile but sadly was only treated with the silent treatment from the crowd, "Ahem! Anyway, let's begin."
"The first name is..." He looked down at the list in his hand just for the sake of theatrics since he had already memorised it, "...Ros!!"
