Sefton Woodhull

Sefton felt the wine go through his throat and a warm sensation filled his chest. He loved wine; it helped keep the ill feelings away and forget his many failures. Sefton looked to his right where the boys were sleeping. They were less than a day of travel from Harrenhall, and since they didn't want some bastard getting funny ideas if he stumbled upon them while sleeping, they had decided to keep watch. Luck would have it that Sefton was the one who had to stay up first. He drank another gulp and looked at the moon.

Luck, he hated his. When he found the boys, he had been thrilled. Lucius, surprisingly, fought a lot better than him, and Ben, while not as talented, was huge, two heads taller than Sefton, who wasn't in any way small. He had even convinced them to team up for the tournament. That was a week ago. He had hoped they would find at least a couple of capable fighters on their way to Harrenhall. But they had only come across smallfolk and merchants. The melee inscriptions would close a week before the melee, which was bound to happen in two weeks. It was more likely that the boys would desert him for another team than him finding another four passable enough fighters.

He drank all the wine left in his wineskin. The worry of another failure in a tourney consumed him, and then there was his reputation. Sefton was not well known. The people that did know of him weren't likely to sing his praises. He sighed. If the boys left him, no team would have him. He rued the day he let himself be fooled by that Westerlander knight. Perhaps they would find someone tomorrow; he hoped so. They needn't be very skilled. Average fighters would do.

He heard a noise in the darkness. He looked at the place where he had heard it, but he couldn't see much. It probably was some animal running around in the woods. There wasn't anything big enough to threaten a knight in the Riverlands, so Sefton didn't worry. He looked back at the moon; it was beautiful tonight. The wine was making him sleepy. He didn't notice when he closed his eyes, but before he fell into the realm of dreams he heard a branch breaking.

Sefton's eyes opened sharply. He saw three men trying to sneak on them and unsheathed his sword. "Who goes!?" He shouted. In an instant, Lucius was standing up, sword in hand. Ben was startled and stumbled while getting up. The men froze. Now that his eyes had gotten used to firelight again, he could see the men more clearly. They wore leather and had swords on their belts. When he observed what they were walking towards, he was outraged. "You were trying to steal my horse!" He spat angrily. He advanced quickly and grabbed one of the men who were already trying to turn around and run away by the neck. The other two were quicker and escaped before Lucius could stop them. Ben was still trying to take his sword out of its sheath.

Lucius looked to where the figures of the fleeing men had disappeared before turning his sword towards the man Sefton was holding. The thief was little. He was shivering and trying to say something, but the fear made his tongue stumble, and nothing coherent came out of his mouth. "I say we kill him," Lucius said, and the thief yelped.

"I don't know. Maybe it will be better to let him go." Sefton replied. He didn't want to deal with the problems that would arise if someone found the body, and giving him to Lord Whent was too much effort.

Ben was crouching down to be at the same level as the thief and looking at him while taking the sword from the thief's belt. "Why don't we ask him to join us? We need more men in our team." He said. Sefton would have none of that.

"Because he is a coward." He shook the man by the neck. "Don't you see him trembling? And he tried to steal my horse. Maybe we should kill him." Sefton concluded.

Lucius seemed to contemplate the situation for a second before advancing and touching the thief's neck with the end of his sword. "What's your name?" He asked. Sefton was proud of how far he had gotten. He had helped them correct their accent and learn to talk properly. At least as much as they could learn in a week, but it was enough, for now.

"Ferret! Don-Do-Don't harm me pl-pl-please." The thief begged. Lucius was impassive, but Ben seemed a bit nervous. Sefton could smell piss, and suddenly he pitied the thief a little; he was also grossly disgusted by him.

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"Can you fight Ferret?" Lucius asked, ignoring the smell of piss.

The little thief opened his mouth to answer, but Sefton spoke over him. "He is not joining our team, Lucius. He is a thief, a coward and can't be trusted! What are you even thinking?" Sefton spat angrily. He glared at the boy, and the boy held his gaze.

Lucius shrugged. "I'll test him; if he isn't good enough, I'll kill him right here and now. If he is, he joins us. What is the worst that could happen? If he abandons us when we arrive, we will be where we started. There is nothing to lose trying." Lucius said while taking his sword away from his neck.

Sefton didn't like this. He looked at Ben in search of an ally to talk sense into Lucius, but the boy just shook his head, telling him no support would come from him. Sefton sighed. "Fine, but I won't be responsible for taking care that he doesn't take our things and run. One of you two will watch him at all times." He told them.

"Fair enough," Lucius said. "Now release him. And you give him back his sword, Ben." He commanded while holding a combat stance. Sefton pushed the thief towards Lucius, and when he regained his footing, Ben threw him his sword. The little thief couldn't catch his sword, which hit him in the face and fell to the ground. The man was shaking, and when he grabbed his sword and unsheathed it, Sefton was sure the man wouldn't last. "Ready?" Lucius asked. The man opened his mouth to reply but then closed it again, gulped, and just nodded.

Lucius dashed forward and struck at the thief with quick slashes and stabs; they lacked strength behind them. Sefton suspected Lucius was testing Ferret. The thief was having a hard time diverting and evading Lucius' strikes; Ferret almost lost the grip of his sword a few times. When Lucius went for the kill, Ferret grinned, his smile as sharp as a knife, the shaky sword in his hand stilled, and the opening Lucius thought was there was a feint.

Sefton's eyes opened wide as Ferret took a step sideways, evading Lucius' strike and slashing at his neck. Lucius had been caught off-guard too. But with a timely reaction, he stepped backwards while blocking Ferret's attack. Now the thief was on the offensive, and before Lucius could regain the initiative, Ferret stopped a strike in mid-air and ran away. Lucius, who was too focused on stopping the strike, did not react in time to stop him. Ben ran towards him and tried to seize him, but the thief scurried off his grip, and Ben fell to the ground.

Sefton ran behind him. He heard Lucius' voice calling but didn't catch what he had said. He was gaining ground on the thief who ran desperately, and from time to time, looked back to see how close Sefton was. It was one of those looks that had caused Ferret to stumble on the roots of one of the trees.

The thief's sword had fallen a few feet away from him. Ferret rolled on the floor and faced him. He was about to say something when Sefton placed his sword in Ferret's mouth. The thief opened his eyes wide. "Nothing you say is worth hearing," Sefton told him. He was a moment away from pushing his sword and ending the thief's life when he heard Lucius again.

"Ser Sefton!" He shouted. Lucius was panting when he reached him. He was still tired from the combat, it seemed.

Sefton looked at him disapprovingly. The boy was talented but way too arrogant for his own good. "I told you we should kill him." Sefton lectured the boy. He was once again about to kill Ferret when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I want to talk to him, Ser," Lucius said. Sefton was considering just killing the filthy thief then and there but decided not to. He took his sword out of the little thief's mouth, walked towards Ferret's sword, and picked it up. He would not gift him another chance to escape.

"If he does as much as breathing wrong, I'll cut him down, Lucius," Sefton told him.

"Thank you, Ser." He said, smiling. Lucius offered his hand to the thief and helped him stand up before grabbing him by his shoulders. Ferret seemed lost as if he couldn't understand what was happening. Sefton couldn't fault him. He didn't understand what was going through the boy's head either. "You fight well, Ferret." Lucius' smile never faltered. He seemed genuinely happy, but there was something in his eyes that didn't seem right. Ferret must have noticed it too. He remained tense and looked at Lucius with mistrust. "But it will not do for you to behave like that," Lucius said, looking somewhat sad.

"M-Me Lord, I didn't mean to-." Ferret began speaking, only for Lucius to strike him on the side with his fist. The little thief seemed to lose all air and fell to the ground again. Lucius began kicking him mercilessly until he was panting again. Ferret coughed a bit of blood, his dirty blonde hair scrubbing the mud.

"That was for attempting to steal Ser Sefton's horse and for pretending you didn't know how to fight." Lucius spat on the thief. Sefton was unimpressed by the boy. He should have pierced his neck and been done with it. Then Lucius offered his hand to Ferret again, and the thief flinched. Lucius' hand remained still. After a moment of hesitation, the thief took it, and Lucius helped Ferret to his feet again, and to Sefton's surprise, hugged him tightly. "Once we have a proper talk by the fire, with food and wine, and you realize what we offer you the opportunity of accomplishing, you will forget your wounds and beg to join us," Lucius whispered in Ferret's ear.

Ferret looked at Sefton with an eyebrow raised, his face contorted by the pain, which was probably only made worse by the hug. Sefton just shrugged. What could he say; Lucius was a strange lad.