[Chapter Size: 2428 Words]-------------------------------------------Sandu POV -Northern Kingdom, Icehill Farm, 289 AC, This moment.-------------------------------------------
Sandu was a bastard in the rivernds to the south; he never knew any of his retives during his childhood. He only found out about his parents after being expelled from the orpha the age of 14 namedays due to his cruel behavior towards the other children. Always treated as a bastard, Sandu harbored hatred for everyone in this world, especially his own parents. In the years that followed, he embarked on a quest for information about his biological father and mother, those who had brought him into the world through the underworld of Westeros, located in the rivernds.
He discovered that his mother rostitute in a brothel, and his father was the third son of a minor noble house, ected to some vassals of the Tully banners. After leaving the orpha didn't take long for him to get involved in a disho life, joining roups of bandits where things were easier, and he could unleash his hatred on the poor victims he entered along the way. It was there that he learo fight and kill i people with pleasure. Sandu had a few life goals: al pleasures such as looting, killing, engaging in sexual retions, and, most importantly, seeking revenge against those who had abandoned him as a baby.
Every night, Sandu slept thinking about this reveil he fulfilled it with his mother some time ter. Murdering a prostitute was easier than a h guards, however modest their house might be. He still remembers how he enjoyed doing it with the woman who gave birth to him. He simply went to the pd paid for a night with her in the brothel, not to possess her, but to kill her. He was disgusted to realize that she did nnize him, something uhat he expected, but what ed him even more was how she tried to seduce him. Nurturing deep hatred for this woman, without wasting time to expin that he was her son, he seized her ned had the satisfa of revealing who he was before making her close her eyes. At that time, he was 15 years old.
However, the story was different on his father's side. Despite being from a small family, he was a small-time crook serving a group in the Rivernds Kingdom. It didn't take him long to start gaining influen the group in the following years and killing whoever was necessary to take over as the leader. With his cruel behavior, he mao stabilize his position after cutting off a few heads. Then, his infamous gang of ruffians began to grow aiced by the loobility. This kingdom was a ducive pce to be a bandit, especially after the fall of the dragons, as the nobility became highly divided after the rebellion, with many acg the Tullys of oathbreakers, even after receiving the rule from Aegon the queror almost 300 years before when House Tully didn't eve, and the kingdom was ruled by the Ironborn.
The Tullys themselves rebelled against the Targaryens, and as a result, Hoster Tully, in addition to expanding his influences in other kingdoms through the marriages of his daughters, saw his nds bee less secure, geing dissatisfaong oners and his is something the Lord of the Rivers himself hopes to ge in the ing years once his grandchildren take over the rule of other kingdoms.
Taking advantage of this vulnerability, Sandu spent five years looting iully territories. He formed a siderable group to and, with dozens of bandits, hoping to find the ideal opportunity to attack his father over the years. His father served as the master-at-arms of his house since he was the third son, and the ce of iing anything was unlikely. However, Sandu's luck ran out before his desires could materialize. Some smaller houses joined forces to end his banditry, and he was massacred in an ambush. He never had the ce to attack his father and had to retreat after almost losing his life.He survived and ended up fleeing to the north with the remnants of his forces, still with the goal of returning one day to the river and finishing his personal revenge. He hated the climate of this kingdom; he spent two years in the North looting here and there. Many tried to end them, and many fell. He had to be more cautious, as it seemed that the northern nobility cared more about the ohan the lords of the rivers. He began to increase his group again; most of his rades were now prisoners sent to the Wall, where his group ambushed them, killing all the guards esc them north. After freeing the ned men, he made them follow him, as for many of these men o wear bck, it referable to tinue itting crimes than to freeze on the wall for the rest of their lives.
Even in the face of cruel people, Sandu khat the secret to anding them was to be even more cruel. Thus, he mao establish his leadership position during these two years here. His group was in the west of the North, he coast, evading pursuers from small houses while looting small vilges and towns where they passed, having a good ce of profit and enjoyment.
Unknown location, dozens of kilometers west of Icehill Farm, 289 AC.
Now, a few days ter, his men heard some rumors as they entered a vilge to replenish their supplies and gather information. The vilge was teeming with guards, so it wasn't a good deal for his group, but information was always wele. His meed about a miraculous farm not far from their positions. With the abundant harvest in mind, Sandu envisioned how they could enrich themselves. Quickly, he instructed the men to prepare to depart immediately, and in two days, on horseback, they were already nearing their target.
With the farm in sight at 1000 meters, he became excited about the prospect of plunder, as he couldn't spot any guards from afar. Whe close enough, he took the path betweerees and silently approached the farm. As he reached the trees at the edge of the farm's field to get an idea of what he and his men would be dealing with, he was quite surprised. He saw five men building a small wall with everything they could gather from the farm; it was made of pieces of wood, trees, branches, stakes, chairs, and more.
He and his men looked strangely at this, as they saw that something was amiss. 'Were they already preparing for our arrival? How is this possible...? Did the Old Gods, whom the people of the North pray to, somehow warn them of roup's arrival in advance, as rumored about the pce being blessed?' A thousand questions swirled in his mind, but looking at the se, even without the element of surprise, he still had the advantage of his group of 12 against 4 or 5 apparently, who weren't even guards or trained men, judging by a simple gnce.
Sandu was a little disappointed because the farmers were clearly poor. Aside from the fact that the fields had some beautifully sized and colored crops and the barns were full of grains, the family of this pce was clearly destitute; they didn't even have ons. Some used tree axes and other pieces of wood with some farm tools; only one looked like a soldier. "This pntation probably only happened o least his gang could take a portion of the harvest, and I'm sure there must be some hidden women." He murmured with a wicked smile. He put a smile on his fad stepped out of the trees with two more hen, who soon saw all five farmers looking alertly in their dire. He smiled at the group. "HELLO, MY HUMBLE FARMERS, JUST LOOK AT THIS HARVEST. THIS WOULD MAKE ANY NEIGHBOR JEALOUS HAHAHAHA." He shouted, as he still maintained a certain distance of 200m from them in an opehat the farmers did not use for harvest yet. After the ughter, he wao see the farmers' respoo figure out what tricks they had stored for his group, even in the advantage; he didn't want to be caught off guard.
"YOU AND YOUR MEN TAKE OFF FROM OUR LANDS, OR IT WILL BE THE LAST THING YOU DO!" The eldest, with a soldier's posture, threatehem so that Sandu and his men had some hope of leaving. "I SEE... I SEE..." Sandu noticed the nervousness in the 5 mee the threat received. He khat, after living many years in this bandit lifestyle, it was just a bluff from the other side. "Look, boys! It seems we have some chis to kill before robbing that beautiful field and its grains, and some hidden women to find!" Sandu said to his men, and a wild chorus erupted from the trees. His men were now shoutiedly, as this farm was an easy prey with some loot, even though he didn't believe there was gold anywhere here.
Lucas POV Icehill Farm, 289 AC, at the same moment. Lucas and the others were watg this iion with the bandits with pale expressions. They didn't hear what was said in the leader's speech, however, but hearing the excited shouts from the other side, Lucas realized that their bluff didn't work at all. "May the Gods protect us..." Lucas choked out, murmuring nervously.
-------------------------------------------Sandu Rivers POV Icehill Farm, 289 AC, at the same moment.-------------------------------------------
Sandu reparing the men, not failing to look with a bit of resped appreciation at the group of farmers who decided to stay and fight, even without a ce of winning against him and his men. On his side were horses; the farmers would be trampled easily, even with the barricade made up of all sorts of things. They could bypass or even go over it, not to mention their pitiful ons, which were mricultural tools than deadly ons. Without wasting any more time, he was the first to gallop among his men, who soon followed behind Sandu with all the ferocity of their leader. They ran galloping across an open field of 200 meters.
Fortunately for Sandu and his group, the farmers did not have a well-trained archer among them with a longbow. He khat he would lose almost half of his men before reag them if that were the case. And he would have to devise aactistead of simply running straight to the farm. However, luck was on his side.
Sandu could already see the funny faces of those people at this distahey were expressing fear of immi death. At the distance of 170 meters, his men were even more excited, r, demanding blood, loot, and women. "Today was a good loot!" he thought. 140m now "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! LET'S GO, MEN, KILL ALL THE FARMERS AND LOOT THE WHOLE PLACE!" Sandu roared the order, and what he received as a response from the men right behind him were shouts increasing with joy and his group trotting even faster, to the point where their horses began to protest their limit. But his men didn't care about that; all they saw was their loot.
Finally reag a distance of 100 meters, Sandu could see his victims trembling with fear, a sight that always thrilled his heart. He loved humiliating the weak, and he was sure that at the end of this day, he would finish with a beautiful smile on his face. But his thought was interrupted when something happened...
In the midst of the war cries, he heard cries of surprise among his group and suddenly found himself losing to gravity and falling. He didn't know how, but his horse went down suddenly, along with his men, by the cries of surprise he heard. *Pahh* *Pahh* *Pahh* He soo himself hitting the ground; the impact was horrible, along with all that he sound of over a thousand kilograms falling to the ground, men screaming, and horses making sounds of pain. For a moment, he thought he would be in a terrible dream, denyiy with anger.
He was still rolling on the ground, only able to recall that he was sure the field they were running on was firm and had no trap, as far as he could tell. Sandu, the leader of this group, until a moment ago had a digate for a bandit; now, he looked like a kicked dog, dirty with soil and mud from the slightly wet ground. He was in pain all over his body and breathless, not uanding what happened, struggling to get up as quickly as possible. He quickly gnced bad found that his 12 panions shared the same fate as him.
Sandu, even fighting against the ck of air and body pains, quickly turned his gaze back to the farmers, who were showing perplexed looks to his group. The situation became even more mysterious in his mind because he noticed that they also didn't uand what was happening. Returning his gaze to his fallen men, he found that 9 mao get up; one was screaming with a broken leg, and two were motionless on the ground with no signs of life, as their necks were dislocated due to the impact of the fall.
He could only look with empty eyes at that humiliating situation that he couldn't uand; the ground was intact, with no signs of any prap, there was no lihat would make the horses go down, or marks on the legs of those animals that were struggling to get up at the moment, so he felt very lost.
While Sandu was lost, the 12 horses got up startled and scattered in all dires, not giving them time to recover their mounts. "Is this farm protected by the gods?" This frightening thought couldn't help but pass due to this strauation because from what he perceived, not even the farmers knew what happened. Sandu barely khat on a hill he farmers and the farm, there was a breathless boy with a stantly bleeding nose, and his face with a pale blue color, almost as if he were dead, even though he wasn't; he was at the gate of death.
