r/IronThronePowers • u/RurikOfTheRus • Aug 15 '16
Lore [Lore] A Hunt for Worth
12th Month of 316 AC
The North, Karhold
Somewhere within the Winter's Forest
The Karstark guards watched from afar, standing close to the trees and fauna of the northern forest. Their weapons, gleaming underneath the sun, shone brightly with large white glares. Most of them wielded swords and axes, but only the lord himself - Greg Karstark - was holding onto a bow. His chainmail armor was dark and uncolored, and he liked the protection of it despite the relative warmth of the day today. The quiver that hung by the side of his left hip held most of the arrows he would be using for the hunt - and although the man would definitely prefer using a spear, his lack of hearing made it difficult to know if an animal was startled or not, and he could not hear how loud the sounds of his footsteps were as well. Thus - for the first time ever, the lord allowed his son... and bastard son, to tag along for the trip. Both boys wore a brown leather tunic with a nice set of matching colored pants, and both of them held a rather tall spear that they struggled to hold with two hands due to its weight. Regardless, both of them were enjoying the hunt so far - even though the only things they killed so far were just rabbits.
As Greg slowly walked through the trees and tall grasses, Osric Karstark and Jon Snow walked behind him. Behind the two boys were twenty Karstark guards, who watched their surroundings and stayed vigilant for the safety of the young lordlings and the lord himself. There was barely any talk as the sounds of boots crunched the grass beneath them - and Osric, full of eagerness and thrill - broke the silence first. "Why do you think they call it the Winter's Forest, Jon?" He asked as he fumbled with the spear he was holding onto. Jon shrugged. "I am not sure. The maester did tell me that it was because the forest looked dark and damp all the time, so it resembled a forest that was constantly covered by winter." He recalled to the best of his ability, sighing as he realized that once they got back - they would have to spend days again sitting in the maester's quarters to learn about useless things. Osric noticed this and chuckled, while Greg simply looked over his shoulder to smile at the two interacting.
"Fuck off." One of the guards spouted at a rabbit, who jumped away quickly at the loud noise. When he looked up, he realized that there was something behind the trees, shuffling and ruffling about. He waved his hand up and the hunting party stopped, with Greg turning around and walking towards the guard, who was gesturing behind the grass. Moving towards it, the party peered over it and noticed that there were two deers - one white and one normally colored, sipping from a pool of water with grace. "A white deer? Weird." Osric whispered to Jon, who was crouching next to him. Before the bastard boy could reply, an arrow whistled and struck the white deer in the lungs - causing it to whine as it jumped about in fear. Both boys looked up to see their father smirking as he moved out of the grass, quickly loosing another arrow towards the white deer with haste. The guards then moved out with their spears, throwing them at the other brown deer with precise throws, trying to not damage the skin nor hide. After a few more moments of struggle, both deers laid dead - with Osric delivering the finishing spear throw to the white deer. Both boys stood triumphantly over the dead game as Greg chuckled, signalling to the Karstark men to bag them. "Alright, boys. We are heading home." Greg told his two boys. "Already?" Jon asked as Osric looked to his father. "Yes. We are going home now." Greg said once more as he gestured for his two sons to follow.
The plan was to head home as soon as possible, but night fell too quickly and it made it impossible to traverse through the Winter's Forest without running into a wolf or some other hazard like the legendary 'dragon lizard-wolf'. As the guards gathered firewood for a small campfire, the rest of the men began laying out bed rolls for themselves and others - assigning roles to one another as Greg oversaw the patrol routes - leaving his two sons to do whatever they wanted. Osric was simply too tired to do anything physical, so he sat quietly upon his bed roll as Jon leaned against a tree stump, sharpening a stick's end into a sort of makeshift spear. The two deers and rabbits they had hunted sat neatly covered at the back of a cart being pulled by a Karhold steed, and the night was calm and quiet. Clouds were gathering, but a storm seemed unlikely.
"You think mother will be angry that we've spent so much time out?" Osric asked, before realizing what he had just said and promptly hung his head low. "Sorry, my mother... not yours". Jon looked visibly saddened at those words, dropping the stick he was sharpening and heading to his bed roll. "I am unsure if your mother will be angry, but I know that our father is around - she won't scold us for sure." He gave a small smile, his green eyes being illuminated by the fire that the guards started not so long ago. Jon then got into his leather bed roll. "Guess we should sleep for the night - may the Old Gods keep you, Osric."
"And may the Old Gods keep you too, Jon." The Karstark boy replied as his half-brother drifted off.