Game of Thrones: Paladin of Old Gods

Chapter 11: ' Imperfections '

POV: Author;

Year 282 5th day; of the third moon. About 3 months after the Tournament...

"Beenfreed! Tropt, tropt, trop! Here comes the piggyback! Say aaammmhh!" Said Duncan to an almost two year old.

"NO! NO!" The child turned his head trying to avoid the little wooden spoon. "Prrhuu!!!" he spat, smearing his older brother's face. "Ghighighiaha!" Eddara beside giggled, witnessing the scene.

"Well well, looks like two very veeryyy bad children don't want to eat! Looks like there will be more gruel for brother Duncan!!!" Said the boy, slowly cleaning himself up. Immediately he began to eat from the bowl.

"Mmmmmhh that's GoooOODD! Mmmmh yummy!" he quickly ate the second spoonful trying to hide the bowl so the kids could see that it was now his.

Both children watched mesmerized and open-mouthed.

"MY GRUEL! MY!!!!" Benfred began, waving his hands. "NO MYYY!!!" joined Eddara. Duncan blocked the third spoon and brought it slowly closer first to Benfred then changed direction with the last one going towards Eddara. The girl didn't think about it for a moment and immediately opened her mouth and ate.

"NOOOO!!!" Benfred was about to start crying but a second spoon arrived for him soon after.

The twins resumed eating voraciously.

The laughter of the twins and a few other children in the castle was the only source of joy and happiness in the air for over a week...

Seven days ago a raven had come from Winterfell...

Helman Tallhart nearly cried out in anger and grief when he learned that Aerys II had burned Rickard Stark alive and strangled his eldest son Brandon to death. Benjen Stark, by order of the new Warden of the North, Eddard Stark, had asked House Tallarth and all the other northern houses to gather their men and march south.

The North had gone to war.

Duncan had been caring for the twins for three days. Myra Tallhart (Lady of Torrhen's Square) was constantly embroidering small tapestries with the Hearth Tree and the symbol of the house to be protected.

Her grandmother taught her this as a child, to calm her down when her father went off to war. It was a good luck charm according to her, because her father came back and her older brother, for whom she hadn't made it, didn't....

She was working in the corner while Duncan thought about the children when a knock was heard on the door. Leobald Tallhart entered the room.

"Lady Myra, Nephew...the time has come. My brother requires the presence of the entire family before departure..." Said Duncan's uncle in a sad but serious tone.

"NO! Not yet! It is not finished! It's not finished yet!...I need more time!" Said Myra almost going crazy.

The children had stopped giggling at their older brother's antics. They sensed the tense air and were beginning to be frightened themselves.

Duncan approached his mother and gently grasped her hands that held the piece of cloth firmly.

"Mother, your husband and our father needs e on." He said slowly managing to open her stiff hands and calm her down.

A few minutes later...

All the castle staff, including guards, servants, and inhabitants were just outside the gates watching the northmen depart. In the row ahead was the Tallhart family and guardian Bicka helping Lady Myra hold the twins.

Helman Tallhart approached the youngest children first and kissed them on the cheeks, taking them in his arms one by one. Then it was his wife's turn.

"My Lady, thank you for giving me these two beautiful children. See you soon my wife." Said the husband tenderly kissing his wife on the lips. The wife returned the kiss and embraced the man without formality. She wrapped a piece of cloth around the Lord's arm.

"Never take it off, promise me!" Myra. "I promise my lady." Helman. After that the man moved and knelt to reach his son Duncan's height.

"Protect your mother and brothers while I am gone." Helman then whispered but not too softly. "Your uncle sucks with a sword, and be sure to help him keep the castle from collapsing in my absence." Said the boy's father winking at him.

"I swear by the ancient gods, father. When you return you will see Torrhen's Square brighter and stronger than ever." Duncan hugged Helman, who lovingly returned the hug, stroking the back of his head.

"I heard you..." Leobald said when it was his turn.

The two men stared at each other intently for a while, then both smiled.

"Torrhen's Square is your brother, these walls protect the most precious things I have. Take good care of them. And try to get me a nephew when I return." Helman said resting his forehead on Leobald's and with his hand behind his head.

"I will, my lord. And you make sure you come back alive or I will find a way to resurrect you to kill you with my own hands." Said Leobald in reply.

Helman rode towards his horse and did not look back. He mounted and stared at the 1,500 men lined up in front of him. All the men, even the peasants and villagers called up months before, were sufficiently equipped with arms and armour.

*Author's note [The army numbered: 300 mounted lancers, 800 pikes and swords and 400 archers (excluding porters and scouts). In the castle there were 400 men left between archers, swords and crossbowmen + 700 reserve men scattered in the lands].

" NORTHMEN!!! OUR LORD PROTECTOR RICKARD, HIS SON BRANDON AND 200 STARK SOLDIERS HAVE BEEN BRUTALLY MURDERED BY TARGARYEN MADNESS!!!" Helman shouted to his army.

"THE MAD KING ASKS US TO BEND THE KNEE AND FORGET!!!"

"HOW WILL THE MEN OF TORRHEN'S SQUARE RESPOND?" Helman.

"NEVER!!!!!" "THE NORTH REMEMBERS!!!" "WAR!!" "DEATH TO THE TARGARYENS!!!" A loud echo of different voices with different phrases rang out everywhere.

" WHO DO WE OWE OUR LOYALTY TO?!" Helman.

"TO THE STAAAARRRKKS!!!!!!!!!" All echoed the same name.

"LET'S SHOW THEM!!!" Helman shouted, then raised his sword.

"PROUD AND FREE!" Shouted the man almost hurting his vocal cords.

"PROUD AND FREE!!!!" They all roared the motto of their house in unison.

Helman [level 6] began to move towards the head of the army. His second-in-command Tom [liv 7] and his eldest son Peter [liv 5] (18) followed at his side.

"Men into formation and begin the march!" Tom commanded loudly and several captains repeated the orders. The army began its march towards Winterfell.

The Tallharts were the first to answer the call to arms and join the Starks....

End POV Author.

POV Archmaester Harodone

The citadel 3 days after Robert Baratheon's defeat at Ashford...

Seven Archmaesters sit at a circular table, in a room that at most 30 people in all of Old Town knew.

These men were officially 'Archmaester' in the eyes of all.

But only the present Archmaester and Lord Hightower knew that they held a higher position. They were 'Great Archmaester' who composed the supreme council of knowledge. All information that the rest of the world could not and should not know, passed through this council.

"Robert has been defeated by Lord Tarly and is currently awaiting reinforcements from Lord Mace Tyrell. We have already signaled to Maester Gormon to 'suggest' the Lord lay siege to Storm's End instead of pursuing Robert Baratheon." Harodone.

"The Starks and the Tullys have reunited in Riverrun and soon Jon Arryn will join in. Old Lion on the other hand is quivering to make a move as soon as victory is certain. The war didn't start on the right foot gentlemen but it still remains our greatest opportunity in centuries." Great Archmaester Zarabello.

"The maesters who handled Lyanna Stark's message?" Great Archmaester Embrose.

"Both will be 'dealt with' shortly. We will send Maester Luwin to Winterfell when the time comes." Harodone.

"We pay our respects to our brave knights of the mind, for their sacrifice to this noble cause..." Embrose.

"We must order Pycelle to increase the 'doses' to be given to King Aerys. This is the time for stupid decisions. We must not waste this opportunity and make a bolder move. We already have a man ready in case Pycelle is discovered." Great Archmaester Guyne.

"Are we all agreed then?" Harodone.

"Aye!" They all exclaimed, clapping their hands on the table.

"Gentlemen after 282 years of oppression, the House Targaryen will finally fall." Harodone.

"Aye!"

End POV

POV Duncan;

The day after Helman's departure

I was resuming my training in the training room.

Syggha [level 9] was carefully watching my slow (too slow) movements with the wooden sword.

A month ago training had started Master Zick had come on the first day after his arrival, he walked around once to observe my shirtless body.*

Author's Note [The training didn't start until two months later because Zick had said Duncan's body hadn't grown enough to do any practical exercises yet].

"Alright Duncan, I want you to first perform these 5 basic sword movements correctly." Said the Master doing 5 consecutive movements with a unique fluidity and slowness. He showed me only once and left me in Syggha's care.

Syggha was in her thirties, she had short black hair, brown eyes, dark skin and a well-defined musculature that made her look more like a man than a woman.

For the 34,000th time Syggha repeated the same two words.

"Wrong! Again!" Syggha.

I repeated the slow sword movement.

"Wrong! Again!" Syggha.

About two hundred repetitions later I said....

"Why don't you tell me where I went wrong instead of just repeating those two words?" Said an exhausted me.

"If you don't know the answer, it just means you haven't tried hard enough." Syggha.

I continued until the four hours were up...no change.

That night I almost couldn't sleep thinking about Syggha's words.

Finally I had come to ask myself a question...'What if the exercise was not just to learn those five forms? I hadn't reached Zick's level, that was for sure. But why won't Syggha tell me what I'm doing wrong?' I thought as I got out of bed.

Do I have to notice my own mistakes? Is this the real exercise?' I sneaked back into the training room with that thought in mind.

I picked up the wooden sword, and tried the movement again while closing my eyes.

I applied my breathing technique, learned during Seraphynus' sermon. I could only make the technique last 2 minutes before there were side effects, and I could not apply it again until I had rested for at least 10 minutes.

There I noticed something for a moment. A sort of luminous flux that was just ahead of its path.

I tried to follow the flow...but it was difficult. I had to correct the movement several times, my muscle memory was used to a different path. It was as if I was driving and wanted to turn left to turn, a foreign hand was trying to keep the steering wheel straight.

Time was up. I rested and tried again...again and again...the more I did it, the more I noticed my flaws and imperfections. And then...

"That's a really good breathing technique..." A familiar voice made my blood run cold.

"Don't worry, I won't ask you where or how you learned it. If you don't want to tell me, it doesn't matter." Said Zick.

"I see you understood the exercise finally. Not bad at all. Usually your predecessors got it after two or three months of perseverance, most of them quit." Zick.

"Master Zick....I...." I was terrified to open up to that man. I was certain that if I said one word too many at some point he would say, "Hey Matthew how's your dad Derek and your mom Anna? Did your brother Scott finish his medical training? I hope Seraphinus is doing well..."....

"Don't worry, if you're not ready to confide or talk to me yet, it doesn't matter. I just came to ask you a question for your practice." Zick

"A question?" I asked.

"Yes, come closer by the light of the torch boy." Zick. I approached as requested.

"Tell me between these two eggs, which one has the most cracks?" Zick showed two hard-boiled eggs, I grabbed them. One was covered in cracks and even had a small hole in it. The other was smooth and polished like a baby's skin.

I paused for a moment to think before giving the most obvious answer of the century. I looked for cracks in the seemingly 'perfect' egg but didn't notice any.

"Don't worry, I already know your answer and the fact that you don't want to admit it shows your ability to think." Zick.

"This..." I said still doubtful showing the cracked egg.

"How do you find the other egg?" Zick.

"It looks perfect to me..." I replied.

"Well believe it or not the egg in your hand has 533 cracks, but the 'perfect' one has 1,712." Zick.

"What? Where?!" I asked taking his egg in my hand scrutinising it more closely.

"I think only I in this castle can notice them. Because of my innate abilities." Zick.

"But that's not the point. You know what we learn from this?" ZicK pointed to the two eggs.

I thought about it for a while....

"That even though on the surface there are no weaknesses, there actually are but we don't see them..." I said.

"Bull's-eye Duncan! Ahahaha! Well done indeed!" Zick was elated.

"Every thing or person has imperfections...that's why that exercise. You have to learn to recognize yours. Observe them, study them, modify them, accept them and hide them from others as much as you can. I assure you that if you keep practising at this rate, the day will come when you will appear to everyone else as 'perfect' as this egg and the imperfections of everything around you will appear as in this one.

"I firmly believe that there is no such thing as a perfect being. Even gods, sure they might have the power to exterminate a kingdom, raise oceans, destroy mountain ranges with their thoughts...but I highly doubt they don't have imperfections. Well, at least that's my thought. Call me a blasphemer if you like. Aahahahaha." Zick.

I thought about those words with my mouth open. Perhaps it was the wisest statement I had ever heard.

"I'll keep going Master Zick, I swear! Thanks for everything!" I said, bowing to the master.

"You're welcome Duncan Tallhart, that's what I'm most passionate about. Watching others perfect their imperfections. Good pun huh! Ahahahaha!" Yes Zick had the urge to laugh at every silly thing.

"Master Zick if you don't mind me asking..." Maybe it was time to get it out of the way.

"Yes?" Zick.

"I don't sense...any threat coming from you, not as in Syggha or Will...yet I know you are strong, perhaps the strongest there is. Here..." I tried to be as elusive as possible.

"But I'm not strong, not in the way you mean at least. Even a squire would be able to defeat me. Unfortunately, my body prevents me from making efforts or dexterity that others would find normal." Said Zick with quiet sincerity.

"Of course if I had a healthy body, yes then I could be considered the strongest. And I'm not afraid to admit it, it's not arrogance that speaks, but experience." Zick

"Experience? But if you can't fight?" I asked confused.

Zick simply pointed to his head.

"In here. I've already faced almost every fighter I've laid eyes on in my mind. That's why I also enjoy watching so much. It's the only way I can test my skills." Zick.

"Well it's getting late, you should go to sleep too Young Lord." Zick

"Yes, thank you for the lesson Master Zick" I bowed respectfully.

"Ah, Duncan a small favor if you could." Zick.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Try not to use that breathing technique while training with Syggha or you'll give her a heart attack. But if you must, please call me first. I would never, ever want to miss the image of her expression in shock. Ahahahahahaah!!!"

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