Barristan stared at Gendry in utter shock.
He saw the fire burning in the young man's eyes. It was no longer an apprentice's timidity before a noble, but a Baratheon's pride and anger, a resolve to hide in the shadows no longer.
Gendry met Barristan's shocked gaze without the slightest retreat in his dark, shining eyes. Instead, his resolve only grew firmer.
He drew a deep breath and raised his voice. "Ser, if my father's spirit lives on, and he saw his son hiding like a rat, watching helplessly as lions tore his kingdom apart, standing by while hundreds of thousands were burned to ashes by wildfire-he would be bitterly disappointed. The Baratheon hammer should not rust!"
Barristan looked at Gendry, at that young yet sharply defined face, now filled with fearless courage. For a moment, he seemed to see Robert in his youth, the Storm King who had swung his warhammer on the Trident and charged forward without hesitation.
A warmth he had not felt in years surged through the old knight's heart, mingled with helplessness and a trace of pride.
The knight of House Cuy stared intently at Gendry. "Are you certain you are Gendry, King Robert's son?"
"I am certain." Gendry held his head high.
Barristan slowly rose and looked the knight of House Cuy straight in the eye. "I am Barristan Selmy, Lord Commander of the late King Robert's Kingsguard. On my honor as a knight and in the name of the gods, I bear witness that the man standing before you is King Robert Baratheon's lawful son of his own blood, Gendry Baratheon."
"Barristan Selmy?!"
The knight cried out involuntarily, his expression completely overtaken by shock.
The name thundered in his ears.
All the soldiers behind him gasped and instinctively took half a step back,