Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The door began to rattle with pounding, and someone shoved it open. The ravens and I all jumped. It was a Winterfell guard.
"Aermir Drasil, come with us. The lord is waiting for you."
"What happened?"
"We don't know. We're only following orders. All I know is that the lord ordered us to bring you to his room."
When we arrived, I understood what had happened. Hallis and his lackeys were all there, along with their fathers.
All four of them were covered in injuries, especially Hallis. His nose was crooked, his face blotched red and purple. The one I had kicked in the balls couldn't stand, so he was sitting.
I learned his name from the whispers around me. He was a guard of House Stark named Weyl Flint.
Lord Stark looked at me and said, "You stand accused of ambushing and attacking noble-born children here today. What do you have to say?"
"That is a lie, my lord. They were the ones who ambushed and attacked me."
"You lying common street brat, do you expect us to believe that you defeated six armed, ten-year-old squires alone without ambushing them? This is nothing but a farce," said Wyl's father, Manderly Flint.
Another father shouted, "Who do you expect us to believe? You, or six squires who all say you only defeated them because you ambushed them?"
"If I were ten, I could beat them black and blue with my eyes closed and one hand tied up. The only reason two of them escaped is that I'm only six." After I said that, everything descended into chaos. They all started shouting and tried to rush at me.
"Silence!!!" Lord Stark shouted. His shout brought a deathly silence. He sighed deeply and looked at me for several minutes. He turned to the other children, stood up, and began looking them in the eyes before speaking angrily.
"Did he ambush you, or did you ambush him? If you tell the truth now, you will not be punished. But if you lie and the truth comes out, I will punish you severely."
"My lord, we did not ambush him. We were just wandering around the castle when he rushed out of a dark alley and began attacking us with a wooden sword," one of the lackeys said. After he finished, one of the guards who had brought me there showed the lord my bloodstained wooden sword.
"What do you have to say about the evidence they have presented?"
"These are all lies, my lord. I defeated them, but they blocked my path and tried to break my arms. A swordsman's arms, my lord. Was I supposed to let them do that? If they are telling the truth, let them swear on their ancestors' names and souls that what they said is true."
"Look at this little rat's nerve. How dare you make demands of your elders?"
"They weren't my elders when they ambushed me and then cried under my sword."
The moment I finished speaking, I knew I had made a mistake, but it was already too late.
Smack!
A large hand struck me with a backhanded slap. I fell to the floor, my ears ringing and my mouth full of blood. I thought the inside of my cheek had torn.
"I apologize for my actions, my lord, but even if you favor him, this commoner cannot speak this way to noble children or nobles."
After I finished speaking, the lord shook his head in displeasure and said nothing. He took a few steps, then said, "His words may have gone a little too far, but his request for an oath is not unreasonable."
Just then, Rodrik shouted, "You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Grown men bullying a six-year-old child and demanding ten lashes as punishment." Another uproar began.
"Silence!! I will decide after hearing all the children's oaths."
One of Hallis's lackeys began to swear. "I swear on my ancestors and their souls that everything I said is true. He ambushed us."
After he finished his oath, the curtains in the solar suddenly flew open with a bang, and a strong wind blew in. At the same time, the flames in the fireplace grew to three times their original size.
"Whoa! Ah!"
Everyone was shocked, and some grew frightened. Then the second boy finished his oath, and the same thing happened again.
Bang!! Whoosh!!
"Whoa! Ah!"
Now some of them looked as though they were about to shit themselves in fear. Even Lord Stark looked confused. Just as the third boy was about to open his mouth, the same thing happened again.
"Whoa! Aah!"
He crouched down, tucked his head between his arms, and kept it lowered. He began shouting in a terrified voice.
"No, no, no, no! We lied! We lied! Please forgive us, ancestors. We ambushed him, and we had sticks too. Please forgive me..."
He began crying and begging for forgiveness. This had drained all my mana, but it was worth it. I loved magic. As he kept confessing, all their faces darkened, and they began whispering to one another.
Rodrik shouted angrily, "Now we know how noble your conceited sons are. From now on, I forbid them from training with my group. I don't care who trains them. How dare you sully the reputation of the Stark guard?"
I thought it was over once one of them confessed, but I was too naive.
One of the fathers said, "He may not have ambushed them, but the fact remains that he is not yet a squire. He is merely a common recruit, and he attacked noble-born squires. This cannot go unpunished. We will punish the children for their lies, my lord. He must be punished as well. The law states that the punishment for attacking a noble is at least ten lashes."
Rodrik's face turned as red as a tomato, and he began shouting at the fathers again. "Assault is a crime punishable by flogging. But what about lying to your lord? Which is more serious? Lying to your lord is treason, and the punishment for treason is death. Should we cut off their heads?" All the children's faces turned ashen. They began turning around to look at their fathers with faces full of fear.
Winterfell's steward, Vayon Poole, approached the lord and said, "My lord, I don't think the children should witness the rest of this argument. Shall we take them out of the room?"
Lord Stark looked at the terrified children and said, "Very well. Have them wait outside."
Just as we left the room, one of the fathers began shouting at Rodrik.
(Eddard Stark's POV)
"How dare you call our children traitors?"
"No, how dare you... You're trying to kill a child simply because he has more talent than all your children combined. Can you look beyond your selfish needs? Can you see that if we train him properly, we will have the next Arthur Dayne serving House Stark? My lord, if we do not punish the other children, we cannot punish him either."
This was a real mess. Aermir acted so mature most of the time that I forgot he was only six. Why did he have to fight them? He should have run away or kept his head down and given them no pretext until he could stand on his own. I didn't want to punish any of the children, but if I didn't punish him, those minor nobles would be dissatisfied. If I punished only him, nobles like Rodrik would be dissatisfied too. So I had to punish both sides, but make it seem that Aermir had received the harsher punishment.
I rose from my chair and said, "I have decided on their punishment."
"Their punishment? My lord, do you mean they will all be punished?"
"Yes. It is a fact that Aermir attacked people of noble birth. It is also a fact that your children lied to me under oath, and that they were the ones who attempted to cripple him. I will show some leniency because they are all still very young. This is their punishment. They will be confined to their rooms for one month. As for the commoner Aermir Drasil, he will receive the same punishment, with one difference. He will have only two meals a day consisting of bread and water, and nothing else."
Some of them looked a little dissatisfied, but they all nodded, as though trying to convince themselves that this was what they wanted.
I said, "Now I want everyone except Rodrik to return to your posts. You may leave." I turned to the guard at the door and said, "Send Aermir in."
(The protagonist's POV)
When the guard called me, I entered the room. The nobles were coming out of the solar, and they sneered at me. It looked as though they had gotten what they wanted.
I stood before the lord's desk, with Rodrik standing beside it. The lord said, "Do you know what you did wrong?"
"I don't, my lord. I was only protecting myself."
"No, you were not protecting yourself. If you had been, you would have retreated after defending yourself."
"My lord, they tried to break my arms. I couldn't just stand there and take a beating."
"No one expected you to take a beating, but I thought you were clever. Apparently, you aren't that clever." He slapped the desk, stood up, and shouted at me, "You are not yet a squire. You are not their equal. Don't you know that? You cannot strike a noble under any circumstances. It seems I spoiled you because of your talent and forgot your age."
This was one of the bad things about this world. Sometimes I forgot that this world had a system of nobility. I was furious because I was going to receive a punishment that, in my heart, I didn't think I deserved, but to the other nobles, I probably deserved to be punished.
"You will be confined to your room for one month. You cannot leave your room, and you will have only two meals a day consisting of bread and water. Now go and think about what you did wrong."
I clenched my fists hard. I thought my nails pierced my palms. I was furious, not with the lord or anyone else, but with myself. I was too weak. I would show them all. I would climb to the highest peak I could reach.
(Eddard Stark's POV)
"Rodrik."
"Yes, my lord."
"How good are those six children among their age group?"
"I would say they are in the top ten, my lord."
"Hahaha, a six-year-old beat six ten-year-old squires who had trained for four or five years so badly they couldn't care for themselves. Hahaha... Rodrik, I truly look forward to seeing what he does over the next ten years. I truly want to see it. Rodrik, I'm entrusting this child to you. Don't mess it up. Also, what is the name of the maid who cared for Aermir after his mother died?"
"Her name is Bris, my lord."
"Summon her now."