Dead Stag

There is nothing in this world for me anymore. And yet, I keep walking, keep walking, hoping to fall off the edge of the planet.  Once Renly Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End, King in Highgarden, usurper. Now Kem. Now no one.

[lordcommanderloras-blog]

I wouldn’t know anything of that. He ought’ve had better control over himself, even in the heat of the moment, and he’ll pay for that now. …yes. May the gods show mercy, for the gods are known to be so very merciful concerning my family. I can list sins enough that perhaps they truly have forsaken us. 

Yes. What he says goes. Me? I don’t - I don’t know why you would think I could do anything to change his mind. Perhaps my sister will show mercy on our brother and talk to her husband, but - I doubt it, somehow.

[kembaratheon-blog]

Of course you wouldn't, Lord Commander. You have saved your kings faithfully, after all. As it is expect of a member of the Kingsguard. Sometimes, they do answer prayers. I have seen it myself. Though one must be a lucky bastard, for the gods are fickle. They do as they please -- that is why they are gods. No family is without sins. Everyone has secrets, and skeletons in their closets.

But you are his Lord Commander. And his wife's brother. One needn't know that to see how he treats you, though. Far more...respectfully, dare I say, than the other knights. As for the mercy, I am not so certain. Men and women alike are vile creatures. Their call for justice will be answered. I am sorry to say this.

Pray tell, when will you be leaving Highgarden? Do you know?

[lordcommanderloras-blog]

Yes, and if Aegon has his way, you never will. Well. In my youth he must have had more of a talent at holding his tongue around those who’ve the power to cut it out. We’ll see how the trial goes, but I assure you: when Aegon makes his mind up on something it is a terrible difficulty to get him to change it.

[kembaratheon-blog]

Two decades of living under someone you do not support will do that to you. Suddenly, your tongue loosens, and before you know it, dangerous words slip out of your mouth. May the gods have mercy on him, Lord Commander. You recently lost your father. I hope the Mother guards Willas, for you. 

Well, Aegon is the king. His word is law. Perhaps you might be able to soothe him. He seems to be willing to take your advice. And your sister's, of course.

[lordcommanderloras-blog]

Willas arrested?

He wouldn’t have done such a thing. Even my brother would not be so stupid.

[kembaratheon-blog]

I never had the pleasure of meeting your brother, Lord Commander, but...I am sorry to hear that. People always spoke so highly of Willas. Doing such thing seems to be out of character for him. Perhaps this is all just a big misunderstanding; the king is a reasonable man, he will see past his anger, I'm sure.

[robb-baratheon-blog]

It didn’t take a wise man to establish that Robb was cowering. He’d backed himself into the corner on pure instinct, instinct that, on later reflection, revealed to be faulty. The crowd had gone wild, after - that scene, and he had to admit, he, too, was clutched by the urge to scream, fight his way out of the hall the best way he knew how, but now he was stuck, with nowhere to go, and ignorant of his family’s location. The crowd kept pushing, kept shoving, and he hissed softly as someone stopped on his toes, none too kindly.

A particularly loud scream had his head whipping around, hair flying around his face as his eyes scanned the crowd, heart pounding in his throat. If someone else had been hurt - the panic swelled even stronger, thicker in his mind, and only now did his feet move, scuffing across the cobblestone. He practically tripped as he fled, pushing himself from the wall, eyes wild. The crowd chose to move at that exact moment, spreading from a single epicenter, a figure bent over in the chaos. “Kem,” he breathed out softly, reaching out as if in a dream, “Kem, Kem, damn it!” He could see the blood dripping onto the stones, oozing out from between Kem’s tightly clenched fingers. He somehow made it to the man’s side, ignoring the elbows that dug into his sides and the nails that scratched up his forearms. “What’s the matter? Who got to you? We - we need to get you to safety, I don’t know where anyone else is-”

[kembaratheon-blog]

Then there it was, the voice he had been straining to hear through the chaos, the face he had been frantically searching for admist the sea of strangers. Renly had always been ridiculously lucky in life -- from his high birth to Robert granting him Storm's End, and far beyond all that. When he had become Kem, he had been certain that it had run out for good. But the gods seemed to look down upon him, to grant him this last favour. To help him find Robb.

Fingers still clutching at his side, Kem raised a hand to cup the back of the boy's neck in his palm, giving it a tiny squeeze. "You're safe, lad," he breathed, and tried to stand upright. But pain seared through his side, all the way up to his ribcage, and his body threatened to double over. Kem clenched his jaw. The hand moved from Robb's neck to his shoulder now, supporting himself. "Thank the gods. You weren't injured, were you?" Quickly, he looks the young man up and down, to try and detect any wound, but let out a relieved sigh when he could see none. "Come," he said then, tugged at Robb's tunic, forced his feet to move. More blood, warm and smooth to the touch, seeped out from between his ribs, soaking his skin in scarlet. "Joslyn's waiting for you. You have to get out of here."

[desfeuxdartifices]

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[kembaratheon-blog]

Robb, Robb, Robb -- where are you, Robb?

He had left Joslyn behind to go search the lad as he promised he would. Though the situation had not gotten any better, he forced himself to keep going, to find him and take him back to where Kem knew Jos was waiting. It was a hard thing to do, even with his height, scanning the panicked crowd and hoping to catch a glimpse of the boy. Hoping to pick up a trait, maybe that shaggy hair of his, that would make Kem breathe out in relief. But there was not a single trace of him. If the gods were good, he had made it out already, maybe even met Arya along the way. If they were cruel, well... Kem just hoped that, for once, the Mother would actually do her job.

There was a scream to his left then -- a sharp one, outraged, and on its own, his head snapped to the left. A man had revealed a dagger, a man who had gone mad, clearly, and was now approaching innocent bystanders. Approaching him. There was bloodlust in his eyes, so terrible to behold that it threatened to freeze Kem's life in his veins. But there was no time to act, none at all. He was close too quickly. With a gasp, the dead stag raised his arms to defend himself, but that only gave the man opportunity to drive the blade into his side, in between his ribs. The pain was sharp, shooting up his body. It burned, and as the man shoved Kem off his dagger, blood spurted out the wound, soaking his dark tunic and fingers as he pressed them against it. So this was what getting stabbed felt like, a part of his brain laughed. For a few moment -- the man having just walked by -- he stood, attempting to get himself together. But there were no words on Kem's lips, none that cried out for help. He stumbled, but still pushed forward, still tried to find Robb. He had to find him, he had to find Robb.

[allfchelp-blog]

"WHAT?" She barked picking her pace to match his. People were brushing up against them blood was flying everywhere. The grip on her arm was starting hurt. "Ke-" a body was thrown against Joslyn pushing her against Kem. 

[kembaratheon-blog]

There was no reply -- instead, having caught Joslyn in his arms, Kem spotted an opening in the crowd. A way, finally, for the girl to get out and away from the havoc that was raging. "Jos, you see that?" he said in her ear, pointing to where he meant. "Push through. Don't look back. I'll try and find Robb." With this, he gave her one hard shove to keep her going and turned back to do what he said he would.

[allfchelp-blog]

She didn’t hear it was Kem grabbing her arm hard enough to bruise she knew that for sure. Grabbing a dagger off her waist she turned to see was and relieved that she didn’t strike first. “Kem, I could have killed you!” Joslyn hissed tensing back up. “I can’t go until I find Robb, he’s smaller then you and me I-I can’t leave him in this.” She needed to gather the men and get ready for them to head out of their but, the pull to find Robb seemed to clouding her mind. It left her a scared sister instead of the hand of Queen Arya Stark-Baratheon. 

[kembaratheon-blog]

"And I would've let you," was all Kem gave back, his eyes too busy scanning the crowd for an escape, mind too busy racing. His grip on Joslyn was iron, protective, and he kept her close at all times. She might not have been family, but in these past years, he had come to love her as such. Seeing her making it out alive was a priority. "I will keep my eyes open for Robb. The lad must be terrified. But you have to make it out, too."

[allfchelp-blog]

Yelling, screaming, and shoving was what the room turned into. Joslyn had been shoved aside and nearly trampled on. Pushing someone out of her way she looked for Robb or Kem or Arya one of them. Quickly she decided to find her brother first. “Robb!” If he got hurt because of a grown man’s selfish childish acts heads would roll. “Get out of my way!” 

[kembaratheon-blog]

"Jossie!" Gods, he had never been so relieved to catch the girl's figure somewhere in a crowd. And it was a mad crowd now, everyone splattered with blood, be it their own or someone else's, shed by their hands or innocence simply tainted. Kem grabbed Joslyn by her upper arm, hard, as hard as his heart was beating. "Joslyn, come on." People were pushing her, threatening to bury her underneath their feet. His height gave him an advantage to stand strong; Kem pulled Joslyn to his chest protectively, to shield her from harm. "We have to go."

[allfchelp-blog]

"I didn’t recognize you at first, I think your nose got bigger." Pulling back she smiled at him. Familiar faces were rare to come by in the South or at lest ones she didn’t mind actually holding a conversation with. "No, I’m still very short and Robb still gloats about it. How have you been?"

[kembaratheon-blog]

"Ow, low blow!" Kem grinned, more to himself than Joslyn, and shook his head slightly. It felt good, talking to the girl again; he'd been away from...what he guessed was home now so long that he had not even been aware how much he missed it until she stood in front of him. "Or Robb and I are simply tall. That is a possibility too. I have been...alright, love. Carrying out the duties, as always. What about you?"

[allfchelp-blog]

Wondering around Highgarden Joslyn was focused on trying to find Arya or Robb. Pressing her teeth into her bottom lip she groaned looking around coming up with flowers. Why was there so many damn flowers. So it wasn’t just flower fields she got lost in but, castles with flowers surrounding it. Great. Ignoring the man who attempted a hello Joslyn, said hello in return and stormed on. “Uh-wait.” Back tracking she eye’d the man. “Kem!?” It was easy for Joslyn to let go of her ridged-awkward personality and turn into a little excited girl and pulled him into a hug. 

[kembaratheon-blog]

Kem laughed as he was pulled into a hug, and his arms did not hesitate to come around Joslyn. He even went so far as to lift her off her a feet a little, having missed the young girl terribly. "I thought you were going to walk just right past me, Jossie," he said and set her back down. It felt odd, to laugh and feel excitement, as if it had been in a different lifetime that he was even allowed to experience such things. But there he was; for the first time in moons, Kem had something to truly care about. His hands remained on her shoulders as he pulled back slightly, to look the girl up and down. "Did you grow? You are taller than I remember you being."

[kembaratheon-blog]

The last time Renly had been here was years ago -- about twenty and one, he guessed, when he was wed to Margaery Tyrell and planned to take the Iron Throne for himself instead of supporting his brother Stannis and driving the Lannisters out for good. Nostalgia hit, but in a bad way, and he pressed his lips together and forced his feet to move on. The gardens was where he would escape to, he knew, since they were not as lively as the keep itself was; bustling with people come for the wedding, really. And he knew he should not have come, that he should have stayed in King's Landing and waited for the king and queen to just return. But Renly -- Kem -- had his duties. He had an actual task. And so, he had travelled to the Reach; alone, but he had come. 

His plan did not work out as well as he hoped it would. Just as he turned around a corner, he was greeted by the sight of someone going the direction he had just left behind. Instinctively, Kem straightened his back and put his hands behind his back. "Hello," was all he said.