The Unyielding Stag (Game of Thrones AU/Invincible)
Chapter 8: The High Road

A/N: Axel is finally leaving home for the first time, how quaint~

-x-X-x-

He's spent his whole life in the Vale. The Eyrie had been his home for as long as he could remember, and he'd enjoyed exploring the Mountains of the Moon as he'd gotten older and more adventurous. Truth be told, he'd never really thought he would leave the Vale behind. After all, he'd been told from an early age that he wasn't allowed to.

Yet here Axel was, riding on horseback alongside Lord Arryn as the Bloody Gate steadily vanished in the distance behind them. He'd never been on this part of the High Road before. In fact, in the far off distance, he thinks he can already maybe make out the town of Darry, which will be their next stop as they go from the High Road to the Kingsroad on their way to King's Landing.

Truth be told, Axel still doesn't know how to feel about becoming King. But he knows even less how to feel about the attempted poisoning. If Lord Arryn was correct, it wasn't just this one time either. Supposedly, someone… or maybe even multiple someones, had been trying to poison him all his life.

But why? Was it because they knew who his father was? That was really the only thing that made sense to Axel. Someone who knew he was the King's bastard wanted him dead. Alas, their greatest efforts hadn't succeeded. But he doubted that would stop them.

Still, even the Strangler had been a passing struggle at best. Sure, he'd choked a little bit and damn did it make his nostrils burn like nothing else, but ultimately it wasn't anything too difficult to stomach. For him, anyways.

Maybe Lord Arryn was right. Maybe he shouldn't have kept eating the meat pie like he did, especially after the assassin had literally killed himself on the poisoned food in front of everyone. He didn't want people to think he was a witch or a freak or a monster after all. He definitely didn't want them thinking he was a demon.

Especially since… Axel himself didn't quite know what he was. He just knew he was different. Always had been. Though, it'd definitely gotten more obvious in recent years. He was strong enough to fight off ten mountain men without breaking a sweat, and apparently hearty enough to handle a poison that could kill a regular man in less than a minute.

Hell, if he weren't concerned about how people would react, he could have probably gotten off this damn horse and ran the rest of the way to King's Landing in a fraction of the time this journey was going to take otherwise.

… Axel didn't know why he was special. Maybe Lord Arryn was right and it was the Seven. Maybe they'd blessed him and he just hadn't ever realized it. If that was the case, Axel probably needed to visit the Sept more once he was in King's Landing.

Though there it would actually be the Great Sept of Baelor, wouldn't it? Heh, that should be quite the sight, Axel figured. And as King of the Seven Kingdoms, they surely wouldn't begrudge him frequent visits, right?

"A copper star for your thoughts, Axel?"

Blinking, Axel looks over to Lord Arryn, who rides beside him as their group travels down the length of the High Road, leaving the Mountains of Moon behind. Processing the older man's words, Axel lets out a slightly derisive snort.

"Funny you should mention stars, Lord. I was just thinking about the Seven. Perhaps they did bless me… perhaps that's why I was able to survive the Strangler and the other poisons like it."

Lord Arryn hums but Axel continues on before the Lord of the Vale can muster a response.

"I was just thinking that maybe once we're in King's Landing, I would make a point to visit the Great Sept of Baelor regularly. To say my prayers and show my devotion to the Seven."

Slowly nodding, Lord Arryn chuckles in amusement.

"I imagine the Most Devout would like that very much, Axel. It has been quite some time since we had a King who focused on such things."

Really? Axel brow furrows in curiosity at that. Was his father not very religious? Obviously the Mad King was the Mad King but-

Thwip. Thwip.

Just as Axel is about to ask Lord Arryn to clarify what he means by that, his head twitches and his hand lashes out. Two arrows, fired from behind the nearby rocks on the side of the descending mountain road, try to find purchase in his and Lord Arryn's chests.

He catches the one meant to pierce the Hand of the King, while the second glances off of Axel and falls to the side. Even as Jon is still processing what just happened, Axel is already calling out.

"AMBUSH!"

The Vale Knights around them begin to react at the same time that their attackers do. All of them are moving… much too slow in Axel's frustrated opinion. Ser Vardis barely has his sword drawn as many of the men hiding behind the rocks come racing out armed with swords, spears, and other types of weapons.

None of them are Mountain Clan at least, Axel is relieved to note. However, that doesn't change that they're coming right at him and Lord Arryn all the same. More than that, the archers behind the rocks haven't stopped yet either.

Thwip. Thwip. Thwip.

More arrows lance out, this time aimed not for them… but for their horses. Cursing, Axel does the only thing he can think to as the arrows strike each of their horses in the chest and cause the massive beasts to rear back. As Lord Arryn becomes unseated, Axel leaps from his own saddle and tackles the older man off of his horse.

Recognizing full well that a man of Jon Arryn's age should not be slamming into the ground at such forceful speeds, Axel twists himself and the Lord of the Vale midair, forcing his body under Jon's so that when they both land on the ground a moment later, he absorbs most of the blow with the older man held to his chest like an infant.

The air is barely knocked out of Axel's lungs as they hit the ground together, which is good because the next moment he sees Lord Arryn's horse falling towards them and has to once again twist around, putting the older man under him this time to protect Jon from the falling beast's weight.

A grunt leaves Axel's lips as the dead horse lands on him, but truth be told… it's no worse than having ten mountain clan warriors all try to pile on top of him to pin him down. The weight distribution is a bit more awkward but given they obviously can't just stay here and hope for the best, Axel quickly begins working them both out from under the horse.

At the same time, the Lord of the Vale looks pale, his eyes wide as his mind catches up to everything that's just happened. Worrying for him, Axel frowns as he pulls them out from under the horse's body.

"Lord Arryn, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Blinking rapidly and finally realizing the danger they're in, Lord Arryn thankfully comes back to his senses.

"Attack... we're under attack!"

Axel nods, even as he checks the other man for any obvious injuries. Thankfully he seems fine enough. His breathing is panicked but relatively steady and Axel sees no blood anywhere.

"Yes Lord Arryn. We've been ambushed."

By this point, they're out from under the horse and thankfully able to use it and Axel's horse, which had also collapsed after taking an arrow to the neck, as defensive positions. No more arrows come their way either, but Axel makes sure to keep Lord Arryn behind the horses anyways just in case.

"There were archers in the hills, Lord Arryn. You must stay here while I see if it is safe."

As befuddled as he is, the older man doesn't react to that immediately. When he finally does, it's much too late.

"What? No, you mustn't-!"

But Axel is already up on his feet and assessing the situation. Immediately he sees that Lord Arryn's entourage is still engaged with their attackers, though a glance around shows way more enemy bodies on the ground then there are Vale Knights.

It makes sense really, because when Axel finally gets a good look at the sorry lot who have tried to ambush them, he quickly realizes they're little more than bandits. Earlier he'd noticed they weren't mountain clan at least, but now he recognizes from their poor armor and shoddy weaponry that they aren't much of anything, really.

Those archers though… with a growl, Axel bounds across the battlefield as fast as he dares without being too… unnatural. His sword leaves its sheath a moment later as he reaches the rocks where all of the previous arrows had come from. There, he finds two men with bows hastily notching fresh arrows, though when they see him they go for daggers at their waists instead.

Axel doesn't let them make it to their blades, however. His sword flashes out faster than their eyes can follow now that he's out of sight of the rest of the fighting and he relieves them of their heads, ending their attempts at assassinating him and Lord Arryn.

By the time he returns from this, the battle is mostly over. The bandits have either fled or died to the Knights of the Vale. More than a dozen dead men lay on the cold unforgiving ground of the High Road, and only one of them is a Vale Knight. The rest are their enemies.

At Axel's approach, Lord Arryn rises from behind the horses they'd used for cover, looking quite cross with him.

"Axel! Where in the world did you run off to? You should not have risked yourself for even a moment, your life is the most important one here!"

Wordlessly, Axel tosses the two bows he'd taken off of the archers to the ground, before nodding over to the rocks where he left their headless bodies.

"The owners of these bows are over behind those rocks. They were aiming for us specifically, so I knew we needed to take care of them before they got off a lucky shot."

Lord Arryn's eyes fix on the bows for a moment as Axel's explanation washes over his ears. Slowly, the older man reaches up and rubs his chest… right where the arrow would have taken him if Axel hadn't caught it midair.

Axel grimaces a little as the Lord of the Vale looks over at him with wide eyes.

"You saved my life. That arrow…"

He'd hoped that Lord Arryn wouldn't have noticed the arrow thing. It was definitely the strangest part of everything that just happened, Axel was aware. Before he can come up with an excuse of some sort, however, they're interrupted by Ser Vardis.

"Lord Arryn, Crown Prince, are you both alright? The bandits have been routed, but I wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to attempt to ride the ones fleeing down or not."

His eyes lingering on Axel for a moment longer, Lord Arryn eventually shakes his head.

"Both of us are unharmed. Young Axel even took care of the archers who initiated the attack. Their bodies should be over there somewhere. As for riding down the ones fleeing… no, I think not. How many of the initial pack survived, would you say?"

Puffing up with pride, Ser Vardis grins savagely.

"Less than a quarter, my Lord. If that."

Nodding at that information, Jon just grunts.

"Then they won't try again. Especially not without the archers. No, rather than split our forces in an attempt to chase them down, we will instead redouble our pace and make for the town of Darry with all remaining haste."

Looking over at the men and the number of horses they have left, Ser Vardis considers things for half a moment before beginning to bark out orders. The death of one of the Vale Knights means that his horse is available for either Jon or Axel, but seeing as they want to make haste, doubling up is out of the question.

To be fair, someone has to journey back to the Bloody Gate to tell them what happened here and send back a force to collect the bodies… its just that under normal circumstances, you would want that particular person to do so on horseback.

These are far from normal circumstances though, and so soon enough Ser Vardis has picked one unlucky Vale Knight to give up his horse and begin trekking back up the mountain road to the Bloody Gate on foot so that the rest of them can continue onwards without further delay.

It's not ideal by any means, but as far as ambushes go, having only one casualty and being down only two knights in total… well, it wasn't bad.

Meanwhile, Axel is just glad that they immediately take up a faster pace down the High Road after getting everything situated, because it keeps Lord Arryn from questioning everything Axel had done during the fight for the time being.

It's not that he wants to lie to the Lord of the Vale, nor does he want to keep secrets from the older man… but he doesn't really have any good answers to the questions Lord Arryn might wish to ask. In the end, all he can really do at this point is fall back on those earlier assertions about being blessed by the Seven.

… He was going to have to visit the Great Sept so many times once they finally made it to King's Landing. Axel just hoped that the rest of the journey would be far smoother. This was more than enough excitement for him, that was for sure…

-x-X-x-

A/N: I'm sure now that they've dealt with Cersei and Petyr's machinations, it'll all be smooth sailing from here. After all, there's no one else in King's Landing who might have their eyes set on the Iron Throne… right?

(The base price of my Patreon also increases from $3 to $5 at the end of July but if you get in now you keep the $3 price as long as you want, so now is a great time to sign up!)