"Even so, people keep coming to us," Lennar said, looking out over the clearing. "Perhaps they simply fear starvation more than they fear a knight's axe."
Nearby, the outlaws of the Kingswood Brotherhood were busy stripping the treacherous guards and carters. Armor, weapons, and even undergarments were tossed into a heap in the mud. The ragged bandits picked through the spoils with feverish excitement, trading their rotting tatters for anything that fit. Those left with nothing but scraps tied the rags around their waists, seemingly intent on finding a use for even the frayed threads of their former lives.
Watching this motley crew, Caden recalled the day he became a squire. His master had told him: When you pick up a sword to kill, know that one day you will be killed by one. But he had also added: If you have no sword at all, they'll just kill you faster.
The previous generation of the Kingswood Brotherhood had ended as a footnote in the legends of Arthur Dayne and Barristan the Bold. Could this new iteration escape a similar fate? Caden doubted it. To him, they were just desperate smallfolk. Without the Lightbringer's organization, they were a flame without a hearth—bright for a moment, then cold ash.
"Brother Mu, Lennar," Caden proposed. "Bring your people with us to the Riverlands. The Master has reclaimed land around St. Maur's. There is room for all of you to settle and plow."
Mu looked toward the horizon, silent for a long moment before shaking his head. "Suffering isn't confined to the Trident, Caden. From the Wall to these woods, the poor are always the ones who bleed.
"Beyond the Wall, my life was no better than the poorest man here. My chieftain ate the same moss I did. As a boy, I was raided; as a man, I raided in turn. It was always cold, and there was never enough meat. The raiders who climbed the Shadow Tower told us that south of the Wall, no one ever froze. They said food grew from the dirt and the water never stopped flowing. They said the Sun's warmth was a gift for everyone.
"But I came south with the Master, and what did I see? The fields are full of grain and the woods are full of deer, yet the poor still go hungry while a Lord's hound eats fresh marrow. The mountain clansmen who attacked these woods—they are First Men, just like me. The Lords drove them into the rocks just as the Starks drove us into the ice. I captured one of them once. He had half his teeth missing and he told me that in the Vale, the knights hunt his kind for sport, taking their heads as trophies.
"And yet, once they reached the Kingswood, those same clansmen chose to be Tywin Lannister's curs. They chose to prey on people as broken as themselves. The strength of the poor is wasted in a circle of mutual slaughter. The Master said he wanted to build a kingdom where a man can live with dignity by the work of his own hands. I didn't understand him then. Now, I do. It's about the refusal to settle. I refuse to watch people work themselves to the bone only to feed Lords who only know how to kill and tax."
Mu turned back to Caden. "The Kingswood is their home. They must learn to protect their own rights and take back what the Lords have stolen. If they always wait for a 'Lightbringer' or a savior, they will always be someone else's property. Do you understand?"
Caden felt a surge of respect for the young Northman. "I do. But holding this forest with only one Sunwalker... it's a death trap."
Caden explained Aldric's new policy on candidates. "If you won't bring everyone, at least send a few men back with Lennar. Let the Master judge them. If they have the potential, he can grant them the Solar Seed. Once they Awaken and return to you, your burden will be lighter."
Mu looked at Lennar, who nodded. "A wise plan, Mu. I am no Sunwalker, and your Grace has limits. If we have more brothers who walk the Light, we can hold the men together. Without a core of faith, this group will eventually devolve into a pack of common wolves. The promise of the Awakening is a better incentive than coin."
"Then you'll lead them?" Mu asked.
"Aye. It's been too long since I've seen Aldric and John," Lennar replied.
As Mu went to select the men, Lennar turned to Caden and Gale. "It's a miracle, isn't it? Three moons ago, that boy could barely speak the Common Tongue without tripping over his own teeth. Now he talks of ideals and the plight of the peasantry. Three moons ago, he was just Aldric's messenger and a field-medic."
"Anshe grants wisdom to those who seek it," Gale replied calmly. "But at the Great Conclave, the Master gave a systematic doctrine for the Solar kingdom. Many monks of the Seven were turned to the Light there—myself included. The Master's newer strategies might serve you better than simple raiding."
Lennar and Mu had been detached from the main host since the Goldroad campaign. They were out of the loop on Aldric's shifting political theology, which had become far more radical than their current survivalist tactics. Gale wanted to ensure the Kingswood cell didn't drift into heresy.
"Is that so? What has he been teaching?" Lennar asked.
"It is too much for a clearing in the woods," Gale said. "Ask him yourself when you see him. But Caden... the grain is bought. As the factor for this mission, my work in Tumbleton is done. I am staying here."
Caden blinked. "You're what? Gale, we haven't asked the Master—"
"There is no 'but,'" Gale interrupted firmly. "The Master sent us to open a trade route. We've already offended the merchant-princes of Tumbleton; my face is no longer an asset there. But to build a line from the Reach to the Gods Eye, we need a friendly force in the Kingswood. Mu's Brotherhood is that force. I will stay as a Friar of the Sun, spreading the Word and managing the logistics of this forest. Explain it to the Master."
Caden looked at the prisoners huddled in the dirt. "If you stay, we can't leave these witnesses behind."
"Don't worry about them," Lennar said, intercepting Caden's lethal intent. "Romon! How goes the questioning?"
A middle-aged man named Romon dragged the naked, battered Malin forward by his hair. "He's spilled it all. Lune Merrick gave him twenty gold dragons to turn the guards. They were to kill you, take the 'Valyrian' sword, and divert the grain to Sedgebury to sell it for themselves. They were going to pin the whole thing on us—the 'Kingswood Bandits.'"
Romon kicked Malin in the stomach. "Filth! We don't rob the smallfolk. To throw your dirt on our name? Garbage."
Malin groaned in the mud, sobbing about his children. Romon continued, "The other guards were in on it—his enforcers. The carter Bask knew too, and the others were bribed at the last second. Rodney and his crew joined in for the sport of it, but they're a tight-knit bunch. If we let one go, we have to let them all go. Or... we could just end them."
Gale winced. "Keep the carters to drive the wagons. Give the rest to Mu. Perhaps he can squeeze a ransom out of their families."
The decision respected Mu's authority, and Romon offered a grunt of approval.
As the prisoners were hauled away, Gale turned back to Caden. "Give me the scabbard of that Serene-Steel blade. I'll sell it as 'Kingswood Spoils' under the Brotherhood's name. It'll be easier than a hedge knight trying to play the lord."
Caden unbuckled the sheath and handed it over. "The Master said that if there's a market, he'll forge more. Just don't flood the town and kill the price."
"I know my business, Caden," Gale smiled. "The coin will fund the Brotherhood's defense, and the surplus will turn into grain for the Dawn."
Mu returned with twenty men—sturdy youths who had seen the Sun's work firsthand. "These brothers have volunteered for the monastery, Caden. They will escort you back to the lake."
He gripped Lennar's arm. "Tell the Lightbringer we are carving a piece of the world for him here. if the Riverlands ever grow too cold, the Kingswood has a hearth for the Sun."
Lennar nodded solemnly. "Watch your back, Mu. Don't trust the local lords. Their promises are written in water."
Mu laughed. "I am a man of the Wall, Lennar. I don't kneel to shadows. A Lord's authority is worth less than horse-shit to me."
The entire encounter—from the ambush to the resolution—had taken less than two hours. Caden kept the carters who hadn't drawn blood to drive the eighteen wagons of grain. Rosen's five wagons of private freight were gifted to the Brotherhood as a tithe of war.
Gale's decision to stay left Mu visibly relieved. The Brotherhood was growing, but it was currently a mess of survivors and outlaws held together by Mu's personal strength. Without the stabilizing weight of the faith, they would have eventually fractured under a lord's bribe—just like the generation before them.
As the two groups parted under the ancient canopy of the Kingswood, Caden looked back one last time. He had failed to sell the sword, but he had found something far more valuable: a southern wing for the Dawn.
The wagons turned north, moving toward the long, dangerous miles of the Riverlands. Every grain of wheat was a life saved, and Caden Storm intended to see every one delivered.
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