An Inconvenient Flame [Sandor Clegane]

Chapter 27 - A tale of brotherly love

My stomach was growling once again. This time I was almost certain that Sandor and Arya would be able to hear it. A silence had fallen between us because we had stumbled upon a hut. "Could be food." Sandor suggested making me turn my head toward him.

"Could be dangerous." I whispered. Sandor shrugged while heaving a dissatisfied sigh. We had been sitting here for a quite a while without anything happening.

"Fuck it." Sandor dismounted his horse and disregarded what I had just said. Apparently he was hungry enough this time.

Arya and I copied him and tethered the horses to a nearby tree before we all moved towards the hut. When we moved closer, we could see it had been burnt down already. I felt my chest tighten and I raised my sword even higher as we continued our approach. We moved soundlessly, or almost soundlessly because the gentle metal rustling of Sandor's armor could be heard every time, he took a step.

A faint groan reached us all before we found a man seated outside on the ground not that far from the hut. He was holding his hand against a bloody gasp on his side. I couldn't see the full extent of the damage from here. "You shouldn't be sitting out here like this." Arya tried carefully. When Arya suddenly spoke to him, he was also made aware of our presence.

"Where else to sit? Tried to walk back to me hut, hurt too much." The elder man groaned while shifting up into a better sitting position. Sandor had lowered his sword when the man spoke and decided to kneel beside him as he continued. "Then I remembered they burned me hut down." The man was looking at Sandor now.

"Who were they?" Sandor asked carefully when Arya knelt on the other side of the man. After Sandor had spoken, the injured man turned to me for a second. I smiled carefully but he only looked away again.

"I stopped asking a while ago." He heaved a sigh and coughed a few times. But when he did, he shifted his hand away from his wound just enough for us all to see the full damage.

"That's not going to get better." Sandor pointed out and it made my heart sink. His honesty was sometimes too much but right now it was quite adequate. The older man needed the truth and not a lie.

"Doesn't seem so." The man sighed. He sounded like one who had already given up. I lowered my sword to the ground before sheeting it shortly after.

"A bad way to go. Haven't you had enough?" Sandor sighed. It was a different side to him that surprised me a little.

"Of what?" The ma asked without even looking at any of us. The mand groaned as none of us spoke. "I know, time to go." He heaved a defeated sigh "Time to go. Take matters into me own hands. The thought has occurred to me." He coughed again and returned his attention to Sandor.

"So why go on?" Arya asked when she shifted closer to the man again. Her question was honest but the truth in it still hurt. "Habit." He shrugged with the smallest smile on his lips. "Nothing could be worse than this." She argued.