An Inconvenient Flame [Sandor Clegane]

Chapter 38 - The hunt

Sandor was relentless in his tracking of the men that had attacked the village. It didn't take him long to find their trail, he was actually pretty good at it. I watched him work and remained quiet because I feared what he would say or do if I interrupted him. The pace he sat kept me on my toes and I had to run a few times to catch up with him.

We kept on walking as far as we could each day, only resting at night and headed out again before first light. And when we finally had caught up with them it became apparent that we hadn't been the only one who had been after these men. The group of people that surrounded the three men, Sandor had been tracking, was a group of people neither of us had hoped to see again. The Brotherhood without banners.

"Clegane. The fuck you doing here?" Thoros asked with a smirk on his lips when he noticed Sandor approach. However, everyone else was much more hostile against Sandor and drew their weapons almost instantly. "And the little lady." Thoros bowed his head to me when Sandor came to a halt.

I raised an eyebrow when he acknowledged me, but mostly because I had come to notice what they were doing. They were standing in the middle of the road, ready to hang the tree men Sandor and I had been tracking for a few days. In the middle was the man in the lemon-cloak. They were all standing on wooden stumps, hands bound behind their back and a noose around their neck.

"Chasing them. You?" Sandor gestured to the men when I moved to stand beside him. I gave Thoros a careful smile but when Thoros turned his attention back to Sandor, I looked up at the men. Thoros rested his hands on his hips as he answered. "Hanging them."

Sandor scoffed. "Any particular reason?" Sandor sounded a little disappointed because I knew he would do a lot just to get them. They had done a terrible thing, something that shouldn't go unpunished, and yet I felt it wasn't punishment enough.

"They're our men. Or they were." Beric informed as I kept my eyes on the men. I didn't look at any of the other men around us. "They attacked a nearby sept and murdered the villagers. Why do you want them?" Beric asked resting a hand on the handle of his sword. That meant that the brotherhood had known of the sept, had they had seen Sandor and I there as well?

"Same reason. I was helping build it. They killed a friend of mine." Sandor pointed at himself when mentioning him helping the village. I grabbed the leather strap of the long sword and stepped forth, closer to the men. "We both where-" Sandor gestured to me as well.

"Wait. You've got friends?" Thoros mocked and cut him off. I frowned before turning to him not hesitating to snap at the priest.

"Shut up you old drunk." I was getting tired of their constant downgrading of Sandor. He was a better man than most of these old fools. I made them all laugh, or the men of the Brotherhood at least. Thoros only raised an eyebrow at me. "Well, not a little Lady anymore."

"Leave the girl alone." Sandor grunted at Thoros. "They're mine." He then added and pointed the axe at the men as his demeanor changed. He began walking towards them and everyone acted accordingly.