Salt

Chapter Nine

There the four outcasts stood in front of La Gran Cabal. The ship loomed over even the Hound, who stood at six-foot-six. In front of it, the bust of a feral horse stared at them, engravings in the wood showing the equine to be frothing at its mouth, clacking its large teeth together.
"LA GRAN CABAL," its text read. "WILD HORSES OF DORNE."
Pietra placed a thin, white hand on its wood.
"Father loves this ship."
"Aye." Val retorted. They kept their voices down. The air is still and dark, the entire castle asleep except for the guards who stood inside.
—
The guards were clad in the finest armor and possessed the finest steel. Pietra had distracted them soon before her own escape, pretending to feel horrifically ill. She had hobbled down the stairs, grasping her stomach in her fake pain. She moaned and whined.

"Redford..." Pietra cried. "Ouuuhh, Redforddd!!! Arcadian, Joras!!!! I hurt so, please help me.."

"My lady!"

Redford, one of the three guards who stood post overnight in the castle, immediately rushed to her side. Pietra knew of the Knights' dullness and their need to please. Their pipe dreams of marrying one of Olisstor's girls. That if one day, they just worked hard enough or showed enough honor or acted with enough passion, the king would let one of the savages marry one of his girls. They weren't horrible prospects, per se, but the King would never allow any of his girls to marry such lowborn, meathead boys. Still though, they were dull; and so they tried.

"The princess!" Joras shrieked, following close behind, in a clamor due to his bulky armor.

Like a good boy, Arcadian remained at his post. He had always been a bit shy. Though the princess looked so beautiful clad in her silky blue nightgown, her pert breasts and brown nipples visible through the fabric. The poor soul. Physically, he stood at his post...but Pietra knew his head was elsewhere.

While the guards took their turns trying to get their hands on Pietra, Val, Sandor, and Arya had managed to slip out of Val's bedroom window. All of Pietra's groaning, combined with the ridiculous commotion what came with the guards moving inside of their metal suits, meant that the family should not be able to hear any sort of movement on the castle roof. If anyone did, they would rush toward the source of the sound, Pietra at the bottom
of the stairs. They would have no reason to go into Val's bedroom. Pietra remained "ill" for about ten minutes before pretending to regain her composure.
"Oh, boys..." she would sigh, "Oh, thank you, boys. What would I do without you two?"

"Would you like to sleep in the garden tonight, my princess?"
Arcadian spoke up. This poor lad. Pietra couldn't help but smirk just a bit. He was practically doing the work for her. Redford marched towards him.

"What are you doing? The King would not stand for this. All girls remain in their beds til dawn, even Pietra. Don't you remember the rules that you agreed to? Why King Olisstor trusts you at this post at all?"

"The princess enjoys sleeping in the flowers, ser." Arcadian spoke shyly.
"She likes the fresh air. Don't you think it would help her feel better?"

"The King will punish us all." Redford had spoke quietly, yet sternly.

"Boys," Pietra spoke, her voice was as soothing as aloe on hot red skin. "I'll see to it that my father doesn't punish anyone. I think sleeping in the garden would just be oh so lovely. Just the right thing to cure my ailments...and I am feeling..so...oooouuhhh!!" she stumbled into Redford's arms as if about to collapse. She breathed heavily. "Please," she spoke, "Please lay me amongst the flowers. Just for tonight, my lords."

Redford felt weak to his knees.
"Alright, my princess. Allow me to escort you out. I must remind you, Joras stands post just by the garden window, so there will be no sneaking off into woods like you do. Aye?"

"Aye." She smiled, taking his hand and stepping out onto the fresh soil. It wasn't long until Joras had stepped away from his post for one thing or another, and Pietra slipped away, quiet as the night, to join her triad at the dock.

—

"Have you developed a plan beyond this?" The Hound asked, irritated, as the three girls stared up at the ship in wonderment.
"Thought it'd be self-explanatory from here, Hound. We mount the ship and sail."
"And who can sail? Because I know I can't. Don't think Arya can neither."

"Done a bit of sailing." Val offered. "Not no expert."

"So it is." Pietra smiled. "Val and I take turns sailing. The skill of two apprentices equals that of an expert, yes? You can sit the whole time if you like, princess." She took a jab at the Hound. He snarled at her.

"I'll help where I can." Arya said, assuredly.

"Good." Pietra smiled at her. "You're our lookout. You keep your eyes all around this ship, and whatever you see, shout at us."

"Aye." Arya affirmed. "A hand, Hound?"

Sandor bolstered Arya up and into the great ship. She began to undo its ropes as Sandor climbed in, treating the ship's carvings as footholds and tumbling onto its hard wood floor. Once he was in, he could lift the two sisters up and aboard. Val kissed him.

"This is it, darling. The world starts here, now."

Sandor couldn't believe how she made him smile, Before Val, he couldn't remember smiling at all, lest he was laughing at some sick or awful joke. Val made him smile in a way that really meant something. Then, he felt his excitement arise for the upcoming journey. They were here. They had made it. To hell with his wound, let the salty sea cure it. Arya had finished undoing the knots and the group felt the boat begin to drift.

"Val, sails!" Pietra spoke confidently. "Raise them! Use your strength!" She took position at the wheel as Valentina pulled at the sails of the ship and they rose, slowly and softly. Soon bellowing with the night's wind, the ship began to pick up speed. Arya,
doing her job, began to notice light appearing in the castle windows. Fire. Someone was up.

"Fire in the castle. Someone is awake. Someone is moving..."

And just then, Joras ran out to the dock, locking eyes with the moving vessel. He must have noticed Pietra missing from the garden. He went looking for her, perhaps thinking she had went out on her little wooden canoe like she often did. But not this. This was treachery.

"Traitor!" The lad cried, distantly, before running back towards the castle. Arya cursed to herself before running across the large deck to Pietra at the Captain's post.

"The Knight." She spoke. "The knight saw us. We need to move!"

"We've got trouble!" Pietra shouted, pushing the ship wheel with all her might, attempting to move with haste as the King's Army began to follow the orders of Ser Joras and file out of Temple Castillon.