Trials and Tribulations of the Oathkeeper

Chapter 50: We Forgive You

―The North―

At Moat Cailin...

Lady Talisa Stark (née Maegyr) was busy tending to several injuries throughout the combined royal-led forces after the battle to liberate Moat Cailin came to an end. Once she received word from Robb that King Daveth was injured and had suddenly collapsed, Talisa hurried as quickly as she possibly could to tend to her brother-in-law's wounds. Within the largest command tent, she stood at Daveth's bedside – cleaning and stitching his injuries closed. He was already unconscious due to being administered milk of the poppy so she could begin surgery. Talisa had already taken a surgical scalpel to cut away the upper layer of infected skin before it could fester and used a unique set of pliers to gently pry out each of the arrowheads before applying medicinal ointment. Inside the tent stood Barristan, Lucius and Jaime; all of whom stood guard at the entrance but also to check on Daveth's condition. The other soldiers and lords outside tended to their wounded, dying and dead.

"How is His Grace faring, my lady?" asked Barristan.

Talisa, who was busy threading the final stitch to Daveth's right shoulder, didn't look at the old Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. "There's been a small portion of rot on his torso and right shoulder, though it never had the opportunity to fester even further. We managed to catch it in the nick of time. As for his shoulder, well, normally a man wouldn't be able to lift his arm after being struck with such an armor-piercing arrow, though the King is stronger than I initially thought possible. He should still retain it once I'm done. I would advise that he not apply so much pressure on his right shoulder for a while; give it a moment to heal."

Lucius placed a fist to his chin. "Hmm. But the arrow itself made impact with the deltoid muscle which is a fair distance from the subclavian artery which itself feeds the main brachial artery near the trapezius, is it not? The one that is vital to the arm itself?"

"Correct. Physically he'll be back on his feet and fighting again in no time, ser. I recommend he at least take between three to six weeks for the King to fully recover. But..."

"'But'?" Jaime implored.

"There is no easier way of saying it," Talisa sighed. "His... 'nose bleeds' you've mentioned earlier? I suspect it stems from the fact that His Grace is under a lot of stress; more than usual as of late."

"The lad's been under a lot of stress since ascending the throne, but I'm sure that's no reason for—"

"Yet if it continues to persist, then it will kill him."

The assembled Kingsguard were rendered silent at this foreign healer describe the consequence of what will happen if Daveth continues to push himself too hard the way he does. Jaime, in particular, knows full well what kind of lengths his nephew will go to see things through – but the Kingslayer is also aware of one, red-haired young woman who remains at King's Landing waiting for him to return alive. The Lannister Kingsguard might have his own disagreements with Daveth, but he was still his nephew. And as a Kingsguard, it was his responsibility to protect him.

"When has that ever been the case? If I know my nephew better than anyone in this camp, which I do, is that once he's made up his mind there's no stopping him. His father was like that, too. Only difference was that Daveth is smarter than Robert."

Lucius chimed in. "Yet his choice to act almost immediately demonstrates an impulsive, emotional response in stark contrast to the cool, calculating decision-making persona we've known thus far."

"When you've been brutally tortured by the ironborn for almost a year after watching them cut down all your friends before your eyes, that'll pretty much mess up any boy for life. Only the Gods know for certain how many years Daveth's held a grudge against wet shits such as the Greyjoys."