𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 || 𝐉𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

Chapter 15

We walked for a while longer through the woods before finally coming upon a river. It reached far into the distance and there looked to be a bridge spanning the width of it. The calming sound of water trickling over the rocks filled my ears as Brienne led Jaime closer to the water, the rope held firmly in her hand. I walked along beside them and we kept to the forest so as not to be seen. We didn't want any prying eyes to notice us. We had to be more careful than we were with the farmer.

"It's a tough decision - take the bridge and risk being seen or cross the great water-" Jaime piped up.

"Silence, Kingslayer," Brienne cut him off.

"Anyone can see us on the bridge, but cross by water and the current could take us or I could escape down the river," he said, shooting me a quick smile.

I giggled but covered it quickly with my hand as Brienne scowled at him.

"Good luck," she told him sarcastically.

Jaime looked at her a moment before grinning.

"It's wonderful to watch you wrestle with these dilemmas. Which will she choose?" he teased playfully, his accent sticking to the word "dilemmas".

I bit back a smile at his humor and followed Brienne as she made her way to the bridge. It wasn't paved as you'd expect but instead was packed with hard black dirt. Certainly not what I was used to. Back in Winterfell, if ever there was a bridge around to be crossed, it would have been paved with pristine white bricks. Jaime walked along beside me as we began to cross the bridge.

"Gambler at heart. Wouldn't have guessed." he continued to tease Brienne but I swear, I felt his green eyes on me the whole time.

The water rushed underneath us and I tried not to look down into the continually flowing dark liquid. If only a few bricks below us fell out of the aqueduct, the whole bridge would collapse and we would drown. What's worse if that I didn't know how to swim. Maybe that's what's been bothering me this whole time, I thought to myself. I was terrified of having to ride in a boat. Of course, I was confident in Brienne's ability to man us down the river but it was still a nerve-racking thought.

Suddenly, Jaime sat down and rested his head back against the bridge.

"Oh, I need to rest," he said tiredly.

"Get up!" Brienne ordered him.

I sighed and shot her a pointed look.

"Don't yell at him. We're all tired, Brienne, " I tried to reason with her.

But she didn't listen. Instead she walked over to Jaime and pulled on the rope harder.

"I have these, you know, on your feet when you walk too far? What do you call them?" he babbled and I started to smile again.

"Corns! I never used to get corns!" he continued and I laughed out loud, "Of course I used to ride everywhere, not march around like a common foot soldier wearing the same boots for over a year."

Brienne yanked him to his feet roughly then as he continued to prattle on. Suddenly, he pulled her sword free from its sheath and cut away the rope from his waist. She almost grabbed her other sword but thinking fast, I snatched it just before she did and pointed it at him. Maybe it was a bad time to think of my sword-training. Selfish, even. But Jaime was the Kingslayer as well as trained since he was a boy.

He would be the best teacher for me. And...as much as I liked him, we couldn't afford to let him escape. He was the only bargaining chip I had to get my sisters back. Jaime chuckled lightly as he twisted the sword around in his hands.

"I never understood why some knights felt the need to carry two swords." he stated.

He turned around then and smiled when he saw it was me holding the sword. He tossed his own sword from hand-to-hand before stepping closer to me on the bridge. Kicking his cloak out of the way, he walked around me. I held my sword high, ready to strike at a moment's notice. This would be easy! I'd seen my brothers do it a million times. It had to be easy, right?