Chapter 330: Guests (2)
"Your Highness!"
This wasn’t part of what Robert signed up for. He was only to stand here, taunt Tyrion, and get Penelope’s attention.
Tyrion didn’t respond since he gave them the chance to leave. They should consider themselves lucky that he had only ordered the guards to gather them.
Tyrion wanted to kill them so they would be out of the way, but as the prince, it would bring more trouble than he needed now if he killed his people despite their coming to bother him.
"You there!" Tyrion pointed to a guard. "Have them go to the guards’ quarters and be placed in two rooms. Men in one room and women in the other. Do not let them be placed in the dungeon."
If they were to have even the faintest glimpse of Warren or hear his voice, then they wouldn’t be seen by their loved ones ever again.
Robert backed away from the gates as they opened. After looking around, he noticed some of the other men weren’t afraid.
It was the women who cried, but in Robert’s eyes, they didn’t need to fear what the prince would do. They were told that no matter what, the prince wouldn’t kill him.
Robert backed away until he was at a good distance from the gates, where he hoped the guards wouldn’t have the right to attack him.
"Run!" Robert yelled to the others.
They only needed one person to stay behind to speak with the prince. He would be out by morning with his job completed.
Robert stood in the middle, in perfect view of Tyrion, who stared right back at him.
Robert kept his eyes on the women and had a moment of relief when the women reached their horses. To his horror, the guards aimed their weapons at the horse’s feet.
"We are not on your land!" Robert argued, puzzled by the guards attacking, though this stood in the path of the road.
They were not the kind of people who could buy other horses as the prince could.
"You would burden us by injuring the horses we need?" Robert asked, horrified by what a royal would do to them. "We need the horses."
"You did not need them so much if you brought them here and would not leave when I gave you the chance to," Tyrion reminded Robert.
Tyrion walked toward the gates, ignoring the chaos of the guards gathering those who came with the man, standing like he had power.
"Who sent you? Was it someone from the palace?" Tyrion wondered, his mind then thinking of Cassius.
Robert gulped, a sudden thirst coming over him, and his shirt starting to feel tight. He couldn’t answer the prince’s questions since he didn’t know who sent him here. All that mattered was the money placed in his hands.
The screams of the people he arrived with started to make Robert reconsider what he should do. He was told his pay would triple if he didn’t accept what the prince offered him, but what if he was close to dying?
Robert looked away from the prince momentarily to see the others being dragged within the gates. Strangely, the other men didn’t put up a fight.
"We are not on your land," Robert argued, standing his ground. "They don’t deserve to be treated like animals."
"No one is around to see where you stand," Tyrion pointed out.
Robert looked behind Tyrion at the guards who stood armed with swords and guns. Men, clad in armour, came running to defend the prince.
The knights and guards weren’t going to speak the truth. They would back the prince.
"I, I-"
"I, I," Tyrion stammered, mocking Robert. "I will ask one last time. Who set you up to do this?"
"I don’t know. I heard about the chance to earn money, and when I went to see what it was, I met all these other people. We were told to call for you to return to the palace as king. That is all," Robert spoke his truth.
Tyrion took a sword from a knight and pointed it at Robert. "Are you withholding more from me?"
"No," Robert shook his head. "I don’t know who hired us. The men present wore robes and kept our instructions short. I couldn’t make out their voices if they stood before me. I will leave. We will all leave."
"See, I was letting you leave, but you didn’t want to listen. Not only have you taken up my time from work I wished to do, but my wife will hear of this and worry herself," Tyrion said, his kindness no more.
"Not only will she worry, but it will stick with me that you have called her a harlot. Do you honestly think I should let you leave?" Tyrion asked, pointing the sword at Robert.
Tyrion didn’t care what Robert was paid to do. It was Robert’s mouth that the insult came from.
"I can go back and speak with the ones who hired us. Then, I can find out who they are," Robert offered.
Tyrion shook his head. "You just said you wouldn’t be able to recognise their voices. You’re utterly useless to me, and you’ve made the grave mistake of speaking about my wife. He’ll stay longer than the others."
Tyrion lowered the sword.
Whilst Tyrion wished to sever heads, it might only be what the person who sent these people here wanted. For him to be painted as a royal abusing their power.
Tyrion turned away from Robert and handed the sword back to a knight. "Take him with the others. Question them tirelessly until they cannot bear to speak anymore. They are not to get a drop of sleep."
"Your highness!" Robert called for Tyrion. "This is not how a prince is to act."
"You came here yelling that I am a deserter. Well, this is how a deserter acts," Tyrion replied, done with the useless chatter.
Tyrion already thought of a few people who might be behind the recent events at the palace, the day his carriage was hit, and now.
Tyrion ignored Robert’s calls for a second chance.
As Tyrion made his way back to the front doors, he noticed someone who shouldn’t be there was waiting for him.
Tyrion walked faster to get to Penelope, and when he stood before her, he said, "I told Winston to keep you busy."
"Winston came to me out of breath. I knew something was amiss when he acted so distraught. Why are you bringing people inside our gates? Were we under attack?" Penelope asked, going closer to see who was present.
Penelope squinted her eyes, unable to see who the guards had captured.
"It is the matter of the deserters again," said Tyrion.
"Again? Did anyone try to kill themselves?" Penelope asked, hoping it wasn’t so.
"No. I- No," Tyrion realised his mistake. "Wait here."