renly:

pausing at loras' words, renly turned to throw a quick look at the knight; lips just slightly upturned at his words. even if he had abandoned stannis and taken most of his army with him, one of robert's bastards would likely be his own heir: edric, if he had his pick - and yet gendry if he didn't. " i think ser loras is right, " he agreed without pause, his words coloured with humour. " and if i had a gold dragon for every time one of king robert's children called me uncle, i'd be a lannister by now. "  renly's gaze drifted from gendry to arya and then gendry again. " why not stay instead of running away? lady stark is more than welcome to stay as well. " 

arya:

Renly had not been punched hard enough. Arya decided as she stormed with anger. "You know damn well that I don't want to be here either." Her hand twitched to grab the dagger hidden in her boot. Loras was the only thing that stopped her. He was one of the finest knights in Westeros. There wasn't a chance that she got to either of them before he ran her through. Arya looked over to catch Gendry's eyes. Her frustration was candid on her face. "Of course we can all agree that Stannis is a cunt, but that doesn't make you a Prince, Renly. Gendry ought to be allowed to choose what he does for himself. Or put a hammer in his hand and let him fight for his freedom." She sneered at him. "Even if blood does make you queasy."

gendry:

The first thing that came to mind when he learned of his birth name was not anything that it held, but the freedom that was being  exclusively kept from him. He knew if he grabbed the first weapon and were to strike Renly or the other knight, there would be hell to pay. Where there wasn’t a physical weapon, Gendry could wield his own fists just as strong. “Oh, piss off. I would much rather take my chances of being the next one to burn than stay here any longer.“ It wasn’t as true as much as Gendry was not in favor of staying another moment with the Baratheons, not caring if it was Renly or Stannis or the next bastard son he didn’t know about yet. Gendry took a dangerous step forward to Renly, glancing down at the hilt of the sword attached to Renly’s side. “Lady Stark offers we fight for my freedom. I very much agree unless Highgarden has made you weak.” Gendry shifted his gaze to the Knight of Flowers, only knowing the knight was in their company with Renly and had not been there before the Baratheons left for Highgarden. 

loras:

Loras cared very little where the Stark girl and her bastard shadow ended up, and had no stakes in this argument bar his blind faith in Renly. When the blacksmith stepped forward, Loras was alert as a guard dog and had drawn his sword half-out if it’s scabbard with a threatening hiss of metal against metal. “Let us not forget, Waters, that if it weren’t for Highgarden your lady’s sister would be in the clutches of the Lannisters, and you, and everyone else on this campaign, would be starving.” He dropped the sword back fully into its scabbard in the interests of not engaging Renly’s nephew in a fight that the blacksmith could not win, and raised an eyebrow at him. “Your freedom? You’re a king’s son, this is as close to freedom as you will get.” Loras scoffed, arrogant as ever. 

renly:

" even if blood does make me queasy, " renly acquiesced with every hint of derision obvious, his eyes trained on arya stark rather than rolling hard enough to hurt. and it wasn't just blood - it was every version of violence that many seemed to somehow enjoy, though he could not account for their taste. " insulting the tyrells is a fool’s decision, gendry. if you think highgarden makes anyone weak, you obviously haven’t been paying attention. " there was no doubt that loras was skilled enough to take on ten men all by himself.  " nobody here is stupid enough to resort to blows. we're not heathens - learn when to not pick a fight you have no hope of winning. " his inflection was bored, but there was enough sharpness behind his words. " you are a king's son and you are heir to storm's end, and - " renly was interrupted by the sound of swords clashing and shadows looming. “ what was that? ” 

arya:

The instant Loras drew his sword, Arya stepped forward and angled herself between the knight and Gendry, her eyes on him as stern as steel. "Exactly. Your sister risked all of your family's bullshit neutrality to get my sister out of her captor's claws, and you're standing here to keep me and mine in his." She said sharply. "You might be called a knight, but a blind man could see who actually has balls in your family." Her desire to draw that dagger was greater than ever, but the time was not right still. Gendry still didn't have a weapon and fist against blade would only get him so far. Arya kept Renly's gaze. He was stupid not to keep his eyes on the blacksmith keen to pound his face in the dirt. "Is that why you won't give us weapons? You know you'd have no hope of winning." The Stark challenged him fearlessly. Loras would be a trial to fight. Renly, on the other hand... well, the blackened eye he sported for days was proof enough. She opened her mouth to call the preening Baratheon a liar when she heard the same sound. Metal against metal. Screaming from a distance. Instinctively, she grabbed Gendry's arm. "Could be Robb or Jon." But why now? "You have plenty of enemies to list." Her eyes searched for her friend's this was precisely what they'd talked about. 

gendry:

Gendry didn’t care enough about the Great Houses and their reputations and certainly did not give a shit about Highgarden. What had happened there had only barely reached Gendrys ears but it was enough to know Stannis left without his wife, Renly bringing Arya had caused a disturbance, and many people had died including Arya’s mother and the shit king himself. “I haven’t been paying attention because I’ve been here no thanks to you. And as for Arya’s sister, I’m sure she did not approve of her sister being captive,” Gendry said defensively, his voice getting heavier and more impatient. There had never been a time Gendry had seen Renly fight but had heard about the Tyrell knight even during his time in King’s Landing. He tore his gaze from Renly upon hearing the snap of twigs and followed by echoes of multiple screams. “Why are they attacking people?-“ With Robb being King in the North he would be notorious for battles by now but this seemed to be all in peace except for being held captive. Why would her brothers rage war now before the trial? And then there were armed men approaching them and Gendry stumbled back from Renly. These were not Starks or Targaryens, but he didn’t know who they were. He wanted to believe it was them that were appearing out of the shadows, but as they came closer, his eyes sought Arya’s. The pulse in his throat quickened and he lunged for a piece of wood on the ground, striking the first man approaching him. There was no a weapon to wield and was not going to appear defenseless. 

loras:

All retorts to the Stark girl died on his tongue as the sound of a fight reached his ears too. Something was wrong. Loras knew that. Amongst current allies, the only excuse for such loud, close conflict was that there were enemies among them. "The North is far too honourable for something like this - it could be the Greyjoys jumping ship? Or Stannis? The Lannisters maybe?" There wasn't time for much more speculation, and his voice wavered with distraction. Fear spiked in him, fear he knew well how to put to good use, and as his sword hand drew his weapon fully, he took a step protectively in front of Renly, his other hand reaching out to grip his arm in reassurance, before it was put back on the sword as the menacing silver point was raised in defense. The bickering between them all was forgotten as the first man spilled through the trees, smacked in the face by Gendry as soon as another followed behind him - in a fleeting moment Loras thought that was the kind of thing Robert might have done in his youth. With gritted teeth, Loras plunged the sword in the next attackers chest before the man had time to realise what was happening, though the next was prepared and the clang of metal on metal became like a rhythm. Loras wasn't sure how many he felled, but they kept coming out of the trees like rats. Only one thought rang in his head now - defend Renly, protect Renly, keep Renly safe. 

renly:

there was plenty he could offer in retort - impatience dissolving into severity at their words, but the moment the din of chaos began to echo louder and louder around them, he mouth went dry. " stannis doesn't have the men, " renly offered immediately, brows furrowed deep together from disquiet. it couldn't be his brother, it couldn't. he had walked away from his brother with most of the stormlands - where would he find the support? no, this wasn't him. as he felt loras' grip on his arm, he squeezed the knight's hand tightly; the smallest gesture that begged him not get himself killed, a breath of reassurance disappearing right in front of him. he hated conflict, but the stormlord pulled his blade free from its scabbard anyway, flinching visibly as gendry felled the first man through the thicket of mayhem. renly had never been as talented as loras or robert or jaime lannister, but he swung his sword with enough skill to keep the soldiers at bay. there were more of them than their own party, bleeding out of the trees and the darkness encasing the camp, and even as his gaze constantly sought to see if loras was okay, if loras was still standing, if loras was still there, renly already knew what he had to do. " gendry! " he called out, passing his own sword to the younger man, because loras couldn't take them all down alone with one sword. without thinking, he pulled two smaller daggers from the skin of his doublet, far more ornamental than effective, but sharp nonetheless. wordlessly, he held one out for arya to take. " there are too many of them! " his attention was on the knight of flowers, even as men began to corner them.  

arya:

Fuck everything. There was an even flow of men pouring through the trees. Loras was one hell of a knight  but he still stood now chance against this many. Gendry, using a fucking stick, managed to knock out several of the unidentified party. Arya reached into her boot to produce the dagger Talla had given to her before she snatched the one offered by Renly. For once, he was being completely stupid. Arya knew that she stood no chance against these men when it came to strength. She never would, but she was fast and she was clever. They came to swing at her and with three easy steps she had evaded pushed them down, kicking them in the head to render them unconscious. There were too many of them. She turned to Gendry. "We need to leave. Let's get out of here." A part of her felt guilty to leave the other men on their own, but she reminded herself that they had no intention of freeing Gendry and therefore no intention of freeing herself. This was the only way. "Let's go." 

gendry:

There were too many men consuming the area around them and it all happened instantaneous. Gendry did not think that any men with raised swords and guarded armor would be approaching them to occupy their time. These were men that were in pursuit to do much worse and Gendry did not plan on finding out. There were some physical fights he had in Flea Bottom, but nothing like this, but that didn't hold him back from finding a way to lunge at them. As thoughts ran wild through his mind about who these were and what they wanted, he caught the sword handed to him. Another time Gendry might counter with how Renly was being reckless by giving weapons to prisoners, but Gendry was not a prisoner right now. If he didn't fight back he wouldn't be anything after. He swung the sword, metal hissing against the blade of another sword. Gendry had just thrust the sword into someone's side when he heard Arya. His footing began to fall back, stepping more closely to the escape route to the Stark camps. "Go, I'll be right behind you." Gendry promised as he felt a sharp stab of pain, snapping his head back to see another man approaching him. His intention was to follow Arya and when Gendry saw her shadow out of the corner of his eye he shifted his gaze. "Arya, go, I'll follow." 

loras:

For all that Gendry was Renly’s blood relative, and for all that Arya was the sister of two powerful kings, he could not bring himself to care much for their safety or their whereabouts considering the fact that Renly was here and in immediate danger. He almost swore at him for being an idiot and giving up his sword for a boy who so desperately wanted to run but under the strain of another mans blade against his own, the thought left his mind as quick as it had come. He wished he could say that he could take these enemies on alone, but as fatigue began to set in after number of men lay dead or wounded on the floor in front of him, he knew this couldn’t go on forever. Blows began to clip him - a nick to his shoulder, a pommel to his chest, a fist to his face that only made him rise with more anger and more zeal to knock his assailant to the ground, the glitteringly sharp blade of his sword making him pay for his actions. His breath was laboured as a break in the stream of attackers allowed him to turn and check on his love with wildly desperate eyes. It was only a moment, but it was enough that when more men streamed through the trees he was ready to face them. In the chaos he had lost track of the other two, but they were not his charges, and his responsibility here was to fight hard enough that they would all four escape unscathed. 

renly:

he could hear them at the corner of his attention - arya and gendry exchanging words, planning to escape. but renly wasn't focused on them; he couldn't be. even as he fended off as many as he possibly could with his dagger, his gaze kept straying towards loraslorasloras: was he safe? was he unharmed? was there blood soaking his clothes? it wasn't long before he had begun to give in - renly had never been a fighter, never been anything but adequate with a weapon. but the sight of these men hurting loras again and again and again distracted him, every blow the knight faced leaving him sick to his stomach until he had fallen onto the floor. " stop! stop. don't touch him! " the stormlord grabbed at whoever he could, absentmindedly trying to find gendry and arya in the midst of the chaos - or his guards, anyone who could help - but he tore through the cascade of men himself, bare hands scrabbling at anyone who advanced towards loras. all of a sudden, renly felt someone grab him by the collar, a blade at his throat as they kicked his dagger away. his eyes darted around to look for gendry - remembering the younger man had his sword. he could see two outlines near the trees, making their way away. as men began to corner the knight of flowers, renly could only taste the vile undercurrent of panic on his tongue. " loras - loras, go with them! "