"What happened?" Cersei heard the boy's scream and her eyes widened in panic.
"He fell." Jaime spun away from the window, snatched up his coat, and threw it on quickly. "Hurry, we have to go down."
"Who fell?"
"Bran Stark, Lord Eddard's second son!"
"Damn it," Cersei was instantly flustered. "Did he see us?"
"No, but we can't be careless. You hurry, I have to go down first and stop that Night's Watchman!"
***
Half a minute ago, when Aegon parted ways with two passing soldiers and returned to the training ground in the Old Inner Courtyard, Bran had already climbed from the roof of the Guard Room onto the outer wall of the Keep, and was climbing horizontally along the familiar "route" towards the Ruined Tower. The Night's Watchman knew there was no way to stop the boy, so he deliberately shouted loudly... not hoping Bran would listen, but only hoping the pair inside the Keep would react in time.
The first half of the plan succeeded, but things did not develop as expected. He saw clearly in the Old Inner Courtyard: Jaime did not push Bran down this time, but just poked his head out of the window, which scared the boy so much that he fell directly.
...
After a dull thud like a sack of rags hitting the ground, the boy lay quietly on the ground, eyes tightly shut, motionless. The corn he had intended to take to the top of the Ruined Tower to feed the crows was scattered all over the ground, a bright yellow patch, striking and ironic.
Aegon stood frozen beside the fallen boy, his mind a chaotic mess. Instinct told him he should immediately call for help, but the Lannister was still inside the Keep, and his plan to leave The Wall would be completely ruined... What was more troublesome was that after all the effort, he not only failed to prevent Bran from falling, but also got himself involved in the matter. He was shouting at the boy when he fell. If responsibility were to be calculated, did he distracting Bran account for more, or did Jaime scaring the boy account for more?
A Night's Watch soldier, causing the First Ranger's nephew, the second son of Lord Stark, to fall from the Keep, and still wanting to leave after returning to The Wall? Aegon shivered at the thought.
Footsteps approached. Jaime ran out from the entrance of the Keep like a hundred-meter sprinter, rushed to Bran's side, and bent down to check the boy's breathing and heartbeat. A moment later, he stood up, his eyes no longer relaxed and casual, but flashing with a terrifying light.
The Kingslayer grabbed Aegon's collar. If their heights hadn't been similar, he might have lifted him off the ground. This arrogant and cynical Lannister said in a voice that was almost trembling: "Tyrion said you're the sharpest soldier he's ever met, so you should understand, this kid fell by himself. It's better for both of us this way, understand what I mean!"
Fell by himself? Aegon had also calmed down by now and quickly understood what the other party meant. Yes, there was no fourth person who witnessed the entire accident. If Bran fell by himself, then at least until the boy woke up, there was no need to worry about whose responsibility was greater.
But he quickly reacted. He couldn't accuse the other party, but he couldn't take the blame alone either: "Understood... Yes, he fell by himself, but I'm afraid no one will believe what a small soldier like me says!"
Jaime gave him a fierce look. Seeing that Aegon had no intention of compromising, he had to back down a step: "I can testify for you, but you can't involve me... Your Majesty the Queen!"
Aegon nodded quickly: "Of... of course, Your Majesty the Queen has nothing to do with this."
Normally, Jaime would probably not even bother to say a word to Aegon, this Night's Watch soldier, but today he first inevitably met him while looking for a place, and now they had together caused Bran Stark's fall. It was impossible not to talk.
They quickly and simply coordinated their stories. After the exchange, Cersei walked out of the high Keep looking nervous, while Aegon left the Old Inner Courtyard to call for help.
***
The Stark had not had a member suffer an accident since the Deposed King War. Winterfell was thrown into a chaos not seen for many years. The soldiers frantically carried the boy back to the main Keep on a stretcher and notified Lady Stark and Maester Luwin. Everyone skilled in medicine, including the accompanying doctor from King's Landing, participated in the rescue.
It wasn't until the King's hunting party returned in the evening that someone came out of the room.
As night fell, Bran's little wolf howled outside the window. All of Winterfell could hear its call to its young master, while Aegon lay tossing and turning on the bed in his room.
Everyone knew that Bran loved climbing walls. Almost every resident of Winterfell had worried about this mischievous child. Today's fall was an unexpected big trouble for Jaime and Aegon, who were involved, but for the rest of the people in the city, it was merely a worry finally becoming reality, just an accident.
Although Aegon was scared to death, in reality, no one suspected him, a Night's Watchman, at all. It wasn't until Eddard Stark returned to Winterfell that the head of the family remembered to call the Ranger who first discovered his son's fall to ask for details... With the testimonies of two soldiers who had talked to Aegon and Jaime Lannister, the Warden of the North soon frowned and waved him back to his room.
It seemed that Bran's fall had not caused him any trouble at all, but things were not that simple. Aegon was truly a little scared now—Bran's fated fall today made him begin to doubt life.
He was a thorough materialist, insisting that everything in the world could be explained by science... Here, science referred to specialized learning and systematic knowledge—he believed that even the magic of the White Walkers and the Lord of Light must operate according to some system of rules that he did not yet understand. In time, he would surely be able to grasp more information about this, and thus understand and even utilize this unknown power.
But after doing a lot of operations for several days, Bran still fell at the same time and in the same place as in the original plot. Was this a coincidence, or was there some force in the dark pushing the plot to develop along the original line?
...
Aegon forced himself to stop thinking about this unknown and powerful existence, because he now had more realistic trouble than "the dark hand behind the curtains"—although he was temporarily not, or at least not publicly, suspected of causing Bran's fall, he was actually inseparable from the plot: If the story continued, when the assassin of unknown identity broke into Bran's room and tried to give the boy "mercy," the Stark would definitely become suspicious of the child's fall.
And once the investigation began, he, the Night's Watch who insisted on training daily in the remote Old Inner Courtyard while visiting Winterfell and was the first to discover Bran's fall, would definitely be remembered. By then, he would likely have left The Wall with the Dwarf. Although Tyrion had absolutely nothing to do with Bran's fall and the assassination attempt, the Lannister label on him couldn't be removed... By then, if he were consequently judged by the Stark as an enemy of the Lannister faction, he really wouldn't be able to clear himself even by jumping into the Yellow River, no, the River Trident.
A Night's Watchman, daring to collude with the Lannister to murder a Stark. With just a little effort from the first family of the North, having the Night's Watch Commander recall him who had already left The Wall, or even directly declare him a deserter, wouldn't that be as easy as turning over one's hand?
And on the other side, would the Lannister definitely not trouble him? With Cersei's viciousness and pettiness, a Night's Watchman who might know her secret, refused to take the blame obediently, didn't stay honestly at The Wall, and happened to be close to her most hated Dwarf brother—any one of these would be enough for her to want to kill him.
He was simply caught between a rock and a hard place.
He, who was originally outside the Game of Thrones story, got into trouble the first time he actively tried to interfere with the plot. If he had known this, how much better it would have been not to get involved in this mess!
Aegon was extremely annoyed, but since things had come to this, finding a solution was the right course. What could he do now to break free from this awkward dilemma?
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