King's Landing
The next day, after her meeting with the dragon prince, Lysarra heard a knocking on her door. She opened it to see a figure dressed sedately in simple a simple brown tunic and traveling cloak. Despite the humble attire, Alys Tarth somehow managed to make the garments seem immodest. She had another bundle in her arms that she offered to the woman. Alys Tarth inclined her head at Lysarra, "Don't worry, I'm not looking for a fight. Our mutual friend sent me. If we're going to be poking around the Faith, things could get dangerous. That's why I'm coming with you. We're going to pay a call on the Grand Sept. I'm Brienne of Tarth's daughter, you're the Princesses handmaiden. We'll see if we can talk to anyone there, and if not, well, there are other ways of gathering information. We'll get an interview with the High Septon himself first, you can handle the talking. Come." Alys urged Lysarra along and together the two of them made their way through the keep and to the stables, where they then rode to Visenya's Hill where the new Grand Sept stood. They slipped in past the Warrior's Sons with all of the other pilgrims and entered to the sound of chanting and the smell of incense. Alys discreetly approached a lay brother and whispered in his ear. The brother's eyes widened and he escorted them to a hall and a room where they were seated with some fruits and drinks.
Eventually, the High Septon of the Faith of the Seven, the voice of the Seven Gods who were One, appeared through the door, leaving his escort of Warrior's Sons at the entrance. Alys stood and bowed to the man. The High Septon was a comely man of forty, with grey just starting to color his dark hair and bright blue eyes. He was one of House Hightower, and had been the Septon at the Starry Sept in Oldtown before assuming the position of High Septon. The man radiated quiet dignity and aristocratic grace. Alys, arrogant and hot-headed, still bent to kiss his ring as the man smiled at them.
The High Septon spoke in a strong, sonorous voice, "Alysanne Tarth. I baptized you myself when you were born. And Lysarra of Lys, the Princess Baella's newest handmaiden. I welcome you both, to what do I owe the pleasure of your noble company?"
Alyssane replied, "We came on a most confidential and sensitive matter. I would prefer this discussion to be kept private." The High Septon nodded and snapped a finger at the men outside the door, who closed it with a thud. The High Septon took a seat while Alys said, "We came to inquire about Jonquil Celtigar, and her claims that she is carrying the child of the Crown Prince, my friend Aemon."
The High Septon didn't seem surprised at all, "Ah yes, I was expecting this. Jahaerys sent you no doubt, I've already had visits from quite a few parties. That is to be expected after all. What would you like to know in particular?"
--
After, Tom lay blissfully next to Alerie, tangled together in the aftermath of their love. Tom kissed Alerie and said, "Well father, can hardly say no now. I daresay that his grandchild is well on the way." He grinned at his future wife and kissed her again, his happiness plain and untainted. Tom wrapped an arm around her and said, "We have to make some plans now Alerie. How we'll announce our engagement, where we plan to be wed. The hatching ceremony will be soon, a great chance for an announcement to my mind. And we can hold the ceremony on the same week that our men arrive back home from the Stepstones."
Already his mind was turning, the wheels spinning as he laid out ideas for their future, "But after that... you'll be the Lady of Casterly Rock. We'll have one of the most powerful financial, military, and political blocs in the Seven Kingdoms. The question is, my love, what shall we do with it?" He stared into her eyes, the gold in his own glinting at her, as he waited to hear what Alerie's plans were for their future.
--
Cathay later received a visitor at her room, an unsmiling, unassuming man who had no distinguishing gestures at all about him. The only adornment he wore was a catspaw pin that he wore on his grey doublet. The man nodded, "Lady Cathay. The Mistress of Whispers desires a report on your progress. She wonders if you have found out anything further on the matter of Jonquil Celtigar's child?" The man also added, "She suggests that if you need further direction in your investigation, you can pay a call to the King's Gate. Ardrian Celtigar is the Captain of the Gold Cloaks garrison there and is Jonquil's brother. Perhaps he knows something of this matter. Alternatively, you may want to speak with Gaemon Celtigar, who captains the Dauntless of the royal fleet. His ship is moored at port and he is the nephew of Lord Celtigar. Either may have information." There were many Celtigars in King's Landing, but Ardrian and Gaemon each had some influence as high officers in the royal forces. If there was some plot, they were the most likely to be involved.
Red Mountains
Ser Andrew frowned but eventually nodded, "Very well, I'll not waste the lives of those lost to impatience. I'll send runners for reinforcements, we can have another company here within the hour. You'll take two score men and follow through on your plan while we assault the walls at the same time, operation to commence two hours from now. Go quickly, while we have the cover of night." Ser Andrew delegated several of the Dornishmen to Ser Uther's command and left them to enact his plan, while Andrew waited for another company of royalists to reinforce them. Night soon fell and the time for attack would be upon them.
--
Mirren sat silently for a few minutes, weighing the options she had. It was obvious this supply point would need to be neutralized - there was no doubt of that. But of enemy numbers within, she knew little, and unlike her foes the tunnels were foreign soil to her - if she sounded the attack, she might call down the full fury of the defenders upon her and be surrounded. She was keenly aware that this supply point held more than the handful of men currently visible, and ordering a frontal assault could well be suicide. But what other choice did she have? It wasn't as if she could sneak in, she was an unknown to these men, it would be difficult at best for her to bluff her way inside - and once in, then what? Would she sound an attack whilst surrounded on all sides, or try to bluff her way back out? She was outnumbered and potentially surrounded if the din of battle reached the ears of any other foes within.
Turning to the man who had been assigned as her lieutenant, she pulled him aside, "Tell me, what would you advise doing in this situation? We're outnumbered, even a blind fool can see that, but if we do not neutralize this point, the assault topside might well fail in its entirety."
Her Lieutenant, a Stony Dornishman with a scar running down over an eye said, "Yes. If we don't take this resupply base, the Vultures will have a means of continual supply and escape. It will make a siege impossible and will make taking the waycastles and the summit much harder. We need to take it. I think we can disguise ourselves as Vultures and approach the men. We present ourselves as escaping rebels, then overwhelm the guards, kill them all before they sound an alarm. Then we split up and clean out this base. If we do it quickly and brutally enough, they'll be too disorganized to counter an attack, then we can signal for reinforcements. We take this base and make our way up the mountain, saving ourselves to push on the summit with our allies. That's what I believe."
Mirren nodded after a moment, looking back over to the base in qeustion, frowning as she contemplated the situation further. "Surprise is certainly a powerful element - but I fear you might be overly optimistic in your estimation of how quickly we can deal with three times our number, even if we do have surprise on our side. For sure, a volley of arrows will thin their ranks if we can get our shots off in time - but what of the tunnels themselves? It would take but one of them to slip away. Unless we can somehow cover all exits, I fear all we would achieve is surrounding ourselves and giving away our knowledge of the tunnels." She narrowed her eyes, watching the enemy position intently, "Who are your ten fastest men? I think I may send them to call for reinforcements - men enough to storm the position outright. Time is of the essence, obviously, but this is not somewhere we can afford to be reckless."
The Dornishman looked like he wasn't too happy to wait but he nodded, "I can pick ten other guides and have them run to the castle at the base of the mountain, and then send word to the other waycastles we have taken. We can converge men on several entrances and strike all at once, quickly and overwhelmingly."
Mirren frowned at him, "I don't like waiting any more than you do, but for heaven's sake, man, we're sorely outnumbered. We can't do anybody any good if we're dead, now can we?" She nodded to the man, "Send your men, and we'll reposition for a better attack."
The Lieutenant did not disagree and quickly called together several men to run off with a message. They needed reinforcements at the tunnels near the base of the mountain and they needed to converge on the other tunnels. This would require them to wait until the main ground forces had actually taken the other waycastles, but it would certainly shore up the success prospects of the mission.
After the Royalists took most of the waycastles over the following day, Mirren had the reinforcements she needed to launch a multi-pronged attack from the castle at the base of the mountain, two of the three waycastles, and the secret tunnel she had discovered. She also now had firm orders from Gendry to no longer delay and to attack immediately. Her Lieutenant approached her again, "We have the men, we have the advantage. We should attack now, rush them from multiple sides and take their supplies and escape routes. Otherwise that last waycastle and their summit base will not fall easily, if at all."
--
As Garlan's men marched on the last waycastle, and Red Ronnet's griffons scouted overhead, the unthinkable occurred. A lance of fire launched from the battlements on the castle and struck one of Ronnet's scouts. The creature was engulfed in hellish flame, and rider and mount screamed both as they fell burning to the ground. Ronnet's men scattered as more fire attacks launched from the battlements, flames that appeared seemingly out of thin air to harass the griffons. Then the flames started crashing among the men, burning steel and flesh as the men came under massive attack. A chorus of unworldly howls, screeches, and roars split the air and a gates of the waycastle opened to admit a horde of nightmares. Giant slithering serpents, skittering scorpions, manticores and chimeras, giant mountain lions and hounds with eyes of fire, monsters and beasts of all description poured out of the castle gates and at the royal forces. Giant vultures with riders upon them rose from the castle to clash with the griffon riders, and demonic warriors with cruelly curved weapons, many of them with horns or forked tails and cloven hooves, descended on the army with the monsters. The rumors were true, the Vultures had made bonds with demons and sorcerers. And now wave after wave of them crashed on the unsuspecting men, many of whom turned tail from the tide while others were slaughtered. All the while fire launched down on the men, indiscriminately killing soldier and monster alike. Many of the demons rode mounts of twisted horses, and rode down those who retreated. Ned Dayne, in the vanguard, parried a blow from one of the riders with Dawn and whirled, launching him from the seat and splitting him in half, black blood like bile filling the air.
Golden Tooth
Martyn was doubtless expecting more passive-aggressive verbal games and was visibly surprised when Lorimer did not engage. He recovered quickly however and nodded, "You honor me, my lord. If you insist, I believe it is best that we deal with the outlaws first. We cannot allow bandits and rogue knights to gain any further strength and sap our men if we are to face these Reynes. My cousin Tyrion has called the banners and we can soon march on Tarbeck Hall and Castamere. But I believe we should led a sortie to deal with the outlaw camps and all the other sparrows and bandits in the region. I can take fifty men and have them all cleared out in a week, while we gather your levies here at the Golden Tooth and prepare to march on the Reynes. Do you agree with this course of action my lord?" This time, Martyn said the honorific much more respectfully, regarding Lorimer with new eyes. Not quite friendship, but a start to something less combative.
Stepstones
Eventually, Goldbeard's men were beaten, killed while the rest lay bleeding to death on the deck. They had lost several sailors and men-at-arms, even a few Dragon's Teeth, but the rest of the company were nothing more than bloodied or bruised. William and Visenya had managed to pull off the deception, and Seran was taken as a captive, under the identity of Aemon Targaryen. Meanwhile Aemon retrieved Blackfyre and gathered the men together, "Thanks to Layali, we know there are several score men in that hideaway and that they have Arak Snow in a cell in the back. Layali, you'll lead us to the hideout and we'll burst in, Rhaegar leading the rear team to find Arak while I attack from the front. We kill or capture Big Cap and then we can proceed with our mission."
Meanwhile, William and Visenya approached Big Cap with Seran before them, his wrists bound, though they had slipped him a knife beforehand. Big Cap reclined on her throne and said, "And how did your errand go?"
Visenya grinned, "Killed some of the traitors. Bagged ourselves a prince. Crown Prince Aemon Targaryen." She shoved the so-called Prince roughly to the floor. In his Targaryen regalia, with his silver hair, he made a convincing figure. Big Cap's eyes boggled and she cursed in excitement, "By the gods, the Dragonstone Ghost himself. You know how much the Scorpion King wants this twat? You made me a very happy woman, you two, you proved yourselves. Consider yourselves members of the club. We can regroup with the others at Blackguard Bay and get to finally kicking Aurane out of these aisles. With this hostage in our hands, it'll be easy."
Visenya smiled, "Just what I wanted to hear." In a swift motion, she drew her dagger and cut Seran's bonds, twirling to send it flying into a man's face and drawing her sword as the front door burst in and Aemon rushed in with Viserys and several other men, cutting and slashing their way through as Big Cap and her men drew their blades. In the back, Rhaegar with directions from Layali burst in on the unsuspecting pirates, slaying the first few guards easily and on the lookout for their captured friend.
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