Blackwater
Serana sat on a crude, iron throne that consisted of twisted iron swords that had been forged together. The city had not been so quiet since her husband's departure. When Saarkiin had left the capitol all the little humans began to scramble to make their moves, reestablish their spy networks, and play their game of thrones. Serana quickly identified one obstructer after another, sending her vampyric servants covertly into the masses and seizing control of all civil dissenters and quelling disobedience.
Serana was dressed in a crimson and ebony dress with golden lace and trim with a shiny black, metallic corset and shoulder pads. Her raven black hair, longer than it had been one-hundred years ago, fell loosely over her back and shoulders and the Aethereal Crown rested upon her brow. Her husband had left it behind primed with a specific enchantment in case of emergency. On each of her hands she wore the two Rings of Blood Magic and around her neck was the Amulet of Gargoyles. In Serana's right hand she held the Daedric artifact, Sanguine's Rose.
Sanguine's Rose could summon a highly specialized Dremora Lord contained within into this new world, but Serana held it as a scepter for its regal and aesthetic affects. Since coming to this world no other dremora or atronach could not be called forth unless they had already existed within Castle Volkihar or pocket dimensions within magical items. In the days after Saarkiin had set sail for the north Serana had found herself once again in the position to take up the task of the administrative work. She found that the easiest way to get the city of King's Landing under control was to deal with it the ways she had with the empire she ruled all those years ago.
Serana decided that she would sit on the throne and hear the pleas of the people. Often in the days of the past she would have to sit on the central throne and deal with the day to day activities of administrating imperial policies while Saarkiin waged war against a rebellion or another faction. Saarkiin may have been the face of their empire, but she had been its hands and feet.
Sitting beside Serana and the Iron Throne was Cersei Lannister, the queen regent of the city. She allowed the Lannister Queen to sit at the honorable place next to herself. Serana knew that she still lacked specific knowledge about this world and Cersei, who had been queen for more than a decade, had valuable insight to the people of this city and their culture. Cersei sat at attention and beamed a smile across the court at the nobles the piled in. She had come to see the Dark Queen as the image of perfection, so Cersei and the other noble women began to worship Serana as a goddess.
Standing to the left of the Iron Throne was a devious and devilish looking man in a black dress robe and a golden pin in the shape of a bird on his neck. That man was Petyr Baelish, the Master of Coin that handled the finances of the Seven Kingdoms. This particular weasel, Serana noted, had been brazen enough to attempt spying on Serana whenever she would roam about the Red Keep alone. One day Serana used her shadow magic to surprise Baelish from behind. She had chased and hunted him all across the secret corridors and passageways of the keep until she had finally cornered him in the Black Cells.
Serana enthralled and fed upon the Master of Coin and made the cowardly man her puppet. To Serana's delight she learned that Petyr had the second largest spy network across the Seven Kingdoms and made plans to become very intimate with the knowledge in her new toy's head. He now stood at attention at her left side like a good mind-slave and acted as herald, introducing nobles and private citizens that came to pay tribute or ask upon the Dark Queen.
As the day marched on many different people filed before the court and offered their loyalties to the Dark Queen. Peoples from the Riverlands, the Vale, the Fingers, and so on prostrated themselves before Serana and allied their kingdoms with the greatest perceived threat in centuries. After several hours of courtly pleasantries a man with dark skin and foreign clothing came before the Dark Lady. According to Baelish this man was a representative of the Iron Bank of Braavos. The man insisted quite brazenly that Serana and her husband had inherited the debt of the previous crown and with interest had become a substantial sum.
Serana looked towards Cercei who looked away in shame. The lump sum the man demanded the Iron Bank be paid was insubstantial compared to the coffers of Castle Volkihar, but to pay someone else debt so willingly would be a sign of weakness. Saarkiin would most likely have willed the man to die for his impudence and return his undead corpse to the sender, but Serana felt generous today. With a flick of her wrist and a point of her index finger she caste [Telekinesis] and the man rose into the air. He hung in front of Serana's face and she placed a finger under his chin, pulling him close.
"We owe the Iron Bank nothing. This is the dawn of a new era in Westeros and all slates will be wiped clean. If Braavos ever wants to do business then you can come back and pay your respects to me or my husband anytime you like. Is that okay with the Iron Bank?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. The man frantically nodded his head and spoke rapidly in an unknown tongue. She then gently sat him back down and he dashed for the door. After a short rest Petyr Baelish called in the next group to hear from the Dark Queen.
"My Queen, I present to you Euron Greyjoy, captain of the Greyjoy fleet." Declared Petyr Baelish. A short, roguish looking man in a leather trencher walked in with his crew of men and step up to the throne, gulped deeply, and knelt. This man had been apparently hard to reel in at first, and Serana nearly made an example out of him right then and there. He and his men had refused to believed the outlandish stories told by the rest of the Iron Islanders; the tale of the Drowned God's return.
Euron, not one to be superstitious, refused to believe the insane ramblings in the letter he received from his brother that stated that the Drowned God had come to the island. The letter detailed the situation and demanded Euron to return to his ancestral home and pay tribute to the god of his fathers. He and his men had come to the city instead, which they had learned that Ironborn ships were now permitted to come and go as they pleased, and stormed into the streets. They raided a brothel, killing guards and entrepreneurs and brutalizing the women there. They set up shop there at the brothel and proceeded to spread the chaos into the city. The establishment was owned by Petyr Baelish who promptly brought the situation of the raping and pillaging to Serana's attention.
Several Dusk Legionnaires had descended upon the Ironborn occupied brothel. The soldiers in black armor were far more powerful than any of Euron's men. Many were cut down before he and his remaining men were dragged here to the Red Keep kicking and screaming. They now knelt before the sight of a crimson queen with burning eyes.
"A brothel raid? Really? I really don't have time for this. The city will be under siege soon and I'm having to deal with this? To hell with it! [Chain Lightning]." A bolt of lightning leap from the tip of Serana's finger and hit the men kneeling behind Euron. The bolt arced across the several men and all but Euron instantly died, their bodies disintegrating into ash. Euron fell to the ground, shaking. Many of the other humans had ducked for cover as well with the sound of thunder racing across the hall. Serana rose from the Iron Throne and said:
"Do you know why you are still alive, little man?" Euron just shook his head on the floor, barely looking up at the dark lady. "Because you're a Greyjoy and I can't be bothered to contact that greasy old man and ask if killing his brother would be inconvenient for him. While the rest of the Ironborn fleet is busy obeying the commands of my husband and doing their duty you're literally fucking around. Now be gone from my city or stay and fight, and thank every last star that I'm the one sitting on this throne right now. Go!"
Euron Greyjoy jumped up from his place among the ash and ran out of the hall. Lightly smiling, Serana returned to her seat on the throne. Petyr Baelish was holding his right hand on his chest, hyperventilating and pale. Cersei clapped rapidly, praising the prowess of the Dark Lady. The rest of the court followed suit, to Serana's annoyance.
"Now, on to the pressing matters." Said Serana, raising her hand and addressing the nobility that had gathered around the hall. They had learned earlier of the combined Baratheon fleet to the south and Serana had taken steps to reinforce the cities defenses. "Our forces are all in place to protect this city. Return to your homes and remain there for the duration of the night. I want no one in the streets no matter what happens."
With that command the nobles in King's Landing and the citizens were confined to their homes until the battle with the Baratheon army was over. Serana once again rose from the throne and bid Cersei and Petyr to follow her. The three left the throne room and walked to an area directly behind the wall that separated the beachhead of Blackwater Bay from the rest of the city.
There a group of blacksmith had been hard at work creating something commissioned by Serana after Cersei had loyally brought her information about the alchemist guild in the city. It was a gigantic iron cylinder set up at an angle and it appeared to be hollow. The commission had been completed rather quickly and to Serana's expectations.
It was called the Wildfire Mortar. A weapon Serana designed with the store of a volatile substance in mind. Wildfire would be poured into the base of a thick iron cylinder and ignited. The combustion would propel a secure cast iron sphere filled with the substance as a projectile. Serana modeled it after the reverse engineered dwarven weapons that protected the imperial city of her old empire, except they could use this synthetic fuel source instead of valuable soul gems. If it worked it would be useful as an anti-siege weapon.
"Is it ready for testing?" asked Serana to the smith and the alchemist in charge of the project.
"Yes, Your Grace." Said the smith.
"I worry about the constitution of the men who will man this weapon during battle. Can they maintain their composure enough to not spill a single drop of the substance? It could doom us all if the wildfire spreads!" exclaimed a frail old man that was the head alchemist.
Serana snapped her fingers and two vampire nightstalkers appeared in the blink of an eye, startling the smiths and alchemist present.
"You'll teach these two how the weapon works. They can keep calm steady better than anyone in this city." The two men nodded in agreement and began to explain the weapons details to the nightstalkers. She could trust two high level vampires to maintain the weapon. They only need to use it long enough to keep the ships out of the bay until Serana could unleash the secret weapon that she had put inside of the bay.
Part II
Matthas Seaworth and his father, Davos, stood side by side on the deck of Stannis Baratheon's flag ship. Tensions were high and the shoulders of each man on deck was rigid. Soon this fleet, or perhaps more of an armada, would make its way towards the dark waters of Blackwater Bay.
There had been much bickering among Stannis and Renly when negotiations for bringing a truce between the two militaries had taken place. One of the main points that had been argued long after the truce was complete on who would be the one to take point on the assault of King's Landing. Eventually the red priestess of the red god had convinced Stannis to let Renly take point in the siege.
Matthas watch in anticipation as the first of the green and gold Highgarden ships entered the bay. Stannis and the red priestess had arrived from the interior and were standing at the head of the ship. They whispered back and forth and Matthas wondered what they could be discussing. It had been a controversial move to bring a woman like that alone for a battle, even if Stannis' forces end up sitting out most of it.
The Highgarden ships, with their golden roses decorating the hull, sailed into the bay. Then Matthas could hear a high-pitched whistling noise piercing through the air. Suddenly one of the ships at point erupted into a dark green flame. The remaining Highgarden ships attempted to turn about when another whistling sound pierced the clear night sky. Another ship erupted into emerald flames. And another. And another.
The remaining ships came about and fled past the still approaching ship loyal to Stannis Baratheon. Matthas could make out a distinct red light gleaming in Stannis eye, and his breath could be seen heavy out of his nose even though it was hot and humid around the bay area. The red priestess whispered another silent word into her king's ear and Stannis gave the command to remain stationary outside the bay.
"No one enters or leaves this bay." Said the Stag King with a Fiery Heart. And so the Baratheon fleet remained anchored outside the bay, blockading any ships from passing. Matthas looked around and whispered to his father after they had remained afloat in silence for nearly an hour.
"Why are we waiting here? Why don't we go ashore elsewhere and siege the city from the outside."
"King Stannis is waitin' for something. He has a particularly brighter fire in his eyes today, don't you say?" said Davos, squinting his eyes at the red priestess whispering into his king's ear. "I don't like that the red witch is here. You shouldn't bring a woman into battle, let alone a cursed one."
"Her presence brings the blessing of the Lord of Light. We will gain his favor for this battle. The Lord predicted that fire and warned Stannis through Lady Melisandre. Have faith father."
"I have only faith in what I know. That's how I've gotten so old, you know." Said Davos, fingering the bag that hung from around his neck. "I remember someone once said that the more powerful a weapon is, the less times you get to use it."
"Fewer."
"What?"
"Nothing, nevermind. So do you think they can use it again after so many times? What could it have been?"
"I don't know lad. Something's happenin'." Said Davos, pointing out at the open Blackwater, where the burning ships had been. There an apparition now floated midair in the night sky. It wore tattered black shrouds and chain mail that blew loosely in the wind. Its head was shrouded in a black hood and a metallic mask of strange design. In its right hand was a silver staff in the shape of a dragon and in its right hand was a thick leather-bound book. An eerie ethereal voice rang out from behind the metal mask and said:
"Greetings, mortals. I am Zahkriisos, a dragon priest in service of the Great One. You are trespassing on the sovereignty of our Lord.Leave now. If you proceed than you will be greeted with death and depravity."
"Ha! An undead. I heard the legends of the dead that roam the Shadow Lands but I didn't think I would ever see the face of the Enemy." Replied the velvet voice of a woman. Melisandre had stepped to the forward most part of the ship and addressed the apparition in the sky. "You are an abomination on the natural order dictated by the Lord of Light. The Lightbringer has come on behest of the Lord of Light to purge this city of the evil dead and establish the rightful rule of the one true king: Stannis Baratheon."
"You have a familiar fire about your spirit, priestess. I see what you are. The dead be not deceived by illusions. The supremacy of the Master will not be denied. You shall know the power bestowed upon me by the grace of the Ruler of Death. Any last statement, mortals. As the emissary of Death I allow you the moment for peace and repentance."
"I would like to thank you, undead thing." Replied Melisandre.
"Oh? Thank me? A surprise to be sure."
"I thank you for showing your face here for all the world to see. Showing the world what you really are. Now the Lord of Light is free to demonstrate his love to world and the people that righteously serve him. After today thousands will flock to the Glory of the Lord. After today, the supremacy of the Light will not be denied ever again."
"Beautiful final words, priestess. I will cherish the memory for the rest of eternity. However, this is the end of our conversation." Said the dark priest, opening up the heavy, leather-bound book. "May I know your name, fellow devote'?"
"Melisandre of Ashai."
"Goodbye, Priestess Milesandre. I offer my unlife and call forth the power of the Black Book. I call upon the ancient forces of Apocrypha to bring forth these fell beasts. Awaken!" called out the dark priest Zahkriisos as inky black tendrils reached out and consumed the apparition. In an instant the dark priest and his black book vanished.
Silence fell of the fleet of hundreds of ships the surrounded the bay. Matthas and his father looked at each other then back to Stannis.
"Hold your heads, men. We will not be frightened by witchcraft. If the demon king sends his emissaries then that weapon is of no more concern. Weigh anchor and press forward!" The ships all around began to echo the order, even the remaining Highgarden ships. The hundreds of galleons began to once more sail forward and carried on with the assault.
As the ships sailed into the bay once more a thick fog began to roll in. The eerie fog enveloped the fleet and completely filled the bay. The wind began to die down and the ship began to slow their locomotion
"I weren't expecting no fog tonight. I've got a bad feeling about this, boy. You should go below deck, for your own good."
"I will not run away and disgrace my king! I thought you was a knight, father? Don't give into fear and have faith."
"I don't need no faith to know this fog is witchcraft. Matthas we have to- Matthas watch out!" cried Davos the moment is saw it rising from behind his son. A gigantic humanoid fish-like monster, with a gaping jaw full of needle-like teeth. It was dark green and covered in a black oil. Davos attempted to pull his son away, but it was too late.
The great sea creature grappled Matthas with both fin-claws and easily hoisted him into the air. It fit the upper torso of the young man into its mouth and bit his frail body into two. It pulled the pieces apart and rank viscera spilled onto the wooden deck of the ship. Davos backed away from the terrifying creature and the horrifying scene. He had forgotten about all notions of honor and battle. Before this creature Davos knew one thing. Fear.
Davos Seaworth turned from the creature and ran to the lifeboats and began to untie them. He heard his king calling for his men to stand and fight as the fish monster stomped across the vessel and torn the limbs off of men it captured in its slimy hands. Many men chose to jump and Davos decided to lean over and see what their fate had become.
More of the creatures awaited below, swimming through the water and tearing the men apart as a shark would. Davos looked at his small lifeboat in despair. Below deck was the only answer. He ran past men that charged the monster with pikes to no avail. He reached the hatch that would take him below deck when he stopped to take in his surroundings. Hundreds of creatures all throughout the foggy bay had leeched out from the Blackwater, which was truly as a thick, black ink now. They crawled over ships and devoured men one by one. Swords and fire did nothing to deter the creatures. One raised its leg high into the air and stomped into the center of a ship and an explosion of inky black tendrils rendered the ship into two pieces.
Davos couldn't think straight and he ran below in mad hysteria. He ran into the dark interior of the ship and searched for a place to hide. While he was searching he could feel his fear boil over. He thought of the horror that had been his son and rage drove Davos to return topside and die trying to kill that thing. He pulled the sword at his waist and turned back to the hatch. He threw it open, and at the entrance was another creature, different from the fish thing from before.
This monster was shrouded in tattered, green rags and four long, withered arms jutted out of the floating mass of rags. Its face was the horrifying visage of a man combined with an octopus, with several long tendrils falling from its head. Davos lifted his sword but the creature grabbed both his arms with its lower arms and grabbed his faces with its upper hands.
What is the greatest knowledge known to life? Oh please tell me, seaworthy. Said the creature with thoughts that echoed through Davos' mind. When he heard the words in his head he thought of the starving faces of the Stormlands that lit up at the sight of his boat full of onions. He thought of how it felt to know that he and his smuggled onions had saved so many lives at the city of Storm's End during Roberts Rebellion.
"Onions…" was the only word that Davos could say as he thought of the people that had lived on because of him and his smuggled onions.
Magnificent! The creature's echoing, ethereal voice cried into Davos' mind as it twisted his head and arms from the rest his body.
Part III
Renly Baratheon didn't understand what was happening. He couldn't understand. Renly had run below deck with Loras Tyrell and the rest of his King's Guard. He was tearing at his gloves with his teeth as he tried to think of what a good king would do.
"We have to regain control of the ship. We have to fight our way out and turn the ship around." He said frantically to Loras."King's Landing is lost…"
"That monster bit the head of Brienne the Beauty clean off with no effort. We can't kill that thing, and there are other things out there. We will die!" retorted Loras, the image of the massacre above replaying over and over in his mind.
"We are going to die either way. Move to the top of the ship. Now!" Cried Renly. With that the men below deck began to make their way topside with swords and pikes in hand. They threw open the hatch and climbed out. It appeared that the creature had torn apart everyone that remained on deck and dove back into the water. One of the knights ran to the wheel of the ship and began to rapidly turn in port side. The ship began to turn about and Renly could get a better view of the carnage that lay waste to the combined forces of the Baratheon fleet.
Once the ship was turned around and they were attempting to escape through the fog Renly noticed a shift in the weather. A hot wind began to pick up and it blew the cool fog away. Storm clouds began to form. The younger stag king could hear echoing chanting in the distance in a language that he presumed to be High Valyerian. The storm clouds swirled and looked reminiscent of smoke and fire. The swirling clouds formed into an upside down egg shape before forming into the face of a devil.
"Be gone, beasts of the Enemy! I banish you from this realm. This world belongs to R'hllr, the Lord of Light." Spoke the voice of smoke and fire, shaking the bay with its force. "Turn and fight for your Lord, mortals. Be blessed that the Red God sends his regards for the weak. Take the city, go with the God of Fire, and root out the Unclean Things and the Lord of Light will receive you. Your Lord has Spoken…"
The face of swirling smoke and fire in the sky collapsed in on itself and vanished. What kind of war of witchcraft has Stannis gotten me into? Thought Renly as he watched the inky black and green creatures burst into flames and a cleansing fire arched across the waters. The fog and storm clouds dissipated and gave way to the clear night sky and the shining moon.
"T-turn the ship around, again…" said Renly reluctantly, ordering the knight at the helm to come about, again.
Part IV
Serana stood at the top of the battlements and watched the gigantic burning face give the mortals a glorified pep talk and then disappear.
"Deadra…" growled Serana under her breath. A Daedra on the level of a Daedric Prince had a presence here in the new world. It had just appeared and banished all of the summons that Serana had sacrificed a dragon priest to conjure. Through her mother's many experiments they had discovered that by sacrificing a powerful soul they could temporally activate the Black Books and other items of Oblivion. The soul would reside in the Black Books copy of Apocrypha until it could be retrieved through the Soul Cairn later. "Well, damn."
The massacre using Lurkers and Seekers and the Wildfire Mortar had been Serana's trump card. She had in fact dealt quite a bit of damage to the enemy fleet, reducing their numbers by nearly half. But with the Wildfire Mortar getting so hot the barrel warped and the appearance of the Daedra had put an end to that strategy.
Serana had underestimated how hot the wildfire could burn. Everything had run according to her plan but she lost several key shots with the barrel becoming warped. Oh well She thought, I thought the thing would last a little longer. It was a rush job though. It didn't matter anymore. She had successfully reduced their number to a manageable amount. Now was when the fun began.
Serana jumped down from the battlements all the way to the floor behind the wall. There all three-hundred of the Dusk Legion that was in King's Landing stood at attention, awaiting battle. Behind them was the City Watch and Lannister House Guards. Serana was dressed in a light armor variant of the daedric armor that had been custom made specifically for her. On her head was the Aethereal Crown instead of the helmet and at her side was the daedric artifact, the Mace of Molag Bal. Serana had intentionally asked Saarkiin to allow her to keep the dreaded mace with her, for safe keeping.
The Dark Queen drew her mace and raised it high, inspiring her dark legion to do the same. Now would be the hour that they proved themselves to the Dark Lord.
