Protector of the Realm, Chapter 10.
The Black Cells were hot, humid, and unbearable. They taxed even a strong man in his youth, and a strong young man Grand Maester Pycelle was not. Huddled in his cell that had become his home, Pycelle tried not to think of his thirst.
It had been 3 days since Eddard Stark had baited, discovered, and arrested him. He was sent down to the Black Cells immediately and they had wasted no time finding a cell that was unbearably hot for him. Down this far below the castle, the cells were humid and a man yearned for the simple comfort of a drop of cold water.
The food they had given him was futile to quench his thirst. He got half a cask of water twice a day and hard dry biscuits once a day. Far from the fresh bread and fruits he had enjoyed as Grand Maester.
Ned Stark had wanted him alive and at his strength, so he could be questioned. Doubtless he wanted information on Lord Tywin Lannister, the man Pycelle had served.
Pycelle had been a grand Maester for the last half of his life- 41 years of his total 83 years of age. But he had served the Lannister's faithfully for over 2 decades now. He had tricked the Mad King Areys II into opening the gates for Tywin, spelling doom for the remains of the Targaryans. He had known about the secret intimate relationship between Queen Cersei and her brother Jaime but he had kept his mouth shut… and had even kept shut the mouths of a few others. Something Ned wasn't about to take kindly to.
Ned was already onto him about Jon Arryn, and for good reason. The former hand had become sick and a Maester had been attending him. Arryn was becoming better every day.
The small problem was the fact that he knew about Cersei and the truth about her children. So Pycelle dismissed the Maester and had given Jon Arryn pain killers to ease his passing, and his secret died with him.
As for Robert, Cersei informed him that Ned meant to warn Robert about Cersei. She had already seen to him being critically wounded by a boar.
But the wound turned out to be not so fatal. It would be weeks but Robert would recover sooner or later.
Pycelle recalled that moment like it happened minutes ago, the confusion on Robert's face as he dripped milk of the poppy into the kings throat, and watched as the concealed poison took effect, as the kings features relaxed and stopped breathing.
Ned Stark would not take kindly to Pycelle murdering his long-time friend.
He recalled the letter from Tywin that had been sent to him, at the beginning of the war. There had been no return address.
Pycelle.
With recent events resulting in our war against Renly, we rely on you more than ever to help us take back the Iron Throne. You will reveal all details of the small council meetings. Use your position to gain insight to the motives of Ned Stark, and Renly. When the time is right, you may be able to smuggle the Queen out of Renly's captivity.
If however you are caught, be aware that all men must die and they will not benefit from you dead.
Pycelle had burnt the letter upon reading it but he understood the instructions.
And he knew that his time had come.
Reaching into his robes, deep into a pocket that was concealed by layers, he pulled out a small flask containing liquid.
10 drops exactly.
The Gaoler walked alongside the cloaked man, as they navigated through the Black Cells.
The cloaked man was in service to Renly, who was looking for some answers from a former Grand Maester Pycelle, who was rotting in some cell here.
The man was loyal to Randyl Tarly, a vassel of House Tyrell, who was allied through marriage to Renly. His grace had been enraged when he heard of Pycelles treason, and he wanted him to question the old fool, until he was forthcoming enough to give them an insight on Tywin's plans and his strengths and weaknesses in the Riverlands. Doubtless a man who had been selling the kings plans, and in such a high rank as part of the small council, he could prove to be an excellent source of information.
The only matter was making him want to sell out his former masters.
That was the duty of the cloaked man.
The Gaoler held the lamp, the only source of light in the black-cells, as he neared towards Pycelle.
'' Just a little further, then you can ask your pretty questions.'' He promised the cloaked man.
Then they finally found him.
Pycelle was lying on the ground, apparently asleep.
The Gaoler kicked him. '' Wake up, doomed man.''
Pycelle didn't respond.
The cloaked man waited patiently. Sooner or later, Pycelle would wake.
The Gaoler kicked him again. '' Wake UP I said. This gentleman has a few questions to ask of you.''
Pycelle rolled over and both men realized something had gone very, very wrong.
The former Grand Maester's features were completely slack, his mouth hanging open. His eyes were as alive as glass. He wasn't moving at all, or even breathing.
'' Seven Hells, he killed himself!'' The Gaoler exclaimed. '' Lord Ned is NOT going to be happy about this. DAMMIT!''
The Cloaked man bared his teeth in disappointment, and he and the Gaoler fled to find the other guards, to inform them of what happened.
The Gaoler was the one in charge of Pycelles cell and the cells around it and so it was his job to find the Hand of the King and inform him of Pycelle's demise.
He didn't particularly enjoy being in the same room when Ned Stark furiously slammed hid fist down on the table and cursed their squandered opportunity.
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1 week later: The Twins.
Tywin Lannister was making his way northwest to the Twins, at the Trident. The Twin's held the crossings for centuries and never failed to extract their toll.
But only because Tywin didn;t bother to demand crossing. He would have preferred to stay in the south but the crossings was vital to take control over. Robb Stark had a force of 20,000 men on the north side of the Trident and if the crossings was taken by the Lannister's, the Stark boy would be trapped in the north, unable to join his father and Renly.
The Frey's took their tolls, but it never occurred to them that Lannister's pay their debts.
He had an attack-force of 60,000 men, against the 12,000 men the Freys had in the castle of the Twins. Taking it would not be easy. His brother Kevan had objected, saying that thousands would die taking the castle. '' Tens of thousands'' was Tywin's cold answer.
Jaime was accompanying him, he would command part of the attack. He was an experienced battle commander and besides, Tywin had decided that the father away he was from the Stark girl, the better. Tyrion was in command of Riverrun, with a few of his cousins. Should be rather easy to hold since they had over 30,000 men at the castle and if Renly were to try to take it, he would suffer extremely high casualties.
At any rate, they were going to take the Twins. And Walder Frey was about to find out what it means to cross a Lannister.
Besides, he had the assistance of a certain Greyjoy that was turning out to be very much like Gregor Clegane, yet much, much more intelligent.
His name was Euron Crow's Eye, and he was the younger brother of Balon Greyjoy. He had been exiled for some series of crimes against his kin.
Ser Gregor had done much worse.
Euron had been a lucky find, having commanded the same crew for years and raided shores all over the world, which were wildly successful. Once upon a time Tywin might have ordered Euron killed for his crimes but in such times, Euron was proving quite useful. This was the first major battle that he would be tested for his worth.
Besides, every man has need of a beast.
The other Greyjoys had kept their alliance in secret and as far as the world knew, there was no alliance. The reason was because Robb Stark still held Theon Greyjoy as a glorified Hostage whilst his father was up in Kings-landing. They Greyjoy's would make their alliance to House Lannister known when the time was right, but not now. They would build up their strength and wait.
Walder Frey was awakened at his desk to the callings of his son Raymon Frey.
'' Father! Wake up, they are attacking the gates!''
'' Their what?''
'' Lannister Forces, they have siege weapons and they are attacking our walls!''
Walder snorted. '' No one has ever taken the Twin's before. Alright, get our men ready and lets remind these Lannister fools of our history. Heh, we should carve it into Tywin's mind.''
'' They have tens of thousands of men out there! We only have 12,000 men!''
'' So use them the best way we can!''
CRASH.
A boulder suddenly crashed through their wall, in the floor below.
'' Seven hells.'' Walder yelped. '' How did they breach the gates already?''
Raymon looked out the window again. '' Westermen and sell-swords are leading the attack!''
Jaime lead the charge of the second wave of Lannister infantry and sell-swords, riding through the rubble left by the catapults, amidst chaos as the Frey soldiers scrambled to meet the attack.
He cut down the enemy quickly enough, as his men flooded through the court-yard as the Frey's fought desperately. Only a fraction of their force was meeting his attack on the West Tower, the rest were struggling to repel his father, who mounted his own assault on the East Tower.
He lopped the head off another Frey just before he caught a figure in the edge of the court-yard, holding his own rather well against the westermen. Several bodies in Red armour already lay by him.
'' Perhaps the King-slayer would like to face a real man of the sword?'' He suggested.
Jaime could tell by his accent and appearance that this was one of the Frey's, but he wasn't one of the normal ones. This was Walder Rivers, one of the best fighters the Frey's had to offer. He might be a bastard by Walder Frey but he was part of the Frey family.
Well its not as if these men have offered me a fight so far.
Jaime circled around Rivers, who eyed him back.
Then Jaime lunged. Their swords clashed loudly, resulting in a spark. Jaime started pressing Walder back, before the bastard suddenly couter-attacked. He swiped at Jaime, but missed. His enemies always kept missing him, and this was no exception.
He jabbed at Bastard Walder but was parried away. This time River's feinted and Jaime fell for it, for the first time in years.
CLANG.
Jaime's head was ringing from the Frey's blow. The sword had struck his Lion's helm and would have severed his head in half if the metal had not held.
Good thing the helm wasn't made entirely of gold.
He stumbled back and watched as River's grinned. '' I suppose the King-slayer is out of practice. Mayhaps he is honing the wrong sword in Kings-landing. ''
Jaime did not miss the barbed insult and he charged. He feinted at Walder's head and half a second before being parried, he whipped back his sword as River's own came to defend against what he thought was the attack.
And Jaime lunged, thrusting his sword straight through the chink in the Frey's breastplate, running him right through.
Walder River's gasped in surprise as blooded dripped out of his mouth.
'' I suppose I have been honing my sword after-all.'' Jaime finished, and he yanked his sword out and watched as Walder collapsed onto his back.
Meanwhile, the remaining Frey's had broken, crumbled under the Lannister's intense numbers and well trained soldiers and sell-swords. They courtyard had been taken, and so Jaime gave him men their order's and then ran through to join the fight, as they flooded into the West Castle.
His men had done their work well. On the second floor level, he saw Lothar Frey transfixed with several arrows through his chest.
'' Never knew it took so many arrows to kill a lame man.'' A soldier observed.
At the third floor, there were dozens of Frey soldier's making a desperate last stand. It took half an hour to clear through them and he lost over 30 men but they were taking the castle. Floor by floor, room by room, one Frey at a time, they were taking the Twins of the Riverlands.
Walder Frey looked out the window of the East Tower, and saw the Lannister's swarming the grounds around the castle.
'' Seven Hells, how did they sneak up on us? Who forgot to give warning?''
'' Our sentries were slain before the boulders hit our walls.'' Raymon answered.
Well no surprise. Raymon was just standing there making obvious observations. Walder had little use to him now, at this great peril.
Suddenly Raymon's half brother, Merret Frey ran into the room. '' They are inside the castle! They broke through our gates and overwhelmed our defences. Black Walder, Steveron, Ser Jared, Raymond are all dead! They captured several other family members! And the West Tower is in just as much peril! We have no hope at all-''
Suddenly arrows flew at them, impaling themselves into Merret's neck, and Raymon Frey was shot down quickly as well.
'' Seven Hells!'' Cursed Walder as the Lannister crossbowmen advanced towards him. A familiar figure wearing a black leather coat with golden stripes, walked extremely fast towards Walder, another unknown figure walking behind him.
'' Hello Walder Frey. Perhaps you would like to try to take back that insult you said to my family?'' Tywin asked, and he drew a dagger and stabbed down, impaling right through Walder's calloused and wrinkly right hand.
Walder howled in agony. '' Stop, stop! What do you want?''
'' I want the Twins. I want to leave no mistake that a treasonous house that insults house Lannister will not get away with it. I have just accomplished both. '' Tywin hissed in Walder's ear. '' Your family is either dead or taken captive. That ratio is not in your families favour. You declared for Renly after he spoke charming words and promised protection and granted you extra lands. Well we will take those extra lands, and charming words are in a frightful shortage at this hour, and Renly is not here to protect you.'' He yanked the knife out of Walder's hand.
'' Take him away, and have him executed for treason.'' Tywin ordered. Two guards grabbed Walder and dragged him out of the room.
Meanwhile, as two more guards disposed of the remaining bodies, Tywin turned to the man following him.
'' Perhaps I underestimated you, Euron Greyjoy. Your contributions are to be well rewarded.''
'' The Iron-born take what is theirs, it is not given to us. I intend to take much more.'' Euron retorted.
Obviously giving away a title to Euron was not going to appease him. He was no Gregor Clegane, who was a loyal mad dog.
But he still needed to be kept with sweets. Tywin intended to hand him over part of the western River-lands, to become part of the Iron Islands kingdom, when this war was over, provided that they were not all slaughtered by Renly.
And today, he was going to savour the victory at hand.
They had taken the crossings of the Riverlands. Even now, the Freys were being finished off.
The Frey's had been taken out of the war.
And with the Crossing in their hands, Robb Stark would never be able to cross the Trident .
Ned, Renly, and the Tyrells were on their own.
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The news of what happened spread through the Red Keep like wild fire. There were different theories as to what really happened but certain facts remained constant.
Former Grand Maester Pycelle was dead.
Cersei had known about his unyielding loyalty to house Lannister for decades. He was one of the few people who actually knew about her relationship with Jaime, but he had been smart enough to keep his mouth shut. For the past year, when Eddard Stark had arrested her and Joffery, he had kept himself well under the radar and soon started secretly spilling sensitive information concerning Renly's war effort, to Tywin Lannister.
She was slightly relieved when she heard of his death. For the past year she was afraid that he might defect to Renly and confirm what he knew, but he stayed loyal to the Lannister's to his last breath.
Far better him dead than her secret confirmed.
The days had blended into one, it seemed for her. Her children were all kept in separate cells from her.
It had been three weeks since Jaime sent Ned Stark that letter with Sansa's blood on it. Unfortunately, Ned stubbornly refused to release her. And he even denied her the privilege of keeping the blood letter, instead he threw it into a fire.
And so her imprisonment continued.
The boredom had consumed her every day. Every day the servants would bring her meals but absolutely nothing else.
A few times she tried asking for books to stave off her boredom, but they silently refused. She tried talking to them, but they turned deaf ears to her.
Renly had very clearly sought to deprive her in every way he could, after how she indirectly killed his brother.
Even the food was lousy, especially compared to the rich fare she was used to. Before Renly had arrested her, she was used to dining on boars ribs in sweet and spicy sauces, with a variety of vegetables, or alternatively pigeon and fish.
But now, she had no power in even what meals were served to her.
' Her' servants constantly served her fried bread, hard cheese, and '' Bowls of Brown'', a popular street stew in the poorer districts of Kings-Landing. It had few specific ingredients. Usually it consisted of few basic vegetables, water, and some type of meat. In good times, many sellers included pigeon meat or fish in their Bowls of Brown, but Cersei rather suspected that Renly's servants specifically bought the stew from places that often used rat meat in their stew, even in good times.
Renly knew her worth as an unharmed hostage, at least for now. But he spared no time making her life as dull and lacking of luxury as ever. She was only allowed to bath every 15 days, and all her royal clothes, were sold by the crown
without her consent. Much, much cheaper garb of dull colours were given to her instead, and her bed was straw with a sheet over it, which more often than not slipped off at the slightest breeze.
Her tower cell was no where near as comforting as it could have been. This had been her home since December 298, and it was July 299 already. During the last part of November 298 she had been allowed in her royal apartments but that changed when her disobedient younger children caused that fight.
During the first month or so, she never stopped raging about how she was a queen, being imprisoned and that Renly would be hacked to pieces once her Lord Father got here. But time had worn that down, and now the boredom and silence was driving her insane.
All that kept her from going crazy, was counting the days until Jaime came and freed her and presented her Renly's head. She would let him take all the heads that he wanted, when he got here. Renly's, Eddard's, Loras Tyrell, every one of them.
To think that there had been a time when she begged him to restrain from taking Roberts' head whenever her drunk witless husband had hit her.
That day would soon come.
For a Lannister always pays her debts.
( So here is chapter 10. I'm finally back from the three week cruise. I had a fantastic time and no, I didn't drown.
In the last part I put in the months of the year under the assumption that although the seasons last for years instead of months, the months of each year are still true to a 365 day calender, to make time jumps more understood.
I know, I am making time jumps by weeks frequently in this fic, and haven't really ceremoniously introduced Euron Greyjoy, the exiled Mad Ironborn who has now joined with Tywin Lannister.
Now that I'm back, I'll be making more frequent updates with this story.
I originally intended to put in another scene where Jaime again torments Sansa but then I decided that it would be a waste of time, so I sent him to the Twins.
Thanks to everyone who has viewed and reviewed this.