Stannis
The year opened with a storm. Petyr Baelish sat on the Iron Throne in the Red Keep with a crown and the Realm on their knees and outside its walls a storm raged as fierce and violent as any that ever visited Cape Wrath. And Stannis Baratheon stood in the eye of that storm inside his fortress on Dragonstone. He leaned against the table, knowing soon he would be kicked off the island in favor of whoever Petyr Baelish's heir was.
He leaned against that giant table Aegon the Conquerer had made to represent the Realm he would soon conquer. He stared at the Realm that was rightfully his but lost by the logic of Catelyn Stark and the poisonous words of Petyr Baelish. And her. He lost because she told him he could win.
She was standing behind him staring outside the window into the thrashing Narrow Sea. Stannis blamed her for this horror, "You said you saw my victory in the flames."
The priestess muttered just over her breath, "I did." She stared out into the storm as lightning streaked across the sky with the hammer of gods smashing into broken shields, "I still see it."
"The flames lied," Stannis growled, "And I'm not better than a savage." Since when did they choose they choose the leader of the pack by words and asking the lords what they wanted? Rule of law was rule of law, and by that law Stannis should rule. But he had to trust in R'hllor. This woman came to Dragonstone and paraded her fires and her magic and her prayers and called Stannis the messiah and Stannis was fool enough to believe her, "Trusting in a fire god," he spat the euphemism, "I fought for your god in Blackwater Bay," it was only a few ships from Joffrey's false fleet, but they still counted, "in Winterfell," alongside Robb Stark, "in Deepwood Motte." That he did by himself. He even converted Galbart Glover by coming when Stark did not… and it was all for naught, "I led my men through the gates of the seventh hell as their brothers burned alive, and for what? Attack from behind by Petyr Baelish and the Lords of the Vale? If you see so much in your flames why didn't you warn me?"
Melisandre turned to Stannis and made to speak, to defend her seeresses powers, "The Lord of Light only allows me to…"
Stannis Baratheon had heard this venom before and he spat it out, "You claim to speak for a god!"
The woman would not relent. She leaned her hands across the table from Stannis and asked him an indomitable question, "Will you quit the war just because you've lost a battle?"
This was no war. Petyr Baelish was no warrior. But the Kingsmoot was his Trident. And he was Rhaegar Targaryen. Stannis swore an oath and he was bound by law to submit to the new holder of the Iron Throne. But still, she knew nothing, "You talk about war as if you understand it."
She leaned back, smug and satisfied with herself as if she knew some secret history Stannis was ignorant of, "I've been fighting far longer than you."
Stannis looked up from the map. He was leaning against Dorne. He narrowed his eyes as the red woman stared down at him trying to encourage the man she called a King, "Have you?" he asked. He walked over to where she was standing and wrapped his hands around her throat. He felt the air passage close and the precious flow of life into her lungs cease, "Show me how you fight. Show me." Her hands instinctively went to his wrists to try and pull him off of her. But his grip was stronger and she soon stopped resisting. Instead she held up her hands in total surrender. Stannis was once a King and now he was nothing. And it was all because she told him he could do it. She told him he would rule all the Realm and hold it in his palms like so many copper coins. Instead, he submitted to Catelyn Tully's rule and Melisandre's assurance. And they were wrong.
He stared down into those red eyes looking for any sign that this god was real, any sign that he had placed his faith in something substantial and not just an incendiary parlor trick. But he saw none. They were empty. Her eyes simply stared pleading back into his, "Where is your god now?" Stannis asked in desperation, "Will he save you?" If R'hllor could strike him right now with flame, he would submit. He would bow to this fire god over and over but he knew it was just ridiculous. There was none. He was gone from this world like the Old Gods of the weirwood that were cut down when the Andals came, and the Seven who only had power over men who carved it into their chests, "Where is your god?"
From behind a closed throat, Melisandre croaked two words, "Inside you."
And Stannis opened his hands and held them out. If the Lord of Light filled him with his power, it was up to him to evoke it. How could he fault the gods for his mistakes?
Mistakes…
Melisandre dropped to the floor gasping for breath. Stannis walked over to the window and watched the storm rage and the lightning that marked the Stormlands declare his failure. This all began with Robert. It always began with Robert. Stannis followed his brother into war against the Mad King. He betrayed his oaths for the sake of blood and was rewarded with nothing. Robert never loved Stannis and Stannis never loved Robert. It's why he left when he and Jon Arryn discovered the Lannister conspiracy. It's why he planned for war: because Robert would never listen to him. That time, because the Throne was rightfully his, he went against oath and blood. And for that gamble, for that betrayal, he lost the Iron Throne…
The Lannister woman may have organized the conspiracy, the squire may have made him drunk, and the boar may have ripped him open. But it was Stannis' silence that killed him, "I murdered my brother," he declared in horror.
The red priestess stood. While Robert was on his deathbed, she was busy converting the Dragonstone population to the fire god. She looked over at Stannis with her hand on the wooden carving of Blackwater Bay, "We murdered him," she walked over to Stannis and put her arms around his shoulders, "Share the weight with me."
What did she care if Robert Baratheon was dead? She didn't know him, they didn't share blood, "He wasn't your brother," the horror solidified in his soul. He hated the Stark woman for denying him his Throne and convincing him to join this Kingsmoot… but if it wasn't for her, Stannis would have killed Renly too… "He was my brother."
The red woman tried to encourage him, touching his face lightly and speaking in that soft holy voice of hers, "This war has just begun. It will last for years. Thousands will die at your command. You will betray the men serving you. You will betray your family. You will betray everything you once held dear. And it will all be worth it. Because you are the son of fire. You are the warrior of light. You will sweep aside this pretender and that one. You will be King."
The words washed over him like the waves outside in the Narrow Sea. She touched his hair and told him how he would be a god and a king and all the rest, but all the proof pointed otherwise, "You promise these things. But you don't know. None of us know."
She drew him away from the window and brought him to the torch, "Let me show you," she nodded to the torch and stared at it as the jewel around her throat began to pulse and beat like a heart, "Look into the fire, my king."
Stannis looked. He saw nothing but the dancing flames. The heat from the torch warmed him from the thunder and rain outside the Valyrian walls of Dragonstone. But anyone could understand that. Except for the basic properties of fire, Stannis saw nothing, "I see fire."
"Keep looking," she said, "Do you see?"
Stannis stared deeper into the flames as they kept dancing. And little by little, they morphed and changed. Stannis saw things he never thought he would. He saw himself being paraded through the Seven Kingdoms as a hero. He saw the Wall and the war. That great second god the red woman kept harping about approaching the North with all his icy might. He saw death knocking at the gates of Castle Black and approaching the doors of Winterfell. Stannis saw steel clash on steel and the Iron Throne shake from the quake of the Seven Kingdoms breaking apart once more. He saw the four directions of the earth clash in an eruption not seen since the doom came to Valyria. He saw a field of flowers burn and the sun darken. He saw a wolf and a stag go east, a lion roar, and a kraken tangle with a titan sitting on a throne of blood and bone. And finally he saw himself in a cloak of crows, "Do you see, my king?"
And then he saw dragons.
"Yes."
