Disclaimer: I don't own ASoIaF/GoT. Well, guys, I'd say this is the second last chapter. Next one will be the epilogue, I believe. At most there'll be two more chapters if needed.

I hate Cersei, but I actually feel a bit bad for her here. Hopefully this chapter is okay. I'm not too good at battles and stuff, so I tend to skim over them. I wasn't very happy with this chapter, but I couldn't improve it.

Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers. Keeping reading, enjoying and reviewing!

Chapter Twenty-Two

Capturing the Castle

The Red Keep: 23rd October, 303 AC

Sara:

"This way," Aegon murmured in a low tone, turning to the right fork of the crossroads they had come to.

Everyone from the south had been appalled by the greenseers' announcement that the lions had hidden caches of something called 'wildfire' all throughout King's Landing in an attempt to destroy the besieging army. Appalled and panicked.

Sara's people had not understood their reactions, at first. What was so frightening about this fire? They were, after all, right beside a bay full of water that they could use to dose the blaze. Then the southrons had explained what wildfire was, that it mimicked dragonfire and would burn until it dosed itself, that even a river of water would only increase its' intensity, not dampen it. That had been horrifying to hear. Sara wondered why none of the Tarygaryens had ever used it against her people in one of their many wars against each other, and Aegon had explained that it had been invented late in his grandsire, Aerys the Mad's reign.

It seemed that the lioness couldn't even be original, as she had taken the idea from Aerys. The difference was that Aerys had never gotten the chance to actually have the wildfire he planned to use to 'turn into a dragon' created. Rhaegar had staged his coup and locked his father away in Dragonstone before the Mad King had gotten the chance to go through with his insane plan.

Thankfully, Alivia had had the sense to search for a way around the deadly trap, and informed them that, to win the war and prevent Cersei and Aenar from having the pyromancers unleash the deadly inferno, they would have to use a sneak attack. Some of the southrons had grumbled about cowardice and honour, but none of them had been able to refute Robb's point that at least if they were alive they'd be able to regain their precious honour, and a painful death via burning in a fire along with everyone else in the city that they allowed to ignite would destroy their honour and leave it that way.

Now, there they were, a small group made up of both southrons and northrons, sneaking into the Red Keep via one of the many secret passages installed by Maegor the Cruel. Personally, Sara thought that the Red Keep ought to be burned to the ground and rebuilt. The current castle was surely cursed, given that Maegor had ordered its' builders murdered after they had completed their tasks. Maybe that contributed to the Targaryens' insanity as well as their arrogant claims of being exceptions to the Gods' laws and their incest.

Another group, larger and led by General Umber and Ser Something Arryn, Aegon's goodbrother, had also used the passageways to get inside the city, but their task was to get into the wall barracks and seize control of the gates, opening them to allow the Winterlander Army to enter unhindered by the City Watch and Westerlands' reinforcements.

But that was irrelevant right now. What was relevant was that they were about to sneak into the keep and seize control of it from the inside. From Alivia's visions, only Cersei, Aenar, and the leaders of the Alchemists' Guild knew about the wildfire. The rest of the Guild had been given excuses, and were unlikely to support the act (given that going through with it would mean their own deaths as well). As such, they needed to capture the leaders themselves, and then the rest of the defending army would lay down arms, or if they fought, they wouldn't know of the wildfire nor would they go to ignite it.

Capture Cersei, Aenar and Hallyne, and they would win the war.

"These tunnels are like a maze," Robb grumbled in complaint, clutching his sword tightly. "What lunatic came up with the idea for them? Not even Winterfell has such a complicated system!"

That was true, but there were, however, at least one passage in nearly every room, and at irregular intervals in the halls. It had been attacked, burned and rebuilt more times than could be counted throughout the many millennia since Brandon the Builder had raised the original keep, and every time it was renovated more passages were added to give the residents ways to escape. Some had been forgotten, and not all of the known ones were useable, of course, but enough were to be useful, and the secrets of their locations were known only to the members of the main House and to the Warg Warriors, to maintain the integrity of the passages.

"They were built by Maegor the Cruel, the Conqueror's youngest son," Aegon explained lowly. "He suffered from the madness that plagues my family, and ordered the keep be riddled with passages, so as to be able to escape any assassins. Not even my family know more than a handful of them."

"Where does this one lead?" Sara inquired softly. She knew it led deep into what they called Maegor's Holdfast, but not the exact location of their exit.

"To the royal apartments," this time it was Ser Barristan who answered. "We will come out of the wall in the king's bedchamber."

"It is late," Oberyn added. "Like as not, Aenar will be abed and we can capture him with ease."

It would have to be a capture, if possible. Insane and hated he may have been, but Aenar was still Aegon's blood, and they wanted to avoid him being tainted with the label of kinslayer. If necessary, however, they would do what had to be done.

"We must not become over-confident," Paladin Maege Mormont warned. "Arrogance has killed more warriors than any blade ever could."

"Indeed, you are correct, Paladin," Sara's lover acknowledged.

"We're nearly there," Aegon announced. "Just around the next corner, at the bottom."

Sara inhaled and exhaled deeply, centring herself and preparing for battle. They had been forced to leave the wolves behind, as they were too large to fit in the tunnels, and she felt bereft without Taibhse's reassuring presence at her side. Oberyn swooped down to give a quick but passionate kiss, before pulling away and adjusting his grip on his spear. She felt a small smile flicker across her face. She had come to terms with and accepted her love for him, and now there was a peace in her that she had not felt before.

She glanced around, taking in the small group quickly. Herself, Robb, Oberyn, Aegon, Sers Barristan and Oswell, and Paladins Maege Mormont and Serena Whitewolf, Maege's loyal apprentice. Everyone was doing some last-minute checks as they ensured everything was ready and their weapons were sharp. The wait was over.

They had arrived at the entrance.

Aegon:

The death of the falsely proclaimed King of the Seven Kingdoms did not take long. Aenar had been fast asleep in bed when they sneaked into his bedchamber as quiet as mice. He screamed loudly for the guards when Aegon put his sword to his neck and whispered for him to "Wake up, little brother". The false whitecloaks guarding his doorway had come rushing in, but quickly been taken out by Aegon's uncle and Ser Barristan. Meanwhile, the rest of them had been occupied securing Aenar, though things had not turned out as they hoped.

Aenar, despite his cowardice, had fought back on instinct. Paladin Whitewolf had reacted first, having been closest to Aegon's side when Aenar had lunged at him wildly with a dagger (its hilt was very gaudy, made of gold in the form of a roaring lion with glinting ruby eyes. No doubt the Winterlanders were sneering at the useless, ostentatious nature of it. Perhaps they had rubbed off on him more than he had realized, because Aegon was exasperated by the thing also). Despite his lack of skill, Aenar would very likely have successfully managed to kill Aegon, striking him right in the back of his unguarded neck when he turned away for a moment to speak with Princess Lysara, if not for the paladin's intervention. As it was, Paladin Whitewolf spotted his brother's actions, and she intercepted the attack with her sword, disarming Aenar with one swift movement and then, before anybody could react, shoved her weapon deep into his chest, and then twisting it to yank the blade out of his brother's choking body. Aenar had crumpled into a heap, face forever frozen in an expression of wide-eyed shock and disbelief.

It was a terribly ignominious death, and would cause problems, as many would think they had set out to kill him, but Aegon had no time to react or dwell as just then, the other guards had finally responded, much too late. The two whitecloaks died quickly alongside the redcloaks who joined them, and Aegon made a mental note to have all of their names removed from the White Book, for they were not true members of the Kingsguard, and unworthy of the honours accorded to the members of the Order.

The noise made when Aenar was captured and subsequently killed, and the sounds of the guards fighting Aegon's group drew more opponents to them. The sheer amount of redcloaks was difficult to deal with, but they had a good position, holding their places around the door so that their enemies was forced to come in one or two at a time, quickly meeting the Stranger by one of Aegon's people's hands.

While the others of their group fought the redcloaks, Aegon slipped away with his uncle and the princess to find and capture Cersei and Wisdom Hallyne.

They found her in the throne room, ordering the leader of the pyromancers to light the caches, the other two false Kingsguard at the bottom of the dais (Jaime Lannister had, apparently, fled with Valaena and Aelyx. They would have to be found, and soon, for they were threats as long as they were free).

"Burn them!" Cersei demanded from where she sat on the Iron Throne, her voice and expression wild with rage and insanity. It seemed the stress of the siege had done in the last remaining fragments of her sanity. Aegon had always expected it to happen one day. She had forever been delusional, after all, daring to believe herself more worthy of the title of Queen than his caring and beloved mother, and that her mad son would make a better king than he, something not even her own father had believed to be a possibility, else he'd have tried to kill Aegon years ago.

"Burn all of those savages and usurpers to death!" She cried to Hallyne, who was bowing. Aegon imagined that his grandfather Aerys had made a similar picture, all those years ago when his father had preformed his coup and seized control of the Iron Throne."May they all rot in the seven hells where they belong!"

"We would not go to your precious seven hells," Sara scoffed, making the pair's heads snap in their direction, horror and shock forming on their faces. "Were our souls damned, we should be bound for the Dungeons of the Otherworld. But fear not, Mad Lioness. You will get to see your sacred seven hells soon enough."

Hallyne bolted for the door, while Cersei screamed at the whitecloaked guards protecting her (or whatever they was doing. Clearly they were both lacking in the brains department, as they'd simply been gawping at them since Sara's first word, making no attempt to take on the people coming to capture-or kill, if Sara was the one to reach her first- their queen) to defend her and kill the trio.

In silent agreement, the Princess went after Hallyne, while Uncle Oberyn stepped back to take on the second guard while protecting the entrance they had come through, leaving the area free for Aegon to take out the first guard and capture his so-called stepmother.

His sword clashed against the knight's own weapon, and he knew immediately that he was the superior fighter. The portly man was sweating profusely already and panting, his strikes were weak and slow. But, as all Aegon's teachers had reminded him many times, all it took was a slippery patch of ground at the wrong time and he'd be killed by a half-trained page.

He treated the man as cautiously as he would treat an opponent as skilled as Ser Barristan himself, successfully blocking his strikes and putting the other swordsman (if he was really worthy of the title) on the backfoot. Finally, using a manoeuvre from Essos that he had learned from Oberyn, he twisted the sword out of the other knight's hand and, with a final strike, took the man's head off.

That done, Aegon turned on his younger sibling's mother.

Cersei:

Cersei glared bitterly at her stepson, damning him to the deepest, darkest depths of the seven hells, along with his weak mother, his bitch of a sister, grasping whore of a wife and all of his heathen, tree worshipping Winterlander allies.

Her enemies had won, and she couldn't understand how they had done so. Why had the Gods aided them? She had never been a religious woman, but both of her parents had assured her that the Seven intended for her to be the vessel that set Lannister blood on the Iron Throne, ensured they would forever be the most powerful of the Great Houses. She had been so close to achieving her destiny of installing a Dynasty of Lions in the Kingdoms. But things had started going wrong when her father had died, worsened when Jaime took her younger children, and now they were completely in tatters. All hope was lost. She prayed that her son was safe. No doubt Aegon would seek to eliminate his rival, knowing Aenar was the preferable choice for king.

"Curse you!" She spat. "Curse you to hell and back! Aenar is the rightful king!"

"Aenar is dead," Aegon informed her flatly.

She felt her heart stop, and she shook her head in desperate denial. "You're lying!" She screamed. "You lie! Not my son! Liar!"

His expression seemed to soften a fraction. "I do not lie, Lady Lannister," he answered quietly. She ignored his incorrect address. She was Queen Regent Cersei, not Lady Lannister. But the topic of her son's continued breath outweighed all else, so she ignored it. "We intended to capture him and place him on trial for his crimes, but he attacked me and one of my group was forced to kill him in my defence." Cersei could not deny it anymore. He had a look of almost sympathy for her in his purple eyes, and the barbarian and Dornish manwhore looked, to her eyes, to be almost smug.

"Kinslayer!" She wailed. "Brother-killer!" She jumped from her seat on the Iron Throne, lunging at him and hitting him with her fists, thinking only of making him suffer the same pain she was feeling. "You will pay for this!" She cried as hands encircled her arms and pulled her away from her stepson, whose expression had gone stony. "I will kill you! Kinslayer! Kinslayer! I will kill you if it is the last thing I ever do!"

She was dragged away, still screaming curses and threats, and taken to a plain tower room where she was locked in. She fell to her knees, hitting the floor and screaming threats against Aegon, Elia, Rhaenys and everyone who dared defy the Lannisters until she fell unconscious, tears streaming down her cheeks as she dreamed of the world that should have been, where she reigned supreme, her children surrounding her and Jaime at her side as her father and mother both beamed at her with pride, the Imp, Elia Martell and her brats having never drawn breath.

"Five for him and three for you. Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds," Maggy the Frog had said to her, all those years ago. "And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you."

To her knowledge, Valaena and Aelyx lived still, though their hair was indeed gold and they had indeed worn worn actual gold crowns. But her golden boy, her Aenar, was dead, and she was indeed drowning in her tears.

Soon, the Imp would likely come and choke her to death, as she had been sure he would since his birth had murdered her beautiful mother, and in the midst of her grief at losing her children and crown in one fell swoop, Cersei almost wanted it.