Chapter 3:
As the Spider rose up the stairs to report to His Grace, he couldn't help but ponder over the latest reports his little birds had brought to him… and of the uneasiness he felt whenever he was in the presence of the king's ward.
The Seven Kingdoms had all been taken aback by surprise when the ravens came and detailed the shocking and gruesome murder of Cersei Lannister in the Red Keep by her younger brother Mikael, who was still a young lad of nine name-days, after she partook in a forbidden, albeit secret, relationship with her own twin brother, to who she gave her maidenhood shortly before her death. Even more when he was brought before the Mad King, who pardoned him from any wrongdoing whatsoever in the kinslaying of his sister, before naming him his ward!
It was there that Lord Tywin disowned his already disgraced heir, Jaime, who was said to have left King's Landing in a rage to gods-knows-where after the king refused to punish his brother for murdering his sister/lover. As for the head of House Lannister, he had resigned his long-time position as Hand of the King, much to Aerys' delight, to return home to Casterly Rock in shame and disgrace. Varys' little birds had told him that there were already stirrings in the Westerlands from the revelations of the relationship between Lord Tywin's twin children, that were causing the lords to quickly lose their respect and fear of House Lannister. Most of the reports indicated that another rebellion, in the veins of House Reyne and House Tarbeck, was already in the works.
Varys sighed. Tywin Lannister had brought peace to the realm in Aerys' absence, but now who would uphold the peace?
As he neared the king's solar, he heard the sound of hysterical laughing. Varys knew who was the one making that laughter, after all the whole court had heard it in the throne room at Mikael Lannister's trial.
The Mad King was so heavily amused by the devastating scandal inflicted upon his rival's House that he decided to humiliate them even further by pretending to be on the Lannister heir's good side only to question him about how good his sister was in bed. Varys couldn't help but smirk a bit at seeing Tywin's reaction, fuming with an urge to kill his king along with his son, but helpless to do so.
The following morning after he disowned his heir and announced his resignation, the King decided to throw a huge feast to celebrate Tywin's leaving King's Landing. Lord Owen Merryweather, who was appointed as Tywin's replacement as Hand, mostly because he constantly praised the king and laughed at all of his jokes, made a few japes about the fall of House Lannister, which got a few laughs from the lords in the court.
Aerys then ordered Pycelle to send a raven to every corner of the Seven Kingdoms and reveal the happenings in the Capital. Pycelle quickly did so, even though Varys knew he was a strong supporter of House Lannister, only because the king would have him burnt in wildfire if he did not do so.
A few weeks later Varys received reports that Lord Tywin had returned home to Casterly Rock, where riots were happening all over in the Westerlands, with a few Lannister guards being beaten or killed in the process, with others becoming turncoats and deserting their liege house, yelling obscenities and silently proclaiming they would never serve a kinslayer. Lord Tywin of course ordered them to find the guilty parties and take their heads before doing the same to their families, but the smallfolk only became more emboldened to continue rioting, while House Lannister's bannermen were slowly starting to turn against them in the process. Varys already imagined the dire consequences it would bring upon the Westerlands as well as the realm as he knocked on the door. It would be far more than the reports his little birds had given him.
"Who is it?!?" He heard his king shout.
"Lord Varys, your Grace. May I come in?"
Aerys groaned, which Varys took as a yes.
Varys pushed the door open and there was his king breaking his fast with… his ward who was staring at Varys, with the eyes of a demon from one of the Seven Hells.
The king had taken an immediate liking to his new ward, which appalled everyone, since Aerys was paranoid, even with his own family, who had grown tense everytime when they sat down to break their fast with Aerys and his new ward. Rhaegar had argued with Aerys on more than several occasions to please the lords and behead young Mikael Lannister, but Aerys had slapped him hard in the face, scratching his cheek with his long nails while doing so, drawing blood.
"You filthy son of a whore," Aerys screamed. "Do you not realize that NO ONE questions the dragons?!? NO ONE!"
After that, Rhaegar refused to even bring up the topic to his father. He did however plead with his mother and Princess Elia to keep the children away from his father's ward, and to avoid him whenever they could. He immediately left the city on important matters he had to attend to, leaving his wife and mother to fend for themselves in the presence of Father and the Lannister boy. Not that they needed to, considering they were in the company of the servants, who avoided young Mikael, as they felt he brought a curse down on the Red Keep, considering the various disappearances of several servants inside the Red Keep, who were never seen again.
The guards investigated, but found nothing in their chambers informing them of their whereabouts. It was immediately determined on their part that they had gone off and gotten lost in some dark corner of the castle.
That didn't stop the servants from jumping to conclusions. Some of them had gone to their king and explained their concerns to him, before asking for his permission to leave his service, since they didn't feel safe there. The king immediately responded by ordering his men to subdue them and have them burnt with wildfire.
When doing this, the king said, "The sheep do not demand of their king, so why should you?"
After that, the servants said nothing. Instead some of them decided it was best to sneak out of the Red Keep instead. In the morning, their bodies were discovered, and when the Kingsguard told Aerys about it, Aerys shrugged it off, saying that the other servant decided to kill them to keep them from rebelling against their king.
Only they, along with Varys and everyone else in the Red Keep, who wasn't Aerys, knew the truth: Mikael Lannister was involved in some way or another.
Varys kept his calm facade on, while deep inside he wanted to piss himself. Varys had encountered many sorts of people in the game of thrones. Varys considered himself one of the few who knew how to play and survive the game of thrones. Others of course assumed they knew how to and considered themselves untouchable, relying on fear, such as King Aerys and Lord Tywin. Then there were those who were blubbering fools with an air of arrogance around them.
This… thing… was neither of those. It had no interest in the game of thrones, Varys realized, completely horrified. No, it's sole purpose was to kill everything in its path.
Varys saw what the thing standing in front of him had done to his little bird who had been spying on the boy's siblings. Saw the look of absolute horror on the little bird's face, along with the servants who attempted to desert, and the boy's sister whose chest had been stabbed five times before her brother had stabbed her fatally one last time, impaling her to the wall in her guest quarters.
The boy was nine namedays old, and still growing, but a boy his age couldn't lift his older sister up from the ground the way he did, and then impale her to the wall with such precision and such force.
They were brutally, methodically butchered like cattle before they were served at a lord's feast. The question Aerys was dreading to ask was who would be next?
"Did you need anything, my Lord?," said Aerys, who smirked at Varys' silence.
Lord Varys turned back to Aerys and focused all his attention on him. "Yes, your Grace."
Varys bent down and whispered in the king's ear, so that the thing known as Mikael Lannister would not hear a word he said.
"Your Grace, my little birds tell me that your son, His Grace, Prince Rhaegar, has made arrangements with Lord Whent to throw a tourney at Harrenhal, and invite all the major lords there. Apparently they wish to discuss having you removed from the Iron Throne."
"Those damn USURPERS!" Aerys shouted, slamming his fist down in anger on the table. His expression darkened, but not as much as the Lannister boy, staring at Varys. "They think they could replace me that easily? With my own heir, no less? Well, I believe it's time to come out of hiding here in the Capital."
He turned back to the Lannister boy, who appeared calm and silent, which frightened Varys greatly since no one was ever frightened of Aerys before.
"Boy," Aerys said, smiling. "I hope you're good with a sword as much as you are with a knife, because I am appointing you to be the Crown's champion."
Varys instantly turned to the King in surprise. "Your Grace, are you certain about this?"
"I AM THE KING!" Aerys screamed. "Not my traitorous son or any of the other lords in my court. Gods, I should have just let him marry that Lannister whore, and see if maybe for once the damn boy gets any sense in his head."
He turned to the boy and smiled.
"What do you say, boy?" Aerys said. "Should we teach those traitorous lords a lesson?"
The boy stood staring at Aerys, before he nodded up and down slowly.
"Excellent!" Aerys said, clapping his hands in delight. "Lord Varys, inform my knights to prepare my arrival. We have a tourney to attend."
Varys gulped before nodding to Aerys, and instantly leaving the room. He could already feel the boy's eyes watching him leave.
Gods help us all, Varys thought as he closed the door.