Chapter 18: Future Imperfect

It hadn't taken long for the Stark retinue to leave their apartments in the Red Keep. Both Eddard and William had known that the Starks were no longer welcome in King's Landing. Jaime Lannister and his men had made sure of that when they had crippled Eddard Stark so badly that it was very likely that he would need the assistance of a cane to walk for the rest of his life. Will could not help but feel terrible for not being able to protect Lord Stark when he was needed the most.

You cannot blame yourself, Will. He had ordered you to complete the ships, and you would have had no idea where he would have gone anyway…

No, but I could have defended him from the damned Lannisters! I could have saved Heward, Wyl and Jory! I should have been there!

Will could have beaten those Lannister soldiers, with his hands and legs tied behind his back, whilst blindfolded. He probably could have done it right then as well, but Jaime Lannister had been intelligent enough that if he had stayed, he would have only caused more trouble. From what Eddard had told him before he had left, Lady Catelyn had captured Tyrion Lannister and taken him to Lady Lysa, Catelyn's sister, in The Eyrie. In response, Tywin Lannister had emerged from Casterly Rock and taken his mad dog, Gregor Clegane and taken to burning all of the Riverlords' lands wherever they went.

We should have gone with them, we should help them. The Starks took us in when we had no idea where we were. We should repay them in kind…

We can repay them in kind by staying the capitol. We can give them reports from the south, and we can keep an eye on the Lannisters. We help them, even though we may not be able to help them physically…

As soon as Eddard and Arya had left the Hand's Quarters, William had rushed to his own room, locked the door, threw the book down onto the table by his bed, and shouldered the bottomless bag. William was not going to risk losing all of his belongings, especially not during such a stressful and strenuous time. He took a look at the book, and it seemed to be one that looked like a long and boring read, if looking at the size of the book was anything to go by.

The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms…

That is a bit of a mouthful, is it not?

The leather-bound book seemed to be in great condition, despite how old it looked. There looked to be hundreds upon thousands of pages, detailing the very beginnings and sometimes ends of entire houses. Will read about Houses like House Peake, one of the houses that seemed to have been once a massive and wealthy house with three holds, now it was one hold with a very small lineage. He soon found out that the House of Baratheon was slightly related to the exiled House of Targaryen.

That must be why the Lannisters or the Starks never took the Iron Throne, the Baratheons had the blood right to it…

There seemed to be a small piece of torn paper inside the book, placed on the page of House Baratheon. William began to take a look and read the family history of House Baratheon.

Lyonel Baratheon – Blue of eye, Black of hair.

Ormund Baratheon – Blue of eye, Black of hair.

Steffon Baratheon – Blue of eye, Black of hair.

Robert Baratheon – Blue of eye, Black of hair.

Joffrey Baratheon – Green of eye, Gold of hair

The seed is strong, the seed is strong, the seed is strong…

"Oh, fuck..."

X-X-X

Will had unravelled the mystery, why Jon Arryn had died, no, why Jon Arryn was murdered. Will had found out why Lord Stark was almost killed when he was at that whorehouse. William had been told by Ned that the King had many bastards, and it was well known that Robert was a well known philanderer. Yes, they were bastards, and they would never inherit a thing unless things had reached very extreme circumstances, but they still had Baratheon blood running through their veins.

Will had left the Stark apartments and had began roaming the halls of the Red Keep, he was now the very definition of the lone wolf. He was the only Stark man left in the capitol, and just before he had left the apartments, Will could see the The Quiet Wolf and its' sister ships making their unannounced escape, right under the noses of House Lannister.

It had taken a while for the information to hit William, but when it had done, it had hit him at full pelt. 'The seed is strong' was Jon Arryn's way of saying that King Robert's children were not his children, but in actuality, Lannister bastards.

House Baratheon never will never in actuality have a dynasty…

And the House of Lannister will have taken over in secret, and nobody would ever have known if Jon Arryn had never said the words…

The future seems to be very much imperfect, William.

"Sir Will! Sir Will!" A voice yelled from behind him.

The voice turned out to be Robert's youngest brother, and the fifth-in-line to the Iron Throne, Prince Renly. He was covered in blood from head to toe, and his face seemed to be carrying the look absolute shock and horror.

"My Prince? What is wrong? What has happened?" Will asked.

"Robert… We were on the hunt and he was drunk… I had taken flight before I heard his scream… I ran back and the boar…. It was goring him…." Renly stammered and blustered between breaths.

"Where is he?"

"He's in the royal apartments, with Cersei and the rest of them. Where is Lord Stark?" Renly asked.

"He's gone. He left King's Landing just a while ago. I chose to stay here."

"I see… No matter, please, come with me."

X-X-X

The closer and closer William and Renly got to the Royal Apartments, the more and more the two men could smell the stench of death and despair, despite all of the flowers that tried to make it seem like the smell never existed in the first place, but even the flowers were overpowered by the mixture of the shit in Fleabottom and the smell of rotting flesh in the Red Keep.

"Ser Meryn, Ser Preston, stand aside, William is with me." Renly ordered.

The two knights moved and William and Renly entered the room. The room had two braziers lit, and they were not just a flickering flame, but a fiery blaze that seemed to make every single person in the room break into a sweat. Varys had a small handkerchief and was wiping his head, Littlefinger was as far away from the braziers as possible, and Ser Barristan was stood on King Robert's right side, watching over him. Cersei was close to her husband as well, and it seemed that Robert was taking his final moments to speak to his son.

"I'm sorry, that I was not a good father to you… I was never meant to be a father…"

When Robert had said his final piece to his son, Joffrey had walked out without a word said. Robert blinked a few times and spotted William standing next to Renly.

"Will? Is that you, lad? Where is Ned?" Robert asked.

"Ned… he left, Your Grace, news about Lord Bran had came up and he wanted to go immediately, as did his daughters."

A lie, a white lie but a lie none the less…

"I see… I don't blame him. Family always come first, wouldn't you agree, Will?"

"I would agree, Your Grace."

"You're a good lad, Will. Has Ned ever told you that?" Robert asked, deliriously.

William had to smile at that. It had not happened very often, but it had happened from time to time, mainly just as a small compliment. Robert gave a small chuckle, and then curled up in pain, his face a grimace. William felt like he had seen something like this before, with Vendrick, yet this time he was not responsible for killing the great man, but instead, it was an overgrown pig.

Robert is not a good man though, he beats Cersei, he abuses Joffrey, he does not care about his kingdom! A good king needs to care, to manage his kingdom! Robert never did that! He left everything to his council, who according to Ned, have not done a very good job, Jon Arryn, may his soul rest in peace, definitely tried to keep the Seven Kingdoms in line. Ned Stark also tried! Why didn't Robert?

"Many of the Stark household, Your Grace. I served Lord Stark loyally, I served him more than anyone else, even myself." William replied.

"I bet you did, lad. The Starks always manage to find a way to make the best out of people. Especially Ned, always Ned."

Robert gave a series of cough, a horrible mixture of blood and mucus coming out of his mouth. His wound seemed to start bleeding even more, the bandages, dampening with all of the blood pouring out of the king as he lay on his deathbed.

"All of you, I need to talk to William in private, all of you leave, even you Barristan." The king told his guard, sadly.

"Are you sure, Your Grace?" The old knight asked, and his eyes seemed to be on the verge of crying.

"I'm sure, Barristan. Don't blame yourself for this, I told you not to interfere between me and the whoreson pig. This was my fault."

"My love, please, allow me-" Cersei tried to interject.

"Get Out! All of you!" Even when he was nearing death, Robert still managed to get his might voice heard. The council and the guard and the queen all left hastily, leaving William with the drying royal.

What do you think he wants?

Probably going to make a deathbed conversion to the Seven or whatever their gods are….

"Will, start writing for me, use the paper next to me."

"What should I write, Your Grace?"

"I, King Robert Baratheon, First of his Name, Lord of Seven Kingdoms, titles and titles. Hereby proclaim, my brother, Stannis Baratheon, Prince of Dragonstone, as Lord Protector of the Seven Kingdoms until my son and heir, Joffrey Baratheon, comes of age."

"Is that all, my king?" Will asked.

"Aye, Will. Aye, send Pycelle in, it's time for me to go." Robert said, closing his eyes, giving a quiet cough.

"Of course. I may not have seen you or known for a long time, unlike Ned, but I can tell that you have always meant well, and not everyone may have seen that, but I did. You were a good king, Robert. Goodbye, My King."

William left the room without another word, but he could hear King Robert just barely whisper the words 'goodbye, lad' before Will left the room. The council were waiting right outside the room, and it seemed like Cersei might have shown some kind of emotion when William left the royal apartment.

"S-s-sir Will, w-w-what has King Robert said?" Pycelle stuttered.

"Give him some milk of the poppy, Grand Maester. It's time." Will replied.

It seemed like an eternity, but soon the elderly Maester had returned, and it seemed like the atmosphere of the group could have been cut with a knife.

"Grand Maester, could you take me to the ravenry? I need to send a raven to Winterfell and Dragonstone." Will asked, as politely as he could.

"O-o-of course, sir, come with me."

Hopefully, you won't be looking at the very same letters I will be sending to Ned and Lord Stannis….

"William?" Cersei said.

"Yes, Your Grace?"

"After you have sent your letter, please come and see me in Maegor's Holdfast, I need to speak to you in private."

Will was not shocked by her request, but he was more curious. He had no idea why he would have wanted to be seen by Queen Cersei Lannister, unless she needed a shoulder to cry on, but that was all William would have been good for.

"Of course, My Queen, I shall be there as soon as I can be."

"Thank you, kind sir. The Small Council is dismissed." Cersei ordered, before turning and walking to the Holdfast.

May the Gods help us all, especially if Joffrey becomes King…

You never know, maybe he will change when he is given some responsibilities…

Somehow, I doubt that.