Adrian
While everyone thought of plants when The Reach was brought up the kingdom was more than just a land of farmers. Yes, growing crops was what a majority of people did who lived there; it wasn't called Westeros' Bread Basket for anything. Leagues of wheat fields stretched from horizon to horizon, controlled by dozens of Lesser Houses that had banded together in order to manage them for the larger and more wealthy of families. More than one foolish farmhand had gotten drunk, wandered into a corn field, and died of dehydration, unable to find their way out of the stalks, their bodies only discovered months later. Orchards that contained every single kind of fruit tree grew high and proud, bearing sweet fruits waiting to be turned into jams, perseveres, and liquors. Vineyards in the south that produced the wines that all sought to dethrone Dornish Red and Arbor Gold as the most popular drink of lords and princes. And for those that wished for beauty without any other uses there were the great flower fields that produced the bouquets and dried fragrant petals that were beloved by ladies everywhere.
But that didn't mean that was all the Reach knew. After all, Old Town was the center of learning in all of Westeros and until the last 100 or so years had been the center of the Faith. The Knights of the Vale might be known as some of the most impressive knights in Westeros and the most virtuous but The Reach was a close second, being masters of tournaments throughout Westeros.
And, just as important, was their ability to command the waves.
Everyone focused on the Iron Born when it came to thinking of the Masters of the Seas. Them or the Velaryons. Bu the Redwyne fleet was one of the most powerful armadas in Westeros, especially after the loss of the Lannister Fleet, which to the current day was still only a shadow of its former self. And many of the coastal Reach towns had their own flotillas; they had to. The Iron Born, even in the best of times, were always a threat, as were the pirates sent out by Dorne, though they always denied it. And while it wasn't the Riverlands there were still plenty of waterways that slunk through the Reach, allowing merchants to send their goods to the coast so they might go around Dorne and reach the Narrow Sea, rather than risk taking the Rose Road.
During one of his many attempts to make a name for himself Adrian had gotten a position on a merchant ship. It was actually one of his more pleasant escapades, as there was little bitterness in how it had ended and the only time he could truly admit the Tyrells simply couldn't have had a hand in trying to keep him from The Tombs. He'd sailed with the crew for little over a year, making three voyages to Essos when the Captain had finally called them all together at port and told them that he was too old to keep sailing. His first mate had already expressed an interest in settling down on land, having found a pretty little thing he wanted to make a life with, and that was that. The boat was sold to another man who already had a crew in mind and thus Adrian's crew had drifted off; if he ever saw them again he'd greet them as friends. He'd considered signing onto another ship but that's when he'd run into that Maester and… well…
It didn't matter, that was the past. Adrian was in the present and focused on the pleasure barge that was currently sitting in the middle of Blackwater Bay, bobbing up and down like a shiny red apple that had fallen into a dark pond. That time with the sailors had taught Adrian much about ships and that knowledge was now helping him greatly.
'King Joffrey's Delight,' Adrian thought to himself as he hovered high above the Blackwater. 'A coastal sailing barge. Built to hug close to the shallows. They tend to be assembled in two halves which are then brought together at the final stage to allow for the shiprights to be able to more easily move about the central rooms and ensure that they meet all requirements of their future owners. The wide hull allows for the ship to be far more stable but makes it utterly slow and ill suited for deep sea travel; if one can not travel along the coast then the barge must be dragged by larger galleons while completely unloaded and then restocked when it reaches its destination. Though now it is claimed that the term 'pleasure barge' comes from it being a toy of powerful lords originally ships such as King Joffrey's Delight were used a floating whore houses, wine sinks, and gambling dens that could easily travel up and down the coast to different tourneys. The last time one was used like that in the Blackwater was during the reign of Baelor the Blessed when he outlawed prostitution and other such vices.'
Adrian looked down, confirming that his guys were getting into position. They'd secured a fishing boat and were keeping a wide enough berth from the barge so that no one on board got an itchy hand and began to fling spears and pull out bows. They'd wait for his signal before they got close enough to claim the ship.
"Enough history," he muttered to himself and with that comment he dove down from the sky, curling his wings back so that he was like a dart, plunging towards the briny darkness that was the Blackwater. These moments always made his heart pound but not out of fear. No… Adrian loved moments like this, when life and death mingled and merged, swirling together until it was impossible to separate the two.
He flared out his wings and jerked into a low flight path, his body so close to the water that if he reached out his hand he could skim the waves with his fingertips. Life and Death had merged but he had the skill and drive to untangle them and grasp Life firmly in his hand.
In front of him King Joffrey's Delight grew larger. Even for a pleasure barge the thing was gaudy and disgusting in how it dripped with decadence. Rather than the standard single story enclosure that contained rooms and stairs to the lower deck the barge had what resembled a Reach-style open barn enclosure. It was like someone had taken a building and scooped out the center of it. On either sides there were rooms and a second story which had forced the designer to make the barge's hull even wider than normal to compensate. Tables were set up even though the King and the Tyrell whore were meant to be the only passengers on board that night. Anyplace other than the Blackwater that would have been nice, as it would allow for outdoor dining even in the middle of a rain storm but with the stink of the city he doubted his grace would be interested in that.
Adrian came up hard, catching a lazing Tyrell guard completely, well, off-guard. He grabbed onto the man's doublet and willed himself upwards, ignoring the swordsman as he screamed shrilly as it finally occurred to him just what had happened. Adrian waited until they were about as high as the height of the Red Keep before finally paying the shrieking man any attention.
"Must you?" he asked in a tired tone as the man continued to cry and pound on him with his fists. Adrian felt the strikes but the armor he was wearing muted much of the sensation, leaving the blows to be more annoying than anything else.
"Let… Let me go!"
Adrian just stared at the man.
And stared.
And stared.
With a sigh of disgust at the sheer stupidity of the guard he did as commanded, not even bothering to enjoy the man's squeals of fright as he plunged down towards the Blackwater, hitting it with a, quite literally, bone breaking splash. If he had survived he wouldn't be swimming back to shore, that was for sure.
The little display had caught attention of the other guards and now they moved out into the open, letting out cries of "Vulture King!" while jabbing their fingers at him. Adrian lowered himself a bit, holding his arms out wide like a monarch greeting his adoring subjects and that only served to anger the Tyrell guards even further. They hissed and cursed and called him all sorts of names and Adrian merely smiled behind his mask. Some of them took up their bows and fired but he'd planned his descent well and their arrows arced well out of range of him before falling limply to the water below. It was all rather-
A crossbow bolt struck his right wing.
He slowly turned to stare at the dragon bone. It was perfectly fine… not even a scratch. The magic of the runes still flowed through them and Adrian hadn't even dipped an inch when the bolt and struck. Still… they had shot at his wings…
Adrian slowly turned his head towards the guards, spotting one man hurrying to reload while another tossed down the sword he had been waving and grabbed another crossbow.
'Enough of this,' he thought with a black fury before plunging down towards King Joffrey's Delight.
The second man fired but Adrian was coming in too fast and he misjudged his target, the bolt going right and away from him. The first man was still cranking the drawstring of his crossbow when Adrian landed on the deck. He didn't slam into it, as he didn't want to risk damaging the hull; he had no idea what an impact like that would do to the ship. No, he merely adjusted his speed and felt the familiar sensation of his body suddenly going still so he landed on the deck feet first. Whatever magic existed in the wings they protected his body from such quick movements, which he was very grateful for.
Who wasn't grateful were the Tyrell guards.
The first crossbow man, the one that had managed to actually strike him, was the first to die. Adrian lashed out with his wing, the very one that had taken the hit, and took of the man's head, shoulders, and part of his chest from the rest of his body, sending a spray of hot blood on his comrades. The man just had enough time to twitch and move his mouth in a silent scream before Adrian speared his skull with the tip of one feather, lifting up the smaller chunk that had been the guard and flinging it into the ocean before he was on the second crossbow man. This one he kicked in the gut, doubling him over before he grabbed onto his head with one hand and his shoulder with the other, giving a violent twist that saw his arms flailing for just a moment as he was able to see behind him before his body went limp like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
That caused the other guards to rally and they screamed bloody murder at him as they raced at him. Adrian drew his hands towards his chest and his head against his breast as he curled his wings around him, forming a dragonbone barrier that took the strikes of their swords while he remained safe inside.
'5… 4…' he counted to himself, '3…2…1-'
He spread his wings out wide.
Two men were sent hurtling backwards. Others were shoved aside to give room for the wings to spread. The ones that had been in front of him were slashed open, their guts falling to the deck as they dropped to their knees, clawing at their innards in an attempt to put them back inside. The others, seeing what awaited them if they allowed Adrian to attack, began to go at him again… which only put them in closer range of his wings. He began to toy with them, pushing them aside without actually cutting them apart, doing only minor wounds…
"The horn! Sound the horn!" someone called and Adrian knew at once it was time to finish the fun and get down to business.
One guard had been trying to slash at his face with a sword; the man got shoved back and then Adrian slammed his wings together, causing the man's body to pop like a pimple, showering his guts all over the boat. He then bent forward and swept his wings out wide, letting loose the smaller feathers that were buried within the wings that no one noticed until they were piercing their throats and by then it was too late. Several guards found themselves slammed into the walls of the barge before being riddled with feathers that locked them in place; it was going to be a bitch to clean up but Adrian figured he'd have time as they sailed out.
Finally there was one man who was racing up some rigging to a squat little lookout spot that wasn't fit to be called a Crow's Nest. Adrian merely leapt back into the air, hovering behind the man, watching in amusement as he muttered to himself about how he had to sound the horn, had to get help. If he sounded the horn then he could get help and then they would be saved. Never mind the fact that anyone on shore, even if they were already in a boat that was ready to go, would take nearly ten minutes to get to King Joffrey's Delight. The guard was so scared he wasn't thinking that far ahead.
"This is just sad," Adrian muttered.
The guard let out a yelp… lost his grip… and fell backwards, limbs flailing about as he toppled over head over ass… and got his neck caught in the rigging.
Adrian grimaced as the sound of the man's neck breaking filled the air.
"Fuck…" he muttered to himself, watching the body twitched before going still. He had seen plenty of people die… caused plenty of people to die… but that was… well…
Finally snapping out of his befuddlement of what he had just seen Adrian lifted up to the highest mast. The sails were down which was good as it meant he didn't have to deal with the canvas, so he was able to spin up to the very top before pulling out a flag Phineas had designed for just this occasion. It was the Baratheon flag but, if one looked carefully, they would see that it lacked the crown around its neck. Most people wouldn't think twice about that, not from the distance they were from the boat if they were standing on shore.
Which is why it was the perfect signal for his boys to get their asses over there.
Sure enough the fishing boat made its way over to them, docking on the side farthest from the view of the Red Keep, and Adrian smirked as he saw the guys quickly board, grinning like children that were given a chance to suck on a honeyed spoon. They were looked at everything and clearly calculating just how much this would bring in. Not just the wedding gifts that were in the depths of the barge's hull but the furniture, the drapings, the gilded decorations. Fuck, if they were smart they would be able to strip the ship of its riggings and even sell those! If they managed to hide quick enough and work fast enough they could have the entire ship torn down to its planks and nails in a day or two and increase their takes by a third.
He could see all the boys thinking that and it made him smile. Finally… finally they were getting it.
"I know that there has been some grumbling as of late of us slowing down on taking the merchant carts," he called out, holding out his hands for silence and being given it. Oh, the boys were all grinning and shaking each other in delight at the take but they were still allowing him to speak. Giving him that respect. "I know a few of you worried that I would be satisfied with the haul we'd brought in so far."
The boys murmured in agreement at that. Adrian hadn't been ignorant of their complaints… but he had understood that sometimes men needed to complain about the ones in charge. A wise leader allowed them to do that within reason. Blow off some steam without ending up like Brice, going completely off plan. A wise leader didn't bring his fist down and deliver harsh punishment for such things; doing so only made them never come to you with issues and sometimes what they had to tell you was smart. Like when Hurmin had informed him that he'd gotten word after he'd played some dice with a soldier from the Westerlands, that Tywin was looking to secure the Rose Road because the attacks by the Vulture King were growing too numerous for him to cover up. That had allowed Adrian to shift some things, offer himself as the perfect person to guide the merchants in… and thus raise his star amongst the Hand of the King.
And, of course, find out exactly what was going on with King Joffrey's Delight.
No, a wise leader let his men grumble. He understood he couldn't please them always but there was a difference between the mild rumbles of discontent and the beginnings of a mutiny. Of course… a wise leader did know when to drop the hammer when things got a bit too loud… Brice was an example of that.
"But," he called out, grinning behind his mask, "I hope that the faith you placed in me has been rewarded?"
"It fucking well has been," Hurmin said with a grin.
"Not a single person killed… no one hurt…" Tymmons shook his head. "Fuck, I haven't had a sword pointed me in weeks! It's been fucking odd, boss!"
"I know!" Adrian said with a laugh. "And don't think for a moment that I don't appreciate all of you." He walked up and patted Olyver and Nells on their shoulders. "You boys… you've done real good. That's why I had no problem taking the risk on this one. This wasn't a job… it was a reward for each and every one of you." He paused. "That's why I'm not taking my standard cut. We're splitting this equally, each and every one of us!"
THAT got a cheer out of the men. Normally Adrian took a triple share, arguing that he was the one being put at risk flying in as the Vulture King, he was the one coming up with the plans. Phineas got a double cut when he helped plan things out and sometimes he'd give out a reward to certain members of the group if they went above and beyond. But this… this time they would be all equals. Because life was fucking good.
"Now then, unless someone has something else to add I'll leave you to get this ship out of here while I make my appearance at the wedding."
"Oh!" someone called out from the back of the group, their youthful voice cutting through the air. "I do have a question! How do YOU think Maegor the Cruel ended up dead on that throne?"
Adrian frowned, stepping forward as the boys parted… to reveal the fucking red and blue Spider that had interfered with Adrian's fight with the Centurion.
"You…" he growled.
"Because I've always been curious myself. I have a few theories and-"
Hurmin fired his Shocker Gauntlets at the Spider, who leapt away easily causing the blast to merely harmlessly skip across the water like a stone tossed by a bored child.
"-I really think one of them is right! But it doesn't hurt to get other views on it!" One of Adrian's men moved to try and strike him but the Spider was fast and limber, a deadly combination which allowed him to easily dodge the blow, weaving around him before grabbing the man by the arm and flinging him into the air. He let out a cry but then the Spider thrust out his hands and what Adrian realized was webbing shot out of his wrists and globbed all over the man ('Munk', Adrian thought to himself) and trapped him against the side of the barge's hollowed out upper section. "Unless you REALLY want to hear my theory first!"
"Don't encourage him," the second Spider, the ebony one, said from Adrian's right and he turned just in time to get some webbing on his mask. He growled and began to tear at it, the material sticky and clinging to his fingers just as much as it does his mask, making Adrian all the more frustrated. "Seriously, he won't shut up about it and it is so moronic."
"it is not moronic!" Red Spider complained as one of Adrian's men pulled out a short sword and began to hack at him. But the Spider merely bobbed about, like it's a dance, avoiding every blow. At one point he even paused to tap the man on the shoulder and give him a cocky little wave when he'd gotten so spun around he'd actually lost sight of the Red Spider. "It is based on historical fact!"
"How did they get on the fucking ship?!" Hurmin roared as he fired upon the Ebony Spider, only managing to startle some birds that were flying by when his foe easily swung away, causing his shot to go wide again.
"It wasn't fun!" the final Spider, the female one, complained as she suddenly appeared behind Adrian. He lashed out with his wings, still able to see here even with part of his mask webbed up, forcing her to dive away from him. "We had to cling to the side of the boat! I thought the Blackwater smelled bad from shore! Do you KNOW what it is like when you are only a foot from the surface?"
"Oh calm down, it wasn't that bad!" Ebony called out the White.
"I saw shit!"
"And?"
"The rats were using it as a raft!"
"…was it a really big piece of shit or did they manage to tie a bunch of it together?" Ebony dove down, webbing up two more of Adrian's men when they tried to move to assist him as he lashed out at White. She kept moving in to get close but whenever he tried to land a blow she seemed to sense where his fist was about to land and was able to dive away. "Because I remember hearing about a little rat man that made rafts out of shit."
"It was a cucumber man," White said.
"Rat."
"Cucumber."
"Are you two really arguing about that?" Red complained. "Because we have more important things to discuss." He ducked a blow from a cudgel Tymmons sent his way before firing off more webbing. Not at any of the boys but rather at two of the masts. The gray material went taunt and Red pulled on it before using it like a child firing a slingshot, only it was his whole body that went flying straight up into the air. Adrian actually took a moment to watch him before Red was diving down, slamming into the crowd and causing half his men to topple to the deck. "Because we could be talking about my Maegor theory. I read about how there were reports of a traveling carnival and-"
Adrian let out a bellow, snapping his wings out as he teared the rest of the webbing from his face. "Enough of these games," he growled before launching himself into the air.
"Aw, come on! Didn't your mother tell you it's not fair to do something the rest of the kids can't do? If you are the only one with a ball you can't demand everyone play Bounce About!" Red fired webbing at a mast and begins to swing about, trying to get to Adrian. But much like when he had raced the Centurion the dragonbone wings with their mystical runes allow him greater speed than the Spider can ever hope to get. "And it's rude to-ugh!" Red nearly hit some rigging and had to twist out of the way; it was only… mildly impressive… how he was able to contort his body to get through it and continue their spiraling chase above the barge. "It's rude to take your toys and run away when you don't like the fact that you aren't winning!"
"Who said I was running away," Adrian said before doing a complete 180 on a dime.
"Shit!" Red cried out. He tried to twist away but Adrian hit him full on, punching him in the side hard. He let out a whine of pain and Adrian smirked at that. Good… that's the only sound he wanted to hear coming out of the rambling fool's throat.
"You know what's rude?" he asked as he drove his knee into the Red Spider's stomach. "Getting involved in something that doesn't concern you!"
He moved to throw Red down, either against the ship or into the water, he wasn't picky, only for himself to feel his flight path suddenly come to a jerking halt. He blinked, looking down to see White had fired webbing at his feet, catching around his boots and halting his progress. She was perched in the lower rigging, straining but still managing to pull him slowly back towards the ship even as the magic of the wings did all it could to keep him going forward.
"Pathetic," Adrian growled as he dropped like a stone, causing the female Spider to go toppling backwards, nearly falling off the barge. He smirked only for Red to remind him that he still had problems to deal with by punching him in the face hard enough to make his helmet dent in slightly. "Just stay still…"
"Nah, I don't think I will!" Red said as he leapt away from Adrian and began to swing around the rigging and mast again. "Seriously, those are some cool wings! Wouldn't it be better if you focused on entertaining kids at their namedays instead of robbing people? Bet you could make a lot of coin!"
"We could too," Ebony said coming up from behind Adrian. He tensed, ready for the dark suited Spider to hit him with some webbing, only to cry out when the bastard fired… something… from his wrists that made Adrian feel like he'd been shocked by one of Phinaes' inventions. He fell several feel, wings cutting through lines in the rigging, getting tangled in the ropes as he tried his hardest to right himself. "Oh, he did NOT like that!"
"Will he like this?" White said and suddenly she was just… there! One moment he was cutting through the lines and the next she was right in front of him, delivering a flurry of punches and kicks to his middle before once again disappearing as if by magic. Or, very likely, by actual magic at this point. "Nope, he did not."
"Good to know!" Red said as he fired off some webbing, the gray goop coating Adrian's left wing and pressing it to the mast. He snarled but then another glob hit his right arm, locking it against the rigging and then he was a bombardment of web that kept hitting him, causing his body to jerk as he began further tangled in the workings of the ship.
"That's a good look for you," Ebony said, swinging over.
"Now, since you have a moment, let's talk about why you decided to steal from the crown," White added.
"Other than the obvious reasons that 'I want shiny things'," Red commented. "Because-"
The Red suited Spider twisted but he was too slow, a crossbow bolt catching him right in the side.
"Petyr!" Ebony called out as Red fell to the deck. But he couldn't get to him because Adrian's boys had grabbed the crossbows that the Tyrells had tried to fire on him with and were now launching their own assaults. Others were moving on the downed Spider, Red moaning and pressing his hand to his side as his blood dripped onto the deck. "Get away from him!"
"Come and save him!" Hurmin snarled as he fired on Ebony, taking out a section of rigging. Adrian hurriedly used the talon-like blades on his gauntlets to cut through the webbing, freeing his arm just before a pulley went slamming down to the water below… one that would have ripped his arm off at the root if he hadn't acted quickly. "I am getting real tired of you Spiders!"
"Well…" Red said with a moan, now far slower than he had been before, "not exactly a fan of you so why don't you just agree to leave and never do anything bad again-"
"And I am really sick of your mouth!" Hurmin said, aiming his Shocker Gauntlets at the Spider.
"NO!" Someone shouted, Adrian couldn't tell who, but it was too late. Hurmin fired but Red darted out of the way, his blast ripping through the barge and puncturing the deck.
Everyone, be they Spider or Adrian's boys, remained utterly still and silent, the only sound that filled the air being the ominous groaning of the ship.
In the back of Adrian's mind his thoughts on the building of the pleasure barge came screaming back. For ships like these the Reach shipwrights tended to build them in two sections, split right down the middle. This allowed them to easily work in all the rooms, make sure that everything was squared away, and then they would seal it all up. That was dangerous, of course, because if there was a battle that meant that the ship, if it took a good enough hit, could crack like an egg. But it was a pleasure barge, meant for sailing around safe waters and deep rivers. One didn't go taking it into the open seas or around dangerous areas like the Stepstones or the Iron Islands. No… keep it safely near shore and bring it in the moment the weather looked like it was turning bad. Never allow it to even be caught in a battle.
Never allow it in battle.
Crack like an egg.
The sound of wood splintering filled Adrian's ears.
"Back to the boat!" he roared as he cut himself free.
"But the loot!" someone called down.
"Forget the fucking loot you want to-" The fissure began to run along the surface of the deck, causing his boys to leap away in shock. "Either get on the boat or hope you are a strong swimmer to get back! Especially when this bastard goes down and sucks everything around it with it! Move!"
His crew growled at that but did as they were told, leaping onto the fishing vessel while Adrian flew once again. He counted 6 guys trapped in the webbing but there was no way to get them down. Damn it all… damn it fucking all! He shook his head and flew back to the fishing boat as the men put oars into the water and began to row as fast as they could.
"What about the Spiders?" Hurmin snarled.
"You want to get back on there and deal with them?" he asked. "Let's see them swing away from that anyway!" With that he launched himself into the air, mind racing. All the loot was going to the bottom of the Blackwater. The King might try and get it back but anything not made of gold was going to be ruined. And it would be a bitch to try and use nets to find anything… even a good diver with a strong set of lungs would find it impossible. There might be some bobbles that washed up on shore for the next few weeks but otherwise it was all lost. Damn it all.
He was just about to the Dragonpit when he saw something metallic flash in the sky and he turned in time to see the Centurion rushing towards the Blackwater.
Even the Spiders couldn't die properly!
"How did it go?" Phineas asked when he landed. Adrian, instead of answering, ripped off his helmet and chucked it across the room, hearing it smash into something; most likely a shelf, considering the clatter he heard. "Yeah, I figured it was that bad. I was watching… saw things go to hell-"
"The Spiders showed up and Hurmin sunk the ship."
"…yeah, that's bad," Phineas muttered. "What are you going to do now?"
What was he going to do now? He was counting on that haul. It had won him a lot of points with the boys but now they were going to be disappointed… and then angry. Hurmin was going to get a few punches, if he hadn't already, but at some point someone was going to wonder if it wasn't Adrian's fault instead. If he shouldn't have planned ahead, thought things out a bit more, prepared for the Spiders. It didn't matter that none of them could have ever seen this coming they would place blame on him…
…unless…
"I'm going to go to the wedding feast before people wonder where I was. You are-"
"Uh… that's kind of over."
"What do you mean?" Adrian asked, turned to stare at his friend. "I left on course 8. There are 77 courses all together. We were out there only a few hours, they should-"
Phineas chewed on his lip. "So, nothing is official yet but the bells are ringing and some knights of minor houses have begun calling it out in the streets."
"What?" Adrian demanded.
"King Joffrey is dead."
Adrian blinked at that.
"… did you hear me?"
"I'm still trying to determine that," Adrian said, reaching up and wiggling his finger in his ear, wondering if the Spiders' blows had done more damage than he'd thought. "The King is dead?"
"He is," Phineas said. "That… might be why no one has sounded the alarm about the barge. That fight… it wasn't exactly subtle. I'm not sure though anyone was paying attention. Eyes turned towards the Red Keep and not Blackwater."
Adrian didn't know how to feel about that. Normally he hated it was he was overlooked but this… this worked out in his favor. As horrible as that was to say because the king was dead. "That's… that's going to make things interesting."
"Oh, it gets better," Phineas said, shaking his head "Littlefinger."
"What?" God Adrian was tired of being confused.
"It was Littlefinger. He apparently ran up and stabbed the King to death."
"…I can't talk about this now, I'm too addled to think straight or make any sense of what you are saying."
"Believe me," Phineas said as Adrian began to walk towards his sleeping chambers to get changed, "I don't get it either! No one does! But this… this is going to make things wild. What happens with the Tyrell girl? She was queen for a few hours but now… I guess the crown goes to Tommen? The Dornish might push for his sister, considering she is married to Lord Martell's boy, but there is no way the Tyrells go for that. It would be a Dornish king in all but name. So it has to be the boy. But who is going to rule for him? The Lord Hand? The Dowager? And what with Littlefinger… that can't be the whole story."
"Which is why I am going to try and get back to the Red Keep if I can and find out more. We leave any wine or anything lying about?"
"There are a few barrels left. Buyer that was supposed to purchase them backed off, remember?"
"Let the boys break into it."
Phineas frowned. "That's a lot of money, Adrian."
"They need to decompress after this and I don't want them annoyed at me. Tempers are going to flare up but I'd rather they remember that you and I gave them free drinks. And I don't want them on the streets… not tonight. Not with the barge gone and the fucking King fucking dead!" Adrian smacked a wall in frustration. "Gods damn it all!" He took a breath. "Sorry."
"I get it. Keep them here. Hey… the news will keep their mind off things."
"Heh," Adrian said with a slight smile. "That will work."
Phineas looked at him. "Before… you began to say something. You were going to go to the Red Keep and you wanted me…"
"Right," Adrian said, rubbing his hand over his face. "The Big One… does the King's death fuck that up?"
Phineas blinked before his eyes went wide, a delighted smile forming on his lips. "No. Makes some parts harder but… no, actually it might be a lot easier. Eyes on the Red Keep, not the road. And I've been tracking the shipment and it's still due-" He paused. "You're not jesting with me, right? You mean this?"
"I fucking mean it," Adrian said darkly. "We're hitting the crown's payment to the fucking Iron Bank."
