Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Ice and Fire Novels, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon TV shows. However, I decided to have a little play around with the characters. I do not earn any money from writing these stories, it is for my entertainment and is something I like to share.
Sam V
Sam was worried. As soon as Brienne left he began to gather his things together in his solar as he would need to leave for the Red Keep within the hour, and probably for Dragonstone the next morning. He'd barely had five minutes to see Gilly and the children.
"Sam... Sam..." Gilly banged on the door of his solar and opened it.
"Yes?" Sam smiled.
Gilly had a look of terror in her eyes. "The city watch are on their way here."
"Why would they be coming here?" asked Sam. "They've got no..." he stopped as he heard a great thudding on the front door.
"Go get the little ones and hide in the cellar. I'll try and hold them off as long as I can." he said.
"Why, what are they going to do?" Gilly asked. "I'm not going anywhere without you."
"I think they're going to take you to the Red Keep." replied Sam.
"To prison?" Gilly's eyes widened with fear.
"No.." Sam shook his head. "They want you to stay there while I'm on Dragonstone." he told her.
"They won't do anything to us in the Red Keep." Gilly said. "Can you imagine what would happen if anything happened to us? "I'm not going anywhere without you."
"I'm not sure anything would happen." Sam said sadly. "I think Brienne is our only ally in Kings Landing and she's about to be sent to look for Bronn." he sighed as there was another loud knock on the door.
"I'm not leaving you!" Gilly insisted.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Sam sighed as he looked at Gilly, worried about how stubborn she could be, before answering the door. "How can I help?" he smiled at the goldcloak.
"You and your family have been invited to see the King. The meeting is at sundown which means you will be in a hurry. We are to escort you for your own protection and speed. You need to be there in time." the goldcloak who Sam didn't know explained.
"Gilly, go get Little Sam and Jon." Sam agreed, without inviting the goldcloak in.
"Ser Brienne was here, what did she want?" the goldcloak asked.
"To discuss Little Sam's lessons and potential timescales for him to become a squire. Don't tell Gilly, I haven't had time to discuss it yet." Sam faked a smile as Gilly returned with the two children. "Are we walking?" Sam frowned.
"Yes Grand Maester." the goldcloak nodded.
"My wife is pregnant, she may find it hard to walk all the way through the city." Sam explained.
"If she gets tired, pick her up." the goldcloak replied spitefully.
"Don't worry Sam, I'll be alright." Gilly smiled as she walked out of the front door, followed by their two children and finally Sam, who took one last look at his house and wondered if he'd ever see it again.
Half an hour later they arrived at the Red Keep, the goldcloaks proving useful to getting them through the crowds far more quickly, although Sam felt more like he was under arrest than simply being escorted to a wedding. When they arrived they were taken straight to the Godswood, however the children were ushered away to Sam's Maester quarters, which had room for the entire family, he just didn't want them to grow up in the Keep.
Bronn, Brienne Bran and the septon were already at the Godswood waiting for the Lady of Lys, as well as nine other men Sam had never met before, who all looked very similar and were dressed in silver armour with a matching silver cloak on their backs. The armour had white wings etched into the plating and the cloaks had the same design embroidered into the material. They were all of various ages, handsome, each with raven hair and blue eyes, and bore an uncanny resemblance to the Lady of Lys herself.
"Who are those men?" Gilly whispered to Sam.
"I have no idea. But I think they might be her family." Sam suggested as the woman herself appeared with another man dressed exactly the same, although he looked older than the rest. "Definitely family." Sam whispered to Gilly as the Mistress of Whisperers walked down the pathway to meet the King.
The wedding celebration could hardly be called a party. The attendees were Sam, Gilly, Bronn, Brienne and the rest of the Kingsguard, the High Septon and the ten strange men, as well as the happy couple, who looked anything but happy.
"A toast to the happy couple." Bronn raised a glass of wine, to which everyone except the King and Queen followed.
Once the food had been eaten, Bran clinked his glass with a fork to quieten the room. "I'm sure some of you maybe wondering who our new friends are. They are our new council guard who I'm calling the Silverwings." he told the group. "My wife and I are to use the Kingsguard as usual although Ser Raenel, who is the Lord Commander will be of service to the Queen." Bran pointed to the oldest Silverwing. Ser Raenel will also work closely with Ser Brienne. The rest of the small council will each be assigned two guards, with one left for rotation purposes. As some of you maybe aware, Ser Davos has absconded and gone north without permission, therefore his guards will remain here under the control of Ser Raenel as will those of Lord Tyrion who was sent north by myself. Lord Tyrion will receive his guards when he returns and I will need to talk to Lord Seaworth to find out his reason for travelling north. He will either be arrested or given his own Silverwings. In the meantime, Mistress Gilly and her family will be guarded by the remaining Silverwings while Grand Maester Samwell is on Dragonstone doing his very valuable work." Bran smiled as the room clapped, although Sam didn't feel like celebrating. Whoever these men were, they were his and Gilly's gaolers with fancy armour and fancy silver cloaks. He just hoped little Sam would continue his lessons with Brienne as he didn't want these men poisoning his ear with whatever twisted treachery the new Queen was plotting, which either Bran was blind to because of her beauty, or he was actively part of.
"I don't like this Sam." Gilly whispered in Sam's ear.
Sam shook his head. "Me either, but there's nothing I can do."
"Can't Jon help? He's got a dragon. Maybe he could go back to Dragonstone and then come for us. I don't mind going back north and living with the freefolk." she said.
"How?" Sam asked. "I can't send him a raven. Brienne has probably been ordered to stay in the Castle."
Gilly smiled. "I doubt these men know the Castle like you do. There must be a way out, even if we only send Little Sam north. He's already a good..." she stopped and turned to the door as it opened and in walked a woman with dark curly hair, much to the surprise of Sam.
"Lady Reed." Bran smiled at Meera. "I was so glad you could come. I would like you to meet my wife, Serenei of Lys." he held out his hand towards the Queen.
"Your Grace." she bowed her head at Bran and turned to the Queen. "Your Grace." she repeated the motion once more.
"I hear I am grateful to you for saving my husband." the Queen said to a completely silent room. "You will forever be in my debt. You may join the rest of our guests." she added.
"Thank you Your Grace." Meera smiled, although Sam suspected her smile was fake, and headed straight to where Sam and Gilly were sat.
"What are you doing here?" Sam asked.
"Good to see you too Sam." Meera rolled her eyes. "And you Gilly." she smiled, this time it reached her eyes.
Sam smiled at Meera. "Nice to see you Lady Reed, but how come you are here?" he asked.
"Bran asked me to come." Meera told him, although she didn't look very happy about it.
"You should have stayed away." Sam whispered. "Something is wrong."
"She's a witch." Gilly told Meera in her quietest voice.
"I know." Meera nodded. "A very old witch. She has dragon blood, as do all of her sons."
"Are these all her sons?" Sam looked around at all of the black haired men, Meera nodded. "Does Bran know?"
"I think so." Meera replied. "She is using some sort of blood magic to stay young..." she stopped as two of the Silverwings approached.
"I'm Aelon. The older of the two men introduced himself.
"And I'm Jaemon." the younger of the men smiled. "We are to be your guards Grand Maester. It is a pleasure to meet you." he said.
"Aelon, Jaemon." Sam smiled nervously. "You can call me Sam." he added. "This is my wife Gilly." he pointed to Gilly. "And I believe you are already aware of Lady Reed." he added as he noticed both men wore a ring with a blue sapphire on their right hand. "Nice ring."
"Part of the armour." Aelon laughed.
"And matching swords." Meera looked on in interest. "I'm quite a keen fighter myself, although I am more inclined towards archery." she shrugged.
Sam's eyes wandered down to the hilt of the sword, which in keeping with the armour was silver, the pommel housed a blue sapphire, surrounded by a tiny emerald either side of it. Jaemon, who seemed to be the friendlier of the two pulled it out, revealing steel which was a dark grey in colour. "Oh, Valyrian Steel." Sam's eyes widened. "Where did you get that?"
"Handed down through the family." Jaemon replied.
"All ten?" Gilly asked, stating the obvious, to which Sam hadn't wanted to point out.
"Gods no." Aelon laughed. "Our father was an important figure at the Iron Bank. He was able to get hold of many things. Valyrian steel swords were one such item which he collected. He had them reforged by a smith in from Volantis to make them all match." he explained.
"Well, at least I'll be well protected with you two around." Sam swallowed.
"Don't worry Mistress Gilly. Your husband is in safe hands with us. We'll make sure he comes to no harm on Dragonstone." Aelon assured her. He then took her hand in his and kissed the back of it. "We will be leaving soon, therefore I must beg to bid you farewell." he added.
Jaemon did the same. "Sam, we are to be leaving for Dragonstone shortly. It might be an idea to say your goodbyes to the King, Mistress Gilly and your children." he said.
Sam nodded subserviently, got up and walked over to Bran. "Your Grace. Ser Jaemon has suggested I bid you farewell as we are to depart shortly for Dragonstone." he said, his voice shaking, he hadn't even spent a day back in Kings Landing and only a couple of short hours alone with Gilly and the children.
"I'm sorry to send you away so quickly." Bran smiled. "But the tides are right and you need to sail there as soon as possible. We can't risk the return of Drogon, who knows what he and Aegon are capable of."
"Is Jon due back there?" Sam frowned.
"I can't tell." Bran shook his head. "The fire magic is blocking my visions from wherever he is. If I do not know his plans I cannot foresee what will happen. My visions of Dragonstone are also unclear. But I have reason to believe he will return in the future to search for what you will be looking for and will find before he does, that I am confident in." the King smiled.
"You are our best hope Sam." the Queen smiled a beautiful smile, although Sam felt it was as fake as her beauty. "Go to your chambers and say your goodbyes." she said as Sam nodded his head and walked back over to Gilly, on his way he glanced over at Brienne, who was watching the entire incident from across the room with a stony face, he just hope there was enough sadness in his face to prompt her to stick to her word, although now the Silverwings were lurking, he suspected there was no way to escape the Red Keep without being found out.
Sam and Gilly were escorted back to his Maester's chambers, where the children were still sat up playing with one of the serving girls, who Sam suspected was one of the Queen's starlings. He ushered the servant out before hugging them all.
"Sam I'm scared." Gilly's mouth wobbled as she held back the tears.
"Bran won't do anything. Those men are just guarding you until they've got something better to do." Sam tried to reassure her.
"How can we escape?" Gilly whispered into Sam's ear.
"Tyrion has the plans for the Red Keep in the Hand's library." Sam told her. "Unless you can get it from there..." he stopped. "You'll be teaching the children. Tell them you will be teaching them the tales of Dunk and Egg, the books are in Tyrion's library. See if you can find the scrolls in there, although it is a bit messy. See if Brienne can find you a boat and get you somewhere safe." he whispered.
Gilly nodded, tears in her eyes. "And what about you?" she asked. "How will I know if you are safe?"
"You heard the Queen, I'm too valuable. They need me for this task. I'm the last person they'd kill." he assured her as there was a knock at the door. "Come in." he said, kissing Gilly on the lips.
"Maester Samwell. It's time. We have your things already on the boat for you." Aelon told him.
Sam hugged his two children who were now crying. "Don't worry, daddy won't be long. I'm going to look for magic." he told them. "When I find it I'll come back and show you." he smiled, kissing them both. He looked to Gilly. "You look after her won't you. I might not be here when she comes."
"Don't be soppy. I'm quite capable of having a babe." Gilly shook her head and smiled. "Be off with yer." she said cheerfully, although Sam knew it was an act in front of the guards. "Bring back some of that dragonglass for the kids, they like to make marbles from it." she smiled as Sam was finally able to drag himself away and head towards the door.
"I love you." Sam smiled sadly.
"I love you too. Now go!" Gilly told him, and with that, Aelon closed the door behind them and Gilly's face disappeared.
"With me." Aelon told Sam. "Jaemon is waiting for us at the boat. We don't have long, the tide will be going out soon." he said as Sam did his best to run, but he quickly run out of puff.
"I can't run very fast." Sam complained as Aelon turned down a completely different passageway to which Samwell expect. "You're going the wrong way." he said.
"Shortcut." Aelon said. "We've got the maps to the secret passageways to the Red Keep." he explained and Sam's heart sank, he knew Gilly would never find a way out now as the map was missing.
Eventually they descended from one of the tunnels to the shore of the Blackwater, where a small rowing boat was waiting to take them to a much larger and luxurious looking boat.
Sam shook his head. "I don't like sailing, it makes me sick unless I have me tonic." he complained.
"Can you make it up when you get on board?" Aelon asked. "I don't want vomit all over my nice new armour." he snapped.
"As long as all of my things are on board." Sam nodded, wading through the water, soaking his robes before climbing into the boat where Jaemon was already sat waiting for them.
"Ready brother, Sam?" Aelon asked. Sam nodded.
"I am." Jaemon replied and started to row them out to the ship, the lights of Kings Landing and the Red Keep disappearing with every ounce of Sam's hope.
If you like this story, please like, follow and/or review. It helps motivate me to get the chapters written and published quicker.
Mandzipop.
