Chapter 9: Surrounded by vultures
William
He blinked a few times, getting used to the brightness of the day. His head was spinning and he had a feeling of not being able to recognize where he was. He opened his eyes to look at a fat boy whom he had never seen before staring at him. He tried to speak but ended up coughing. His throat was too dry and he needed water. Thankfully, the boy understood and put a cup of water next to his mouth. After drinking, he looked around and found that he was in a room in the Red Keep. He looked towards the boy and again found him staring at him.
"Who the fuck are you?" he asked.
"My name is Samwell Tarly, your grace. You can just call me Sam," he replied all the while not breaking his eye contact with him.
Will tried to get up but couldn't find the strength to pick himself up. Sam came to him and helped him to sit on his bed.
"What are you doing here? Where is my mother? My wife?" asked Will.
"I am the assistant to Archmaester Ebrose. He has been treating you for the last week."
"Last week? How long was I asleep?" he asked.
"A couple of moons or around that. I should send for the Queen. And, also, the Archmaester. He told me to inform him immediately after you woke up," he replied walking towards the door.
"Also send for my mother. I want to know what has been happening in my kingdom while I was asleep."
Sam stopped in his tracks and slowly turned towards Will. He had a look on his face that Tommen's cat made when it was hungry.
"What is it? Where is my mother?" he asked.
"I should call the Queen. She instructed me to send for her as soon as you woke up," he answered and started to walk away. He was acting nervous and Will figured that something was wrong.
"Wait. Where is my mother?"
"I was instructed to call for the Archmaester and the Queen as soon as you woke up. Let me go and get them," he replied and started walking towards the door again.
"Take one more step towards that door and I'll have your skin peeled and fed to you," he said with as much power as his voice could muster. Sam stopped in his tracks and turned towards Will.
"Now. I will not ask you again," said Will with clenched teeth.
"Well... What happened is... The Queen Mother.." he began nervously, trying to find the right words when suddenly the doors flew open.
"I thought I heard voices," said Loras Tyrell as he came barging into the room. Will turned towards him and could see Ser Meryn Trant standing guard at the door behind Ser Loras.
"Sam, why didn't you inform us sooner that his grace was up? Go inform the Archmaester. Ser Meryn, go and inform the Queen," ordered Loras and then turned towards William.
"How are you feeling, your Grace? You gave us all quite a scare."
"I am feeling better. Where is my mother? That boy won't tell me."
"I am afraid that it is not good news, your grace. It is better if Margaery tells you," he replied. "I have to return to my post now."
A few minutes passed by before Margaery came. She immediately rushed towards Will and fell into his arms.
"My love, I am so glad that you are up now. I had been worried sick," she said. Then she raised his chin with her hand and gave him a soft peck on his lips. "I am sorry for not being here. I wanted you to see my face as soon as you woke up but urgent matters of the small council needed my attention."
"Where is my mother?" asked Will, his mind not being able to focus on anything else.
"I was hoping for you to recover a little before I told you. But I guess there is no point in keeping it a secret. The whole world will know soon enough. The Queen Mother has been arrested by the Faith militia."
"The what?" he asked.
"The Faith militia. You remember a cult by the name of the sparrows which was making news in the Crownlands. Their leader the High Sparrow was named the High Septon by the queen mother after the previous High Septon was killed by the sparrows. On a visit to the Sept of Baelor by the Queen Mother, they arrested her. She is now being kept in the dungeons of the Sept of Baelor."
"They have my mother? On what charges?"
"Adultery, incest, and regicide."
Will's head started to spin. Regicide? And incest? This all had to be a lie.
"This is insane," said Will.
"Lancel Lannister is a member of the sparrows. He confessed everything. Cersei plotted with him to kill King Robert. Lancel is the one who she was.. you know... fucking. But don't you worry I am sure these are all lies and conspiracy to tarnish the great name of House Lannister. Believe me, I am doing everything I can to make sure that Cersei is returned to the Red keep at once," said Margaery.
"Cersei? She is the Queen Mother. You will take her name with respect," said Will. There is no way he was going to allow his mother's reputation to be tarnished.
"Of course, I apologize. The Queen Mother," she replied.
"What did you mean by you will do everything in your power? Why were you even in the small council chambers? You aren't a member of the council."
"Given the Queen Mother's arrest and the position of the Hand being vacant, it was only natural for me to assume the position of the Queen Regent," she replied.
"But love, what do you know about ruling the kingdoms? And how did the Faith militia become so powerful without it being crushed by the gold cloaks? Doesn't matter. Send for my Uncle Jaime immediately. I need to bring my mother back. This has gone on long enough," replied Will trying to get up from his bed.
Margaery put a hand at his chest and forced him back to the bed.
"Let me answer those questions that you asked, "love", I am more than capable of ruling the seven kingdoms. I have many advisers including my grandmother who have much more experience in ruling than you. The Faith militia was given a royal decree to assemble and operate on my command and in return, our debt to the Sept has been dissolved. And lastly, your Uncle Jaime isn't here. He was sent on a secret mission by your mother and nobody has any idea where he is. As for the question of getting your mother back, if we send in our army to the Sept then we wouldn't be able to guarantee her safety. Her head would be the first to be chopped if our army tried to enter the Sept. Now, I have seven kingdoms to look after. You should rest, your grace," said Margaery in a voice devoid of any politeness or affection which was present moments ago, her eyes ice cold and a big smirk on her face. Then she turned and left leaving Will stunned.
It was a fucking coup d'etat. He was alone surrounded by vultures. For his life, he couldn't find any person in this fucking castle still loyal to him or his family. The Tyrells, he learned had cleverly replaced anyone who could still be loyal to him with people from the Reach. And the few people he still saw had switched sides.
Even Meryn Trant, his kingsguard had turned on him. Will had never felt so much anger in his life when he tried to go out but was stopped by Trant. He would never forget the smirk on Meryn Trant's face when Will ordered him to step aside and put his hand on his sword.
The only person who talked to Will seemed to be Samwell Tarly. While the Archmaester came to check up on him, it was Sam who spent most of the time taking care of Will. The two had struck up something of a friendship. He would tell Will of things going on in the city, his upbringing, and his time at the Wall. Will did remark about how cruel it was of Randall Tarly to banish his son for no fault of his own. He even told him that his brother Tommen spent most of his time in the Sept praying which surprised Will.
Sam had even convinced the Tyrells to let him go to the library ever so often, claiming that using his brain would help with his recovery. Will believed they trusted Sam since he was a Tarly and Tarlys are renowned for their undying loyalty.
Initially, he questioned their motives for focusing so much on his recovery but one night when Margaery came to his room and tried to seduce him he realized that they wanted Margaery to have a child from him and cement their power. The war of five kings probably made them realize the importance of a legitimate heir who could not be questioned by anyone. He had so far avoided getting intimate by making the excuse of his injuries though probably that would not hold on for long. He had to think of something quick.
"Sam, would you do me a favor?" he asked Sam one day when they were alone. This was his only card to play.
"Anything, your grace," he replied
"I need you to go to a brothel and fuck a whore," he answered.
"Brothel? Your grace? I don't understand."
"Whorehouse. Where men fuck women for money. You would surely be aware of the concept."
"I have a... a... I don't want to... with somebody else, your grace."
"That's all right. You will still go to the brothel. You will ask for a whore named Rose. You will pay her even if you don't do anything to her. And, most importantly, you will give this letter to her."
"What? You know that they follow me everywhere I go. They will kill me if they find out about this."
"You are a man. You must have your urges. You have seemed to spend weeks sitting here by my sides. You going to a brothel would not raise any suspicions," replied Will. "Sam, I am putting my life in your hands. If you tell anyone about this my blood will be in your hands. I don't want to force you Sam but if you refuse to do this, I will kill myself. I refuse to sit around and be their puppet. I trust you will make the correct choice," replied Will. He had debated trusting Sam for hours but there was no other choice. He had to take a leap of faith. Time was running out. "Sam, please. Do this for me. You know what they say about Lannisters and debts. I will owe you everything."
"Okay. It's now like I have any other choice do I?"
"You can sell me out. Take the easiest path of no risk. I am sure there will be some reward or the other," replied Will.
"Then why trust me with this?"
"Because something about you tells me that you have honour and you are brave. I mean... you fought wildlings and white walkers."
"I will need something in return. I will ask you when the time is right and you will not refuse."
Will nodded. "Good lad," he replied.
"Ser Duncan, the tall?" asked Tyrion when he found Will in the library. "I am touched nephew. You remember the stories I told you when you were just a boy."
"You used to call me that remember? Because I was getting so tall," answered Will.
"If I hadn't remembered, Bronn would have cut the head of that fat boy."
"How did you not get caught by the Tyrells?"
"There are brothels so dirty and cheap in Kingslanding, I doubt the Tyrells would look there. The best thing about being a Lannister is that nobody sells you out if you pay them more than everyone."
"How did you even get in here? There is only one door which is guarded."
"One door but only guarded the day you are to come here. Bronn sneaked me inside 2 days ago. I don't take much space. Easier to hide in these big old bookshelves," replied Tyrion.
"Seems excessive."
"Excessive. Do you have any idea of what is going on? If we don't do anything soon then this will be the end of our house, you realize that don't you?"
"Of course I do. Where is Uncle Jaime?"
"Dorne. Cersei received a threat. Myrcella's necklace in the jaws of a viper. He has gone to bring Myrcella back."
"Everywhere. Enemies everywhere. Enemies at home. Enemies in the north. Enemies in the south. Enemies in the East and enemies in the West. I am surrounded by enemies."
"That's the life of a king."
"It's good to see you have not lost your wits, Uncle, even though I have lost my crown. Any plan on how to get it back?"
"Considering that all guards inside Kingslanding are Tyrells and they have the most valuable hostage in the world, there is not much that can be done. We surround the city with the Lannister army, they will march you to the gates and threaten to hang you."
"Thankfully, I have a plan. It will take some refinement and I believe that's where you will come in. Great uncle Kevin will place half of our army outside Kingslanding. The other half will surround the reach and prevent their army from attacking us from behind. Next time Olenna Tyrell looks out of her window she will see an army outside. She will know that our numbers are greater, she would be wise to surrender."
"And what if she doesn't? Because if she was one to surrender so easily she wouldn't have done this kind of thing in the first place."
"War. Give the army order to seige the city."
"You do realize that they will kill you the moment they start losing. You, your mother, Tommen. You have not thought this through have you."
"I have. My mother and I will probably die. But you will get Tommen out of here. He spends most of his time in the sept. They have some Tyrell guards with him but not many. Your sellsword can easily take them out. Tommen will live and be crowned the next King. I seriously believe this is our best option given the circumstances."
"Impressive nephew. Really impressive. I did not expect this sacrifice from you. You got your Uncle Jaime's brain but none of his strength. Don't worry though, I have not been sitting idle all this time. I have an ace up my sleeve as well," replied Tyrion.
"Then why have you been so silent since you came here?" asked Will frustrated.
"These are desperate times. And in desperate times people show you who they really are. I wanted to see what kind of boy you are. To see what kind of King you are going to be?"
"What did you see?"
"I think you are our best option given the current choices."
"Huh. I thought a big compliment was coming. Anyways? What's this big plan?"
"They have removed all people loyal to Lannisters but they are making it seem to the outside world that there is business as usual. You know, so the people don't start rebelling. So the city gates are wide open. I have given Bronn the biggest bag of gold anyone has ever seen in his life. He is assembling the deadliest sellswords and cutthroats in the seven kingdoms. We will position our armies exactly like you said. And during the hell that will be raised when they see 20,000 men outside their keep, these men will sneak inside the Red Keep. They will make their way for everyone who is named Tyrell. Once we have all of them captured, Olenna will order her army to stand down or we'll start killing their grandchildren. Simple really."
"No, not simple at all. I have so many questions. But first, if you had this plan. Why didn't you execute it sooner?"
"There is going to be a lot of bloodshed. I wanted to know that you are awake for this and that you are worth spilling all this blood."
"Your grace, they are coming in to take you back," said Sam, his voice showing no calm. He had to talk to Sam about keeping calm. One look at the boy and anyone could see something was wrong.
"Don't you worry yourself about the plan, nephew. Leave it all to your uncle. Take this and go. They must be getting suspicious," said Uncle Tyrion handing him a dagger.
Will hugged his Uncle and started to leave.
"Be careful, Will."
"You too Uncle."
Author's note:
Hello everyone. Hope you are all safe.
Sorry for the delay on this chapter. Really sorry.
I knew for a long time where I wanted this story to go but I just couldn't the words. So, finally, I forced myself to start typing whatever I felt was right. I know this is not perfect. I might remove this and post it after another rewrite.
Let me know if you find this acceptable. The plot will remain the same.
I know what's going to happen next and I have the next few chapters already planned. But let me know if you don't like where the story is going.
Stay safe.
Peace
