Doran
Let us begin," the prince commanded. He watched the dragonprince, Prince Aegon Targaryen, and the others who had come with him. He watched the Sand Snakes, each at a different table. He watched the lords and ladies, the serving men, the old blind seneschal, and the young maester Myles, with his silky beard and servile smile. Seated in his rolling chair on the dais of Sunspear's feast hall, he saw all of them. He may be weak but not stupid. All the rest had eyes only for the Crown prince and his party.
In the dais of the feast hall of Sunspear, Prince Doran Martell sat in his rolling chair between his daughter Arianne and his brother Oberyn with his sons next to his daughter and next to Oberyn was his brother's beloved paramour, Ellaria. A hundred scented candles perfumed the air. Gemstones glittered on the fingers of the lords and the girdles and hairnets of the ladies.
Prince Aegon Targaryen held a stern composure, the Prince of Dorne observed. This Aegon was not the true prince Aegon, Doran knew. He is not Elia's son. Yet he is his Prince now and his soon to be good son, the betrothed of his daughter Arianne.
Doran left it to Ricasso, his blind seneschal, to rise and propose the toast. "Lords and ladies, let us all now drink to Rhaegar, the First of His Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, and Lord of the Seven Kingdoms."
Serving men had begun to move amongst the guests as the seneschal was speaking, filling cups from the flagons that they bore. The wine was Dornish strongwine, dark as blood and sweet as vengeance. But the Prince never drank any of it. He had his own wine, prepared by Maester Myles and well laced with poppy juice to ease the agony in his swollen joints.
Aegon Targaryen did drink, as was only courteous. His companions likewise. They were wary of being in here, thought Doran. Looking at Oberyn's hideous smirk the Prince thought that they were good to be so. One cannot just simply know what the Red Viper would do next. One moment he would be sharing a glass of dornish red with you and the next you would find yourself choking on the wine cup. Arianne was certainly having a time of her life, his daughter was clearly excited with the thought of being the future queen. Sunspear was filled with lords and ladies from most of Dorne. And it troubled the Prince even more. It would only take one of them to turn this entire feast into a bloodbath. Dorne was an angry and divided land, and his hold on it was not as firm as it might be. Many of his own lords thought him weak and would have welcomed open war with the Targaryens.
Chief amongst those was his own brother Oberyn, the Red Viper. Oberyn had never forgot Elia and her children's murders at the hands of Aerys Targaryen, no more than he did. And as the hot headed viper his brother was Oberyn quickly took to hate Rhaegar and his new family naming them for the fate of their sister. But Doran knew better than that and he knew how to calm his brother and how to hide him while he makes the perfect time for him to strike.
The Prince of the Seven Kingdoms kept a careful watch of his surrounding and his guards kept close to him. His party consisted of only a few people and Doran Martell was glad for it. The last time the Royal family came to Dorne it was a complete destruction. Even though Aegon Targaryen only brought a few people with him he still had a great protection around him as he'd brought his green dragon with him.
The feast was fabulously rich for the Crown Prince of the Seven Kingdoms. Seven courses were served, in honor of the seven gods. The soup was made with eggs and lemons, the long green peppers stuffed with cheese and onions. There were lamprey pies, capons glazed with honey, a whiskerfish from the bottom of the Greenblood that was so big it took four serving men to carry it to table. After that came a savory snake stew, chunks of seven different sorts of snake slow-simmered with dragon peppers and blood oranges and a dash of venom to give it a good bite. The stew was fiery hot, Doran knew, though he tasted none of it. Sherbet followed, to cool the tongue. For the sweet, each guest was served a skull of spun sugar. When the crust was broken, they found sweet custard inside and bits of plum and cherry.
Arianne was enjoying her little talks and drinks with her prince. He had placed his daughter between himself and Prince Aegon, a place near her betrothed. Arianne smiled as she sipped her wine again, and murmured something in Aegon's ear. The Crown Prince chuckled lightly at that. He ate little, Doran observed: a spoon of soup, a bite of the pepper, the leg off a capon, some fish. He shunned the lamprey pie and tried only one small spoonful of the stew. Even that made his brow break out in sweat.
When the spun-sugar skulls were served, Aegon's mouth grew tight, and he gave Doran and Oberyn a lingering look to see if he was being mocked or threatened. His daughter took notice of it and took to calm her betrothed. "It is the cook's little jape, my prince," said Arianne. "Even death is not sacred to a Dornishmen. You won't be cross with us, I pray?" She brushed the back of her betrothed's hand with her fingers. "I hope you have enjoyed your time in Dorne."
"Everyone has been most hospitable, princess."
Arianne touched the pin that clasped his cloak, an obsidian dragon. "I have always been fond of dragons. They were always a magnificent sight here in the deserts of Dorne."
"Yet it wasn't so magnificent when Rhaenys' dragon Meraxes was shot down with a scorpion bolt," said Prince Aegon.
"It wasn't," said Arianne, "but that is from another time, a time from the past."
Aegon Targaryen gave a nod and sipped his wine. The prince was only a boy, but a wary one at that.
Midnight was close at hand when he turned to the Targaryen prince and said, "Prince Aegon, I have read the letter that you brought me from our king, your father. Might I assume that you are familiar with its contents?"
Aegon greeted him with a plain smile with no emotions. "I am, my lord. My father is to travel for Braavos to finalise the contract with the Iron Bank. Once he returns from Braavos he is to go with my marriage to your daughter Princess Arianne."
"So when will he return?" asked Prince Doran.
"Soon enough." Aegon said and took a sip of his wine.
Soon enough. But will he come back alive or the way Viserys came back. Viserys Targaryen's death in Braavos wasn't a secret in the Seven Kingdoms and a wise man would say that it wouldn't be long before Rhaegar follows his brother's fate as well.
"Let it be," said Doran. "We would do what his grace asks us to do." He grasped the wheels of his chair and pushed himself from the table. "But now you must excuse me, My Prince. All this heat and talk has wearied me. Oberyn, would you be so kind as to help me to my bed? Arianne my daughter will you kiss me good night? Obara, Nymeria, Tyene, come as well, and bid your old uncle a fond good night."
So it fell to his brother to roll his chair from Sunspear's feast hall and down a long gallery to his solar. Areo Hotah, the captain of his guards followed with Oberyn's girls, along with Arianne and Ellaria Sand.
When the doors of his solar were safely closed behind them Doran wheeled his chair about to face his brother and the women. Even that effort left him breathless, and the Myrish blanket that covered his legs caught between two spokes as he rolled, so he had to clutch it to keep it from being torn away. Beneath the coverlet, his legs were pale, soft, ghastly. Both of his knees were red and swollen, and his toes were almost purple, twice the size they should have been.
Arianne came forward as she saw his troubles with the blanket. "Let me help you, Father."
Doran pulled the blanket free. "I can still master mine own blanket. That much at least." It was little enough. His legs had been useless for three years, but there was still some strength in his hands and shoulders.
"Shall I fetch my prince a thimble cup of milk of the poppy?" Maester Caleotte asked.
"I would need a bucket, with this pain. Thank you, but no. I want my wits about me. I'll have no more need of you tonight."
"Very good, my prince." Maester Caleotte bowed and left his solar.
"I take that as the time you told me had come at last," Oberyn said as soon as the maester left his solar.
"What time?" Obara Sand talked first. Even without her whip and shield, she had an angry mannish look to her. In place of a gown, she wore men's breeches and a calf-length linen tunic, cinched at the waist with a belt of copper suns. Her brown hair was tied back in a knot.
"There are things you all need to know that's why I've called you here."
"What things?" asked Nymeria, the second of Oberyn's daughters, her long black braid falling across one shoulder to her lap. She had her father's widow's peak. Beneath it her eyes were large and lustrous. Her wine-red lips curled in a silken smile.
Oberyn gave a hideous smile which gave away nothing. "Things about war," his brother settled in his chair. "Viserys' death, Rhaegar's visit to Braavos, the unrest in the Kingdoms. The time is ripe."
Doran gave a plain look to his brother. "Did our mother married Elia to Rhaegar because she was in love with the crown prince, Oberyn?"
Oberyn slammed his wine cup on the table. "No. But she definitely didn't send her off to die." His black eyes were so dark and dangerous that even the Sand Snakes were taken aback by that.
Ellaria Sand put her arms to calm him down. "Aerys is dead, Oberyn."
"Aerys is just the start," Oberyn said at once. His brother turned to face him. "Rhaegar needed the Dornish spears to take out his father but still he could not or else would not save Elia and his children. When he arrived to King's Landing, the Red Keep fell without a fight but he was still late to save Elia. I would have only needed ten men to do everything he did with an army and in addition would've saved Elia and her children too."
Doran knew what his brother was implying and he didn't wanted him to destroy everything they'd planned in the waiting. "It is not so simple as that Oberyn," Doran said loud and clear for everyone in the room to hear. "If you want to have Rhaegar killed it wouldn't take long for me to ship you to Braavos. But we both know that is not the only thing."
The women in the room looked at one another in confusion.
"I am not blind, nor deaf," Doran said. "I know that you all believe me weak, frightened, feeble. Your father knows me better. Oberyn was ever the viper. Deadly, dangerous, unpredictable. No man dare to tread on him. I am the grass. Pleasant, complaisant, sweet-smelling, swaying with every breeze. Who fears to walk upon the grass? But it is the grass that hides the viper from his enemies and shelters him until he strikes. Your father and I work more closely than you all know ... but now the question is, can I trust his daughters to serve me beside him?"
Doran studied each of them in turn. Obara, rusted nails and boiled leather, with her angry, close-set eyes and rat-brown hair. Nymeria, languid, elegant, olive-skinned, her long black braid bound up in red-gold wire. Tyene, blue-eyed and blond, a child-woman with her soft hands and little giggles.
When the eldest three of Oberyn's daughters swore to serve him, some of the tension went out of the prince. He sagged back into his chair.
"Tell them," Oberyn said from his chair.
Doran took a jagged breath. "When the Targaryens conquered Westeros they only managed to conquer six of the seven kingdoms. Dorne remained unconquered. We were Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken until Daeron the Good joined Dorne to his kingdom with marriage. Now Rhaegar does the same thing." The Prince's eyes looked at his daughter. "Only he don't know the entire thing that comes with it. Soon enough when he marries Arianne to his son he would think that he had brought Dorne back to his line with that but truly it is him who brings his line to us and Arianne would make sure of that." He looked to his daughter and got a nod from her. "Arianne would beard the dragon in its den and soon enough Martell power would dominate King's Landing and even the dragons of the Targaryens won't be able to stop it." Doran raised a hand and brought his attention back to his nieces. "Obara and Nymeria both of you will accompany Arianne to King's Landing. We need our own eyes and ears in the council and at court. In time both of you will find yourselves in high positions and use them for good." Doran advised his neices. Obara and Nymeria both gave a smirk which was equally hideous and dangerous as their father's own.
"And what of me?" asked Tyene.
"Your mother was a septa." Doran looked at his brother and then to the third Sand Snake. "Oberyn once told me that she read to you in the cradle from the Seven-Pointed Star. I want you in King's Landing too, but on the other hill. The faith is completely against the second marriage of Rhaegar. The Swords and the Stars have been reformed, and this new High Septon is not the puppet that the others were. Try and get close to him. If it is needed we will turn down the reign of the dragons over its head with the help of the people."
"Why not? White suits my coloring. I look so ... pure," Tyene said in a voice which would put even the modest of the septas to shame.
"Good," he said, "good. While you do your duties Oberyn and I would continue to do ours. I'll make the plans and Oberyn would make them happen." He hesitated. "But be careful. The trust that Rhaegar keeps in us is our cover. If ... if certain things should come to pass, I will send word to each of you. Things can change quickly in the game of thrones."
"I know you will not fail us." Doran looked at all of them. Arianne, Obara, Nymeria and Tyene. "The sun of Dorne goes with you."
"Unbowed, unbent, unbroken, " the women said together and Doran believed for it to be true. Unbowed, unbent, unbroken was what they were and what they will be.
Author's Notes: So finally, the Dornish plot. Hope you guys like it. I took most of the idea from the canon and mixed it with my own. Anyway, comment your thoughts on it. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Replies to Guest readers: To Guest on Chapter 13: Thanks for the comments, buddy. It really means much to me. Of course, talking about Robert, the man has his flaws but when it comes to Ned or Jon, he is the best.