King's Landing, 300 AC
Sitting on his privy, his guts making horrible noises, he winces and ends up freeing himself with a whimper. The smell is awful, the feeling even worse, but there is nothing he can do about it. Loud knocks ring out in the room. "Your Grace, we need to join the men", a voice does. He stands up, dresses up and joins the men outside, not feeling better at all and still feeling like he is going to shit himself. He swallows hard and downs a cup of water a man holds at him. The soldiers bow in front of him but he knows none of them respect or like him. Finally, he sees his uncle, Tyrion. The dwarf stares at him and he looks away, embarrassed. He walks with him to the battlements, where they face the sea, so calm and peaceful. But Joffrey knows this is not going to last. He swallows hard again and Tyrion looks at him:
"Do you feel well, your Grace?" he asks her.
He knows he is mocking him, this arrogant tone with which he says 'your grace' and Joffrey mumbles that he is fine, even though he just would like to chop his head off. His fingers on the handle of Widow's wail, his sword offered to him by Tywin, his grandfather, fidget nervously. Tyrion has foreseen to use wildfire, and has ordered to build two new watchtowers, linked by a chain. The plan is simple: to let Stannis's fleet get in, use the wildfire and pull the chain to stop them from retreating. Joffrey must admit this is brilliant. And wildfire will be enjoyable to watch. After a long moment, they start hearing the noise of men rowing. Joffrey's belly is more painful than ever, and he closes his eyes a moment, looking for comfort in the soft wind blowing on his face. But it doesn't do anything and, when he opens his eyes again, he feels just worse. The fog is thick on this night, and, though they hear the enemy, they cannot see it. Impatient, Joffrey groans: "Where are they?". Just as he says this, they hear yells from the ships "Pull back!" Joffrey looks at Tyrion who curse and try to see better. Tyrion does not understand why Stannis has suddenly changed his mind. But, suddenly, out of nowhere, ships get in the bay, and in the trick. Joffrey's ships are ordered to retreat, and, from them, they pour wildfire in the water. As Tyrion gives the order, suddenly the dark night turns as luminous as a bright sunny day. The noise of the wildfire exploding the ships is deafening, and Joffrey shakes with fear and fascination, his eyes staring at the ships burning. "Beautiful", he whispers, and Tyrion thinks the Mad King himself would have not used another word. He stares at the sea, waiting to see men trying to escape the battle, but no sound can be heard. Maybe they all died on the spot. The sea gets calm again, and the wildfire evaporates slowly. It keeps burning, it will as long as there are things to burn, but, in the sea, the water dissolves the wildfire faster. The Lannisters cheer loudly, but Tyrion does not. Something is wrong. There were not enough ships burning, and the sea is too calm. The dwarf feels panic rushing in his veins as quickly as wildfire burnt the wooden ships: he has used all of it, and, he knows it, Stannis is waiting somewhere on the sea. He swallows hard and closes his eyes slowly, defeated, as he hears the clamors coming from Stannis's army. Joffrey turns to him, panicked as well and Tyrion looks at the men. Some are already panicking, but Tyrion draws his sword and looks at them:
"This city is yours! Defend it!"
The men cheer and draw their swords as well, and they all follow him on the battlements. On the sea, suddenly emerge Stannis's float, dozens and dozens of ships, taking Tyrion's breath away. But he cannot abandon the city. He shouts orders, and cheers everytime he sees one of Stannis's men, who have reached the city and are preparing ladders, killed by an arrow. He encourages the men to push down the ladders, but Stannis' army is too numerous. Soon, they invade the city with the ladders, and Tyrion defends himself the best he can, with the help of his squire. Not used to fight, he soon aches in his arms, but keeps going, knowing he is unable to do otherwise. Joffrey stares at the men dying, terrified, his sword in his hand but never hitting a man. The blade is pure and shining as if it has been forged the day before. He hears some of his generals yelling at young soldiers, or pulling some out of under a chariot, yelling at them to fight. The young soldiers cry and call out at their mothers, while the generals hit them hard. Joffrey suddenly feels nauseous and turns around to throw up on a soldier's feet. He mumbles an apology and, as he looks up, realizes he has thrown up on Sandor Clegane's boots. The Hound pushes him away and leaves growling.
With the other women of the court, Sansa shivers as she listens to the noises of the battle. She has seen sun setting when they took them all here, and now sun sets. She remembers her first time in King's Landing, how she was marveled at the sea rising on the sea. She remembers how she has felt so lucky to be here, to be promised to the future king. Now, she knows her future is stormy. Even though Stannis wins and that she is safe again, she will never forget what she has seen here. She will never forget the head of her father rolling down from his body, she can still hear the shriek she has blurted, and how her head had so violently hit the floor when she had fainted. She remembers this day outside, where Joffrey has showed her the head of her father on a spike, as well as her septa's. How nasty she had been to her? And Arya, she suddenly thinks. Where has Arya gone? She would give anything she has to get her sister back, hold her in her arms and tell her how sorry she is that she had been so hateful to her. She wipes a tear away quickly, and, as the women start panicking, she realizes the town out there has turned silent, and that the sun is high in the sky. She glances at the Queen, at Cersei, and has never found her so pale. Some women wonder if they can leave, some others whisper it is not careful but they all shut it when Cersei stands up and walks through the door. They stand up and nod, even Sansa, who, in a total contradiction, watches her with admiration. The Queen opens the door, and the sun shining on her hair turns her more beautiful than ever. She walks out, not looking back.
The women stay inside, too afraid, and it is finally Sansa, who, unable to hold it anymore, walks to the door after long minutes of silence. But, as she almost reaches the door, she sees a man walking in. She first widens her eyes, then puts her hand on her mouth and breaks down crying. Robb Stark, having joined the battle from the land, crushing the King's gate, invading the streets of King's Landing with his army, had helped Stannis to win the city. The young wolf wraps his arms around Sansa, and strokes her hair. He looks at the women standing here, all taken aback and some started to cry with fear, now they know the Lannisters have lost. He takes his sister out and turns to the women:
"Do not be afraid. No harm will be done to you."
They hesitate and no one follows him, but he still joins his sister: he understands the women need time to be reassured.
Outside, Sansa walks among the soldiers, bowing to her, and looks away as she passes by dead men. Robb joins her and leads her to Stannis: he is in the middle of the battlefield, sit on a stone, wincing as she sees an arrow in his arm. He though stands up when he sees her, but Sansa curtseys elegantly:
"Your Grace" she greets him. "Thank you for saving me."
"I did not come here to save you, but to take what is mine, lady Stark. But I am grateful you are okay", he nods. The maester by his side takes the arrow off and he winces slightly. "Where is your sister?" he asks again, as the maester bandages his arm.
Sansa shakes her head:
"I have not seen her in months, my uncle. Since… father died…" she looks down and sighs.
"We will find her, child. Do not worry. Take some rest, now. You need it." He nods at Robb, who gives her to a soldier.
"Send a raven to Lord Tywin. Tell him we have his children as hostages, and that he needs to come and bend the knee to me, otherwise I shall kill them three."
He turns his face to the Lannister children, chained and looking down, except Cersei, glaring at him.
After they had left Riverrun, Robb and Aylis have joined Stannis in Dragonstone. From there, Stannis and his nephew-in-law had planned the attack on the capital. Stannis would attack by sea, Robb by land. The Lannisters would have not stood a chance. Robb had taken with him Jaime, and Stannis had argued lengthily about the fate of the Lannister bastards: Tyrion had hoped for Myrcella to be betrothed to Prince Trystane of Dorne, but no one had answered his messages. The Dornish fate remains mysterious. Stannis has claimed he would execute the children, but Aylis had begged him not to do so, that they were innocent of their parents' crime, and that the people would not approve this. Stannis is not looking for people's love, but he has to admit she is right on a point: they are innocent. And Shireen had always considered them as their cousins. Although, Stannis cannot let them live as before. He will reveal his will to Lord Tywin, when this one will get here. He turns to the Maester, ignoring Cersei's look: "Please, send a raven to my wife. Do not mention my injury, but tell her the battle is won and that she needs to join me here with the children". The maester nods, and walks away quickly.
It is dark when he ends up getting in the red Keep itself. He has seated on the Iron Throne of course, but now, he just wants to sleep. His arm aches, he barely can stand on his feet anymore, and he is covered in blood and dirt. He feels weird as he leans on the handle of the King's room and sees the bed. He can almost feel Robert's presence still. Somehow, he hopes he is proud of him. He would laugh and slam his injured arm: "Well played, little brother! You fucked those bloody Lannisters well!" Stannis allows himself to chuckle, imagining the scene. As he takes off his clothes, the pain in his arm wakes up and he calls at a servant. She gets in shaking like a leaf, and he asks her to get a bath ready for him. When she leaves, she is almost crying. He wonders what Cersei has told them so they are so afraid of him. That all his men would rape them, one after another? He is not Tywin. As he was walking in the city to get to the red Keep, he has seen one of his soldiers raping a young girl. Grabbing the man, he had sheathed Lightbringer, and cut the man's cock off. He could not stand rape. He has ordered the maester not to heal him and had left, the man whimpering in agony. When his bath is ready, he gets rid off his last clothes and gets in, his aching muscles making him wince. He washes himself carefully and looks around the room. Aylis would want to change everything, he thinks, and especially the bed. She would not want to sleep in a bed where Robert and Cersei have been. He smiles thinking about her, and closes his eyes. How he wished she would be here. He can see her face, right in front of him, smell her perfume.
Soon, they will be reunited.