Tales of Westeros. Chapter 6.
Season 1, episode 8.
The raid spilled into the halls and through the chambers. As commanded, any who opposed them were slaughtered. The fight was never fair. Starks were dying, people were screaming. Ned was locked away, Sansa and Arya were unaware and Flowers now cowered in the Throne room as Varys spoke with Cersei concerning Florentine's very life. But Flowers didn't care, she didn't care what happened to her in that moment, she sobbed for her Pommingham girls and for her shields. Duncan and Clement would fight and die and Floren knew it, she feared it.
Clement had been sent earlier that day to walk with Arriatny, Mordane and Sansa. Mordane was laughing about something Arriatny had said, also charmed with Clement's wit. Both women had been there for their ward since birth, well nearly for Arriatny, more so for Mordane. The two women liked each other, though Mordane was not as fond of Florentine as the others around her were. Still, her people were very inviting and friendly.
The sound of fighting was suddenly heard down the hall, screaming, swords clashing. The three adults knew that something was wrong. Arriatny and Clement suddenly stood in front of the Stark house members, their smiles dying. Mordane told Sansa to run, RUN!
She turned back to the other two and they looked at each other as White Cloaks guards appeared. Clement glanced at Sansa to make sure she was gone before he drew his sword. Something was wrong, very wrong, and he didn't know what it was. The Guards outnumbered him four to one, the women with him were old and unarmed. The man had faith in his skills as a fighter but this was bad, horrible odds. His heart skipped a beat as he stood in front of the women.
"What is your business with the Lady Stark?" He called out.
"Out of our way!" One shouted. "King Joffrey Baratheon commands Sansa Stark be put under house arrest for the traitorous actions of her father!" They approached without pausing.
Clement drew his sword and took steps towards them in turn. "Well then, let us decide if you will do so." He swung his blade and met one in battle!
Mordane and Arriatny laced fingers in their final moments, the first had no delusions that they would let her live. She knew she and the others with her that moment were sharing their last day alive. The two Guards who didn't take on the Shield came for them and Mordane was swiftly dispatched, Arriatny watched as if in defiance of her killers. As one came for her and speared his sword through her gut she fell, her wide blue eyes of the Reach stared at him and it unnerved the man.
Clement screamed in fury and killed a Guard. But the moment his sword was lodged in the other man, a second guard came for him. He struck the Shield in the leg and the man crumpled. The second blow stabbed him in the back and he fell to the ground in the blood of himself and Arriatny. He saw the Hound behind these men, following them as they made way for Sansa.
Sandor stood over Clement, meeting eyes as the other man died. He stepped over his body, and those of the old women, making way to the Stark girl. He would do as commanded, it was all he could do, at least this way he would keep the Little Bird safe by his side. . .to the best he could.
In their own chambers, Siggy, Trinnia and Heather all waited with Duncan. The girls chatted among themselves, the Shield stood by the open terrace doors. They were carrying about the day, whispering about their mistress and her mourning. Helen was gone, but her entrance is what saved them. She burst in panting as she had been running, she was once again dressed as a King's Landing servant girl.
"Duncan! Duncan!" She shouted but had to bend over and catch her breath. "Run! Danger! Raid. . .They're coming!"
They looked between each other and had no clue as to what she was stressing. But it was too late, she had no more time to explain. The doors were suddenly beaten upon and opened. White Cloaks flooded in, Helen backed away as they ignored her. They swarmed around Duncan and her sisters and in the midst of the surprise he was slow to draw his blade.
"Duncan!" Siggy screamed. "Leave your sword!" She had seen his intentions.
The soldiers did not attack, instead a handful stood around them, pointing swords at Duncan. The rest went about destroying everything in sight. It was a raid. Helen was left alone, they thought her a servant of the crown. She was pushed out and made to run away. She did and didn't look back. She had no hope of saving her sisters, she would be better help to her mistress alive and free from arrest. She blended into the castle and ran.
The girls and Shield left within did not call out for their sister. They were hustled from the room and ushered away in the opposite direction, to the throne room, while their apartments were sacked. No pleading, no begging, gave them an answer. Duncan was beat when he tried to break free. The girls screamed and begged for his life. By the time they reached the throne they threw Duncan to the floor.
"Its a pity you didn't try to draw your sword. I so would have loved if you had," it was Joffrey.
Duncan promptly fell unconscious and Flowers was sobbing in the arms of Ryden. She lunged for her handmaidens and only counted three. She wrapped Heather in her embrace and began stroking her hair. Comforting the girl and herself. She faced the new King.
"Please! Please I beg you spare my people! They did no wrong!"
"You and I are related, to kill you is all but a crime. But they knew of you supporting the Traitor Stark, they are traitors themselves." He sneered at her.
"Please! My girls, they are hardly older than you! Spare them! Send them back to the Reach if you will I-"
"Silence!" He shouted. "You take me for a fool? They will run straight to my cowardly uncles and relate all they know."
She wondered where Helen was, hopefully safe. She knew there was no reason to let them live, he could kill them as he wished. But she could see him thinking, wondering what to do. It was Cersie who saved them, to Flowers' surprise. She stood next to her son in a dress as green as her eyes and stared down her hated enemy.
"Have her bend the knee. Swear to you, her True King, and her people as well. Should any of them refuse, kill them." The Queen grinned.
Flowers looked at her with wide eyes. She knew that Cersei wanted her and her shattered group alive. That couldn't be good. Born to a house that sent her away, pledged to the Tyrells, then she pledged to Baratheon, then Stark. She still considered herself aligned to House Stark but he was now locked below the keep. If she refused Joffrey, he would kill her people with a smile. She would forsake her new allies for her old. For a lie, she thought.
"Yes, bend the knee cousin! Name your king." He waited hardly a moment. "Well? I'm waiting."
She looked at Siggy, who hovered near Duncan. She looked at Ryden, and then faced her cousin. Slowly she dropped to her knees, her head hung low in shame. Her people, save for the unconscious Duncan, got to their knees, Ryden, Heather , Siggy and Trinnia.
"You know your rightful place, your rightful king. You're not such a fool as I thought." He waved them off, bored of her and her sobbing girls. "Go now, you will remain under arrest and confined to your apartments."
Duncan was carried by two aggressive Guards. Ryden hurried them all away. Flowers looked about for Clement and Arriatny but they were nowhere to be seen. . . .
"I dreamed about this Ryden," she said, her eyes brimming with tears. "I saw it."
"How could you have seen this?"
"In my dream, that night they woke you. I saw a Lion killing a Stag, and look what has happened."
"Just a dream, they mean nothing." Even he doubted his words.
"Those of Old Valyria laughed at the Targaryens when one of Theirs dreamed of the Doom. She saw the destruction. I saw what we know has happened."
"You dare whisper such things?"
"It is obvious is it not?" She whispered, she still could not face him. "First Arryn, now Robert. Both wed in the face of war, neither with reports of a blissful union. Now dead for the same reasons."
"Shush!" He commanded. "You'll get us killed with such words."
"I WILL NOT SILENCE!" She cried suddenly, getting up to face him. "Our people are falling apart Ryden don't you see? Arriatny and Clement-" she choked on her tears and words. "Are gone, dead. The girls are terrified and with Joffrey on the throne, they cannot go home. He will have them murdered in the name of treason. I was a fool, I should have sent them all away with Aella when I had the chance."
He went to her and embraced his ward as she succumbed to crying.
"Arriatny and I have been watching you a very long time. She knew what dangers lurked, as did Clement. When the Spider became our ally it was under the promise that we would act as his eyes in Essos, and when you took a liking to the web of Whispers it became more than just the east. There are dangers here, they knew that."
"And now they're dead," she whispered. "I saw them all in my dreams, and among them walked faces from the grave Ryden. It was a dream of death, I should have sent them all away. I should never have bothered myself with the North."
He agreed but said otherwise. "You did what you thought was best for the throne."
She wondered if she really had done what she thought best for the throne.
It came again, the memory of the day after the raids. The dead were counted and it was revealed that Arya Stark was missing. Flowers took silent note that Helen was also missing, tales from her sister and Duncan reported that she was dressed as a palace servant and was swept aside by the Cloaks. Flowers could only hope she was safe as she had not yet made her way back to them.
As the dead were rounded up to be deposed of, Flowers had been presented with the dead bodies of Clement and Arriatny alongside Sansa's Septa. She recalled all too clearly as Cloaks escorted her back to the Throne Room. Joffrey took glee in seeing her weep for her fallen shield and septa, on her knees by the dead, clasping hard to Arrianty's limp hand. The boy was so cruel. It was then that she was informed that her position on the Small Council was to be withheld for an uncertain amount of time. As there seemed peace with Dorne she was not currently needed, though she suspected she was not wanted.
When Duncan awoke and learned of his brother's death it had taken all the girls and Flowers herself to hold the man down and keep him from getting himself killed. Flowers had begged through her tears and he had listened. Three days had past before she spoke another word. Now as she walked to the terrace and looked out over the black bay she rubbed her sleepless eyes in disbelief.
She realized her foolish ways and her desire for the Game to go her way. Why had she been so foolish to join Ned? Love for his daughter, she admitted silently. Having become so obsessed with the Stark girl that she yanked the lion's tail and was bitten. She hadn't seen the Hound, he had taken Sansa captive and she had seen the last of him, so she thought. His bracelet was heavy on her wrist, yet she could not bare to throw it away.
She waited until they were all asleep, before retrieving her black suit for what she suspected was the last time. If she was caught she would be killed she knew that. But she had to see him, the only man she knew to still have contact with Lord Stark. She had never been without information that would benefit her and Varys had such information. She needed to speak to him, she would risk her life for it.
With everyone asleep, fitfully so, she went to the terrace and climbed over the railings. She snaked down to the lower floors and hid in the shadows. Her hair bound in a long braid and a mask covering her face to better blend into the dark. She wanted to believe she was as clever as the Faceless Men of Braavos, but she had never met one as far as she knew and so did not truthfully call herself as good as a "faceless" man.
She was on Varys's balconies quickly and was not surprised to find him up and awake, reading scrolls he had hidden away during the day. She took him by surprise, not an easy task, a slight gust of wind is what made him even look up and find her in his rooms. She tore off her mask and he could see the eyes rubbed red. She approached and opened his wine and drank it, he hardly ever did himself. She swallowed.
"You once said you did not concern yourself with things north of the Trident. Yet you knew about the feud between lions and wolves. Was that a fable of yours?" His tone was not unkind, factual. "What did you mean, the lion failed to kill the wolf?" He knew the meaning of her words yet how she had known eluded him.
She turned to him and when she spoke her voice was hoarse. "I saw Cersei and her brother together, as Dragons were known to do. I heard stories of Ned while I was passing through the Reach, him becoming hand, and his son having fallen from a Tower. All while the Royal family was visiting."
"Children do get hurt, most often times by their own doing." He pointed out.
She nodded. "Lady Stark paid her husband a visit here in the capitol. A dagger in the night had come for the boy. As you will remember, Jaime and Cersie were both in Winterfell when Robert asked Ned to become Hand."
Varys seemed to understand right away. His eyes lit up.
"We both know what lions will do if caught. They lash out, they may even have pushed a wolf off a tower, if he happened to chance upon them at the wrong time. In fear that he should awaken, a blade came to finish what they could not."
"That would seem too obvious for one such as the lioness," he whispered. "Send a blade that could be traced? A lion perhaps, but if we could easily deduce that it was one of their own, it would be too easy to trace it entirely back to Her."
She mulled over his words of wisdom. For Cersie to send this kind of blade in the hand of such a failure assassin would be too obvious indeed. "Whether my lioness is at fault or not, it is no matter. The boy was targeted with a blade that had been near Lannisters, not long after they leave Winterfell. One, or maybe more, with Lion's blood is guilty. Then again, I do not concern myself with the North and this is simply a story."
"Yet you do not believe the lion to be the one you are so fond of?"
"Tyrion? Never. He hasn't an ounce of evil in him, he couldn't kill a crippled child. But there are others who could..."
He was silent for a long time. She was too, drinking another full chalice of wine.
"The moment I do align with another Lord, I pay with life. Twas not my best idea."
He could see the dead pan stare in her eyes. "Why then?" He asked.
She laughed, a bitter sound, full of regret. "I fell into a love that was really just a dream. I actually believed my own lies, that we could journey North and live in his house and eat at his table with his children. While you had warned me about Robert's impending weakness, I chose to ignore that it would spell his end. I couldn't. . .couldn't bear it." She put her hand to her mouth. "I do believe Dorne made me fat with contentment. Lazy. I-I forgot how the way of this place goes."
"You did not forget, this is a foreign place. We both know why Arryn died, he yanked tails, followed trails and drank poisoned tears. Many things were set into motion that were not before. You were away doing what Jon himself appointed you to do. However, you did not return to the place we remembered."
"I failed you, Varys."
He was not accustomed to consoling women. Yet he knew what she needed to hear; truth. "Failure, possibly. But then again not. You helped Ned find the truth about the King's son, though it was a little too late for us. You are still useful to many, including myself. Though your alliance with Stark Was surprising and unfortunately without due results."
"I had hoped to lure him to trust you. I could not."
"HE would not."
"If it were not for his wife trusting Littlefinger, he would have."
"You know he does not play by our rules, his honor is too strong. Lord Stark was bound by trusting his wife, or trusting a woman he had just met under forced circumstances. Even I half expected him to decline the position of Hand and stay in his North."
"I fell too comfortably with him and his daughters."
"Easy when you have no children, no parents, and every means to have what you want yet deny it all the same. "
She did not speak her mind in response. They knew very well he faced no similar pressures. He could have no children, therefore no wife in his future. He was not distracted by things she was, yes Dorne had made her fat with thoughts of love, desire and family. She was sure that if Sansa and Arya had not been in the capitol that Ned would have behaved very differently. Victim to her own womanly desires. But she did have family, even if they were not by marriage or blood.
"Have you heard news of Helen?" She asked.
"Only that she has been glanced here in the castle."
"Have you seen Him?" She meant Ned.
"I have visited. I told him what I tell you. Sansa is safe and Arya is missing."
"Sansa safe?"
He had become curious as to her seemingly unnatural attraction to the Stark girl. She had hidden it well for the most part, but Varys could see it, could hear it in her voice. With a nod the man went on.
"Oh yes, she is guarded. As safe as a traitor's daughter can be. The royal family won't do away with her yet. She is worth something to them. As are you."
She laughed again, he noted how dead it sounded. "Worth something."
"I am sorry for the loss of your people. They were of worth to you, I know that."
"It does not matter what they were to me. But rather, what they died for." Her voice was low and her eyes were blazing. It made Varys nervous to look into her eyes, that color of lost families and houses. "He should not have trusted Littelfinger, he should have trusted us."
There was knock at his door. He quickly turned his head at the sound but when he turned back to speak to her she was on his balconies and scaling the walls. He sighed and went to answer the door. He hoped she did nothing else brash and maybe it would be easier to convince Joffrey and Cersie to let her live. He truly did feel sorry for the death of her people, they had been unnecessary casualties. Yet she knew what it meant to bring them here, to make the choices she had, she had known. He had taught her that way and she would have to fend for herself when she made choices he did not advise her to make.
On her return to her rooms she could only pray to all gods that Ned was given Mercy. Though she doubted the boy king knew mercy, likely he would have Lord Stark bend the knee as she had been forced to do. She could only hope. She sighed and wished Ned had listened to her, but wishes meant nothing in this place. When Clement and Arrianty were returned to her dead she stopped believing in wishes. She was careful to avoid detection his time, but all the same she wanted the Hound to chase her again.
Maybe then she would be able to kill him. . . . .
"Why can I not kill her? It would be simple enough!" Joffery asked his mother while swinging a sword around his rooms. The newly appointed king had wanted to put Flowers to the sword for her shaken alliances. "She cannot be trusted."
The Queen regent nodded. "No she cannot. But neither can we simply behead her. For one she already bent the knee. For another, as Varys reminded us, she is related to you the King. Through the marriage of your uncle Stannis and his wife who is of House Florent." Only the Queen knew in that moment that her own lie was making her save the woman she wanted dead.
"We hunt foxes." He chopped at an unseen enemy with his blade. "More Traitors."
"And family. If you kill her you will taint your image. Kinslayer, rumors will spread."
He spun round to face her with a darkness in his eyes. He scowled at his mother. "No one would dare!"
"If you kill your kin they will. But you can avoid that by allowing her to live. I have arranged for her to be married to one of our bannermen in any case. He will control her and we need not worry any longer."
"Who would want a bastard?" He sneered at the thought.
"Ser Gregor Clegane." Her lips curled on the edges in a dark, dainty smile.
"Yes I think he would suit her." He nodded in thought.
He moved on from the subject, talking about what he was to do with who, practicing his sword play. It was arranged that he was to hold a hearing the next day. The Hound stood outside the door and over heard their conversation. The hair bristled on the back on his neck at what they planned with Flowers. Gregor would kill all of her people and then her, it was what Cersie had always wanted. Kill her slowly since she couldn't outright. What a fucking mess,, if the bitch hadn't sided with Lord Stark she wouldn't be in this mess. Then again maybe not so, she was always in trouble it seemed, and he was always the one to save her these days.