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A Snake in the Mists

Trials

"You need to eat something."

"I am not Rhaenys, Mother."

"Then stop behaving like you're two and eat! And lie down!"

That was a conversation Alynna and Ranna had each time Alynna rose from her bed or wasn't quick to reach for the simple meals she had been served. The oedemas had gone down almost entirely, her vision had cleared and she could walk all around the castle without feeling faint but Ranna still hadn't let go of her fear, still insisted that until more time had passed, they couldn't be sure Alynna had made it.

"Aunt, Alynna is truly better," Elia said. She had missed the birth by only a day but she had decided to stay until Alynna recovered, ignoring the summons that had started arriving from Oldtown ever since the news of the Prince's disappearance with the northern girl had spread around. "Soon, she'll have to leave for King's Landing and food will be the least one of her worries…"

Alynna rose and waited. When her head didn't swim, she went to the window, staring out for a raven. Fear and excitement fought in her but in the heavy grey sky weeping slushy snow, no dark wings were beating.

Another kind of bird, however, was gliding over the waves. Alynna squinted at it and looked at Elia. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave before I do," she said. "Baelor has sent a ship to fetch you."

Elia murmured something that was clearly a place underneath where her husband could go but there was no malice in it. She even smiled when she saw the vessel was Baelor's personal ship, although the scene with her husband who had come to fetch his wayward wife in person could be expected not to be a nice one. At least now the three of them would have the chance to convince him that the game they were about to start – and wanted him to join – was one they could win.

"Let's make this clear." Baelor Hightower's voice was very soft and very disbelieving. "You want me to take part in a conspiracy against the crown?"

Elia smiled at him as she would to a slow-witted scholar. "A year ago, you were quite ready to do so, weren't you?"

"It was different!" he protested.

"Indeed it was. Then, there was still a choice not to do anything and Rhaegar made it." Elia raised her goblet in a small toast of irony to the missing Prince. "He didn't accord us this luxury."

"Keep your voice down!" Baelor warned although she was whispering anyway, barely audible through the crackle of the fire in the huge fireplace of black marble.

"You know you're mad, don't you?"

She shrugged and they kept eating their heron in honey. There were no servants attending them during the meal and silent forms only appeared from time to time to take the plates away and bring new ones. Baelor approved.

"I now want to take you back home. It's high time you assume your main duties as practically lady of Oldtown and the hand ruling our household and our children…"

Fortunately, he stopped himself before adding that it was high time she stopped undertaking activities that were unnatural for a woman. Most times, he really valued her political mind and if he had wished for a wife whose greatest concern would be to best match curtains and rugs, he really should have wed anyone but the daughter of the Princess of Dorne.

Elia stopped eating. "I think that getting rid of the crowned madman is the best way to assure our children's wellbeing," she said softly. "Everyone's wellbeing, actually. Do you not want to help?"

Baelor hesitated. He couldn't tell right now. He just wanted Elia to bow out of this but she wouldn't, would she? At the same time, someone had to do something, with Aerys getting worse and Rhaegar leaving it all behind for a pretty face. Baelor was genuinely curious about the girl. She needed to be a second Shiera Seastar, at least, to justify such a storm.

His hesitance won him disapproving looks from the three women. That didn't help his thinking at all. He rose, made a stiff bow and excused himself. No one tried to make him stay.

"Getting ready for your nice couch?" Lewyn Martell asked as soon as Baelor left the small dining hall.

The young man glared at him. "Were you eavesdropping?"

Martell shrugged it off. "I was making sure that no one else was," he said. "So?"

Baelor blushed. "How did you know?"

Elia's uncle laughed. "She is her mother's daughter and Alric has spent time in the doghouse more than once when he got my sister angry enough." For a moment, his face clouded over and closed. The Princess' death was still a fresh wound. "And you merited such treatment tonight, I must say."

Baelor gaped at him, looking for telltale signs that Martell was joking but the torchlight didn't reveal any. He looked quickly around. Fortunately, there was no one else in sight in the broad long hallway. "You're a Kingsguard!"

Lewyn nodded gravely, not liking the reality of what they were doing at all. "For a long time, I thought so, yes. But at the end, it came down to what choices I could live up with. I didn't sign my soul over when I took the white. And Aerys and Rhaegar knew what they were getting and what they promised and failed to give in return." He squared his shoulders. "Well, I guess I'll now go and keep conspiring, shitting on my honour. You keep sleeping comfortably on your couch, dear nephew."

He went in, leaving Baelor to stare after him. All the tales of Dornish lies and treachery came rushing back but it took Baelor little effort to chase them away. After being married to a Dornishwoman for eight years, he had come to see them somewhat differently. And they were right. With the new surprises Aerys and Rhaegar kept serving them every day, there could be no safety, no peace of mind. Something needed to be done, couch or no couch.

Inside, Lewyn came to the table and smiled at seeing that Alynna had almost cleared her plate. She would live. She would thrive. Now, they needed her healthy more than ever.

Elia smiled at the sight of him. "I take it you saw Baelor on his way out?" she asked.

"I wished him a good sleep," he said and chuckled at her flush. But he soon became serious, going around the table to Alynna.

She saw the small piece of parchment in his hand with the cockatrice seal and blanched. "Well," she breathed, "it came. Finally!"

Lewyn had opened and read it. She didn't mind.

"We're leaving for King's Landing first thing tomorrow," she said. Fear and relief fought a fierce battle within her and she couldn't say which one was winning. On one hand, they needed to arrive at King's Landing before Lord Stark and that scared her - she didn't know what they'd see, how they'd be met, if their plans would succeed; on the other, Rhaegar could have changed his mind and plans and upset all their plans without offering anything remotely good in exchange and it hadn't happened. Rhaegar! Her hands clenched in fists but she refused to think of him and the whore he had tossed her aside for. There was no time. She rose and said her goodbyes, headed for her children's rooms and wishing that she could see her other children as well, just in case. Again, her mind went to the parchment and the single word written on it. Done.

There was no other message. Nothing else on the parchment.

In midday, the Red Keep was a beautiful place, at least those parts of it that Alynna was acquainted with. Sunlight streamed through high windows, statues and arches brought in elegance and frace. Inside, there were few things carved in red. White marble was the style and it made the galleries and reception halls look spacious, yet Alynna felt as if she was on her way to the black cells. In her arms, Aegon slept soundly, recently fed and oblivious to her discomfort, and she fought the searing urge to turn back and run.

"Are you feeling unwell, Your Grace?"

Alynna's answer was smooth and immediate, "No, my lord. No one is ever unwell for the King's presence."

The eunuch gave her a coy look through his downcast eyes. "Of course, Princess."

Doors were opened ajar and curious eyes stared. Alynna could feel them on her, the Prince's abandoned wife, and the babe in her arms. She knew some of the speculations spreading about – that Rhaegar had run away because the maesters had told him that she'd forever stay bloated and ungainly, balls of flesh topping each other. That he had said he wanted to share a woman's bed, not climb mountains in his efforts. That the heir he had expected of her had turned out to be deformed as had happened to some queens of old. That he'd soon dispatch the men of an Essosi sellsword company to evict her and the children from his castle before his new bride entered in triumph. Those had been rumoured well before Rhaegar's capture and were enough to make her wish her husband was near so she could shoot an arrow straight into him! After letting some snake poison show its effects first.

She wondered how many of the rumours had originated from the man walking next to her. Lord Varys was a smart and strong adversary. She wanted to have him on her side but she couldn't see a way to achieve it.

They took the last turn and suddenly, all too fast, the footman was bowing and opening the double doors, and Alynna was walking among two rows of courtiers towards the beast of the belly.

The members of the Small Council stood close to the Iron Throne, of course. Alynna felt their calculating eyes sliding all over her but she only cared about one. Lucerys Velaryon, the Master of Ships, looked uncomfortable and was quick to look away.

Two more steps. Then another two, as slow as possible, and she was sinking into a curtsey before the dais.

"So you've finally dared show your face here."

He hadn't bidden her to rise, so Alynna stayed in the uncomfortable pose of the curtsey, head bowed and back straight.

"Where is he?"

Alynna swallowed. For a moment, she wanted to just say the truth, tell him where to find his fickle son and unleash his anger upon him as Rhaegar deserved. She commanded herself not to. "I don't know, Your Grace."

Aerys snorted. "You don't know? You and your Dornishmen have been supporting him against his father ever since you came here, to our great woe. What is his plan? To keep the girl as a hostage to turn my leal bannermen against me?"

Horror choked her. If she didn't know Rhaegar, if she didn't know that the girl had left with him on her own will, that was what she might have thought as well. Aerys wasn't stupid. Just mad.

"I don't know where he is, Your Grace. But I know he isn't planning anything against you. He's just smitten with the girl and stole her away. He isn't trying to turn her family…"

Above her, a heavy object hit the ground but of course, etiquette didn't let her to raise her head and see what it was. "Smitten with her?" Aerys roared. "He isn't this blind. She isn't even beautiful. It's all part of your plan, giving her that laurel, using her against me… Where is he?"

In Dorne! " "I don't know."

"He was spotted boarding a ship to Braavos! Is he negotiating with the Iron Bank and the sellsword companies to steal my throne?"

"No!"

Her neck was aching. She couldn't keep her back straight anymore, so she relaxed it a little and focused on Aegon, terrified that her arms would give up and she'd drop him.

"You!" Aerys screamed. "You Dornish snake. You've turned my son against me. Against his father. For this, you will burn."

"Your Grace, I swear I didn't do anything! And Rhaegar isn't conspiring against you!"

"Liar!"

By the change in the location she heard his voice from, she guessed he had jumped to his feet in rage.

Then, she heard him going down the stairs. He grabbed her chin and lifted her head so roughly that she bit her tongue. And then, the precarious balance of her uncomfortable position upset, she fell down on her side, only managing to lift Aegon so he fell on top of her instead of the marble.

Darkness came.

"A trial by combat?" Alynna asked, suspicion immediately arising. "And the King agreed?"

It was too… ordinary, too sane.

"Tomorrow," Lewyn said. "Everyone will be present – the Small Council, the High Septon, the court… and you."

"Never!"

After hitting her head on the marble floor, Alynna had been suffering from headaches again. She was really too feeble and didn't want to do anything that might slow her recovery. And she didn't want to give the court fodder for gossip again. Being the wife Rhaegar had run from had been bad enough even without collapsing so humiliatingly in Aerys' feet with everyone watching.

"Oh yes, you should." There was concern in her mother's eyes that jolted Alynna into new level of scared. "I must be there."

The two black-clad men stepped away and examined their work. Alynna bit her hand not to scream. The red spot on her cheek was still burning bright, the answer to her pleas for mercy when she, along with everyone else, had been told who House Targaryen's champion was.

"No!" Brandon Stark yelled and started struggling in his bonds. Stop it, Alynna thought. Stop it, or you'll strangle yourself trying to reach that sword. And then, in a sea of horror drowning her, she realized that this was what Aerys wanted.

"No!" Ranna whispered urgently. "Don't do a thing. The fire won't catch."

Alynna stared at her and thought she had gone mad. The fire was already burning, licking Rickard Stark's armour!

And then, it went down. Just like this. Brandon Stark stopped struggling and looked at his father in wonder. The great hall breathed with the breath hundreds of watchers released. Lord Stark looked down at his own feet where the ash was smoking as if watered down abundantly.

The pyromancers hurried again to build it – and this time it only flickered.

"Rossart!" Aerys roared.

Alynna drew her skirts closer to her when the man rushed past to inspect the fire. He rose from his crouch and shook his head helplessly. There was no reason for the fire not to catch and yet it didn't.

The Seven's justice and Innocent filled the room, first in whisper, and then in increasingly louder, awed voices. Alynna turned to her mother, amazed. "How did you know…"

Ranna didn't even look at her. Eyes intent on Stark and the fire, lips drawn back, face contorted in a scream that she would not release, she looked as if she was the one burning. On her forehead, a ruby that Alynna had never seen before glowed.

She was the one putting the fire down. Somehow, she was. The thought that Ranna was even able to subdue fire to her will was enough to make Alynna momentarily recoil from her own mother, although Ranna was not doing anything to anyone.

Not a flicker. Anything. Hesitantly, unsure if she should even do this much, Alynna touched Ranna's hand. It was incredibly hot.

This had to end.

"The Seven spoke!" Alynna cried out, rising from her seat. "This man and his son aren't guilty of anything. This was the voice of the Seven. The Seven have spoken!"

If she had expected the High Septon to take part, she was bitterly disappointed. The man just looked fearfully at Aerys. But all around, the people started muttering and that was enough to drive Aerys into a new fit of madness. He shot to his feet, descended the dais and headed straight for Alynna, giving her a slap in the face that made her head snap back. Then, he retreated in fury, cloak billowing behind him.

Rossart ran to catch up with him, only stopping to snap at Ranna, "I know you did it. I won't let it pass…"

The whirlwind of events sucked everything in their hiss. Someone headed to take the chains from Rickard Stark's hands as someone else was releasing Brandon. With a sigh of relief and pain that Alynna never wanted to hear again, her mother slumped from her seat unconscious. The High Septon started murmuring about miracles and someone snapped at him to clear out.

Alynna knelt at her mother's side, trying to bring her back to consciousness. Ranna was burning hot and where the now dull ruby had been, a real burning was smoking.

Some people were headed for the door while others stayed, wanting to talk. Heavy footsteps stopped right next to Alynna and when she looked up, she met grey eyes watching her with intensity that further disrupted her. "What's wrong with her?" Lord Stark asked. No one had even thought of stopping him when he had made his way to them.

"I think she's been burnt…"

"Take her," Rickard commanded his son who had just come close.

Without saying anything, Brandon leaned over, took Ranna in his arms and headed out of the hall.

"What happened?" he asked, looking from the unconscious woman to his father and back. "You weren't burnt but she is…"

"Not here," Rickard said. "We must go at some place that is more secure and then perhaps someone is going to tell me what's going on."

It won't be me, Alynna thought. They all would have to wait until her mother was well enough to talk. And she needed to act as soon as possible. The alchemist seemed to know that her mother had had a part in thwarting Aerys' plan and Alynna had attracted further notice to herself by begging for the Starks and then announcing that the Seven's will was with them. If Aerys hadn't been convinced that they were all jointly plotting against him, now he'd be.

In her mind's eye, she saw that rock at Salt Shore again. A few times, she had gone with the boys for the long and dangerous jump. Each time, she had been scared. Every single time. "Jump," she had ordered herself. And she had jumped headfirst.

This night, Alynna didn't go to bed at all. She had taken the children in her bedchamber and Ranna placed in her own bed. Everyone else had long been sent away.

She tried to sit down, save her strength but after a minute of resting in a chair, anxiety propelled her to her feet again. She went to the window and stared at the city sleeping in her feet. She wished her chambers overlooked the sea, although she, of course, would not recognize one ship against many.

Had they found the passage? Had they gone through it already? Had someone heard the commotion? What if Aerys had positioned guards in his very bedchamber?

Finally, a little after midnight, someone knocked at her door. She sprang to her feet and went to open it herself, then stepped back to let the newcomer inside.

Under other circumstances, she would have embraced Oberyn first and talk later. Now, she only looked at him, the silent question unspoken.

"The time has come, Princess," he said, bowing deeply. Behind him, Ser Gunthor Hightower did the same.

"Come with me, my lady," he said. "The officers at the Dragon Gate are waiting."

Alynna's knees went weak. That was the moment. If she did it, there would be no turning back. But there hadn't been one since the moment their men had emerged into Aerys' bedchamber and grabbed him.

"Viserys?" she asked.

"There are guards at his door already. Our people will be with him constantly. The spider won't have a chance."

"I don't want him hurt," Alynna warned.

Oberyn didn't exactly told her that she was stupid but if they had the time, he might have. No one wanted the child hurt. No one would harm him.

Alynna went to the bed and hating herself, woke her mother up. "Come on," she said. "We're leaving."

She had had both of them changed into riding outfits as soon as she had sent her handmaidens away.

"What happened?" Oberyn asked, not understanding why his aunt was in this state.

Alynna wrapped Rhaenys in a cloak, told her to be quiet, and handed her to Melina who had come with her first to the Tor, then at Dragonstone, and now to King's Landing. Then, she took Aegon and led the way out.