So now .. on to the final chapter ... Thank you all for sticking around. Thanks for all the comments (both good and bad).
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6) And now it ends …
Pyke:
"Have you seen this?" the captain asked his King picking up the parchment they had received earlier that day. .
"Aye," replied Euron Greyjoy all too calmly. He leaned back on his chair and looked out the window. "I have" he toyed with his crown and nodded his head in response.
The captain returned the parchment to the desk and looked at his King. "Are you not in the least worried?"
Euron removed a dagger from a scabbard tied to his belt. He tossed it in the air and grabbed it by the handle before throwing it towards the desk. It landed right on the parchment, nailing it to the wooden surface. "Should I be?"
"With all due respect, Your Grace, according to this letter the white walkers have invaded the continent. We both saw it at the dragon pit back at the capital. We both saw what that thing could do, and that was only one of them. A whole army is making its way towards us" the captain offered wary of his unpredictable King's response.
"Aye, I saw it" he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "And I asked Jon Snow a question. Do you remember?"
"I- I only remember the creature, Your Grace" he stuttered in a barely audible voice.
"I said, do you remember my question to Jon Snow?" Euron grabbed him by the scuff of his neck and pulled his face so close to his that the spit from Euron's growl landed right between the poor captain's eyes.
Timidly, the captain shook his head. "No, Your Grace. I apologize"
Euron pushed him to the floor and walked to the window. "I asked him if they could swim. Do you remember his answer?"
"He said they couldn't" the captain replied slowly getting back on his feet.
"Look at the window captain. What do you see?"
"The ocean, Your Grace"
"Exactly" Euron said making his way purposefully towards his captain. "We're safe" he added giving him a soft but painful slap on his cheek. "Let the creatures come and kill them all. Come Summer, the creatures will retire back North and we'll be the only ones left alive. The continent will be ours for the taking."
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King's Landing:
"Have you seen this?" Maester Qyburn asked his Queen picking up a parchment from a desk.
"Yes, I have" Cersei replied taking another sip of her wine.
"It's dire news, Your Grace"
"Do you think I don't know that?" she hissed and brought her hand down to her stomach.
"With all due respect, Your Grace, you shouldn't be drinking in your condition."
"Are you concerned for my baby now?" she countered finishing the content of her glass in one gulp and tossing the goblet towards her Maester. "I think you have more pressing matters now than whether I take a drink or not"
"What do you intend to do?"
"There is nothing to do. You saw what that thing did, you inspected it yourself. If these savage Northmen who know nothing but fight and their arrogant Queen with her dragons couldn't stop them, what makes you think we can?"
"What do you suggest?"
"Isn't that your job? To come up with solutions?" she spat back.
"I think we should leave."
"I was thinking the same thing" she murmured sadly. "Have the boats ready. We'll take as many workers as we can. Leave the highborn lords and ladies, I don't want to hear their silly arguments and petty whining any longer. Take able men and woman who can work: smiths, bakers, cooks, carpenters, painters. Make sure that they are healthy. And take our best soldiers"
"I will your Grace."
"Do it in secret. We don't want nosy people asking questions and begging to be saved. We'll meet back at the port tonight."
Cersei spent the rest of the day reminiscing about her life. How she had come this far, but never really achieved what she wanted; how she had fought so hard to get so close. There was always something or someone getting in the way: Robert and his selfishness, Ned Stark and his arrogant nosiness, her father and his way of putting her down just because she was a woman - he could never see her strength beyond her feminine exterior, her brother Tyrion and his airs of superiority undermining everything she did, her brother Jaime and his blatant lack of guts, the Tyrell crone and how she killed her beloved Joffrey, the Martells and their bastards killing her daughter – she gave an inward smirk of sadistic satisfaction at the thought of Elaria watching her last living girl die right in front of her, Jon Snow and his Targaryen Queen with their snobbish sense of superiority and how they thought their shit didn't stink – I bet their rotting corpses do stink now, she laughed to herself. And now, when she was rid of all the human elements that stood in her way, here comes this threat from beyond. Life was not fair.
Getting up on her feet again she beckoned her loyal Ser Robert Strong and ordered him to take her to the newly appointed Commander of the Kingsguard – a position her brother Jaime had decided to decline.
"Is everything in order?" she asked him when they were all alone in his office.
"It is Your Grace. Everything is in place" the Commander replied solemnly.
"Thank you. You have served me well"
"It is an honor, Your Grace"
Cersei looked at him and offered an insincere sweet smile. "Ser Robert, you know what to do" she said quietly and turned around. She closed the door behind her but not before the desperate cries of her Commander reached her ears.
It was just before sunset when she made her way to the port. She could see the almost one hundred boats of her fleet and wished she had kept Euron's fleet. But would it really change things?, she wondered. The assorted group of people she met at the quay was not what she had always envisioned would be her party of royal subjects for her long and prosperous reign. She greeted Qyburn and saw the confused and panicked faces of the crowd as they were being herded into boats. Nobody dared refuse and the few that did paid dearly. They have no idea what's coming. They have no idea they are better off with me than here.
When the boats were loaded to capacity, the order was given the fleet set sail towards the east on Blackwater Bay. The seas were calm and the sails were stretched allowing for a smooth sailing. Cersei looked at her city as it receded in the distance. Then she started counting …
Boom! A loud explosion filled the air and green smoke filled the sky above the once great city of King's Landing. She tried to filter the desperate cries of the people on board the ships. They cried for their lost loved ones who had remained on the ground and were now nothing but charred ashes.
"Your Grace, what have you done?" Qyburn asked her warily.
"What I had to"
"Your Grace?" Qyburn insisted pointing at the smoldering ruins.
"They had outlived their usefulness. I was not about to leave them there for the Army of the Dead. I refuse to give those creatures additions to their numbers. I made use of my subjects the way I saw fit. Dying here is better than becoming one of them. Their sacrifice will be honored when this is all over. Come Summer, the white walkers will retire to the North and we'll return" she explained in an even voice devoid of emotion.
"Of course Your Grace. Wise move" he told her, but her gaze was now lost in the distance.
"I have lost everything" she muttered after a long silence. "My children. My brothers. My father. My kingdom. I am the Queen of Ashes." She grabbed the railing forcefully and pressed her lips together. "But I am still here, am I not? Where are those who defied me?" she spat venomously.
"They have all perished, My Queen"
"And we" she addressed him with a newly found authority "have a new Kingdom to forge."
"Where are we going?"
"Pentos for now. It's the closest city. We'll make our way from there."
"If you don't mind me asking you, how did you manage to set the fires from the boat?" he wondered trying to conceal his hurt at having been left out.
"A good leader has the right men in the right positions" she replied and pointed at a small dot on the sea slowly approaching the ship.
Qyburn squinted against the setting sun to make out a small rowing boat with a man as big as a mountain on it. His muscled big arms allowed him to row faster than the average man and it didn't take too long for Ser Robert Strong to catch up with them and climb on board.
"Good job", Cersei greeted her staunch bodyguard.
Sparing a last glance at the smoking city she turned around directed her gaze at the assorted motley crew on board her ship, knowing the other boats carried a similar load. Then she turned her eyes to the east. To the open sea. To Essos. To a new beginning.
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THE END
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Thank you all so much for reading! Sorry about the ending, but after what happened in season 7, I really can't see any other believable ending without pulling more of these impossible miraculous saves and convenient plot twist (Jon sprouting wings, Bran learing how to physically fly, The Night King getting diarreah and having to leave the battle field, etc) ... We'll just have to wait and see what D&D do ...
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I usually like to respond to all the people who review the story and leave comments (both good and bad). If you have an account you have probably received a reply.
To Guest 1 reviewer and Marvelmyra:
First of all, thank you for taking the time to read and review even if you are not completely satisified. I really appreciate the feedbak. I wish you had an account so I could reply to you in private and you could have the chance to reply back. This way, you will write your final comment for this last chapter and I will have no way to get back to you. So yes, real life is full of impossible rescues and we've all heard stories of implausible survivals. But only so many. I can take the occasional last minute rescue to save my favourite character or a convenient plot twist. But not three seasons of anything but!
Cheating Death in ridiculous ways: Jon should have died three times (his resurrection made no sense, he should have died at the Battle against Ramsay and against the white walkers in Tyrion's impossible mission); Jaime two times (in Dorne when he attacked an armed fortress in broad daylight and with no back up, and when he fell -or was tackled- into a river wearing heavy armour, which makes it very hard to remain afloat - let alone two people swimming together, one of them one-handed); Arya (she was stabbed countless times and fell into a dirty river); Theon (there's no way he could have beaten a burly thug when he was so weak and fragile); Sansa and Tyrion jumped a wall and fell onto the snow with no scrapes or bruises. And I bet many fan favourites (Tormund, Gendry) survived the fall of Eastwatch by the Sea at the end of season 7. I can accept two or three situations, but this is just too much.
Believing in people for no reason (other than the fandom knowing the truth): Davos had absolutely no reason whatsoever to resurrect Jon; what reason would he have to think Jon was the "best option for survival" and risk being killed in a mutiny he had no business getting involved in and invoke Melisandre's magic? In fact, it served his purposes to want for Jon to remain dead since the majority of the Brothers took part in the mutiny and he was hiding with just a handful of men. He had no reason to see Jon as a hero and a lot of reasons to think he was a bad apple: a leader who can't communicate and fails to support his own people in favour of strangers. With Jon dead, he would get the support of the new Lord Commander and be back on his merry way to his family (as you said). Why risk his life for a stranger who meant nothing to him and had been accused of being a traitor by the majority? Can you picture Hot Pie standing in front of the Sept of Baelor as Ned was about to be beheaded and freeing Ned from his chains, risking is life for a man that meant absolutely nothing to him and who, for all intents and purposes, appeared to be a guilty traitor? It's the same! Also, the Sand snake (can't remember which one) had no reason to give Bronn the antidote; Dany had no reason to trust Tyrion and make him her advisor (in fact, she should have had him executed the minute Jorah brought him); Dany and Jon had absolutely no reason to trust each other and fall in love (in fact, given the way they behaved towards one another and what they did, they had more reason to hate each other than to fall in love. Dany had burned or punished anybody else who would refuse her, why not Jon? What reason did she have to trust him? Especially after he was responsible for her baby's death!). There is a pattern of trusting people for no reason other than the fans knowing they are worth trusting. But the characters themselves do not know this. Can you imagine Catelyn suddenly believing Tyrion for no reasons when he said he had not tried to kill Bran when everything pointed at his guilt?
Being just too lucky: Davos was way too lucky when he found Shireen's toy in the snow; Jorah and Daario were just too lucky to find Dany's ring in the middle of nowhere; Jorah was way too lucky that Sam (who had no medical training whatsoever) was able to find a cure to an incurable disease. Can you imagine Robb suddenly finding a lost raven with a letter from Tywin to Frey about the Red Wedding?
People changed allegiances and supported Jon for no reason (he lost the battle, he did not win it, just as Joffrey did not win in Blackwater Bay: Tyrion, Tywin and the Tyrells did, but Joffrey took credit); the Ironmen changed allegiances and supported Theon for no reason after that Disney fight at the beach. Can you imagine Ned standing at the Sept of Baelor before his execution giving a speech about his honor and then people just changing sides for no reason and cheering for him to become King instead of being executed?
Stupid decisions that are successful: Jon goes into battle with no strategy and wins; Tyrion comes up with a stupid plan and it succeeds (his only idea in three seasons!); Bran, Arya and Sansa come up with a far-fetched conspiracy and mock execution and it succeeds; Bronn and Jaime attack a fortress with no plan and no backup and come out unscathed. Meanwhile, the Blackfish had the chance to go to Wintefell and get more men to retake Riverrun but decided to stay and die; Baelish, the smartest person by far, is duped by three brats.
Not being held accountable for misdeeds: Jon lied, belittled, ignored and betrayed people; Sansa lied countless times; the young Starks killed a man in cold blood and made it look like an execution; Dany and Jon plotted behind everyone's backs; Tyrion condoned the killing of honorable rivals whose sole crime was not bending the knee to a despotic foreign invader and remaining patriotic (had that been a Stark people would have called them honorable); Daenerys just killed whoever dared oppose her (well, except Jon, of course), and yes, killing the Tarlys is the act of a ruthless despot; Arya just killed people right and left regardless of how justified she may think she was; etc, and they ALL got away with their crimes - something unimaginable in earlier seasons when people paid for their mistakes and misdeeds.
… So, as I said, I can take two or three convenient twists and stetching the realm of what is plausible, but not a whole show. The show has changed radically and become something it was not. In fact, it is now the opposite of what it used to be. Many people like it better this way, all the better for them. For me it feels like Vikings suddenly turning all fluff and comedy or The Backyardigans suddenly becoming porn - losing its most distinctive features and everything that made it good and becoming a completely different show.
… And YES I admit, having a little boy serve as the vehicle through which the people find out IS cheap. But I'm not a professional writer and do not have HBO backing me. I do this on my spare time (which is not much) and do not have a whole crew of poeple working for me. And to be honest, I was not very satisfied with the way I did it. I needed the people in Winterfell to find out about all these things, but I don't think the Starks, Daenerys, the Lannister brothers, Brienne, Sam, etc would have told the people all the details. The truth incriminated them and made them look like idiots! So I needed for them to find out without being told, and that's also part of the reason why the people felt cheated and betrayed - they were kept in the dark. I suppose I could have had the people conveniently find secret documents, like they did in the show. Or just magically know things they had no way of knowing, like they did in the show. Or somebody just teleporting and by chance blurting out the truth for no reason. I chose a young boy – that's my convenient deus ex machina. But it's only one. (Honestly, I couldn't come up with a better idea, so if you want to help me I would appreciate it!) … I hope you liked the ending and find it plausible … Thanks.
Guest 2: Thanks! Yeah, I know it's not D&D's fault George has not finished the books yet. But they knew what they were getting into when they signed. Do you follow football? Imagine you manage a team that includes Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Suarez, Salah, Buffon, etc and you win all the cups. That's easy enough. But then, the following year all these players leave and you lose all the games. It's when all the stars are gone that you have the chance to shine and show your talent as a coach. The source material is finished, but the table was set and all the players were in position. They blew it. They couldn't come up with good ideas on their own, and they ruined what had already been achieved. ... As for GRRM, I think he's just basking in the success of the show and will not finish the books until he has been able to milk HBO's production for as much as he can. Once the hype is over he'll come out with the new book to revamp the hype. Meanwhile, he'll just realease another World of Ice and Fire cookery book, Wildling mythology thesis, obscure character spin off tale, Cyvasse instruction manual, Westerosi Fashion and Style booklet etc. ...