Plans of a Madman

Edmure POV

Seeing a portion of the city burning, I realized I made a big mistake. I shouldn't have thought of Euron as I thought of everyone else. He wasn't a man of reason. He didn't care about anyone but himself. He didn't care about Daenerys or ruling. All he wanted was dragons. To achieve his goal, he needed everyone distracted. And I have given chaos he needed to accomplish it.

Euron waited for an opportunity, and I indirectly gave it to him. The burning of the Marketplace would bring out everyone to investigate. It was close enough to the Great Pyramid that every patrol near it would go to the fire. Who knows how many men Euron had smuggled, and he probably saw that longer waiting would not work anymore.

At least I could hope that it wasn't too many. Still, with fifty or so of the Golden Company already in the Great Pyramid, another fifty outside without any patrol noticing them would bring disaster. Of course, there was no hope of winning with only that many, but it would be over if he got to the dragons.

That is why I ran as fast as possible. The attack probably was already underway. The Queen will be escorted to her chambers and protected by most of her guards. Few will defend the dungeons, and even fewer will guard the dragons. After all, what kind of madman would go for them?

Euron will likely pretend to go after Daenerys' life to put them on the defensive. Most, with any training, will go on defense and wait for the chaos to end. We have more men and more defensive places. There was no need to risk our lives and position by attacking them. I should have thought about it before. I thought I had time to counter him.

As I ran through the streets, I saw panic settling into the city. It only got worse when bells started to ring. I saw fires lit at the city's walls, indicating an attack. It was nothing but a ploy to give themselves more time. As numerous as they are, the city's forces will be divided, and Euron will use it to buy himself enough time to get to the dragons.

I couldn't let it happen. So, I ran, knocking everyone and everything in my path. When I came to the Great Pyramid, the fighting was already underway. It was chaos, bodies lay on the ground, and Unsullied were on their own, trying and failing to form any formation for defense. The Golden Company men were good, skillful, trained, and armed well. Good thing they weren't armored too well.

Smuggling in swords would be easier than armor, and they couldn't walk around with their armor without anyone noticing them. There were about a hundred of them. I could count about twenty who were well-armored too. Aegon's guards took a position at the entrance and didn't let anyone inside.

I ran into the chaos, cutting down anyone that wasn't an Unsullied. I needed to get inside before it was too late, but I couldn't get through the main entrance. I would take time to get around and get through the servant's entry at the side of the Great Pyramid, but it was probably locked, and doing so would waste only more time.

I stabbed one man in his chest as he ran at me and pushed him away. Panic and fear gripped my heart, but I forced myself to calm down and think. I looked at everything around me to find a solution. The battle would only intensify, and more of the Unsullied will come sooner, but I couldn't wait for them. Time was of the essence. I tried to find something that would let me get inside fast enough.

But I couldn't get distracted as men came to kill me. I blocked one and kicked another away from me. Before the third came, I was prepared to jump out of the way of the upcoming sword and gain some distance before the third man's head flew in the air. Using the chance, I pushed the first one away before stabbing him in the throat and then ripped my sword back out, leaving his head hanging with only half his neck still intact.

"Oscar," Daario said as he cut another man. "Can you tell what is happening?"

"It seems our enemies struck sooner than we could anticipate," I replied. "We need to get inside."

"The Queen should be safe. Once more men arrive, we will dispose of them," he said.

"It isn't the Queen I am worried about," I responded to him with a raised voice. "They after the dragons."

"Then they die anyway, they will be burned before they can do anything, and if they free them, they will come to protect their mother."

"Do you think they would risk attacking us like this if they didn't have a plan?" I asked. "They know as much as we do that they can't win. It is only a ploy to buy more time."

"We can't get inside. I tried the side entrances. They were locked and barricaded," Daario replied. "We sooner will be able to get through them than break the other doors."

"Window," I said, looking up.

"And how do you think reaching it?" Daario asked. "It is at least eight meters from the ground. We don't have a ladder."

"Where is your imagination?" I asked, regaining my calm. "Gather the Unsullied around. We will make a human ladder."

"Crazy fool," Daario commented. "Well, there is no time to waste then."

There was no time to lose, and with Daario shouting orders, half a dozen Unsullied quickly replied and joined him. I grabbed another four closest to me and pushed them to the wall with a window above it. With a quick explanation, six men formed a shield wall to defend us while another four climbed on each other. If they weren't the Unsullied, it would take too long.

I didn't waste time and climbed on the backs of the Unsullied. It was good that I only wore chainmail and no other armor to slow and weigh me down. The Unsullied struggled under the weight, even with their hands on the wall supporting them. Another good thing was that the Great Pyramid had an incline on the wall. It helped a bit.

Once I reached the window with my hand, I holstered myself inside. It was a guest room. After all, building a window into a pyramid was complicated, so it didn't surprise me that it would be used for important guests. The room was empty. With a glance, I pushed the bed to the window and removed the blankets.

I used the blankets to make them into makeshift ropes. Tying one end to the bed, I dropped it through the window. It didn't reach the ground but was enough to reach with someone bolstering them up. Daario came first, then a few more Unsullied followed. Without waiting for anything more, I rushed through the doors to the stairway.

The hallway was empty. The guest, the guards, and the attackers probably all moved to higher floors, and the rest of the attackers were below them. The four of us moved fast to the staircase, which was empty too. While Daario wanted to move up, he had no choice but to believe Aegon was after the dragons and moved with me to the dungeons.

"Stop!" Two men who kept watch on the first floor looked at us surprised.

Before they could react, Daario and I threw our daggers at them. Mine hit the neck, Daario's eye. They fell to the ground, and we moved on. As we turned to the staircase to the dungeons, Jorah walked out of one of the rooms. He saw us first and motioned them to stop. He probably heard two bodies fall to the ground.

"There are twelve of the Golden Company," Jorah said, and only when he got closer I noticed his side bleeding. "Euron, Aegon, and Jon Connington are with them as well as four Silent Ironborn and warlocks."

"What's the situation upstairs?" Daario asked. "And what are you doing here?"

"Tyrion and Her Grace are on the top floor," Jorah said. "They are well protected and barricaded. No one will get to them. I used rope from Ser Oscar's chambers to get myself below and investigate the situation."

"How did this happen?" Daario asked.

"It was a surprise attack. Some of the servants were bought or replaced by their men," Jorah explained. "We were all over the place before we could coordinate a defense. They planned this well. If they had a bit more men, I don't even want to think about it. All we could do was to focus defense on the Queen and wait for support to arrive."

It only confirmed my suspicions that Euron had convinced Aegon to act this way. It made sense. From the beginning, Aegon was nothing but a puppet for Euron. While I tried to weaken Aegon, it only helped Euron to manipulate him. And now, I created a perfect situation where Aegon had no choice but to accept this reckless plan.

"We are moving in," I said. "We outnumbered, and Euron and Jon will be great adversaries."

"Then we should wait," Jorah said.

"We can't, they are after the dragons, and if they get them, it will be all over for everyone," I replied. "It ends here and now, one way or another. You can stay. You are injured and tired."

"I'm fine," I called his bluff, but he didn't back off. "I still can fight."

"Then let's go," I said, and Jorah and Daario nodded.

Part of me wished the passage would be longer. Another part thought it was already too long. I feared Euron. I had to accept that. The situation didn't help either, we were outnumbered, and strength-wise, we weren't any better. We were already tired after fighting many people and running around.

I pushed my doubts away. It was now or never, and all my planning did nothing to stop Euron. Maybe it weakened him and made him act ahead of schedule, but nothing more. I had to face him now, and even if fear gripped my heart, I moved past the dungeons into the place where the dragons were held.

Every step I took was heavier than the last. My grip on my sword hilt became tighter. I wish I had a shield, but a knife in my left hand might be more helpful. Plans and tactics formed in my head as we started to hear voices and snarls from the dragons. It was simple. We moved fast and tried to kill as many as possible before they noticed us.

When we reached the doors and saw three men guarding them, I looked at Daario, and he looked at me. With a nod, we threw our daggers at them, and an Unsullied threw his spear. Killing the three instantly, we moved fast and caught their bodies to lessen the sound of them dropping to the ground.

Without any words, I pushed the doors and winced when it started to creak. Abandoning sneaking in, I pushed the doors open and rushed at the enemies. Aegon was with Jon trying to calm the dragons down, but they weren't successful. The dragons snarled and huffed but didn't breathe fire on them, probably because the warlocks were doing something with incense and chanting.

Before they could react, one of the Golden Company men had his heart pierced by my sword, another had his head cut off by Daario, and another had a spear in their chest. Jorah struggled to kill his foe but managed to push him to the wall. Ignoring them, I looked at Euron, who wasn't concerned. It irked me to no end to see his smile.

"It seems we don't have any time anymore," Euron said. "Use the horn. We will hold them back."

"Don't let him do so!" I yelled out and rushed, only to be stopped by Euron himself.

"It is enough for today, Edmure."

A.N. As always, If you want more, up to five advanced chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852