Finally! The first chapter of the year. Sorry it took so long to publish. Now you will all know about that "madness" that I mentioned at the end of the previous chapter. Enjoy! :)
Author's Note: Profanity, blood, and disturbing scenery ahead.
141 AC - 143 AC
Princess Laena Velaryon is unremarkable in comparison to her siblings and cousins. She is quiet, meek, obedient, and sweet. She never gets into any trouble, does not entertain any thoughts of mischief, and is always well behaved. This was all true at the start of the decade. Unremarkable or not, Laena's future appeared to be bright at first, and it was bright due to her blood ties to powerful and leading members in the royal court.
Daughter of the Lord and Lady of the Tides. Sister of the heir to Driftmark. Niece of both the Prince of Dragonstone and the Master of Laws. Granddaughter of Queen Rhaenyra I and King Daemon Targaryen. Great-granddaughter of the Queen Who Never Was and the late Sea Snake.
Laena was also destined to become the sister of a future queen and the sister-in-law of a future king thanks to the betrothal of her older sister Alysanne to their cousin Baelor, and as if that wasn't enough, she was also the first cousin of a future Lady of Highgarden through Alyssa's betrothal to the Warden of the South. Ravens bearing marriage proposals from all over Westeros and even Essos increased in frequency after the princess celebrated her tenth nameday late in 141 AC. Out of all of these proposals, the most promising came from House Baratheon of Storm's End. Denied the chance to marry one of the Four Storms to Prince Joffrey Velaryon during the early years of Queen Rhaenyra's reign, Lady Elenda Caron, in her husband's stead, hoped to arrange a marriage between her only son, Lord Royce Baratheon, to Princess Laena Velaryon. Marrying the heir of Storm's End to one of Joff's nieces would have made up for the slight that Borros suffered all those years ago when the prince took a bee for his wife rather than a doe.
By marrying Royce, Laena would gain four prominent sisters-in-law through Ladies Cassandra, Maris, Ellyn, and Floris Baratheon thanks to their marriages to powerful noblemen. This Baratheon-Velaryon match would have been more powerful than the one between Lord Rogar Baratheon and Queen Alyssa Velaryon in 49 AC, who were also the direct ancestors for both Royce and Laena. Becoming the next Lady of Storm's End would have added a whole new level of prestige to Laena's place in the Seven Kingdoms. While Prince Lucerys Velaryon busied himself with creating the betrothal and arranging a dowry for his second born daughter, something malign was beginning to manifest within Laena. This malignant "something" began in a relatively harmless manner one night in 141 AC shortly after the princess turned ten years old.
Sometime before dawn, Laena woke up and could not go back to sleep. Tossing and turning and unable to keep her eyes closed, Laena finally decided to see if taking a walk outside in High Tide's empty halls could work off her energy and help her go back to sleep. That walk took longer than expected, for Laena soon found herself traipsing about the entire castle except for the dungeons. Quiet as a mouse, Laena remained undetected until she was spotted by a guard who heard her bare feet on the marble floor as the princess skipped about in the hall just as dawn was beginning to light up the horizon. The guard escorted the girl back to her bedchamber where she remained for the rest of the night unable to sleep.
That same guard later informed Maester Thaleus about Laena wandering around High Tide at sunrise, and Thaleus in turn informed Prince Lucerys Velaryon when the family was eating breakfast in the great hall. Conversing with Laena after breakfast ruled out sickness or summer heat as being the cause of her insomnia, Thaleus began administering milk mixed with a pinch of sweetsleep to Laena each night before she went to bed so that she could have a sound and dreamless sleep. The sweetmilk worked, and the Velaryon's assumed that Laena would be alright after this. Oh, how wrong they were; this was only the beginning...
Laena's surges of energy were not just a nightly occurrence. They began to manifest during the daytime over the next few weeks after her bout of insomnia. This was passed off as being normal for a growing child, and no concern was given. Laena's energy increased even more as 141 AC waned into 142 AC. Laena soon fell under the sway of bizarre mood swings during the first half of 142 AC.
On some days, Laena was ecstatically happy. Her eyes would twinkle all day, she would speak with gusto, and get excited over the most mundane things like deciding what shoes to wear, or what color of thread to use for embroidering. When Laena's energy levels were at their zenith, she was excitable to the point that she would behave in a manner that was not characteristic of her at all. She once ran out of her mother's solar while in the middle of doing needlework to run down through the hall and into one of the castle gardens. Spotting the elm tree in the garden, Laena felt an overwhelming desire to climb it.
She jumped to grab a low hanging branch but was unable to crawl up onto it. Laena lost her grip on the branch three times before she just gave up to roll around in the grass giggling like she was being tickled. The sight of seeing the shocked expressions on the faces of her mother, great-grandmother, younger sister, and Aunts Aly and Joyce when they saw how dirty and stained Laena's dress was caused the girl to giggle even more. The women were even more shocked when they learned from Laena that she tried to climb a tree. Unfortunately, climbing trees would not be the only uncharacteristic activity that Laena would engage in.
During one horseback riding lesson, Laena tried to stand on her horse's saddle while it was trotting! She even tried to mount the Red Queen when the dragon was sleeping! Thankfully, Black Aly Blackwood was in the training yard with her sons when she noticed what the princess was doing, and she was able to stop Laena before the worst could happen. Everyone was perplexed by Laena's attempt to mount Meleys since she knew full well that dragons could only accept one rider for the duration of that individual's life. When asked why she tried to do it, Laena would only shrug and shake her head without a care in the world, something which angered her parents and great-grandmother.
In stark contrast to Laena's days of joviality, the behavior she exhibited on other days were one of abject misery and sorrow. She would spend most of those days in bed with no desire to get up and do anything. Whether or not she was in bed, Laena would burst out crying for no reason at all, was irritable and easy to anger, and could barely motivate herself to partake in the hobbies she enjoyed let alone getting out of bed. Most disturbing of all, Laena would think about death during these dark moods. Her little brother Corlys became engaged in one such dark conversation with Laena when he went to visit her one day while she was in bed.
"Do you ever think about him, Corlys?" mumbled Laena as she hid beneath the covers of her bed.
"Think about who, Laena?" asked the confused Corlys as he sat on the edge of his older sister's bed.
"Your twin brother."
Corlys shook his head. "Sometimes, but not always."
"It would have been neat to have two of you here..." responded Laena.
The eight year old Corlys was not sure what to say or even think about his sister's statement. He stared at her hidden form confusedly as she continued speaking.
"Corwyn would have had your name had he lived, and you would have had his name. If you two had not been born so early, you would have been behind your twin for Driftmark and High Tide, Corlys. Are you happy that he died?"
"No!" exclaimed a horrified Corlys. He all but jumped off of his sister's bed and stared at her in disbelief. "How could you say that, Laena?!"
"Just thought about it, Corlys..." murmured Laena, her voice so low that it was nearly a whisper. "Do you ever feel guilty about living while Corwyn died?"
Upset by his sister's morbidly insensitive questions, Corlys ran out of the room. He told his mother about what Laena had said to him and it infuriated Rhaena. She confronted Laena in her room and tore the covers off of her demanding why she would ask her little brother such dark questions. Laena shrugged her shoulders and said that she felt like asking them. When Rhaena continued to scold her daughter, the girl lashed out at her, yelling at her own mother to get out of her room and to leave her alone.
Shocked at first, Rhaena slapped Laena and grabbed her by both her wrists to let her know very clearly that she was to never ever talk to her like that. Laena began weeping as soon as her mother was done, and she curled up into a ball on her mattress and began crying. Rhaena's anger subsided and she tried to comfort her child to no avail. Three days after the incident, Laena was jovial and happy again as if nothing had happened. Sometimes the princess would not have days of just felicity or moroseness, for there were days where she experienced both of these states of extreme highs and lows within the span of a single day.
House Velaryon's concern for Laena grew as her behavior became more and more bizarre. Maester Thaleus theorized that Laena's black bile or melancholic humor was out of balance, and he began treating her with special herbal remedies and had her eating certain foods to help restore balance to her humors. Nothing worked, and Laena began to resent these treatments. But Thaleus would not relent in the face of defeat, especially after Lucerys insisted he continue treating Laena when a visit from the Lady and heir of Storm's End to Driftmark was coming up. Luke wanted his daughter to be as well as she could be so that her betrothal to Royce could be finalized at the end of the Baratheon's visit.
Laena was interested in Royce, and this motivated her to accept Thaleus's treatments for her melancholic humor. She curtsied and smiled when she met Lady Elenda and Lord Royce at Hull's docks. She answered all of Elenda's questions when asked, and did her best to interact with the woman's son, who was the same age as Laena. But it was not long before Laena's mood swings remerged. Her sharply contrasted days of great happiness and sadness could not be hidden or medicated, and they unnerved both mother and son.
Elenda was so unnerved by these extremes in joy and misery that she witnessed in Laena that she called off the betrothal between her son and the princess. The termination of the proposed Baratheon-Velaryon engagement was a bitter blow for both houses, but Elenda could not bear to have Royce marry such a deranged girl. Fathering children on a madwoman would result in the creation of a line of mad Baratheon's for sure, and Elenda could not allow that to happen. Laena was crushed when she learned that her betrothal was terminated before it could become official, and she became depressed soon thereafter. Her sadness increased tenfold after her younger sister Megaera was successfully engaged to Lord Alessor Thoredando later that year in 142 AC.
After that, very few things brought Laena pleasure. Needleworking was more trouble than it was worth, interacting with her siblings and female cousins became laborious, and Laena could not bring herself to visit the stables to go horseback riding with her mother and other relatives. Riding on the backs of Arrax, Morning, and Meleys with her parents and great-grandmother did give Laena pleasure, however. Her foster brother, Walton Tully, was a talented flutist, and his music was able to soothe the princess. She was able to drift through the rest of 142 AC and well into 143 AC while in a state of melancholy.
One early evening late in 143 AC changed all of that. That evening, Lucerys summoned Laena into his study to discuss something with her. Laena thought that her father's study was the most beautiful room in all of High Tide. Behind her father's mahogany and gold-leaf desk were glass paned windows and a set of brass double doors embossed with the Velaryon seahorses that opened out onto a columned veranda that overlooked the Narrow Sea. To Luke's left at the far end of the room was a blue-veined white marble hearth that was unlit.
On top of the hearth's mantlepiece were alabaster busts of past Masters of Driftmark. A Myrish tapestry depicting mermaids, leviathans, and krakens hung across from the hearth on the adjacent wall close to Luke's desk. Four iron candlesticks were scattered about the study while an iron chandelier hung from the ceiling. Three elegant suits of armor stood on display in the room, Laena had learned some time ago that the armor had been wedding gifts for her father from a Pentoshi magistrate. Besides the desk, mahogany chairs, tables, and drawers abounded throughout the study.
Laena sat in one of the chairs in front of her father's desk and their conversation commenced.
"Laena, sweetling," began the Lord of the Tides. "I have come across another marriage opportunity for you."
His twelve year old daughter said nothing, and showed no indication that she had at least the slightest interest in what her father was going to say next. Undeterred, Luke carried on.
"It is from House Bracken in the Riverlands. Your new suitor will be the heir to Stone Hedge, Ivor, the firstborn son of Lord Amos Bracken. It would be fair to have a Bracken marry into the family since your Uncle Addam is married to a Blackwood woman. Ivor is the nephew of your Uncle Viserys's wife, Lady Myrine. This will be good for us, Laena.
The Bracken's are a powerful family, and Ivor is only four years younger than you..."
Laena's complexion darkened and she became crestfallen.
"What is wrong, Laena?"
"I don't want to marry Lord Ivor, father."
"Why not?" asked Luke, who was barely able to hide his snarl.
"He is too young for me."
"He is only four years younger than you, Laena. That is not much. You want me to marry you to a lord who is forty years older than you?"
"No..."
Lucerys then went off into an angry rant.
"Why are you being so stubborn?! Why have you been acting this way? You ruined your chance to marry Royce Baratheon, and if you keep this up, you will end your life as a spinster! Is that what you want, Laena?"
The princess's eyes had been filling with tears at this point, and she was crying by the time her father's raised voice had reached this point. Anger and frustration had built up inside of Laena, and she roared out "I don't know! Why can't you just leave me alone!" Furious at his daughter's outburst, his mind clouded with anger, Luke rounded his desk and slapped Laena.
He immediately regretted what he had done, for Laena began to sob. Cradling her throbbing cheek with one hand, a red faced Laena roared back at her father in an intense fury, her voice shrill and wrought with terrible emotion.
"You hate me! You must hate me so since you want to get rid of me so badly! Marry me off to the next man or boy who will take me to free you of your broken wretch of a daughter! I hate you!"
Lucerys was at a loss for words. He was both deeply shocked and hurt by what his daughter had said, but before he could say anything, Laena took off and slammed the door behind her. Laena's flight through the halls was a blur as she ran from her father's study to her bedroom. She slammed her bedroom door behind her once she reached it and she went into a frenzy of bitter tears and wailing. Horrid thoughts of her calling herself worthless and good for nothing plagued her mind, worsening her already miserable state.
At some point, Laena was near her vanity. Noticing her jewelry box, she picked it up and threw it at her mirror, shattering it into countless pieces. Choking on tears, her cheeks red, her eyes swollen, Laena then noticed one of the shards of glass. It was a little bigger than her fist and it looked sharp. Drawn by the shard, a sniffling Laena gingerly picked it up into her hand.
She could feel the sharpness against the fingertips of her right hand. She then looked at her wrists. It made sense why she was drawn to that mirror shard. Laena wanted to die. Her family would rather see her dead than alive, or so she thought.
Sniffling and still weeping, Laena gripped the gleaming shard and brought its edge to her left wrist...
Meanwhile, after collecting his thoughts, Lucerys briskly walked to his daughter's room to apologize and to try and talk to her. He heard a pained cry coming from Laena's room, but it sounded like it came from a grown man rather than from a pubescent girl. Concerned, Luke rushed towards the bedchamber door. Opening the door, Luke bore witness to a sight that no father should ever see. Laena was laying on the floor crying, her face red and contorted in anguish, and her silver-gold hair matted against her tear moistened cheeks.
Standing over the disconsolate princess was a guard who was holding her left arm up. The guard turned around when he heard the door open. His eyes were wide and there was a bleeding cut on his face that stretched from his upper lip to his cheek. "What the hell?! Laena!" shouted a horrified Luke as he rushed to his daughter's side.
He noticed that the guard was applying pressure to Laena's slashed wrist once he knelt down beside her; blood streamed down her forearm and stained the leather of the guardsman's gloves. Commanding the guard to fetch Maester Thaleus at once, Lucerys did his best to calm Laena down and to stop the bleeding. He comforted his distraught daughter with tears in his eyes, telling her that he loved her and that he was so sorry for what had happened in the study... Seven above, Lucerys had already lost one child, and he would not be able to bear it if he lost another one. How could the gods be so cruel?
Maester Thaleus came as fast as he could with bandages and sweetsleep with the wounded guard and a serving girl carrying a flagon of wine following in behind him. He cleaned and bandaged the princess's wound, helped to put her to bed, and gave her wine mixed with a pinch of sweetsleep. Lucerys held a vigil over Laena to make sure that she slept peacefully, and he was eventually joined by his distraught and fearful wife once Thaleus had told her about what had just happened. Laena woke up the following morning and regaled her family and Thaleus about the feelings she was experiencing the night before and how she felt compelled to make an attempt on her own life. Terrified for their daughter, Luke and Rhaena discussed with Thaleus and their septon, Septon Rueben, in the study on what to do for Laena.
"The Citadel has tomes about the afflictions of the mind." said Thaleus. "Herbs, bloodletting, and trepanning have been used in the past by maesters to try and cure the afflicted."
"Trepanning? What is that?" asked Lucerys.
"It is a surgery that involves drilling a hole into a person's skull to help treat sickened minds."
Lucerys and Rhaena blinked and gaped in horror before the former spoke.
"That is never going to happen to Laena!"
"I understand your sentiments, my lord." said Thaleus in a reassuring tone. "Trepanning is often used as a last resort if all other medicines fail. I could try bloodletting to get the bad blood out and restore Laena's black bile to normal. Leeches can also be used to balance that humor too."
"Bloodletting and leeches..." mused Septon Reuben. "Do you not think that Princess Laena has seen enough blood, Maester Thaleus?"
"Then what would you recommend, Septon Reuben?" challenged Thaleus, who was known for his contempt for religion. "Crystals and magic stones?"
"No." said a slightly miffed Reuben. He then turned his attention towards the Lord and Lady of the Tides and gave them both a sympathetic look. "Forgive me, my lord and lady, but what I am about to suggest may sound extreme, but I think that it will ultimately be helpful."
"What is it?" asked a warily curious Rhaena.
"Exorcism. I believe that your daughter is being possessed by demons."
Lucerys, Rhaena, and Thaleus all exchanged concerned glances. The septon continued speaking.
"Other than imbalanced black bile, what other plausible explanation could there be for Laena's behavior over the last two years? Exorcising her could free her from whatever vile demon is holding her mind captive."
"Oh, that is preposterous!" snarled Thaleus. "Laena needs medicine, not prayers or chanting. You honestly think that reciting words from a book is going magically cure the princess of her affliction, septon?"
"Do you honestly think that using vile little parasites and boring into Laena's skull will save her, maester?"
The scholar and the cleric glared at each other tensely. Thankfully, Lucerys diffused the tension before a battle of knowledge and faith could be fought between Thaleus and Reuben. But while he could diffuse that, Lucerys could not diffuse the inner turmoil that was tormenting him from within. Should he let Maester Thaleus draw blood from Laena in hopes of curing her without having to resort to trepanning, or should he consider Septon Reuben's suggestion of having Laena exorcised? What was a father to choose in hopes of saving his daughter from whatever was plaguing her mind?
Conventional medicine had not done anything to heal Laena of her troubles. What if an unconventional treatment was the best course of action to take for this malady of the mind? Luke considered himself to be pious enough in regards to his faith, although he did raise an eyebrow at the validity of miracles and the like from time to time. However, what if, just what if Laena's salvation lied with a religious ritual? Lucerys wanted his daughter to get better, and if it was possible for her to get better through an exorcism, then so be it.
The Master of Driftmark made up his mind.
"Septon Reuben, have you performed an exorcism before?"
Rhaena felt her stomach drop when she heard what her husband said. Maester Thaleus's eyes widened and he stared incredulously at his liege lord. Septon Reuben, although inwardly pleased and smug that his suggestion had been chosen, retained a neutral expression as he answered Lucerys.
"No, but I know a fellow holy brother who has."
"Who?"
"Septon Charton. He claims to have exorcised over a hundred demons during his lifetime. He travels from village to village and town to town preaching to the faithful and rooting out the minions of the Lord of the Seven Hells. And I believe that Charton is an acquaintance of your mother's confessor, Septon Androw. You should write to her and ask, my lord.
Androw might know where Charton is now if they correspond at all."
"Very well." Luke said, and he ordered Thaleus to send a raven to his mother at the Red Keep to ask her confessor about the itinerant Septon Charton. Queen Rhaenyra was understandably horrified when she learned the full extent of her second oldest granddaughter's mental issues. Luke had been careful about discussing what was going on with Laena whenever he corresponded with his mother, but in this letter that he had dictated to Thaleus, he revealed all to Rhaenyra. Greatly concerned for Laena, Rhaenyra I summoned her confessor for a private meeting in her solar.
Septon Androw listened with an open ear as the queen regaled him about what she had just learned from Lucerys's letter. Androw shared Reuben's opinion that demonic possession was involved, and thankfully, he did correspond with Charton on a somewhat regular basis, and he knew where his fellow holy brother was located at the moment – a village in the swampy northern region of the Riverlands called "Hag's Mire". Androw sent off a raven bearing a letter with the Targaryen seal to Hag's Mire summoning him to King's Landing on the queen's behalf. A few days later, a raven bearing a letter written by Lord Nayland, the leader of Hag's Mire, arrived at the Red Keep. Lord Nayland's had written that he had informed Septon Charton about his royal summons, and that he had sent the man on his way to the Crownlands with two knights to accompany him so that no harm would befall him along the way.
Although Charton's journey was a straight shot down the Kingsroad to King's Landing, Hag's Mire was leagues upon leagues away from the capital city, and it would take up to about two weeks for him to arrive. Rhaenyra was tempted to send Joff out on Tyraxes to pick up the exorcist and bring him back to King's Landing. However, she did not want too much attention drawn to her family, and wanted no one to question why a "wandering septon" was being provided a royal escort. Word was spread from the Red Keep to the Gold Cloaks and the garrisons that patrolled the city walls to be on the lookout for a septon riding a mule flanked by two knights on horseback. About a fortnight after Charton was summoned, his meager retinue was spotted coming down the Kingsroad.
Escorted by a Gold Cloak, Charton was brought before Queen Rhaenyra I and King Daemon Targaryen and Septon Androw in an empty throne room. The man was informed as to why he had been summoned, and preparations were made for him to depart for Driftmark. Lucerys received a raven from his mother at dusk that same day. He was relieved to hear that the exorcist had finally arrived in the Crownlands, and he sent word down to Hull to be on the lookout for the ship that Charton would be on. Once the ship was spotted, the septon was escorted to High Tide by Ser Addam Velaryon.
Lucerys and Rhaena were curious about this holy man, and they both waited for him in the castle's throne room with Septon Reuben and Maester Thaleus. They looked over every inch of the man as he walked into the room with dusty, sandaled feet. Septon Charton looked like a run of the mill traveling holy man. He was tall with a wiry frame, a greying taupe goatee on his chin, and he looked to be between the ages of forty-six and forty-nine. Typical of his vocation, Charton was wearing a white hooded robe that was made of coarse wool with a stranded belt tied around his waist that was woven with seven different colored hemp cords in honor of the gods of the Faith: red, blue, white, yellow, orange, green, and purple, and he carried a worn copy of the Seven-Pointed Star in both hands, and an equally worn leather satchel that hung over his right hip as he entered the throne room.
The septon walked with a confident gait. Once he was within respectable distance of the Lord and Lady of the Tides, the holy man bowed.
"Greetings, Septon Charton." spoke Luke. "How was your journey from Hag's Mire?"
"Long but untroubled, milord." answered Charton in a respectable tone. "This is my first royal appointment, but I am sorry about the circumstances that has brought it about. Your lady mother told me about the turmoil that has been plaguing your daughter. I am sorry."
"Thank you." Lucerys said appreciatively.
"With your leave, milord, I would like to meet Princess Laena and observe her. I want to see what I am up against. Demons come in all forms and act differently."
Luke and his wife cringed at the mention of the word 'demons'. Maester Thaleus rolled his eyes in contempt. Nevertheless, the prince got up from his throne and escorted the septon, including Reuben and Thaleus, to Laena's room. The men found the princess sitting up in her bed with dark, sad, lifeless looking eyes, an apathetic demeanor, and a melancholy expression on her face. Charton made his way towards the princess's bedside, poltely asking a maidservant who was caring for Laena to move so that he could be next to her, and he began speaking to her.
"Good day to you, milady. I have heard about your plight and I have come to help you." Charton noticed the bandages that were wrapped around Laena's left wrist. His face fell and his eyes brimmed with gentle concern. He reached out to gently touch Laena's bandaged wrist, who did not flinch or pull her wrist away; she only continued to stare off into space.
"You poor girl..." whispered Charton to himself. Laena gave no indication that she heard what the holy man had said, but she would not have cared anyway even if she did. Charton took note of the princess's listlessness, and he decided to do a small test to see if she was truly possessed by a demon or demons. Reaching into his satchel, Charton pulled out a small quartz crystal.
He then reached over and gingerly pressed the tip of the crystal against Laena's forehead. Without warning, Laena swiftly knocked the septon's hand away from her face, and the crystal flew out of his hand and landed on the floor with a loud clatter. Laena's sudden bout of energy was accompanied by a change in her facial expression. Formerly melancholy, Laena's face now exhibited an angry countenance, and her indigo eyes burned with a purple-blue fire that caused both her father and Charton to flinch. Laena did not say anything, she only glared at Septon Charton.
Making an excuse to leave, Charton explained what that "test" with the crystal was to Luke and Reuben in the hallway; Thaleus had stayed behind to check on Laena.
"That crystal was blessed by the High Septon himself. It has healing powers, and only a demon would reject it."
"So, that confirms that my daughter is possessed?" asked Lucerys in a low voice.
"Yes."
Lucerys sighed deeply at that answer.
"I need to observe Princess Laena more to see just how strong her possession is. Will that be fine with you, milord?"
Luke nodded. "Yes, but what else do you need to see?"
"More strange behavior like what she showed in her room just now. Knowing how strong your daughter's possession will allow me to know how to cast out the demon from her."
Lucerys nodded again in approval, but he still felt some apprehension over the whole thing. Septon Charton would observe Laena during his weeklong visit at High Tide. He was troubled by her mood swings. Laena would be silent and apathetic sometimes before becoming irritable and hostile the next. Charton once witnessed the princess knock a goblet of sweetwine out of Maester Thaleus's hand when he tried to administer it to her, and she even struck him in the face.
He also witnessed how the princess would sob and self-deprecate over every one of her faults both big and small. Laena would just tear herself apart, saying that she was worthless, stupid, and good for nothing. Not even the kind and loving touches of her family members could dispel this gloom from Laena. Sometimes she would fly into a rage if anyone some much as laid a finger on her. By the end of the week, Charton believed that a strong demon had its grip on the princess, and that he was going to need some help.
The exorcist announced his plan to Lucerys and Rhaena during the penultimate day of the week. The following night, Charton gathered his assistants: two septas and Septon Reuben, and they went into Laena's bedchamber to begin the exorcism. Laena was given some sweetmilk to make her more docile for the ceremony. The septas held down her arms while Reuben held down her legs by her ankles as Laena laid on her bed. Candles burned in the bedroom, and Charton swung a censer full of myrrh around the room to bless it. When the blessing was done, he got out his holy book and went to Laena's bedside on her right to begin the exorcism.
Waiting outside of Laena's bedchamber were her parents, great-grandmother, half-uncles, and Marilda of Hull. Her younger sister and brother and their half-cousins were all asleep in their beds and were being watched over by Addam and Alyn's wives. All was quiet in the hallway except for the muffled incantations that could be heard coming from behind the door leading to the princess's bedchamber. Rhaena was sitting between her cousin-husband and their grandmother on a bench, and she had her hands clasped together in prayer with her forehead touching the knuckles of her thumbs.
Glancing over at his wife, Luke noticed that her lips were voicelessly mouthing the words to a prayer. He looked around at everyone else in the hallway. Rhaenys's hands were neatly folded on her lap, and she seemed to be deep in thought. Addam and Alyn leaned against the wall on both sides of the bench with Marilda standing next to her youngest son Alyn, and they all seemed to be deep in thought too. Lucerys did not know whether to pray, or to try and listen to the incantations that Septon Charton and his assistants were chanting.
Nobody knew how much time had gone by since the exorcism started. There were no hourglasses, and occasional glances out of a window down the hall revealed that it was still dark out. However, something began to change in Laena's room. Charton's incantations gradually changed from being steady and calm to loud and angry. Everyone became concerned when they heard the change in the tone of the septon's voice.
Faint moaning and whimpering could be heard coming from behind the door too. Was something going wrong with the ceremony? Was the demon resisting Septon Charton's attempts to exorcise it? These silent questions were soon interrupted by the sounds of Charton shouting and Laena screaming as if she was being hurt. Lucerys immediately leapt up onto his feet when he heard his daughter's screams and he barged into the room.
Septon Reuben and the two septas were no longer restraining Laena, and they were a few feet from the bed mouths agape with shocked and terrified expressions on their faces. The eyes of the clerics were rapt on the exorcist, who was furiously slamming his Seven-Pointed Star onto Laena, who was screaming and crying and curled up into a ball with her arms up trying to defend herself. Rage coursed through Lucerys when he saw his child getting abused from a man he thought he could trust. Words and actions came to him before rational thinking could.
"Get the fuck away from her you bastard!" roared the Master of Driftmark in a voice whose force and volume could be compared to that of a volcano erupting. He rushed towards Charton, who had become frozen where he was standing while holding his book over his head, and he grabbed the septon and all but threw him across the room. Luke's relatives, who had gathered at the open door, and the septas and Reuben all gasped when they saw what Luke had just done. Lucerys, his brown eyes still wide with fury and his teeth bared, rushed to his daughter's side.
Examining Laena's forearms revealed fresh welts, cuts, and bruises that had been caused by Charton's beating. As if these injuries were not bad enough, Luke also noticed that his daughter was laying on bed sheets that were soaked with her own urine. There was no doubt that Laena had wet herself out of fear over what was happening to her. Seeing the state that his daughter was in caused Lucerys to lose himself for a moment. When his senses finally returned to him, Lucerys found himself landing a punch into Charton's now bruised and bloody face as he was sprawled out on the stone floor.
Two sets of hands were trying to wrench Luke off of the septon, and he could barely discern what was being said by the owners of those hands. After a combined effort by those hands, which belonged to Addam and Alyn, they were able to pull their all but rabid half-brother off of Septon Charton. Rhaena and Rhaenys were comforting Laena, who was now clinging to her mother with her arms wrapped around her waist and was crying into her lap. The septas were quiet with their hands up to their mouths.
Septon Reuben looked pale and he began babbling.
"I did not think that this would happen! No progress was being made, and Charton was getting impatient. This demon is a strong one-"
Reuben was cut off by a slap from the Queen Who Never Was. Gingerly placing his hand to his cheek, a cowed and silent Reuben looked away from Rhaenys's seething glare.
"The only demon here is the man who was beating my great-granddaughter just now! It was your idea to bring him here. Get out!"
A remorseful Reuben said nothing, and he left the room still nursing his sore cheek. Marilda sent for Maester Thaleus, and the man rushed over to Laena's bedchamber again with two other maesters, one of them being Maester Julian, to attend to the injured. Servants were summoned to draw Laena a bath so that she could be cleaned off and to remove her soiled bed linens. The traumatized princess spent the night between both her parents in their bed, and they held her and rubbed her head. Septon Charton and his assistants were taken to the dungeons to await their punishment.
The next day, Rhaena sent a raven to her mother-in-law in King's Landing telling her about the horrific event that had gone on the night before. Rhaenyra I's purple eyes widened and her skin became sanguine as she read the letter and learned about the beating that had been inflicted upon her granddaughter. If she were at High Tide that moment, chances are that Rhaenyra would have marched down into the castle's dungeons to strangle Septon Charton herself with her bare hands. A still fuming Rhaenyra sent out a servant to summon her husband and Jacaerys and Joffrey into her solar so that she could share with them the news from High Tide.
Daemon spoke out immediately after his niece-queen had told him about Laena's botched "exorcism".
"I will kill that fucking bastard!" growled Daemon. "I will fly over there and gut that priest with Dark Sister before feeding him to Caraxes!"
"As do I, Daemon." said Rhaenyra in agreement. "I want him to be burned alive!"
"We cannot incur the wrath of the Faith." said Joffrey in a soothing tone that betrayed his inner fury over what had happened to his niece. Rhaenyra and Daemon glared at Joff in disbelief.
"Incur their wrath, son? The Faith forfeited their ability to hold their own courts after the Faith Militant Uprising ended nearly a century ago in favor of the Iron Throne meting out justice in return for their protection."
"I know that, mother. But don't you think that disembowelment and immolation are a tad bit excessive?"
"Excessive?" sputtered Daemon in disbelief. "That bastard beat your niece as if she were a dog! I say that any excessive punishment that is inflicted on Charton would be considered reasonable by anyone in this case."
Joffrey sighed with some exasperation. His oldest brother carried on the conversation in his stead.
"Yes, my brother and I understand, Daemon. However, do you recall what happened to those septas who tried murder Queen Alysanne Targaryen at Maidenpool when she was pregnant with her first child in 51 AC?"
"Yes." Daemon replied. "Lord Mooton had the septa who was spared by the Kingsguard hanged along with her conspirators. His lordship would have hanged the entire holy sisterhood there at Jonquil's Pool to serve as an example had my grandmother convinced him not too."
"Don't you see, Daemon?" Jacaerys said. "Hanging is not excessive, but what Lord Mooton tried to do with the innocent septas was. King Jaehaerys could have punished the guilty septas in any way he would have seen fit for trying to murder his wife and their unborn child."
"Yes, but he could not because Lord Mooton got to those bitches first. My grandfather would later hang the murderers of Rego Draz from the city walls with their innards spilling out of their slit bellies when that Shivers plague was going on. The "Lord of Air" was grandfather's Master of Coin, but now imagine, Jace, what kind of punishment Jaehaerys the Conciliator would have inflicted upon those septas for conspiring to kill my grandmother and her unborn son. I bet you that he would have done far worse to them than just having them strung up from a tree..."
The king's statement made sense, but his stepson had a good counterargument lined up for him.
"Even if he got to those septas first, Daemon, I am positive that your grandfather would not have done anything more to punish them. He had just passed the Doctrine of Exceptionalism that same year the attempt on Queen Alysanne's life was made. Good ties between the Faith and the Iron Throne had just been restored. King Jaehaerys would not have wanted to jeopardize that relationship again by brutally executing septas no matter how justified his actions would have been."
Daemon was about to say something before his wife cut him off.
"Jace has a point, Daemon. I have changed my mind about having Septon Charton killed. I want him maimed instead. He will serve as a living example of what will happen to anyone who causes harm to any member of my family."
Daemon's purple eye widened with disbelief after Rhaenyra had switched sides. As much as he wanted to kill Charton, the idea of maiming him did sound appealing to him.
"What do you have in mind? I will be fine with whatever you choose so as long as I get to be the one to do it." asked Daemon.
"I first thought of having his hands chopped off so that he can never lay another finger on anyone else ever again. He won't be able to carry or open the Seven-Pointed Star with him anymore either." answered the queen.
"How about cutting out his tongue?" suggested Jacaerys. "He can't preach or pray or proselytize if he becomes mute."
"Blinding the bastard would be good too." offered Joffrey. "He won't be able to read scripture again."
Amputation. Tongue-cutting. Blinding. Such gruesome punishments. Such a gruesome tie.
Rhaenyra decided that the ultimate judge of Charton's fate should be her second born son.
"It will be up to Lucerys on how he will punish Septon Charton. I will send a raven to him with our suggestions. Thank you all."
A raven was dispatched that same day to High Tide. Luke liked the suggestions that his mother, stepfather, and brothers had come up with. Personally, Lucerys had considered executing Charton via keelhauling, but he liked the idea of disabling the septon somehow so that he would be punished for life for what he had done to Laena. Making this even better was that Luke had the idea to have Charton himself decide which part of his body he should lose: his hands, his tongue, or his eyes?
Flanked by his guards, Lucerys confronted Charton in his cell and gave him the choice. Charton would have one day and one night to decide on whether he should spend the rest of his life as a handless cripple, or a mute, or a blind man. If Charton did not make his decision by tomorrow morning, then Luke choose for him. The septon did not respond to the Master of Driftmark, and he was soon left to make his horrible decision. Sometime that night, Septon Charton made up his mind.
The following morning, Charton's jailers arrived to take him to Prince Lucerys when they found him dead in his cell. Blood was smeared all over the septon's mouth and it was pooled outside of his lips too. Opening the man's mouth revealed that he had bitten off his own tongue and had choked to death on his blood. Suicide. Charton's self-made fourth choice.
Septon Charton taking his own life was a disappointing blow for both Houses Velaryon and Targaryen, but at least they did not have to bloody their own blades, or risk some criticism from the Faith. Septon Reuben and the two holy women who had assisted the late Charton were punished. Thankfully for them, they were not as harshly punished as their fellow holy brother would have been had he chosen not to take his own life. Instead of getting maimed, the three clerics were whipped by the prince himself, and they were all exiled from Driftmark back to the mainland.
While the exorcist was dead and his cohorts were banished, Princess Laena now had to live with the scars that her exorcism had given her. She became even more withdrawn and melancholy than before. Laena even developed theophobia, a fear of religion and anything associated with it. She would shiver and cry out in fear whenever she saw a septon or a septa, she would panic if she heard someone reciting a prayer, and she adamantly refused to enter High Tide's sept again. The princess even grew to hate hearing the Seven-Pointed Star being mentioned in her presence after the incident, and she hated to be touched by anyone other than her mother and father for some time afterwards.
And speaking of the incident, it did not take long for rumors about Laena's fragile mental state, her failed exorcism, and what had happened to Septon Charton to reach mainland Westeros. Some people began quietly referring to Laena as "the Mad Princess" or Laena "the Mad". It was only a matter of time before Mysaria caught wind of this moniker, and when she told the queen, she was furious. Shortly afterwards, Rhaenyra I decreed that anyone who dared to call her granddaughter by either of those sobriquets would lose their tongues. Thankfully, as the year 143 AC wore on, people's interest in Laena waned, and life went on as normal even though Laena's life would never be the same again.
She was still being medicated with sweetsleep by Maester Thaleus to keep her calm, and he decided against performing bloodletting or trepanning on the princess after the fiasco with Septon Charton. High Tide's new priest, Septon Oswell, was wise to not to make any suggestions on how to cure the princess, although he did pray for her every day and night. Meanwhile, the Velaryon's had resigned themselves to the grim fact that nothing else could be done for Laena. History would not remember her as a regular princess, or as a powerful Lady of Storm's End or Stone Hedge. Instead, Laena would only be remembered as the Mad Princess in her family, a girl who had inherited the madness of her mother's family.
But while everyone's hopes for Laena had dimmed, Princesses Rhaenys and Rhaena Targaryen still believed in her. Remembering how Laena wanted to claim Silverwing as her mount, Rhaena informed her husband of what she was going to do, and he gave her his leave and wished her good luck. After receiving his leave, Rhaena wrote to Maester Hunnimore at Dragonstone that she and her grandmother and daughter were going to visit to see the dragons at the Dragonmont. When the princess told Laena about the visit to Dragonstone, Laena's expression remained sad, but Rhaena thought she saw a sparkle of dull happiness in her eyes. As the last days of 143 AC came up, Rhaena and her grandmother took to the sky on their dragons with Laena riding with her mother on Morning's back.
After arriving at Dragonstone, the women traveled to the Dragonmont to find Silverwing. Foul weather prevented the three princesses from traversing to the cavern where Silverwing lived with her longtime mate, Vermithor, and they decided to postpone the visit until the following day. On that day, the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth moon, the three princesses made their way to the Dragonmont with their dragons. Mother and daughter soon spotted Silverwing after they glimpsed the silver flashes created from the sun shining off of the dragon's scales, and they dismounted while Meleys circled above them to keep watch. The presence of Meleys and Morning had stirred the old dragon from her slumber, and she had sauntered out of her cave to see the Red Queen and Morning along with Vermithor.
Rhaena and Laena stayed a safe distance away from the two dragons on a rocky ledge hoping that either dragon would notice them on their own accord. Silverwing and Vermithor hissed and grunted at Meleys and Morning, and Rhaenys decided that she should land her mount so as not to rattle her grandparents' dragons further. She landed behind Rhaena and Laena, resulting in Silverwing and the "Bronze Fury" to finally notice them. Vermithor, although recognizing the Valyrian hair colors of the women, was still wary of them, and he took up a defensive stance. His mate on the other hand, was curious, and she approached the group.
She reached out to nuzzle Meleys, who reciprocated the dragon's affectionate greeting. Meleys had hatched from an egg that had been laid by Silverwing, so this was a sweet little reunion between mother and daughter. Ridden respectively by a granddaughter and her grandmother, it was hoped by the gathered women that a great-granddaughter could fly the skies alongside her great-grandmother if Silverwing accepted Princess Laena Velaryon. Neither Rhaenys or Rhaena needed to encourage Laena to interact with Silverwing. The princess had been transfixed by the dragon since she first saw her, and she cautiously made her way towards her.
Silverwing noticed something moving in her peripheral vision, and she turned her attention from her red daughter towards Laena. The princess froze where she stood as Silverwing looked her over with huge sky-blue eyes. Laena was in awe of this creature. Covered in silver scales with white wing membranes and belly scales, Silverwing looked elegant and beautiful. She was a queenly dragon for sure, but she would also be good for a princess too. Laena cautiously reached out with her left hand for Silverwing to sniff with her great snout.
Silverwing took a deep breath and exhaled gently. She liked Laena's scent, and she gently pressed the tip of snout against the palm of the princess's hand. Rhaenys and Rhaena exchanged amazed glances as the scene unfolded before them. Laena, her hand seemingly frozen to Silverwing's snout, began to pet her. Rhaena carefully walked up to see her daughter's face, and she was so glad to see that Laena, for the first time in a long while, was grinning from ear to ear.
Laena brought her right hand up to Silverwing's snout, and she began rubbing it with both of her hands, something that the old dragon appreciated; she sighed and grunted with pleasure over getting rubbed. Vermithor, who had been observing the scene the whole time, relaxed his stance and he slowly made his way towards his mate to see who was taking up her attention. Exhilarated by this, Laena boldly made her next move.
"Is it alright if I ride you, Silverwing?" she asked gently.
Silverwing seemed to understand Laena's question, and she stared at her for a bit. After waiting what felt like an eternity, Silverwing rested on her haunches, and she lowered herself down so that Laena could attempt to climb onto her back via her wing. Heart racing with excitement, Laena, with Rhaena's assistance, climbed up onto Silverwing's back. Laena could not believe it. She was sitting on Silverwing's back!
Silverwing had been riderless for forty-three years following the death of Good Queen Alysanne in 100 AC, and although Silverwing was a docile beast, Laena was still nervous about commanding her. Nevertheless, Laena pointed to the sky and uttered the word 'fly'. Forty-three years on without anyone riding on her, Silverwing still remembered the old commands that she was once given by her new rider's great-great-great-grandmother. Laena clung to Silverwing's neck as she flapped her wings to achieve liftoff. Rhaena and Rhaenys flinched since Laena was not wearing a chain harness.
However, Laena remained steady on Silverwing's back as the dragon climbed through the air. Rhaena immediately rushed back to Morning and mounted her to follow her daughter in the sky. Meleys and even Vermithor tailed after Laena and Silverwing as they took their first flight together around the smoking Dragonmont. When Rhaena finally caught up to her daughter with Morning, she called out to Laena. The wind current, however, made it impossible for Laena to hear her mother, but Rhaena could see the huge smile on her daughter's face, and she noticed how at ease she looked.
Her fears quieting down, Rhaena enjoyed the great sense of accomplishment that she was feeling. Rhaenys was so pleased to see that another of her great-grandchildren had become a dragonrider. Taking note of her grandfather's dragon following them around the volcano, Rhaenys hoped that maybe either Megaera or Corlys could claim Vermithor next. It would be so wonderful to have both dragons ridden again after they had spent so many decades riderless and feral. As her mother and great-grandmother dwelled on their accomplishments and hopes, Laena basked in the glorious feelings she was experiencing.
For the first time in so long, Laena felt truly happy. Her heart was untroubled, her mind unbothered, and her soul unclouded. She relished the feeling of her hair flowing in the wind, the air blowing in her face, and the sound of Silverwing flapping her wings. Laena came to her own personal conclusion that life was worth living after all, and that she was a being of worth despite everything that had happened. She had never felt so complete and free.
A little bit of genealogical trivia. Lord Royce Baratheon and Princess Laena Velaryon are second cousins twice removed. Royce shares Lord Rogar Baratheon and Queen Alyssa Velaryon as great-grandparents with the princess's late maternal grandmother, Lady Laena Velaryon.
Bit of an intense chapter, huh? Although she is a Velaryon, Laena is half-Targaryen, and is thus eligible to inherit the Targaryen Madness. Laena is suffering from bipolar disorder. It can develop in children and teenagers. I got the symptoms from NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) website (webpage was for bipolar disorder in children and teens if you are interested).
I hope I portrayed the symptoms okay enough. Treating mental illness has come a long way, hasn't it? Exorcisms, trepanning, bloodletting, lobotomies, or getting locked away in an insane asylum... Medicine in general has definitely come a long way! Anyway, I promise you that the next chapter will be much lighter.
I hope to post again soon!
PS: To answer your question Brent Parsons, Lord Corwyn Corbray's daughters are in their early to mid twenties, and they do have children.
PSS: I based the name Charton from the word 'charlatan'.