The Kraken and the Lion
Chapter 27
by Technomad
Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion had gone on high alert from the moment the strange ironmen had entered the hall. The reaction they had elicited, not least from his wife, had warned him that all was not well at all. He knew Asha. None knew her better. He knew that she did not react that way at random, or for no reason. When he saw their leader, with his patched eye and blue lips, he felt as though his blood had turned to ice-water. Asha had described this man many times.
Nonetheless, he had his duty to do, and he had never shirked his duty to his House or his kingdom. Standing, he wreathed his face in a wide smile, as though these new guests were just the people he'd wanted to see. "Welcome! You must be King Euron. We've all heard a lot about you." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Asha quirk an eyebrow at him. He knew that if Euron knew just what he had been told about him, he would not be pleased at all. "Please, people, budge up and make room for our new guests! They've come a long way, and are no doubt in need of refreshment!"
To his relief, Euron did not seem to be in a mood to cause undue trouble. With a wicked smile and a bow that was clearly edged with mockery, he turned and found places for himself and his followers among the feasters. The servers brought out the next course, and slowly, the hum of conversation resumed, as people got used to the presence of the newcomers.
In a low voice, so that only she could hear, Tyrion asked: "Did you know they were anywhere near here, my love?"
Asha shook her head hard. "I had no idea they were within a thousand miles of here! I thought I'd given the harbor guards instructions to sink the Silence if she tried to enter the harbor here!" She gave her oblivious uncle a look that should have left him dead on the spot.
"We'll have to speak of this later," Tyrion muttered. Meanwhile, the feast went on.
Asha Greyjoy Lannister
When the feast finally broke up, Tyrion and Asha were escorted out by an honor guard, along with their babies and the babies' nursemaids. Just behind them came the Hand of the King and the head of the Kingsguard. Before he left, Tywin had commanded that their unexpected guests be shown to guest quarters and made comfortable. The quarters in question were the ones that the Dornish delegation, which had joyfully left soon after their exoneration, had used, and were easily kept under guard.
Once they were as unobserved as anybody ever was in the Red Keep, Tywin burst out: "Where did they spring from? What devilry brings them here?"
"I don't know, good-father," Asha answered. She moved closer to her babies' cradles, fussing nervously with the blankets covering their sleeping forms. She would not rest easily until she was sure her uncle was out of the Red Keep, and preferably, out of Kings Landing. "My nuncle has not been seen in the Islands for quite some time. I warned you about him before."
"So you did," Tywin acknowledged. "While they're here, we'd better be on our guards every minute! You've told me that your uncle is more dangerous than a dozen Faceless Men!" Turning to Jaime, Tywin snapped: "I want the Kingsguard to be watching 'King' Euron and his men, every second they're in this city! I don't want them to so much as go to the privy without us knowing about it!"
"I'm on it, Father," Jaime said crisply. "We'll tell them that it's a special honor for them, not given to just any guests. Since our usual duty is to guard the King, our guest can't complain if we extend it to him. After all, he does wear the Driftwood Crown."
"So he does," mused Tywin. "I would like to know just how it was that he showed up in the Islands the day his brother died, after having been warned to stay away. And then took the Kingsmoot that they held."
"If I'd been there, good-father, I might have put in a bid myself. The Iron Islands have never had a queen-regnant, but I think I could do the job," Asha said. "I've been hoping to wean even the more conservative of my countrymen away from longing for the Old Ways of the islands, and into a new way of being traders and middlemen, but with my father no longer on the throne, I am not so sure that that'll work. The lure of the Old Ways…of reiving and raiding…is always strong on us."
"I'll have to talk with Varys," said Tyrion. "I want his little birds to be hovering around our new guests, and reporting everything they hear directly to me!" His eyes narrowed. "I can deal with danger to myself. But having that murderous pirate in the same castle as my children is another story entirely!"
Asha put her arm around Tyrion's shoulders. "We're in perfect accord on that, my love. I want to know what he wants. If we can give it to him without causing too much trouble, and it gets him out of here, then we should just give it to him!"
"What could he want here?" Jaime asked, rhetorically. "He has, at most, a few shiploads of followers, and as far as we know, they haven't even come into the harbor! Does he really think that he can succeed where Stannis Baratheon failed?"
"I don't think even my uncle is quite that mad," Asha said, absently stroking her daughter's soft cheek. "We'll have to find out what he wants, though. Euron Greyjoy is as slippery as a buttered eel, and never does anything without reasons. Usually five or six of them, and none of them necessarily obvious to the naked eye."
"'King' Euron and his men are to be treated with all courtesy, but not to be trusted an inch. And I want to know how they got into the city!" snarled Tywin. Asha nodded, agreeing with her good-father. While she could understand the lure of the Old Ways of the Iron Islands, she also knew that the days when those could be practiced, at least in Westeros itself, were long gone. The peoples of the other kingdoms were not the easy targets they had been before the advent of the Targaryens and their dragons, and her people were not numerous and had few, if any, allies outside their own number.
That evening, as Asha and Tyrion were preparing for bed, Tyrion asked: "How do you think your uncle even got into this city, my love?"
Climbing into bed, Asha said through a yawn: "He's as tricky as they come. He may have landed his ships in some secluded anchorage and come in by land. He's so sneaky that I'd count my fingers after I shook hands with him. Then my toes. Then I'd check my money pouch."
"Since he's now the King of the Iron Islands, we can't just have him killed. But he can be watched." Tyrion climbed in with her, they cuddled up close the way they liked to do, and drifted off to sleep.
Tyrion Lannister
For the next few days, Tyrion was as on edge as a cat in a kennel full of dogs. Jaime shared his uneasiness. At Jaime's command, the visitors were given "honor guards" of goldcloaks, each detachment led by one of the Kingsguard.
Euron noticed. He may have been an evil swine, but he was no fool. "My lord, is there any reason why my men and I have your men with us everywhere we go?" he asked. While his tone was casual, Tyrion wasn't fooled for a second. Euron missed nothing, and he would have loved nothing better than an excuse to create chaos. However, Tyrion had had his answer ready to go for some time.
"Why, it's for your own protection, your Grace! You do know that we recently lost my nephew, King Joffrey, don't you?" Tyrion's expression was as innocent as he could make it. "We'd hate to lose you, too. While we think we've rooted out the traitors who killed our beloved King…" Tyrion mentally begged the gods' pardon for the huge lies he was telling, but necessity demanded it… "there's still a chance that there are some we've missed. We'd far, far rather be safe than sorry. You're our ally, after all."
"So I am," Euron said, stroking his chin. Plainly, he didn't believe a word of what Tyrion was saying, but since he was alone, with his guard of goldcloaks led by Jaime Lannister right behind him, and some of Tyrion's mountain clansmen behind Tyrion, he clearly figured that this wasn't the time to make a scene. "It's good to know that you concern yourself so much with my well-being, my lord."
"We aim to please," Tyrion purred.
"Since you wish to please me, my lord," Euron went on, musingly, "would it be too much to ask that my men and I get a chance to look over some of the ships of your fleet? I heard that you did that for my niece and her crewmembers."
"Well, er - " Tyrion thought as fast as he could. "We'd be pleased to arrange it, your Grace, but you must remember, we lost many ships in the Battle of the Blackwater. The ones we have left are strained to the limit, providing security for the food shipments from the Westlands and keeping an eye on Stannis Baratheon's activities." Euron frowned, and Tyrion gave him a wide, guileless smile. "However, for you, we can surely arrange to have a few of your men at a time on our ships, learning how we do things!"
"I look forward to the experience," murmured Euron, before turning and walking off down the corridor, his black cloak spreading behind him like a great pair of wings, and his guards, or keepers, following behind him dutifully.
That evening, Jaime asked to eat privately with Tyrion and Asha. They had a small table set up in Tyrion and Asha's quarters, and the food was brought up from the Great Hall. Ostensibly, it was because Asha was still recovering from giving birth, but in actuality it was for greater privacy.
Spearing a potato, Tyrion said: "In a way, having 'King' Euron aboard one of our warships might not be a bad idea. He might trip, and fall overboard, and meet the Drowned God. And wouldn't that be a catastrophe?"
Asha smiled, carving off a bite of pork roast. "That it might. Of course, he'd be on guard for just that sort of accident. My sweet uncle didn't live this long by being a fool, or by being trusting."
"In the old days," said Jaime, scowling at his attempts to eat using his prosthetic hand, "I could have asked him for a bout of 'friendly' practice, and 'accidentally' run him through." He lifted the false hand, looked at it, and sighed. Tyrion bled inside for his brother, but didn't know what to do. "Nowadays, I'm all but useless. All I ever was good at was fighting, and now that's gone."
"Don't say that!" said Asha. She reached across the table to pat her good-brother's shoulder. "You're young yet, and while there's life, there's hope! You may regain your skill, just with your left hand. Get the swordmasters here to coach you…in secret, if you prefer…and work to build yourself back up! You've a lot to offer beside your sword hand, as well. Maybe teaching youngsters, or leading armies, or trying a different path from that of the warrior! There are ironmen who've lost hands, and gone on to gain great renown!"
"Thank you, Asha," Jaime said. "You're kind to worry about me. Me, I'm used to being the one who worries about others. Beside the infestation of your uncle and his men, there's always things to worry about for we of the Kingsguard. I intend for King Tommen to stay king until he dies of old age in his own good time. And I intend to guard him from himself, if needs be. I have enough bad memories of Aerys, and what I heard of Joff makes me less sorry that he's gone." A shadow passed across his face, and Tyrion knew that he was blaming himself both for Joff's existence and for how bad the boy had gone. While King Robert had been cold and distant, Jaime had been there, in the Kingsguard, and could have taken far more of an interest than he had. He had excused his neglect by saying that he didn't dare risk it, since people seeing him and his 'nephew' together might figure out who Joff's real father was, but now he was beating himself up inside for allowing the boy he'd sired on his sister to grow up to be an utter monster.
Asha Greyjoy Lannister
When her uncle and his men returned from their cruise aboard one of the surviving royal dromonds, Asha was waiting at the quays, her own crew and a few of Tyrion's guards with her. As the dromond tied up at the quay, her uncle leaped ashore in good Iron Islands style, his men right behind him. He had a big grin on his face, and his hair was blown back by the wind. Asha envied him; she still wasn't cleared for going to sea, and she missed Black Wind very much.
"Beloved niece!" Euron gave her a mocking half-bow. "How thoughtful it was of you, to allow me and my men this opportunity!" His single eye gleamed with mischief, and Asha momentarily regretted not giving the crew of the dromond discreet orders to dump him and his men overboard directly they were out of sight of land. Unfortunately, too many people knew that "King" Euron was in town, and if word got back to the Islands that he'd been treacherously killed in Kings Landing, the alliance with the Iron Islands would be destroyed instantly.
"The pleasure is all mine, uncle," Asha replied, her damask cheek showing no sign of the tongue she had firmly planted in it. "These people have some interesting ideas about how ships should be built and sailed, don't they?"
"That they do! While I'll always want to stick to a longship, I can see why others do things differently. It'd be a dull old world if everybody liked the same things." Euron grinned at her. "Think about what an awful codfish shortage there'd be, if everybody wanted to eat it!"
Asha tried to imagine someone not liking to eat fish, and wasn't able to wrap her mind around the concept. To her, as to any ironman or ironwoman, fish just about was food. She knew, intellectually, that there were places inland where fish wasn't as easily available as it was in the Islands, but she'd grown up eating it with nearly every meal. Her people had many wonderful recipes for preparing seafood, and she had thought about importing a cook from the Islands to introduce her new good-kin and husband to the delights of well-prepared fish. Not to mention lobster, clams, oysters, and all sorts of other goodies. During her pregnancy, she had sometimes been tortured by yens for seafood, and had thanked the Drowned God that she had married into a family that could easily pay for what she wanted.
"Come, walk with me, back up to the castle, Uncle." She didn't trust her uncle, but she knew he wasn't likely to try anything stupid with so many people walking. She took his arm and they walked on back up to the castle, while his crew, her crew, and her guards fell in behind them. She felt better every day, and hoped that the maesters would soon say that she was once again fit to resume her exercise regimen. She hoped she hadn't got too rusty while being laid up with late pregnancy, childbirth, and the aftermath.
"I should tell you more about my travels, Asha," Euron purred. "I've been to Old Valyria, you know. The sea still steams there. And I've been nearly everywhere else."
"I'd be interested to hear it, Uncle," Asha said, truthfully. "However, we're back at the castle gate, and it looks like there're people waiting to speak to me. Maybe we can talk about it over dinner? I'm sure the others would like to hear your stories, too." That, at least, was no lie at all. Tyrion was always eager to know more of the world, and her good-father was also interested to find out new facts. Jaime would be glad of anything to take his mind off his depression, as well.
Sure enough, that evening, Euron obliged by telling them tales of his travels. To hear him, he really had been just about everywhere in the Silence. Since his crew were all mutes, there was nobody to contradict anything he said, but Asha suspected him of, at least, embroidering some of his tales. Finding a dragon's egg, she could believe, but throwing such a valuable object into the sea in a fit of pique, that was another matter entirely.
"But I should not bore you with tales of travel," Euron finally said. Asha, and all of her relatives by marriage, suddenly were looking at him with suspicion. Asha knew that her uncle never did anything at random, and she thought he was finally coming to the point of his unexpected, unannounced visit to the royal capital.
"You may not know it, but I am still a single man. While this was convenient when I was roving the seas, it's not a good thing in a king. I need a wife. An honest wife, fertile, strong, and able to bear me more sons." Euron bent his single eye on Tywin. "And you have a widowed daughter in need of a husband, who is, by great good luck, not impossibly far from my home! I would ask you, my lord, for your daughter's hand in marriage!"
"Marry my sister?" Tyrion gasped. "That's…"
"A wonderful idea!" Asha put in. She gave her husband a very predatory smile. "I think my uncle would make a wonderful husband for my poor, widowed good-sister. And, we now know, Lannisters and ironborn make good babies! She can give him many strong, healthy heirs!" Tyrion's eyes went very wide, and then he gave Asha a smile just as evil as her own.
At the head of the table, Tywin, for once, was apparently caught completely off-guard. He clearly didn't know what to say. Turning down his dangerous guest's proposal would almost certainly endanger the alliance with Pyke, but he did know enough about Euron Greyjoy to not be sure about turning his only daughter over to him.
"We shall have to consult about this, Your Grace, but the idea does have merit." With that, Tywin signalled that the feast was at an end, and everybody rose to return to their quarters.
END Chapter 27