A Vision in the Flames
A few seconds on deck and her robes were already soaked through.
Quaithe had been in her cabin, trying to secure her belongings as best as possible, so that she could escape when one of the deckhands had knocked on her door and told her of their success.
A lie, but a clever one, for it had been nothing but the truth. When he had grabbed for her, she had struck him across the face, but then there had been another man with him and her face was left stinging. Reeling, she had been forced out of the cabin and up the steps. She hoped the traitor's nose was broken beneath the blood on his face and that it would heal crooked.
She still had her dagger, hidden beneath the folds of her robes, but with the numbers the pirates still had she might as well be unarmed. Naruto was standing on deck, two pirates gripping his arms and trying to force him to his knees, but he would not budge. All in all, the situation did not look particularly good for them.
The pirates were a jumble of different origins and cultures. Tyroshi, Volantene, Ghiscari, Lyseni, Summer Islanders, there were even a few Westerosi among them. They communicated among each other in bastard Valyrian, the collection of dialects that had evolved in the Free Cities from the original language of the Freehold after the Doom, and she knew that Naruto could not understand their words.
"Bind them all, they'll fetch good coin, him especially. Pits are always looking for new blood," the captain said, and removed his knife from a sailor's throat. A tall Volantene with a longbow made of dragonbone on his back started directing the other pirates and shouted for rope to be collected and for someone to fetch some irons.
Naruto still had not moved, and the others began to take notice. One of the pirates struck him across the face but he moved his head with the blow and made no noise to indicate any pain. He met her eyes for a moment, and then focused on the captain to her right.
"Let her go." Most of the pirates plainly did not understand Yitish but the captain did, a frown replacing the smile on his face.
"No demands. You do not command me." Two of the sailors were being bound with rope but the rest of the pirates were looking on in interest. It was not often that anyone would dare defy the man that had just taken them captive. "Get to it." The captain waved a hand at the two men holding onto Naruto, and Quaithe watched them do their best to wrestle him to the deck.
"I said let her go," Naruto said, louder than before and now his anger was audible. No one obeyed.
He took a deep breath, his chest visibly expanding as it filled with air. Then he sought out her gaze and slowly but intently closed his eyes. She did the same. She did not trust him, not fully, but she trusted that he did not intend to harm her.
Quaithe did not know what he planned to do, not exactly, but he was a skilled Aeromancer. The wind was his tool.
Wind blew and rain came with it. The steady downpour, that had been pelting the deck, was turned on her for a few moments and if she had not been ready, she would have been pushed over.
The two next to her were affected more strongly, and for the blink of an eye their grip on her slackened. Her own knowledge of sorcery was focused on rituals and rites. Blood magic was the strongest kind of magic that existed, but it involved preparation and long-winded procedures, not useful when you were being held captive. She was a shadowbinder, however, and while even that art focused primarily on rituals, there were a few things that could be applied quickly and directly.
Magic touched the world through her, and she felt the division between person and shadow even with an overcast sky. On a bright day this would have been more effective, but it would work nonetheless. Maesters taught that shadows were simply the product of light being blocked, but any living being's shadow was more than that, it was reflection of that being, a trace of the person that was made visible in the sun and a shadowbinder could interact with it.
Both men froze in place for a bare moment, but it was more than enough. A strong ordinary individual could break the hold rather quickly, even with a shadow strengthened by light, but she needed only surprise and opportunity to capitalise on the moment she had been granted by Naruto.
She wrenched an arm free, turning her head so she could open her eyes, unsheathed her dagger, and buried it in the pirate's neck. The man took a gurgling breath and the traitor on her other side pulled on the arm he had in his hands. Quaithe whirled around and struck him on his bloody nose.
His hands flew to his face, and he screamed in pain. He had been unbalanced before and fell to the ground then, the small hold she had had over him gone as if it had never existed. She went along and stabbed him, the Valyrian steel parting flesh and bone as easily as it did cloth before it punctured his heart.
The wind weakened and the rain started falling to the deck again. Steel hit flesh, flesh hit wood, and screams of pain filled the air.
When she turned back towards the others on deck, only Naruto was still standing, two bloody knives in his hands. The captain was at his feet, bleeding out, a fate shared with many of the other pirates. The two that had been holding onto him were scattered across the deck and Quaithe could see at least three broken bones poking through their skin where the harsh impact with wood had shattered them. The tall archer from Volantis was screaming as he clutched a dislocated and broken arm to his chest and a Tyroshi near him was sprawled against the railing and made no sound, only looking around in a confused daze, the rest of his body completely unresponsive.
The sailors of the Ivory Price were still kneeling, some already bound with rope, but they all looked supremely surprised at the turn of events.
She had thought him capable before, but this went beyond simply capable. Crossing that distance while dispatching that many men so quickly was inhuman, monstrous even, and made her question his exact origins once more. She had not been able to get him to open up to her yet, but it was unlikely that she could accomplish it without revealing some morsels of her own past to him.
That prospect did not seem so terrible to her anymore.
Naruto only had eyes for the pirate that had been standing next to the captain, the one that had been binding the deckhand-turned-prisoner. The man sported the same fine Lyseni features found in brothels and pillow houses all over the world, only slightly marred by the absolute terror in his eyes, and was the only pirate not dead, unconscious, or in no danger on account of being injured. The deckhand had collapsed to the deck, but from relief, not pain or a slit throat.
"You alright?" he asked, sparing her a glance.
She felt the instinct to tease, to indulge herself for her own amusement, rise from within her, but this was hardly the time. There would be opportunity enough for that after they were completely safe.
"Yes."
He nodded and took the terrified pirate by the scruff of his neck, hoisting the man up and carrying him bodily to the injured Volantene. He dropped the man there and focused on the archer instead. The pirate's face was contorted in agony though at least his screaming had stopped for the moment, replaced by pained grunts.
"Less complaining more listening," Naruto said, and lightly kicked the kneeling pirate, showing no sympathy. The pirate tried to hide it, but he had plainly understood the words judging by his minute flinch. Naruto noticed as well.
"Get up." When the man continued kneeling Naruto pulled him to his feet and pushed him closer to the railing, where boarding lines connected the Ivory Price to the pirate ship. Quaithe kept an eye on the other boarders, her dagger still in hand. None of them even attempted resistance, too overwhelmed by the changing tide.
"Tell everyone to disarm." After a moment the pirate repeated the instructions for his comrades and Quaithe nodded her head when Naruto glanced her way, the question in his eyes obvious. The few pirates that still could, removed their weapons. Knives, cutlasses, axes, and an assortment of other weapons were put on the deck one after the other.
Quaithe paid special attention to the dragonbone bow. That was a treasure of incredible value, certainly not as much as Valyrian Steel, but not much lesser either. Dragonbone had become rare with the Doom and then the death of dragons, and the bones long enough to fashion into a longbow were even rarer still. Smaller pieces, fragments or chips or just small finger bones, were more common but not much use beside as ornamentation or as ingredients for a rare few rituals.
Even beside its material value, the weapon was noteworthy. A bow made of dragonbone was the only thing said to be able to out-range the goldenheart bows of the Summer Isles, and that was a rare and precious material in most of the world as well.
Many young knights disregarded bows as beneath them but that was a foolish notion fuelled by empty pride and unfounded conviction, even if based on some fact. A warbow was usually not capable of penetrating a heavy steel breastplate no matter the distance, that was true. But even good plate armour was not as thick everywhere as it was in the chest, and when an arrow found a gap in the armour or killed the horse underneath them even that did not matter. It was not a dualists weapon, but bows were still devastatingly effective in battle.
Letting some sailors lay claim to a weapon like that would be a waste.
Before long all weapons had been relinquished and the few remains of the Ivory Price's crew had gotten their wits about them and started cutting away bindings and attending to some of the simpler injuries that had been sustained on their side while giving a wide berth to her and Naruto. Their trepidations had clearly not lessened by being saved. She did not much care what they thought of her, she would forget them as soon as she was safely arrived in Volantis.
"Good, now get out of here."
The pirate looked at Naruto in incredulity. Any protest died on the man's lips as soon as it formed, Naruto did not look as angry as he had before, but he didn't look inclined to suffer discussion either.
Translating that instruction to the other pirates drew predictable complaints.
Quaithe turned her attention to the crew, ignoring the commotion. The captain was one of the corpses on deck, and she wasn't sure who was in charge now, so she addressed all of them at once.
"Can you still reach Volantis with so few men?" The sailors looked amongst each other, as unsure of the situation as she was. She could not say who of them had the most experience or ability, despite her love of the sea the act of sailing did not particularly interest her.
"Should be we can, aye, could take a bit longer though" one of them grudgingly answered. They were all plainly uncomfortable having to talk to her, but she didn't care.
She did not have the patience to let them choose for themselves who would lead their remaining voyage but putting a half-wit in place would be detrimental even if they were only on the last leg of their journey.
"What happened to the first mate?"
"S'dead that one, took one o'them arrows in the eye right at the start." The speaker pointed out the dead man lying on the deck, confirming his words. Unfortunate, but not unexpected and nothing she could not deal with.
"Has one of you ever captained a ship then?" she asked, frowning. None of them answered, but the way that a few of them were avoiding her eyes said that they had. Pointing at one of sailors that had reacted, she beckoned him forward.
"You will be captain until we reach port. What happens afterwards is no concern of mine. Sell the ship, keep sailing, do what you will." Her piece said, she left them to take care of the details. Only two living pirates still remained on deck, leaving only the corpses. The others had already climbed down, or been lowered on to the other ship.
She joined Naruto near the railing as he was cutting the boarding lines. The weapons were stacked in a pile near him, close enough so that he could keep an eye on them while doing other things. With the subdued pirates back on their own ship, most of the danger had passed, but she still eyed them warily.
With so few men left alive and well, they would not be able to travel particularly fast. Most likely the ones too heavily injured would die at sea and those lucky enough to survive for a while would be in for a hard couple of days at the oars.
There were still weapons left on the pirate ship, but no one showed any intention of trying to retaliate now. Two Tyroshi pushed their ship away with their oars and started slowly paddling off, only four oars dipping into the sea instead of the former twenty.
When they had gained a bit of distance Naruto turned from the railing, looking over to the other side of the ship. About a hundred yards away was the other pirate ship with far more oars moving on each side, though they were having clear trouble, nonetheless.
"It's not wood, is it?" Naruto asked, now eyeing the dragonbone bow. He reached down and took the weapon in hand. The bow was longer than he was tall though he seemed to have no great trouble pulling the string on his first try even if it was no full draw.
She had tried to draw her brother's bow once and had been met with little success even after a short instruction on the proper technique.
"What do you think it is?" He would not be the first person to have never seen the material she supposed but it still surprised her slightly.
He hesitated, running one hand along the body, before giving his answer. "It... feels kind of like bone, but this isn't painted or burnt and it's too light."
"It's dragonbone. If it were as heavy as normal bone, they could not fly."
She watched him hold the bow out in front and then draw back the string. His movements were awkward and unpractised and his stance that of a novice but there was a small smile on his face, nonetheless.
He loosed the imaginary arrow.
Volantis proudly called itself the First Daughter, but Quaithe had never seen the same glory and splendour in the city as she had in the tellings of Old Valyria. In truth, none of the Free Cities were particularly appealing to her, even though her mother came from one.
Despite her dislike, Volantis was useful. The proximity to the ruins of the Freehold and its status as the first colony of the ancient Valyrians meant that it was the best spot for any remains of that time. The Black Walls hid tomes even the Citadel did not have access to.
The red stone steps of the red temple were mostly empty in the early afternoon, though some slave soldiers of the Fiery Hand still stood guard in their orange robes and flame-shaped spears. The red priest held services at noon, sunset, and sunrise to pay homage to the Lord's light and to pray over nightfires for protection in the darkness.
Quaithe could not discern anything different about the city or the temple compared to her last stay. They had docked in the late morning hours, drifting into port after most of the trading and fishing vessels had already left for the day, and then settled any remaining problems concerning ship and crew before heading out.
At first, she had pondered including Naruto in her investigations but with his still poor grasp of High Valyrian, much less the dialect used in Volantis, he wouldn't be of much use any way beyond a potential role as muscle. He wasn't a particularly gifted student, but he was stubbornly dedicated to learning what she taught. Fortunately, he had explained that he would need to prepare a few things for her lessons anyway and then enthusiastically set out on his own to find what materials he needed.
That left her a few hours to do a bit of simple investigation into the temple and its priests.
Outside of the Black Walls the Lord of Light was worshipped by more than half the people in Volantis but they seemed no more fervent in their devotion than the last time she had been in the city. The service at noon had been filled with the usual tripe about the evils in the dark and the greatness of the fire, the thin high priest encouraging all listeners to keep the flame of life in their hearts and to cherish all the hours in the sun.
Most of the common followers were slaves tattooed in a hundred different ways, that knew only what the priests preached. The priests, acolytes, and guards of the temple were all marked by the flame of R'hllor, slaves and servants to the red god, and her best possibility for information. Running into some incriminating piece of information was just too unlikely.
She ascended into the temple proper without problem, her mask in place. Some of the priests here could shape a proper glamour and therefore spot one, though she had never known anyone to do it as easily and quickly as Naruto had done but relying on that alone would only invite questions about herself. The mask presented a much easier answer to anyone she met and red priests generally accepted shadowbinders relatively easily. Shadows were the work of the sun and it's light and therefore a gift of the Red God.
The temple was a gigantic monument of towers, steps, and bridges coloured red, orange, yellow, and gold to resemble fire and flame. Instead of statues lining the walls, burning braziers, and flaming torches were everywhere. R'hllor had no form but fire and certainly no likeness, unlike many other deities from all over the world, and if represented in any way but flames themselves it was with a fiery heart, the only symbol emblazoned on the tapestries that hung between the sconces.
The halls and rooms were even hotter than Volantis itself and she could feel sweat starting to accumulate beneath her robes as she wandered. She ignored the members of the Fiery Hand. They were believers and insiders but their training as guards made them obedient and cautious, at least while on duty. She would have a much easier time getting an acolyte or a priest to speak a careless word.
A grand staircase led to the main prayer room. Most of the rooms and chambers in the deeper parts of the temple were inaccessible to outsiders, guarded by a large part of the one thousand men that made up the Fiery Hand. The red priests may spread their faith far and wide but certainly not their arts and secrets. There was also the more practical benefit of ensuring peace and quiet so that nothing could disturb lessons or delicate procedures.
In the main hall, priests stood near burning braziers, the crackling of the fires drowning out the whispered conversations that the priests were having with believers or other priests.
She chose one of the empty braziers at random and walked over to stand before it, looking into the flames. The brazier was dark iron, and the fuel were uniform pieces of a light brown wood. Quaithe instinctively considered just how much wood was required to light the many fires all over only this one temple, not to mention all the labour required in cutting, transporting, and then distributing all of it. She supposed that was one of the reasons that this was the biggest of the temples to the Lord of Light, the Rhoyne was surrounded by fertile land and the forests near Qohor could supply the necessary amounts with barges travelling down the Rhoyne and her tributaries.
Her family had been attached to fire for centuries but since the Doom and then the death of the dragons it had brought them nothing but misery. She had never shared the same fascination, more concerned with learning what she could, but now that she had a teacher the situation was different.
It took more effort than she cared to admit to focus on the whispered conversations around her and not tune them out for the entrancing play of colours and heat in front of her.
Most of it concerned only ordinary ails and hurts. The kind of issues common people brought to their priests in all places. A priestess walked an older man through a prayer for a long summer and a bountiful harvest while another priest directed a young woman on the correct application of the salve she had been given. The red priests were known for their knowledge of healing though their expertise was obviously highest when it came to burns.
"There are no shadows to bind in a brazier." Despite an attempt at quiet the booming voice of the priest still easily filled the hall from behind her. She had heard him walk up from behind but had not turned around before, content just listening and being ignored.
"Fortunate then that it is not shadows I seek," she said in turn. The man was dressed in the same scarlet robes as every other red priest, orange flames embroidered around the sleeves, collar, and hems with satin, but he cut a much more imposing figure. More than six feet tall and as wide in the chest as two ordinary men, the priest looked more warrior than preacher, and the orange flame tattoos standing out against his pitch-black skin and greying hair only enhanced that impression.
He stepped close, joining her by the brazier.
"The flames hold many truths," he murmured, as if quoting some old saying. With his deep voice it was obvious that he was talking even from further away, but it was unlikely that any of the others in the hall could understand the words. "Do you see anything in the fire?"
"No," she answered just as quietly.
He remained quiet for a few seconds; his hands folded over his belly but concealed in the long sleeves of his robes. She wondered if he knew anything about her. Benerro had been high priest for years now but none of her past run-ins with the religion and temple had included knowing about every acolyte and priest in service in this city. For all she knew, the man next to her had not even been a part of the temple the last time she was here.
"No? Well, it does not matter. Can I soothe any of your ails then?" Something was making her suspicious about the situation. It felt like he had sought her out specifically. She would play along for now, if she could get him to reveal something maybe she could finally get some results.
"I have been too long away from the city. Perhaps you would know of anyone seeking someone with my talents?"
"No one that I am aware of sadly," he answered after a few seconds of deliberation. She was not sure whether he would have told her either way but asking would give her an excuse for being in the temple. People came to temples with their troubles even if the priests would not be able to help them.
"If that is so, I will have to look in other places. I thank you for information all the same." Turning to leave was only a ploy, to see if there was some purpose to this on his part and it paid off.
"I admit, I sought you out." She had almost expected as much. "I saw you in the flames many weeks ago now. Saw your arrival in this very temple, on your quest to find something."
More visions. Her family had been tied to them for centuries, but she had always been doubtful about their validity. Until she had experienced them for herself in any case. The stories about Daenys the Dreamer claimed that visions of the Doom had motivated her to act more than a decade before that catastrophe occurred. The few fragments of Signs and Portents Quaithe had been able to accumulate included other visions as well, of war and death and the end of dragons, but she had not been convinced that those records weren't simply made up later, to improve her family's image and standing. Those she had read of in the book were rather vague.
Some of her own had been obvious enough. The Wall, Old Valyria, King's Landing. The others had been less clear. But the same problem remained. What was she to do with that information? Were the events she had seen even in the future? The Doom certainly wasn't, and the battlefield with dragons overhead couldn't be either, but King's Landing had never burned, and the old stories of the Long Night always implied that the Wall had been erected afterwards.
After seeing her own visions she could believe that Daenys truly had seen the Doom years before it occurred, but that did nothing to help her and her current problem.
She almost wished that she had never seen those things. Had they even all been actual events? The accounts she had found about visions, rare as they were, disagreed on the facts. Some argued that nothing could be changed, what happened was already decided before it did, while others disagreed on the very idea of prophecy.
It seemed to her that dreams and visions were always true, but not necessarily in the way that you expected. Sometimes what you saw was no more directly related to reality than poetry was.
"Tell me what you saw then, priest."
"A woman searching in the darkness by the light of the candle she seeks."
Chapter 11 is finished as well, and we get to Volantis in this one.
I'm trying to spread the clues to Quiathe's identity out over the chapters, though I'm sure that most of you already know who she is. The red priest is Moqorro who doesn't appear in the show but travels first with Jorah/Tyrion and then Victarion to Meereen in the books. The end of the chapter deals pretty heavily with visions and prophecy and the way that Quaithe thinks about those things. In the Dany chaptersa we see her try to fit the Undying visions into many if not most situations she encounters. Then there is the Mel chapter in ADWD where we see her visions and how she interprets what she sees. Quaithe's approach is intentionally different and I think it fits what I plan to do with her character-wise.
Naruto won't be any good with a bow for a while, but he'll train with it over the next chapters. That bit about plate armour is true as far as I know. Tests have their difficulties but pretty much always conclude that a english longbow, or something with similar draw-weight, could likely not penetrate a steel breastplate. If that holds true with Naruto remains to be seen, but Quaithe is working with the commonly accepted knowledge of her time and the abilities of ordinary if talented people.
Thanks for reading, commenting, kudos'ing and everything else. Until next time.