Chapter 5:

His father's solar was dark when he walked in, illuminated by the silver moonlight and a few sparsely lit candles, which were dotted around the room.

All of his siblings as well as his father were present in the solar. Tyrion was sitting in a chair by the great fireplace at the side of the room, whilst Jaime was standing by the door as he entered, appearing as if he wanted to flee this family meeting as much as he did. Cersei was standing to the right of their father with a crystal goblet of arbour gold in her bejewelled hand as she smirked at him with a glint of triumph in her emerald eyes.

His father was waiting for him, which in of itself worried him, Tywin Lannister waited for no one. He sat in an old, oaken chair, engraved with a pride of lions roaring. Link could have snorted if the mood that hovered in the solar weren't so grim. Tywin was dressed in the red and gold of house Lannister, and Link only had to look in his cold jade eyes, the same shade as Link's own, to know that he was furious.

As soon as the door behind him closed Cersei pounced.

"How dare you!" she breathed. "Joffrey is the future King, your nephew! You should be bowling to him, not shaming him." Where Tywin was as frigid as the Wall, disdainful and derisive in his anger, sweet Cersei was explosive like the Doom Gerion had been so interested in.

Link blinked, indignant anger curling around his heart. "Joffrey deserved to be shamed, Prince or not. Future King he may be, his cruelty was wrong."

"Joff was merely playing as boys do and you humiliated him!" Cersei shouted.

"He was torturing a pup, sister-"

"Enough!" His father said sharply, cutting through their argument and plunging the room into a tense silence.

"Joffrey is your kin, boy, and we do not turn against family. Your insolence is at an end, too long have I let your childish japes go unpunished. You will not shame House Lannister, not like my fool brother." Link felt an angry flush rise in his cheeks at the slight against Gerion. Tyrion and Jaime sought to interject but Tywin silenced them with a look.

A satisfied smile split across Cersei's ruby lips and Link felt dread swirl in his stomach. "You will appear tomorrow morn before the court to say a public apology to Joffrey."

"No, House Lannister will not be shamed." Cersei's smile curdled and Link could have laughed, "apologise to Joffrey in private. You humiliated Lord Lydden, one of our principal bannermen, in Deep Den. For that I forbid you from the archery contest. Disappoint me again, Link, and you will find me much less forgiving."

Link fought off a groan, he knew that he would come to regret that damned plan, how did his father know it had been him? Link glared as he watched the flames dance in the hearth, not only would he miss out on the archery contest, he had to apologise to Joffrey as well. In private or not, he was sure that it would kill him.

It was so unfair.

As Link walked to the training grounds to exert his anger from the mortifying morning he had just experienced, he pondered over his dilemma. He could either follow his father's orders, or he could blatantly disobey him and enter the archery lists.

To disobey his Lord Father would surely incur his displeasure, but then whatever action Link took always seemed to make Tywin wroth. He cared not for glory or acclaim, but the winner's purse was an exorbitant amount of gold, far more than even his allowance. One gold dragon was more than most smallfolk made in a year, never mind forty thousand.

I can do both! Link thought. He could enter the archery lists as a member of the smallfolk with his father being none the wiser. He would have to make an excuse as to why he wouldn't watch the archery contest, but he could do that later.

Just as he finished his train of thought he came upon the training grounds. The grounds were teaming with knights and squires alike, a gleaming sea of silver and iron, each one glinting with challenge and a hunger for glory.

As he picked up a tourney sword and shield from the rack, he spotted his niece, Myrcella. Out of the two royal children, only Myrcella had the King's colouring, with her inky hair and stormy blue eyes, whilst Joffrey, with his golden curls, jade eyes and cruelty very much took after his Queenly mother.

He shook his head and focused on the grounds before him, taking notice of a tall squire who had just fiercely disarmed another boy. Link grinned, his grip on the tourney sword tightening with anticipation. The squire looked to be a couple of years his elder and wore the sigil of a triple spiral, consisting of red, green, and blue on white, over his surcoat. A Massey then, Link noted.

The Massey squire had taken notice of him by the time Link reached him and grunted. "You're to be next then are you?" Massey had a surprisingly soft voice that belied his great hulking size. Link only nodded in reply.

The other squire, a Frey who Massey had just beat, scurried out of the way to make space for their bout. Everything around him dulled, the hot scent of sweat and fish and shit were washed away and the riot of colour and steel that surrounded him melted from Link's vision like morning dew in the summer sun. Time eroded away until only Massey remained, his breath escaping his thin lips in great heaving pants and his lank blonde hair falling in his earth brown eyes. Link raised his sword and shield, and for the first time since he had arrived in King's Landing, felt at peace.

Massey launched himself at Link with a roar, his dull and ugly greatsword snapping out like a butcher's cleaver. Link evaded the attack with an easy side step and felt a smile spread across his face. This was what he was meant for, not trading barbs with a boy prince or his mother. The squire whirled around to face him, lashing out with his greatsword as if it were a club.

Disappointment threatened to shatter the calm peace instilled within him by battle as Link evaded another of Massey's blows. The boy was strong and fast for his size, but in the end he was simply that; a boy. No dreams of darkness and failures haunted him. Link had no doubt that Massey would grow to be an able swordsman and could have defeated any other boy put against him, but not Link. In another life he had felled dragons and shades with just the strength of his sword arm, and it was that strength that drove him now. Massey never stood a chance.

Massey swung at Link once more, and Link met the squire's blade with his own. The blunted steel clashed and Massey flinched. Link parried and feinted, eroding the boy's defence as surely as the sunset sea did the cliffs of Lannisport. Link struck out at the boy's leg, then at his sword arm and his chest. Each time the words of the Rock's master-at-arms, Ser Benedict Broom, rang in his ears, "dead, dead and dead!"

Massey tried one final, desperate lunge with his blade and Link disarmed him with a wave of his sword. Link brought the blunted sword to the squire's throat as Massey fell into the dirt.

"I yield" the Massey squire muttered, his face ruddy red with exertion and shame. All at once the peace was shattered, and time continued around him.

Link laughed as he helped the squire up. "Well met, Massey. I am Link, of House Lannister. That was a fine bout, should we go again?"

The Massey squire nodded, taking up his sword, a smile blooming on his face. Link returned to his fighting stance, grinning all the while, happy that mayhaps he had made a friend.

Hello everyone, this chapter has been edited on the 28/04/2024

This was undoubtedly the worst written of my earliest chapters and was such a slog to get rewritten, but I'm so happy it's done.

Read and review!