[EXT. STORM'S END SHORELINE, DAY]
[STANNIS BARATHEON and MELISANDRE walk to the craggy shore where some men hold a boat at the ready.]
"You refuse to tell me where you're going?"
"I don't know yet. The fires will show me."
"How long will you be gone?"
"I don't know."
"Your witch is abandoning you" Renly spoke with a bark of laugh, ignoring his eldest brother's looks. "The woman that had you burn so many of your men, the statues of the gods of our father and mother, leaving you the moment she sees your cause is lost! Seven Hells you've even imprisoned your most loyal follower because of her!" he wiped an imaginary tear. "Gods I love it when justice is served."
"That is enough" Robert gripped Renly's arm painfully tight.
Renly winced, but the smile did not fall from his lips. He saw the look on Stannis' face and his smile grew.
"Worry not brother, I'm done now" he yanked his arm from Robert's grip and rubbed the spot with a smirk.
Robert glared at his youngest brother before turning to the younger brother. Stannis looked tense, unwilling to talk. So Robert did not bother him, though he kept an eye on the man.
[MELISANDRE starts to walk away, but STANNIS stops her.]
"My enemies think they've destroyed me. They're laughing at me the way Renly laughed at me. I want Joffrey dead. I want Robb Stark dead. Make me another son."
"That was not a son" Shireen whispered harshly to her father.
"I know" Stannis ground out. He hid his surprise well, considering how he'd never heard his daughter speak in that tone before.
"I cannot. You don't have the strength. It would kill you.
"I'm not so easily killed. Men have been trying for years."
[He clasps her to him.]
"I want you."
"I have never heard you beg" Robert grunted.
"Because I have never begged" Stannis muttered.
You will, a voice whispered in his mind.
[MELISANDRE does not respond, and he is disappointed. She looks at STANNIS with concern. He starts to walk away.]
"There is another way. A better way."
"You told me your magic requires a king's blood. I'm the one true king."
"You are. But there are others with your blood in their veins. You will sit on the Iron Throne, but there must be sacrifices first. The Lord of Light demands it."
"Again with this bullshit for sacrifices!" Robert slammed his fist on the arm of his chair. "If you sacrifice one more person I will smack you upside your head!"
"I have not made a single sacrifice," Stannis said evenly.
"Which is why I'm not killing you for it" Robert grunted.
The King then noticed how Stannis was gripping his daughter's hand. He raised a brow but did not question it.
[ASTAPOR]
[DAENERYS TARGARYEN, SER JORAH MORMONT, and SER BARRISTAN SELMY walk along the shoreline parapet in the bright sun. A series of tortured slaves on crucifixes line the walkway.]
"What... what is this?!" Daenerys asked aghast.
"Slaves. They are being punished" Oberyn answered.
"For what?!"
"Knowing the masters, over nothing."
Daenerys stared in shock. How could… how could people be so cruel?!
"I hope the future you does something for these people."
Daenerys' head snapped to Myrcella, who was looking at Daenerys with nothing bad in her eyes.
"Why do you think I would?" Daenerys asked.
Myrcella shrugged.
"You seem like someone who wouldn't allow bad things to go unpunished."
Daenerys nodded with a barely-there smile.
Myrcella nodded as well with a slightly bigger smile.
"Perhaps in our next breaking, you should try making friends" Elia muttered to Daenerys. "It'll come in handy."
Again Daenerys nodded, her eyes moving from Myrcella, to Margaery, to Robb and then to Jon. The last one had defended her once in this place and was her nephew too. Maybe she could do with some friends.
"Give me your water."
"Khaleesi, this man has been sentenced to death."
"I wouldn't call this a sentence" Jon muttered darkly. This was unjust purely by the fact that they were slaves!
"It's a shame Father could not bring this man to justice" Robb muttered idly. Loyal as he was to Daenerys (even if loyalty came from infatuation) Robb did not like the man's character.
[JORAH gives DAENERYS his canteen. She steps up to a bloodied man and offers a drink. He refuses.]
"Why won't he drink?" Arya asked. The man was surely thirsty.
"He is a slave. Right or wrong, they are taught to obey their masters no matter what. He may just be following orders" Ned explained.
"That's barbaric!"
"Aye, it is."
"Leave this place, Your Grace. Leave tonight, I beg you."
"And what is she to do for soldiers?"
"We can find sellswords in Pentos and Myr."
"Is it 'we' already, Ser Barristan?"
"Big talk coming from someone who was selling information on her not too long ago," Gendry said dryly.
"He was only trying to buy his way back home" Varys explained.
"Then he shouldn't judge the knight then," the bastard rolled his eyes.
"If you want to sit on the throne your ancestors built, you must win it. That will mean blood on your hands before the thing is done."
"The blood of my enemies, not the blood of innocents."
"You tell him" Sansa muttered softly under her breath.
"How many wars have you fought in, Ser Barristan?"
"Three."
"Have you ever seen a war where innocents didn't die by the thousands?"
[SER BARRISTAN shakes his head.]
"I was in King's Landing after the sack, Khaleesi."
"Was he?" Sansa asked her father.
"He was part of the Northern troops I led to the capital" Ned nodded.
"You know what I saw? Butchery. Babies, children, old men. More women raped than you can count. There's a beast in every man and it stirs when you put a sword in his hand. But the Unsullied are not men. They do not rape."
"Because they do not have the cocks to do so" Tyrion muttered under his breath with a light chuckle.
He was then shocked to be hit on the arm by his disapproving niece.
"Do not make fun of them. It's not their fault what others did to them" she said chastising.
"Of course not. I only meant that they would likely do the same had they the means to do so" Tyrion clarified, though the clarification was something he'd made up on the spot rather than the reason he said what he said. But Myrcella did not need to know that.
"They do not put cities to the sword unless they're ordered to do so. If you buy them, the only men they'll kill are those you want dead."
"Do you disagree, Ser Barristan?"
"When your brother Rhaegar led his army into battle at the Trident, men died for him because they believed in him, because they loved him, not because they'd been bought at a slaver's auction."
Rhaegar smiled softly at the words of his friend.
"I fought beside the last dragon on that day, Your Grace. I bled beside him."
"Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, and Rhaegar died."
"Yes, that is what happens when you lose. Or perhaps he's suggesting that Robert did not fight valiantly or nobly, or perhaps that the people did not believe in him" Tyrion rolled his eyes. "Had I not known Lord Stark or his son, I'd be inclined to believe the North were full of stupid savages."
"Lord Stark and his ilk might be the exception in this case" Jaime added with a smirk.
"Might be" Tyrion too smirked.
"Did you know him well, Ser Barristan?"
"I did, Your Grace. Finest man I ever met."
Rhaengar was smiling.
Daenerys was not.
Was this the finest man that old knight had ever met? So caught up in his prophecies that he'd wooed a girl who was desperately in need of an escape and married her for another child to fulfil the 'three heads'. Daenerys was certain that it was all the reason Rhaegar had gone for Lyanna Stark, and his focus on her dragons and how only they mattered and nothing more pointed to that exactly.
And she was certain that even Lyanna Stark may have been thrust into that realisation after that outburst from Rhaegar.
[They approach an impressive round structure with a huge, golden-winged statue crouched atop it.]
[ASTAPOR, BUILDING COURTYARD]
[DAENERYS, JORAH, and BARRISTAN stand before a raised platform where KRAZNYS MO NAKLOZ and GREIZHEN sit and MISSANDEI stands.]
"All? Did this one's ears mishear, Your Grace?"
"They did not. I want to buy them all."
"And where are you getting the gold for that?" Tyrion raised a brow.
Daenerys shrugged her shoulders.
[MISSANDEI speaking Valyrian]
"She wants to buy them all."
[KRAZNYS speaking Valyrian]
"She can't afford them. The slut thinks that she can flash her tits, and make us give her whatever she wants."
"I hope I kill him" Daenerys muttered. She had enough of that man to last her a lifetime and then more.
"There are eight thousand Unsullied in Astapor. Is this what you mean by all?"
"Yes. Eight thousand. And the ones still in training as well."
"Even the ones in training?" Jon Snow frowned. "They won't be ready for fights."
"I guess I just want to free them" Daenerys answered with another shrug. That was the only logical explanation to her.
Jon too seemed to agree with the assessment.
[GREIZHEN speaking Valyrian]
"If they fail on the battlefield, they will shame Astapor."
"Master Greizhen says they cannot sell half-trained boys. If they fail on the battlefield, they will bring shame upon all of Astapor."
"I will have them all or take none. Many will fall in battle. I'll need the boys to pick up the swords they drop."
"Or that" Daenerys blanched.
"I'm sure you're only saying that to the men to appease them," Elia said soothingly, a hand on the girl's back.
"I hope so" the Princess muttered.
[KRAZNYS speaking Valyrian]
"The slut cannot pay for all of this."
"I really hope he dies soon" Sansa muttered out loud, surprising her parents who'd never her wish that on anyone, while making her elder brothers smirk.
Sansa could use some backbone like that.
"Yeah!" Arya agreed, going easily with her sister for probably the first time. Usually, the two were on opposing ends.
Arya's exclamation, her parents were not surprised at.
"Master Kraznys says you cannot afford this."
[KRAZNYS speaking Valyrian]
"Her ship will buy her a hundred Unsullied, no more."
"Your ship will buy you Because Master Kraznys is generous."
[KRAZNYS speaking Valyrian]
"And this is because I like the curve of her ass."
Jon tilted his head a little, only to be smacked by his mother.
"I forbid you to look at women like that."
"I said nothing!" Jon complained.
Lyanna smacked him again, much to Robb's amusement.
[KRAZNYS speaking Valyrian]
"What is left will buy her ten. I will give her twenty if it stops her ignorant whimpering."
"The gold you have left is worth ten. But good Master Kraznys will give you twenty."
[KRAZNYS speaking Valyrian]
"Her Dothraki smell of shit but will be useful as pig feed."
"They are not for sale!" Daenerys said outraged. She hated this man.
Elia soothed the girl with a hand on her back. But even she was outraged.
"The Dothraki you have with you-"
[KRAZNYS speaking Valyrian]
"I will give her three for those."
"The Dothraki you have are not worth what they cost to feed, but Master Kraznys will give you three Unsullied for all of them."
[KRAZNYS speaking Valyrian]
"So, ask this beggar queen how will she pay for the remaining 7,877?"
"Master Kraznys asks how you propose to pay for the remaining 7,877 unsullied."
[DAENERYS has been looking at the young enslaved children who watch from above.]
"I have dragons. I'll give you one."
"YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING!"
Rhaegar stood with such force that it knocked the chair he sat on over with a bang.
Daenerys flinched at the tone.
"Are you out of your fucking minds?!" He seethed. "How can you even comprehend giving up a fucking Dragon for slaves?! Are you stupid?! Do you not have the capacity to think?! Do you-"
"That is enough!"
Rhaegar's head turned sharply to Jon, who was standing and glaring.
"You have spoken enough. You will not speak more" the boy ground out.
"The stupid girl thinks of selling a dragon and you dare to take her side?!" the man burst out angrily. "Do you not-"
"And why do you think she's been forced to that corner?!" Jon too exploded, louder, colder and meaner.
It shut Rhaegar, who momentarily forgot his anger.
"It was you who ran away with my mother. It was you who was stupid enough to not make your intentions public. It was you who forced the realm into conflict! Had you been smarter, Daenerys would never have to resort to it!"
"You would never have been born if I didn't marry your mother!" Rhaegar argued.
Jon's cruel laugh once more shut him.
"And what a blessing that was!" Jon exclaimed, cold fury dancing in his grey eyes. "You are the reason the realm dissolved into war. You're the reason my mother died. You're the reason your children and first wife died. You're the reason your entire family crumbled until only two people remained! So do not dare to even speak of stupidity when you're the reason she's having to make hard choices!"
Rhaegar was left standing while Jon was pulled back to his seat by his mother.
"I don't regret having you" Lyanna whispered kindly to her furious son.
"I do!" he snapped, but quickly backtracked seeing his mother flinch. He grasped her hands and kissed the back of both.
"I did not mean to snap," he says softly. "I only mean that… had Rhaegar not approached you, had you not gotten pregnant with me, you'd still be alive today."
"Probably married to Robert Baratheon" Lyanna muttered.
"Robert is… well he is many things we've seen here. And well, a lot of us including you can say that half the things he's become was from losing you. Whether he loved you or not… well I can't say for certain but he did care deeply for you."
"That was never the problem, my son" Lyanna smiled softly, holding Jon's hand gently in hers.
"Robert was a whore monger that you feared won't change even after you married him."
Lyanna nods.
"Rhaegar was a married man who was looking for another wife for some prophecy, knowing full well that the woman he married would never be seen as his wife. Even if Elia consented, the people would never accept you as Rhaegar's wife, just as much as they won't accept me as his trueborn son. Rhaegar knowingly did all that, not because he cared but because he is a desperate man who thinks he is the one to save the world."
Lyanna only stared at her son, wide-eyed and close to tears.
"We don't have each other for long" he whispered, his voice shaking slightly. "But for the time that we have each other, I will be right here for you no matter what. Nobody can take me away from you."
Lyanna ducked her head, nodding and gripping Jon's hands tightly.
Jon held her tightly, shooting his father a glare.
No.
He refused to accept that man as his father. Ned Stark raised him like a son and only he had the right to call himself his father.
"Lord Stark's raised Lyanna's boy well" Elia said with a soft smile.
"It was clear that he'd been desperate to know about his mother" Doran Martell spoke softly. "And now that he knows who she is, now that he has her here, he's ready to fight for her."
"I wonder if Aegon would have grown to be the same…"
"You'd send him to foster at Sunspear, so I'd guess he would be" Oberyn said with the utmost surety.
Elia smiled at her brother, swallowing the lump in her throat. Her eyes fell then on her husband, who was standing in shock.
She did not feel at all bad for the man.
"You will win the throne with dragons, not slaves, Your Grace."
"Khaleesi, please."
[DAENERYS approaches the platform.]
"Three dragons."
"Greedy bastard" Daenerys muttered angrily. Her heart was still racing from the confrontation a moment ago. Rhaegar was… well he was like Viserys more than people would admit. But she knew because she knew Viserys well. Just as twisted on the inside as he was pretty on the outside.
"One."
"Two."
"One."
[KRAZNYS consults with GREIZHEN.]
[KRAZNYS speaking Valyrian]
"They want the biggest one."
"Done."
Rhaegar fisted his hand angrily but said nothing. His son had said some… uncomfortable things that struck him. And that had rendered him speechless.
Plus he did not wish to speak out now, not when he noticed how Jon had the support of many on his side.
"I'll take you as well, now. You'll be Master Kraznys' gift to me. A token of a bargain well struck."
[OUTSIDE THE COURTYARD]
[DAENERYS strides purposefully. JORAH and BARRISTAN try to keep up.]
"Khaleesi, a dragon is worth more than any army."
"Aegon Targaryen proved that."
"You're both here to advise me. I value your advice, but if you ever question me in front of strangers again, you'll be advising someone else. Is that understood?"
Olenna smirked. The girl was green and still soft, but there was a fire in her that she relished. Oh, how she had not seen such a fire in so long!
[JORAH and BARRISTAN nod. DAENERYS walks away and joins MISSANDEI]
"Do you have a name?"
"This one's name is Missandei, Your Grace."
"Do you have a family? A mother and a father you'd return to if you had the choice?"
"No, Your Grace. No family living."
"You belong to me now. It is your duty to tell me the truth."
"Yes, Your Grace. Lying is a great offence. Many of those on the Walk of Punishment were taken there for less."
Many spat in disgust.
"I offered water to one of the slaves dying on the Walk of Punishment. Do you know what he said to me? 'Let me die.'"
"There are no masters in the grave, Your Grace."
"That's sad" Margaery muttered softly.
"Only way they can escape such cruelty" Olenna muttered, oddly sombre for the first time.
"Is it true what Master Kraznys told me about the Unsullied? About their obedience?"
"All questions have been taken from them. They obey, that is all. Once they are yours, they are yours. They will fall on their swords if you command it."
"And what about you? You know that I'm taking you to war. You may go hungry. You may fall sick. You may be killed."
"Valar morghulis."
"Yes, all men must die. But we are not men."
"Yes, but that statement stands for all, Princess. Men here refer to all that live" Varys explained with a smile.
Daenerys nods.
[RIVERLANDS, NIGHT]
[LOCKE's men have made camp for the night. BRIENNE and JAIME are bound to trees while the men are gathered around a nearby fire.]
"I forgot I was a prisoner to worse company" Jaime muttered.
"These men look like they'll do worse than Lady Catelyn would have done" Joanna muttered with worry.
"Let us hope not" Tyrion muttered. "Else they'll lose their heads, be it by my father's men or Robb Starks'."
"Certainly not hoping it for me brother" Jaime smiled tightly.
"No need to be jealous. I always think the best of you" Tyrion rolled his eyes with a smirk.
"I'll take the big bitch first. When she's good and wet, you lot can finish her off."
Sansa and Margaery made faces of disgust.
[LOCKE approaches. Two men help BRIENNE to her feet.]
"My lord, I am Brienne of Tarth. Lady Catelyn Stark commanded me to deliver Ser Jaime to King's Landing."
"He's no Lord" Oberyn pointed out.
"Catelyn Stark's a treasonous cunt."
Catelyn stiffened.
"Orders were to take the Kingslayer alive. Nobody said shit about you."
[BRIENNE headbutts one of the four men around her. But with her hands bound, she has no chance. The men hold her and punch her into submission. BRIENNE headbutts him again, and gets another series of blows in return.]
"Take her over there where it's dark. I'd like a little privacy."
[BRIENNE yells and screams as they lead her away.]
"You know who she is, don't you?"
"A big dumb bitch from who cares where. Never been with a woman that big."
"She's Brienne of Tarth. Her father is Lord Selwyn Tarth. Heard of Tarth? They call it the Sapphire Isle. Do you know why? Every sapphire in Westeros was mined on Tarth. Sapphires are gemstones. The blue ones."
"I know what they are."
"Lord Selwyn would pay his daughter's weight in sapphires if she's returned to him. But only if she's alive, her honour unbesmirched."
[BRIENNE screams and men yell in the distance while LOCKE processes this information. Then he turns towards his men.]
"Bring her back here. Unbesmirched."
[The men tie BRIENNE to her tree once again. JAIME looks at her. Brienne screams.]
"That's one way of thanking your saviour," Jaime said blandly.
"No doubt she feels shame at not being able to protect herself" Joanna muttered.
"What's there to be ashamed of? Against that many, she can't fight on her own."
Joanna smiled.
"If it were me though-"
Joanna sighed.
"Fancy word for a fancy man."
"I hated to read as a child, but my father forced me to study the books every morning before I could practice with sword or horse. Two hours every day holed up in the maester's chambers. I learned a lot of fancy words."
"I bet you did. Your father, he'd pay your weight in gold to get you back?"
"You'll be a rich man till the end of your days. And your sons will be rich men and their sons after them. Lands, titles- you'll have them all. The North can't win this war. You're a smart man. You understand that. We have the numbers. We have the gold. Fighting bravely for a losing cause is admirable. Fighting for a winning cause is far more rewarding."
"Northern loyalty is not so easily bought" Ned muttered coldly.
"Hard to argue with that."
"Now that we're speaking together man to man, I wonder if you need to keep me chained to this tree. I'm not asking to be freed from my constraints, but if I could sleep lying down, my back would thank you for it. I'm not as young and resilient as I was once."
"None of us are. Unchain Ser Jaime from the tree."
[The men unchain Jaime.]
Ned's face fell.
"The North has changed since my time" Rickard muttered with a sigh. Or perhaps with all that has happened, the men have lost faith in House Stark. Whichever may the reason be, it was not a good thing.
"Suppose you'll be wanting something to eat."
"I'm famished, actually."
"I think we've got a spare partridge on the fire."
"Well, I do like partridge."
"I don't trust this" Tyrion muttered.
"I just bought him, brother. He'll serve so get on my good side" Jaime assured him with a smile.
But Tyrion was not assured. He had been around men like that a lot more than Jaime had, in the brothels or the gambling houses. Something was wrong.
[LOCKE helps him up. JAIME groans from his soreness. BRIENNE watches them walk away towards the fire.]
"Bring the bird over here and the carving knife. Will this work as a table, my lord?"
"Oh, yes. Yes, this will do nic- ah!"
[One of the men kicks JAIME's knees out from under him. He falls to the ground.]
"Told you" Tyrion muttered worriedly.
Jaime's smile fell.
[Another man forces JAIME's right hand onto the stump while the others hold him down.]
"No" Jaime muttered horrified.
[LOCKE grabs JAIME's face and draws the large carving knife, then places its point at Jaime's eye.]
"You think you're the smartest man there is. That everyone alive has to bow and scrape and lick your boots."
"My father-"
"And if you get in any trouble, all you've got to do is say 'my father' and that's it, all your troubles are gone. Have you got something to say?"
[JAIME does not respond.]
"Yes keep silent" Joanna's heart raced. She prayed her son kept his silence now.
"Careful. You don't want to say the wrong thing. You're nothing without your daddy, and your daddy ain't here. Never forget that."
[Locke stands back up, releasing Jaime's face and withdrawing the knife.]
"Here, this should help you remember."
[LOCKE winds up and cleaves the huge knife through JAIME's wrist in a single blow. JAIME looks with disbelief at his severed hand, and then screams in agony.]
Jaime screamed to match his future self as if he felt the pain right then and there.