Kapitel 112: Second Witness
Doran walks towards the Throne Room with Manfrey Martell by his side, after finishing the meeting with his grandparents he met the Castellan in a corridor and they decided to walk together. The trial will not resume for another half hour, time that his grandparents decided to take to polish some details of the plan, or at least that is what they told him (He doesn't want to think what they are doing alone in the tea room).
The young prince does not play an active part in the trial, his role is only that of supervisor. Doran has to observe everything and subtly intervene if he finds any irregularity. Even that role was only relevant during Ser Ronnel's testimony, the other House Martell witnesses are men and women whose will hasn't been altered (there was no need for such a thing) so the prince doesn't have much to do during the trial.
Just watch and learn.
"I still can't get used to the idea." Manfrey mutters. "That such a threat has been spreading in the shadow of the sun for so many years... That no one has noticed until now!" He looks quite bewildered.
"These plots thrive in the shadows, uncle."
"I und-"
"Doran." The arrival of Lord Jason Dayne interrupts Sunspear's Castellan.
"Lord Grandfather." Doran straightens up and speaks solemnly. His grandfather is a stern and proud man, someone who adores traditional etiquette and detests any jiggery-pokery.
"I want to have a word with you, grandson." Lord Dayne sends Manfrey Martell a not very subtle gaze.
"Can you excuse us, uncle Manfrey?" Doran sends him an apologetic look and the castellan nods obediently.
"Of course, my prince." Manfrey nods to Doran and says goodbye.
"Shall we talk here, or would you prefer we talk in a more private place." Doran looks both ways down the hall, there are several guards and trial spectators present.
"We can talk while we walk." Lord Dayne answers as he starts walking, Doran following close behind.
"Were you aware of this betrayal?" Lord Dayne looks at him with narrow eyes.
"You will have to be more concise, lord grandfather."
Lord Dayne grunts and rephrases the sentence.
"Were you aware of House Yronwood's actions when you started your Tour?"
Doran's eyes shine with intrigue.
`So he is suspicious of my involvement in all of this. As opportune as the arrival of Prince Duncan may have been, my interruption of the Tour just after visiting Yronwood may raise some suspicions. It seems that my paternal grandfather is more than he looks.`
"Of course not!" He responds energetically. "If I had known about their actions I wouldn't have gone anywhere near their castle." Doran has no problem outright lying to him.
"Is that so?"
Doran ignores the doubts in his grandfather's tone.
"Father was furious when he found out! I've never seen him lose his temper like that! He said if the Yronwoods had been a little more impulsive, or if my arrival in their lands had aligned with their plans, they would have taken me prisoner. I would have been the perfect hostage, he said." Doran shakes his head looking troubled. "Luckily for me prince Duncan arrived just in time to Sunspear and I was called home." The prince smiles relieved.
"Yes, that was very fortunate indeed." Lord Dayne murmurs.
Around him several people look at the prince sympathetically and there are murmurs of "Poor prince Doran".
"We are here." Doran points to the golden doors of the Throne Room. "The trial will resume shortly, Lord Grandfather. We will have to continue this conversation at another time." The prince smiles charmingly and says goodbye to his grandfather.
Lord Dayne nods in acknowledgment and walks over to his seat.
Doran watches him walk away and his charming smile loses its intensity until it becomes an easy smile.
`I only met him a few times so I don't quite know his character but damn that was a draining conversation. I have to keep my guard up around him.`
Doran sees his uncle Manfrey and walks towards him, the throne room still half empty. Of the judges only Lord Dayne is present and most of the spectators are part of the smallfolk, who are anxiously waiting for the show to resume. During the break the Sunspear cooks had prepared an all-you-can-eat banquet for the spectators. Both smallfolk and nobles ate together, something that grated on the nerves of some of the more superficial and prideful nobles (including Lord Dayne, who demanded to eat in one of the private dining rooms).
Since the break lasted three hours, everyone had time to eat to their hearts (stomachs)`s content.
"What did Lord Dayne want?"
"Not much, he tried to get some information." The prince responds indifferently.
Manfrey laughs at Doran's indifference.
"Sometimes I can't help but see my father when I look at you, my prince. Luckily for all of us, those occurrences are rare or I would truly be worried about the future of our kingdom." Jests the castellan.
"Hey!" Falsely outraged Doran protests by folding his hands. "I'll tell Uncle Jace what you said."
That response only served to enliven the laughs of the castellan, laughs that are abruptly cut off.
Manfrey's good humor vanishes like smoke as he sees Lady Yronwood and her children enter the room surrounded by guards.
Doran sees how his uncle's face darkens and follows his line of vision and looks at the Yronwood with neutrality, but if one looked more closely, would see how the prince refuses to look at the twins.
With the tense and gloomy atmosphere, Doran puts the jokes aside and waits for the trial to start again. He doesn't have to wait long, in just a few minutes the room is full and most of the judges are sitting in their chairs.
The expressions of the judges are very different from this morning, a solemn air surrounds them and even the jovial Lord Allyrion has an almost unnatural serious expression in Doran's opinion (the prince met Lord Cedric numerous times as the lands of House Allyrion are neighboring House Martell and the two families have always shared a close friendship.In all the times Doran has met Lord Allyrion he has never seen him with an expression other than jovial or amused).
Princess Dorna is the last judge to sit down, she looks at Edgar Yronwood with an indecipherable look in her eyes.
"Let the trial continue." She nods in Prince Arthur's direction.
"We previously heard the testimony of Ser Ronnel," Arthur addresses the crowd and reminds them of the old knight's confessions. "Now we will continue to hear the testimonies of various witnesses. Beginning with Ser Benedict Santagar."
A man in his mid-forties steps forward, Ser Benedict has yellow teeth and a bulbous nose.
"Ser Benedict, please state your name and title, if you have any."
"I am Benedict Santagar, my lord. I am a proud knight of the realms and distant cousin of Lord Santagar." The knight answers confidently, his voice is rough and raspy as if he hadn't had a drink in a long time.
"How do you know Lord Edgar Yronwood, Ser Benedict?"
"I first met Lord Edgar while I served in the Bright Banners, a contract took us near Braavos and we rested in the city for a fortnight." Ser Benedict clears his throat. "I met Lord Edgar during my stay in Braavos."
"I see, could you describe for us what that first meeting was like."
"Aye!" Ser Benedict nods eager to continue with his story. "It was during our fifth night in the city. I remember it very well because my captain took me to one of the fancier taverns in the city. A drink there is more expensive than the most ostentatious whore in King's Landing!"
The knight's rude exclamation draws a lot of giggles from the crowd.
"Ser Benedict, please refrain from using such foul language in the presence of such distinguished people." Arthur glared at him disapprovingly.
"S-sorry." The witness stutters and moves uncomfortably before the icy gaze of the prince.
"A few words will not ruffle our feathers, Prince Arthur." Lady Wyl rolls her eyes. "We are Dornish not cunts from the Reach."
Doran watches as his grandfather suppresses a smile, clearly amused by Lady Wyl's remark, other people have no such reservations and burst out laughing.
`Clearly no one here likes the Reach.` The prince does not share the disdain that all Dornish seem to feel towards their neighbors, although he understands the hatred towards the actions of the Reachmen of yore (he even shares it) he was never someone who hates the descendant for the crimes of the ancestor.
"Ser Benedict, continue with your testimony." Says Prince Arthur once the giggling dies down.
"Aye!" The knight nods quickly, still intimidated by the prince consort. "The tavern is called `The Siren's tail`, an expensive and exclusive place. The captain had a meeting with a client and he took me as one of his guards. The meeting was in one of the private rooms of the tavern, I had to stay outside along with the client's guards. Across the hall I saw some men guarding another private room, I remember that they caught my attention because one of them was a knight I saw jousting against the Morning Sword in a tourney not long ago."
Several people begin to whisper to each other.
"My captain's meeting with his client ended long after the people in the room that the Westerosi knight was guarding left so I got to see those men. The first was a hooded man that I couldn't make out but the second, a tall, well-built man with a gray beard and eyes colder than ice, I recognized that one as Bittersteel, the pommel of the sword at his waist only confirming his identity. I had the honor of seeing Blackfyre up close during the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion, I will never forget such a magnificent sword." The knight's gaze softens as he remembers the legendary sword, his voice has a hint of longing as if he remembered a past lover instead of a sword.
Doran doesn't know whether to look amused or dismayed, such love for a sword perplexes him. He never had much attachment to material things, be it a legendary wand or gold and money, the prince always treasured people and the memories they shared more than any material object. Even his beloved invisibility cape was only important because it was a bridge between him and his late father, the cape itself was never important.
`Something I have to thank the Dursleys for, growing up with so little I learned to see the value of things that truly matter: people and the ties that unite us.`
"After my captain finished his meeting he invited me to a few drinks in the tavern, that's where I met Lord Edgar. We barely exchanged a few words while we played a round of dice but it would be impossible not to remember the face of the now late Lord Anders Yronwood's nephew."
"And he didn't recognize you?" asks Lord Manwoody curiously.
"I was a young knight who left Westeros in search of adventures as soon as I earned my spurs, my lord. I have not participated in any tourney and I am just the son of a branch of House Santagar."
Lord Manwoody nods in understanding.
"Lord Edgar spent a lot of time in Essos in his youth, but for him to be in the same tavern where Bittersteel had a meeting with a hooded man- a man who I would bet my armor was Yon Yronwood-..." Lord Gargalen shakes his head.
"This can't have been a coincidence." Lord Allyrion agrees.
The rest of the afternoon more and more witnesses testified. Several witnesses relate things similar to the tale of Ser Benedict, others tell of hooded figures entering Yronwood castle in the embrace of night and leaving before dawn. All of these encounters have subtle, or not-so-subtle, implications of the presence of a Blackfyre. Other witnesses speak of the character of Lord Edgar and Lord Yon, painting them in a bad image.
The testimony of a close friend of Lord Edgar seems to be the final nail in House Yronwood's coffin.
Lord Harold Fowler walks grimly to the front of the crowd, bows to the Princess of Dorne and turns to Prince Arthur, who begins to question him.
"I knew Edgar since we were squires, I was there when his children were born and he held mine when they were babies." Lord Fowler has a disappointed and pained glint in his eye. "I would never have suspected that Edgar is capable of such horrendous actions, I trusted him - I even saw him as a brother. They say love and affection blind us, and they blinded me. A veil covered my eyes and prevented me from seeing the man with whom I grew up for who he is. That veil is no more. During the last days I reflected tirelessly, spent sleepless nights and barely ate a bite. Today, before all these good men and women, I say without the slightest doubt, that I believe Lord Edgar Yronwood is guilty of all the crimes of which he is accused."
Doran watches Lord Edgar's reaction to his friend's testimony, the lord's bravado as well as his pride and arrogance melting away. In his place there is a tired and sad man, his eyes are dark and shine with pain and grief but not defeat. Lord Yronwood still hasn't given up hope, he still believes that he can emerge victorious.
`Is it foolishness? Denial? The young prince wonders. `It doesn't matter, this trial is about to end.` Doran shakes his head and looks back at the judges.
They seem to have reached a verdict even before Lord Edgar could present his defense.
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