Chapitre 11: Into foreign lands part 4
The following days of the tourney were very interesting at least for Maximilian.
One of the days of the competition a mystery knight appeared, with an ill-fitting armor which seemed to be pieced together from different armors with a shield with a laughing red face on a weird wood tree, and challenged a group of three knights and of course this by itself isn't that interesting but what Maximilian and Aurelius found interesting is that said mystery knight challenged the knights whose squires were attacking the crannogman the previous day, the mystery knight unhorsed the three knights but when they came to ransom their horses and armor back the knight spoke, " teach your squires honor, that shall be ransom enough". He used a booming voice but at that moment Maximilian looked at Aurelius and the latter just nodded his head.
After that the mad king, which Maximilian thought was a fitting moniker for a man that looked and acted that way, send the knights and even the prince on a hunt to discover the identity of the mystery knight, who he thought was his enemy and the face on the shield was mocking him, the knights searched everywhere but in the end the only thing they found was the shield resting on a tree, but seeing the knight of the laughing tree as the people called him, and hearing his voice that while indistinguishable from that of a young man since he was screaming the only time he spoke, there weren't that many people present when those squires attacked the crannogman, and there were even fewer who should hide their identities, so Maximilian and Aurelius followed their instincts and go in search of who they thought was the most probable person to be in that armor, and watching from the shadows they found what they were looking for, a brown-haired girl was taking her armor off, but before she could leave the place a silver-haired man came, taking her by surprise, when the man was close they just stared into each other eyes, without saying a word, but suddenly the wind blow and both of them started looking from one place to another, before taking their leave, Maximilian and Aurelius just looked at each other before disappearing in the shadows and returning to their tent.
"Did you saw the same I did or was that just my imagination?" Asked Maximilian.
"No, it wasn't it seems the little wolf girl is the mystery knight and the prince found her and more importantly they seemed attracted to each other, I wonder what his wife would think about it or her fiance. There's something else I found, it seems some of the lord paramount here are allied between each other and are trying to support the prince". Said Aurelius.
"Well we, already knew that, if not why would the come here or bring their children, it's not like someone can blame them, you just need to see the king and you will find their motivation". Said, Maximilian.
"Yes, but there's something I omitted when I investigated them, you remember when I said their general information right? Well, I didn't take into account that it wasn't normal for their people to marry people from other lands, they usually marry some of their vassals to try to get a better control in their lands, but this generation the kingdoms of the northern edge of the continent started to betroth their children, it is a nice move I must say, this way they are the same family, I guess their prince know this, so I doubt he will actually spit on the face of so many of his most powerful vassals, especially if they are on his side". Said Aurelius.
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner? Tsk, at least it's not too late, if what you say is true then they are the most powerful alliance in this kingdom, I thought it would be better to let them buy our goods from other merchants but if I do this they may feel insulted, they are really prideful after all, and if they think that we think the ones of the south are more important we could be on the bad side of the ones who would make the decisions, send a letter to the ships, being some gift, I will speak with them these following days, I hope they see that we are better as allies and don't let their pride take decisions for them". Said Maximilian, while in the beginning he, was getting angry with a glare of Aurelius he started calming himself shortly after.
Hearing that Aurelius just nodded his head and leave the tent, letting Maximilian with his own thoughts, after all, it's him who should be making decisions, it is his test after all.
Next day the tourney continues, the excitement for the mystery knight died and new knights fight each other for the title of champion and for the chance of naming a lady the queen of love and beauty, acting on the information he received the past day, Maximilian wait for his guards to bring the cart full of wines, meat, and beer. With those Maximilian approached Lord Arryn and his group and greet them.
"Greeting lord Arryn, Baratheon, Stark". Said, Maximilian.
"Oh, I thought we weren't worth your time, after all, I heard you directly visited some of the lords but didn't seem like you were going to do so with the rest of us". Said Jon with a slightly raised eyebrow in an inquisitive way.
"It wasn't my intention for you to the thought that, it's just that I had other matters to attend, and since I heard there would be a great tourney here I thought it would be better to speak directly with the rest of high lords instead of searching for you one at the time". Said Maximilian with a sheepish smile on his face.
"It's that so? I thought you were just going to let the rest of us buy it from your other business partners ". Said Jon with a serious expression in his face.
"I understand your confusion, but if you were me you would also go pay a visit to the Lannisters if you could get that much money from them as I did, the rest were just in the way". Said, Maximilian.
"I see, so tell me, what are you here for". Said Jon.
"Well, as you could imagine I want to make more business partners, we all could benefit from this, of course I only plan to make the deals with the lords paramount of their respective regions, since I think it would be better to sell our goods to the most important people after all my lands aren't that big so the amount you will get would be smaller the more people there's in the deal, and as a sign of friendship I made my guards bring a few samples of each product so you could taste it". Said, Maximilian.
Jon just keep staring at him for a few seconds before accepting, then Maximilian make Cassius bring the guards who were bringing the crates, and after doing that, he took a bottle of plum wine and took a few cups and served Jon, Eddard, Robert and himself.
"Kid this is the best wine I have taste, where did you get it?" Asked Robert, since the business was over he and Eddard started getting themselves involved in the conversation.
"Don't call me kid. They are produced in the refineries in my country, but if I were you I would start drinking like it was water, they are much more expensive than that arbor gold, if you want to drink like that do that with beer at least, it would be funny to see you faint". Said Maximilian with a smirk in his face.
"Ha, you wish, there's no way I will faint, bring it on kid". Said Robert, while Eddard just looked at them from the sidelines.
"Robert let the kid alone, I'm sure he shouldn't be drinking something like that". Said Eddard.
"I said I'm not a kid, you will drink too, the first one to faint is the kid". Said Maximilian with an angry face.
"Ha, if you have to say that you are not a kid then it doesn't add any credibility," said Robert, while Jon and Eddard from the sidelines were just shaking their heads.
"Let's see what you got Baratheon, from today everyone will know you like the drunken stag". Said Maximilian defiantly.
After that Maximilian makes a servant bring a barrel of beer much to Cassius dismay, then they took their cups and started drinking while the competition continued.
After a few hours they already drank a couple of barrels of beer and they were already drunk, while Jon left to see the joust, the others kept drinking, the other started telling histories of their homes, in some point they started telling jokes about each other and Max as Robert started calling Maximilian and Ned which is The way Robert calls Eddard, hearing that Robert had an infatuation with Ned's little sister Lyanna, and remembering what he saw the day earlier told Robert that if he wasn't careful maybe his little lady would fall in love with the prince like every other girl, at this Robert got angry and started yelling that his Lyanna wasn't like that and throw himself at Max, they started exchanging blows while Max was laughing in the floor hitting Robert, and when Ned tried to separate them he was stopped by Cassius who just shook his head and kept drinking while seeing them fight, and Ned hesitantly just stood there till both of the ones who were fighting stopped and flared at each other for some time and them laughed loudly and started drinking again.
"I never expect him to be as dumb as Robert". Said Ned.
"He isn't but he needed to release some steam, and he is young, it would be weird if he didn't do dumb things once in a while". Replied Cassius.
"Tell me max what was that thing you said about making magic pets?". Asked Robert.
"I never said magic pets, idiot, I said bounding a pet with magic, you could order it around and even feel their emotions, but doing it with a random dog would be stupid, especially since it is going to cost you a lot, you remember Oberyn's dancing snake? Hehe, it could even act on Oberyn's orders without him there and have you ever seen a dancing viper, I'm sure that even with a face like the one you have now you could get any girl". Said Max before laughing.
"Pfft and you think you are better, you should see your self, your face looks like it was stung by a bunch of bees". Said Robert after spitting his drink from the laughter. The two men at the sides could only shake their heads at the antics of the kid who tried to act like an adult and the adult who acted like a kid.
And they spend the rest of the day drinking, till the first one end up fainting, surprisingly it wasn't Max but Ned, seeing him like that max and Robert had the marvelous idea of painting his face, so they asked a servant to bring dye and paint Ned hair green, and paint a lot of símbols in his face, even Cassius laughed seeing him like that, and Ned's siblings and Jon were shocked seeing him like that, while Robert kept speaking of how brilliant Max was for thinking about this.
With that the,e meeting ended and both groups went their separate ways.
The following days the tournament continued as expected the only thing that could be noteworthy would be the fact that Prince Rhaegar defeated knight after knight, even defeating the knights of the Kingsguard that participate in the tournament, from what Max heard it was the first time he defeated them, so he wondered if he won for his ability or they let him win, after all the tourney was planned as a council for him to take his father's throne, the fact that the king came doesn't mean he has to stop his plan, Aerys won't be able to stop it after all, if something his presence just gave the nobles an even greater reason to support the prince, he just show them with the way he looked that he isn't fit to rule, so maybe they are boosting the prince reputation even more, he isn't just a smart man, he is also a great warrior, when you compare that message with the one the king gives the people there's no doubt who would stay on the throne.
But when prince Rhaegar finally defeated Ser Barristan Selmy and took the crown of flowers and everyone was waiting for him to crown his wife princess Elia Martell as the queen of love and beauty he just rode past her, and stopped in from of the Starks, at that moment all that cheers and claps of the crowd stopped, and when he lowered the tip of his lance and let the crown of flowers rest in Lyanna's legs the world seemed to stop for a second, people's eyes go wide and they seemed to forgot how to breath, no one makes a sound, at that moment that crown of flowers seemed to be the center of the world, not even the animals make any sound, in such a quiet fiel you couldn't even hear the sound of the wind, and then the world seemed to recover its movement, peoples brains started once again when they heard the clatter of the hooves of Rhaegar's horse, and then the prince retired, but all eyes where glued to the crown of blue winter roses, who would think that something so beautiful and that without any doubt was given to the one woman it suited the most could bring so much chaos. After a few more seconds everyone seemed to finally understand the situation, as if their brains just tried to deny what kid happened, but in the end they were hit with the full brunt of reality, and just like that the same field that was as quiet as a graveyard seconds before exploded in chatter and angry shouts, all about what they just saw.
Seeing This Max wasn't able to comprehend what just happened, everything seemed fine, they were enjoying the joust, and then the prince had to prove that he is the son of his father, and in a masterfully executed move he directly ruin his relationship with half of his kingdom, and even worse those are the ones that came to support him, but he choose to follow his lust and directly spit on their faces, looking to his side he could see Elia, the beautiful and forgotten princess, her face showed indifference but if you see her hands you could see her gripping the arms of her chair with all her strength, it wasn't for less, after all her husband just ignored her and professed his love for a stranger in front of her, the same could be said of Oberyn if the look in his eyes and how aggressive his viper was acting gave any indication. From the side of the starks poor Lyanna showed a distressed face, you could see she wasn't enjoying this moment, the same could be said from her brother Eddard but the one who showed more emotions was her bigger brother Brandon, if it wasn't for Ned holding him he would surely jump at Rhaegar and beat him to a pulp, curiously Lyanna's fiance Robert was taking it right and even laughed while saying that Rhaegar simply was doing justice to Lyanna's beauty but beneath that laughter you could see his fists clenched in anger, while lord Jon Arryn just stared at the crown and then at Rhaegar's back, surely thinking if it would be a good decision to put Rhaegar in the throne, after all his father too was rather promising the firsts years of his reign.
After that, everyone calmed down and nobody speaks about the matter any further, at the end of the tourney everyone left on their own, the mood still obviously sour for the previous incident, but max left Ned and Robert with a promise to visit them and bring a few barrels of beer with him.
And so max visit to Westeros came to an end, days became weeks and weeks became months, he spends his days training and in his tutoring with Aurelius, and once every three months he visited the friends he made in Westeros, he started visiting Robert more than the other friends he had because he started seeing them as children, and since Aurelius was most of the time with him especially when he visited the Lannisters he couldn't find any chance to do anything with Cersei, and with time he started forgetting it,, and like that the year came to an end.
At the beginning of the new year got a letter from Catelyn Tully, in that letter she stated that her wedding with Brandon stark was coming close in she hoped that him as a friend of her family might come to celebrate with them, after reading the letter he ordered some servants to prepare three ships to sail to the Riverlands, some chefs to cook at the banquet food from his homeland, robes made from the fur of exotic animals, silk dresses and as the final gift he ordered some servants to bring dolphins from his family summer palace.
After some days everything was ready and his ships set sail to Westeros again, after a week he reached the Riverlands, and after a few more days he reached Riverrun, where he was received by Edmure, Catelyn and Brynden, it was weird for him that Lysa wasn't there but he just shrugged it off.
When he gets down from his horse Edmure came close to him and gave him his hand, and Catelyn came close and gave him a kiss in the cheek and a hug, at which he reacted awkwardly since, since he didn't have that much contact with the opposite sex especially since he told Aurelius about his encounter with Cersei. Then Brynden came close and kept staring at his faces and then started laughing, and Max just stared at him like he was dumb but Brynden said: "kid with those hairs on your face you finally started looking like a man, and I still remember what you said last time, that when you grow up you will give me a beating, want to try now?" By the end of it, Brynden had a smirk on his face, and Max looked very annoyed by it, especially when Catelyn said that even if he was tall he was still a little kid, but he just ignored them since he knew that he was nowhere near Brynden's level using a sword. Then the servants came with crates full of goods and when Catelyn asked what they were he told her they were her wedding gifts, with a smug smile on his face, and Catelyn just hugged him again and kept telling him that he was a good little brother, which ended with him yelling that he wasn't small.
And the days paced and the wedding was nearer each time, but the groom didn't came when he should so max went to ask Catelyn, when he found her she looked worried and told him that Brandon went to kingslanding, his sister was abducted by prince Rhaegar, hearing this Max's mouth went so wide that you could fit one of the balls they use to play, he couldn't believe that Rhaegar was so stupid, and end up wondering if this was actually some carefully crafted plan by Rhaegar, because he didn't think that he actually fool the whole continent for so long just to prove himself an idiot, after recovering from this he tried to console Catelyn telling her that everything would be fine, but she was smart, and asked him if he truly believed so, he could just tell the truth went confronted by those eyes and ended telling her that the situation was quite dire, and unless Rhaegar gave Lyanna back or give some sort of explanation things could go bad pretty quickly, but he reassured her that if Rhaegar was just a fraction of how smart everyone said, since the time he first met him he had proven himself an idiot who just followed his lust, then he would give an explanation by the time Brandon reach kingslanding and everything will be fine, even if deep inside he could feel that it wouldn't be the case.
After a week you could feel the tension everyone was feeling and Max went like every day to see how Catelyn was doing, but this time her face was pale and her hands were trembling, he knew at that moment that something bad happened so he came close to her and asked what happened, she told him that a raven arrived, Brandon and his group were imprisoned under the charger of conspiring to kill the crown prince, when he asked if Brandon attacked Rhaegar she told him that Rhaegar wasn't even there, but Brandon shouted to Rhaegar to come and die and the king took him, and now the fathers of those who go with Brandon were summoned to court to answer for the crime of their sons, and that Brandon's father was already on his way to kingslanding, then she looked and him and asked him to told her everything was going to be alright, but he didn't, he told her that she needed to be strong, that by the looks of things war was coming, and maybe Brandon wasn't going to make it, she didn't look too distressed when he said so, he guesses it had to be because while it was her duty to marry him she might have heard of his "adventures", after all even he heard the rumors, but what she was really worried about was her family after all they are allied to the starks, if the starks go to war, the Baratheons would too, and the Arryns and her family seeing that would probably go to war too, while his people were warriors and were raised as such war is bad from business, and he liked money more than blood, but in the midst of chaos there are always opportunities for those bold enough to take them. He spend the rest of the day trying to make Catelyn smile, telling her jokes, which were so bad that she actually laughed, making his chefs make some cakes and different suits for them, and he and Edmure stick to her the rest of the day and making her go from one place to the other.
And just as he expected, a week later another raven arrived, this time he found Catelyn crying, Lord Richard stark, was burnt to death while his son was strangled by a device while trying to release his father, in a show of absolute cruelty and madness the mad king make justice to his moniker, and brutally murdered one of the highest lords under his rule, as well as his heir and a group of noble children, it was a reality now, war came to Westeros, and not by the hand of invaders or savages, but by the hand of the same king who swore to protect their lands, they hadn't declared war yet, but he knew it was going to happen, they didn't have other option, if they don't rebel they will die.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
ormtr
ormtr So Rhaegar already did the dumbest think (from my point of view) in the whole series and in the next chapters we will have war once again. By the way this chapter was only brought to you thanks to the fact that I’m dumb and thought I was going to a pool party with some girls today but it seems it’s actually next Sunday, so enjoy the Sunday more than I do with this heat.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone